Latest Beamer Bombshell has Mike O'Cain Taking Over Virginia Tech's Playcalling
by furrer4heisman on Feb 22, 2011 12:21 PM EST
in Virginia Tech Football
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PrintThe shake ups on Virginia Tech's coaching staff continue. Frank Beamer has released on Beamerball.com that Mike O'Cain will take over the play-calling duties from Bryan Stinespring. That news was quickly circulated through Twitter by the Hokies' beat writers.
Nothing has been made official yet and I don't have a subscription to Beamerball.com, so what's unclear right now is whether O'Cain is now the new offensive coordinator or if the Hokies' quarterbacks coach is merely taking over the play calling duties. Stinespring will reportedly now coach the offensive tackles and tight ends.
While I'm sure there is a large segment of Hokie fans who are ecstatic over this news, I think the feeling we should have is cautious optimism. O'Cain doesn't exactly have a track record that is significantly better than Stinespring's.
In 2000, as North Carolina's offensive coordinator, the Tar Heels finished 58th in yards per game, 65th in yards per play and 66th in points per game. In 2004, as Clemson's offensive coordinator, the Tigers were 110th in yards per game, 109th in yards per play and 90th in points per game. His last team as head coach at NC State in 1999 finished 86th in yards per game and 96th in points per game.
Whether or not the offense will actually improve now that O'Cain is calling the plays remains to be seen. What is readily apparent is that the notion that Beamer is even resistant to change in his pursuit of a national title is completely out the window.
Last week we saw a couple of changes aimed at improving the ridiculed recruiting efforts of the Hokies. Now, we have a change aimed at improving the ridiculed offensive production. However, it will be interesting to see how these changes effect the continuity of the coaching staff.
Keeping Stinespring also keeps his recruiting abilities on staff. But it also might keep a disgruntled coach on staff, too. Virginia Tech's offense improved his last two years as playcaller and saved the Hokies at times this year when the young defense was struggling. Doug Doughty of the Roanoke Times wrote that Jim Cavanaugh is "hurting" after being reassigned (It was a hit-piece by a Hoo-centric beat writer, but Doughty does seem to be friends with Cav). There's no telling for sure, but my guess is Stinespring has to be hurting as well. At least his pride has to be.
If a change was going to happen, it probably needed to happen this year. Beamer just did a big reshuffling of his staff for recruiting purposes and with a new quarterback taking the reigns next year, it would be better to give him a new playcaller for his first year under center and not his second or third.
This change isn't the monumental shift Hokie fans were looking for. Simply giving O'Cain the playcalling duties isn't going to change Tech's offensive philosophy. My guess is that Tech's offense would have looked the same next year whether it was O'Cain or Stinespring calling the plays. A monumental shift would have been nabbing Kevin Rogers before BC could or convincing Ralph Friedgen from his lake-side lawn chair to call plays in the 'Burg.
All that we have today is probably a cosmetic change to appease some deep-pocketed boosters. I don't think making O'Cain the playcaller instantly makes Virginia Tech a national title contender or even better than they were yesterday. It does make the upcoming season a lot more intriguing though, to say the least.
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Well...
per BeamerBall, Stinespring actually requested that O’Cain take over playcalling. If that is the case, I can’t imagine him being disgruntled.
"[...] coordinator Bud Foster has never had problems filling holes."
I'll believe that
when UVa wins a football national title.
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by furrer4heisman on Feb 22, 2011 12:31 PM EST up reply actions
I'm not a huge fan of Stiney BUT
At the same time, his plays worked when the players executed. Poor execution on the line left no holes for our runningbacks and no time for our quarterback. Yes, his playcalling became questionable when the team would keep throwing blitzes left and right but I don’t know that O’Cain is the solution. I do like having Stinespring back to OT’s and TE’s exclusively because we need some help there. I’ll hold my judgement on whether O’Cain can do any better or not but for now, I remain skeptical.
"’W-I-N’ – (What’s Important Now) To make change; to influence; to use this moment to be better than the last; to achieve greatness in all aspects of your life; win at home. Win at school. Win at business. Win at life."
