Styf: Be patient - Lamar needs more time

[coachacola]

Article from Jon Styf of the Beaumont Enterprise:


There were moments when Lamar looked like a big-time college football team on Saturday.

Especially on offense, in the first quarter.

Picture 6-foot-5, 370-pound offensive lineman Daniel Campbell motoring down the sideline with 5-foot-8, 190-pound tailback DePauldrick Garrett in tow for a 30-yard gain on a simple screen play.

Or wide receiver J.J. Hayes leaping and winning a jump ball on a well-placed pass 35 yards downfield from starting quarterback Andre Bevil, something the pair repeated for two touchdowns before Incarnate Word decided to double-team Hayes on every play.

Read more: http://www.beaumontenterprise.com/sports/lamar/article/Styf-Be-patient-Lamar-needs-more-time-2183324.php#ixzz1YhIVLXYE

[bigred360]

Nice read, well written and he make good points.

[CardAmbassador]

He makes some good points. I still believe that we could have done much better defensively in this game and we could have had a much better offensive showing against South Alabama. But he is right we are consistent and the problem with our team in particular is that there is a big drop off from the first string to the second. The first string guys are still inexperienced by SLC standards too.

I'm an LU football fan for life so I can wait but we better win some games in conference because if we don't I know how that's seen as a step forward.

[lu cards]

i think most of us get were a 2nd year program.the issue i have isnt with losing but rather with our preparedness.we werent prepared for incarnate word.sideline has to many damn people on it that dont play football.defense looked confused on how to align all night.calling timeouts to get your kickoff team ready dont cut it.i put this on the coaches.good thing is all this is easy to fix and i think woodard will get it handled.

[CardAmbassador]

i think most of us get were a 2nd year program.the issue i have isnt with losing but rather with our preparedness.we werent prepared for incarnate word.sideline has to many damn people on it that dont play football.defense looked confused on how to align all night.calling timeouts to get your kickoff team ready dont cut it.i put this on the coaches.good thing is all this is easy to fix and i think woodard will get it handled.

+1

If I had one complaint about the coaching staff it would be that, we just don't look disciplined or prepared. I think this was one of the factors in all the penalties.

The penalties have regressed so I think the coaches see it's a problem and are trying to adjust.

[bigred360]

lu cards doesn't post a lot but when he does he is pretty much on target.

[Davis]

I wrote a column in today's Examiner that talks about expectations with the program and the reality that it may be a real stretch for this team to get to five wins this year with the Southland Conference schedule ahead of them...

The bottomline - this team is still a Second Year program, and the depth on this team is still very much a work in progress... There are guys on this team that probably should be playing D-II ball elsewhere, but there's something to be said for recruiting kids to a brand new program, especially when there's so many good programs in the conference that have this recruiting area sized up. The depth will come, the experience will come, but there will be lumps along the way, simple as that.

As far as the coaching, I thought they looked better on Saturday, but Coach Woodard even said it himself - this team has to do a better job of making in-game adjustments... And I think that will improve. The offensive play-calling was much better, the line was better, hell, there were only three penalties called after 24 the first two weeks, so I would say that the team did look better prepared. Now, when you've got a defensive line that played very mediocre football, and you're missing three starters in your secondary, that's a problem. Also, the special teams needs to get its act together. Again, these are all items that can be corrected - not necessarily fixed, but corrected. The real question for me as Lamar enters Southland Play - will Lamar survive the injury bug because if this team starts piling up injuries - given what we've seen out of the backups so far, this season could get long in a hurry...

[NorthoftheBorder]

I am pretty sceptical concerning the coaching staff. Look guys, good coaching can overcome or take up a lot of slack where talent is less than your opponent. Yeah we need to improve on talent in some areas, but really winning is what is ultimately going to draw in talent. Right now we have to be win games doing the small things better than our opponents. I saw somewhere that the number of coaches we have is a lot less than the rest of the league. This needs to be fixed. But I also am not sold on the quality of the staff we have now, top to bottom. Call me negative or whatever, just expressing my unqualified opinion as a season ticket holder.

