My thoughts on the coaching changes

[Coach34]

Les Koenning- It's Dan Mullen's offense and he called every play in 2013. Les wasnt very involved the last month of the season. So from an offensive standpoint- Les wont be missed at all. Les was a voice of reason at times, a solid veteran coach, solid recruiter, and did a good job with QB's. So he certainly had some value and did some good things while in Starkville.

Potential problems? New QB coach doesnt teach as well on the field and is a yes man.
Potential upgrades? Could recruit better, relate to players better, and challenge Mullen with some new ideas.

I think Mullen loves having Dak run his offense and isnt giving it up to anybody these next 2 years. Sounds like he is going to promote Gonzo to help him gameplan some and get his pay up some more. Gonzo has been crootin in Fla for us laying groundwork for 2015, and is a solid part of our future. Then Mullen is going to bring in someone he knows well to coach QB's and croot. A younger guy with some energy.

I posted that we should do this over a month ago- and looks like it is coming to fruition. I like it for us moving forward because it puts everyone on the same page- and we dont have any questions as to who is doing what. And our coaching staff gets younger- which I like as well.


Another name being mentioned around is Geoff Collins.

Collins is a very good coach and a good recruiter. He has proven that. He even has a can of SWAG. But if we were to somehow lose him to someone, it wouldnt be the end of the world. Our D in 2014 is going to be damn good no matter who coaches them. Jean Swindoll could coach our D in 2014 and it would still be top half of the SEC. So I dont fear the short term if Collins bolted. But losing Collins would hurt some with continuity and recruiting. And with the stellar 2015 class on the horizon- we dont need to lose possibly our best recruiter. WE had good classes in 2012 and 2013, have met some needs in 2014, and now need to reel in some fish for 2015.

[Op4isabitch]

I agree with your offensive coordinator stance but you are way off on the Defensive coordinator!

Not just anyone can make the pieces we have on defense good.....just look at what a shit show Chris Wilson put on with two NFL corners. If Collins was the D coordinator in 12 we win at least two games more than we did.

[Coach34]

I agree with your offensive coordinator stance but you are way off on the Defensive coordinator!

just look at what a shit show Chris Wilson put on with two NFL corners. If Collins was the D coordinator in 12 we win at least two games more than we did.

We'll just disagree- our DL being shitty had alot more to do with our defense being bad than Wilson's ideas and calls. Not to mention McKinney was a Freshman

[Pollodawg]

Would love to hold on to Collins if at all possible.

[Goat Holder]

Les Koenning - It's Dan Mullen's offense and he called every play in 2013. Les wasnt very involved the last month of the season. So from an offensive standpoint- Les wont be missed at all. Les was a voice of reason at times, a solid veteran coach, solid recruiter, and did a good job with QB's. So he certainly had some value and did some good things while in Starkville.

I agree except for the bold, let's not act like we know something we don't. Mullen has a huge say-so, but I do not believe he calls all the plays.


Then Mullen is going to bring in someone he knows well to coach QB's and croot. A younger guy with some energy.

I agree, he knows he eventually has to turn loose of the reigns.


But if we were to somehow lose him to someone, it wouldnt be the end of the world. Our D in 2014 is going to be damn good no matter who coaches them. Jean Swindoll could coach our D in 2014 and it would still be top half of the SEC.

No way in hell. Mullen has been completely at the mercy of his DC since he's been in Starkville. If he leaves and we hire a joke, 6-6 here we come. Hire another good guy? Maybe we won't miss him too much. I'd rather keep him. Simply put, it's OFFENSIVE coaches that we can lose and live with under Mullen, not defensive. Sure, we'll have talent, but we had talent in 2009 and 2012 too.


So I dont fear the short term if Collins bolted. But losing Collins would hurt some with continuity and recruiting. And with the stellar 2015 class on the horizon- we dont need to lose possibly our best recruiter. WE had good classes in 2012 and 2013, have met some needs in 2014, and now need to reel in some fish for 2015.

