The unofficial online home for fans of the Kent State University Golden Flashes. Part of Collegiate Sports Nation (CSN).

(11-14-2017 10:12 PM)anti-zip Wrote:  Rankin was having a good day until he lost half his rushing yards and a stupid freaking wildcat set that was snapped by him. His stat line will not reflect how he played tonight.

Nevermind, I think that didn't count against his rushing total. Still, really dumb play call.

(11-14-2017 10:17 PM)anti-zip Wrote:  

(11-14-2017 10:12 PM)anti-zip Wrote:  Rankin was having a good day until he lost half his rushing yards and a stupid freaking wildcat set that was snapped by him. His stat line will not reflect how he played tonight.

Nevermind, I think that didn't count against his rushing total. Still, really dumb play call.

first and goal at 1. we try to get cute and end up 4th and 30. poor very poor coaching decision.

(11-15-2017 08:19 AM)luckyflash Wrote:  <snip>
first and goal at 1. we try to get cute and end up 4th and 30. poor very poor coaching decision.

Just in case you wanted to relive that series....

1st and Goal at CMU 3
(6:32 - 4th) CENTRAL MICH Penalty, substitution infraction (2 Yards) to the CMich 1

1st and Goal at CMU 1
(6:32 - 4th) Justin Rankin run for a loss of 2 yards to the CMich 3

2nd and Goal at CMU 3
(6:32 - 4th) TEAM run for a loss of 6 yards to the CMich 28 TEAM fumbled, recovered by KntSt Justin Rankin

3rd and Goal at CMU 28
(6:32 - 4th) George Bollas sacked by Alex Briones for a loss of 6 yards to the CMich 34

4th and Goal at CMU 34
(6:32 - 4th) George Bollas pass incomplete to Trey Harrell

So CMU had the ball at their own 5 yard line, and they figured the easiest way to advance it up the field was to give it to us. We intercepted it, and advanced it up to the CMU 34 yard line, and gave it back to them. CMU lost 3 yards over the next 3 plays and punted to us. Then we helped CMU advance the ball to our 2 yard line -

1st and 10 at KENT 20
(3:21 - 4th) George Bollas sacked by Joe Ostman for a loss of 7 yards to the KntSt 13

2nd and 17 at KENT 13
(3:21 - 4th) George Bollas sacked by Mitch Stanitzek for a loss of 4 yards to the KntSt 9

3rd and 21 at KENT 9
(3:21 - 4th) George Bollas pass incomplete to Mike Carrigan

4th and 21 at KENT 9
(3:21 - 4th) George Bollas sacked by Mitch Stanitzek for a loss of 7 yards to the KntSt 2

And CMU took it in for a touchdown from the Kent State 2.

So to review that, Kent State got the ball on the CMU 1, and (leaving out the CMU punt) we carried the ball 51 yards for CMU, then gave it back to them at the Kent State 2 so they can walk in for a Touchdown.

Permit me to ask a question regarding the 'very poor coaching decision'.
on the play to Rankin. I'm just curious.

I'm not trying to be a smart alec and I'm not defending Coach Haynes or
any coach on his staff.

The Flashes were in the shotgun almost the entire game. The center
snapped the ball to the Q.B. (Bollas) almost every play. I think
every snap was on target.

Rankin comes in to run Q.B. in the so-called 'wildcat'. He's in the
same position that Bollas was in for all of his snaps.

The snap is bad. I think it didn't even make it Rankin's feet.

How is this the coach's fault? Which coach is to blame?

With them being that close and not using the power back that Central was struggling to stop is a coaching error. Gamble is 6'1 249 lbs there is no way Central stops him 4 times from making it in that close. Not to mention the 3rd and 1 play earlier in the game when the coaching staff decided to run a reverse instead of powering it up the middle.

(11-15-2017 02:53 PM)pembroke1246 Wrote:  Permit me to ask a question regarding the 'very poor coaching decision'.
on the play to Rankin. I'm just curious.

