Coaching Changes?

[1bigdawg]

A few of the insiders on here were sure we were going to have some coaching changes this year. Is there any progress on that? Any chance the country club will be broken up?

[Leeshouldveflanked]

But Hevesy will be here as long as Dan is here...

[NCDawg]

But Hevesy will be here as long as Dan is here...

And therein lies the problem. In addition, our young DC needs to go. His style of defense is not going to work at State imo.

[Bodaski]

And therein lies the problem. In addition, our young DC needs to go. His style of defense is not going to work at State imo.

I get your thoughts on replacing Sirmon, based on this year's play alone. But in saying that, I think one, if not the biggest problem on defense is making too many changes in DC's. I think Sirmon is a very smart guy and I really believe if we can keep this staff and build some continuity, we will be a much improved team on defense. When you look at the total picture on the defensive side of the ball, its got M's fingerprints all over it. I think Dan really likes Sirmon and has confidence in him. Personally, I like Sirmon and I think we will be much improved on defense if we keep Sirmon and build and recruit players that will help us.

[HoopsDawg]

I get your thoughts on replacing Sirmon, based on this year's play alone. But in saying that, I think one, if not the biggest problem on defense is making too many changes in DC's. I think Sirmon is a very smart guy and I really believe if we can keep this staff and build some continuity, we will be a much improved team on defense. When you look at the total picture on the defensive side of the ball, its got M's fingerprints all over it. I think Dan really likes Sirmon and has confidence in him. Personally, I like Sirmon and I think we will be much improved on defense if we keep Sirmon and build and recruit players that will help us.

That was the 2nd worst defense I have ever seen at MSU. And our players aren't that bad. We couldn't get any pressure all year long. We were poor tacklers. We played soft coverage over the middle. And we couldn't get teams off the field. Not even Miami of Ohio or Samford. You don't keep the wrong guy just b/c we have had turnover in the past. I think we need to go ahead and get the right guy in place so we will be ready to make a run in 2018 when Nick, Aeris, and all these Juco's are seniors.

[Coackjek]

That was the 2nd worst defense I have ever seen at MSU. And our players aren't that bad. We couldn't get any pressure all year long. We were poor tacklers. We played soft coverage over the middle. And we couldn't get teams off the field. Not even Miami of Ohio or Samford. You don't keep the wrong guy just b/c we have had turnover in the past. I think we need to go ahead and get the right guy in place so we will be ready to make a run in 2018 when Nick, Aeris, and all these Juco's are seniors.

So, bring the "right" one so we can complain and bicker about how awful the defense was next year. Some of the defensive guys would have had a different defensive scheme each year of their college career. Give then two years at least in a scheme before you cast a judgement. I know we want to see immediate results but playing defense is not always about pinning your ears back and getting pressure. Yes, it helps in the passing game but the RPO has changed that philosophy.

[dawgday166]

I'm inclined to stand pat on this one. It was a whole new staff on the D side this year. That takes some time to integrate all together. Their individual coaching resumes look pretty good. I just don't know in reality tho. I gotta trust Dan on this one and see what happens. He's the guy that makes the big bucks to figure it out. I tend to believe they need another year.

As for the argument that Sirmon has no experience as DC. Dan didn't have any experience as a HC and he still (after 8 years) hasn't learned some things relative to that position.

ETA: I also tend to believe the move to the 3-4 is a good one long term. It took Saban a couple of years to move to the spread, and he's working with a lot better talent than we are.

[I seen it dawg]

Bust up country club, keep def staff in tact, move Peterson to field and give recruiting guys a raise.. 2 of them in particular.

[dawgday166]

Bust up country club, keep def staff in tact, move Peterson to field and give recruiting guys a raise.. 2 of them in particular.

Without knowing all the ins-and-outs of everything ... some moves like these make more sense to me at the moment.

[HoopsDawg]

So, bring the "right" one so we can complain and bicker about how awful the defense was next year. Some of the defensive guys would have had a different defensive scheme each year of their college career. Give then two years at least in a scheme before you cast a judgement. I know we want to see immediate results but playing defense is not always about pinning your ears back and getting pressure. Yes, it helps in the passing game but the RPO has changed that philosophy.

Chris Wilson, Manny Diaz x2, Geoff Collins, all of these guys put better defenses on the field. Sirmon doesn't have any equity built up b/c he's never shown he can do it anywhere else thus the short leash. One of the only benefits to a 3-4 is disguising blitz's and bringing a variety of rushers. How many times did we have a free rusher this year? Very rarely. And I still don't think we have the LB personal to run a 3-4. You need 3 or 4 absolute hosses at LB. We have 1.

