It's nice to see threads like this and know that yes, hope does spring eternal.

Having reilly in there is going to be a big addition. We REALLY need for Bethel to get done what he needs to and get on campus otherwide Knox may have to play and I really hope he can redshirt.

Reports out of camp is that all the work Bench has done with the private QB coach has brought him along and Flowers is doing very well. Supposedly its night and day with him compared to last year. Kean is looking rather legit but i dont think we see him on the field. He needs a year but that kid very well could be the future.

Also, theres rumor about 2 and possibly 3 QBs that could transfer here. Most wouldnt help us this year but Ive been predicting a 6-6 season all summer and that will be enough to keep Taggart here.

(06-14-2015 02:33 PM)mtmedlin Wrote:  Having reilly in there is going to be a big addition. We REALLY need for Bethel to get done what he needs to and get on campus otherwide Knox may have to play and I really hope he can redshirt.

Reports out of camp is that all the work Bench has done with the private QB coach has brought him along and Flowers is doing very well. Supposedly its night and day with him compared to last year. Kean is looking rather legit but i dont think we see him on the field. He needs a year but that kid very well could be the future.

Also, theres rumor about 2 and possibly 3 QBs that could transfer here. Most wouldnt help us this year but Ive been predicting a 6-6 season all summer and that will be enough to keep Taggart here.

There is enough young talent in the oline for competition for all starting positions. I would think Amichia that played tackle last year would compete for one of those starting tackle positions

If I can be honest, my biggest nightmare is that USF fires Taggert with a cupboard full of talent, finds an up-and-coming coach who knows how to coach, and starts wrecking teams. I *need* the series to be tied before you start winning games again.

(06-14-2015 05:11 PM)UCF08 Wrote:  If I can be honest, my biggest nightmare is that USF fires Taggert with a cupboard full of talent, finds an up-and-coming coach who knows how to coach, and starts wrecking teams. I *need* the series to be tied before you start winning games again.

He will either win this year or be gone. He has brought a heck of a lot of talent and I would say that if we had a QB like Grothe in our roster we would win 8-9 wins this year. But since we don't have that yet I will say 5-6 wins if our QB situation is half decent, 7-8 wins if it becomes average to good.

Wether with Taggart or another coach the amount of talent we are starting to have will lead to winning seasons very soon

(06-14-2015 05:24 PM)Cubanbull Wrote:  

(06-14-2015 05:11 PM)UCF08 Wrote:  If I can be honest, my biggest nightmare is that USF fires Taggert with a cupboard full of talent, finds an up-and-coming coach who knows how to coach, and starts wrecking teams. I *need* the series to be tied before you start winning games again.

He will either win this year or be gone. He has brought a heck of a lot of talent and I would say that if we had a QB like Grothe in our roster we would win 8-9 wins this year. But since we don't have that yet I will say 5-6 wins if our QB situation is half decent, 7-8 wins if it becomes average to good.

Wether with Taggart or another coach the amount of talent we are starting to have will lead to winning seasons very soon

We were 18 points from having 6 wins last year and I believe our SOS was at or near the top of the AAC. I know we were the ONLY team to play all five of the top teams in our conference.

The biggest issue last year was the Oline not helping out our underdeveloped QBs. Now we have more experience at both positions and our Oline should be better then we have had in the last two year... plus several team that beat us last year lost quite a bit and our schedule this year is easier.

I really think were a 6 win team next year and if we take UCF (which is always possible) we could get to 7.

I also wouldnt totally rule out a win at Maryland. They barely took us last year. Its a classic trap game for them. They play Richmond, then Bowling green. They have two easy wins that wont have near the talent than USF. Then they get us... but after us is WVU. If they fall into that lull, I think we could shock them.

Cuban...unless you have formal tailgate plans...come to my tailgate. We will be about 2 blocks from RayJay and it will be a lot half Cuse/half Bulls. I have worked with the Bulls tailgater before.. I expect around 200 folks there.

Questions for USF and ECU fans:

What was it that went so well for Skip Holtz at ECU that didn't translate into success at USF? Was it as simple as the step up in competition from C-USA to the Big East, or what?

Was this just a case of "bad fit," similar to Rich Rodriguez being successful at West Virginia before Michigan and at Arizona after Michigan, but not at Michigan itself?

Thanks!

BTW, USF fans, my second-cousin is from Bradenton and is about to enroll at USF as a freshman. She's really excited about being a Bull! :-)

Assuming you all heard Reilley Gibbons is now eligible this fall? Joey tweeted it a couple days ago, but I'm a bit behind on news.

(06-15-2015 08:14 AM)Michael in Raleigh Wrote:  Questions for USF and ECU fans:

What was it that went so well for Skip Holtz at ECU that didn't translate into success at USF? Was it as simple as the step up in competition from C-USA to the Big East, or what?

