There's a Problem if Virginia Tech Fires Offensive Coordinator Bryan Stinespring
by furrer4heisman on Sep 9, 2009 5:00 PM EDT
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PrintMy official position is I don't think Bryan Stinespring should be fired as Virginia Tech's offensive coordinator (though I'm quickly warming to the idea). But I do think he's an awful playcaller. However, there is a very big dilemma when it comes to removing or demoting Stiney.
If you want a better offensive coordinator, you're going to have to find someone willing to play third fiddle to Frank Beamer and Bud Foster. Beamer makes his offensive philosophy loud and clear: Protect the ball, control the ball, complement the defense and don't do anything to cost us the game.
The odds of finding a better offensive coordinator than Stinespring who's willing to take his marching orders from Beamer is The Blutarsky. Zero. Point. Zero.
Someone from another program is going to want to come in here, put up big numbers, make a name for himself and move on to a head coaching job somewhere. Stinespring may want a head coaching job, but he's not looking to do it at the expense of following the program's philosophy or else he would have quit long ago.
None of the young, up-and-coming offensive coordinators are going to want to come in here if Stinespring is removed. They'd clash with Beamer and be disgruntled they couldn't open up the playbook. The Chip Kelly and Gus Malzahn types don't want to play ball control.
If you want Stinespring gone yesterday, I've got a rude awakening for you. He's not going to be gone until Beamer is. And the offense is going to be terrible until Beamer changes his tune on how he wants the offense to be run.
Here's a perfect example from Saturday. Down 10 late in the fourth quarter, the Hokies finally showed some quick-strike capabilities when Ryan Williams capped off a two-play TD drive with a 32-yard run. The problem was it came at the worst possible time for the defense. They were gassed and had already been on the field for almost all of the previous 10 minutes of game time. It came as no surprise when Alabama answered in five plays.
If you want a quick-strike offense, you have to live with a quick-strike defense. That's something Beamer, Foster and probably most Hokies fans don't want to see. Until then, you're stuck with Stinespring. And if you get rid of him, I guarantee you won't find anyone better until the program changes its approach.
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Whoa Whoa Whoa
furrer,
I respectfully disagree with your point that the Hokies couldn’t find another offensive coordinator willing to come coach here. Just because some young hotshot wouldn’t want to come here and take marching orders from Beamer doesn’t mean there aren’t PLENTY of candidates who would jump at the chance.
You’re right we don’t need some flavor of the moment, wide-open brand of quick strike offense. But look at what Jim McElwain is doing at Alabama. Mike Bobo at Georgia runs a very sound offense. But here’s my darkhorse and this guy is a PERFECT FIT.
Paul Chryst at Wisconsin. Come on, is he honestly going to be a head coach anytime soon with a young Bielema in front of him? His offense is predicated on the running game and protecting the football (Wisconsin isn’t exactly a spread offense) and since 2005 Wisconsin has averaged almost 400 yards a game (Top 20-30 every year) with the likes of John Stocco, Tyler Donovan and Dustin Sherer at QB for God’s sake!!! Think what a guy like Chryst would give to have a chance to coach a kid like Tyrod Taylor or Logan Thomas and run an offense with the talent that the Hokies have when compared to Wisconsin. No disrespect to the Badgers as they’ve had a solid program but VT has the talent to take it to the big boys, they just need someone to come in and run an effective offense.
Don’t tell me the cupboard is bare with these and other offensive coordinators who I know would love to come in, make a huge difference and compete for championships. Yeah they might be here only 5 years or so…….and that’s a problem why? That’s probably going to be all Beamer has left and the school could immediately compete for a national title, which means the coordinator will be a hot commodity right around the time Beamer is going to hang it up anyway.
I pray every night before I go to sleep that Beamer cans Stinespring at the end of this season and brings in Paul Chryst from Wisconsin. I’m going to start a Chryst for OC 2010 Campaign.
