Woodard signs contract extension thru 2014

[Guest CardAmbassador]

I understand what is being said, but I don't think Woodard is the guy for the long haul, yes you need to give some people time to work, but does Woodard give anyone here the impression that he could win an SLC championship? He used to give me a good impression, but I've heard so many negative things about the direction of our program that I'm really beginning to believe he's just not the guy for us.

 

And yes we're better this year probably than in the 2 previous years. But that is almost inevitable with the small amount of depth that comes with 3 years of football now. Next year we will have a full 4 years of depth as far as playing experience goes. How much more time after that should we wait for substantial improvement?

 

Also it looks like this deal is up in August of 2014 so isn't this really only a 1 year extension in reality?

[AggiesAreWe]

I understand what is being said, but I don't think Woodard is the guy for the long haul, yes you need to give some people time to work, but does Woodard give anyone here the impression that he could win an SLC championship? He used to give me a good impression, but I've heard so many negative things about the direction of our program that I'm really beginning to believe he's just not the guy for us.

 

And yes we're better this year probably than in the 2 previous years. But that is almost inevitable with the small amount of depth that comes with 3 years of football now. Next year we will have a full 4 years of depth as far as playing experience goes. How much more time after that should we wait for substantial improvement?

 

Also it looks like this deal is up in August of 2014 so isn't this really only a 1 year extension in reality?

 

 

 

Christopher Dabe ‏@cmdabe

Contract expires Aug. 31, 2015. #BEscores

[Guest LU 17]

Eagle, still no progress. We are going in the wrong direction. And I hope you realize that our higher ranking comes from our wins over Prarie View and two sub D-1 schools. By the end of the year we should finish around last years ranking. Again, I will say Kubiak showed progress. He didn't have any Langstons or McMurrays to fluff his record.

[Lamarcard81]

Kubiack should have been fired years ago. The only reason he is still around is he is an aggi in an overwhelmingly aggi town. He is a broken clock. (this is not a statement for or against Coach Woodard)

[Guest eagle eye]

My example wasn't an endorsement of Gary Kubiak or Ray Woodard. I just stated what I observed over time. Kubiak did not pull the Texans out of the muck of the bottom of the NFL over night. It took time. Could someone have done it better? Probably, but he has made good personnel moves and drafted pretty darn well. And he has a competant staff. This seems to be the issue at Lamar. Could someone do better than Ray Woodard? Probably. But has Ray had an adequet chance to show real progress with a brand new program? That's a question that begs to be answered and will be over time I suppose. The Lamar AD thinks not. That's why he gave him an extention on his contract. Honestly, you won't see the real end result of a new coach in most cases for 4 or 5 years when HIS players get to be seniors. Some of y'all are much closer to the LU program than me but I don't count the recruiting done the two years prior to the debut of the football team. With all due respect most of those players were not the cream of the crop. We appreciate them and we give them all the credit for helping to resurrect Lamar football. Guys like JJ Hayes came later and help give Lamar some cred. This past year coach Woodard and his staff were able to recruit some really good players but when the program is still building as Lamar's is a few players are only the beginning. To me 2 1/2 years is not enough time to build a program. If we're having this discussion seven weeks into the 2014 season. I will be inclined to agree we need a change. Not every team can be turned around in a year. Worst to first in one year was never, ever going to happen at Lamar. Worst to first happens when a really good coach comes in and takes the existing quality talent which has to be pretty good and adds a few pieces and coaches them up and they do their thing. Woodard did not have "existing talent". He's had the players he could recruit to a brand new program. The quality of those recruits is improving and so is the team. They just have more holes to fill before they can turn a corner to the next level of success. Realistically, I would think in the 4th year the continuity will begin to improve, the strength and conditioning of the players will be better and the depth of quality talent will be better and thus Lamar should be better. Perhaps even approaching 8 or 9 wins. The competant staff thing---that's for another thread.

[puddin tane]

Some of y'all are much closer to the LU program than me but I don't count the recruiting done the two years prior to the debut of the football team. With all due respect most of those players were not the cream of the crop

 

quite a few of the initial signees are starters.........

[Guest LU 17]

Eagle, I will say this one last time. We are not progressing! We have gone backwards and this is the middle of the third season. UTSA is Is a new program getting players basically from the same talent pool. They seem to be much farther ahead. I think they even lost to McMurray last year, but have shown progress. You seem to want to wait this out. We have talented players, but have only beat smaller conference schools. Do we want to prolong this process of starting over with mediocre at best records, or get the process under way now. We can still recruit and sign decent talent. This will not always be the case if continue to accept a losing program. Why would a recruit want to come into a losing program that has been losing for a while and continues to force feed this nonsense. I wouldn't want to come here and lose.

[geezer]

NO player wants to go anywhere and lose. But all players want to play. Our number one problem is the linemen aren't consistently getting the job done. If that is not addressed in recruiting then we will continue to lose and if the coaches don't recognize the need to improve the line play then your right we will need to replace them, but we better have a good idea of who the next coach should be and be ready to move fast when the change is made.

[Guest LU 17]

I agree Geezer. We just extended Woodards contract. I enjoyed the football games more in season one. It just seemed like we were a little more exciting and competitive. We hung with McNeese our first game back. I just don't see it.

[coachacola]

I want to hold off judgement until the season is over but just looking at the numbers it doesn't look good. Here's the ratings and records against D1 opponents so far:

 

Massey Ratings

Year, Rating, Record

2012, 201, 1-4

2011, 221, 2-7

2010, 201, 2-5

 

RealTimeRPI

Year, Rating, Record

2012, 232, 1-4

2011, 225, 2-7

2010, 213, 2-5

 

Year 1, both offense and defense were decent. Last year Woodard tried to be the DC and the team regressed. This year, defense has improved but now the offense sucks.

