Coaching

[MilwaukeeJacksAlum]

Re: Coaching

Milwaukee jack  maybe i do have my head in the sand thats possible.  This is my point how is an average coach going to get better in a more intense situation ? The team we had this year is and was very good and i have never said they were crap. In fact i feel this whole area has always underachieved when it comes to athletes.Who knows how many played in div2 just because their really was no choice locally.When the jacks were div2 i think they could have done better(in football)but i really feel that coaching had a lot to do with it. I realize that coaches can have bad years but how many. Soon the excitement of going I-AA will wear off and will we be getting the top recruits out of this area .I dont think so,especially if und would go to I-AA we will be third on the list for top athletes in the area. I am sorry if this is a sore point with you but how long can we keep saying.......THE KING HAS BEAUTIFUL CLOTHES...... when does that vioce out of the pack say,I dont see any clothes.

My post wasn't meant to be a personal attack on you, or anyone else for that matter. Everyone posting their own opinion is what keeps this board going. I was merely putting in a post with my opinion. The "head in the sand" comment was more of a general comment instead of a comment directed at you or anyone because I think you'll agree the end of this season comes with much more excitement than in recent past when we had a similar record.

On a personal level, I went into this season with trepidation about how we would stack up against this level. Because of this year's success, I go into next season with expectations of a 7-4/8-3 season. Heck, a couple of breaks go our way and we're at 7-4 this season. This season's team was all about setting expectations. Next season's team should be about living up to those expectations. I will be dissapointed if they don't.

[NorCalJack]

Re: Coaching

I will put in my two cents on this topic.

1.) We are in a transition period. That means that at the beginning of the transition period you have a football team full of D2 recuits and as time goes on, the D2 recruits graduate and you replace them with D1-AA recruits. At the end of the transition, you have a true D1-AA team. I don't think you can fully evaluate the program until you are out of the transition period. It is not fair to evaluate a program that is not fully staffed with D1-AA talent, when they are playing fully staffed D1-AA teams. I also don't think that the coaches get a free pass because we are in a transition period. Which brings me to my next point.

2.) If you are going to evaluate a program during the transition period, you should look at who they played and how they faired against the competion. SDSU lost games to Cal-Poly, Montana, Texas St., and So. Georgia. All of these teams made it into the 16 team playoffs. It is safe to state that we were underdogs to all of these teams and we played Cal-Poly and Montana pretty close. We also lost to NDSU, but this was a road game and we have not won in Fargo for a long time. NDSU is not eligable for the playoffs, but was ranked 20th in most polls. We did have victories against some D2 schools and a non-schollie Valpo and handily beat those teams. We also won 3 conference games, in which we were favored to beat two of the three and I feel we upset UC Davis. After all we did lose to them 52-0 last year. (I was there). I usually judge a team by seeing if they won the games they were suppose to win and I think the SDSU team did that and they won the UC Davis game as a bonus.

I also had a question for some of the football alumn. People make a big deal out of having D1-AA talent vs. D2 talent. To me, I think we are still recuiting probably 80% of the same players as we were in D2. We don't recuit some of the fringe D2 players and are recuiting more high end D2 and D1-AA talent. Is there a distinct line between D2 talent and D1-AA talent? I know the football alumns were recuited and played D2, but don't you think most of you could have played at SDSU, even if it was D1-AA?

To me the biggest change between D2 and D1-AA is the number of scholarships. If you have 36 scholarships, you need to make every recuit count, because you have 22 starters and 14 backups that need to be capable of playing at a high level. With 36 scholarships, if a recuit does not meet the expectation, then the team will feel it more than if you have 63 scholarships. There is more room for error and there is more room for gain by giving out 63 vs. 36. It is like duck hunting, if I give you 63 shells and you end up shooting 40 ducks, 40 ducks would be considered sucessful. If I gave you 36 shells and you came back with 22 ducks, you would not fair as well as the guy with 63 shells. There is safety in numbers and I think that is the biggest difference between D2 and D1-AA, not talent.

Sorry for being so long. ;D ;D ;D

[SD-STATE]

Re: Coaching

NorCalJack, has said it all and is the only thing that makes sense in recent posts. Whether we we're d2 or not we still recruited the best players we were able to get. I at least hope so.

