Mike MacIntyre officially fired effective immediately

[BuffUp]

It seemed to me that we got a lot more conservative. Trick plays went away, when they'd been part of the offense. Fewer attempts down field. Emphasis going toward ball control and milking clock -- either 1st down run plays or short passes. No longer going fast as hell from play to play. My theory was that Chev was told to slow things down and protect the defense while avoiding turnovers and negative plays. That all goes against the design of that offense and Chev's tendencies, so it's hard for me to believe that Chev decided to make those changes on his own.

we might never know the answer to that. Watching other teams, it just seems like there is more routes that complement other routes. Our offense seemed as there was "that one route" by design. The passes behind the line of scrimmage on a 3rd and 10+ have been really frustrating.

 

[GawainBuff]

My theory was that Chev was told to slow things down and protect the defense while avoiding turnovers and negative plays.

I agree with your comments, and assessment, with one caveat: It is my understanding that “Folsom Fast” begins after an initial first down on a drive: i.e., the offense is moving and getting into rhythm. It was incredibly rare that we got first downs in many of the later games. Three-and-out does not lend itself to fast-and-furious.

Either way, bad offense was the clear result.

 

[Agent Dave Kujan]

I'll certainly try, but maybe you can help me here.

So...Chev is the actual reason for Mac's futility and the position group with the most talent on the team is the reason we didn't go bowling? Oh, and it was when we beat a hated rival in Lincoln to move to 2-0, that's when you knew Mac had to go? Does that about sum it up? I can't believe I couldn't connect the dots earlier.

1. Chev's Group was horrible in 2017 with multiple dropped passes that killed drives, lost scoring opportunities and cost us games. (See UCLA for one) Because we didn't win one more game we didn't go to a bowl. To say that they were our most talented position group is fine as long as you concede that they grossly underachieved.
2. By the time we beat Nebraska in Lincoln in HCMM's sixth year, we were no longer a feel good story. To see our Division One head coach crying because we won a game really bothered me. This a not a Disney movie. Trust me when I tell you that I had defended HCMM and his coaching staff relentlessly on this board up until that point. It was at that point that I started to have my doubts.
3. Chev was RG's hire (Widely accepted)
4. Chev is a GREAT recruiter (Widely accepted)
5. Chev was going to leave unless he got a promotion and we really couldn't afford to lose the best recruiter on staff. (Fairly well known)
6. Chev takes Lingren's place (Was RG involved in the is decision? Unknown)
7. 6 Games later, Chev's offense is so predictable that the other team is literally calling our plays (Read Howell's Tweets) Bottom line...our offense sucks.
8. Because our offense sucks HCMM gets fired.

What I am still unsure of and have asked many people about is how much of our offense sucking had to do with HCMM's conservative nature vs Chev's inexperience. Also how much HCMM wanted to change the offense but couldn't.

I'm also not saying that I support HCMM because it is time for him to go. But I am fascinated by the collapse I witnessed this season. I not sure I have ever seen anything like it.

Let me also say that I really don't fault RG for any of this. None of the decisions he made were bad decisions or done for the wrong reason. It is not a question of integrity. Recruiting is the lifeblood of D1 football and Chev is far and away the best recruiter on the staff.

 

[Agent Dave Kujan]

I have to admit, I don’t follow the logic: RG installed Chev as OC (How do we know this?), and Chev sucked at OC, hence, RG cut MM at the knees, and RG is our best hope?

Also, I find fault with assigning a presumptively negative value to a head coach (or is the problem a man?) crying after a big win. This is an annoyingly machismo view of the world. Genuine emotion is a good thing. Sure there are times and places for certain reactions, and if MM had been curled up in a ball whimpering as the defense tried to stop NEB from scoring, I’d agree that may not be effective coaching.

One of the most interesting aspects of sports is watching people deal with intensity, stress, and emotion while still being effective in difficult situations. It’s called a Story, and dramatic stories are the most enjoyable to watch or read.

On the other hand, it’s bland and uninspiring to watch robotic people with no feelings walk around a flat screen, or, perhaps, type repetitively within one.

See above......