Completely the opposite. Collins means EVERYTHING for the short term. We need him in 2014. It's one of those years for MSU that doesn't come around that often. There IS NO long term in relation to Collins. Either he leaves this year or next, MAAAAYBE 2015 if we have a horse-shoe up our asses. If he leaves this year it's a lateral move, if he leaves next year it could be for a head coaching gig. We're not keeping that guy at MSU forever. Only team he couldn't stop was Texas A&M and nobody could do that.

[engie]

We'll just disagree- our DL being shitty had alot more to do with our defense being bad than Wilson's ideas and calls. Not to mention McKinney was a Freshman

Why was the DL shitty?

Oh -- because we started Cherry and played him the majority of the snaps -- and played Eulls over Preston Smith or McCardell at DE. That DL is MUCH improved if the personnel usage is anything other than full retard. Autry, Boyd, Eulls, Smith. That DL changes the whole complexion of that season.

[coastdoglover]

Part of your statement is correct but Les had grown weary of Dan and Hevesy refusing to run the read option. I am sure they had their reasons possibly being concerned about hits on the qb's but it was pretty obvious that when we ran the read option we were much more successful. I can assure you that Mullen is not going to be challenged by anybody as he runs the show. In ether event, I hope we get a good replacement and if they can't recruit, we will be much worse off. Fred Ross is at MSU for one reason, Les Koenning.




Les Koenning- It's Dan Mullen's offense and he called every play in 2013. Les wasnt very involved the last month of the season. So from an offensive standpoint- Les wont be missed at all. Les was a voice of reason at times, a solid veteran coach, solid recruiter, and did a good job with QB's. So he certainly had some value and did some good things while in Starkville.

Potential problems? New QB coach doesnt teach as well on the field and is a yes man.
Potential upgrades? Could recruit better, relate to players better, and challenge Mullen with some new ideas.

I think Mullen loves having Dak run his offense and isnt giving it up to anybody these next 2 years. Sounds like he is going to promote Gonzo to help him gameplan some and get his pay up some more. Gonzo has been crootin in Fla for us laying groundwork for 2015, and is a solid part of our future. Then Mullen is going to bring in someone he knows well to coach QB's and croot. A younger guy with some energy.

I posted that we should do this over a month ago- and looks like it is coming to fruition. I like it for us moving forward because it puts everyone on the same page- and we dont have any questions as to who is doing what. And our coaching staff gets younger- which I like as well.


Another name being mentioned around is Geoff Collins.

Collins is a very good coach and a good recruiter. He has proven that. He even has a can of SWAG. But if we were to somehow lose him to someone, it wouldnt be the end of the world. Our D in 2014 is going to be damn good no matter who coaches them. Jean Swindoll could coach our D in 2014 and it would still be top half of the SEC. So I dont fear the short term if Collins bolted. But losing Collins would hurt some with continuity and recruiting. And with the stellar 2015 class on the horizon- we dont need to lose possibly our best recruiter. WE had good classes in 2012 and 2013, have met some needs in 2014, and now need to reel in some fish for 2015.

[Coach34]

" let's not act like we know something we don't. Mullen has a huge say-so, but I do not believe he calls all the plays."

This is something I know to be true. Mullen called every play in 2013

[Todd4State]

Part of your statement is correct but Les had grown weary of Dan and Hevesy refusing to run the read option. I am sure they had their reasons possibly being concerned about hits on the qb's but it was pretty obvious that when we ran the read option we were much more successful. I can assure you that Mullen is not going to be challenged by anybody as he runs the show. In ether event, I hope we get a good replacement and if they can't recruit, we will be much worse off. Fred Ross is at MSU for one reason, Les Koenning.

Wait. What? I re-watched the Liberty Bowl and by my unofficial count we read some form of the option 9 times during the game. Average number of plays for a team like us is 70-75 plays, so roughly 1/7th-1/8th of the time we're running the option.

