Happy with Coach Woodard?

[Redrain07]

That is true.

[Guest Cardinalrule]

If the OL is so bad at blocking, then you need to take Berry out from under the center. It's amazing what a shotgun formation (or pistol) can do when you have subpart OL. At least give the kid a chance to throw the ball

 

I'm glad you brought this up...I've been meaning to. There were at least 2 or 3 plays where he was already being tackled before he dropped back. It was crazy.

[Guest Cardinalrule]

I think we have more time to throw than you're giving the o-line credit for. Moss and Berry hold on to the ball entirely too long, are not the most accurate passers, and can't audible out of a play to save their life (literally).

 

1. The best thing about Berry vs Moss is that Berry will stay in the pocket and try to wait for someone to get open. Moss will look at his primary receiver and then take off running.

2. I do not recall thinking "holy crap, they cannot hold the ball that long". I do recall, with Moss, thinking "why is he scrambling once he sees the primary receiver isn't open?"

3. It is a lot easier to get rid of the ball quickly if: the right play is called, and the primary receiver is open or close to being open.

4. It hard to say how accurate or inaccurate they are. Moss appeared to be very accurate but he seemed very uneasy in the pocket...and takes off running way too quickly. Berry makes some unbelievable throws and then will miss what appears to be a very simple throw. I think he just needs to show a little more touch on the deep balls.

5. Audible? It isn't the NFL so it is pretty rare to see a college qb calling an audible. But, if it is a clear passing down shouldn't our offensive coordinator be expecting a blitz? Why wouldn't you call a play expecting a blitz when the opposition is blitzing on virtually every passing down?

[Redrain07]

I think what he meant by audible is making sure pick up the blitz. I.E. tell the running back to stay in on pass protection and tell the line where they are coming from.

[BigNasty92]

Yes, that is part of what I meant. I guess checking out of a play doesn't solely lie on the QB. It looked like Sam adjusted every one of their offensive plays at the line of scrimmage last weekend... but those were being yelled in from the sidelines. Hmm. Again...I guess that falls back on coaching. Maybe you guys really are on to something. :)

[geezer]

End of the day two teams given equal talent, the team with better coaching wins. On a scale of1 to 10 with 20 as the high end a team with a talent level of 4 can beat a team with a talent level of 7 if the coaching is good enough and they follow the game plan. Until they start showing something more the most I can give LU on the talent level is a 4. I think to get above an 8 would have to be an upper tier FBS school.

[Guest eagle eye]

I have advocated a wait and see stance in the past but I'm coming to the conclusion that the people calling for Woodard's job may be right. I suppose getting blown up by SHSU was the last straw. Coaching makes all the difference in sports and after 5 full years, 2 of prep and 3 on the field, we are still a doormat in the SLC. I look at a guy like Joe Philbin who was hired as the Miami Dolphins head coach this past off season. I look at a team that was not given a snowball's chance in hell of being good but in reality, without a No. 1 or No. 2 caliber receiver (Brian Hartline is the best they've got) and a guy who hasn't been considered an every down back (Reggie Bush) and a rookie QB in Ryan Tannehill most people said wasn't NFL ready and here they are at 4-3 and in the conversation for a wild card in the playoffs. By now the O-line should not be the liability it is, the QBs should be better than what they've shown and maybe, just maybe, Herschal Sims is leaving because he knows a dead end when he sees one. I have been of the mind that it takes time to bring along a program but all I had to do was look at the Montagne Center and see what coach Knight did with basically the same team that coach Rock struggled with and go to the NCAA big dance. Coach Woodard has overhauled his coaching staff three times now and they've only been playing 3 years. Not good. Three offensive coordinators in three years. Not good. With the lack of improvement he's had I have come to the conclusion Ray-Ray is not what we thought he would be. I saw a big red flag when he hired a guy who was on the coaching staff with the infamous Ray Alborn who I blame for killing the football program back in the eighties. 2012 should have been the year you saw a big jump in the quality of the team especially with the D-1 talent that he signed in the spring.

Another flag is the defections of players we've seen the past two seasons. Was it because the kids were selfish and/or untalented or was it because they didn't like the direction of the team? We may never know but with brand new facilities to work in, with a really nice stadium to play in, these things haven't been enough for players to stick around. Why? Coaching is the only other answer. I'm afraid the program will die again if we stick with a staff who can't seem to generate any telltale offense and thus getting their asses kicked by the better teams on their schedule. I don't think the players are the problem. We have talent. Maybe if coach Woodard just did recruiting he'd be in his element. It's just becoming increasingly clear the sideline is not his element.