I get it what you are saying about the emotions but I just don't think that a coach with confidence in his team or his process shouldn't expect to win that game and then act like after he does.
As I said above I was a HUGE HCMM fan until that point and then I really started to question whether or not he got it

 

[Darth Snow]

Ehhh, it's a nice theory guys. But Chev didn't just get conservative. He got predictable and owned more and more each successive week. I don't care if that's not his preference, he still sucked way worse than he should have.

 

[Ralfie]

What the **** how does this website's ad department know I was in the market for a green egg grill?!

I'm feeling vulnerable @Buffnik....Snowden was right...

 

[brockbuff]

My only question was how much of the drops etc in 2017 do you put on the players? Chev has that identical group playing great in 2016. Did they get complacent Bc of all the hype they had coming in? They underperformed and some has to go on Chev but dropped passes? That’s on the player imo. Are we saying he didn’t have them on the jugs machine enough? To me that’s like blaming the rb coach when a rb has fumbling issue

 

[WarBuff]

What the **** how does this website's ad department know I was in the market for a green egg grill?!

I'm feeling vulnerable @Buffnik....Snowden was right...

Nothing you do on the interweb is a secret. And if you think your cell phone isn't part of it too, you are in for a big (unwelcome) surprise.

 

[Buffnik]

What the **** how does this website's ad department know I was in the market for a green egg grill?!

I'm feeling vulnerable @Buffnik....Snowden was right...

If it makes you feel better, I think @Darth Snow is the only mod who watches you masturbate through your computer camera.

 

[Darth Snow]

If it makes you feel better, I think @Darth Snow is the only mod who watches you masturbate through your computer camera.

Don't denigrate my scientific work by calling it merely "watching"

 

[Not Sure]

I tried calling that number. I don’t think that’s the right number.

 

[Dark Bohner]

I tried calling that number. I don’t think that’s the right number.

So you’re saying you are Not Sure?

 

[Buffs35]

1. Chev's Group was horrible in 2017 with multiple dropped passes that killed drives, lost scoring opportunities and cost us games. (See UCLA for one) Because we didn't win one more game we didn't go to a bowl. To say that they were our most talented position group is fine as long as you concede that they grossly underachieved.
2. By the time we beat Nebraska in Lincoln in HCMM's sixth year, we were no longer a feel good story. To see our Division One head coach crying because we won a game really bothered me. This a not a Disney movie. Trust me when I tell you that I had defended HCMM and his coaching staff relentlessly on this board up until that point. It was at that point that I started to have my doubts.
3. Chev was RG's hire (Widely accepted)
4. Chev is a GREAT recruiter (Widely accepted)
5. Chev was going to leave unless he got a promotion and we really couldn't afford to lose the best recruiter on staff. (Fairly well known)
6. Chev takes Lingren's place (Was RG involved in the is decision? Unknown)
7. 6 Games later, Chev's offense is so predictable that the other team is literally calling our plays (Read Howell's Tweets) Bottom line...our offense sucks.
8. Because our offense sucks HCMM gets fired.

What I am still unsure of and have asked many people about is how much of our offense sucking had to do with HCMM's conservative nature vs Chev's inexperience. Also how much HCMM wanted to change the offense but couldn't.

I'm also not saying that I support HCMM because it is time for him to go. But I am fascinated by the collapse I witnessed this season. I not sure I have ever seen anything like it.

Let me also say that I really don't fault RG for any of this. None of the decisions he made were bad decisions or done for the wrong reason. It is not a question of integrity. Recruiting is the lifeblood of D1 football and Chev is far and away the best recruiter on the staff.

If Chev was that great, he wouldn't be on a Mike Mac staff.

 

[Ralfie]

Nothing you do on the interweb is a secret. And if you think your cell phone isn't part of it too, you are in for a big (unwelcome) surprise.

Uh...as a relatively famous person I think I should quit.

But who's going to listen to me spout off about Buffs football?! My WIFE?! She listens to me spout off enough about other things, I can't do that to her. She barely knows anything about football, let alone why Viska running the wildcat too many times requires a 2 minute rant. I'm doomed, thanks for nothing, AllBuffs.

Now where's that middle finger emoticon...

 

[Ralfie]

So you’re saying you are Not Sure?

