Wickline now the official OC and Play Caller. Kind of a head scratcher for me. All I can feel is numbness, not so much in a bad way. Just a neutral feeling. I guess it's just time to trust Charlie. Wickline is a greatly respected and successful coach so it's more likely than not he will succeed. At least it wasn't Watson. That would've torpedoed the momentum IMHO. This subject has been covered some at the end of a few other long threads. Felt we needed a fresh thread devoted solely to this very important, specific decision. Wanted to make it easier to find and contribute opinions on this new role for Wickline.
I think I'm going to let these folks have a spring practice, then some two-a-days, and then a fall season before I decide if they are qualified to do their jobs. I know how I felt about their predecessors. I, for one, am excited about the future and don't want to borrow trouble.
Hard to imagine how in game time someone could call plays and give the OL the attention they need at the same time. Otherwise, he is a proven badass at OL coaching and has been under Gundy. I could see him being a great coordinator. Just confused about how splitting duties will work.
I'm not worried about play calling. I'm more concerned about execution. If you watched Auburn run it right up the gut, time after time, against 'Bama and FSU you know what I'm talking about.
I think Clean just nailed it, how many times did Major call the right play and the offense failed to produce results. Lack of blocking, dropped passes and poor throwing. I think that maybe it was just bad coaching more than play calling. Upgrade the coaching and produce results and the OC will look a lot better no mater who it is.
Is it because he had a $600,000 buy out clause if he did not get an OC position that required play calling? Maybe Strong's just trying to save a little money.
i think 4 yards and a cloud of black turf beads would be a great strategy... after all when you pass... yada yada
Wickline is a student of the game in the prime of his career having coached most recently for one of the best spread offenses in the Big 12. He may not be great, but I'm betting he will.
Not that the level of coaching effort per player is the same for QB and OL, but the 2013 UT roster has 5 QBs and 20 OL, OT, OG, Cs listed, or OL has 4x the headcount as QBs. I"m assuming TEs are coached separately, but may require some overlap with OL coaching?
I know one thing, now more than ever the OL will be supremely accountable. A bad game by the OL would not only mean they didn't do their jobs for their position coach, but they would publicly make him look like a bad play caller and a big reason for the loss. Good news for us. On the flip side, from experience I do believe having an OL coach to talk with players between series is important. There is a lot of communication within the big group and often blocking changes do need to be made in-game, not just at half. The only time Wick could somewhat focus with them would be halftime. And still not much as he needs to make pc adjustments. He's certainly going to have to give gameday authority over them to another.
There's an article in bleacher report about it. I think we should trust coach strong. He knows about tough football. Bleacher report article
wickline is considered an upper echelon position coach. he's very experienced within a high powered offense. i say let the guy take the next step. we have we 3 OCs in our offensive staff, which is very experienced at high levels overall. it looks to me like execution is much more on strong's mind than PR hype.
Bayerithe, The quarterbacks job is to change plays at the line as well. How many of those passes were called by Major vs. changed by Case? And you are correct, Major had his moments as well.
I normally don't pay much attention to what any of the Statesman's writers have to say, but Ced Golden did ask a question that aroused my curiosity. Are there any other top programs in the country with an OL coach calling the plays? Like Golden, I don't know of any, but then I don't keep up with that sort of trivia.
We all thought Harsin was going to light things up, and we (I at least) thought Major would be a success. Given that there was great expectation and excitement about those guys, and we didnt get what we wanted, I say this might work out better. Id rather have lower expectations and be pleasantly surprised than disappointed.
This may be what Wickline had to be offered to get him. No reason the O line coach can't run the offense. I kind of like the idea. Building from the ground up, so to speak. Time will tell.
I'm like whatever. Strong gets a full pass on year one. Wickline, too. The quality of Wickline as an OL coach is unassailable. In theory there ought to be absolutely nothing to prevent Wickline from being the kind of OC we need to win the playoffs. Wickline will either have the knack or he won't, I should think. The key is recruiting. Hopefully we can salvage this year, and rack up next year.
Just my opinion but I think there is to much emphasis on play calling. You either execute and pound the person in front of you and move the damn ball or you don't. Hell people know what Bama is going to do but they still can't stop them 99% of the time. It's not rocket science you run and pass the damn ball. Just my opinion.
Playcalling is incredibly important. You have to be able to match wits with the games (stunts, shifts, etc) a DC is calling in certain situations, etc. Knowing when to run a delay run left instead of a power run right is a huge deal. It's the difference between a run going for 1 or 7 in many cases. There are so many strategy moves going on in-game between the defense and offense it's unthinkable to most. If play calling was as simple as knowing when to run or pass, or go right or left, anyone could do it. It's just not so. Like said above, this year we give Strong and Wickline a pass on early judgement and observe what they do with our talent.
