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Thoughts on the Hiring of D.J. Eliot
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Ever since Jim Leavitt left Boulder for the “greener” pastures of Eugene, there has been anticipation in the Buff Nation about who would be Leavitt’s replacement.
The University of Colorado, formerly of the decade-long run of losing seasons, was no longer to be seen as a dead end destination for potential coaching hires. The Buffs were coming off of a 10-4 campaign, had facilities on par with most other Power Five conference schools, a locker room filled with returning talent, and a top 25 recruiting Class.
Who wouldn’t want to coach for the Buffs?
Anticipation turned to consternation, however, as the holiday recruiting dead period came and went. The presumed choice, Mississippi State’s defensive coordinator Peter Sirmon, was thought to be a lackluster option … right up until the time Sirmon spurned Colorado and signed on with Louisville instead (at which time he became the prettiest girl in the room).
Another week passed, and consternation in the Buff Nation turned to frustration.
Then came the announcement. CU had found it man … Kentucky defensive coordinator D.J. Eliot.
To say that the reception for Eliot on the fan sites has been lukewarm is akin to saying it gets a bit nippy above the Arctic Circle this time of year.
My first reaction?
In a word … disappointed.
Or, as Kevin Kline put it so well in his Academy Award winning performance in “A Fish Called Wanda” … “Disappointed!!“:
Trying to find the positives … “I’m excited about having D.J. Eloit as our defensive coordinator, he brings a lot of expertise and energy to our defense,” Mike MacIntyre said of the hire. “Also he is one of the great, young defensive minds in the game of college football today.”
For his part, Eliot does bring experience coaching the 3-4 defense which MacIntyre prefers. “We are a 3-4 system that is built to apply pressure on the offense and confuse the quarterback,” Eliot said of his system.
Eliot also has a reputation – and a resume – as a strong recruiter. At his most recent coaching stops, Kentucky and Florida State, Eliot coached eight players who were drafted in the NFL, including a pair of first round picks. Linebacker Bud Dupree was a 2015 first round selection of the Pittsburgh Steelers, Kentucky’s first player selected in the first round in 12 years, and Bjoern Werner out of Florida State went No. 24 overall to Indianapolis after playing under Eliot when he was coaching defensive ends for the Seminoles.
Eliot is also not likely to be a mercenary coach. Whereas Jim Leavitt was always looking at Colorado as a weigh station back into a better paying gig and/or a head coaching position, D.J. Eliot, at 40, may have found a coaching stop he will want to keep for some time. “I am very excited to work at a great program with an excellent head coach and at a place that has always been special to me and my family,” said Eliot, who played linebacker at Wyoming, and whose wife is from Westminster.
But it’s hard to overlook the negatives … Until or unless the Colorado defense performs well this fall, the specter of the opening to Kentucky’s 2016 season will hang over Eliot. The Wildcats opened the season with a 44-35 loss to Southern Mississippi, a 45-7 loss to Florida, and a 62-42 win over hapless New Mexico State. In each game, the Kentucky defense gave up over 500 yards of total offense to the opposition, with head coach Mark Stoops taking over the calling of defensive plays from Eliot.
Now, Stoops did give credit to Eliot for the Wildcats’ improved play over the course of the season.
After the win over Vanderbilt in early October, Stoops credited Eliot with helping the defense dramatically improve.
“I want to be very clear about this, there’s no way we would have this success without Coach Eliot putting a lot of this together,” Stoops said after that victory. “I really helped eliminate some of that, some of the pressure of calling the game, because we work well together. We always have. So the structure of it is very good.”
According to the Lexington Herald-Ledger, the UK head coach noted that the defensive improvements were a credit to Eliot, too.
“D.J.’s worked his tail off and is doing the same things he’s always done,” Stoops continued. “He’s always been successful, it’s just helping with me being involved in calling it and he can really see what’s going on up there and make quality adjustments.”
Not the sparkling resume which Buff fans thought they had earned the right to expect, but, perhaps, not the end of the world, either.
Which brings us to …
We’ve been through this before … A year ago, the Texas Tech fan sites were overjoyed to be rid of the over-hyped Darrin Chiaverini. Two years ago, Buff fans were in a deep depression over the loss of recruiting coordinator and defensive backs coach Troy Walters.
At the same time Walters was leaving, there were questions about the hiring of San Francisco 49ers linebacker coach Jim Leavitt as the new defensive coordinator … what with the firing of Leavitt by South Florida still bringing about negative press.