If Les is suggesting that we should be less multiple and more predictable- which I could maybe understand if Dak wasn't a very good passer, but that's not the case- well then don't let the door hit you on the way out, Les. But that doesn't make ANY sense to me whatsoever. We ran the option a reasonable amount of times and we set some school records. So, I don't see what the issue there is. Not to mention the fact that Dak had some injuries this year and running him ad naueum would have not been the best idea especially in light of our QB situation with Tyler already hurt.

And to say that we were more successful when running the option- did you miss all the pass plays, screens, etc. that were equally successful? We will be better with Robinson and Shumpert getting more carries because that will give us another dimension that we didn't have this past year all that much and should make us even more successful.

[Todd4State]

Why was the DL shitty?

Oh -- because we started Cherry and played him the majority of the snaps -- and played Eulls over Preston Smith or McCardell at DE. That DL is MUCH improved if the personnel usage is anything other than full retard. Autry, Boyd, Eulls, Smith. That DL changes the whole complexion of that season.

If we played PJ Jones over Cherry last year, Chris might still be our DC. Then again, if you are a DC/DL coach and you can't see that then you probably should be fired.

[The Croom Diaries]

If we lose Collins I think we can kiss any hope of 10 wins out the door. It's just way too hard to re-group with two new coordinators. Maybe promoting Gonzo would ease that but I think losing Collins would ultimately put our ceiling at 8 wins.

[HoopsDawg]

If we lose Collins I think we can kiss any hope of 10 wins out the door. It's just way too hard to re-group with two new coordinators. Maybe promoting Gonzo would ease that but I think losing Collins would ultimately put our ceiling at 8 wins.

Collins is the only coach we could lose that I would be upset about.

[Coach34]

We're not really losing an OC- we are losing our QB coach

[engie]

If we played PJ Jones over Cherry last year, Chris might still be our DC. Then again, if you are a DC/DL coach and you can't see that then you probably should be fired.

PJ was suspended for the first 5 last year. So, I'll give him a bit of a pass on that. But there was no reason Cherry was playing over Eulls(bumping down to tackle), Virges, Quay, James...

[ShotgunDawg]

Do you guys think the fact that Florida State just won a national title running a 3/4 defense would have much bearing on the consideration they would give Collins, who runs a 4/3?

[Coach34]

Do you guys think the fact that Florida State just won a national title running a 3/4 defense would have much bearing on the consideration they would give Collins, who runs a 4/3?

That makes a huge difference.

[mcdawg]

We're not really losing an OC- we are losing our QB coach

Talked to someone today that talked to Dak - Dak loves Les.

[EAVdog]

There really is no confirmation that Fisher is even interested in Collins. He's just a name everyone is throwing around right now. A lot of talk on the FSU 247 board that they may promote from within to keep the rest of the D staff but nobody knows anything because Jimbo is out of town.

No reason to get all worked up yet.

[Pollodawg]

Talked to someone today that talked to Dak - Dak loves Les.


Dak probably loves being successful as much as Dak loves Les. Dak strikes me as the kind of young man who'll work hard it doesn't matter what the situation is.

[ckDOG]

What would be the downside of bringing in a special teams guy and Mullen takes over QB coaching? Promote the "OC" from within. Nothing else changes besides Mullen getting away from kicking and punting. Take the difference bt Koenning's paycheck and the new guy's check and make it payable to Mr. Geoffrey Collins.

[War Machine Dawg]

If we don't make a move to shore up Special Teams, Mullen should be fired. There is no ****ing way an SEC team shouldn't have a kicker that's consistent from inside 35 yards. Punting is literally the only thing we do well on STs. If Mullen either can't see that or isn't concerned about it, then he's a liability. You can't be 120/120 in STs and be a 10-win team.

[Goat Holder]

FIRE FIRE FIRE !!!!! Want to fire Nick Saban while you're at it? Cade Foster was 2-4 from 30-39 yards this year.

I know this is Genespagish, but do you really think that Mullen is going to ignore the kicking woes? Amazes me that you really think you know more than the coaching staff. It's pretty obvious we had a kicking problem. Anyone can bitch about it. Solving it is going to be tougher. You saw that we didn't have anybody else on our staff who could kick either. So your choices are A-Recruit a new kicker, 2-Coach up the ones you have, and D-Go for it on every 4th down like Noxubee County.

