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Post by Admin on Nov 25, 2010 23:45:41 GMT -5
What to expect for the next nine months? Post comments here.
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Post by ahoyadad on Nov 26, 2010 9:18:28 GMT -5
with all the coaching staff contracts expiring at seasons end I'm sure I'm not the only one anxiously waiting to see if they are renewed, a new staff is brought in or a combination of both.....
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Post by FtblOpinions on Nov 27, 2010 11:11:03 GMT -5
This will give us an indication as to what type of interest the new AD has in the football program. If there is no change made at head coach I fear for the program in its entirety. The President has shown little to no support over the years and the AD has an opportunity to show, that in spite of President DeGioia's apathy toward football he is serious about the program's future. 4 wins with a very soft schedule and in a year where the PL was woefully weak is not what we should be striving for. I recently read (and am paraphrasing) that Coach Kelly, when asked about the hot start accompanied by a losing streak answered that "at least its three more wins than we had last year". We need a Bob Benson type who can generate outside excitement from past alumni and parents. Very few Division 1AA schools in the country can offer what Georgetown can. Washington DC, in the center of all that is going on the world, along with the schools academic reputation and campus, leads me to believe that Hoya football should be a premier program not only in the Patriot League but in the country. It will be interesting to see what changes, if any take place over the next couple of weeks. If things stay status quo, I personally will feel that Santa is not real  |
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DFW HOYA
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Post by DFW HOYA on Nov 27, 2010 13:13:44 GMT -5
Recent efforts reminded me of a quote once attributed to Georgetown basketball in the Jack Magee years: "It was like they always wanted to have a good team...but didn't know how to go about it."
It is not Jack DeGioia's job to fix the program, it is the man he hired, Lee Reed. One of the major shortcomings of the Bernard Muir tenure was how he talked up football early (the lead 2006 NY Times article being an visible example) but put no additional resources into it. Maybe some of that was because of Kelly's record, maybe that he could get more impact focusing on other sports.
With the possible exception of Villanova, there is not a more recognized name in I-AA football than Georgetown; yet, it loses recruits to the likes of Bucknell and Towson and sees a win over Marist College as success. Why is this?
Greg Schiano ended two generations of shoulder-shurugging for Rutgers football with a clear direction: "Keep chopping wood." It says something about how he changed perception that that Rutgers fans are now unhappy with a 4-7 record, where just a few years ago 4-7 would have been a success on the banks of the Raritan. 4-7 at Georgetown is not success, either.
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Post by FtblOpinions on Nov 27, 2010 18:14:32 GMT -5
It is not the recruits we lose to Bucknell or Towson that concern me, but the recruits we lose to UNH, Elon, Colgate, Yale, Furman, etc. (Yes, I understand there is a problem with full scholarship vs. the potential for financial aid only). Give me a coach who has the passion, belief and confidence to go after some "tweeners"...those kids who are somewhere between D1 and D1AA.
An example is Alex Buzbee. He had been offered at Vanderbilt, took his time in committing and Vandy eventually pulled the offer. Coach Benson was able to convince Alex that the Georgetown was where he needed to be. Alex had a stellar career at GU so you would have hoped his younger brother would consider the "Hilltop" for his college choice. The result is that Alan Buzbee instead chooses UNH where he is having a fabulous season as a starting LB'er as a sophomore.
The current Head Coach has had five years to put his mark on this program. I don't believe that anyone who has watched Georgetown over the years feels that he has moved the program forward. It says something to me when outstanding players such as Charlie Houghton and last season's #35 winner, Rob Lane, decide not to take an additional redshirt year. These were great kids who loved the game but were less than inspired by the head coach. Coach Kelly has a nice family so I would wish him nothing but the best as I am sure there would be many opportunities for him as an assistant with a decent program.
GU needs to set the bar higher...much higher. DFW Hoya is right on, 4 wins this year was really not a big improvement. Losses to far less heralded teams such as Wagner & Sacred Heart and a 7 point win over Marist. Bucknell had one win this season (guess who they beat ?).
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eb59
Century (over 100 posts)
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Post by eb59 on Nov 27, 2010 19:34:04 GMT -5
See what can happen with a "Big Vision" and Support from the Athletic Detpt....Congrats to UCONN, just a few years out of I-AA and one win away from a BCS Bowl Game. I know Gtown is years from this level even with all the support in the world, but man it's nice to dream and I wish more than anything the AD had a similar long term vision!