Scrap this thing, get back to a 4-3 or 4-2-5 and let's make a run in 2018. I don't want to be rebuilding again after next season.

[GTHOM]

That was the 2nd worst defense I have ever seen at MSU. And our players aren't that bad. We couldn't get any pressure all year long. We were poor tacklers. We played soft coverage over the middle. And we couldn't get teams off the field. Not even Miami of Ohio or Samford. You don't keep the wrong guy just b/c we have had turnover in the past. I think we need to go ahead and get the right guy in place so we will be ready to make a run in 2018 when Nick, Aeris, and all these Juco's are seniors.

We arent getting a big time DC here. Nobody wants to work with Mullen. Nobody wants to be told how to do his job

[Todd4State]

I bet the Peterson for Sallach move is the only one made this offseason.

[SallyStansbury]

Chris Wilson, Manny Diaz x2, Geoff Collins, all of these guys put better defenses on the field. Sirmon doesn't have any equity built up b/c he's never shown he can do it anywhere else thus the short leash. One of the only benefits to a 3-4 is disguising blitz's and bringing a variety of rushers. How many times did we have a free rusher this year? Very rarely. And I still don't think we have the LB personal to run a 3-4. You need 3 or 4 absolute hosses at LB. We have 1.

Scrap this thing, get back to a 4-3 or 4-2-5 and let's make a run in 2018. I don't want to be rebuilding again after next season.

1A/1B
3 Man Front

Seems someone is big on themes/schemes philosophy. Results on the field do not support this bullshit approach.

Our defense plays tight like they are afraid of getting benched or ass chewed for "making a mistake". You hear Mullen repeatedly reference this in his coach speak jargon, halftime interviews, etc..... this places the coaches front and center "look at my scheme/philosophy, I am so smart!!!" Doing it over and over Predictably, then bitching about player execution when it fails is Croomesque.

Think of Alabama or other teams who reward aggression on D by letting the guy who made the interception wear a wrestling belt, or go over and sign a take away list for a bone jarring hit that caused a fumble....that is the kind of stuff that places the focus on the player, kicking ass, being awesome, winning, having fun. We need more of that and way less of "playing not to make mistakes". I suspect this gets back to control issues, managing situations, trusting assistant coaches and players. I expect nothing to change.

[HoopsDawg]

We arent getting a big time DC here. Nobody wants to work with Mullen. Nobody wants to be told how to do his job

For the right price, we can get a DC that has a history of actually being a DC. It doesn't have to be a homerun hire for an upgrade. Hell, I would take the Miami of Ohio DC.

[HoopsDawg]

1A/1B
3 Man Front

Seems someone is big on themes/schemes philosophy. Results on the field do not support this bullshit approach.

Our defense plays tight like they are afraid of getting benched or ass chewed for "making a mistake". You hear Mullen repeatedly reference this in his coach speak jargon, halftime interviews, etc..... this places the coaches front and center "look at my scheme/philosophy, I am so smart!!!" Doing it over and over Predictably, then bitching about player execution when it fails is Croomesque.

Think of Alabama or other teams who reward aggression on D by letting the guy who made the interception wear a wrestling belt, or go over and sign a take away list for a bone jarring hit that caused a fumble....that is the kind of stuff that places the focus on the player, kicking ass, being awesome, winning, having fun. We need more of that and way less of "playing not to make mistakes". I suspect this gets back to control issues, managing situations, trusting assistant coaches and players. I expect nothing to change.

I agree, but the key to playing fast and playing aggressive is a simple scheme where our guys don't have to think to much. I think our scheme was too complicated most of the year. Sirmon cut it back and pared it down to the point where we weren't effective anymore. I'm glad we rushed 3 at times against MO b/c we weren't getting pressure anyway.

[CadaverDawg]

Chris Wilson, Manny Diaz x2, Geoff Collins, all of these guys put better defenses on the field. Sirmon doesn't have any equity built up b/c he's never shown he can do it anywhere else thus the short leash. One of the only benefits to a 3-4 is disguising blitz's and bringing a variety of rushers. How many times did we have a free rusher this year? Very rarely. And I still don't think we have the LB personal to run a 3-4. You need 3 or 4 absolute hosses at LB. We have 1.