You'll likely see #2, because Bell and Sobiesk are both very good. Just got a little shell-shocked this year.

[smootness]

If we don't make a move to shore up Special Teams, Mullen should be fired. There is no ****ing way an SEC team shouldn't have a kicker that's consistent from inside 35 yards. Punting is literally the only thing we do well on STs. If Mullen either can't see that or isn't concerned about it, then he's a liability. You can't be 120/120 in STs and be a 10-win team.

We've also been very good in coverage, too. So punting and coverage units seem to be very good; return game is not great and kicking was downright bad this year.

Obviously we need to figure out what we're doing at kicker, but hiring a special teams coach doesn't magically fix that. I would like a ST coach, but you also need to find the right kicker. Return game is all about personnel. I don't think we care about PR yardage, and that's fine with me. I definitely would like to see guys like Holloway and Redmond returning some kicks, though.

[engie]

Goat, the problem is -- we've had kicking woes his ENTIRE career outside of the very first season with the Croom leftovers. I can easily tie a whole bunch of our close losses into missed field goals -- many of which were brutally botched chip shots. And it would definitely get us past the "no top 20 wins" stigma. It's not just a one year deal. That's why we are starting to get really antsy with him about it...

I hope you are right and it is fixed -- but I'd honestly feel better to find out he was bringing in someone new and turning over special teams at this point. The fact that we're "bad" at something(and often something different) on special teams every year speaks volumes to this...Bell has all the potential in the world to win us some games we shouldn't -- but it seems like we're totally squandering that right now.

Outside of holding onto Collins, Special Teams is my single biggest concern for next year. It WILL make the difference in 1-2 games for us...

[FlabLoser]

Mullen brought in Brachle and DePasquale(sp) who were decent.

I've always felt there have to be 5-10 decent kickers already on campus who need to be given the opportunity to tryout and walk on. Why don't we do that?

[Goat Holder]

I thought Depasquale (sp) was pretty solid. I thought that Brauchle was too until I went back and looked at his %. So yes you are right. It certainly seemed much worse last year. Devon Bell can put it in the end zone so I think we have a use for him. Sobiesk I hope is the future from 40 yards in, I really think he just has freshman woes.

[Goat Holder]

There are plenty of MPSA football/soccer boys on the intramural fields that can kick the shit out a football. At least there were when I was there. And furthermore, it's amazing how many natural athletes that come out of MPSA that didn't get recruited just because of competition.

[engie]

We were #122 of 125 this year. http://www.cfbstats.com/2013/leader/national/team/offense/split01/category07/sort01.html
We were #94 of 124 last year.
We were #90 of 120 in 2011.
We were #78 of 120 in 2010.
We were #37 of 120 in 2009.

There has been a clear yearly decline every year he's been here. It is virtually impossible to drop any further... and needs to be a priority, which has not been made clear right now. DePasquale was decent in 09 and 10 -- then fell on his face in 11.

[War Machine Dawg]

Mullen brought in Brachle and DePasquale(sp) who were decent.

I've always felt there have to be 5-10 decent kickers already on campus who need to be given the opportunity to tryout and walk on. Why don't we do that?

I asked this all season, Flabby. Considering how bad our kickers were, there HAD to be someone better on campus. Hell, there are probably several former soccer players in the student body that would've been better. I won't ever forget several years ago Mike Leach having open tryouts in the middle of the season for kicker because his sucked so bad. Found a pretty good one, too, as best I remember.

[War Machine Dawg]

We were #122 of 125 this year. http://www.cfbstats.com/2013/leader/national/team/offense/split01/category07/sort01.html
We were #94 of 124 last year.
We were #90 of 120 in 2011.
We were #78 of 120 in 2010.
We were #37 of 120 in 2009.

There has been a clear yearly decline every year he's been here. It is virtually impossible to drop any further... and needs to be a priority, which has not been made clear right now. DePasquale was decent in 09 and 10 -- then fell on his face in 11.