[LUSportsFan]

I have advocated a wait and see stance in the past but I'm coming to the conclusion that the people calling for Woodard's job may be right. I suppose getting blown up by SHSU was the last straw. Coaching makes all the difference in sports and after 5 full years, 2 of prep and 3 on the field, we are still a doormat in the SLC. I look at a guy like Joe Philbin who was hired as the Miami Dolphins head coach this past off season. I look at a team that was not given a snowball's chance in hell of being good but in reality, without a No. 1 or No. 2 caliber receiver (Brian Hartline is the best they've got) and a guy who hasn't been considered an every down back (Reggie Bush) and a rookie QB in Ryan Tannehill most people said wasn't NFL ready and here they are at 4-3 and in the conversation for a wild card in the playoffs. By now the O-line should not be the liability it is, the QBs should be better than what they've shown and maybe, just maybe, Herschal Sims is leaving because he knows a dead end when he sees one. I have been of the mind that it takes time to bring along a program but all I had to do was look at the Montagne Center and see what coach Knight did with basically the same team that coach Rock struggled with and go to the NCAA big dance. Coach Woodard has overhauled his coaching staff three times now and they've only been playing 3 years. Not good. Three offensive coordinators in three years. Not good. With the lack of improvement he's had I have come to the conclusion Ray-Ray is not what we thought he would be. I saw a big red flag when he hired a guy who was on the coaching staff with the infamous Ray Alborn who I blame for killing the football program back in the eighties. 2012 should have been the year you saw a big jump in the quality of the team especially with the D-1 talent that he signed in the spring.

Another flag is the defections of players we've seen the past two seasons. Was it because the kids were selfish and/or untalented or was it because they didn't like the direction of the team? We may never know but with brand new facilities to work in, with a really nice stadium to play in, these things haven't been enough for players to stick around. Why? Coaching is the only other answer. I'm afraid the program will die again if we stick with a staff who can't seem to generate any telltale offense and thus getting their asses kicked by the better teams on their schedule. I don't think the players are the problem. We have talent. Maybe if coach Woodard just did recruiting he'd be in his element. It's just becoming increasingly clear the sideline is not his element.

 

A little off topic ...

 

I agree with just about everything in the quoted post except that I don't blame Ray Alborn for killing football. He happened to be there when the lights were turned out. I blame the demise of football in 1989 on a few things. Coach Alborn is the least of those. 1. Administration selling us that the money we saved on Football would go to Basketball 2. Playing an independent schedule. 3. Lack of Fan Support - Can't blame the fans with results that we had, but I did enjoy a lot of the games even if my wife, daughter, and I were some of the relatively few in the stands. After Larry Kennan's winning season, things took a drastic drop both in wins and fan support. It's all water under the bridge, but Ken Stephens record was 4-7, 2-9, 2-9, 3-8. Coach Alborn at least showed some improvement playing all but one year as an independent. He was 2-9, 3-8, 3-8, and 5-5 when the plug was pulled. Actually, after looking at the yearly results, Coach Alborn had the best record since Vernon Glass retired except for Larry Kennan's one winning year (1979) of 6-3-2. Looking at the record, we pretty much sucked after Vernon Glass's retirement.

 

1974 Vernon Glass 8-2

1975 Vernon Glass 1-10

1976 Bob Frederick 2-9

1977 Bob Frederick 2-9

1978 Bob Frederick 2-8-1

1979 Larry Kennan 6-3-2 (Great times and great crowds at LU ... lots of marketing in the area)

1980 Larry Kennan 3-8 (Forgot Larry Kennan had bad years too)

1981 Larry Kennan 4-6-1 (Forgot Larry Kennan had bad years too)

1982 Ken Stephens 4-7

1983 Ken Stephens 2-9

1984 Ken Stephens 2-9

1985 Ken Stephens 3-8

1986 Ray Alborn 2-9

1987 Ray Alborn 3-8 LU to American South Conference. Playing independent schedule

1988 Ray Alborn 3-8

1989 Ray Alborn 5-5 (Plug pulled)

 

Back on topic ...

 

I'm not happy with the progress. I've seen some good plays, but I'm disappointed that we're not competitive with the upper echelon of the conference and that it appears that some of the lower level programs have progressed. I knew this was going to be a tough year with all the new faces, but I thought we would be showing more on the field.

[BigNasty92]

Thanks for coming to the defense of Alborn. He was the LAST reason they pulled the plug. That writing had been on the wall long before he got the job.

[Redrain07]

Now I was born in 1989 so I grew up with no Lamar football. What was the reason for the loss of the program. I've had friend who told me it was an SMU situation?

[BigNasty92]

No. It was nothing like that. SMU's 'death penalty' was something the NCAA handed down because of continuous recruiting violations (best team money could buy).

