Neuheisel's Predicament. Will it Become Guerrero's?
by Peter47 on Dec 7, 2010 10:40 PM PST
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PrintMembers of the Bruin Nation family seem to be holding their breath wondering what happens with the UCLA football coaching staff after the December 20 recruiting window closes. Many, including myself, have hoped to see changes – some of them specific.
Firing and then hiring coaching upgrades may not prove to be so easy. However, I believe that Rick Neuheisel needs to do this to demonstrate that he is taking command and demanding accountability, at the very least.
Here at BN, there was natural optimism going into this season, but I did not sense that the improved record at the end of last year had really convinced very many people. In terms of coaching staff, why did the previous two years convince CRN to stay the course? The only change we saw was to bring in a new offensive system due to the previous offensive failures. The Bruins have not a single coach on staff experienced in the Pistol, and yet there were no staff changes made, even then. This is truly striking and demands some thought.
Since CRN will be back, the consensus is that he takes a hard look at his assistants and coordinators because the job is not getting done. I'm all for it, but I have commented before that losing programs firing coordinators is often the first sign of a head coach gone after the next year. Something has to be done, but consider this: what coach will be attracted to join a program potentially facing a complete house cleaning by the following year? I certainly can’t answer that, but this is not an easy position CRN finds himself in at this point.
If this happens, it might mirror in some ways the comings and goings of coaches under CTS. This caused me to pause and consider. Bob Toledo was elevated from OC to Head Coach. I don't remember much about his staff specifically except for changes at DC. I believe he inherited some degree of staff stability otherwise. Then we began our current malaise with CTS and his eventual termination. At that point, the response from DG seemed to have been, "The idea was sound, just the wrong person hired."
Most people will assume that I mean DG’s error was hiring a former Bruin as Head Coach (which certainly should not be a prerequisite). No. There is no inherent reason why a former Bruin could not be an excellent head coach, except for one fact - where is this mythical creature?
What I am actually referring to is that we hired individuals who bring nobody with them. That is, we hired coaches who left their position as a coordinator or position coach and then reach out to former colleagues or former teammates whom they think might take the job. That usually fills a few spots and then it demands networking and interviews with acquaintances and strangers. This can work, but it is not working for us and this is not generally a formula for quick success.
In comparison, it would be hard to imagine a completely new business hiring a staff of just assembled personnel, and having things go smoothly from the get go. Kinks need to be worked out, management needs to get on board with understanding the CEO’s approach, and inevitably some will leave or be asked to leave.
In the case of a football team, if this new staff is blessed with good player talent, the roughness of the first season or so may not be noticed so much in the results, and with time confidence builds. CTS had a lot of staff turnover and at least part of that was some horrible hires which he did move out. I cannot so much credit him for that since they were his hires. However, I am applying the same standard now. Is CRN a hero for maintaining a stable staff for his three seasons as HC? (Note: this includes promoting CB to DC.) The record says that he is not a hero for this.
I criticized CTS for the revolving door of coaches and lack of stability, but now we are seeing the other side of the coin. Changing staff after year one looks a lot different than changing after year three. Given the results on the field and three years of staff stability, it begins to look more like desperation at this point than some tweaking to improve a new staff. Part of that is the difference in timing, but part of it is also the assumption that CRN may just now be waking up to that need. And that is if he is waking up to it. Unfortunately, recent history may indicate that he has been somewhat of a peacekeeper with his staff, a moderator or worse yet, an enabler. (By that I am referring to CRN’s comments on Jetski’s playing time versus $uc and similar statements.) That is in contrast to being a strong leader of a group of coaches who follow his lead.
That brings me back to one of my initial points and a couple of different conclusions based upon the circumstances. I have disagreed with those who say that turning around a program like CRN inherited takes a lot of time but I am changing that position based upon the premise of a losing program coming under the guidance of a staff who themselves have to learn to work together. With that in mind, I can understand CRN wanting to build and maintain cohesiveness and continuity. However, I hope he understands that continuity looks awfully bad at this late date and I really have no clue what CRN may do.
And that brings me to the other conclusion. If we are looking for a new head coach in the future (and if it happens, please let it be next year and not after year five), DG (or whoever, and I hope whoever) needs to hire an existing head coach who can bring a successful staff with him largely intact. That usually means bringing up a successful coach from a lower level. The league with the best record of providing these coaches, for quite along time, seems to be the Mid American Conference, although others are worth a look. We can fantasize, but UCLA is unlikely to be able to hire a successful head coach from another BCS conference.
I can only hope that maturity and lack of injuries catapults us to a much higher level next year, but that is a different subject.
Note: this is my first FanPost, and I hope I didn’t screw it up – tried not to rehash old subjects.
