I think Watson has to go. Obvious to me that he can't coach offense in the Big XII as he failed when he was at Nebraska some years back.
I prefer the Lou Holtz approach. Remember that Lou fired Arnell as DC in the middle of a game? There are no fewer than 30-40 HS coaches in Texas who are better OCs than Watson, not to mention the fact that they would work for a fourth the money and not require a three year full buyout. Of course, I doubt any of them are clients of KornFairy.
If you fire a guy during the season you better have somebody good in the wings. I'm not a fan of Watson but I don't see how Charlie can toss him right now without throwing the team into a lot of disarray with a new coach. On the other hand, fresh ideas and improved coaching might make a big difference. I should not go into coaching.
I agree. We also have a fine QB (Buchelle) who Watson's recruiting. Keep him as QB coach and hire someone after the season who has a top rate proven record. This is Texas and we should and can get one of the top OC's in the country.
Watson and Greg are what they are. I've known Greg since he was in junior high in Groves. I've always said that Greg is as predictable as an alter call in a Southern Baptist Church on Sunday morning. Several times I went with my friend Jim Duke to the Cesspool on the Brazos. Sitting in their big money section, I would call the Aggie plays before they broke the huddle. The Ags accused me a stealing their signals and somehow conveying them across the field to Fred. Greg had some success with Mack at Tulane (playing an embarrassing schedule similar to Loserville) and at UNC (they never won an ACC championship or beat FSU, plus Rick Lantz owned Greg and Mack), and in Austin he got credit for turning VY loose much as Fred "unleashed Earl". Watson has done little to nothing in my opinion. Run over the weaklings and not matchup with the big boys and get embarrassed by a team he should have beaten by three TDs at least once a year. He is to Strong as Greg is to Mack - coattail hanger on. The difference may be that Greg did get a year with Arkansas, and maybe one at UGA, before Mack helping him land the gig at Iowa. Not sure if anyone will take Watson unless it's a Kansas or Kentucky.
I voted to demote him at first. But after reading these posts, I change my mind. We could not do any worse, and I could honestly see Jeff Traylor doing much much better.
We couldn't get one of the top HC's. What makes one think we could get a top OC? We are Texas no more.
Didn't we already hire a great HS offensive mind in Jeff Traylor? Maybe I am incorrect on his resume, but I thought he was an offensive guy, not defense minded. After years of screaming for Greg Davis' head and even getting temporarily banned from this board by the previous regime more than once for stating my opinions about him, i kind of made a 180'degree flip flop, or at least became open to the possibility of me being wrong, after Mack tossed him and the offense continued to be predictable and well, suck. It kind of seemed like perhaps Mack was monkeying round with things and limiting Davis. One thing I really liked about Greg Davie, however, was ability to develop different schemes in the face of adversity, with a little time. When Irby went down and we had few options for TE, Davis devised a new offensive philosophy and moved Shipley down into a slot, or flex TE area and it worked like magic. That was innovative and he installed it one week to the next.
I voted the third choice: keep Watson, assign him as QB coach. Given his college and NFL experience, I'd probably assign Norvell Offensive Coordinator, assisted by Traylor who would participate in the brainstorming, but I like the buck stopping with one, in this case the one with the college (and NFL) experience. Traylor's first year out of high school; Norvell with 30 years experience. Jay Norvell bio: (texassports.com) A former offensive coordinator at Oklahoma, UCLA and Nebraska, who also has NFL experience, Jay Norvell is in his first season as wide receivers coach at Texas. A coach with nearly 30 years of experience that includes coaching in both the BCS National Championship Game and the Super Bowl, Norvell, who was hired in January, spent the last seven seasons at Oklahoma, first as assistant offensive coordinator and receivers coach from 2008-10, then as co-offensive coordinator and receivers coach from 2011-14. ------
Fair point. Getting rid of Diaz helped, but Robinson was available. Bryan Harsin was a huge improvement. We had no OL, inconsistent WRs, and no VY or Colt, so he may not have looked like it, but he about maximized what he had to work with.
Good news is that Strong is questioning the play calling on offense now. He is not to the point where he wants to replace Watson but it is obvious that Watson is on the hot seat.
I would take Cumbie in a heartbeat, but he has to be able to bring or hire someone he wants to work with him, because Sonnie will be back in Lubbock next year or in 2017 at the latest. Tech's choices will be Cumbie or Morris.
I think we could indeed get a top tier OC here. Texas is the hottest hotbed of recruiting in the country. Top O talent can and should be recruited here yearly. Five years ago we were in the MCG. We've fallen, but no question we can get back to the top. With top tier coaching it will happen. See Myer at Ohio St. Kelly at ND followed a series of incorrect hires and has finally got ND back in top form; Auburn languished until they got their guy; Patterson has TCU as competitive now--TCU. Don't tell me Texas can't get right back up there. Of course we can.
Cary, Everything you say is absolutely correct, but then you have to give consideration to the KornFairy factor. Patterson isn't allowing anyone to be hired until KornFairy gets paid for it. There are guys out there that have to be the first to have their resumes out for any prospective (not necessarily open) jobs - see Todd Graham, but unless Patterson can pay KornFairy, all the resumes submitted will go to the shredder.
The problem is that the train wreck that is the UT offensive personnel situation is not changing if you fire a coordinator. So what happens? Someone ELSE comes in and tries to devise a scheme that's supposed to work with three defensive linemen in the backfield. Until that gets fixed, all you're doing is changing the name on the office door. And unfortunately the only way that gets fixed is if/when the young guys mature physically and learn the game, and we need fewer of the refuse from the MB era. Because even if we brought someone new in today, his offense would be horrible. This team is what it is. If it's still what it is after a second year in the system, then we can talk about firing someone. It would take a serious miracle worker to succeed right now, and as someone pointed out, you're not very likely to find one of those who can come in during mid-season. You will do more harm than good with a promising recruiting class and we end up rolling the process back another couple of years.
Everyone's jury is out on Norvell. The Mobilehoma faithful wanted his head and Bob obliged. I'm not a fan on him being hired, but he did what he did at OU without a QB. OU hasn't had a quality QB in years, yet they still stomp a mudhole in us every October. Maybe Norvell is a miracle worker having the experience of producing in big games with inferior QB talent; or maybe Norvell was part of the QB problem. Either way, he cannot be worse than Watson, who has to being giving thanks that Chris Palmer continues to keep him from being the worst offensive mind in the country. As for Traylor, he understands offense and got the maximum out of a cancer that he got the kids to support.
Prodigal- I hear what you are saying and there is definitely some truth to it. However, the other side is that there a great many teams remaining competitive with worse talent than UT has. In fact, there are probably only a couple dozen schools that have better offensive talent than UT. If your point was was 100%, then we could bank on us shutting out Rice, Cal, Kansas, and TTU because out talent is superior, but we know that won't happen.
Scheme is playing a very big part of the problem and only far, far superior talent could overcome the scheme. Mike Leach fielded offensive fireballs that tore new ones in more highly talented teams for years with 2 only star talent. He never asked his OL to stand toe to toe with better defenders. I doubt Sonny Cumbie even knew what a 5 step was when playing for Tech. That is scheme that helps your players.
My opinion is that they just need to run the ball more. The more you run the ball the more the receivers get open because the defense will add more to the box assuming it's a run play. J. Gray barely touched the ball and when he did he got good YPC.
You move forward by letting Traylor call the plays. Start Heard vs Rice and get Locksley ready to back him up. Let Watson still coach the QB's. if you must. If we can't get any receivers open on the short 3 step drops, then go with 7 OL's. and run the damn ball.