Since we've got new head coaches at four Sun Belt schools, we've got Ark State with a lot of new assistants, and Steve Campbell and Shawn Elliott not doing quite as well as expected last season, I'm wondering what fans feel their coach needs to be able to do this season in order to feel confident about their coaching staff going forward?

Note that I'm not talking about what would make you want to make a coaching change, but just what it would that would make you think you'll be all right with your current staff going forward.

4+ wins. Still very very young team. Vast number of starter will be sophomores.

I did hear that we are adding bit more complex defensive packages as the players got a year under their belts. Last year we strictly stuck to base 3-4 zone because the freshmen struggled to execute even the simplest things properly.

We have most of our team back, including our whole offense. So anything less than a conference title is a disappointment. I'd also love to see Roof's defense pick right up where coach Brown left off. Fewer than 20 PPG allowed would be respectable.

(07-10-2019 10:45 AM)asucrutch23 Wrote:  We have most of our team back, including our whole offense. So anything less than a conference title is a disappointment. I'd also love to see Roof's defense pick right up where coach Brown left off. Fewer than 20 PPG allowed would be respectable.

I'm not going to go that far. I think anything less than 8 wins and a bowl game would suck a lot.

Don't drive the Ferrari into a ditch. Seriously, I am hopeful that the mix of coaches (newly added and entrenched in App tradition) will come together to maintain our level of progress. Every time that I have heard Drink speak, he has mentioned two things... Appalachian tradition and not settling for what has been done. I'm looking at no less than continuing to compete for Sunbelt titles and winning bowl games.

(07-10-2019 10:48 AM)Yosef Himself Wrote:  

(07-10-2019 10:45 AM)asucrutch23 Wrote:  We have most of our team back, including our whole offense. So anything less than a conference title is a disappointment. I'd also love to see Roof's defense pick right up where coach Brown left off. Fewer than 20 PPG allowed would be respectable.

I'm not going to go that far. I think anything less than 8 wins and a bowl game would suck a lot.

I'll be disappointed if we don't win it with this team. I won't declare Drinkwitz Tyson Summers though, unless we're under 8 wins.

(07-10-2019 10:55 AM)asucrutch23 Wrote:  

(07-10-2019 10:48 AM)Yosef Himself Wrote:  

(07-10-2019 10:45 AM)asucrutch23 Wrote:  We have most of our team back, including our whole offense. So anything less than a conference title is a disappointment. I'd also love to see Roof's defense pick right up where coach Brown left off. Fewer than 20 PPG allowed would be respectable.

I'm not going to go that far. I think anything less than 8 wins and a bowl game would suck a lot.

I'll be disappointed if we don't win it with this team. I won't declare Drinkwitz Tyson Summers though, unless we're under 8 wins.

This. While I hope for the NY6 bowl, I will not be disappointed unless App looks unprepared, is never really in contention for the SBC title, and barely stumbles into a bowl with 6 or 7 wins (or worse).

I expect Troy's offense to score more points with Lindsey's playcalling. I think Lindsey being a great QB guy (he was the OC/QB coach for Nick Mullens at USM, and Jarrett Stidham at Auburn) will help Barker become even better this season.

I'm not sure what my expectations are for the defensive staff. Quite a few players transferred, and a couple left the team for personal health reasons, so it's hard to judge the coaching staff this season based on that. There were a lot of 2nd-string players that saw quite a bit of playing time and recorded good stats, so that helps. I think DC Brandon Hall will surprise people with how good his defenses will be... Neal Brown and Vic Koenning didn't hire him in to be a warm body. Plus he has experience coaching under Brent Venables, which is a plus no matter what. His results as DC at Jacksonville State definitely says a lot.

I'd hate to make a W-L prediction but after the last 4 seasons I'd be happy with 5 wins. I think we should be able to beat GSU, Nicholls, ULM, USA, and Coastal, and as close as we came last year to beating Troy and GS, I'm hoping we can upset one of Wyoming, Troy, stAte, or UL. I don't have much hope for us against A&M, SMU, or App. I just hope we can be competitive in those games.

