Conroy Hines

[rphdawg]

SO THE BEAT GOES ON!!

Please tell me a shakeup is still coming.
=============================

Don't put blame on Hines
Nick Deriso
nderiso@thenewsstar.com
December 5, 2004
RUSTON - Word came this week that the administration at Louisiana Tech is unhappy with the offense.

Not that the team seemed to keep leaving town without things like jockstraps or shoes for one of the nation's most dangerous running threats.

Not that the team was one overmatched evening against yet another BCS power away from being bowl eligible.

The offense.

The offense?

I'm not sure anyone in northeastern Louisiana did a better job of coaching than Tech offensive coordinator Conroy Hines this season, if only because he skillfully dismantled his own masterpiece.

Hines, to my mind, will always be this pass-first guy who directed Luke McCown's eye-popping performance against Miami in 2000 - the one with an NCAA freshman record 72 tosses. Once the pigskins stopped raining down, McCown had thrown for 400 yards and four touchdowns on the day.

Well, McCown is in Cleveland now, preparing to start for the NFL's Browns.

But, apparently, there are still those who wanted to fling it.

Good thing Conroy Hines wasn't listening.

What remained in Ruston, as the 2004 season dawned, was a stout little playmaker named Ryan Moats - a junior who had run for a school-record six straight games of 100 yards or more last season.

It was clear that Hines would have to do something that few people do well: Start over.

He did it brilliantly.

In fact, behind a gritty revamped rushing attack, the Bulldogs turned a coach-killing schedule featuring six Top 25 teams into a 6-6 year.

They played Auburn, which is vying for a spot in the BCS title game. And Tennessee, which played in the SEC championship on Saturday. Oh, and then there was Miami.

Yet, Moats would finish No. 2 in Division I-A for rushing yards.

To be fair, the Tech administration couched the criticism.

Hines, they said, will "remain a very important part of Louisiana Tech University football." That the changes, if they came, would be more about "schemes and approach," rather than personnel.

Still, while they might not be happy with the 38 losses that this staff has accumulated, it must be noted that 28 have come at the hands of bowl teams. Louisiana Tech's schedule was rated the 14th most difficult in the nation this season by the NCAA.

When you play up, sometimes you get knocked down.

In particular during rebuilding years.

Yet, those are the times when coaches like Hines are most valuable. Rather than calcify, he got creative.

Tech didn't have a reliable signal-caller for the first time in nearly a decade. The receiving group didn't appear ready to catch, even if the inexperienced quarterbacks could have gotten the ball there.

So, instead of sticking with a vertical scheme that never would have worked, Hines was nimble enough to fashion an offensive look that played to the talent he had.

Moats would finish the season No. 7 in the nation for yards per game. Oh, and he did all of that despite missing seven quarters of play because of injuries.

How Hines' year ends is less certain.

For the life of me, I cannot figure out why.

NICK DERISO, named columnist of the year this summer by the Louisiana Sports Writers Association, is sports editor at The News-Star, 411 N. Fourth St., Monroe, La., 71201. Contact him at (318) 362-0234 or at nderiso@thenewsstar.com.

[dawg80]

Oh my gawd....

[rphdawg]

& I was actually hoping they were going to move him to WR coach and find a new offensive coordinator for next year.

I guess the disappointments keep on coming.

Can we hire some more of JBII coaches

[dawg80]

I just sent that idiot writer an email, straightening him out. I suggest others, some of you more diplomatically than I am capable of, follow suit.

[DONW]

How good of a coach do you have to be to run your RB every play when the opposing team knows what the play is. What an idiot!!!!

[DawginBR]

Hey, that IDIOT writer really knows his football. Wonder how many games he attended? Sounds like maybe JBIII should put him on the staff too. He'd probably fit right in...

What a loser!

[TECH88]

Nick covers GSU. How in the hell could he possibly know what we're doing?

[HogDawg]

How good of a coach do you have to be to run your RB every play when the opposing team knows what the play is. What an idiot!!!!

I agree, Don. With All-WAC RB Ryan Moats and NO EXPERIENCE at QB returning in our backfield, it didn't take a genius to figure out that our running game was going to be exploited in 2004. If anything, Hines should be criticized for not developing a passing game AT ALL, and simply "OVERUSING" Moats and burning him out before season's end.

Most of these sports writers weren't smart enough in school to do anything else with their lives. This guy (Nick) obviously fits into that category.

HD

[b_hoss_mac]

Most of these sports writers weren't smart enough in school to do anything else with their lives. This guy (Nick) obviously fits into that category.

Listen up, HD, you say a lot of things that are over the line sometimes, but this one takes the cake. HAVE YOU EVER THOUGHT ABOUT PEOPLE WHO CHOOSE A LIVING BECAUSE THEY ARE DOING SOMETHING THEY LOVE???

It has nothing to do with "smarts." I was "smart enough" to do a whole lot of things. Yet I CHOSE to become a sportswriter because it's something that I love to do. I have a talent for it, and I enjoy doing it.

And to come to Nick's defense, if you ever sit down and have a conversation -- which I'm sure you are too stuck in your own little world to do -- with Nick Deriso, you will find a brilliant man. He's earned awards wherever he's been ... and that hasn't always been as a "sportswriter." So why don't you first do some research before you speak so you don't sound like such an IDIOT.

And also, I appreciate the advice you gave me, but I'll make my own decisions about what jobs I take. Who knows, maybe some day Chris Hatcher and I will be old enough and mature to ALWAYS ASK YOU TO TELL US WHAT TO DO!

