Joe Moorhead article in The Athletic

[Johnson85]

Moorhead did a great job hiring defensive coaches, has done a very good job recruiting, and did a good job on offense in 8-9 games (Iowa is a toss up since we should have won that game other than a WR drop turning into a Int and a blown coverage TD).

Moorhead did a shit job adjusting in the UK, UF, LSU, and Bama games on offense.

All of that is fair. But while it's encouraging going forward that his offense worked against weak defenses, our defense and running game had enough talent that just about any coach would have won 6 of those games. So looking at just this year, in the 5 games coaching could reasonably make a difference good or bad, his side of the ball was completely inept in three of them. Minimal competency moves the needles in two of those.

So his performance gives reasons to feel optimistic about the future, but that doesn't change the fact that this year was not a good job by him, especially if you are looking judging by wins and losses.

[ShotgunDawg]

Moorhead did a great job hiring defensive coaches, has done a very good job recruiting, and did a good job on offense in 8-9 games (Iowa is a toss up since we should have won that game other than a WR drop turning into a Int and a blown coverage TD).

Moorhead did a shit job adjusting in the UK, UF, LSU, and Bama games on offense.

Why does everyone keep saying that he did a great job recruiting?

Is there evidence of this somewhere that I'm unaware of?

[confucius say]

I actually liked the article.

The anonymous quote didn't bother me because whoever said it is mostly right.

I obviously have deep concerns about Moorhead, but I would say that fixing offenses is what his career is built on & I honestly don't see any reason why it can't happen here. This year will tell us an awful lot about the type of coach we hired.

I'm eyeing that road trip to Tennessee. That's a game that, if Moorhead is the right guy, he will win. Our talent & Tennessee's are close enough that coaching will matter as to the outcome & there is absolutely no way we should settle for having a coach that is worse that Pruitt.

Why this year? I think you have to give him time to get his qb who can run his system ready.

He took over an offensive roster that was built to run a very niche, specific type of offense. Our skill guys were the worst in the conference for what joe wants to do (stretch you vertically).

[deadheaddawg]

I absolutely hate quotes from anonymous people.

Could you please provide your real full name? You should not hide behind this login

[ShotgunDawg]

Why this year? I think you have to give him time to get his qb who can run his system ready.

He took over an offensive roster that was built to run a very niche, specific type of offense. Our skill guys were the worst in the conference for what joe wants to do (stretch you vertically).

I get what you're saying but good offensive coaches usually turn things around in year 2. Constantly saying they don't have the right QB yet just more often than not leads to a Croom situation where a guy runs a program into the ground over 5 years.

You just simply can't give it that long. If he can't get things headed in the right direction this year, then his offense is extremely too rigid & isn't creative enough

[msstate7]

Could you please provide your real full name? You should not hide behind this login

Nice.

If the Atlantic uses me as a source, I'll give it then

[confucius say]

I agree with this.

I think most people's problem with Moorhead is that they think all he needed to do was run Mullen's offense & we would've been fine. Problem is, he doesn't know Mullen's offense

Yep. Great point and what I've said all along. Coaches can adapt somewhat and put some plays in to cater to certain strengths, but it is a myth that any coach just comes in and completely changes his system to fit his personnel.

[Political Hack]

An assistant said that about the 72' Dolphins?

What a pansy. Had arguably the most talented defense in the country and he's bitching about high expectations... in the SEC. That's Croomesque. Blaming the talent or the players for a lack of adjustments and creativity.

I was incredibly impressed with how the staff handled everything when they were hired, but it's been a slow role downhill since. They'd better pick up some steam quickly or the fan base will derail on them. I've been back and forth on Joe and tried to withhold judgement until he has at least two years under his belt, but I'm not seeing anything that's making me think we're going to be a contender for the SEC West any time soon.

[Coach34]

Bottom line, Moorhead did a good job.

Some may not want to hear this, but an 8 win season is a good season. Any way you slice it.

9-4 in 2017
3 1st round picks and a 6th round pick on D, plus 4 signed as a FA returning on D

Offense had the top 2 QB's returning- one the SEC all-time leading rusher who completed 55.6% of his passes in 2017
Top 7 rushers returning- including a 1,000 yard back
8 guys returning that caught passes in 2017
4 starters returning on the OL

17 starters returning overall

Went 8-5

I'll repeat it again- we made the necessary offensive changes vs Auburn after the Kentucky/Fla debacles to win with over 400 yards of offense. Auburn finished 4th in the SEC in scoring D. And we never did it again- why? Because we decided we would rather lose running our offense as opposed to what was best for the 2018 team.