One of my favorite quotes from a coach not named Tubbs came from Pat Knight's dad, in the post game interview after Indiana beat LSU in the national Championship game. I don't have it verbatum, but it went like this when asked about the Hoosiers coming from behind late in the game: "Well I was getting a little worried and then I looked down the sidecourt and saw Dale Brown sitting on their bench and I know we had a chance to win". Interpreted: Bobby Knight knew his team was better coached and prepared than his opponent. LU needs to be in the same situation!

[coachacola]

Lamar has about the same number of coaches as the rest of the SLC. I think at the FCS level you're limited to 7 or 8 full time assistants and a few graduate assistants. But right now the defense is not very good and I think it's due to Woodard not hiring an experience DC to replace Hinshaw. SHSU is winning because their coach brought in an experienced DC who was also a HC for a while.

[CardAmbassador]

Lamar has about the same number of coaches as the rest of the SLC. I think at the FCS level you're limited to 7 or 8 full time assistants and a few graduate assistants. But right now the defense is not very good and I think it's due to Woodard not hiring an experience DC to replace Hinshaw. SHSU is winning because their coach brought in an experienced DC who was also a HC for a while.

I don't worry about the number but the experience of some of our coaches. McGallion was coaching HS a few years ago and now he is a Co DC. Our Oline coach has never coached or played that position before until Lamar. Those are the things I find suspect. But with that said we're 7-7 with this coaching staff right now. I need to see more games before I can blame the coaches or if it may just be lack of depth. Organization and preparedness is definitely on the coaches though, but I think they're working on it.

[mllme]

My one beef with the offense is the play calling. I have live in South Carolina for 10+ years now and watched Coach Holtz and Spurrier run some crazy plays in the late 1st quarter and early second just to make the other team (and next week's team) have to spend five minutes at halftime setting up a defense. These crazy plays (reverses, reverses on kick-off returns, bubble screens to tightends, etc.) open up 'what-ifs' in the minds of the players and defensive coaches that will allow our talent to make plays late in the ballgame. I don't see a strategy to our play calling. It is mostly simplistic and reactionary.

The one good thing is that we have some 1st string talent to overcome some of the play calling, but we need to get aggressive and strategic, especially if our defense does not improve which will make us have to put up 40+ points a game.

[BigRedTrack]

i think most of us get were a 2nd year program.the issue i have isnt with losing but rather with our preparedness.we werent prepared for incarnate word.sideline has to many damn people on it that dont play football.defense looked confused on how to align all night.calling timeouts to get your kickoff team ready dont cut it.i put this on the coaches.good thing is all this is easy to fix and i think woodard will get it handled.

I agree. And like last year, who are all those damn people on the sidelines? Who do those 10-12 year olds belong to? Did not see any credentials on them. This looks like a zoo down there.

[JJWooten]

Lamar has about the same number of coaches as the rest of the SLC. I think at the FCS level you're limited to 7 or 8 full time assistants and a few graduate assistants. But right now the defense is not very good and I think it's due to Woodard not hiring an experience DC to replace Hinshaw. SHSU is winning because their coach brought in an experienced DC who was also a HC for a while.

Not completely true. He was hired in Whitten's last year (rumors have it that it was forced hire from our AD because they never looked like they got along on the sidelines). In Fritz's first year, he opted to retain Scott Stoker because of his knowledge of the SLC, and he believed in the system he wanted to run.

So cc, you're half right. :)

[coachacola]

Lamar has about the same number of coaches as the rest of the SLC. I think at the FCS level you're limited to 7 or 8 full time assistants and a few graduate assistants. But right now the defense is not very good and I think it's due to Woodard not hiring an experience DC to replace Hinshaw. SHSU is winning because their coach brought in an experienced DC who was also a HC for a while.

Not completely true. He was hired in Whitten's last year (rumors have it that it was forced hire from our AD because they never looked like they got along on the sidelines). In Fritz's first year, he opted to retain Scott Stoker because of his knowledge of the SLC, and he believed in the system he wanted to run.

So cc, you're half right. :)

Thanks for the clarification.