*coughUBLcough*

 

[Wyo Buff]

Can anyone answer a question. Do you have any idea who was controlling the offense as the season progressed?

It felt as if we were calling the game aggressively early in the season. The play calling seemed to reflect Chev’s personality.

Then at USC, the offense became bland and predictable with very little creativity. It was a funk it never got out of.

I think that this fact ultimately led to the demise of HCMM.

Was that poor play calling Chev’s doing or was it HCMM?

Thoughts?

Guess you'll have a great test case Saturday.

 

[Darth Snow]

Guess you'll have a great test case Saturday.

Yup. Chev goes wild and puts up points and yards on Cal's D throughout the game (and not just in an early emotional burst), I am happy to entertain any and all conspiracy theories related to Chev and HCMM.

 

[hawg1]

It seemed to me that we got a lot more conservative. Trick plays went away, when they'd been part of the offense. Fewer attempts down field. Emphasis going toward ball control and milking clock -- either 1st down run plays or short passes. No longer going fast as hell from play to play. My theory was that Chev was told to slow things down and protect the defense while avoiding turnovers and negative plays. That all goes against the design of that offense and Chev's tendencies, so it's hard for me to believe that Chev decided to make those changes on his own.

Roper was known to be the “let’s play slow” guy at So Carolina. I think he got in MM’s ear and vice-versa. I saw Roper check on with MM twice at the beginning of series in the 2H vs ASU.

The O became more conservative for whaterever reason, injuries included.

 

[Wyo Buff]

Alex Kelley was an awesome player and the boys loved him. He even came to dinner with us when we were up there for the senior game 2017.

Ann: I wouldn't take anything on here too seriously and would only engage some of these guys for the entertainment value. There's a few on here with some decent actual football knowledge but you have to pick and choose. My opinion as an alumn and former OL back when we fought for fun is that I would take all the Jeromy's and Sean's I could get. Big, nasty and smart. Go Buffs!

 

[Agent Dave Kujan]

If Rick George actually forced Chiv as OC, don't you think the failing offense would have given Mac a longer leash and not less? I would imagine that RG wouldn't be that vindictive to say "Hey, I gave you a bad OC, and your offense was bad, so now you are fired."

This is the interesting part of the question and the part that I am unsure of. The reason I think not is that in the last press conference, MM said something to the effect that "we need to score some more points in it very frustrating," and "we have to get the offense going." I took it as a subtle dig at Chev. In his six years he never called out a coach or a a side of the ball before. MM's comments were absolutely out of character.

I think that if MM would have been RG's hire he would have gone to bat for him. But as we know the masses were at the gates and I think RG had no choice. Even still RG made the right choice.

 

[Agent Dave Kujan]

My only question was how much of the drops etc in 2017 do you put on the players? Chev has that identical group playing great in 2016. Did they get complacent Bc of all the hype they had coming in? They underperformed and some has to go on Chev but dropped passes? That’s on the player imo. Are we saying he didn’t have them on the jugs machine enough? To me that’s like blaming the rb coach when a rb has fumbling issue

Fair point. The players are at the root of it, but it certainly felt as if Chev got a huge pass in 2017 where none of the other coaches on the staff were given any leeway. They certainly underachieved the most relative to their abilities.

 

[ZandiBuff]

Brian Howell’s chat comment today: “It's a problem when (offensive) players can hear the other team (defense) calling out what the play is going to be. And, I had a CU staffer (non coach) tell me he could hear the same thing from the sidelines.”

If there was a question about play calling and formational presentation, this is an indictment of Chev as OC; though, I imagine this problem may not have been unique to this year. If true, it would explain a great deal about all those negative plays and the offensive decline over the course of the year.

This was obvious starting at U$C - they KNEW what we were running

 

[skibum]

What the **** how does this website's ad department know I was in the market for a green egg grill?! @Buffnik....Snowden was right...

You're in the wrong allbuffs thread: you need to head over to the bbq pron thread.

 

[Bread]

we might never know the answer to that. Watching other teams, it just seems like there is more routes that complement other routes. Our offense seemed as there was "that one route" by design. The passes behind the line of scrimmage on a 3rd and 10+ have been really frustrating.