I'm not trying to be a smart alec and I'm not defending Coach Haynes or
any coach on his staff.

The Flashes were in the shotgun almost the entire game. The center
snapped the ball to the Q.B. (Bollas) almost every play. I think
every snap was on target.

Rankin comes in to run Q.B. in the so-called 'wildcat'. He's in the
same position that Bollas was in for all of his snaps.

The snap is bad. I think it didn't even make it Rankin's feet.

How is this the coach's fault? Which coach is to blame?

The bad snap wasn't the coaches fault. But the telegraphed run on the play before was, it expectedly failed, then we set up to run the same play again. First and goal at the one, just put Gamble in, put the QB under center and run a normal play. No need to try trick plays.

(11-15-2017 03:26 PM)anti-zip Wrote:  

(11-15-2017 02:53 PM)pembroke1246 Wrote:  Permit me to ask a question regarding the 'very poor coaching decision'.
on the play to Rankin. I'm just curious.

I'm not trying to be a smart alec and I'm not defending Coach Haynes or
any coach on his staff.

The Flashes were in the shotgun almost the entire game. The center
snapped the ball to the Q.B. (Bollas) almost every play. I think
every snap was on target.

Rankin comes in to run Q.B. in the so-called 'wildcat'. He's in the
same position that Bollas was in for all of his snaps.

The snap is bad. I think it didn't even make it Rankin's feet.

How is this the coach's fault? Which coach is to blame?

The bad snap wasn't the coaches fault. But the telegraphed run on the play before was, it expectedly failed, then we set up to run the same play again. First and goal at the one, just put Gamble in, put the QB under center and run a normal play. No need to try trick plays.

HERE'S THE DEAL .... there are four gaps from tackle to tackle. You can run the same play four times but not to the same place. There has to be a weak link, defensively, somewhere. But to find it you have to have at least an average, tough, offensive line on a mission.

If you want to know why all the trick plays, all the change in personnel, all the gimmicks don't work ... it is probably to cover up for what may be the biggest weakness on this football team .... The offensive line.

The faulty center snap may not be the coaches fault, but the play is the wrong play. Because of the aforementioned weak offensive line, taking the roll out option or the hand off possibility away means that the wildcat dive into the line has a much, much less possibility of success. Defense, load up the box including the safety because there is no passer in the game. Besides, Bollas has shown to be as good of a runner as any of our backs. He is around 220 pounds and runs well.

What really gets me, is that we had a chance to win this game. CMU let us stay in. Our undisciplined play is more than we can overcome. This coach just does not know how to win.

Call me crazy, but it's probably the coaches fault he doesn't have someone who can execute the snap. Or throw the football. Or run the football. Or block. Or tackle. Everything is the coaches fault. That's the way this deal works.

Danny, in the power 5 world you'd be absolutely right. But those programs have support from top to bottom. Support financially, support from donors, support from administrators and support from the university itself.

Can we all honestly sit here and say Paul Haynes and his staff have all of that?

(11-15-2017 08:15 PM)dannyb73 Wrote:  Call me crazy, but it's probably the coaches fault he doesn't have someone who can execute the snap. Or throw the football. Or run the football. Or block. Or tackle. Everything is the coaches fault. That's the way this deal works.

I won't get on the center. I've heard he's been playing through a pretty rough injury. Not having the line depth is the issue in my opinion... which is on the coaches, so we agree there.

The most frustrating part of that play call is that our offense was actually working last night. We were at nearly 550 yards for the game and it was first and goal at the 1. If the last 6 minutes showed us anything it was that CMU's defense could completely dominate us if they know that we're running or they know that we're passing.

(11-15-2017 10:12 PM)JimJoyce Wrote:  Danny, in the power 5 world you'd be absolutely right. But those programs have support from top to bottom. Support financially, support from donors, support from administrators and support from the university itself.

Can we all honestly sit here and say Paul Haynes and his staff have all of that?

You are correct, but what does that have to do with the fact that our recruiting stinks and we don't develop players? Plenty of MAC schools face similar challenges as us and they aren't nearly as miserable annually.