~MadJay
www.techsuperfans.com
I like McElwain
But even Georgia fans have problems with Bobo. And Wisconsin, Georgia and Alabama have far superior offensive lines to ours.
However, I don’t think an offensive coordinator is going to leave one of those three schools to come to VT. It would be at best a sideways move. What do those programs spend on football compared to ours? My guess is all three spend more.
And Chryst would not automatically be able to work miracles with Tyrod and Thomas. He’s used to coaching the Glennons of the world.
I think people are overreacting to the Alabama game. We simply did not match up well with them. It destroyed Bobo’s offense last year and I’m sure it’d do the same to Wisconsin. Ball control offenses aren’t going to beat Alabama this year.
We’ll see how the Hokies fare against defenses they can actually get yards between the tackles. I’m not saying our offense doens’t work, I’m saying that if you want to get rid of Stiney or find someone who can install and high powered offense, you’re going to have to change that philosophy.
Stiney may be a terrible playcaller, but he’s pretty good at following his marching orders.
A bullhorn, a bottle of whiskey and a dream. GobblerCountry.com
by furrer4heisman on Sep 9, 2009 6:44 PM EDT up reply actions
Not high powered...
We don’t need a high-powered offensive philosophy. We just need coaches that can capably run ANY philosophy and do it consistently. I don’t think people are overreacting to the Alabama game, I think they are reacting to the past half decade. Our pass blocking is horrendous, and has been for a long time now. Our QBs’ decision making/progression ability appears to be at a high school level. We hear about what poor route runners many of our WR’s are when they try out for NFL teams. We thought it may be personnel for a while, but I think that is being disproved. Whether you think it is scheme or execution, the responsibility has to fall up the ladder to Stinespring and eventually Beamer.
The lack of a passing game makes us woefully one-dimensional. Our superior running game and great defense allows us to beat or even walk all over lesser opponents, but when we face better athletes, it seems we are left shaking our heads every… single… time…
We can remain an ACC contender, but we’ll be stuck in a holding pattern as long as Stiney is here. Some people are fine with that, but I fear the door to taking the next step will only remain open so long.
Did you drink a Stiney roofie or something? :-)
Georgia fans having a “problem” with Bobo because they lost to Okie State is nowhere NEAR the level of disgust Hokie fans feel towards Stinespring. Bobo is a good playcaller and at least Georgia has a consistent offensive philosophy (attack every o-line gap with the running game and work the short flats and deep middle in the passing game).
As far as overreacting to the Bama game, sure there may be some more recent bandwagoners on this “fire stiney” deal due to the Bama game, but certainly not me. Hell I was there when they hitched up the horses. And I say that Chryst would turn this offense into a top 25 offense with these players.
My unsubstantiated opinion is that he would view it as an upgrade to go from Madison to Blacksburg ESPECIALLY because if he was able to turn the offense around he would increase his coaching profile very significantly. After all, I’m guessing you and 90% of college fans don’t currently know who Chryst is but many would if he was the catalyst that propelled Tech into a national contender.
Offensive philosophy not the problem.
furrer:
I like your work, but I dont believe the ball control offensive philosophy is the problem. Alabama does fine with it. In fact, it helps our defense. Think of how well our defense played in the Orange Bowl. Now, check out the TOP. If memory serves, we had the ball about 39 minutes. Against Bama, the defense was on the field too long and consequently faltered in the 4th because the offense could not control the ball.
I dont know if we could get a top OC. At this point, why not let Hite call the plays… or just randomly pick them from a hat. I dont think the results could get any worse.
From what I've heard
Hite would not the best option to replace Stiney calling plays.
A bullhorn, a bottle of whiskey and a dream. GobblerCountry.com
by furrer4heisman on Sep 9, 2009 6:32 PM EDT up reply actions
I said this below… O’Cain can call plays. I believe he sets up the 2 minute offense. Let’s see what he can do.