-Bud Foster
Risk and Reward
For a couple seasons now the majority of Hokie Nation has Cried out for change. You hear it from the stands in Lane, you hear it from the writers, etc. But once we finally get change we quickly realize that change is scary, you dont really know what you are getting and you never really know if its a step in the right direction or wrong direction. In this case I think this may be a little of both. This will obviously be a huge boost for recruiting, especially as it is clear we are slowing losing our recruiting stronghold in the 757 and have very little recruiting power outside of the commonwealth. What i question now, however, is how this will affect the stability of the program. Blacksburg has been the symbol of stability in college football for years now. You know exactly what you are going to get and there is very little question how things will go down. These changes are sure to shake things up in Blacksburg and there is definitely a question how things will eventually come together. In the last couple weeks Hokie football has increased its potential but also increased its risk. Obviously it takes risk to get better but I do wonder if the potential reward is worth the risk. Consider this Hokie cautiously optimistic.
by BadNewzGobbler on Feb 22, 2011 1:50 PM EST reply actions 2 recs
This is shaping up to
be what I thought. I wrote on anohter post before, that Shane Beamer will be the OC with in a couple years. I still say this is the case. O’Cain will be the playcaller for the next year or two, then enter Shane. When Bud takes this team over (which will happen), the staff will be set! Even if Shane is not the OC, he will be a big part of the staff once Bud take’s over. Shane is just like Frank when it comes to special teams! BeamerBall will live on…
Whoever said, 'It's not whether you win or lose that counts,' probably lost.
Martina Navratilova
Doughty must be pretty well balanced, since most UVA fans think he’s a Hokie shill stuck having to write articles about UVA at times. First time I’ve ever heard him called Hoo-centric.
That aside, were I a Hokie – or let’s say something like this happened at UVA – I’d be pretty disappointed that this is what the head coach thinks is change. With Hite, Cavanaugh, and now Stinespring all continuing to be employed, but in lesser duties, I’d think the awkwardness around the VT offices would be palpable. I don’t think Beamer can try to walk the fence like this.
by MaizeAndBlueWahoo on Feb 22, 2011 2:09 PM EST reply actions 2 recs
I hate you
for making me rec this.
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by furrer4heisman on Feb 22, 2011 2:31 PM EST up reply actions
we'll see...
The Hite move, I think, was a good one. Sounds like Hite is thrilled, so I don’t expect that to cause any awkwardness. He was ready to take a step back. I honestly have a hard time believing Stinespring suggested the play-calling change, but stranger things have happened, so you never know… Still gotta think there would be some awkwardness, and the potential for a lot of O’Cain does really well. But the Cavanaugh move… that’s the one that most concerns me, actually. I didn’t see that one coming, nor does it sound like he did, and it doesn’t sound like a good situation there at all. Wish I could get inside Frank’s mind and see what he was thinking there. Hope it works.
It's not all of BS's fault
For all of the criticism given to BS as OC, guess how is offensive play-calling philosophy is being shaped- from Coach Beamer. Everyone knows Beamer’s long-standing offensive philosophy is to control the ball, run-oriented, tough, smash mouth, keep it simple, no “trick” plays, let the defense win games type of offense, Beamer has even been quoted numerous times on his offensive philosophy. That is one of the main reasons Beamer is so loyal to BS, Beamer somewhat shapes BS whole offensive philosophy. Sure we’ve seen some wrinkles here and there from BS, but I have a feeling we either need some new blood inserted in the offense or for the whole Tech coaching staff to update or change their offensive philosophy. Sure Tech has won many games with their coaching philosophy but their may be time for some updated wrinkles to their thinking. Why not make BS an offensive Co-Cordinator like Bud Foster was in his first year as DC and bring in a Mike Leach (impossible I know), the already hired Norm Chow, and the rumored Ralph Friedgen. Also all of the credit Bud Foster is getting, you will have to remember a lot of that is from Beamer as well. Now that Shane is the associated Head Coach, does this leave Bud Foster “hurting” as well?
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