Agree with the design flaw that we don’t have many combo routes that work well. We have them, but the players usually don’t space themselves well which is mostly a coaching issue. Concerning the one route by design, all plays are run with a 1, 2, 3, 4 option with the 1st being primary, but that doesn’t mean the others shouldn’t work. It could just mean that Steven cannot go through his progressions if he has any sort of pressure. Notice how he went through progressions very well against terrible teams and now he looks for option 1 and turns tail or throws it out if it’s not there. He doesn’t have the time to sit back and run through progressions or he would be sacked by the time he looked off 2.

 

[Ralfie]

You're in the wrong allbuffs thread: you need to head over to the bbq pron thread.

I'm never in the wrong thread. I really don't see how we can spend 24 pages talking about Mike MacIntyre's firing without ONCE mentioning a big green egg grill.

Not ONCE. Explain that to me.

 

[Agent Dave Kujan]

Couldn’t agree more. There’s absolutely nothing in Chevs history that leads you to believe he prefers to keep running up the middle and being conservative. I could be wrong but I just don’t see that being his decision. It does however dot coach Mac’s personality to a T. We also forget their was a co-OC in this ad well. Chev called the plays but he didn’t come up with the game plan all on his own. It was def a disappointment year but I don’t put it all on Chev

This is another part of the puzzle that just baffles me. You said it best "There’s absolutely nothing in Chevs history that leads you to believe he prefers to keep running up the middle and being conservative"

It started at USC. I kept thinking why is Chev calling the game out of fear? It just didn't seem to fit his persona. I guess @Wyo Buff said it best, we will see what it looks like on Saturday and we will know.

 

[The Ogre]

The level of incompetence suggested here is hard to believe, but maybe that's why Chev got little support for the interim gig. It's oddly encouraging for next year - hell, maybe the OL isn't nearly as bad as they look?

Uh...as a relatively famous person I think I should quit.

But who's going to listen to me spout off about Buffs football?! My WIFE?! She listens to me spout off enough about other things, I can't do that to her. She barely knows anything about football, let alone why Viska running the wildcat too many times requires a 2 minute rant. I'm doomed, thanks for nothing, AllBuffs.

Now where's that middle finger emoticon...

You may be happy to know there's a BBQ Porn thread in the pub. Love my BGE!

 

[BuffUp]

Agree with the design flaw that we don’t have many combo routes that work well. We have them, but the players usually don’t space themselves well which is mostly a coaching issue. Concerning the one route by design, all plays are run with a 1, 2, 3, 4 option with the 1st being primary, but that doesn’t mean the others shouldn’t work. It could just mean that Steven cannot go through his progressions if he has any sort of pressure. Notice how he went through progressions very well against terrible teams and now he looks for option 1 and turns tail or throws it out if it’s not there. He doesn’t have the time to sit back and run through progressions or he would be sacked by the time he looked off 2.

to me to much focus on the receiver blocking for the one that catches the ball. It's a good plan, just have to get that guy open 1st, no need in downfield blocking without the ball

 

[skibum]

This is another part of the puzzle that just baffles me. You said it best "There’s absolutely nothing in Chevs history that leads you to believe he prefers to keep running up the middle and being conservative"

It started at USC. I kept thinking why is Chev calling the game out of fear? It just didn't seem to fit his persona. I guess @Wyo Buff said it best, we will see what it looks like on Saturday and we will know.

I really think MM's main "strategy" to win games is, and has always been, to play a conservative, mistake free game, one that keeps the score close and then try and win in the 4th quarter. Reminds me a little bit of Dan Reeves actually.

 

[Bufffan68]

It seemed to me that we got a lot more conservative. Trick plays went away, when they'd been part of the offense. Fewer attempts down field. Emphasis going toward ball control and milking clock -- either 1st down run plays or short passes. No longer going fast as hell from play to play. My theory was that Chev was told to slow things down and protect the defense while avoiding turnovers and negative plays. That all goes against the design of that offense and Chev's tendencies, so it's hard for me to believe that Chev decided to make those changes on his own.

That’s the other side of what I’ve been thinking. I’m hoping if it was Mac holding back Chev then Roper would see it and let Chev call his game. Depends on what we see against Cal...against a really good D on the road. Furk.