Let me clarify my stance on Callahan
Posted: Tue Nov 01, 2005 8:21 pm
Let me clarify myself. I'm apathetic about the criticism of Callahan because we have a lot more to worry about with Callahan. I'm not a fan of him, but I brush off the petty crap because on my grand scale of problems with NU, it's far off my radar.
- He's very stubborn (2 of his forces led to OU touchdowns. He called the block on the fake field goal and also the call on the OU Int runback)
- He doesn't believe in physical practices. That's right. The team rarely goes physical on each other in practice. It's an effort to avoid injuries, but as a former Husker who was on several pro teams just wrote, having no contact can have a detrimental effect in that players take a few series to adjust. This partly explains why NU went 3 and out on their first 5 series and also why the defense is digging itself holes.
- He continues to use a zone block run technique that doesn't work. With our running back talent, we should be able to get a helluva lot more yards (Lucky and Glenn are no slouches back there folks).
- Huge playbook makes it hard for new players to contibute (Hence better linemen are sitting in favor of crappier, more experienced linemen).
- Defensive coordinator keeps running a back peddling strategy to start games and then adjusts. Then inexplicably pulls out the pass rushers on 3rd down, which then gives opposing QBs more time to pull passes off.
- Needless shifting - It takes time and fools no one. Causes more penalties than it saves.
- Ran off best defensive back coach in favor of a journeyman. We're still reeling from this. They fired Marvin Sanders, who the DBs loved like a father, and hired a grizzled loud mouth. Still scratching my head on this one.
- Insistance on scripting the first 15 plays of the game. Go figure that after NU's 5 straight 3 and outs (15 plays in total), that NU started getting first downs against OU.
That's some of our worries. So forgive me if I'm not freaking out about the handshake or the throat slash. I'll bash him for what I think are a lot more important things.
I'm mainly concerned with Callahan putting on a good face, getting more top 5 recruiting classes and then getting fired in three years for not producing better than an 8-win team (if we're lucky). By then, the next coach should have a nice cupboard of talent to start over with. Until then, I will criticize his coaching actions, but I will not worry about his actions that may make him look bad. Like I said before, NU fans have more to worry about.
- He's very stubborn (2 of his forces led to OU touchdowns. He called the block on the fake field goal and also the call on the OU Int runback)
- He doesn't believe in physical practices. That's right. The team rarely goes physical on each other in practice. It's an effort to avoid injuries, but as a former Husker who was on several pro teams just wrote, having no contact can have a detrimental effect in that players take a few series to adjust. This partly explains why NU went 3 and out on their first 5 series and also why the defense is digging itself holes.
- He continues to use a zone block run technique that doesn't work. With our running back talent, we should be able to get a helluva lot more yards (Lucky and Glenn are no slouches back there folks).
- Huge playbook makes it hard for new players to contibute (Hence better linemen are sitting in favor of crappier, more experienced linemen).
- Defensive coordinator keeps running a back peddling strategy to start games and then adjusts. Then inexplicably pulls out the pass rushers on 3rd down, which then gives opposing QBs more time to pull passes off.
- Needless shifting - It takes time and fools no one. Causes more penalties than it saves.
- Ran off best defensive back coach in favor of a journeyman. We're still reeling from this. They fired Marvin Sanders, who the DBs loved like a father, and hired a grizzled loud mouth. Still scratching my head on this one.
- Insistance on scripting the first 15 plays of the game. Go figure that after NU's 5 straight 3 and outs (15 plays in total), that NU started getting first downs against OU.
That's some of our worries. So forgive me if I'm not freaking out about the handshake or the throat slash. I'll bash him for what I think are a lot more important things.
I'm mainly concerned with Callahan putting on a good face, getting more top 5 recruiting classes and then getting fired in three years for not producing better than an 8-win team (if we're lucky). By then, the next coach should have a nice cupboard of talent to start over with. Until then, I will criticize his coaching actions, but I will not worry about his actions that may make him look bad. Like I said before, NU fans have more to worry about.