Besides wins it's pretty obvious where us TXST fans want to see improvement, the offense. If our defense can play at the same level we don't even need a huge jump in offensive production. With marginal improvement we could've won 8 games last year so maybe it clicks and we hit 6 or 7 this year. The pessimist in me however thinks our defense drops off as a result of the coaching change. I'm very excited for Spav but I really would've liked to have seen how year 4 would've went under Withers, he clearly had us going in the right direction. One thing the new staff has preached is increasing turnovers so hopefully at the worst our defense regresses but we get more turnovers to even it out.

This is the first time we’ve had a consistent coaching staff in quite some time, therefore I expect to see us continue to improve and see how our guys mature over an offseason where they don’t have to get used to a new coach and new terminology. I’d like to see us get more consistently competitive whereas last year, there were several games were we just came out flat especially on the road. Our road slate is way tougher this season so I want to see us take it to the next level. Good to Great

I expect him to get better. He’s been a winner everywhere he’s ever played or coached, so I don’t expect that to change here. Not sure what that translates to in Ws/Ls, but it should be evident that we’re more competitive.

I'm expecting South to be more competitive, win more than 3 games, maybe win 5. I think it will come down to qb play for us. Need something to keep the fan interest up to sellout tickets for our new stadium in 2020.

(07-10-2019 11:13 AM)Bobcat2013 Wrote:  I'd hate to make a W-L prediction but after the last 4 seasons I'd be happy with 5 wins. I think we should be able to beat GSU, Nicholls, ULM, USA, and Coastal, and as close as we came last year to beating Troy and GS, I'm hoping we can upset one of Wyoming, Troy, stAte, or UL. I don't have much hope for us against A&M, SMU, or App. I just hope we can be competitive in those games.

Besides wins it's pretty obvious where us TXST fans want to see improvement, the offense. If our defense can play at the same level we don't even need a huge jump in offensive production. With marginal improvement we could've won 8 games last year so maybe it clicks and we hit 6 or 7 this year. The pessimist in me however thinks our defense drops off as a result of the coaching change. I'm very excited for Spav but I really would've liked to have seen how year 4 would've went under Withers, he clearly had us going in the right direction. One thing the new staff has preached is increasing turnovers so hopefully at the worst our defense regresses but we get more turnovers to even it out.

EW had us moving in the right direction ??? EW went 2-10, 2-10, 3-9 in his 3 seasons, not to be Debbie Downer, but I ain’t seeing this “Right Direction” you speak of.
Our D did improve in his 3 years, I’ll give him that . . . but that’s all I’ll give him. Our kicking game under him was pathetic . . . and the Offense anemic . . . unless you consider practically no running game, and QB’s running for their lives on every passing play the “Right Direction.”
Personally, I’m glad he’s gone . . shoulda happened sooner. Our FB program has been a joke for far too long, and it goes well beyond Coaching. As far as Spav and Co., almost anything has got to be an improvement on the past 4 years. I wish him well, am pulling for him, his staff, and the team . . . just don’t “step in it.”

1. Looking to see a huge improvement offensively. This is an offensive-minded staff, but they've inherited what was an awful offense last year. Would like to see mass improvement.
2. Would like to see the defense not regress a bunch. We return pretty much the entire defense from last year, but I think a lot of our fanbase is taking the job last years DC Chris Woods did for granted. The new defensive staff has to show me something.
3. Recruiting is really, really, really starting to become a huge concern to me. We have a young, energetic staff. Can we start reeling in some players at some point soon please? What is the hold up?

(07-10-2019 11:49 AM)Bobcat87 Wrote:  

(07-10-2019 11:13 AM)Bobcat2013 Wrote:  I'd hate to make a W-L prediction but after the last 4 seasons I'd be happy with 5 wins. I think we should be able to beat GSU, Nicholls, ULM, USA, and Coastal, and as close as we came last year to beating Troy and GS, I'm hoping we can upset one of Wyoming, Troy, stAte, or UL. I don't have much hope for us against A&M, SMU, or App. I just hope we can be competitive in those games.