Scrap this thing, get back to a 4-3 or 4-2-5 and let's make a run in 2018. I don't want to be rebuilding again after next season.

I'm with you. No way we can turn around that shit show defense in one off season with Sirmon. After all we had a ton of talent on D this year yet even guys like Richie & Gerri regressed under one off season with Sirmon. Now we expect him to turn it all the way around after destroying it? Not happening.

[SallyStansbury]

I agree, but the key to playing fast and playing aggressive is a simple scheme where our guys don't have to think to much. I think our scheme was too complicated most of the year. Sirmon cut it back and pared it down to the point where we weren't effective anymore. I'm glad we rushed 3 at times against MO b/c we weren't getting pressure anyway.

I agree with you. Is that Sirmon, or Coach Mullen's excessively risk averse strategy playing out? There is a whole lot of emphasis on gap assignments or playing lanes, occupying space (think 74 Cherrington) for DL, etc....but if it leads to NEVER getting a drop of pressure on the QB, that is an error, a huge error, in and of itself.

Our passive zone with weak rush is a recipe for disaster. With a purely green DC it allowed Mullen too much influence over the passivity of our defense. The stubbornness (because he is never wrong) is painful to watch as opposing teams now have 8 yrs of film to study our tendencies. Likely that, or this is the most amazing 8 yr set up for us to dominate Alabama next year with stunts/twists and obscure, aggressive blitz packages?

[Lance Harbor]

Bust up country club, keep def staff in tact, move Peterson to field and give recruiting guys a raise.. 2 of them in particular.

This.

[Ari Gold]

Bust up country club, keep def staff in tact, move Peterson to field and give recruiting guys a raise.. 2 of them in particular.

I Seen It Dawg must be reading the Ari Gold Standard 2017 manual.
Agree with everything and will add Hire a ST coach. If one coach on the def staff could move on it would be Coach Mo.

[Coach 57]

One thing to account for is the entire overhaul of the scheme. I don't care what any of you guys say, I KNOW that there's a huge gap between incorporating a 3-4 multiple from a 4-3 base scheme. We've recruited the 4-3 for many years the roles of the players are completely different! It's like trying to make a round peg a square peg, it takes time and in all honesty it takes probably about 2yrs to fully incorporate it. The kids have to UNLEARN what they've learned. I felt sorry for Richie Brown because he's had a new DC every year and the last year he was asked to do things he CAN NOT DO.


Which totally baffled me as to why CDM hired Sirmon in the 1st place, but now that he's here let's keep him. Don't do this to the kids. Either go ALL IN for it or don't do it! We have NO LEGIT 0 tech NT. I'm sorry but Simmons, Hoyett or even James were ready to fill that void. Without that anchor the entire defense gets left out to dry. So now what? Keep him, give Sirmon some time (now that he's here) and hopefully he learned: "just because you know it, and say it doesn't mean they (the players) GET IT." Sometimes you've gotta K.I.S.S......keep it simple stupid.

[CadaverDawg]

One thing to account for is the entire overhaul of the scheme. I don't care what any of you guys say, I KNOW that there's a huge gap between incorporating a 3-4 multiple from a 4-3 base scheme. We've recruited the 4-3 for many years the roles of the players are completely different! It's like trying to make a round peg a square peg, it takes time and in all honesty it takes probably about 2yrs to fully incorporate it. The kids have to UNLEARN what they've learned. I felt sorry for Richie Brown because he's had a new DC every year and the last year he was asked to do things he CAN NOT DO.


Which totally baffled me as to why CDM hired Sirmon in the 1st place, but now that he's here let's keep him. Don't do this to the kids. Either go ALL IN for it or don't do it! We have NO LEGIT 0 tech NT. I'm sorry but Simmons, Hoyett or even James were ready to fill that void. Without that anchor the entire defense gets left out to dry. So now what? Keep him, give Sirmon some time (now that he's here) and hopefully he learned: "just because you know it, and say it doesn't mean they (the players) GET IT." Sometimes you've gotta K.I.S.S......keep it simple stupid.

So it's going to take 2+ years for every defensive recruit to get a grasp of the scheme?? Because very few high school's Run a 34. We cannot afford that. If it takes 2 years for guys to grasp the 3-4, that's even more reason to cut Sirmon loose now. These complicated schemes are not good for college football, bc no big time recruit will want to ride pine for 2 years learning a scheme. Why doesn't it take Bama's players 2 years to learn it? And if you say "their talent speeds up the process"...then I just added another reason to fire Sirmon, bc we'll never have their talent.