Was this just a case of "bad fit," similar to Rich Rodriguez being successful at West Virginia before Michigan and at Arizona after Michigan, but not at Michigan itself?

Thanks!

BTW, USF fans, my second-cousin is from Bradenton and is about to enroll at USF as a freshman. She's really excited about being a Bull! :-)

Skip Holtz inherited a lot of talent and won with that then when he left the cupboard was bare.

(06-15-2015 08:14 AM)Michael in Raleigh Wrote:  Questions for USF and ECU fans:

What was it that went so well for Skip Holtz at ECU that didn't translate into success at USF? Was it as simple as the step up in competition from C-USA to the Big East, or what?

Was this just a case of "bad fit," similar to Rich Rodriguez being successful at West Virginia before Michigan and at Arizona after Michigan, but not at Michigan itself?

Thanks!

BTW, USF fans, my second-cousin is from Bradenton and is about to enroll at USF as a freshman. She's really excited about being a Bull! :-)

He inherited a team that was full of upperclassmen talent. Good QB a team with 5 straight years of going to bowl games. But then he came in an started recruiting a different style of player, more based on size rather than quickness and slowly eroded the speed from the team. He also didn't make ties with local coaches which was evident when we lost out many Bay Area recruits to UCF.

(06-03-2015 04:24 PM)PiratePanther189 Wrote:  

(06-03-2015 03:45 PM)BullsFanInTX Wrote:  On paper this is the most talented team in the conf. if you go off recruiting rankings.

Not helping the cause

In a sport you could basically wipe your ass with the recruiting rankings and flush it outside the top 15 or so that get the finished products that are already 6-6, 280 and bench 400 or whatever. Everyone else pretty much has to build their players in the weight room. The majority of our best players were nothing recruits from Justin Hardy who was a walk on to Shane Carden or Chris Johnson with about 2 D1 offers between them.

Coaches have like 12 games and 45 plays on one side of the ball to scout players and thousands of them to pilfer through not even playing against the best of the best competition either. It's a wonder they are as accurate as they even are and they still suck at this level. Far more important what you do with them in the weight program or schemes you put them in to be successful in such a play call driven sport where coaches have more control IMO.

(06-15-2015 11:28 AM)StillJonesing Wrote:  

(06-03-2015 04:24 PM)PiratePanther189 Wrote:  

(06-03-2015 03:45 PM)BullsFanInTX Wrote:  On paper this is the most talented team in the conf. if you go off recruiting rankings.

Not helping the cause

In a sport you could basically wipe your ass with the recruiting rankings and flush it outside the top 15 or so that get the finished products that are already 6-6, 280 and bench 400 or whatever. Everyone else pretty much has to build their players in the weight room. The majority of our best players were nothing recruits from Justin Hardy who was a walk on to Shane Carden or Chris Johnson with about 2 D1 offers between them.

Coaches have like 12 games and 45 plays on one side of the ball to scout players and thousands of them to pilfer through not even playing against the best of the best competition either. It's a wonder they are as accurate as they even are and they still suck at this level. Far more important what you do with them in the weight program or schemes you put them in to be successful in such a play call driven sport where coaches have more control IMO.

Some programs have been built the right way and have become good at developing players. This is what O'Leary has done for UCF. Despite the assistant turnover through the years he is the constant that keeps us in line and doesn't let things change very much. usf has a young head coach who may not yet know or have the experience to correctly deal with lots of assistant coach turnover. I suspect it will cost him his job this year. I mean the guy has NEVER gone better than 7-5 as a head coach, never won a championship, never won a bowl game. Granted this is only his 6th season as a head coach. I was personally never that impressed with him at WKU and I think he's in over his head. Its harder to develop players when they get a new position coach teaching them different things to go along with yet another new offensive and defensive scheme. Idk if many people realize this but usf has almost all new position coaches and are changing the offensive and defensive schemes. These schemes may better fit the players but all progress usf had last year was under different coaches and a different scheme. So everything the players learned about the way they were playing now has to be done differently. UCF may have a new offensive and defensive coordinator but nothing is going to change with the scheme so the players can actually build off what they have been learning and don't have to start over, its just next man up. Regardless of who the position coaches are they have the same expectations and O'Leary is a coach to the coaches so he makes sure things are done the way he wants it done. This is why UCF is lucky to have him, he's a great coach. I don't wanna hear anything about flowers running a spread in high school. Its night and day difference between a high school playbook and a college one, well maybe not for taggart lol.