(11-16-2017 07:28 PM)dannyb73 Wrote:  

(11-15-2017 10:12 PM)JimJoyce Wrote:  Danny, in the power 5 world you'd be absolutely right. But those programs have support from top to bottom. Support financially, support from donors, support from administrators and support from the university itself.

Can we all honestly sit here and say Paul Haynes and his staff have all of that?

You are correct, but what does that have to do with the fact that our recruiting stinks and we don't develop players? Plenty of MAC schools face similar challenges as us and they aren't nearly as miserable annually.

+++1

(11-16-2017 07:46 PM)OLNWFLSH Wrote:  

(11-16-2017 07:28 PM)dannyb73 Wrote:  

(11-15-2017 10:12 PM)JimJoyce Wrote:  Danny, in the power 5 world you'd be absolutely right. But those programs have support from top to bottom. Support financially, support from donors, support from administrators and support from the university itself.

Can we all honestly sit here and say Paul Haynes and his staff have all of that?

You are correct, but what does that have to do with the fact that our recruiting stinks and we don't develop players? Plenty of MAC schools face similar challenges as us and they aren't nearly as miserable annually.

+++1

I get the point about university support - but success breeds support and 2013 didn't build on 2012. In his post game PH talked about his excitement for the youth movement/young players - that's not what one expects from a coach in his fifth year. BG was very young this year but has shown at least some improvement over the season.

Isn’t the basic problem at Kent that due to 40 years of mostly bad football it is very difficult to recruit no matter how good the coach might be at finding talent. Forty years are two generations. Unless a recruit has a non football related reason to go to Kent or his only D1 scholarship is from Kent why would he accept. I know that is not 100% true but isn’t it more true than at other MAC schools. D1 football is so expensive now Kent cannot overpower this perception with money. The only hope is to find a good coach who is willing to stay five years (highly unlikely) or to find 2 or 3 coaches who are good and stay fo 2 years each. Until we have sustained success for 5 years (8-4 or 7-5 success will do, we don’t need 5 years of 11-2) the reputation won’t go away. Once it does we won’t need a superstar coach just a solid one to win once in awhile. I’m a pretty big Kent fan overall but I care very little about football because of those 40 years. I’ve got to believe recruits think the same way.

(11-16-2017 07:54 PM)OLNWFLSH Wrote:  

(11-16-2017 07:46 PM)OLNWFLSH Wrote:  

(11-16-2017 07:28 PM)dannyb73 Wrote:  

(11-15-2017 10:12 PM)JimJoyce Wrote:  Danny, in the power 5 world you'd be absolutely right. But those programs have support from top to bottom. Support financially, support from donors, support from administrators and support from the university itself.

Can we all honestly sit here and say Paul Haynes and his staff have all of that?

You are correct, but what does that have to do with the fact that our recruiting stinks and we don't develop players? Plenty of MAC schools face similar challenges as us and they aren't nearly as miserable annually.

+++1

I get the point about university support - but success breeds support and 2013 didn't build on 2012. In his post game PH talked about his excitement for the youth movement/young players - that's not what one expects from a coach in his fifth year. BG was very young this year but has shown at least some improvement over the season.

Have any of you been a manager in your profession? Team performance is ALWAYS about the boss. Successful organizations are built by their leaders recruiting and developing the right talent.

When it comes to football recruiting, we we do an absolutely poor job. Per 24/7 Sports, 8 MAC schools have at least a dozen commits for 2018. We have THREE. UT, NIU, WMU, even Ball State and Miami are snagging the highest MAC-level talent, and we will end up with what trickles down (yes, pun intended). Sure, we'll get a handful of recruits who could start for any MAC school, but for most of our commits, we will be the only FBS school that has offered. We are set up for failure from the get-go.