So while I think you are probably 100% correct, Coach...do those points not lead to concern in learning curve for 3-4 year players, and leave you thinking scrapping the 34 is our best option? What am I missing?

[Maroons]

What am I missing?

We don't have a 0 tech player in the middle. That is a must-have, or this D won't work. Have to upgrade the DB's too.

I think the lack of overall defensive talent and toughness was more of an issue this year than the scheme.

[thf24]

We don't have a 0 tech player in the middle. That is a must-have, or this D won't work. Have to upgrade the DB's too.

I think the lack of overall defensive talent and toughness was more of an issue this year than the scheme.

We're not going to have that true 0 tech next year either, so are we just going to put a defense that doesn't work on the field for the second year in a row? Knowing that it's a talent/personnel problem over scheme doesn't make things any better if we have no immediate solution to it.

[CadaverDawg]

We don't have a 0 tech player in the middle. That is a must-have, or this D won't work. Have to upgrade the DB's too.

I think the lack of overall defensive talent and toughness was more of an issue this year than the scheme.

That's funny bc Richie, Gerri, Bryant, Adams, Simmons, Durr, Calvin, etc have all ever proven to be talented in the past or everyone agrees they are very talented. I'm not buying the "no talent" excuse. Most of these guys were part of a much better D last season.

As for the zero tech....we aren't ever going to land better DL talent than Simmons, James, etc...so if suddenly we're going to need a 5 star NT to run our new scheme every year, we'll suck a lot in the near future.

I just don't like the combo of needing multiple years to learn the 3-4 and needing more talent to play the 3-4....we've never had more talent than we have on D lately....so how can this possibly make sense for us?

[CadaverDawg]

We're not going to have that true 0 tech next year either, so are we just going to put a defense that doesn't work on the field for the second year in a row? Knowing that it's a talent/personnel problem over scheme doesn't make things any better if we have no immediate solution to it.

Exactly. All we heard pre season was how Sirmon would be multiple and "scheme around the talent he has" (his words)....well, how has that turned into an excuse train about not having the players to run his scheme? Somebody's lying, bc those 2 things can't both be true.

[Really Clark?]

So it's going to take 2+ years for every defensive recruit to get a grasp of the scheme?? Because very few high school's Run a 34. We cannot afford that. If it takes 2 years for guys to grasp the 3-4, that's even more reason to cut Sirmon loose now. These complicated schemes are not good for college football, bc no big time recruit will want to ride pine for 2 years learning a scheme. Why doesn't it take Bama's players 2 years to learn it? And if you say "their talent speeds up the process"...then I just added another reason to fire Sirmon, bc we'll never have their talent.

So while I think you are probably 100% correct, Coach...do those points not lead to concern in learning curve for 3-4 year players, and leave you thinking scrapping the 34 is our best option? What am I missing?

While I'm on record saying that continuity has been a driving force for me wanting to keep the path for another year earlier this year, I came out for cutting bait with Sirmon after Arkansas. Just him but even bad continuity and we can field a Top 50 defense. So I'm ok with a change at DC but definitely understand the point of staying the course for a year.

But it's not that big a deal for incoming freshman to take a while with any system. 80% are going to redshirt anyway and most are not big contributors until their 2nd or 3rd year. Big time players will adapt enough that their physical ability will overcome their IQ. Simmons showed that this year. We also have to exclude any comparison to Bama out of the equation. Eventhough they also struggled for a year to transition. That's a different animal. But Vandy runs a 3-4, Wisconsin, App St, and they are successful running it. It takes 2 full springs for it to take hold though. We knew there were going to be issues this year. This bad, no we didn't see that, but significant missteps I was prepared for. But I don't have a problem staying with a 3-4 or multiple defense, which is what Sirmon really is. 3-4 but you will see 4-3 and 3-3 looks most games as well.

[HoopsDawg]

To me the perfect scheme in college (especially at MSU) is a 4-2-5 because it gets more speed on the field and it gets more cover guys on the field to counter today's pass-happy, spread oriented offenses. It's also a pretty simple scheme to run so you can play fast and be confident in your assignments. You can also vary your blitzes with the back 7 to bring pressure from all angles.

