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Coaching staff shake up at Utah, Whittingham on the way out?

Neinas' special teams have gone from absolutely terrible at the beginning of the season to mediocre at the end each year. His recruiting edge is not worth it. Its cost CU too many games and nothing to make up for it.
Wait - I thought we were trying to move towards recruiting centric assistants minus the coordinators?

And how much of that change from the beginning of the season to "mediocre" (roughly 5th across all categories in Pac12 play) is due to changing out personnel?

I honestly do not know why I keep defending Neinas. I do not care. I just do not see a solid fact based case for why he should go. I wouldn't disagree with BuffNik's post, so I could get onboard with that rational for an upgrade opportunity, but the "he is a ****ty coach" does not hold water.
 
While the STs improved thru the year I can't justify why they were bad at the beginning. Mediocre is accurate and his recruiting also perhaps less than that.
 
You can point to three critical ST gaffes in three different losses (CSU, Utah, and UDub), along with very poor coverage against UMass. If that's his sole job and you can find major flaws in a third of the schedule, why would you keep him? And to solely blame players executing is quite odd considering Neinas is the one making six figures. Add in very little Texas recruiting (was supposed to help in central Texas) and the argument for retention is flimsy at best. He is likely not in his current position at any other P5 school.
 
You can point to three critical ST gaffes in three different losses (CSU, Utah, and UDub), along with very poor coverage against UMass. If that's his sole job and you can find major flaws in a third of the schedule, why would you keep him? And to solely blame players executing is quite odd considering Neinas is the one making six figures. Add in very little Texas recruiting (was supposed to help in central Texas) and the argument for retention is flimsy at best. He is likely not in his current position at any other P5 school.

This is the essence of it.

If a coach is doing a quality job he can almost always catch on someplace else. If he was unemployed tommorrow would he get another P5 job (or even a lower BCS level job) by the start of next season. I don't think so.
 
I would not say Neinas is a bad special teams coach. Though special teams has hurt us more than it has helped us. He is probably a solid in-state recruiter, though Walters is listed as the lead for our top ranked instate recruit. Not Neinas, which is curious. From the outside it looks like replacing Neinas would be a significant upgrade. With that said, MacIntyre obviously knows best how any of the coaches are performing. And now that he has dismissed Baer and La Russa to upgrade the staff I believe he would let Neinas go to if he thought it would make the staff better. So if Neinas stays with he team I feel more comfortable that he is pulling his weight.
 
My guess is that LaRussa's situation is no different than Clarks or Jeffcoats. When the D boss is fired everyone below that level is on uncertain terms. I'm sure Andy took the bird in the hand because HCMM Could not guarantee anything. The new DC will likely have a say in who is retained if Anyone.
 
You can point to three critical ST gaffes in three different losses (CSU, Utah, and UDub), along with very poor coverage against UMass. If that's his sole job and you can find major flaws in a third of the schedule, why would you keep him? And to solely blame players executing is quite odd considering Neinas is the one making six figures. Add in very little Texas recruiting (was supposed to help in central Texas) and the argument for retention is flimsy at best. He is likely not in his current position at any other P5 school.

The cal game didn't have great special teams.
 
I would not say Neinas is a bad special teams coach. Though special teams has hurt us more than it has helped us. He is probably a solid in-state recruiter, though Walters is listed as the lead for our top ranked instate recruit. Not Neinas, which is curious. From the outside it looks like replacing Neinas would be a significant upgrade. With that said, MacIntyre obviously knows best how any of the coaches are performing. And now that he has dismissed Baer and La Russa to upgrade the staff I believe he would let Neinas go to if he thought it would make the staff better. So if Neinas stays with he team I feel more comfortable that he is pulling his weight.

??? Not sure how you reconcile these statements. The problem with Neinas (aside from what you've already highlighted above), is he appeared totally unqualified for the job when he was hired which made it a very suspicious hire given who his father is. Add to that now the poor performance of the special teams and his apparent lack of recruiting chops and it's pretty easy to see why people want him gone.
 
Special teams was not great, in my opinion; but they did some good things along with the bad; onside kick at Oregon, downed punts at the goal line. Statistically, special teams were probably middle of the road. Recruiting wise Rivals shows Neinas responsible for several good players, including Middlemiss and Wantanabe. So I imagine he is a decent recruiter. My point is for $255,000 it looks like we could do much better. The fact that Mac is replacing Baer to improve his staff gives me hope that he would replace Neinas too if he thought Neinas wasn't pulling his weight. Personally, I hope he does replace him. Not because he is that bad, just because we need to improve our staff wherever possible; but I know very little about the situation compared to MacIntyre.
 
For 500k a year. I promise to have a top 5 nationally special teams unit and the top 5 recruits in the state committed to CU. If I fail, you can fire me in 3 years.
 
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We are paying big salaries. Good at a MWC level does not justify these Checks. Good at a PAC 12 level does. I think the bad years have created too much patience and tolerance. Nienas has evey appearance of a Dystiff payback to daddy. After Hawks failures at managing his own Sons play time, every consideration had to be given to stepping away from the Daddy Ball U label. This is my biggest complaint. I'm tired of hearing that label from other coaches who know I route for CU. I recognize they say it because they know it makes me furious. But if I'm hearing from top ten coaching staffs, I know recruits are hearing it. Enough of my repeated rant. go buffs.
 
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We are paying big salaries. Good at a MWC level does not justify these Checks. Good at a PAC 12 level does. I think the bad years have created too much patience and tolerance. Nienas has evey appearance of a Dystiff payback to daddy. After Hawks failures at managing his own Sons play time, every consideration had to be given to stepping away from the Daddy Ball U label. This is my biggest complaint. I'm tired of hearing that label from other coaches who know I route for CU. I recognize they say it because they know it makes me furious. But if I'm hearing from top ten coaching staffs, I know recruits are hearing it. Enough of my repeated rant. go buffs.
Breakfast with Orr, amirite?
 
Yes, a bit negative. But the powder has been deep for a few days so I'm smiling even if I have to be at my desk for a few hours!
 
One other point. I hope we bring in a coach that can replace la russa's effort with the Polynesian players. Ikaika Malloe at USU and Kurt Gouveia at Hawaii both have Special team experience and could take what la russa was doing to the next level. Neither are really proven P5 coaches; but both have better resumes than Neinas and ties to Hawaii.
 
I'm more of a potatoes with green chili burrito guy. I grew up very close to your location. Despite my breakfast, I am encouraged that he has canned his D staff and is lining up a recruiter. He was adaptable to change. While I would have gone D cord, O line, Nienas, the result is still the same. He needs someone who can get it doe bringing in a couple four stars each year. He recognized that and is taking the steps.


Local press sees Whit looking internal for his DC. (Morgan Scally) He is a D guy and they will follow his system. It's the O side of the ball that has been his Achilles heel. The word on the local talk shows is that the guys that have been there for years chaffed at Christensen and a new guys versus old guys mentality developed in the staff. That and Sitaki was really close to Gary Anderson . I think Oregon State upgraded it's staff. I am waiting to see with Utah. I don't think Christensen made a difference this year. Booker did. Booker goes to the NFL and now they have a small fast guy. They got really lucky pulling in Booker as a JC. They have a kick ass line on both sides and ?'s at running back and QB. I sure hope they screw it up and open the door a bit for the Buffs.
 
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