Boom. And the only reason we're "good" in coverage is because of the hang time our punters get. We give up at least 1 KO return TD a season now. Also, looking at Bell's KO/TB percentage, it isn't as good as everyone seems to think.

[BrunswickDawg]

I've never understood why so many think getting kickers on scholarship is a waste when it can make or break a team. There are plenty of HS programs that churn out top level college kickers. Hell, my HS was one and still is, producing at least 8 D-1 kickers I can think of off the top of my head for UGA, OM & GT (including 1980 and 1990 Natty's). Send that Special Teams GA to see their current kicker - http://mdjonline.com/view/full_story/24346933/article-Marietta-High-student-is-best-punter-in-U-S-?instance=secondary_story_left_column

[hometowndawg]

Believe it or not but I know the following statement to be true.

When Dak's mother passed away, it was Les that drove him down to Louisiana to be with his family and for the funeral.

Dak and Les had a special relationship with each other. Hopefully it wont affect the dynamic of the team.

[Todd4State]

If we don't make a move to shore up Special Teams, Mullen should be fired. There is no ****ing way an SEC team shouldn't have a kicker that's consistent from inside 35 yards. Punting is literally the only thing we do well on STs. If Mullen either can't see that or isn't concerned about it, then he's a liability. You can't be 120/120 in STs and be a 10-win team.

In my post Egg Bowl manifesto after Dan and the team pulled off 6-6, I demanded (FWIW) that we hire a ST coach. I really believe that being bad in ST is a big reason why Dan hasn't had a "signature win" yet.

We simply can NOT afford to be bad in ST.

[Todd4State]

We've also been very good in coverage, too. So punting and coverage units seem to be very good; return game is not great and kicking was downright bad this year.

Obviously we need to figure out what we're doing at kicker, but hiring a special teams coach doesn't magically fix that. I would like a ST coach, but you also need to find the right kicker. Return game is all about personnel. I don't think we care about PR yardage, and that's fine with me. I definitely would like to see guys like Holloway and Redmond returning some kicks, though.

Remember last year when Corderrlle Patterson and Auburn returned kicks back on us? How many years did people complain about us not being able to get a touchback on a kickoff before Bell got to campus? Even punter- the one thing we do "well"- we had a punt either blocked or dropped TWICE in the end zone this year.

You may not care about PR yardage- but you should because Jameon cost us a TON of field position yards not being decisive or making the wrong decision.

I don't think it's the players. I don't think they are getting the attention that they need to be good. They're the ONLY group being run basically by a grad assistant- (not his fault that he is put in a position to not succeed). That's like an intern/student running a major part of business. Dan can NOT be the head coach, coach QB's, call offensive plays, and oversee a grad assistant running special teams.

[Todd4State]

We were #122 of 125 this year. http://www.cfbstats.com/2013/leader/national/team/offense/split01/category07/sort01.html
We were #94 of 124 last year.
We were #90 of 120 in 2011.
We were #78 of 120 in 2010.
We were #37 of 120 in 2009.

There has been a clear yearly decline every year he's been here. It is virtually impossible to drop any further... and needs to be a priority, which has not been made clear right now. DePasquale was decent in 09 and 10 -- then fell on his face in 11.

That's every bit as bad as I thought it would be. Which is sad.

[Todd4State]

I've never understood why so many think getting kickers on scholarship is a waste when it can make or break a team. There are plenty of HS programs that churn out top level college kickers. Hell, my HS was one and still is, producing at least 8 D-1 kickers I can think of off the top of my head for UGA, OM & GT (including 1980 and 1990 Natty's). Send that Special Teams GA to see their current kicker - http://mdjonline.com/view/full_story/24346933/article-Marietta-High-student-is-best-punter-in-U-S-?instance=secondary_story_left_column

I don't think it's a waste to give a kicker a scholarship. I think it's a waste to have one in the signing class- which is different. My philosophy is to have open tryouts and the winner gets the scholarship. If you give a kicker a scholarship in a signing class, you are almost obligated to use them even if they don't work out.