All that said, I still enjoy most of your posts. You were just way out of line with this one.

[The Historian]

"Hines, to my mind, will always be this pass-first guy who directed Luke McCown's eye-popping performance against Miami in 2000 - the one with an NCAA freshman record 72 tosses. Once the pigskins stopped raining down, McCown had thrown for 400 yards and four touchdowns on the day."

Wasn't Rob Spence calling plays in 2000? Conroy was listed as co-coordinator, but he was still coaching receivers that year, if I'm not mistaken. Spence was brought in to call plays and coach quarterbacks. Conroy wasn't the playcaller until 2001.

[rphdawg]

You are correct sir....

[HogDawg]

Listen up, HD, you say a lot of things that are over the line sometimes, but this one takes the cake. HAVE YOU EVER THOUGHT ABOUT PEOPLE WHO CHOOSE A LIVING BECAUSE THEY ARE DOING SOMETHING THEY LOVE???

It has nothing to do with "smarts." I was "smart enough" to do a whole lot of things. Yet I CHOSE to become a sportswriter because it's something that I love to do. I have a talent for it, and I enjoy doing it.

And to come to Nick's defense, if you ever sit down and have a conversation -- which I'm sure you are too stuck in your own little world to do -- with Nick Deriso, you will find a brilliant man. He's earned awards wherever he's been ... and that hasn't always been as a "sportswriter." So why don't you first do some research before you speak so you don't sound like such an IDIOT.

And also, I appreciate the advice you gave me, but I'll make my own decisions about what jobs I take. Who knows, maybe some day Chris Hatcher and I will be old enough and mature to ALWAYS ASK YOU TO TELL US WHAT TO DO!

All that said, I still enjoy most of your posts. You were just way out of line with this one.

First, get off your highhorse when talking to me. For a new college grad, you are VERY full of yourself. I've never been anything BUT very complimentary of your work, no matter how flawed it may REALLY be.

Next, you need to do YOUR homework, b-Hoss. It's a well known fact in Journalism circles that the average test scores for sports writers are FAR below those of most professions requiring a college education. If you are such a "research expert", look it up for yourself.

Thirdly, you're starting to appear far too sensitive to be a real journalist. If this type of stuff gets under your skin, you'll never make it. As the old saying goes, GET OVER IT. The post I wrote said nothing about YOU anyway. Your name was never mentioned. In fact, when writing the post, your name never even crossed my mind.

NEWSFLASH: b-hoss, you don't wear the badge of honor for the entire journalim community.

Lastly, the writer "Nick" is a bonehead. The idea that I should get out of my "little world" and "talk to Nick" is absurd. He's a print journalist and 99.999% of the people he reaches are through PRINT, not personal contact. If Nick can't "convince me" in PRINT, he certainly won't be able to do it in PERSON. I'm tougher in person than in print. If he was a doctor or lawyer (HA, fat chance of that!) he'd be sued for malpractice. As "the Historian" corrrectly pointed out, Conroy Hines wasn't even calling plays in 2000. A REAL sportwriter would know that.

But aside from that, I stated my OPINION. And in my OPINION, his comments IN PRINT lead me to believe he's not the resident genius when it comes to LA Tech football. With you, on the other hand, the jury is still out! :icon_wink

HD

[johnnylightnin]

Hey, that IDIOT writer really knows his football. Wonder how many games he attended? Sounds like maybe JBIII should put him on the staff too. He'd probably fit right in...

What a loser!

Alright fellas, back to the matter at hand. Nick responded to my e-mail and told me that he had been to all our home-games (I bet he didn't drive to Shreveport). So, I figure he got a scewed view of things. I'm not making any excuses for the guy though. He's obviously not very savvy to Tech football. The fact is, we're gonna hear excuses from everbody (including JBIII) about how hard our schedule was. It's almost as if JO set up a situation where it would be impossible for JB to lose his job. We must have leadership. If we don't get it pretty soon, we can ask the UL's to make room cause we'll be right on their level. I feel sick.

[HogDawg]

It's almost as if JO set up a situation where it would be impossible for JB to lose his job. We must have leadership. If we don't get it pretty soon, we can ask the UL's to make room cause we'll be right on their level. I feel sick.

I agree with that.

I read on the CUSA fan board earlier today that Louisiana Tech is now considered a lesser choice than several MAC schools and even a few Sunbelt schools, (UNT, Troy, UL, MTSU, etc..).

While I realize it's easy for any moron from CUSA to post something silly like that, it's still the type of post you would have NEVER seen a couple of years ago, or even a year ago. The average college football fan would have laughed in their face. But today, it seems more realistic, especially with the recent rise of Troy State, and UNT's continued dominance of a poor Sunbelt.

We're STARVING for new leadership at Tech.

HD

[rockdog]

Half of this conversation just reminds me of a post I made not too long ago. It seems that we are fighting a perception battle. People seem to think we are the "crazy" ones. Articles like this one from Deriso are just part of the fight. They think Jack is the best we can get, and he is a great coach. They think Conroy is a phenominal offensive coordinator, etc. I don't know why we are constantly fighting this battle. Six wins. Blown out by Boise, 17 point losers to UTEP, 11 point loss to Hawaii...where was the offense in those games? Where was the coaching? These are WAC teams...we weren't even competitive in the Boise game. If you saw the UTEP and Hawaii game...it was pitiful. I don't understand this perception battle we're fighting. Why we are made to look crazy for wanting to build our program...not to a Miami or Auburn standard...but a Louisville, Boise or even Southern Miss standard would be nice...articles like this just dumbfound me...I just don't understand it...