If we are going to compare our football success here at SDSU to other programs in the area, then we'll have to compare more than just wins and losses.

[SDSUFAN]

Re: Coaching

No cal Alum:

Well spoken, and I see nothing that requires further comment. BTW, I really dont care what you donated last year. Your points are very valid and I dont see you as a rubber stamp to the adminstration.

[Rabbit_FB_Alum]

Re: Coaching

I think the coaching staff helped the team overachieve. We are down schollies, our upperclassmen were recruited as D2 players and our facilities need to be improved to attract the top recuits. Coach Stig. is doing a fantastic job. Until you have played for him, you will never really know what makes him tick, what he knows about football, and his coaching abilities. All those things from my experiance were top notch. Go Stig.!!!

[Rabbitden]

Re: Coaching

I agree with norcal except on the difference in true Div IAA talent.

True Div IAA talent is a more gifted athlete. Not saying that some of the borderline Div II talent isnt, it is just that Div IAA talent is gifted to start and if they push themselves they become even faster, stronger and smarter on the field.

The speed of this game as a whole has changed considerably. We found that out against teams like Texas St. and Georgia Southern...holes dont stay open as long and pursuit closes quickly.

To compete year in and year out at this level we have to continue to fill vacancies with speed, strength and smarts. The athlete has to be ready to contribute within his second year. They cant not be works in progress that we hope will be contributors as seniors.

This is how you maintain depth. I think Stig and the rest of the staff have been doing this the last couple of years in their recruiting.

After Saturdays game Stig mentioned that they will be pursuing athletes in the Dallas area as well as California. This makes great sence considering there are more gifted athletes in that area then there are schollies to go around. I would expect us at some point to pursue athletes in the Florida area as well in the future because of the same problems as Texas.

The future looks bright, lets let them do there jobs. We can all scream, holler and yell after we get to our max. schollies.

After that happens, if improvement isnt made, then I would consider it justified.

GO JACKS!

[filbert]

Re: Coaching

I agree with norcal except on the difference in true Div IAA talent.

True Div IAA talent is a more gifted athlete. Not saying that some of the borderline Div II talent isnt, it is just that Div IAA talent is gifted to start and if they push themselves they become even faster, stronger and smarter on the field.

The speed of this game as a whole has changed considerably. We found that out against teams like Texas St. and Georgia Southern...holes dont stay open as long and pursuit closes quickly.

To compete year in and year out at this level we have to continue to fill vacancies with speed, strength and smarts. The athlete has to be ready to contribute within his second year. They cant not be works in progress that we hope will be contributors as seniors.

This is how you maintain depth. I think Stig and the rest of the staff have been doing this the last couple of years in their recruiting.

After Saturdays game Stig mentioned that they will be pursuing athletes in the Dallas area as well as California. This makes great sence considering there are more gifted athletes in that area then there are schollies to go around. I would expect us at some point to pursue athletes in the Florida area as well in the future because of the same problems as Texas.

The future looks bright, lets let them do there jobs. We can all scream, holler and yell after we get to our max. schollies.

After that happens, if improvement isnt made, then I would consider it justified.

GO JACKS!

If you could create a single number for "football skills" I think you'd find it would look like the ever-present "normal distribution" i.e. a bell curve, with long tails on each end and a larger middle.

I-A schools recruit from the right-hand tail, those few with very high "football skills."

I-AA try to poach the I-A talent pool, but are forced to go further left towards the mass of players.

D-II tries to poach the I-AA talent pool but similarly is forced to go left down the scale of "football skills."

Repeat the process for NAIA, D-III, junior college, etc.

There are no hard and fast dividing lines. But I-A players tend to be a bit bigger/faster than I-AA players, who tend to be a bit bigger/faster than D-II players, etc., etc.

There are certainly players in I-A who have "only" D-II or NAIA talent, just as there are players in D-III who have the talent to make a I-A roster somewhere.

Could many D-II players compete at the D-I level (A or AA)? Yes.

But when you combine the tendency for bigger/faster players with larger scholarship allotments, it's obvious why a I-AA win over a I-A school is an upset, a D-II win over a I-AA school is an upset, and so on. But those upsets do happen, regularly.

