It's amazing how a guy that was universally revered at CU suddenly isn't all that impressive a coach as soon as he leaves.
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Officially off the Macintyre bandwagon
- Thread starter Denver_sc
- Start date
It’s pretty obvious Leavitt was responsible for a lot of last year. Hopefully MM can admit that and try to find someone with similar abilities. Obviously going to be hard since Leavitt seems to be one of the best.
I have no idea how much of last year to attribute to Leavitt, but if nothing else I hope Mac realizes that to win he needs to be constantly surrounding himself with the most talented staff he can possible assemble.
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AllStarBuffs
Member
I think MM has a hard time surrounding himself with coaches that may be better than him, hence the JMFL rift
Yup. Hence DJ Eliot,
I think that's a lazy narrative perpetuated by fans who have a negative impression of Mac.
I do, however, think Mac prioritizes continuity and cultivating a certain atmosphere on his staff which leads him to favor "fit" over more high-risk/high-reward guys or coaches with huge personalities that might upset his apple cart. That's just my impression tough.
For the most part, I agree. However, I do wonder if there are some underlying insecurities with MM that influence his decisions. Some of the staff decisions where he seems to shy away from bigger personalities, the press conference remarks where he seems quick to deflect blame and slow to give credit, etc. It may be completely wrong, but that's been my perception for awhile now.
I've learned to pretty much disregard anything I hear at a coach's press conference. I remember one of Mac's press conferences 2 years ago when he said that "players make plays and players win games" and a lot of people flipped out that Mac was blaming the players and not taking any responsibility for the team's performance - well now we all realize that was actually one of the team's primary mantras and we all looked a little silly for getting upset about it.
That mantra is so weak. Seen film of the chant/call back when he does this in his pre-game speah? Amateurish. JV.
Why?
I’m not in any way bitter and I have great respect for MFJL but I am simply pointing out the FACT that against DJ Elliott’s CU defense has out performed Jim Levitt’s UO defense against several common opponents this year. Those are FACTS. It is also a FACT that in 2015 Levitt’s CU defense got run over several times
It's also a FACT that Oregon's defense has improved under Leavitt and CU's defense has regressed under Eliot.
Those who are bitter about Leavitt leaving will find facts to justify their resentment toward him, and those who think Eliot is garbage will find their own facts to trash him.
Leavitt is a really good coach who did a great job here, but he left. It sucks, but it happens - this won't be the last time a really good assistant leaves CU for another job, but trying to convince yourself (or anyone else) that he's not a good coach is stupid and yes it is a little bitter.
I never said that I’m bitter. As I stated previously, Levitt is a great coach and I appreciate the job that he did here. I’m just a little tired of the revisionist history that omits the struggles that he had while at CU. I’m also tired of people excusing his bad games this year as “first year” issues without giving Elliot the same pass
You didn't say you're bitter, I'm saying you're bitter. There's no revisionist history - Leavitt took over a disaster of a defense at CU, improved it his first year and had a great defense his 2nd year. This year we've dropped off significantly. He similarly took over a disaster of a defense at Oregon and improved it his first year - he's a very good coach.
BuffNut
Well-Known Member
Curious, how many players on D did OU lose from 2016 to 2017? Compare that to what CU lost with poor depth and am not sure how you can compare the jobs each has done. JL was a aolid DC, loved his tweets and energy. It is funny how this conversation has gone, sure there are some bitter people he left, but some want to claim he was all that was right with CU in 2016 while others suggest he was just a key piece in the puzzle.
OU's D in 2016 (IIRC) was both very young and had a lot of injuries. On top of that Brady Hoke was a horrible choice for a DC and there really was no place to go but up.
Leavitt is a very good coach and I am sad that he left CU. He did, however, step into a much better situation talent-wise at Oregon and, sadly, I expect them to continue to improve if he and Taggart stay around.
Leavitt is a very good coach and I am sad that he left CU. He did, however, step into a much better situation talent-wise at Oregon and, sadly, I expect them to continue to improve if he and Taggart stay around.
BlackNGold
Club Member
I thought I would do a quick fact check on the FACTS.
