Fate of Assistants

[Cyclone90]

Curious what everybody's take is on whether Chizik would dump an assistant or have his loyalty to his friends go down with the ship. If this program isn't turned around his head coaching aspirations will stop in Ames, at least for quite awhile.

Our defense is currently ranked 109 in the country and that's got to be bugging the heck out of him considering his background and reputation. McFarland's opened up the offense taking some heat off himself, but I'm wondering about Bolt's fate. Does he stay, go, or stay with Chizik being much more hands on. Yes the cupboard is bare on that side of the ball, but I'm not sure it accounts for us being that horrible. There are only 3 D-I teams worse than us in pass efficiency defense. Interesting that Washington is dead last.

BTW...the NCAA has a great team by team page with stats (NCAA).

 

[cybsball20]

Curious what everybody's take is on whether Chizik would dump an assistant or have his loyalty to his friends go down with the ship. If this program isn't turned around his head coaching aspirations will stop in Ames, at least for quite awhile.

Our defense is currently ranked 109 in the country and that's got to be bugging the heck out of him considering his background and reputation. McFarland's opened up the offense taking some heat off himself, but I'm wondering about Bolt's fate. Does he stay, go, or stay with Chizik being much more hands on. Yes the cupboard is bare on that side of the ball, but I'm not sure it accounts for us being that horrible. There are only 3 D-I teams worse than us in pass efficiency defense. Interesting that Washington is dead last.

BTW...the NCAA has a great team by team page with stats (NCAA).

I think we will see some very good defenses when Bolt gets the horses to compete...

 

[Erik4Cy]

I think we will see some very good defenses when Bolt gets the horses to compete...

That's pretty much where I go on this discussion too. I don't quite believe that we have the talent (or had the time to recruit the talent) needed to win in the big 12. We don't have enough guys that look like big 12 caliber players on our team, especially on the interior D.

 

[cybsball20]

If we just had safeties that could stick to their assignments we would have a MUCH better defense. It seems like every game you hear the announcers say, "he thought he had safety help" or "he got behind the safety". I think the announcers this week were actually a little schocked at just how bad our safeties were in coverage.

 

[San Francisco Cy]

Yes the cupboard is bare on that side of the ball, but I'm not sure it accounts for us being that horrible.

I'd have to think it would be a rather substantial contributing factor!

 

[Drive4cy]

McFarland's stock has definitely risen the last two weeks. I wish we were better in the red zone but we're not exactly loaded on offense so it's not all his fault. Defensively, I don't know. Bolt surely won't get fired after year 2 but if things aren't improved next year, regardless if he has horses or not he will be out IMO. Is it fair? Probably not but someone has to take the fall eventually and it's not going to be Chizik.

 

[arganbright2]

I hate being a part of the rumor mill and I was actually going to post this early last week but again the RUMOR is that Bolt will either be reassigned or let go and that Mike Pelton will become d-coordinator. The players really respect Pelton apparently. Take it for what its worth but I don't want people getting upset with me because I threw out something I heard.

 

[kingcy]

At times it looks like Chizik and Bolt have heated talks on the sidelines, but I maybe looking too much into that. Some think Bolt and Chizik have different thoughts on what a defense should do. Bolt likes to blitz a lot Chizik hate to blitz, stuff like that. If a change is needed I hope both parties realize it and that change is made.

 

[joefrog]

I hate being a part of the rumor mill and I was actually going to post this early last week but again the RUMOR is that Bolt will either be reassigned or let go and that Mike Pelton will become d-coordinator. The players really respect Pelton apparently. Take it for what its worth but I don't want people getting upset with me because I threw out something I heard.

I could see that, although I don't necessarily think it is fair. I like that Pelton guy a lot though. He is always coaching his tail off during games, getting player's attention without too much yelling, teaching and explaining a lot. I think he seems to have that "player's coach" thing about him. He is always chatting up the guys.

 

[synapticwave]

If we just had safeties that could stick to their assignments we would have a MUCH better defense

I feel bad for our safeties. They get blamed for all the deep balls, and for being out of position, and that they aren't sticking to their assignments. In reality, the problem with our defense is 3 fold:

1: no pass rush. The Tampa 2 relies on being able to get to the QB with an outside passrush and to get their quickly. Guys like Dwight Freeney for Indy are exactly what you need for the Tampa 2, and is exactly why Indy's first pick in the 2002 draft was Freeney. We do not have a DE on our team right now that is even remotely capable of this and this is simply a matter of recruiting.