This would be a pretty stout starting 11:

SDE: Rivers/(Sweat on passing downs)
DT: Simmons
DT: C. Thomas
DE: Spencer

LB: Leo Lewis
LB: Green/E. Thompson

CB: Dantzler
CB: Cleveland
Nickel: Landrews
S: Abram
S: McLaurin

[CadaverDawg]

To me the perfect scheme in college (especially at MSU) is a 4-2-5 because it gets more speed on the field and it gets more cover guys on the field to counter today's pass-happy, spread oriented offenses. It's also a pretty simple scheme to run so you can play fast and be confident in your assignments. You can also vary your blitzes with the back 7 to bring pressure from all angles.

This would be a pretty stout starting 11:

SDE: Rivers/(Sweat on passing downs)
DT: Simmons
DT: C. Thomas
DE: Spencer

LB: Leo Lewis
LB: Green/E. Thompson

CB: Dantzler
CB: Cleveland
Nickel: Landrews
S: Abram
S: McLaurin

Love it. Would immediately improve pass D, and add speed to our slow defense. Gives us options to beef up the unit on running downs. Makes perfect sense in today's spread culture and with our current personnel

[Johnson85]

One thing to account for is the entire overhaul of the scheme. I don't care what any of you guys say, I KNOW that there's a huge gap between incorporating a 3-4 multiple from a 4-3 base scheme. We've recruited the 4-3 for many years the roles of the players are completely different! It's like trying to make a round peg a square peg, it takes time and in all honesty it takes probably about 2yrs to fully incorporate it. The kids have to UNLEARN what they've learned. I felt sorry for Richie Brown because he's had a new DC every year and the last year he was asked to do things he CAN NOT DO.


Which totally baffled me as to why CDM hired Sirmon in the 1st place, but now that he's here let's keep him. Don't do this to the kids. Either go ALL IN for it or don't do it! We have NO LEGIT 0 tech NT. I'm sorry but Simmons, Hoyett or even James were ready to fill that void. Without that anchor the entire defense gets left out to dry. So now what? Keep him, give Sirmon some time (now that he's here) and hopefully he learned: "just because you know it, and say it doesn't mean they (the players) GET IT." Sometimes you've gotta K.I.S.S......keep it simple stupid.

That's all well and good but we're not giving much up if we make the switch now as it doesn't look like the players get it any more today than they did on the first day of the season. If we're starting from a position of absolute dog shit regardless, why not go to a 4-3? Most of the players are used to it, so it shouldn't be any harder to learn in an offseason than the 3-4, which they seemed to have grasped none of so far.

I do recognize that it woudl be extremely hard to make a good hire after firing a guy after one year when the guy was transitioning from 4-3 to 3-4 in his first time coordinator gig, but holy shit we looked awful. We still couldn't even line up correctly by the arkansas game. Just not sure it's possible that somebody that is a good coach could have had such a shitty defense at that point in teh season.

[CadaverDawg]

That's all well and good but we're not giving much up if we make the switch now as it doesn't look like the players get it any more today than they did on the first day of the season. If we're starting from a position of absolute dog shit regardless, why not go to a 4-3? Most of the players are used to it, so it shouldn't be any harder to learn in an offseason than the 3-4, which they seemed to have grasped none of so far.

I do recognize that it woudl be extremely hard to make a good hire after firing a guy after one year when the guy was transitioning from 4-3 to 3-4 in his first time coordinator gig, but holy shit we looked awful. We still couldn't even line up correctly by the arkansas game. Just not sure it's possible that somebody that is a good coach could have had such a shitty defense at that point in teh season.

This ^^

[bulldawg28]

To me the perfect scheme in college (especially at MSU) is a 4-2-5 because it gets more speed on the field and it gets more cover guys on the field to counter today's pass-happy, spread oriented offenses. It's also a pretty simple scheme to run so you can play fast and be confident in your assignments. You can also vary your blitzes with the back 7 to bring pressure from all angles.

This would be a pretty stout starting 11:

SDE: Rivers/(Sweat on passing downs)
DT: Simmons
DT: C. Thomas
DE: Spencer

LB: Leo Lewis
LB: Green/E. Thompson

CB: Dantzler
CB: Cleveland
Nickel: Landrews
S: Abram
S: McLaurin

This Defense would give teams hellc with the exception of Green in the middle. He's a defensive end. He's not physical enough for LB. He's Richie 2.0 there.

[WPS]

One thing to account for is the entire overhaul of the scheme. I don't care what any of you guys say, I KNOW that there's a huge gap between incorporating a 3-4 multiple from a 4-3 base scheme. We've recruited the 4-3 for many years the roles of the players are completely different! It's like trying to make a round peg a square peg, it takes time and in all honesty it takes probably about 2yrs to fully incorporate it. The kids have to UNLEARN what they've learned. I felt sorry for Richie Brown because he's had a new DC every year and the last year he was asked to do things he CAN NOT DO.