Opponent | CU Yards Allow | CU Yard/Play | OU Yards Allow | OU Yard/Play |
| Washington | 414 | 6.9 | 451 | 7.78 |
| UCLA | 467 | 5.85 | 408 | 5.59 |
| Arizona | 567 | 10.13 | 330 | 4.13 |
| Wash St | 406 | 5.21 | 369 | 5.51 |
| California | 435 | 5.58 | 263 | 3.65 |
| Arizona St. | 583 | 6.63 | 489 | 5.32 |
I think you are over stating the facts. In the six common opponent the OU defense has performed better than CU 5 of the 6 times. In the conference stats OU is 4th in conference games in total defense and CU is 11th so I would believe you are trying to build a narrative that does not match the facts.
BerkeleyBuff
Well-Known Member
SBP just got bitch-slapped.
CULifer
Well-Known Member
MM is the opposite of Saban in that sort of way, yes.
How so? Saban knows he is the best coach in history. Nobody makes him feel threatened.
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Yep. And even though Saban's a defensive coach, he goes through OCs like water if they try to do things their way instead of following the way he wants games called. He hires great coaches, but they are there to learn from Saban and implement his vision while bringing something Saban saw them do that he liked. He's not backing off and letting another coach control the room.
I think if many of you MM critics would step back for a second you'd have to admit that you agree with the Saban approach. However, you don't respect MacIntyre and believe that he should back off and allow coaches to do their own thing. You think that if that happens then, with the right coordinators, CU will be successful in spite of MM.
I'm cool if you don't like him as a head coach and believe he needs to be replaced. Every coach is going to have his critics and it's fair game. They get paid a ton of money to deal with that pressure and heat. But be honest about it. Let's not be pretending that anyone's problem with MacIntyre is that he doesn't tolerate insubordination and an unwillingness to collaborate.
P.S. This type of thing is why Leavitt needed to move on. It was a Buddy Ryan/Mike Ditka type situation. Leavitt didn't accept his role and respect his boss. MacIntyre was not going to tolerate that any longer. Some of you were in the Leavitt camp. Fine. But I believe that's the problem in a nutshell: there shouldn't be camps. That chemistry wasn't going to remain stable for long and it was good that 2016 was the end of it. I guarantee that both MacIntyre and Leavitt are happy to have moved on. They'll both go on to success as coaches just like Ryan and Ditka did, just not together.
I'm not sure anyone wants the HC taking a backseat to his assistants, but MM seems to go out of his way to promote fit over little details like recruiting. It's OK to be in charge and demand respect. It's another thing altogether when that goes to an extreme and you seemingly struggle to find anyone with necessary combination of coaching ability, recruiting chops and fit. MM's level of tolerance in this regard appears narrower than most coaches.
As a side note, I'm fine with coaches wanting to run their own systems, but this team seems to be struggling to find it's identity. Is this a power running offense? Are we wanting to spread teams out and use more read option? Originally I thought the offense was going to incorporate more west coast,, quick passing concepts, but we've since abandoned the TE position and the middle of the field. If the HC is set on running his system, we should at least be able to identify that system.
MacIntyre's failure to stress recruiting as an integral part of every assistant's job - at least half of what they get paid for - is my main criticism of his approach. I think he's in the Parcells mindset too much of guys being professional coaches that work together to put together great game plans, teach technique, and play smart football. That's the NFL. That's great in college for a turnaround artist fixing a dumpster fire of a program that needs to start running like a competent organization again. I don't know that it's an approach that gets you to the top of your conference and keeps you there. I have my doubts.
It's an NFL mindset, but also consistent with the way MM came up in the coaching ranks. When you jump from a GA immediately into a small school coordinator role, the focus is rightfully on coaching over recruiting. MM was 10 years into his career before his stint as a position coach at Ole Miss where recruiting would have been a priority. Even after his time in the NFL, I don't think recruiting was an emphasis for him at Duke or SJSU. It's pretty unusual for a P5 HC with a 25 year career to really only have 4 years of exposure to big conference recruiting and I'm afraid we're seeing effects of that now.
And don't forget that at Ole Miss his experience was under Cutcliffe, who was fired because they weren't happy with his recruiting and thought he'd hit his ceiling.
MacIntyre is a heck of a football coach and could write a textbook on organizational stuff. And he's actually a good recruiter himself. But he doesn't build his program around winning recruiting battles.