2: Terrible MLB pass coverage. I love Jessie Smith's effort and he is rock solid at stopping the run, but he has TERRIBLE pass coverage and in the Tampa 2 you absolutely, without question, require a MLB capable of reading a play and getting into coverage. This is why I feel bad for our Safeties. They are indeed out of position on many plays, but it's because our MLB is just way, way too slow and out of position to get back to cover the deep middle. His responsibility on a pass play is deep over the middle and I can't remember now how many times he's been about 20 yards to shallow. This forces the Safeties to cheat to the middle but they screwed having to cover both deep middle and the entire sideline. I agree that the safeties look bad, but the problem is with the MLB. If we could get a FAST MLB (possibly moving Raven over next year) that is better than Jessie at reading and reacting then we our safety play will immediately be better.

3: DT must be more athletic. In the Tampa 2, the interior Defensive Lineman are responsible for the run; because the MLB has to drop into coverage, your tackles must be able to consume the middle of the line giving the MLB an easier read on the play, we simply do not have the horses in the middle to be able to pull this off yet.

In total, we simply don't have the personnel on the field to run our defense. It would be surprising to me to see any assistants or Bolt released when they need time to groom players into the system they are running. The same goes for the offense, we are just beginning to put the pieces in place now. The offense is further along than the D right now and it shows with some glimmers of what we might be seeing in a year or two.

 

[cyfan15]

I think it's too early to make any coordinator changes. I do know that our defense looked quite a bit better last year with Rubin, Braaksma, Bowen, and Banks in the front seven.

 

[Cyclonepride]

Too early. We are in year two of a complete rebuild. Why on earth would we want to change things up and start the learning process over?

 

[jumbopackage]

I won't fault our D TOO much for being horrible against the pass. I mean look at the conference we are playing in. 8 Big 12 teams are in the top 25 in Pass Efficiency, with Okie State being #2 in the nation. (FWIW, the Big 12 has the #2,3,4 and 5 pass efficiency Os in the nation). Only 2 teams in the conference have Pass Efficiency ratings lower than 35.

Comparing that stat to the other Big 12 teams, yeah we are the worst- but not by THAT much. Nebraska is 96. Missouri is 92. Baylor is 91. A&M is 84. K-State is 83. Texas is 80. Even the best team in the conference in that category is Oklahoma at 34.

 

[cmoore_23]

why do you think we are recruiting guys with speed now?? we are lacking the speed we need to keep up with the big 12 passing games.. from little that i have gathered.. its seems like we are just strait up getting beat off the line at every pos on the defensive side.. get more speed.. and get fundamentals down.. team should be greatly improved.. from what i have gathered to me it just seems like we are just missing a couple key guys.. i say give it another year

 

[flander1649]

If we just had safeties that could stick to their assignments we would have a MUCH better defense. It seems like every game you hear the announcers say, "he thought he had safety help" or "he got behind the safety". I think the announcers this week were actually a little schocked at just how bad our safeties were in coverage.

This is so true our saftey's are terrible. Hunley can hit but he is always making the wrong read on pass coverage and leaving guys wide open.

 

[Bigguns]

The players love Bolt. Pelton is not ready to be D-coordinator. Koonz is Chizeks right hand man. Any coaching changes should be based on recruiting performance.

 

[MontyBurns]

It would be pretty pathetic if Chizik canned one of his assistants 1.5 years into his tenure.

 

[CyBobby]

Yeah Cy90 I know where your coming from but I really dont think that Gene is gonna let either O-Coordinator or the D-Coordinator go anytime soon...

InMy Opinion I think there all 3 gonna go down with the ship!!

Nice topic but only time will tell!!!:yes:

 

[tamjam]

I understand when everyone says that Bolt doesn't have the talent to run his defense, but if he is a good coordinator, why isn't he changing his D to fit the player he does have? I blame the ISU Board of Directors and performance enhancing drugs.

 

[isuno1fan]

Just win baby!