What about all that screams "good job"?

[KOdawg1]

Here we go again..

New thread, same discussion. Rinse, repeat

[Political Hack]

Why this year? I think you have to give him time to get his qb who can run his system ready.

He took over an offensive roster that was built to run a very niche, specific type of offense. Our skill guys were the worst in the conference for what joe wants to do (stretch you vertically).

If you go back and look at the preseason discussions from last year I said our success was going to depend on whether Fitz could throw the deep ball. If you can't hit that 9 down the sidelines against man up coverage the offense doesn't work.

[confucius say]

Why does everyone keep saying that he did a great job recruiting?

Is there evidence of this somewhere that I'm unaware of?

Only thing I could see is top 20 class in 2019 as far as average ranking per signee.

[Tbonewannabe]

Why does everyone keep saying that he did a great job recruiting?

Is there evidence of this somewhere that I'm unaware of?

I would say having one of the highest rated classes in the last 15 or so years is pretty good evidence. It isn't like Cross or Pickering was some commitments he held onto. He got those guys over pretty much some of the best programs in the country. We are also setting up this year having another good class. Mullen only had 1 or 2 classes in his 9 years that would compare to Moorhead's first class.

[TrapGame]

Here we go again..

New thread, same discussion. Rinse, repeat

Same shit, different thread.

[ShotgunDawg]

Only thing I could see is top 20 class in 2019 as far as average ranking per signee.

But that's because he didn't sign enough players. If he would've signed a full 25, the average would have gone down

[ShotgunDawg]

I would say having one of the highest rated classes in the last 15 or so years is pretty good evidence. It isn't like Cross or Pickering was some commitments he held onto. He got those guys over pretty much some of the best programs in the country. We are also setting up this year having another good class. Mullen only had 1 or 2 classes in his 9 years that would compare to Moorhead's first class.

He had 18 in-state 4 stars to work with & didn't even sign a full class while finishing 7th in the West in the recruiting rankings.

Please for goodness sakes I wish some of you would raise expectations

[Tbonewannabe]

9-4 in 2017
3 1st round picks and a 6th round pick on D, plus 4 signed as a FA returning on D

Offense had the top 2 QB's returning- one the SEC all-time leading rusher who completed 55.6% of his passes in 2017
Top 7 rushers returning- including a 1,000 yard back
8 guys returning that caught passes in 2017
4 starters returning on the OL

17 starters returning overall

Went 8-5

I'll repeat it again- we made the necessary offensive changes vs Auburn after the Kentucky/Fla debacles to win with over 400 yards of offense. Auburn finished 4th in the SEC in scoring D. And we never did it again- why? Because we decided we would rather lose running our offense as opposed to what was best for the 2018 team.

What about all that screams "good job"?

I think Fitz not actually running the offense until August was too much for him to overcome. The guy froze on throwing a flea flicker when the #1 option was open by around 20 yards. The play actually worked to perfection but Fitz doesn't even throw the pass. There was numerous plays like that throughout the year and the only thing Moorhead could have done to fix those is replace the QB with a guy who should be a redshirt freshman.

[BeardoMSU]

But that's because he didn't sign enough players. If he would've signed a full 25, the average would have gone down

Arguably our best O-line class ever, and a very solid D-line class...

[DancingRabbit]

Why does everyone keep saying that he did a great job recruiting?

Is there evidence of this somewhere that I'm unaware of?

If you read more closely, he said "great job hiring defensive coaches, has done a very good job recruiting". I think you're nitpicking if you jump on a post for that.

[Tbonewannabe]

He had 18 in-state 4 stars to work with & didn't even sign a full class while finishing 7th in the West in the recruiting rankings.

Please for goodness sakes I wish some of you would raise expectations

So you think Mullen signs a better class? Mullen had one year that was better than Moorhead's first year. Do you think Mullen would have pulled the recruits Ole Miss bought? Would he have gotten the guys that signed with Auburn, Bama, LSU, or UGA?

Hell, I don't know how many times Mullen even had a full 85 on scholarship in 9 years.