What Realistic things Does a Head Coach need to do for UMass football to be successful?

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Sheck
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Re: What Realistic things Does a Head Coach need to do for UMass football to be successful?

Post by Sheck » Thu Oct 07, 2021 1:04 am

^
We need a football version of Carvel basically. Focused on detail and putting a team out there that has a grasp of the fundamentals and limits mistakes. Recruiting is going to be hard and clearly a lot of things that would make this program more successful are out of the control of the coach (better stadium, conference affiliation, etc). But let's get someone that can at least develop the players we are able to recruit and get them to play sound football.
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Re: What Realistic things Does a Head Coach need to do for UMass football to be successful?

Post by jjmc85 » Thu Oct 07, 2021 9:48 am

^Sure. I think if UMass got the football version of Carvel that could turn things around, Carvel is one of the best coaches in College hockey. He won coach of the year in 18-19 and was a finalist (and probably should have won) in 20-21. His program was recently ranked number 1 in college hockey in terms of player development. If we got a coach who had that reputation then things would immediately get better. But I don’t think UMass is realistically getting that for a football coach right now.

Granted Carvel wasn’t a coach of the year yet before coming to Amherst so it’s possible to find that guy who will become coach of the year one day. But his teams were improving and he was building something at SLU. And IIRC he brought at least some recruits he originally had going to SLU with him which have played critical roles in the turnaround of the program (the DelGaizos in addition to the grad transfers Pritchard and Gicewicz and maybe others?). So it would be excellent to get someone like that who could bring in such high level talent with them. But I also don’t think Carvel would have left SLU for Amherst if there hockey team were in the same boat as the football team.
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Re: What Realistic things Does a Head Coach need to do for UMass football to be successful?

Post by Sheck » Thu Oct 07, 2021 3:44 pm

What I mean is find someone with the qualities of a Greg Carvel. We may not get someone with his coaching experience (or any head coaching experience for that matter) but find the best guy available that has a similar demeanor and work ethic and philosophy on how to succeed. Rather than going for the most charismatic person in the room or someone with some magical offensive system.
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Re: What Realistic things Does a Head Coach need to do for UMass football to be successful?

Post by InnervisionsUMASS » Thu Oct 07, 2021 3:52 pm

I don't have a good answer for this... a lot of it is chicken vs egg.

- Conference
- Stadium
- A University Admin making a very clear and public commitment to the program
- A good coach
- Talent
- General Fan/Alumni support
- Student support

I'm really at a loss here but something's gotta give, and soon.
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Re: What Realistic things Does a Head Coach need to do for UMass football to be successful?

Post by jjmc85 » Fri Oct 08, 2021 1:01 pm

^I agree. I started this thread because I’m at the point where I question whether a good answer even exists. If it doesn’t then it doesn’t matter who the coach is until there is a good answer and there’s no point in paying buy outs if we’re gonna be in the same exact boat every three seasons or so. What happens then? Just let contracts expire until UMass figures the rest of it out?
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Re: What Realistic things Does a Head Coach need to do for UMass football to be successful?

Post by wmmmfan » Fri Oct 08, 2021 2:07 pm

UMass football at the FBS level can work but only if there is a sound plan as to how to move forward. Proper funding for the coordinators and position coaches salaries so we can attract qualified candidates, realistic scheduling to provide an opportunity for developing teams to have a chance to be competitive and win games. Playing 1-2 P5’s for a paycheck should be the max annually.

A conference affiliation is crucial so the players have a chance to compete for a championship annually, just showing up to play games is not viable long term. Strong support from the administration in both Boston and Amherst is needed to make the fan base comfortable so they feel their financial support and loyalty is respected.

National Championships in football are not realistic and I don’t see that expectation on this site. The expectation of a competitive program which fans can rally around, tailgate on a Saturday then go and enjoy a competitive game with friends, family and fellow alumni is not asking too much.

Time for the administration to come straight with the fan base at the end of the season, we deserve it.

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Re: What Realistic things Does a Head Coach need to do for UMass football to be successful?

Post by Upstate10 » Fri Oct 08, 2021 7:17 pm

Money. Lots of money.

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Re: What Realistic things Does a Head Coach need to do for UMass football to be successful?

Post by jjmc85 » Sat Oct 09, 2021 2:00 am

I agree money and lots of it would help but that’s not in the Coach’s job description I don’t think. That’s more on the Commonwealth and the Alumni.
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Re: What Realistic things Does a Head Coach need to do for UMass football to be successful?

Post by Jack » Sun Oct 10, 2021 4:20 pm

First of all one realistic thing is not to hire a first time HC with the expectation that he'll create a competitive football team nearly from scratch in less than five years - and that doesn't include the pandemic season. B/c doing that would be a) stupid and b) unrealistic.

In order to be competitive a UMass HC must realistically:
  • be able to establish an effective recruiting operation - doesn't happen overnight. Bell has recruited a few good looking young QBs on that roster in Wise and Olson which is a good start.
  • build Offensive & Defensive Line systems - OL is the core of the football team and it must be built correctly - consistent recruiting, training, development, teaching and meshing of players who will challenge for starting jobs all along the Line. doesn't happen overnight. Bell has a roster loaded w/OLmen 13 of whole are F or So and 4 of them are starting and he has OL Coach Alex Miller. Same basic story on the DL - 15 or so F & So and plenty of them getting solid experience - Billy Wooden has jumped out to me as a young DL that is improving. The OL/DL is a work in progress but is trending better - at least in terms of finally having some depth on the roster and creating a developmental assembly line for future success.
  • get his players to consistently play hard for each other and to develop a team focused culture. Winning does that and hopefully UMass will have some more wins down the stretch of this season.
  • build and retain a competent coaching staff. This requires a better budget.

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