[War Machine Dawg]

In my post Egg Bowl manifesto after Dan and the team pulled off 6-6, I demanded (FWIW) that we hire a ST coach. I really believe that being bad in ST is a big reason why Dan hasn't had a "signature win" yet.

We simply can NOT afford to be bad in ST.

Absolutely. Hell, if Bell makes 2 chip shots this year at Auburn, we win that game. Not that my opinion does any good, but if we don't make a move to improve ST, Mullen has to be held accountable somehow. Hell, as tight as he is with The Kang, you think Sherrill would have drilled it into his head how important STs are.

[Todd4State]

Absolutely. Hell, if Bell makes 2 chip shots this year at Auburn, we win that game. Not that my opinion does any good, but if we don't make a move to improve ST, Mullen has to be held accountable somehow. Hell, as tight as he is with The Kang, you think Sherrill would have drilled it into his head how important STs are.

Exactly on the point about Sherrill. There's no telling how much field position we have cost ourselves over Dan's tenure, but I bet it would make me sick to know. Bad kickoffs, poor coverage, making the wrong decision on a punt return- it's just a cluster.

If we don't hire a special teams coach or assign it to somebody- I don't care if it is Sallach- I will not be happy. And I'll probably send an e-mail with engie's stats to Scott and then one to Dan or whoever reads his e-mail. It's really gotten to that point. If he had a coach at any position that produced like he has on special teams, he would fire him. He's fired Torbush and Wilson for less.

[Todd4State]

FIRE FIRE FIRE !!!!! Want to fire Nick Saban while you're at it? Cade Foster was 2-4 from 30-39 yards this year.

I know this is Genespagish, but do you really think that Mullen is going to ignore the kicking woes? Amazes me that you really think you know more than the coaching staff. It's pretty obvious we had a kicking problem. Anyone can bitch about it. Solving it is going to be tougher. You saw that we didn't have anybody else on our staff who could kick either. So your choices are A-Recruit a new kicker, 2-Coach up the ones you have, and D-Go for it on every 4th down like Noxubee County.

You'll likely see #2, because Bell and Sobiesk are both very good. Just got a little shell-shocked this year.

I'm seeing this in hindsight- but special teams has COST Saban one NC opportunity and one perfect season a couple of years ago. If Alabama can't overcome crappy special teams play, how are we supposed to do it? And yes- Saban does indeed in my opinion need to really evaluate special teams because they are not living up to his "standard" that he always talks about. If I was an Alabama fan, I wouldn't be real happy the way the year ended basically because the special teams unit couldn't kick field goals and just stood around with their thumb up their ass while Auburn ran back a field goal for a TD. If Ole Miss did that to us in the Egg Bowl, I KNOW I would be pissed. No. Doubt. About. It.

Heck, they almost cost us the Egg Bowl this year- we missed a 30 yarder in the freaking middle of the field to win the game and then Ole Miss's only TD came when they blocked a punt in the end zone. With average special teams, we win 10-3 with our third string QB. Thank goodness it worked out, but if it didn't, I have ZERO doubt that we would have a special teams coach by Christmas.

[BrunswickDawg]

I don't think it's a waste to give a kicker a scholarship. I think it's a waste to have one in the signing class- which is different. My philosophy is to have open tryouts and the winner gets the scholarship. If you give a kicker a scholarship in a signing class, you are almost obligated to use them even if they don't work out. How is that any different then an O-lineman who doesn't work out and sits on scholly for 4-5 years and never plays? We've had hundreds of those over the years. My point is that I think we see that the kicking game is getting more respect around the country - even getting to the point that you have websites and competitions and rankings for the specialty that you have never had before. Combine this with the growth of college soccer over the last 20 years and there are fewer guys hanging around on campuses who could walk on and kick. Regardless, we have to go about it differently because they way we do it now has not been working. We got any Aussie Rules guys on campus? Everyone else seems to find them or an ex-MLS player.