(06-15-2015 12:05 PM)zfred12 Wrote:  

(06-15-2015 11:28 AM)StillJonesing Wrote:  

(06-03-2015 04:24 PM)PiratePanther189 Wrote:  

(06-03-2015 03:45 PM)BullsFanInTX Wrote:  On paper this is the most talented team in the conf. if you go off recruiting rankings.

Not helping the cause

In a sport you could basically wipe your ass with the recruiting rankings and flush it outside the top 15 or so that get the finished products that are already 6-6, 280 and bench 400 or whatever. Everyone else pretty much has to build their players in the weight room. The majority of our best players were nothing recruits from Justin Hardy who was a walk on to Shane Carden or Chris Johnson with about 2 D1 offers between them.

Coaches have like 12 games and 45 plays on one side of the ball to scout players and thousands of them to pilfer through not even playing against the best of the best competition either. It's a wonder they are as accurate as they even are and they still suck at this level. Far more important what you do with them in the weight program or schemes you put them in to be successful in such a play call driven sport where coaches have more control IMO.

Some programs have been built the right way and have become good at developing players. This is what O'Leary has done for UCF. Despite the assistant turnover through the years he is the constant that keeps us in line and doesn't let things change very much. usf has a young head coach who may not yet know or have the experience to correctly deal with lots of assistant coach turnover. I suspect it will cost him his job this year. I mean the guy has NEVER gone better than 7-5 as a head coach, never won a championship, never won a bowl game. Granted this is only his 6th season as a head coach. I was personally never that impressed with him at WKU and I think he's in over his head. Its harder to develop players when they get a new position coach teaching them different things to go along with yet another new offensive and defensive scheme. Idk if many people realize this but usf has almost all new position coaches and are changing the offensive and defensive schemes. These schemes may better fit the players but all progress usf had last year was under different coaches and a different scheme. So everything the players learned about the way they were playing now has to be done differently. UCF may have a new offensive and defensive coordinator but nothing is going to change with the scheme so the players can actually build off what they have been learning and don't have to start over, its just next man up. Regardless of who the position coaches are they have the same expectations and O'Leary is a coach to the coaches so he makes sure things are done the way he wants it done. This is why UCF is lucky to have him, he's a great coach. I don't wanna hear anything about flowers running a spread in high school. Its night and day difference between a high school playbook and a college one, well maybe not for taggart lol.

We will find out in the fall. Until then what you think and what I think means nothing.

(06-15-2015 01:21 PM)Cubanbull Wrote:  

(06-15-2015 12:05 PM)zfred12 Wrote:  

(06-15-2015 11:28 AM)StillJonesing Wrote:  

(06-03-2015 04:24 PM)PiratePanther189 Wrote:  

(06-03-2015 03:45 PM)BullsFanInTX Wrote:  On paper this is the most talented team in the conf. if you go off recruiting rankings.

Not helping the cause

In a sport you could basically wipe your ass with the recruiting rankings and flush it outside the top 15 or so that get the finished products that are already 6-6, 280 and bench 400 or whatever. Everyone else pretty much has to build their players in the weight room. The majority of our best players were nothing recruits from Justin Hardy who was a walk on to Shane Carden or Chris Johnson with about 2 D1 offers between them.

Coaches have like 12 games and 45 plays on one side of the ball to scout players and thousands of them to pilfer through not even playing against the best of the best competition either. It's a wonder they are as accurate as they even are and they still suck at this level. Far more important what you do with them in the weight program or schemes you put them in to be successful in such a play call driven sport where coaches have more control IMO.

Some programs have been built the right way and have become good at developing players. This is what O'Leary has done for UCF. Despite the assistant turnover through the years he is the constant that keeps us in line and doesn't let things change very much. usf has a young head coach who may not yet know or have the experience to correctly deal with lots of assistant coach turnover. I suspect it will cost him his job this year. I mean the guy has NEVER gone better than 7-5 as a head coach, never won a championship, never won a bowl game. Granted this is only his 6th season as a head coach. I was personally never that impressed with him at WKU and I think he's in over his head. Its harder to develop players when they get a new position coach teaching them different things to go along with yet another new offensive and defensive scheme. Idk if many people realize this but usf has almost all new position coaches and are changing the offensive and defensive schemes. These schemes may better fit the players but all progress usf had last year was under different coaches and a different scheme. So everything the players learned about the way they were playing now has to be done differently. UCF may have a new offensive and defensive coordinator but nothing is going to change with the scheme so the players can actually build off what they have been learning and don't have to start over, its just next man up. Regardless of who the position coaches are they have the same expectations and O'Leary is a coach to the coaches so he makes sure things are done the way he wants it done. This is why UCF is lucky to have him, he's a great coach. I don't wanna hear anything about flowers running a spread in high school. Its night and day difference between a high school playbook and a college one, well maybe not for taggart lol.