Lamar dropped theirs because of finances..but there were a few other factors (poor administration, politics, etc) involved. I've talked to former players that from the 70s that told me the rumors of them dropping the program were floating around even then. I am sure that others on here could give you more specifics.

 

[LUSportsFan]

Now I was born in 1989 so I grew up with no Lamar football. What was the reason for the loss of the program. I've had friend who told me it was an SMU situation?

 

Here's a link to an article in the New York Times.

 

https://www.nytimes.com/1989/12/15/sports/lamar-university-drops-football.html

 

I don't think it had anything to do with SMU. One connection might have been that Larry Kennan, LU head coach from 1979-1981, was an offensive coordinator at SMU for a few years before he came to LU. The other thing the friend might be referring to is that SMU suffered an NCAA imposed death penalty because of violations. Lamar, in effect, imposed it's own death penalty by dropping the program, but not because of any violations.

 

This might be good for it's own topic since we're getting a little off of the original one. I do think it is important to understand what happened to us in the past so that we don't let it happen again.

 

Disapppointing results or not, it's still a lot better having the team back. We have some committment, excellent facilities, and good support. We just need to do the things needed to take the next step. In defense of Coach Woodard, I think he did a great job in helping to bring the program back from nothing. I would love it if Coach Woodard and his assistants can get us back on track. I want the team and coaches to succeed. I don't want us to become a "revolving door" type of program because I've seen the results of that type of attitude with another team that I follow. On the other hand, if a change is needed, I'm for it.

[Guest LU 17]

The only thing Woodard did to help the program come back, was to schedule some Patsy teams to play. IMO we have stepped back from when we started this program back. Woodard is still making poor game time coaching decisions like going for a 4th down play at mid field when we could have pinned them deep. That TD was on the coaches. Remember, we were playing SHSU last week, who has a good defense. Maybe go for it against McMurray, but not a great team like SHSU. I was pissed about the call then, I am still pissed. We have talent and we still lose big. We dropped football for financial reasons and for no other reason.

[puddin tane]

I was a big fan of Alborn. Stephens sucked and Woodard is 'Frederick' bad.

[Redrain07]

Thanks for the information and sorry for getting of the topic I've just been meaning to ask. As far as Woodard goes I was happy with the hire. I felt hiring a Junior College guy to build the program was great. It opened doors for players that we needed at that time to get it going again but somewhere along the way his recruiting prowess has brought us as far as it can I believe. I also firmly believe that Lamar should be out recruiting any school in our conference period. We have the facilities and we are located in a prime location for recruits. With that said he has rounded up enough talent to compete but they don't seemed prepared for the games.

[Guest LU 17]

Puddin, I was recruited by Keenan and played for Stephens. Your right... He sucked big time.

[Carl101559]

I believe he's renewed for 2 more years.

[BigNasty92]

I believe he's renewed for 2 more years.

 

Who in the hell woke this jackass up?

[QB 22]

bn92 you work for ray ray. You think you can say anything. what yr did you play ?

[BigNasty92]

I can certainly say what I want without having to give two shits whether you like it or not... but the comment that I made in this thread had more to do with other posts he made in other threads (mainly the ".we should be D3" post. That was pretty moronic.)

 

[QB 22]

Well I feel the same about your comments also!! I just do not like calling people names that I really know nothing about! You can be a die hard fan and no have to do that.

[coachacola]

Well I feel the same about your comments also!! I just do not like calling people names that I really know nothing about! You can be a die hard fan and no have to do that.

 

Good point about the name calling.

[Guest eagle eye]

I'm sorry that my comment about Ray Alborn got us off topic. My opinion of Alborn is my own and it didn't have anything to do with the subject other than one of his assistants was hired by coach Woodard.

So, what are we to do now that the admin has given Ray-Ray an extension? I suppose we'll continue to gripe about the lack of team improvement and the unimaginative offense and such. It was nice that Lamar did play a respectable game this past weekend. 40-26 is much better than 56-7. It at least gives you hope you MIGHT be able to beat McNeese. The team does deserve our support even if we don't like the coach.

As much as we are frustrated with the lack of improvement of the team I also know it's hard to find that diamond-in-the-rough coach who can ignite a program. What are we going to do for the next two or three years? I'm not sure why the admin gave him this extension. I thought I did but I've had a change of heart. I know you can't keep changing coaches but heck Woodard has done it now three years running and it didn't help anything but the defense. The offense and special teams are still left wanting.

[Redrain07]

Great post. While Lamar is complacently waiting on things to turn around several schools went out and hired football coaches. Hats off to Fritz at Sam Houston for the job he has done but the hire I was most impressed with would have to be the SELA hire. They went out and hired a proven winner and yes he might not do anything for a few years until their talent level is replenished he has already won nearly as many conference games as our coach. Just food for thought.