Joe has a lot of great qualities. I feel coaching on game day is not one of them. What say you?
Nope.. he's a very average, borderline bad gameday coach.
How about some examples to back up your thoughts?
Akron comes to mind. No MACC's for Joe.
dynovinyl Wrote:How about some examples to back up your thoughts?
Too easy.
SIU, EMU, Idaho (although we won, still pathetic), Temple.
Some point to the 2003 season to prove he is a good gameday coach, but from what i remember, most of that was just guys making ridiculous plays..2003 was just the stars aligning, and guys like PJ Fleck and michael turner being very very good..im not sold on joe novak out-coaching people in those huge wins.
Which part of the Akron game? The coaching that got us the lead with a QB playing subpar or the one play collapse that cost us the game? Give me some specifics. I'm betting you say something about the way we play prevent.
Let's have a poll where we can provide informed insight and expertise. This poll is not one of those. We are not qualified to vote intelligently on this.
i'd vote, but i don't watch the other 11 MAC teams on a weekly basis to be able to give an intelligent response
clcfball11 Wrote:dynovinyl Wrote:How about some examples to back up your thoughts?
Too easy.
SIU, EMU, Idaho (although we won, still pathetic), Temple.
If accusations about game coaching are going to be made, I want to see solid evidence. Not a bunch of team names. Besides, late collapses are not always a reflection of game coaching. Sure, a key decision can influence things, but there's a lot more that goes into it: execution, confidence, etc.
I'll give you two examples where in-game coaching has hurt us. Ex1: 2004 ISU. The coaches made the decision to take the foot off the pedal and we lost momentum. Everytime we went back to our normal offense, we'd score a couple times, move back out in front and then ease off again. Eventually, it cost us the game. Ex2: This years team established early that they had issues with discipline, consistancy and finishing the game. Coming off two fourth quarter collapses, where we gave the game away to lesser talented teams, a key coaching decision in the Idaho game nearly cost us that one as well. Approaching halftime, the NIU defense makes a key stop and Idaho is forced to punt. We get the ball back around our 35-40 with 2:30+ on the clock. At that point in the game, the offense was having little trouble moving the ball on Idaho's defense and were controlling the game. Unfortunately, our coaches decided to ease off and try to run the half out. We were forced to kick and they returned the punt for a TD. That wasn't just a 7 point swing, it had the potential to be a 10-14 point swing with the way our offense was going at that point. With a team that has struggled to maintain consistancy, we coached ourselves into a momentum change. Bad idea.
Both these games were very similiar. I have no problem with running off the clock, but A- you have to have the talent to do it, and B- you can't start doing it in the 2nd quarter. I think Michael Turner and that o-line really spoiled us. Every game, we had at least one clock-chewing TD drive where we killed the spirit of the other team and iced the game. We haven't been able to do that since.
That said, I still like this coaching staff and think they do a good job.
The pole I'm most interested in requires a medicinal boost.
klake87 Wrote:Akron comes to mind. No MACC's for Joe.
Are you talking the final play in the MACC? If so, I don't know if that is a coaching decision. We had one of our best defenders at the goal line and instead of him defending the goal, he bit on the underneath route. That is a case of a player not executing and not poor coaching.
klake87 Wrote:Akron comes to mind. No MACC's for Joe.
What did he do as a gameday coach there that makes you call him a bad coach?
nevermind, seems everyone is asking the same thing.
This poll is just ridiculous and worthless. Nobody on this board is qualified to evaluate the 13 head coaches in the MAC and rank them comparatively. It would take watching many games over a long period of time to evaluate each of these coaches. And even then, they make decisions based on what they know of the players from what they see in practices and meetings. Information that nobody on this board has.
How do you seperate player mistakes from coaching ability? It is a very fine line. This is pointless.
So, no one has actually made an argument with examples yet?
not having wolfe on the field for the end of NW game comes to mind
The conservative play calling in the Akron game leading up to the miracle Getsy throw
and yes, the continued use of the prevent ....with leads....so early in the fourth q that we blow the leads....
I have never thought Novak was a good game coach...too many close loses over his career and the lack of second half offensive adjustments leading to decreased scoring in the second half and increased scoring on us
That is not to say his strenghts do lie somewhere else....but to claim he is in the top three in the MAC...i cant see it.
HuskieBro Wrote:Let's have a poll where we can provide informed insight and expertise. This poll is not one of those. We are not qualified to vote intelligently on this.
How about a facebook group called "I hate Joe Novak" which used to feature a couple former players? They have since left the group... some people at NIU probably got ahold of it and weren't too pleased.
dynovinyl Wrote:So, no one has actually made an argument with examples yet?
My God are you serious? Do you really need examples? His conservative play calling lost us the game to SIU.
Check out Rabids blog for a post I made awhile back:
Joe Novak and Close Games
Now.. how about some support for WHY he's a good player?
It's becoming more and more clear with each passing week that Garrett Wolfe CARRIED this team the past 2 years. And even with his incredible talent, we had zero MAC Titles.
NIUtrav09 Wrote:HuskieBro Wrote:Let's have a poll where we can provide informed insight and expertise. This poll is not one of those. We are not qualified to vote intelligently on this.
How about a facebook group called "I hate Joe Novak" which used to feature a couple former players? They have since left the group... some people at NIU probably got ahold of it and weren't too pleased.
No coach ever has players hate him!
...Weird
Honestly old coaches like Joe are bound to have players hate him. Even newer coaches like URBAN MEYER have players who hate them.
So to use that as a criteria is just silly. Anytime FACEBOOK comes up in a conversation as proof of anything...you really have to wonder if there is any relavance to the other side of this argument...
NIUtrav09 Wrote:dynovinyl Wrote:So, no one has actually made an argument with examples yet?
My God are you serious? Do you really need examples? His conservative play calling lost us the game to SIU.
Check out Rabids blog for a post I made awhile back:
Joe Novak and Close Games
Now.. how about some support for WHY he's a good player?
It's becoming more and more clear with each passing week that Garrett Wolfe CARRIED this team the past 2 years. And even with his incredible talent, we had zero MAC Titles.
DID YOU KNOW:
Joe Novak does not call offensive plays. The former defensive end/DC isn't exactly the guy who is out there calling things play for play.
If you want to say that Joe said play it safe, and how is OC interpreted it is Joe's fault thats fine. But maybe you can say we have been troubled with OCs who aren't sure how to salt away a game. Which is a hiring issue that is directly on Joe's shoulders, but has very little to do with IN GAME head coaching.
