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What happened with McGee? He looked like a good hire on paper, but each game he coached it became clearer and clearer he was in over his head. So what happened? Did he and the players not have any chemistry? Why did he kick Jackie Williams off the team? Since we are trying to move forward from this mess and hire a good coach, I figured we should reflect on what happened with McGee so hopefully it will not happen again.

Most importantly GO BLAZERS!

Hired someone with too big an ego & way too close to other scumbags.

(01-13-2014 09:58 AM)the_blazerman Wrote:  Hired someone with too big an ego & way too close to other scumbags.

True the apple didn't fall too far from the tree in McGee's case. I guess he though he would come in and win some games and go on to higher position in a few years.

Injuries, and McGees hires were based on how good of a friend they were rather than Xs and Os.

In the end, he was a young Watson Brown. I liked the hire out of the gate. He seemed to recruit well. Very well in fact. But some glaring weaknesses in game management and player development arose. And McGee seemed to have personal battles with players. I want a coach with an ego and a swagger. But he has to know when to get his ego out of his own way.

(01-13-2014 10:03 AM)BlazerPhil Wrote:  In the end, he was a young Watson Brown. I liked the hire out of the gate. He seemed to recruit well. Very well in fact. But some glaring weaknesses in game management and player development arose. And McGee seemed to have personal battles with players. I want a coach with an ego and a swagger. But he has to know when to get his ego out of his own way.

He got us several good players, but his 2 UAB classes ranked in the bottom third of CUSA both years. Hiring a coach who didn't even call the plays was not smart from the get-go.

On paper he was a good candidate
but he was thinking that he knew everything before doing it for the first time

I did teach anesthesia residents for the last 20 years
When i meet him for the first time at basketball in the golden room ,,my first impression was ...oh no
this guy is like a first year resident who think he know everything before even doing it .
During the resident program, those few are easy to spot and are easy target
In coach mggoff situation ,,,,nobody was on top of him ,,,,to teach him to be humble and show him that he didnt know everything

Be confident it is a good thing ,,but too confident is not good at all and not to be able to adapt is another weakness

Coach Mggoff had 3 majors weakness
Too confident
Not able to adapt
and he is quitter ...
at least he give UAB a favor bye quitting before the end of his contract

Owens (OC), Henry (tight ends), and Sharp (secondary) were all GA's at Arkansas before they came here. It was their first real coaching job.

My friend told me that Coach McGee made the team where 3-9 t shirts in practice last summer and spring is that true or just a rumor?

(01-13-2014 01:28 PM)nicknitro19 Wrote:  My friend told me that Coach McGee made the team where 3-9 t shirts in practice last summer and spring is that true or just a rumor?

How did THAT work out for him ?

McGee shouldn't have used it as a goal for this year though.

(01-13-2014 01:29 PM)BlazerPhil Wrote:  

(01-13-2014 01:28 PM)nicknitro19 Wrote:  My friend told me that Coach McGee made the team where 3-9 t shirts in practice last summer and spring is that true or just a rumor?

How did THAT work out for him ?

Not very well that type of stunt may work when you have a program that recruits are fighting for spots not UAB. UAB needs to work on developing the players they have and motivating them to do better. Making them where 3-9 shirts only made things worse. Pass out the 2-10 shirts?

(01-13-2014 01:33 PM)nicknitro19 Wrote:  

(01-13-2014 01:29 PM)BlazerPhil Wrote:  

(01-13-2014 01:28 PM)nicknitro19 Wrote:  My friend told me that Coach McGee made the team where 3-9 t shirts in practice last summer and spring is that true or just a rumor?

How did THAT work out for him ?

Not very well that type of stunt may work when you have a program that recruits are fighting for spots not UAB. UAB needs to work on developing the players they have and motivating them to do better. Making them where 3-9 shirts only made things worse. Pass out the 2-10 shirts?

Yes that is true. On the Back of their work out gear it had 3-9 on it.

While I now regret that UAB hired McGee, two years after the fact, it is perhaps going to be a problem hiring future coaches if they are not aware of state feelings about B'ham and UAB's (athletic) relations with the system BOT coming in.

If the new coach thinks B'ham is "just another city in Alabama" and that the UAB Blazers is "just another football program in the Alabama system", they may be in for severe disenchantment when the realities become apparent. There is probably a reason so few of the state's most wealthy persons care (or dare) to put their money into the Blazer program while they lavish it on the two BCS programs. It could be "intimidation" from very powerful persons / interest groups.

I don't have sources inside the team to talk about the player management and morale issues, although more and more stories are coming out there. What I did observe was things like the game he kicked off twice to send some kind of a message, and the game where the heat was on him to run the ball because our run game was solid and we were against a poor run defense... so out of being pissy at being pushed to run the ball, he did nothing but and wound up with 9 pass attempts for the game.

All hat, no cattle.

The first thing that I questioned was when he left AB out there towards the end of year 1 to get hammered.

(01-13-2014 02:14 PM)the_blazerman Wrote:  The first thing that I questioned was when he left AB out there towards the end of year 1 to get hammered.

As opposed to playing a healthy Jonathan Perry. Can't remember who they played when this went down, but I remember being there and watching Brown try to play thru what had to be a lot of pain that day.

(01-13-2014 02:30 PM)Matrix Wrote:  

(01-13-2014 02:14 PM)the_blazerman Wrote:  The first thing that I questioned was when he left AB out there towards the end of year 1 to get hammered.

As opposed to playing a healthy Jonathan Perry. Can't remember who they played when this went down, but I remember being there and watching Brown try to play thru what had to be a lot of pain that day.

Memphis. And we got drilled. And they kept calling the same TE drag play over and over and over. And Memphis knew where the gaps are, were, and were going to be. IIRC I believe McGee was trying to force AB into a no win situation where he had to call the correct protection scheme and change the play. Austin had no chance.

In retrospect, I would like to see a headline where Austin Brown physically beats the snot out of Garrick McGee somewhere in the near future.

(01-13-2014 02:40 PM)BlazerPhil Wrote:  

(01-13-2014 02:30 PM)Matrix Wrote:  

(01-13-2014 02:14 PM)the_blazerman Wrote:  The first thing that I questioned was when he left AB out there towards the end of year 1 to get hammered.

As opposed to playing a healthy Jonathan Perry. Can't remember who they played when this went down, but I remember being there and watching Brown try to play thru what had to be a lot of pain that day.

Memphis. And we got drilled. And they kept calling the same TE drag play over and over and over. And Memphis knew where the gaps are, were, and were going to be. IIRC I believe McGee was trying to force AB into a no win situation where he had to call the correct protection scheme and change the play. Austin had no chance.

In retrospect, I would like to see a headline where Austin Brown physically beats the snot out of Garrick McGee somewhere in the near future.

Same! Put McGee in a handicap cage match with Austin & Jonathan..Special Guest Referee: Jackie Williams...

I think probably his biggest weakness was his hirings. I think I would like the new guy to have experience in hiring and managing a staff, because I think that is probably the most important skill needed. Even though the coach is the face of the program, lots of the day to day work and recruiting is done by the other coaches. The head coach is like the CEO, he can set direction, etc. but he can't everything. Hiring the right people and motivating them are very important.