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thebin
Diamond Hoya (over 2500 posts)
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Post by thebin on Nov 29, 2010 10:02:50 GMT -5
I would think it would be impossible to recruit a kid to a low level Patriot League program without so much as a decent high school stadium over a CAA power with national title hopes. Heck, I can only guess Buzbee was crushed when Vanderbilt pulled its offer. If we are hoping to make outlier cases like those the basis of our turnaround, I'm afraid we're destined for failure. I indeed do think our bread and butter has to be guys being targeted by Lehigh, Cross, Cornell, and Dartmouth.
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theexorcist
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Post by theexorcist on Nov 29, 2010 13:07:54 GMT -5
A few things:
1. We get to be UConn we get a state legislature that gives us a stadium for free (or one or two Hoya legislators in Congress decide to give us a football stadium). Just because they were also I-AA doesn't mean anything. Until this team can beat Marist on a consensus basis, please stop with the "we could be playing Syracuse for the Big East crown in five years if we put our mind to it".
2. Quit the I-AA-bashing. Top-flight I-AA programs beat major college programs and send players to the NFL. At I-AA's highest levels, players are playing almost every game on TV in front of more than 10,000, and occasionally double that. High-level programs are covered extensively in local media. Even Villanova gets mentions on local Philadelphia stations and coverage in the Philly papers, and not just a one-paragraph game description. If you play for a good program and you're good yourself, you're very popular.
3. DFW misses the boat with recognized names in I-AA - the more-recognized names, even moreso than that of Villanova, are Harvard, Yale, and the rest of the Ivy League. They all have legions of alumni, a Heisman trophy and a national championship or two, and lots of history. Harvard and Yale have "The Game". Who's Georgetown's biggest rival?
4. Georgetown is like Kentucky, Vanderbilt, and Villanova in that its biggest sport is not football, but basketball. It's never a good thing to hear people say "Wow, I didn't even know you guys had a football team". At I-A schools, football can bring up to 100,000 people together. At I-AA schools, few teams have a basketball arena that seats up to 10,000. If you go to one of these schools, you go there knowing that, if you succeed, people won't love you as much as if the basketball team wins (Bear Bryant apparently left Kentucky after an athletics dinner where a winning season got him a watch and Adolph Rupp a new car). It's not a dealbreaker - Villanova proved that last year - but it's an issue.
Georgetown can still compete. Lehigh is a perennial Patriot League competitor who beat Northern Iowa in the first round of the playoffs and who will play at Delaware this weekend in the round of 16.
Georgetown compares equally to Lehigh. While Lehigh has much more tradition (playing Lafayette, general record of success), a slightly cheaper tuition, and a location in the prime talent location of Pennsylvania, Georgetown has a better location, a better brand name, and a location in an underrated talent region (both suburban Maryland and especially Northern Virginia turn out oodles of prospects, often at academically competitive schools). The Hoyas have the ability to take advantage - the question is how they get there.
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RusskyHoya
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Post by RusskyHoya on Dec 3, 2010 22:54:41 GMT -5
This will give us an indication as to what type of interest the new AD has in the football program. If there is no change made at head coach I fear for the program in its entirety. The President has shown little to no support over the years and the AD has an opportunity to show, that in spite of President DeGioia's apathy toward football he is serious about the program's future. 4 wins with a very soft schedule and in a year where the PL was woefully weak is not what we should be striving for. I recently read (and am paraphrasing) that Coach Kelly, when asked about the hot start accompanied by a losing streak answered that "at least its three more wins than we had last year". We need a Bob Benson type who can generate outside excitement from past alumni and parents. Very few Division 1AA schools in the country can offer what Georgetown can. Washington DC, in the center of all that is going on the world, along with the schools academic reputation and campus, leads me to believe that Hoya football should be a premier program not only in the Patriot League but in the country. It will be interesting to see what changes, if any take place over the next couple of weeks. If things stay status quo, I personally will feel that Santa is not real With regard to changing the status quo: It is fast becoming utterly irrefutable that the strategy for building - I'm sorry, "completing" - the MSF has been a failure. Its location next to the science building construction area pretty much ensures that no meaningful work can take place on it until the ribbon has been cut on that project. If the combined efforts of the football and men's and women's lacrosse programs were not enough to generate meaningful traction on this front in 5 years, it's time to reexamine the strategy. Insofar as facilities are a significant negative factor across all of the sports programs, the proposed athletic training facility has the potential to have a positive impact on all programs, since it will contain space for upgraded and expanded locker rooms, weight rooms, training rooms, administrative space, etc. It would also relieve overcrowding in McDonough. The plans even call for a nice small courtyard between it and the utility plan that would serve as a gathering/high visibility spot and would make for, at the very least, a far less embarrassing entrance than coming out of McShane Lounge. Although the University has stuck to a "only one capital project at a time" plan the last few years, the location would at least leave open