Besides wins it's pretty obvious where us TXST fans want to see improvement, the offense. If our defense can play at the same level we don't even need a huge jump in offensive production. With marginal improvement we could've won 8 games last year so maybe it clicks and we hit 6 or 7 this year. The pessimist in me however thinks our defense drops off as a result of the coaching change. I'm very excited for Spav but I really would've liked to have seen how year 4 would've went under Withers, he clearly had us going in the right direction. One thing the new staff has preached is increasing turnovers so hopefully at the worst our defense regresses but we get more turnovers to even it out.

EW had us moving in the right direction ??? EW went 2-10, 2-10, 3-9 in his 3 seasons, not to be Debbie Downer, but I ain’t seeing this “Right Direction” you speak of.
Our D did improve in his 3 years, I’ll give him that . . . but that’s all I’ll give him. Our kicking game under him was pathetic . . . and the Offense anemic . . . unless you consider practically no running game, and QB’s running for their lives on every passing play the “Right Direction.”
Personally, I’m glad he’s gone . . shoulda happened sooner. Our FB program has been a joke for far too long, and it goes well beyond Coaching. As far as Spav and Co., almost anything has got to be an improvement on the past 4 years. I wish him well, am pulling for him, his staff, and the team . . . just don’t “step in it.”

2018 team would've beaten the 2017 team who would've smoked the 2016 team. And the 2019 team was in position to finally be decent under that staff. That's moving in the right direction. Not that any of his 3 teams were any good.

Are we talking about our general expectations, or expectations based on our failed expectations from previous seasons?

I expect our team is capable of winning 10 games of this year. However, based on our poor coaching and the repeated pattern of not living up to expectations, I will subtract 3 from this number, to get the true prediction.

For App, I think the expectations are finish worse than 10-2 in the regular season with a conference championship win hosted in Boone, at least 1 P5 victory, and a bowl win. Expectation may not be reality but we as a program should have high expectations if we want to continue being better when we take a look at the talent we have on the roster. I think frustration mounts if we finish any worse than 8-4 in the regular season.

My prediction for other teams this year:

1. StAte goes 6-6 underperforming expectations and Anderson gets canned
2. Elliot gets canned at GSU after a max 4 win season
3. Chadwell struggles getting no more than 5 wins and is on the hot seat going into 2020
4. Viator goes 7-5 and makes a bowl keeping his job
5. Campbell wins 4 or 5 games which may be just enough to keep him off of the hot seat at south
6. Lindsey goes 7-5 which is good enough in his first year given all of the players that left
7. Spavital wins 4 or 5 games which is solid for his first year at a program that had really struggled
8. Lunsford goes 9-3 with another solid campaign
9. Napier goes 9-3 with a really solid campaign.
10. Drinkiwitz goes 9-3 or 10-2 with a solid first year.

(07-10-2019 01:00 PM)High Country Student Wrote:  For App, I think the expectations are finish worse than 10-2 in the regular season with a conference championship win hosted in Boone, at least 1 P5 victory, and a bowl win. Expectation may not be reality but we as a program should have high expectations if we want to continue being better when we take a look at the talent we have on the roster. I think frustration mounts if we finish any worse than 8-4 in the regular season.

My prediction for other teams this year:

1. StAte goes 6-6 underperforming expectations and Anderson gets canned
2. Elliot gets canned at GSU after a max 4 win season
3. Chadwell struggles getting no more than 5 wins and is on the hot seat going into 2020
4. Viator goes 7-5 and makes a bowl keeping his job
5. Campbell wins 4 or 5 games which may be just enough to keep him off of the hot seat at south
6. Lindsey goes 7-5 which is good enough in his first year given all of the players that left
7. Spavital wins 4 or 5 games which is solid for his first year at a program that had really struggled
8. Lunsford goes 9-3 with another solid campaign
9. Napier goes 9-3 with a really solid campaign.
10. Drinkiwitz goes 9-3 or 10-2 with a solid first year.