(11-17-2017 11:13 AM)goldenflash99 Wrote:  

(11-16-2017 07:54 PM)OLNWFLSH Wrote:  

(11-16-2017 07:46 PM)OLNWFLSH Wrote:  

(11-16-2017 07:28 PM)dannyb73 Wrote:  

(11-15-2017 10:12 PM)JimJoyce Wrote:  Danny, in the power 5 world you'd be absolutely right. But those programs have support from top to bottom. Support financially, support from donors, support from administrators and support from the university itself.

Can we all honestly sit here and say Paul Haynes and his staff have all of that?

You are correct, but what does that have to do with the fact that our recruiting stinks and we don't develop players? Plenty of MAC schools face similar challenges as us and they aren't nearly as miserable annually.

+++1

I get the point about university support - but success breeds support and 2013 didn't build on 2012. In his post game PH talked about his excitement for the youth movement/young players - that's not what one expects from a coach in his fifth year. BG was very young this year but has shown at least some improvement over the season.

Have any of you been a manager in your profession? Team performance is ALWAYS about the boss. Successful organizations are built by their leaders recruiting and developing the right talent.

When it comes to football recruiting, we we do an absolutely poor job. Per 24/7 Sports, 8 MAC schools have at least a dozen commits for 2018. We have THREE. UT, NIU, WMU, even Ball State and Miami are snagging the highest MAC-level talent, and we will end up with what trickles down (yes, pun intended). Sure, we'll get a handful of recruits who could start for any MAC school, but for most of our commits, we will be the only FBS school that has offered. We are set up for failure from the get-go.

Folks (KSU coaches included) need to read the book EXTREME OWNERSHIP, How US Navy Seals Lead and Win, by Jocko Willink and Leif Babin.

All,

My opinion on this topic.

Paul Haynes can teach and develop players on the defensive side of the football, but for whatever reason he hasn't been able to hire the correct offensive staff and develop players on that side of the building. 5 years is plenty of time to develop players, depth, etc., so 5 years has run its course for Haynes/staff. Paul Haynes bleeds blue & gold, but doesn't have the attention to detail (per former players comparing Darrell Hazell vs Paul Haynes) and the ability develop the offensive side of the football, which has led to this point.

**MAC Head Coaching Salaries story/link: https://www.hustlebelt.com/2016/10/26/13...igan-money


Joel Nielsen/Casey Cegles need to decide if they are all in on KSU Football or not, because the assistant coaching salary pool isn't up to snuff and the last 2 Football Strength & Conditioning Coaches have been a failure/debacle. Tons of injuries, 2 player deaths, offensive line has been getting pushed around, etc. They are going to have to increase the assistant coaching salary pool and the head count/salary pool for strength & conditioning to attract the necessary candidates and increase the #s (adding Women's Lacrosse as a sport and the 4 today are already spread too thin).

KSU's Athletic Department didn't take advantage of/monetize the success of 2011 & 2012 for KSU Football, just like they didn't do it for the 2002 Elite 8 run (KSU Athletic Department is just now prioritizing KSU Men's Basketball, 14 years later). The windows of opportunity close faster now than ever.

**Haynes/staff have 7 commitments thus far (still not 12 or more).
Terrance Jones - RB - Sparta NJ
Javaughn Williams - WR - Cleveland OH
Jordan Morris - DT - Princeton NJ
Taurean Taylor - RB - Tucker GA
Derrick Coburn - RB - Detroit MI
Lamar Farris - QB - Jena LA
Mark Carter - S - Miami FL

Who would all of you hire as the new head coach of KSU Football? (as my manager & VP always say, come with solutions/ideas to problems, don't just complain about problems as that will never move the needle or solve a problem) A D2 or D3 Head Coach? A Power 5 assistant coach?

(11-17-2017 11:13 AM)goldenflash99 Wrote:  

(11-16-2017 07:54 PM)OLNWFLSH Wrote:  

(11-16-2017 07:46 PM)OLNWFLSH Wrote:  

(11-16-2017 07:28 PM)dannyb73 Wrote:  

(11-15-2017 10:12 PM)JimJoyce Wrote:  Danny, in the power 5 world you'd be absolutely right. But those programs have support from top to bottom. Support financially, support from donors, support from administrators and support from the university itself.