the possibility of getting started sometime before Fall 2012. There's a widely held view that Pops has kept the fundraising folks away from his former players because, among other things, he's wanted their funds to be directed to this project, or one like it. I don't know to what extent this is accurate, but it certainly rings true. What is beyond dispute, I think, is that this project would see much more energetic giving than the MSF. Finally, if ever there was an auspicious moment, a time to strike while the iron is hot, I would think it would be now. There is a new AD looking to build a reputation at the high major level. Georgetown is 13th in the Director's Cup standings and projected to go up. The soccer teams had banner years, as did the women's XCountry team, the men runners did ok, the field hockey team had their best season in years (granted, that was at 6-13, but still), and even the football team generated some optimism and positive publicity for awhile. Meanwhile, the men's and women's basketball teams are coming off of fall tournament titles and "hostile neutral-court" victories over top 10 teams and are well-positioned to have highly successful seasons. Am I off base here? |
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CAHoya07
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Post by CAHoya07 on Dec 15, 2010 5:47:52 GMT -5
In a word, no. You are very spot on. But on this board, it's kind of choir preaching to the choir. As much as I'd like to see it, please wake me up when something happens. |
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Post by 98hoya on Dec 16, 2010 10:03:16 GMT -5
I'd like to have the AD give some word on contract renewal (or non-renewal) for the staff. I have my own opinions on how it should go, but at this time of year I think any decision is better than silence.
My concern is that there are too many variables hanging over this program's head and this is one the AD actually can control. Every day delayed until they announce a decision, one way or another, is another day that it's going to be harder to get top recruits.
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Post by jkhoya12 on Dec 16, 2010 12:18:25 GMT -5
I'd like to have the AD give some word on contract renewal (or non-renewal) for the staff. I have my own opinions on how it should go, but at this time of year I think any decision is better than silence. My concern is that there are too many variables hanging over this program's head and this is one the AD actually can control. Every day delayed until they announce a decision, one way or another, is another day that it's going to be harder to get top recruits. Recruits know already I'm sure, we just won't know for awhile. |
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Post by 98hoya on Dec 16, 2010 16:23:32 GMT -5
Really? How would they know?
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Post by jkhoya12 on Dec 16, 2010 17:33:17 GMT -5
Really? How would they know? Because for one thing, the coaches(if they aren't returning) are not recruiting....and Coach Patenaude was hired well before Georgetown announced it, so I'm sure he was recruiting for awhile before he was a "Georgetown Coach". The players and people in the know know things about the football program on average 1-2 months in advance of the public. |
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Post by ahoyadad on Dec 16, 2010 19:10:50 GMT -5
Really? How would they know? Because for one thing, the coaches(if they aren't returning) are not recruiting....and Coach Patenaude was hired well before Georgetown announced it, so I'm sure he was recruiting for awhile before he was a "Georgetown Coach". The players and people in the know know things about the football program on average 1-2 months in advance of the public. jk, you are wrong on this issue. Recruits do NOT know......in fact why do you think recruits even know that the coaches contracts are up?? By the way, when recruits visit they room with current players, don't you think they would know if the recruits did??? that said, sure would be nice to see an official announcement |
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Post by jkhoya12 on Dec 16, 2010 20:33:13 GMT -5
Because for one thing, the coaches(if they aren't returning) are not recruiting....and Coach Patenaude was hired well before Georgetown announced it, so I'm sure he was recruiting for awhile before he was a "Georgetown Coach". The players and people in the know know things about the football program on average 1-2 months in advance of the public. jk, you are wrong on this issue. Recruits do NOT know......in fact why do you think recruits even know that the coaches contracts are up?? By the way, when recruits visit they room with current players, don't you think they would know if the recruits did??? that said, sure would be nice to see an official announcement In my experience, I've found out more from players well in advance of anything in announcements. And note that I'm not saying I'm right by making this statement, but shouldn't a student-athlete who's deciding where to go to college have some knowledge if say the head coach wasn't going to be there next year? |
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Post by ahoyadad on Dec 17, 2010 9:58:04 GMT -5
JK, sorry if my post came across harshly!
the point I wanted to make was the current players do not have any idea as to what is going on with the coaching staff. The current staff seems to going about business as usual but there is no announcement of them being retained. As the players now leave for break imagine how frustrating it is for them not knowing
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DFW HOYA
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Post by DFW HOYA on Dec 17, 2010 13:20:03 GMT -5
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theexorcist
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Post by theexorcist on Dec 17, 2010 16:47:14 GMT -5
There's no guarantee the CAA grabs anybody - there have been so many membership switches that they may just hold for now (remember, ODU's coming on-line). |
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