Any Downside to Demoting or Releasing Sanford Jr?

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MNVCGUY said:
Do you make a change at OC now - No
Do you make a change at OC in the off-season - Maybe

You don't fire Sanford now when the team is 6-3 and in contention for the West title. Love him or hate him he has been forced to deal with some massive personnel issues this season. We caught lightning in a bottle when we fired Smith and put Rossi in his place but what happened in that case was not the norm in regards to firing coaches mid-season. You rarely get the drastic change like the one we saw on defense that season. In general, firing coaches mid-season is not something that stable programs look to do in college.

I won't be shocked if Sanford moves on after the season(by choice or by force), but those acting like there is some quick easy fix are way over simplifying things.
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The defense under Robb Smith was awful. They were being eaten alive by opponents. Players out of position, looking lost, trying to do too much, etc.

By comparison, the offense under Sanford hasn't looked as consistently terrible. Fleck said it: 30-plus points in 6 out of 9 games isn't a complete disaster.
 

RememberMurray said:
The defense under Robb Smith was awful. They were being eaten alive by opponents. Players out of position, looking lost, trying to do too much, etc.

By comparison, the offense under Sanford hasn't looked as consistently terrible. Fleck said it: 30-plus points in 6 out of 9 games isn't a complete disaster.
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Hey, it’s “ not a complete disaster”. Raise?
 


STPGopher said:
Maybe the question is who could PJ hire now that could 'turn things around' in less than one week.
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Simon's been there for the whole ride. Move him in

Sanford will finish the year though like's been said here. That's fine. We'll see what happens
 

Kills me that Sanford talks about the offense not getting into a rhythm. That's literally your job man. Adjust your playcalling to try to find a rhythm. If you can't, it's an issue. I'm not buying these players being that bad where they aren't capable of executing.
 


STPGopher said:
Maybe the question is who could PJ hire now that could 'turn things around' in less than one week.
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A better question is would eg Simon be worse. Would STPgopher be worse. I’d argue probably not. I understand the desire for more evidence before pulling the plug. I suppose there is a decorum to these things.

I hope like hell they make me look like a fool this week and this month. Hold the comments 😄
 

Pompous Elitist said:
A better question is would eg Simon be worse. Would STPgopher be worse. I’d argue probably not. I understand the desire for more evidence before pulling the plug. I suppose there is a decorum to these things.

I hope like hell they make me look like a fool this week and this month. Hold the comments 😄
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Well obviously we hope you are wrong as well, and can laugh about it at Indy. ;) I assume you wouldn't mind being wrong here.
 

Pompous Elitist said:
Hey, it’s “ not a complete disaster”. Raise?
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No one is advocating for a raise.

But people are saying Sanford should be fired right now. That's simply not going to happen — nor should it happen. This team is tied for first with three games remaining, and the offense has topped 30 points in 6 of 9 games.

Re-evaluate after the season.
 

RememberMurray said:
No one is advocating for a raise.

But people are saying Sanford should be fired right now. That's simply not going to happen — nor should it happen. This team is tied for first with three games remaining, and the offense has topped 30 points in 6 of 9 games.

Re-evaluate after the season.
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Yep, way too much overreaction to the bad games and not enough credit for the good ones. Making a change now would be foolish.

Those comparing this to the Robb Smith situation are off base as the two situations are very different. That, and it is pretty rare to have what happened when Smith was fired happen. Most teams don't just instantly get better when a coach is fired mid season, typically it goes the other direction or stays basically the same.
 




RememberMurray said:
No one is advocating for a raise.

But people are saying Sanford should be fired right now. That's simply not going to happen — nor should it happen. This team is tied for first with three games remaining, and the offense has topped 30 points in 6 of 9 games.

Re-evaluate after the season.
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As mentioned the evidence is clear and convincing to me, but let’s see what happens. I am not known as necessarily patient. Sometimes better to hit eject early.
 

FanSinceTheFifties said:
Maybe those teams didn't have the personnel to do it.
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Maybe.

I'm possibly coming around to the idea that Illinois actually does have a pretty decent defense. Other than a couple early season games, they seem to hold teams to reasonable amounts of points. I guess I don't know what the Big Ten average is for winning teams.
 

skiumah1 said:
Simon's been there for the whole ride. Move him in

Sanford will finish the year though like's been said here. That's fine. We'll see what happens
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To that point, PJ could make changes today without telling us or the media. He could have Simon call the plays this week or for the rest of the year without changing any titles, notifying the media, or formally making staff changes until the off-season and just have Sanford focus on the QB room for the rest of the season.
 



matt said:
To that point, PJ could make changes today without telling us or the media. He could have Simon call the plays this week or for the rest of the year without changing any titles, notifying the media, or formally making staff changes until the off-season and just have Sanford focus on the QB room for the rest of the season.
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Please no!!!
 


matt said:
To that point, PJ could make changes today without telling us or the media. He could have Simon call the plays this week or for the rest of the year without changing any titles, notifying the media, or formally making staff changes until the off-season and just have Sanford focus on the QB room for the rest of the season.
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True
 

RememberMurray said:
The defense under Robb Smith was awful. They were being eaten alive by opponents. Players out of position, looking lost, trying to do too much, etc.

By comparison, the offense under Sanford hasn't looked as consistently terrible. Fleck said it: 30-plus points in 6 out of 9 games isn't a complete disaster.
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And don't forget the holy TOP. Was the greatness of TOP ever better exemplified than last week when Kentucky ran 99 plays and had the ball 48 minutes and LOST to Tennessee?
 

skiumah1 said:
Kills me that Sanford talks about the offense not getting into a rhythm. That's literally your job man. Adjust your playcalling to try to find a rhythm. If you can't, it's an issue. I'm not buying these players being that bad where they aren't capable of executing.
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And this is why he hasnt held a job longer than 3 years?

this guy is a classic “i get a job bc i know ppl, not bc im good at it”

so frustrating
 

MplsGopher said:
Maybe.

I'm possibly coming around to the idea that Illinois actually does have a pretty decent defense. Other than a couple early season games, they seem to hold teams to reasonable amounts of points. I guess I don't know what the Big Ten average is for winning teams.
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Pretty clear that Illinois has a decent defense and not a bad team with wins over Nebraska at home and Penn St and Minnesota on the road. But that is not relevant to Sanford's failure to make in-game adjustments. The better the defense -- Iowa, Wisconsin -- the more important it is.
 

SanDiegoGopherFan said:
And this is why he hasnt held a job longer than 3 years?

this guy is a classic “i get a job bc i know ppl, not bc im good at it”

so frustrating
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I had mentioned this earlier, but I was just hoping it would be different here. No go.
 

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