Hey! It's the inaugural rebuilding era!

[CyberBull]

I'm starting to get pretty sick of these people who say that those of us who critize this team where we see problems are sophomoric.  Optomist like to call us pessimist but I prefer realist.  This team has a lot of problems right now, are we not supposed to discuss them, are we not supposed to propose solutions, are we just suppose to sit back and talk about how good things were to this point cause if we don't we will be accused of not being "real fans" whatever that means.  I would think anybody who takes the time to post here, whether its a good or bad post is a "real fan" or else they wouldn't take the time to do it.

I'm also a real big believer that "sunk costs" have nothign to do with your outlook for the future.  Its not what you done, or even what have you done for me lately, its what will you be able to do? that counts.  If you people who like to critiise  those of us who evaluate this team with a critical eye take a look at Penn State, they say their coach has earned the right to coach till he says no more, as a reslut he is leading them into the realm of mediocrity.  They are a shadow of what they once were and just because their coach is a legend it doesn't mean he can compete in college football in 2004, the game changes and evolves just like anything else, Jo Pa hasn't moved with it and now his team suffers and its excused because ofwhat he once was.  There are a lot of people on this board who share in that same sort nostiligia and claim that just because JL has gotten us to this point he gets a free pass.  Because our O is struggling its not Hobbie's fault, well if its not theirs than who's.  

Personally I'm not ready to cut of JL's head, I think we have a young team that needs time to develop but it does get frustrating after all of last season and all of this season watching this team regress.  To be okay with that I think is folley, that's not how progress is made.  You have to want to get better you have to want to fix your problems and you have to work to do so, what I have seen thus far is no effort toward fixing those problems.  Maybe its the QB or coaching or inexperience or whatever but I'm not gonna just take a downturn in stride and say its okay we've done good till now, I will look at it critically and see if I can discet the problem.  The I will put my analysis out there and see who buys it and who doesn't.  I thought thats what these boards were for.  But accoridng to some of you, I guess not.

I am all for intelligent discussion but when you have fans that flat out want to fire the head coach during what is obviously a rebuilding year, they are hard to take seriously.

Some of these fans have it all wrong. They think we have been "world beaters". That is simply not true. We have distinguished ourselves from programs like UCF by winning the games we were supposed to win on paper  and winning a few games we should have not.

Leavitt has gotten the maximum of the talent he has been able to talk into coming to USF and training in what used to be a small, dank 3,500 sq-ft faciity. Eventually the good luck was going to run out.

However, guess what....CJL finally has the tools to recruit players. That is, he got a reasonable (not great) long term contract, he finally got real facilities but most importantly he can now recruit with a BCS calling card.

The bottom line for me and any right thinking fan is the we need to see what he can do with all the new resources before firing him prematurely or conversly making him out to be our "bobby bowden".

Finally, I take issue with people taking a shot at the man who has litterally and figuratively given all to USF Football. That lack of respect rubs me as a fan the wrong way. Some of our fans need a dose of reality.

[goodknightfl]

U cant rebuild quite yet... have to finish the year in a meltdown first... We at UCF can splain it all to ya...

[bulls96go]

i thought last year was a rebuilding year

[smazza]

no lack of respect for coach leavitt

\

it is called accountablity

[Goldenbuc]

i thought last year was a rebuilding year

No...last year we were supposed to be good.  A team full of seniors and juniors with a Heisman QB...but it became the implosion year.  We lost 14 starters in a flash just before the season started.  Kruz lost control, injuries mounted...and the rest is history.

This is not just a rebuilding year...but a total makeover of the entire football program.  That's where USF and UCF differ right now.  USF is rebuilding a bit...but UCF is totally restructuring everything.   Like starting from scratch.  Not as bad...but close to basically being new to division 1-A again.

[bulls96go]

it better be short

[Guest wildrover]

I thought last year was a rebuilding year for us as well, we lost a lot when MB left, but there were a number of other players that left as well, that frustrates me too, I sort of expected it take a step back last year, but another year another step back, how do we explain that?

[MikeG]

That is a good point about rebuilding and I have a theory if you want to hear it.

The guys like JR Reed, Kawika etc-- the ones we got when we were finding some gems and stealing away 1-A transfers while we could as a 1-AA-- they have moved on. So the two years that our last two senior classes come from are more or less our in between years. In between 1-A and 1-AA (few 1-A studs dropping in), In between our Indy and CUSA start. Those recruiting years weren't all horrible but they weren't like the last two classes we have gathered-- especially last years class.

That and the inability to land the big QB recruit all these years. We got kind of lucky with Barnhardt. We got very lucky with MB. But no one else has been a standout at what is clearly a important position. With any luck, that will work itself out in the short run.

Add to that the start of conference play which is clearly more grueling than we imagined along with less and less 1-AA opponents on our schedule--- which I would call growing pains. We had one hell of a team in 2002 thanks to some fortunate transfers and a real team chemistry. But that team is gone and for the most part-- so are the guys who were left over from that era. The new breed is coming but they are very raw and lack leadership IMO.

We can blame the coaches for not getting the job done teaching guys like the QBs mechanics. But I am starting to wonder if it is not so much about that and more about the fact that some key player just don't have it when the whistle blows where the guys before them DID.

One positive about starting all these young guns is that they are getting some serious experience very early. We are playing so many freshmen out there right now-- and withtime, they should develop and learn and get bigger-- and get smarter. I have the patience to wait this one out and take some lumps if the end result gets us where we need to be. But it sure is going to hurt for a while.

[S p e n c e]

I for one don't think smazza is in the minority here, I agree with him on this point.  CJL has undoubtedly brought this program farther then anyone could have imagined in this time frame.  And for that I also agree that regardless of this season's outcome he deserves to lead this team into the Big East in 2005, and use the tools (BSC affiliation, more exposure, New athletic facility) to recruit that he hasnt had in the past, so we can see what he can do.  

But my criticism of him does not come from this season being a "downturn", which as you said is to be expected of every football program.  My criticism comes from various points I have made in other threads.  To be brief some of those points are, the dicipline of the team on and off the field, they seem out of control at times, poor clock conservation in close games, as well as not conserving timeouts in the case they may be needed.  This potentially cost us three games that I can recall.  Army, S. Miss, and going back to last year UAB which potentially cost us a bowl game.  

And unlike what Mike said in another thread, this is not me using hindsight.  Things like not conserving the clock or timeouts were things that at the time these games were being played out I was pointing out to those I was at the game with, and various other fans were complaining about in my immediate area also.  For example, when we blew some of the timeouts at the Army game early, people were very upset about this and yelling, because even if we didnt need them at the time the TO was used, experiences from recent history should have told this coaching staff that in games like S Miss and UAB, TO's could have potentially been VERY important and we should have learned from this, but we didnt, and once again with one minute and a half left in the game down by a TD we have to kick an onside kick and hope for a miracle rather than kicking the ball and using our timeouts and leaving it in the hands of the defense to try to hold them.  

Also the offensive schme, playcalling, just to name a few things.   My whole beef with the coaching staff is mostly that we dont learn from our mistakes and that really bothers me and makes no sense.  

So I do agree that Leavitt deserves to lead us into the Big East because he is the one who got us there, but I also believe as smazza said there is accountablity, and if he and his staff dont improve on things and keep making the same mistakes over and over again, and potentially cost us games, then he should be held accountable.

[smazza]

fau has seemed to recruit enough good players to go to hawaii to beat them

mikeg- i simply don't buy your analysis

we simply didn't recruit talented enough players to compete

that said- this can all be turned around in one year