Now, SDSU has completed (for football) year 2 of a five year transition to full I-AA status from D-II. This means that the returning sophomores and juniors on the team were specifically recruited to a I-AA program. Are they the cream of the I-AA crop? Well, in general, probably not, because those I-AA/borderline I-A players go to places like Montana and George Mason before going to SDSU. But those SDSU recruits would still tend to be somewhat up the "football skills" scale from those players who were recruited by SDSU when we were in D-II.

Does that mean that SDSU does not now have players with I-A talent? No. There are players today on SDSU's roster who could play at the I-A level, and that kind of recruit are the ones I'm sure we're going after the hardest. You never get all the players you really want. But will we steal one or two from I-A or the upper crust of I-AA? Maybe, and that one or two players may ultimately make the difference between a 6-5 season and an 8-3 season.

In order to move right on the "football skills" scale, we need to increase our recruiting territory--we've already done that into California and Arizona, and it's logical to include Texas and their football-crazed culture in our plans.

I think I'm rambling now, and should probably go to bed so I can successfully drive up to SD tomorrow to eat turkey and attend a couple of D-I basketball games.

Go Rabbits!

[SD-STATE]

Re: Coaching

Hey, increasing our recruiting territory costs money, better pony up...I'm sorry, cheap shot ;D

[SDSUFAN]

Re: Coaching

Hey, increasing our recruiting territory costs money, better pony up...I'm sorry, cheap shot ;D

Thats not a cheap shot, but the unvarnished truth.

[Rabbitden]

Re: Coaching

I agree, its not a cheap shot. Thank goodness that we do use some outside sources for our recruting, like any good program does. We are fortunate to have alot of good grads coaching in the high school ranks around the country.

On a side note, former captain and coach at SDSU, Mark Kool has a stud for a son in Southern Iowa. A little birdy told me that he has some big time Div. I teams looking at him but SDSU is also a possibility.

If this is the son he brought up to Watertown for a team camp a few years ago as a frosh. He is big, fast and has an unbelievable arm. He didnt look like a frosh.

I think he is being looked at on the deffensive side of the ball.

I guess it dosent matter either way but I can see in the future SDSU picking up some of these alums kids down the road because of family ties.

What do the rest of you think?

[JACKGUYII]

Re: Coaching

I think the coaches armed with some additional scholarships will be looking at some recruits outside of our traditional recruiting regions. Their is such a battle for the top players in the immediate region for those players who are borderline DIA players. There is lower hanging fruit in areas that have an abundance of talent like Texas and California. I think Florida will also be a state that we look too in the future. I like the concept of finding good athletes out of high school redshirting them for a year and then having them earn their playing time. I also think we need some transfers and Juco players who have the ability to come in and compete for playing time right away.

[MilwaukeeJacksAlum]

Re: Coaching

I agree, its not a cheap shot.  Thank goodness that we do use some outside sources for our recruting, like any good program does.  We are fortunate to have alot of good grads coaching in the high school ranks around the country.

On a side note, former captain and coach at SDSU, Mark Kool has a stud for a son in Southern Iowa.  A little birdy told me that he has some big time Div. I teams looking at him but SDSU is also a possibility.

If this is the son he brought up to Watertown for a team camp a few years ago as a frosh.  He is big, fast and has an unbelievable arm.  He didnt look like a frosh.

I think he is being looked at on the deffensive side of the ball.

I guess it dosent matter either way but I can see in the future SDSU picking up some of these alums kids down the road because of family ties.

What do the rest of you think?

I know Kool well. My guess is if his son came down to which 1-AA school he was going to attend it would be SDSU. If he gets some 1A offers, he'll end up there. As an alum with one girl and another about 2 months away, I hope someday I have a boy and can worry about these problems.

[OK_Jackrabbit]

Re: Coaching

I guess it dosent matter either way but I can see in the future SDSU picking up some of these alums kids down the road because of family ties.

What do the rest of you think?

My son is very big, pretty fast, and can make you miss... But he's 17-months-old and cries when he doesn't get a graham cracker.

[wererabbit]

Re: Coaching

GRRRR......#@%$#    TIME TO BRING BACK THIS POST FROM LAST YEAR. A 6 and 5 coach will be that no matter when he coaches .  if you dont got it in div2 you wont have it any where else. players good coaching bad im not going to be nice about it this year.