And Frank should NOT announce it, just have O’cain start calling the plays…
by vt caps fan on Sep 10, 2009 10:36 AM EDT up reply actions
im not sure how it wouldnt be obvious ocain would be calling plays. tv shows the oc a lot and eventually people would notice ocain is the guy phoning them in.
ocain can call plays, sure, but i honestly think hed be worst than stiney. hes doing a pretty awful job as it is developing tyrod. do we really want to put more on the guys plate?
A bullhorn, a bottle of whiskey and a dream. GobblerCountry.com
by furrer4heisman on Sep 10, 2009 10:47 AM EDT up reply actions
Dare I ask - Can our play calling get any worse?
by vt caps fan on Sep 10, 2009 10:53 AM EDT up reply actions
im afraid to answer that question.
A bullhorn, a bottle of whiskey and a dream. GobblerCountry.com
by furrer4heisman on Sep 10, 2009 10:56 AM EDT up reply actions
And this would be a good week to start since its not on TV
by vt caps fan on Sep 10, 2009 10:54 AM EDT up reply actions
Interesting opinion, but you'll get some disagreement.
The Beamer / Stinespring / Foster thing is complicated, no doubt.
But there would be a mile long line of young, talented offensive minds that would LOVE to come to a program like VT. The talent, the exposure, the experience. There are a bunch of very qualified guys out there right now just hanging on waiting for an opportunity like this.
Yes there would be some draw backs, but every job does. They would gladly deal with being second fiddle to Foster and gladdly take orders and direction from one of college footballs top 5 most succesful head coaches.
That’s what is so frustrating to many of us. The OC position at VT seems to have a very UNQUALIFIED individual for a PLUM job in a field where there are a whole lot of stellar candidates. You just have to watch college football on a regular basis to notice.
inept
the offense is bad, no bones about it … for years.
is it the players?
the scheme?
playcalling?
development?
how bout a yes to all that. inept is the best word to describe it.
if all those don’t lead back to the damn coaches … what in the hell does?
so the O is ball control does that mean VT can’t get a OC who knows how to prepare, develop and gameplan that way?
also, look over the years, the guys put in the nfl … the sum of the parts is far more than whole. it’s disgusting to think of what a good OC could have and be doing. it’s not changing though, so i try not to think about it … much.
IMO – it’s not just Stiney’ that is the reason our O flat out sucks. Yes he calls the plays for the most part — I’m pretty sure I read that it was Hite who calls the goal line plays on both ends – inside our 5 or 10; and inside their 10. It’s not just Stiney that’s sucking it up on the O. It’s our philosophy that we can’t take chances. And that’s what sucks. ‘Bama runs a ’protect the ball at all costs offense. But you know what – they move the ball. It’s a pro style/spread offense that protects the ball and most importantly it works.
The other thing is that no offensive coordinator from a major D1 school will want to move to the same lateral position. It’s not often you see an O.C. of one school jump ship to become the O.C. of another D1 school. O.C.‘s don’t jump around, it takes a few years to get the Offense down – D.C.‘s do jump more often cause it is ’easier’ to grasp for the D. If anything, we’ll have to go to the lower level D1 schools, OR take a gamble on a young up and comer (some QB who was good in college but not pro material would be perfect — like Major Applewhite).
And for the record, it does not help our cause that Auburn tried to run the spread last year, failed miserably and fired their OC towards the end of the season last year.
As for Stiney – Beamer has always been uber loyal to his staff. It should be noted that he can’t get rid of Stiney for 2 reasons:
1) He’s a solid recruiter
2) He’s like Frank’s defacto son
Reason #2 is reason enough he wont get fired, but reason #1 makes sense.
If anything, I’d like to see Stiney no longer call the plays but O’Cain ot start calling them. O’cain has done it before (I believe he did that in NCSTATE) and honestly, I personally do NOT think he’s done a good job developing TT in the way we had hoped. So let’s see if he can earn his keep by calling the plays.
And Hite needs to stop calling the plays in the redzone. How many times have you seen the power I formation, full back goes in motion to the right and we run it off to the right…
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