Oregon reaches out to Willie Taggart

[TallyBull]

OK, what I'm about to say isn't intended to be a sleight to CWT, but some of you may think it is. 

Recall that our offensive philosophy the first two years of CWT's tenure at USF was power-based and, while we won a few additional games in year two, I suspect that was because we also played a few weaker teams. Arguably, we improved little those two years.

In year three, someone (not clear whether it was CWT, Harlan, or both) thought it was a good idea to bring in Kinnan to develop and implement a different offensive philosophy, which relies upon Florida speed instead of power.

The new offensive philosophy has clearly worked, which is good, but what's less clear to me is whether this change in philosophy was due to a change of heart by CWT, or was more or less "imposed" by Harlan.

I'm no football expert and won't pretend to be, but I and others on this board had serious reservations about whether the offensive philosophy CWT brought with him would work here in light of our recruiting base. It seems like our fanbase suffered pretty badly (perhaps even unnecessarily) due at least in part to CWT's initial intransigence when it came to offense.

He is now reaping the rewards of his (?) apparent change in offensively philosophy. If he bolts for Oregon or some other M5 job, will he revert to his original philosophy or continue with the Gulf Coast? Also, how much of his success late last year and this year is really due to his outstanding recruits (Q, Mack, Adams, and others) being singular Florida talents that consistently make something out of nothing, as opposed to his coaching skills?

These are questions Oregon and other schools need to answer before they invest in him. All that said, even with some questions in my mind as to his true coaching abilities, I very much hope CWT stays and finishes what he started here.

Edited December 6, 2016 by TallyBull

[Bull Dozer]

13 minutes ago, TallyBull said:

He is now reaping the rewards of his (?) apparent change in offensively philosophy. If he bolts for Oregon or some other M5 job, will he revert to his original philosophy or continue with the Gulf Coast? Also, how much of his success late last year and this year is really due to his outstanding recruits (Q, Mack, and others) being singular Florida talents that consistently make something out of nothing, as opposed to his coaching skills?

 

Not giving credit to a coach for recruits that were major coupes is just ridiculous.  None of those kids are here without CWT so attempting to use them to marginalize his success is intellectually dishonest.  That doesn't even take into consideration how important recruiting is for a HC at a program like USF.  We aren't UF, FSU, LSU, Texas, Notre Dame etc where the job recruits itself.  

This also doesn't take into consideration that he's the chief play caller in this offense.  People need to stop looking for reasons to not give credit to CWT and realize that he's a good coach.....Also, do we really go all in on recruiting Flowers to play QB if we wanted to keep playing the power brand of football? There's evidence that the shift in philosophy was coming during that second season in the formations and in some of the play calling (The first appearance of the WR screens, Implementing the shot gun more including  pistol formations even with white as the starter etc).  

Edited December 6, 2016 by Bull Dozer

[Skingraft]

My money is Harlan is on the phone to his replacements. You 

[MMW]

6 minutes ago, Brad said:

And if he stays there has to be commitment.  Re-do contract again.  Bump him up but make the buyout a real obstacle. 

We shouldn't be anyone's *****.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Why would CWT sign such a contract?  

I am not saying you Brad, but a lot of us were saying we had to give him a generous contract extension last year because we would be fighting to keep him this year or next.  We did but it was still too stingy IMO.

Some fools around here were suggesting a wait and see approach.  We established some good will and showed some faith in CWT last year and hopefully we can add to it this year and he stays.  

If/when he leaves, a big chunk of the blame falls on the fan base.  I think he was truly disappointed it the turnout.  He wants to build something but, looking at the empty seats in the stands, nobody seems to care.

 

 

[The Sheriff]

7 minutes ago, TallyBull said:

OK, what I'm about to say isn't intended to be a sleight to CWT, but some of you may think it is. 

Recall that our offensive philosophy the first two years of CWT's tenure at USF was power-based and, while we won a few additional games in year two, I suspect that was because we also played a few weaker teams. Arguably, we improved little those two years.

In year three, someone (not clear whether it was CWT, Harlan, or both) thought it was a good idea to bring in Kinnan to develop and implement a different offensive philosophy, which relies upon Florida speed instead of power.

The new offensive philosophy has clearly worked, which is good, but what's less clear to me is whether this change in philosophy was due to a change of heart by CWT, or was more or less "imposed" by Harlan.

I'm no football expert and won't pretend to be, but I and others on this board had serious reservations about whether the offensive philosophy CWT brought with him would work here in light of our recruiting base. It seems like our fanbase suffered pretty badly (perhaps even unnecessarily) due at least in part to CWT's initial intransigence when it came to offense.

He is now reaping the rewards of his (?) apparent change in offensively philosophy. If he bolts for Oregon or some other M5 job, will he revert to his original philosophy or continue with the Gulf Coast? Also, how much of his success late last year and this year is really due to his outstanding recruits (Q, Mack, Adams, and others) being singular Florida talents that consistently make something out of nothing, as opposed to his coaching skills?

These are questions Oregon and other schools need to answer before they invest in him. All that said, even with some questions in my mind as to his true coaching abilities, I very much hope CWT stays and finishes what he started here.

Very well said Tally. Spot on - even if people are going to attempt to nit pick at it.

[Brad]

1 minute ago, MMW said:

Why would CWT sign such a contract?  

If he doesn't we know where we stand.  

[Brad]

This isn't a quick fix. Being a stepping stone will never get it fixed.  We need some consistency. 

[Paisa el Toro]

1 minute ago, MMW said:

If/when he leaves, a big chunk of the blame falls on the fan base.  I think he was truly disappointed it the turnout.  He wants to build something but, looking at the empty seats in the stands, nobody seems to care.

This remains a problem, but it's not insurmountable. Finishing the season ranked will provide the visible momentum that could lead the unaffiliated-USF fan to actually show up next season. And we need to do a better job of repping and talking about USF at every opportunity. It's all about creating "USF-centric buzz" again, and I don't buy the AAC conference zaps any buzz logic that permeates with some on this board 

[BullyPulpit]

With everyone else jumping ship, he could make a real statement by showing his unwavering commitment to USF at this point. It would help tremendously with recruiting. Also, there is almost no way we don't go at least 10-2 next season given our schedule, so his stock might be even higher come next year. 

[George_Bullnard_Shaw]

I just got back to campus from vacation and I outright asked people about Taggart and Oregon. They didn't answer but they smiled and looked happy.

I think we'll hear happy news for USF very shortly.