In short, there are reasons for concern about almost every coming and going in a given coaching staff. On occasion, there are reasons for concern when there is no movement in the makeup of the coaching staff.
Colorado has made some tremendously bad coaching hires in the past decade, and only a few really good ones. With all of those scars – many not fully healed – it is only human nature to believe that the Buffs have struck out once again.
It’s no fun being someone’s second choice. It’s hurtful to know … to realize … that Colorado is not USC, not Michigan, not even Oregon – when it comes to clout and prestige in the college football world of 2017. CU simply doesn’t have the resources to throw $1 million contracts at coordinators.
Colorado has to take high school prospects which are not consensus four- and five-star performers … and mold them into a team which can compete for titles.
Colorado also has to take coaching prospects which are not “home run hires” … and mold them into a cohesive unit which can create championship teams.
It is what it is.
My biggest concern … is not that D.J. Eliot will not be successful. I have every confidence that Rick George and Mike MacIntyre, both with lucrative long-term contracts riding on the success of the CU football team, have made the best choice for the future of the program.
My biggest concern, rather, is that Eliot will not be given the chance to succeed. Eliot inherits a situation in which it is almost impossible for him to do well – in the short term.
Colorado had a great defense in 2016. The Buffs finished 19th in the nation in total defense; 20th in the nation in scoring defense.
From that squad, the Buffs lose the entire defensive line, and will have three of the four members of the defensive secondary drafted into the NFL in April.
This just in … CU was not going to be as good on defense in 2017 as it was in 2016 … even if Leavitt and Charles Clark had stayed on with Colorado.
That won’t matter to some, however. Just as every incompletion thrown by the CU offense is blamed on the play-calling of offensive coordinator Brian Lindgren, every opposing completion this fall will be construed, by some, as a failure of the D.J. Eliot defensive strategy and play-calling.
It’s not fair, but that’s the way it will be.
The preseason magazines, which might have otherwise have kept Colorado in their top 25, will justify dropping the Buffs from their rankings based upon the uncertainties of the Buff defense.
D.J. Eliot has a tough job in front of him. Not only in rebuilding the Buff defense, but in convincing the Buff Nation that he is up to the task.
Let’s hope he proves to be the right choice.
—–
Stuart
Continue reading...
Thoughts on the Hiring of D.J. Eliot
—
Ever since Jim Leavitt left Boulder for the “greener” pastures of Eugene, there has been anticipation in the Buff Nation about who would be Leavitt’s replacement.
The University of Colorado, formerly of the decade-long run of losing seasons, was no longer to be seen as a dead end destination for potential coaching hires. The Buffs were coming off of a 10-4 campaign, had facilities on par with most other Power Five conference schools, a locker room filled with returning talent, and a top 25 recruiting Class.
Who wouldn’t want to coach for the Buffs?
Anticipation turned to consternation, however, as the holiday recruiting dead period came and went. The presumed choice, Mississippi State’s defensive coordinator Peter Sirmon, was thought to be a lackluster option … right up until the time Sirmon spurned Colorado and signed on with Louisville instead (at which time he became the prettiest girl in the room).
Another week passed, and consternation in the Buff Nation turned to frustration.
Then came the announcement. CU had found it man … Kentucky defensive coordinator D.J. Eliot.
To say that the reception for Eliot on the fan sites has been lukewarm is akin to saying it gets a bit nippy above the Arctic Circle this time of year.
My first reaction?
In a word … disappointed.
Or, as Kevin Kline put it so well in his Academy Award winning performance in “A Fish Called Wanda” … “Disappointed!!“:
Trying to find the positives … “I’m excited about having D.J. Eloit as our defensive coordinator, he brings a lot of expertise and energy to our defense,” Mike MacIntyre said of the hire. “Also he is one of the great, young defensive minds in the game of college football today.”
For his part, Eliot does bring experience coaching the 3-4 defense which MacIntyre prefers. “We are a 3-4 system that is built to apply pressure on the offense and confuse the quarterback,” Eliot said of his system.
Eliot also has a reputation – and a resume – as a strong recruiter. At his most recent coaching stops, Kentucky and Florida State, Eliot coached eight players who were drafted in the NFL, including a pair of first round picks. Linebacker Bud Dupree was a 2015 first round selection of the Pittsburgh Steelers, Kentucky’s first player selected in the first round in 12 years, and Bjoern Werner out of Florida State went No. 24 overall to Indianapolis after playing under Eliot when he was coaching defensive ends for the Seminoles.
