Jon, I respect the heck out of you, but what you've written here is the same ol' tired "Woe is us" stuff you always pull out every time someone criticizes Ferentz.
The fact of the matter is, I started this thread asking why KF refuses to be held accountable for what happens and you respond with "We are one bad hire away from being irrelevant, we have no built in advantages, all these other normally good teams stunk this year, blah, blah, blah."
I, nor anyone else who posted before you, called for KF's head on a platter. No one that is a relevant poster is calling for KF to be fired.
What I would like to know is when is it going to be his or his coaches fault? When? We put Stanzi under center at Arizona and don't have any quick passes or screens called to take advantage of what everyone (except for the coaching staff apparently) knows is coming....an all out blitz. How is blocking 8 guys with 5 an "execution" problem? Sounds like a coaching problem to me. Or against Wisconsin when everyone in the stadium (except for the coaching staff apparently) knows a fake punt is coming and they don't call punt safe......How is that an execution problem? Sounds like a coaching problem to me. Or against Ohio State when we put a linebacker on their slot (for the one millionth time) and they burn us once, but the guy drops it in the endzone so they go back to it and it's complete.......How is that an execution problem? Sounds like a coaching problem to me.
I can go on and on, but I think you get the point. At the end of the day, coaching decisions and philosophy based on the existing personnel have cost us more games than execution by the players. That's why Ferentz always goes to the "execution" card......because it puts the blame on the players. If he admitted that there were some philosophy issues that need to be tweaked or addressed, then that would admit that the coaching staff was at fault, and we can't have that.
Agree x 1,000,000.
This is the thing I don't get. He has referred to "execution" infinitely, especially this year.
First of all, Does he truly believe this as often as he states it?
If so, does it come from his NFL days where the term "execution" is definitely more of that vernacular? They are experienced professional football players ranging in age from ~21 to Brett Favre. They are EXPECTED to perform in a system perfectly, almost robotically because THEY ARE PROFESSIONALS, that is their ONLY job and that is what they are PAID to do. They don't have to also worry about being students, going to class, etc.
My point is does he treat his players like professionals to much? College players are 18-22 year olds. I have no idea what goes on in the locker room but it is obvious they have played with ZERO emotion during several games this year. (And not just this year). Again how can you possibly come out that flat against a Northwestern team that has owned you for so many years?? Shouldn't KF be focusing a little more on how much EMOTION his team plays with instead of how they "execute"? This lack of emotion falls directly on the coaching staff, specifically the head coach. Period. You can't expect college players to just go out and execute without any emotion and be consistently successful can you?
I feel KF needs to make some hard decisions and make the obvious coaching changes. On a smaller scale, he needs to adjust some of his philosophies. I also feel he needs to do some introspection because he didn't appear, this year at least, that he even cared to be on the sideline or enjoyed his time there. (The team eerily mirrored his demeanor, in my opinion). I know there were several off-the-field challenges that he had to deal with this year - some unique, some familiar. But he needs to dig down deep and be more responsive week-to-week during the actual season (scouting and strategizing come to mind) because some things can't wait "to be evaluated after the season is over."
He and his staff were outcoached miserably this year and their behavior was just plain odd at times. For instance, not playing Coker after his Ball St debut until well into the Big Ten schedule even though he kept telling the media "we need to get Marcus in the game". Or keeping his starters in the 4th quarter against Mich. St even though we were up by 30 because he wanted them to "finish a game". (ARob would have avoided his first concussion). Was he referring to the week before against Wisconsin because if anyone didn't "finish" the game it was the coaching staff, in my opinion.
I am still a KF supporter. He has done great things for this program. Maybe he just had a tough year given the challenges. But I think it would be a mistake for him to think he doesn't need to make at least a few changes. Un-Ferentz like changes.