 

My take is the big donors are going to give Woodard a couple of more years to put it together. He has a improved staff, seems to be able to recruit and has most of the starters back for next year. I think the goal is to contend for the SLC title next year and the powers that be will give him that chance.

[puddin tane]

we are bad AND boring...not a good combo

[Guest eagle eye]

Eagle, I will say this one last time. We are not progressing! We have gone backwards and this is the middle of the third season. UTSA is Is a new program getting players basically from the same talent pool. They seem to be much farther ahead. I think they even lost to McMurray last year, but have shown progress. You seem to want to wait this out. We have talented players, but have only beat smaller conference schools. Do we want to prolong this process of starting over with mediocre at best records, or get the process under way now. We can still recruit and sign decent talent. This will not always be the case if continue to accept a losing program. Why would a recruit want to come into a losing program that has been losing for a while and continues to force feed this nonsense. I wouldn't want to come here and lose.

 

I agree LU 17 we aren't seeing the improvement we maybe should have but, at least on the defensive side of the ball we are better. I think some of the problems the defense has had in our losses is the amount of time they stay on the field in those games. I really feel like the defense has shown improvement this year over past years. I also agree, and have said the same, with those who say the O-line needs to be addressed. One of the cliches that I believe to be especially true is this, you win games in the trenches. If your O-line and D-line are strong it gives you the freedom to do whatever you want. Ask me what is the biggest deficiency that has been holding the Dallas Cowboys back and it's that. They are weak on both sides of the line. They can beat the weaker teams but they can't beat the better teams who are physical up front. The O-line seemed to do a lot better last week but we'll see going forward. Lamar struggles for the same reason. The weaker teams are handled but equally talented physical teams just dominate Lamar. Do better recruitiing of linemen. Do a better job of building them up in the weight room. Do a better job of coaching them. My whole point is it is hard to start a new program and it seems like Woodard will get another year or two to fix it. (Beside the O-line, to me, the special teams needs to get better. We constantly kill ourselves in this area.)

[Guest LU 17]

Eagle eye good point on special teams. Well our punter had the second best average in the SLC last year and has been in the upper portion of the SLC in gross average this year, yet our net punting is at the bottom. Sounds like we have some coaching issues on special teams. I would give Woodard more time if he gave me something to watch or follow, but instead we have a good punter but poor coverages in our kicking game. I will give the fact that our punter does not have good hang time, but it's not all on him. Sounds like a coaching problem. I do give you credit, you always seem incorporate some kind of NFL comparison to LU football. Pretty good...

[puddin tane]

found this while searching for a new coach---i dare to dream of a Woodard-less LU

 

interesting...

 

John Wristen faced the monumental task of forging a football program from the ground up when he accepted the job in July 2007. He arrived at CSU-Pueblo with no coaching staff and no players, given the job of building CSU-Pueblo's first football team since 1984 in just a 365-day window.

 

Unbelievably, it only took three years to turn the team into Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference champions, rising all the way to a national number-one ranking and the nation's top seed in the 2011 NCAA Division II Playoffs.

 

For his efforts, in addition to his national coach of the year distinction, he was one of five national finalists for the Liberty Mutual Division II Coach of the Year award as well as the Regional Coach of the Year by the American Football Coaches' Association and Don Hansen's Football Gazette, Colorado Coach of the Year by the National Football Foundation, and Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference Coach of the Year.

 

 

 

 

[Dream Weaver]

maybe it's just me but i think this is getting way overblown. didn't some big donors pony up money for woodard to bring in these new coaches? he didn't get much of a raise but instead is paying his staff more so they extended his contract a year so the new coaches know they won't get dumped in a year along with woodard.

[Guest eagle eye]

found this while searching for a new coach---i dare to dream of a Woodard-less LU

 

interesting...

 

John Wristen faced the monumental task of forging a football program from the ground up when he accepted the job in July 2007. He arrived at CSU-Pueblo with no coaching staff and no players, given the job of building CSU-Pueblo's first football team since 1984 in just a 365-day window.

 

Unbelievably, it only took three years to turn the team into Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference champions, rising all the way to a national number-one ranking and the nation's top seed in the 2011 NCAA Division II Playoffs.

 

For his efforts, in addition to his national coach of the year distinction, he was one of five national finalists for the Liberty Mutual Division II Coach of the Year award as well as the Regional Coach of the Year by the American Football Coaches' Association and Don Hansen's Football Gazette, Colorado Coach of the Year by the National Football Foundation, and Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference Coach of the Year.

 

Son of a gun, puddin tane, a story like that sure makes it hard to be patient with 4 win seasons!

 

[puddin tane]

hell, I'm not asking for a championship..just not to be in the SLC cellar......with no way to get out....

[Guest CardAmbassador]

hell, I'm not asking for a championship..just not to be in the SLC cellar......with no way to get out....

 

gotta agree, here.

 

Not asking for alot just improvement, it seems like there has been very little improvement from the first year to this year. I'm not certain on who would actually win a game between the 2010 squad and 2012 squad, I think they could both beat 2011s team though.

[QB 22]

Probably would be a tie!!

[Redrain07]

Honestly if we are going to lose then I want to see more points scored on offense. Throw the ball 40 times a game for all I care just give the fans a reason to come out right now. If you have an exciting product recruiting will begin to pick and eventually the wins will come. I am excited we showed continuity by keeping woodard for longer but I want to see a better product period.

[puddin tane]

2 more years of 41 carries per game at 2 yds per carry!!!!!!!! whoo---hooo!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[coachacola]

Todd Dodge is back at the HS level. How much $$ would it take to make him the OC?

[puddin tane]

this problem is a helluva lot more than the OC

[Redrain07]

There is some hope though...the Mayan Calendar could be right. lol