Eliot is also not likely to be a mercenary coach. Whereas Jim Leavitt was always looking at Colorado as a weigh station back into a better paying gig and/or a head coaching position, D.J. Eliot, at 40, may have found a coaching stop he will want to keep for some time. “I am very excited to work at a great program with an excellent head coach and at a place that has always been special to me and my family,” said Eliot, who played linebacker at Wyoming, and whose wife is from Westminster.
But it’s hard to overlook the negatives … Until or unless the Colorado defense performs well this fall, the specter of the opening to Kentucky’s 2016 season will hang over Eliot. The Wildcats opened the season with a 44-35 loss to Southern Mississippi, a 45-7 loss to Florida, and a 62-42 win over hapless New Mexico State. In each game, the Kentucky defense gave up over 500 yards of total offense to the opposition, with head coach Mark Stoops taking over the calling of defensive plays from Eliot.
Now, Stoops did give credit to Eliot for the Wildcats’ improved play over the course of the season.
After the win over Vanderbilt in early October, Stoops credited Eliot with helping the defense dramatically improve.
“I want to be very clear about this, there’s no way we would have this success without Coach Eliot putting a lot of this together,” Stoops said after that victory. “I really helped eliminate some of that, some of the pressure of calling the game, because we work well together. We always have. So the structure of it is very good.”
According to the Lexington Herald-Ledger, the UK head coach noted that the defensive improvements were a credit to Eliot, too.
“D.J.’s worked his tail off and is doing the same things he’s always done,” Stoops continued. “He’s always been successful, it’s just helping with me being involved in calling it and he can really see what’s going on up there and make quality adjustments.”
Not the sparkling resume which Buff fans thought they had earned the right to expect, but, perhaps, not the end of the world, either.
Which brings us to …
We’ve been through this before … A year ago, the Texas Tech fan sites were overjoyed to be rid of the over-hyped Darrin Chiaverini. Two years ago, Buff fans were in a deep depression over the loss of recruiting coordinator and defensive backs coach Troy Walters.
At the same time Walters was leaving, there were questions about the hiring of San Francisco 49ers linebacker coach Jim Leavitt as the new defensive coordinator … what with the firing of Leavitt by South Florida still bringing about negative press.
In short, there are reasons for concern about almost every coming and going in a given coaching staff. On occasion, there are reasons for concern when there is no movement in the makeup of the coaching staff.
Colorado has made some tremendously bad coaching hires in the past decade, and only a few really good ones. With all of those scars – many not fully healed – it is only human nature to believe that the Buffs have struck out once again.
It’s no fun being someone’s second choice. It’s hurtful to know … to realize … that Colorado is not USC, not Michigan, not even Oregon – when it comes to clout and prestige in the college football world of 2017. CU simply doesn’t have the resources to throw $1 million contracts at coordinators.
Colorado has to take high school prospects which are not consensus four- and five-star performers … and mold them into a team which can compete for titles.
Colorado also has to take coaching prospects which are not “home run hires” … and mold them into a cohesive unit which can create championship teams.
It is what it is.
My biggest concern … is not that D.J. Eliot will not be successful. I have every confidence that Rick George and Mike MacIntyre, both with lucrative long-term contracts riding on the success of the CU football team, have made the best choice for the future of the program.
My biggest concern, rather, is that Eliot will not be given the chance to succeed. Eliot inherits a situation in which it is almost impossible for him to do well – in the short term.
Colorado had a great defense in 2016. The Buffs finished 19th in the nation in total defense; 20th in the nation in scoring defense.
From that squad, the Buffs lose the entire defensive line, and will have three of the four members of the defensive secondary drafted into the NFL in April.
This just in … CU was not going to be as good on defense in 2017 as it was in 2016 … even if Leavitt and Charles Clark had stayed on with Colorado.
That won’t matter to some, however. Just as every incompletion thrown by the CU offense is blamed on the play-calling of offensive coordinator Brian Lindgren, every opposing completion this fall will be construed, by some, as a failure of the D.J. Eliot defensive strategy and play-calling.
It’s not fair, but that’s the way it will be.
The preseason magazines, which might have otherwise have kept Colorado in their top 25, will justify dropping the Buffs from their rankings based upon the uncertainties of the Buff defense.
D.J. Eliot has a tough job in front of him. Not only in rebuilding the Buff defense, but in convincing the Buff Nation that he is up to the task.
Let’s hope he proves to be the right choice.
—–
Stuart
Continue reading...