Bumped. A post I wrote on February 14. GO BRUINS. -N
Bruins have hired Bob Connelly, the OL coach from fired (forced out) Mike Shula's staff from Alabama. Here is UCLA's official release:
Bob Connelly, who spent the last four years coaching the offensive line at the University of Alabama, has been hired to coach the UCLA offensive line, Bruin head coach Karl Dorrell announced today. Connelly has coached in a Rose Bowl, a Sugar Bowl and a Cotton Bowl.
"Bob is an outstanding communicator and teacher," said Dorrell. "He produced all-league performers at both Washington State and Alabama. I think he will bring a level of energy and expertise that will be a great fit for the young men in our program."
Uhm so what do Alabama fans think of Bob Connelly? Luckily we didn't have to dig to hard. We just went over to Roll Bama Roll, our outstanding SBN colleagues who are running one of the best college football blogs around."Bob is an outstanding communicator and teacher," said Dorrell. "He produced all-league performers at both Washington State and Alabama. I think he will bring a level of energy and expertise that will be a great fit for the young men in our program."
Here is what Nico had to say about Coach Connelly over at RBR last November:
"Fire offensive line coach Bob Connelly. It is incredible how many times Bama's QB has been sacked in the last two years. Even if they aren't getting sacked, they're running for the their lives almost every passing play (which begs the question, why don't we use the shotgun more?)"
And here is what other RBR main page blogger - Todd - had to say about Connelly in October of last year:
Bob Connelly has to go. It's unthinkable that a coach working with BCS league talent can't have his players more prepared to play the game than he does. Injuries and inexperience are only excuses for so long, and there's no way any other major football program would stand for it's O-Line giving up 11 sacks in one game like we did in the Iron Bowl. JP is a tough kid, but he's taken way too many hits already and at some point he's going to get hurt having to scramble for his life nearly every down.
RBR wasn't only blog fed up with the coaching of Connelly. Here is another Bama blog - Journalism Is For Rock Stars - that was advocating for the firing of Connelly last November:
The Bama media people say that Connelly was listed as one of the Top 25 recruiters in the nation last year, and that's great. Make him some sort of full time recruiter. Kick him upstairs in some fashion. But while the Tide's stats look like they do, he should not be coaching the offensive line.
Team Yards Per Carry = 3.6
YPC Average:
Darby = 4.3
Johns = 4.4
Castille = 3.1
Total Sacks Allowed = 20
vs. Arkansas = 5
vs. Florida = 3
vs. Tennessee = 3
Red Zone Attempts/Scores = 43/33
18 Field Goals
15 Touchdowns
10 Missed Opportunities
vs. Arkansas = 5 att., 10 points
vs. Florida = 2 att., 6 points
vs. Tennessee = 3 att., 13 points
vs. Mississippi State = 4 att., 9 points
There's no excuse for someone not to get fired over numbers like these.
Yikes. I wonder if SPJ or St. Patrick has seen any Alabama tapes from last two years. He sounds like a quiet a "communicator" and a "teacher." Doesn't he? He sounds just like his new head coach. Average and mediocre.Team Yards Per Carry = 3.6
YPC Average:
Darby = 4.3
Johns = 4.4
Castille = 3.1
Total Sacks Allowed = 20
vs. Arkansas = 5
vs. Florida = 3
vs. Tennessee = 3
Red Zone Attempts/Scores = 43/33
18 Field Goals
15 Touchdowns
10 Missed Opportunities
vs. Arkansas = 5 att., 10 points
vs. Florida = 2 att., 6 points
vs. Tennessee = 3 att., 13 points
vs. Mississippi State = 4 att., 9 points
There's no excuse for someone not to get fired over numbers like these.
Hope Connelly realizes if he cannot help Dorrell deliver a Pac-10 championship he will be looking for another job this time next year.
GO BRUINS