We will find out in the fall. Until then what you think and what I think means nothing.

Agreed

I wouldn't spooge over the guy because he gets 45 ranked classes opposed to 75 ranked one as sorry as football recruiting is after the top 25. That was my only point. We've never had highly rated classes but constantly take walk on no D1 offer 2 star types and build them in to legit good college players. The reality is no one really knows a 200lb DB/RB with no D1 offers like CJ Wilson coming in could grow into a 300lb NFL defensive end. There is a lot of guess work and great weight lifting coaches work that goes into things like that and simply some luck. It's not like where you can easily identify the 7foot kid in basketball with only 10 players on the court, and scout him play 30 games in the regular season and all summer at AAU vs other top competition.

(06-15-2015 01:48 PM)StillJonesing Wrote:  I wouldn't spooge over the guy because he gets 45 ranked classes opposed to 75 ranked one as sorry as football recruiting is after the top 25. That was my only point. We've never had highly rated classes but constantly take walk on no D1 offer 2 star types and build them in to legit good college players. The reality is no one really knows a 200lb DB/RB with no D1 offers like CJ Wilson coming in could grow into a 300lb NFL defensive end. There is a lot of guess work and great weight lifting coaches work that goes into things like that and simply some luck. It's not like where you can easily identify the 7foot kid in basketball with only 10 players on the court, and scout him play 30 games in the regular season and all summer at AAU vs other top competition.

Also really good high school evaluation by your staff.
A lot of 3 star players can't play a lick and the best programs who recruit 2 and 3 star players are really good at avoiding those.

(06-15-2015 01:48 PM)StillJonesing Wrote:  I wouldn't spooge over the guy because he gets 45 ranked classes opposed to 75 ranked one as sorry as football recruiting is after the top 25. That was my only point. We've never had highly rated classes but constantly take walk on no D1 offer 2 star types and build them in to legit good college players. The reality is no one really knows a 200lb DB/RB with no D1 offers like CJ Wilson coming in could grow into a 300lb NFL defensive end. There is a lot of guess work and great weight lifting coaches work that goes into things like that and simply some luck. It's not like where you can easily identify the 7foot kid in basketball with only 10 players on the court, and scout him play 30 games in the regular season and all summer at AAU vs other top competition.

Agree but I will tell you that many of his recruits were playing and contributing from the get go in their freshmen year. So it's not the ranking that I and other Bull fans are excited about but what we have seen from those kids on the field already. The sad part is that we were so depleted talent wise that many of those kids had to start playing before they should have had to play if the upperclassmen where even half decent.
Many are looking at WT's record but he has been playing many first year freshmen right off the bat.

(06-15-2015 08:14 AM)Michael in Raleigh Wrote:  Questions for USF and ECU fans:

What was it that went so well for Skip Holtz at ECU that didn't translate into success at USF? Was it as simple as the step up in competition from C-USA to the Big East, or what?

Was this just a case of "bad fit," similar to Rich Rodriguez being successful at West Virginia before Michigan and at Arizona after Michigan, but not at Michigan itself?

Thanks!

BTW, USF fans, my second-cousin is from Bradenton and is about to enroll at USF as a freshman. She's really excited about being a Bull! :-)

It was more than just holtz. While holtz deserved 60 percent of the blame, especially for his lazy recruiting, Woolard and the administration left him hung out to dry by severely restricting who he could take and moreover, they wanted a yes man. They could have made Joel miller go away if they wanted to. The real reason leavitt was fired was because he started pushing for facilities upgrades that Woolard, who was a basketball guy through and through wasn't willing to do. Miller just gave him the reason.

(06-15-2015 10:26 PM)bullsbucsfan426 Wrote:  

(06-15-2015 08:14 AM)Michael in Raleigh Wrote:  Questions for USF and ECU fans:

What was it that went so well for Skip Holtz at ECU that didn't translate into success at USF? Was it as simple as the step up in competition from C-USA to the Big East, or what?

Was this just a case of "bad fit," similar to Rich Rodriguez being successful at West Virginia before Michigan and at Arizona after Michigan, but not at Michigan itself?

Thanks!

BTW, USF fans, my second-cousin is from Bradenton and is about to enroll at USF as a freshman. She's really excited about being a Bull! :-)

It was more than just holtz. While holtz deserved 60 percent of the blame, especially for his lazy recruiting, Woolard and the administration left him hung out to dry by severely restricting who he could take and moreover, they wanted a yes man. They could have made Joel miller go away if they wanted to. The real reason leavitt was fired was because he started pushing for facilities upgrades that Woolard, who was a basketball guy through and through wasn't willing to do. Miller just gave him the reason.

That's the real reason he was fired and not the whole slapping a kid thing?