Changing the defensive scheme WITH D'Oonofrio.

[johnnytsunami01]

Can you imagine how much more we can bend without breaking with the new talent cant wait to see it

 

[WestEndZone]

Can you imagine how much more we can bend without breaking with the new talent cant wait to see it

Without breaking? I'll take that. lol

Right now we bend and break.

 

[Pennmed Canefan]

West,

I consider Dono the anti-Shannon. Shannon was very basic, but I think he was quite good at teaching the few things that he wanted to do. When he got beat, it was often because there wasn't enough in his ****nal to combat the offense. Dono by contrast has a ton of things in his ****nal, but he hasn't been able to get the defense to execute any one thing reliably. He gets beat because the defense is frequently confused, uncertain, and demoralized. We aren't that talented, but it's magnified when they play timid and slow because they are on their heels.

I don't see how personnel changes are going to fix that--they'll improve it, but we're looking for excellence. In my mind, it requires a total philosophical change--admitting that we cannot do what he wants to do and thus need to redefine ourselves philosophically. Dono (like Shannon) seems stubborn, though, and I think he is quite certain that at some point things will click.

What I can't explain is why this has *ever* worked for Dono. My best explanation is that he's never faced this level of player AND coach that can reliably take advantage of the defense's ineptitude. Whatever the case, it is a very bad omen for a defense to look this confused and demoralized with this many returning players this far into a tenure.

 

[WestEndZone]

West,

I consider Dono the anti-Shannon. Shannon was very basic, but I think he was quite good at teaching the few things that he wanted to do. When he got beat, it was often because there wasn't enough in his ****nal to combat the offense. Dono by contrast has a ton of things in his ****nal, but he hasn't been able to get the defense to execute any one thing reliably. He gets beat because the defense is frequently confused, uncertain, and demoralized. We aren't that talented, but it's magnified when they play timid and slow because they are on their heels.

I don't see how personnel changes are going to fix that--they'll improve it, but we're looking for excellence. In my mind, it requires a total philosophical change--admitting that we cannot do what he wants to do and thus need to redefine ourselves philosophically. Dono (like Shannon) seems stubborn, though, and I think he is quite certain that at some point things will click.

What I can't explain is why this has *ever* worked for Dono. My best explanation is that he's never faced this level of player AND coach that can reliably take advantage of the defense's ineptitude. Whatever the case, it is a very bad omen for a defense to look this confused and demoralized with this many returning players this far into a tenure.

Awesome post. I couldn't agree more. Shannon was just as hard headed, but on the opposite side of the spectrum -- too simple.

I also don't know if he personnel improvements will help. I just know that our personnel sucks at this point. We really can't come to a complete conclusion until we get the players we want. Maybe his system requires veterans to be successful -- guys that have played in the system for 3-4 years.

The confused and demoralized looks are what concerned me the most. Why do we still look confused in the latter half of the season? Our tackling has been poor too.

I'm not sure how much the game changes from the MAC to the ACC or if those coaches are much better or worse than other conferences. I wish I had an in person perspective of that. Would be interesting to explore. Some D1aa coaches, like Jim Tressel (although he wasn't a coordinator), have been able to make seamless transitions to the upper ranks.

 

[Jmhcane]

Nope, not those.

I think our biggest problem currently is experience. We have way too many young kids playing right now to be successful. The football IQ thing, I think, comes down to recruiting. Sometimes a kid gets recruited simply because he's a supreme athlete. It's up to the coaches to find the football players that'll make plays for you. I think that the biggest playmakers on this defense are the young guys. That's promising.

I've agreed with a lot of what you have said and I think we have the same viewpoint that scheme is somewhat overrated and that Dono isn't inventing some fatally-flawed defense that nobody else has ever played. I do take issue with this post. I think our principle problem has been a lack of execution and not experience this year. The guys that we played this year are actually quite experienced and in fact that is how we justified them playing and others sitting. As it relates to the thread, this is my primary concern. Dono/Golden may WANT to do a lot of things, but they have yet to show that they can do one thing consistently well. Until we see that, what they want to do does not matter and they'll either fail badly or be forced to scale back. We do have issues with talent and depth, but I have yet to see older players execute at a level that has given me any faith.

We did have a good number of seniors playing at times. They didn't execute well. You're right.

I might be missing some but:
Shayon Green
Curtis Porter
Jimmy Gaines
AJ Highsmith
Kacy Rodgers
Tyrone Cornelius

I consider all of them to be starters in some capacity. They also all suck major ****. Only Gaines really had steady playing time over his career.

Can you say the same about our Junior class? I think not. I think the juniors have the same or more experience than our senior class. Those guys have been playing since they were true freshmen. Next year we're going to have a decent, but very small senior class. It should be better the year after that.

I'm not sold either. Far from it. I just think that we need to reserve judgment until we turn back into a well rounded program. Right now our talent and numbers are very bottom heavy.

The problem is that some of these supposedly more talented guys are not playing. We are forced to assume that they are not playing because they cannot execute the playbook. So how long will it take before we can expect anything but a bottom-dwelling defense? Next year we'll be playing guys like McCord and Kirby and Carter that aren't good enough to play now. We'll be supplementing that with a host of freshmen who will apparently take 2+ years to understand and execute the defense since experience has supposedly been an issue and guys like McCord and Kirby aren't playing in their second year. Reality is that this defense has done nothing to give us any hope. The older guys can't execute and the younger guys can't beat them out. In another year, we'll have older guys who can't execute, and younger guys who are too young to beat them out (supposedly).

It's all execution to me. If experience would fix it, the old guys would've executed. They couldn't do so as I saw it. Dono himself said that he's seen a lack of execution since he's been here. Why should we expect anything different year 4?

I think execution and experience are somewhat connected. It's also up to the coach to understand the level of complexity that his players can handle. Maybe that's where DnO fails.

I've always been under the impression that Golden was never going to turn his back on the seniors. I'm not sure if he will keep doing that every year (which would suck major ***) or if it was just a byproduct of the NCAA investigation. He's made it seem like the latter.

I certainly hope (and believe) it was loyalty to the seniors and not the quality of the underclassmen