This is a FanPost and does not necessarily reflect the views of BruinsNation's (BN) editors. It does reflect the views of this particular fan though, which is as important as the views of BN's editors.
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Good point on organizational stability
Organizations generally cannot perform well with constant leadership changes. Which is one of the reasons why DG can’t can CRN—it makes no organizational sense.
Isn’t it odd though how the NFL owners see organizational success differently? Two bad seasons and heads roll.
by peggysue69 on Dec 8, 2010 12:44 AM PST via mobile reply actions
not odd at all
given the much greater flexibility in playing personnel, year-round access to players to get them up to speed, physical/mental maturity of players and the lack of recruiting element to the program.
A few weeks ago......
I brought up this same topic but you did a better take on it. My main point was that CRN came into the hire without bringing his own hand picked staff like other coaches do. Usually a coach brings with him his own team. Prime example is Lane Kitten. He priated his staff from Tennessee and moved across country with them.
Since Rick had been out of college football for several years, he had no ready made staff to bring with him. De didn’t bring anybody with him from the Ravens either. When he arrived on campus he immediately had Walker shoved down his throat because we didn’t want to lose our precious recruiting class.
We all seemed to jump at the opportunity to shanghi Chow away from the Trogies. I really don’t get a sense that Rick was all that in love with the idea either but went along with it because he didn’t have a short list of coaches he could call to fill vacancies.
There is something to be said for coaches that have contacts around the country and have an ear to the ground. They know of up an comers. Meet them at coaches camps etc. Since Rick was a pirriah in the college community, I’m sure his contacts are limited.
Somebody pointed out that Rick looked like he was waiting for the other foot to drop at his post game presser. To me he look like somebody who had just whitnessed his family being shot before his very eyes. He had a look like he had just been betrayed, which he was by CB and CNC.
Again, I am not saying the prognosis, analysis & what have you
missed the point. Some of the comments certainly dug up various issues that impact coaching and team performance. But in the overall scheme of things, however which way you look at the W / L records and the visible lack of growths for the football program the last three years, they are simply alarmingly mediocre, in a downward spiral even Rick himself struggled hard to justify. In many ways, and I hope I am not misunderstood here, they sometimes sounded like agonizing excuses to forestall an inevitable decision as long as humanly possible.
So Guerrero made up his mind to keep Rick.
That really doesn’t mean he knows more than we do about the team’s prospect next season and that it represented the best for the program itself. Look at Pete Dalis’ way of handling Steve Lavin’s debacle, ugly tenure if you will at Pauley. Many of us offered so much insightful commentaries about how he needed time, yes that dreadful T word in the current context, to put his own stamp on the program long overshadowed by COACH, and repeated sweet sixteen berths should be considered good, etc. Look what happened ultimately after a couple of season’s wasted expectations and false hope.
Subpar coaching is subpar coaching. Failure is failure, however one sugarcoats and repackages the less than satisfactory product.
Sure Guerrero can keep whoever he wants. That does not mean he is right and the individual in question would not see the light at the end of the tunnel, realizes the futility of struggling in a situation with such grim prospect.
Do the right thing, Rick.
Agree
As you point out, this staff was assembled in an odd kind of way.
San Diego State just gave a new contract with raises to Brady Hoke, who essentially brought his staff from Ball State with him. It looks like he may already be pressing the Bruins price range at SDSU! I will post a Fan Shot link tomorrow to an article where Hoke talks about his staff following the new contracts and other commitments by the Aztecs. His comments contrast pretty heavily with what seems to be the Bruins’ situation.
Very good topic
My guess is that neither NC or CB will be fired.
My hope is that we get a new DC as that would represent some change, but not enough to spook the recruits. I also hope there is no rift between Chow and RN. I still believe Chow is too valuable, especially in relation to CB.
Problem is that Chow and RN are offensive guys. If RN was a defensive guy there wouldn’t be any possibility of clashing mindsets.
To fire both would be too much upheaval. If that happens, I would just as soon start over with a new HC, too.
" To fire both would be too much upheaval "
Goodness, gracious sakes alive. Lordie, Lordie……… I am awestruck, dumbfounded, befuddled, shaken to the core, unspeakably sad…….
Given the status of the program as we speak, has it not been too much upheaval already ?
Look at that flagrant two point conversion called in our face last year. Was there ever anything more demoralizing our archrivals, hated human beings south of Westwood could do to us ? You would think that it was a clarion call to action just to right an unforgivable wrong. But as someone said, Rick & Norm instead brought their butter knives to a gunfight not at O K Corral, but in the shadow of the San Gabriel Mountains that had witnessed, over the years so much Bruin heroics.
What can I say. Rick is one of our own. To say goodbye is tough.
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