Can we all honestly sit here and say Paul Haynes and his staff have all of that?

You are correct, but what does that have to do with the fact that our recruiting stinks and we don't develop players? Plenty of MAC schools face similar challenges as us and they aren't nearly as miserable annually.

+++1

I get the point about university support - but success breeds support and 2013 didn't build on 2012. In his post game PH talked about his excitement for the youth movement/young players - that's not what one expects from a coach in his fifth year. BG was very young this year but has shown at least some improvement over the season.

Have any of you been a manager in your profession? Team performance is ALWAYS about the boss. Successful organizations are built by their leaders recruiting and developing the right talent.

When it comes to football recruiting, we we do an absolutely poor job. Per 24/7 Sports, 8 MAC schools have at least a dozen commits for 2018. We have THREE. UT, NIU, WMU, even Ball State and Miami are snagging the highest MAC-level talent, and we will end up with what trickles down (yes, pun intended). Sure, we'll get a handful of recruits who could start for any MAC school, but for most of our commits, we will be the only FBS school that has offered. We are set up for failure from the get-go.

100% correct. But when the program is down for most of 40 years the coaches might not be the issue. The Browns have been through numerous coaches, GMs etc. Can they all be terrible or might Randy Lerner and Jimmy Haslem be the problem. It’s easier to have two culprits instead of 20. Sometimes the mid level manager isn’t the problem. Right now after years of failure I think a solid coach isn’t enough. You need a really good one. The longer your down the harder it is to overcome the obstacles. It just makes it harder for Nielsen to find that right coach. In basketball you get some recruits just because your Kent. In football you have to overcome Kent. It reduces the pool of talent you can draw from.

(11-17-2017 12:56 PM)GoFlashes7 Wrote:  All,

My opinion on this topic.

Paul Haynes can teach and develop players on the defensive side of the football, but for whatever reason he hasn't been able to hire the correct offensive staff and develop players on that side of the building. 5 years is plenty of time to develop players, depth, etc., so 5 years has run its course for Haynes/staff. Paul Haynes bleeds blue & gold, but doesn't have the attention to detail (per former players comparing Darrell Hazell vs Paul Haynes) and the ability develop the offensive side of the football, which has led to this point.

**MAC Head Coaching Salaries story/link: https://www.hustlebelt.com/2016/10/26/13...igan-money


Joel Nielsen/Casey Cegles need to decide if they are all in on KSU Football or not, because the assistant coaching salary pool isn't up to snuff and the last 2 Football Strength & Conditioning Coaches have been a failure/debacle. Tons of injuries, 2 player deaths, offensive line has been getting pushed around, etc. They are going to have to increase the assistant coaching salary pool and the head count/salary pool for strength & conditioning to attract the necessary candidates and increase the #s (adding Women's Lacrosse as a sport and the 4 today are already spread too thin).

KSU's Athletic Department didn't take advantage of/monetize the success of 2011 & 2012 for KSU Football, just like they didn't do it for the 2002 Elite 8 run (KSU Athletic Department is just now prioritizing KSU Men's Basketball, 14 years later). The windows of opportunity close faster now than ever.

**Haynes/staff have 7 commitments thus far (still not 12 or more).
Terrance Jones - RB - Sparta NJ
Javaughn Williams - WR - Cleveland OH
Jordan Morris - DT - Princeton NJ
Taurean Taylor - RB - Tucker GA
Derrick Coburn - RB - Detroit MI
Lamar Farris - QB - Jena LA
Mark Carter - S - Miami FL

Who would all of you hire as the new head coach of KSU Football? (as my manager & VP always say, come with solutions/ideas to problems, don't just complain about problems as that will never move the needle or solve a problem) A D2 or D3 Head Coach? A Power 5 assistant coach?

If I was in the football business I’d come with a solution. I’m not so I won’t. If anybody needs investment casting advice I’ll be glad to help. The fact of the matter is Nielsen gets paid to find these people so it’s up to him.