Sorry meant to say finish no worse

(07-10-2019 11:58 AM)_x_ Wrote:  

(07-10-2019 11:49 AM)Bobcat87 Wrote:  

(07-10-2019 11:13 AM)Bobcat2013 Wrote:  I'd hate to make a W-L prediction but after the last 4 seasons I'd be happy with 5 wins. I think we should be able to beat GSU, Nicholls, ULM, USA, and Coastal, and as close as we came last year to beating Troy and GS, I'm hoping we can upset one of Wyoming, Troy, stAte, or UL. I don't have much hope for us against A&M, SMU, or App. I just hope we can be competitive in those games.

Besides wins it's pretty obvious where us TXST fans want to see improvement, the offense. If our defense can play at the same level we don't even need a huge jump in offensive production. With marginal improvement we could've won 8 games last year so maybe it clicks and we hit 6 or 7 this year. The pessimist in me however thinks our defense drops off as a result of the coaching change. I'm very excited for Spav but I really would've liked to have seen how year 4 would've went under Withers, he clearly had us going in the right direction. One thing the new staff has preached is increasing turnovers so hopefully at the worst our defense regresses but we get more turnovers to even it out.

EW had us moving in the right direction ??? EW went 2-10, 2-10, 3-9 in his 3 seasons, not to be Debbie Downer, but I ain’t seeing this “Right Direction” you speak of.
Our D did improve in his 3 years, I’ll give him that . . . but that’s all I’ll give him. Our kicking game under him was pathetic . . . and the Offense anemic . . . unless you consider practically no running game, and QB’s running for their lives on every passing play the “Right Direction.”
Personally, I’m glad he’s gone . . shoulda happened sooner. Our FB program has been a joke for far too long, and it goes well beyond Coaching. As far as Spav and Co., almost anything has got to be an improvement on the past 4 years. I wish him well, am pulling for him, his staff, and the team . . . just don’t “step in it.”

2018 team would've beaten the 2017 team who would've smoked the 2016 team. And the 2019 team was in position to finally be decent under that staff. That's moving in the right direction. Not that any of his 3 teams were any good.

Your assertion that the 2018 team would have beaten the 2017 who would’ve smoked the 2016, and the 2019 was in a position to be decent is nothing but speculation. (You are of course entitled to your opinion).

Bottom line: 2-10, 2-10, 3-9 Those records suck, the team sucked, ergo EW and his merry band of miscreant coaches sucked. Put all the lipstick you want on that pig, it’s still a pig. Here, let me say it one more time: 2-10, 2-10, 3-9. I wonder what Southern fan might say about those records if their program went through a similar 3 years . . . Oh wait, Southern fan would have gleefully leaped from the ledge he'd crawled onto, so would App. Fan or StAte fan, or Troy fan. Only Bobcat fan would come onto a public forum and try to argue that said record was "progress."

Anyone calling that moving in the right direction needs to put down both their crack pipe and their maroon and gold colored glasses. Arguing about incremental almost imperceptible team improvement is about as meaningful as G5’s all trying to determine the biggest midget in the room.
I guess all that “improvement” is why attendance and donations went up during the EW tenure . . . NO ? How could that be?

I’ll say this for our fan base though, talking bout the hard cores here . . we’re like the Wile E. Coyote of fans. Drop us off a cliff, hit us with an anvil, run us over with a truck, blow us up, don’t matter how many times you kick us in the teeth (or the nether regions). Just like that coyote, we pick ourselves up, brush ourselves off, put on those maroon and gold colored glasses and ask for more . . . cause one day, just like that Charlie Brown fella, we’re gonna actually kick that ball.
Masochist, ain’t got nothin’ on true Bobcat fan.
Flail away y’all . . .

(07-10-2019 11:27 AM)USAJag2011 Wrote:  I expect him to get better. He’s been a winner everywhere he’s ever played or coached, so I don’t expect that to change here. Not sure what that translates to in Ws/Ls, but it should be evident that we’re more competitive.

He's a Troy alum. He's a winner. He'll get USA turned around.

Derrick Ansley may be one of the next big names in college football. He graduated from Troy in 2004, and is now the DC at Tennessee. He was one of the best DB's in Troy history.