Which totally baffled me as to why CDM hired Sirmon in the 1st place, but now that he's here let's keep him. Don't do this to the kids. Either go ALL IN for it or don't do it! We have NO LEGIT 0 tech NT. I'm sorry but Simmons, Hoyett or even James were ready to fill that void. Without that anchor the entire defense gets left out to dry. So now what? Keep him, give Sirmon some time (now that he's here) and hopefully he learned: "just because you know it, and say it doesn't mean they (the players) GET IT." Sometimes you've gotta K.I.S.S......keep it simple stupid.

This is interesting because there are rumors we (Arkansas) are switching to a 3-4 defense next year. But we had a historically bad rush defense this year in the 4-3 so I'm not sure how much worse it can get. Seems like a lot of teams are switching now to combat the spread so there won't be enough true NTs out there for everyone.

[NCDawg]

This Defense would give teams hellc with the exception of Green in the middle. He's a defensive end. He's not physical enough for LB. He's Richie 2.0 there.

I definitely agree about Green. From what I've seen of him, he is not very physical. But, as far as that goes, I haven't seen anyone on our defense very physical, except for perhaps Leo Lewis. Hopefully, these JC guys coming in will be physical. You can't play defense without being mean and tough.

[HoopsDawg]

I definitely agree about Green. From what I've seen of him, he is not very physical. But, as far as that goes, I haven't seen anyone on our defense very physical, except for perhaps Leo Lewis. Hopefully, these JC guys coming in will be physical. You can't play defense without being mean and tough.

Hopefully he makes a big jump from soph to junior year. If not Dez Harris or Errol could take his spot. If we move to a 4-2-5 he could bulk up and play WDE which is probably where he should be.

[bulldawg28]

I definitely agree about Green. From what I've seen of him, he is not very physical. But, as far as that goes, I haven't seen anyone on our defense very physical, except for perhaps Leo Lewis. Hopefully, these JC guys coming in will be physical. You can't play defense without being mean and tough.

I think Harris or Jung would do a great job there. We're wasting talent with Jung and JT. As bad as the safeties played Gray would have taken over one of those spots. Harris should have played over Richie and Jung should have played a lot more

[Commercecomet24]

To me the perfect scheme in college (especially at MSU) is a 4-2-5 because it gets more speed on the field and it gets more cover guys on the field to counter today's pass-happy, spread oriented offenses. It's also a pretty simple scheme to run so you can play fast and be confident in your assignments. You can also vary your blitzes with the back 7 to bring pressure from all angles.

This would be a pretty stout starting 11:

SDE: Rivers/(Sweat on passing downs)
DT: Simmons
DT: C. Thomas
DE: Spencer

LB: Leo Lewis
LB: Green/E. Thompson

CB: Dantzler
CB: Cleveland
Nickel: Landrews
S: Abram
S: McLaurin

Absolutely agree! Im all for going smaller across the board if it means getting more speed on the field. Not only do you need a bad ass 0 in the 3-4 you gotta have some serious lb talent especially the 2 inside guys and as coach57 alluded to Richie was not capable of playing the inside in a 3-4 scheme. Get the speed on the field one way or another please!

[maroonmania]

That's all well and good but we're not giving much up if we make the switch now as it doesn't look like the players get it any more today than they did on the first day of the season. If we're starting from a position of absolute dog shit regardless, why not go to a 4-3? Most of the players are used to it, so it shouldn't be any harder to learn in an offseason than the 3-4, which they seemed to have grasped none of so far.

I do recognize that it woudl be extremely hard to make a good hire after firing a guy after one year when the guy was transitioning from 4-3 to 3-4 in his first time coordinator gig, but holy shit we looked awful. We still couldn't even line up correctly by the arkansas game. Just not sure it's possible that somebody that is a good coach could have had such a shitty defense at that point in teh season.

And if Sirmon puts out another crap defense next year and we have to switch out again is it going to take another 2 years for guys to move back to the 4-3? I've learned that you can't tell a lot about how well a guy can coach by listening to him speak. Heck, there were people who thought Rick Ray was going to be the second coming as a basketball coach listening to him talk but he could not actually coach a lick.

[Goldendawg]

Check out the thread on Brian Johnson. He'e gone to U of Houston.