Ken Niumatalolo a finalist?

[eag35]

Strictly speaking, the Triple Option is a play, not an offense. It is a play which can be run out of many formations. Even teams that run the triple option don't run it as often as people might think. I would love to see the triple option play as part of the mix. Get the triple option down pat, focus on the defense, and add non-option elements to the offense later. I think the option is one of the most exciting plays in football. I think Gray would kick ass running the option.

The triple option is not a play...that is how wome teams get in trouble. They see it simply as another play to run. It is indeed an offense, you can get books that are hundreds of pages long dissecting it and showing the teaching progressions. The triple option requires so much pepetitin at practice, so much timing involved just to get the steps right and the mesh point correct. Not even saying about the proper reads and all the ways it can be blocked based on fronts you may see.
It is an offense and one I would love to see the Gophs run in the Big Ten.

 

[highwayman]

There will be only 1 finalist. Ken may be a semi-finalist. Due to our stellar State laws, we will never know whom else was really interviewed unless that person tells the media.

 

[GoAUpher]

There will be only 1 finalist. Ken may be a semi-finalist. Due to our stellar State laws, we will never know whom else was really interviewed unless that person tells the media.

And even then we won't know if we should believe them or chalk it up to another piece of this tasty misdirection pie.

 

[RodentRampage]

An offense that incorporates the triple option play is called a triple option offense. My point is that many people think that if you run the triple option that that is the only play you run.

 

[Doogie]

There will be only 1 finalist. Ken may be a semi-finalist. Due to our stellar State laws, we will never know whom else was really interviewed unless that person tells the media.

Thanks to the Data Practices Act, they announced Strong & Brew as the finalists in '07. So, there's a chance that two, or more, will be announced as finalists this time.

 

[tap]

A source of a source says.....

A switch to a triple option would once again set the program back another 2 to 3 years by the time you recruit kids in here to run it. I would rather keep Coach Horton than switch to a coach with the to.

 

[mnsports1]

Strictly speaking, the Triple Option is a play, not an offense. It is a play which can be run out of many formations. Even teams that run the triple option don't run it as often as people might think. I would love to see the triple option play as part of the mix. Get the triple option down pat, focus on the defense, and add non-option elements to the offense later. I think the option is one of the most exciting plays in football. I think Gray would kick ass running the option.

Correct!!

 

[RodentRampage]

The triple option has a reputation of being a fast way to turn a team around.

 

[Rosemountian]

There's no reason you can't pass out of the flexbone, or whatever formation you run the triple option out of.

As someone who has coached defense I can say with authority.....yes there is (at least the flexbone).

The formations you run really limit what kind of passing you can do. If your corners are serviceable and dont fall asleep, it can be nearly impossible to pass out of.
It is tough to stop its run game though.

As for saying Gray would be a great triple option QB, now you are just making stuff up. Triple option is about reads, timing, and precision....not speed. You wouldn't know how well he'd pick it up till you saw him in practice. A mediocre athlete could potentially be a better triple option QB than a world class runner. (not saying he'd be bad either).

 

[year of the gopher]

Thanks to the Data Practices Act, they announced Strong & Brew as the finalists in '07. So, there's a chance that two, or more, will be announced as finalists this time.

Correct. And I suspect they will have at least one finalist who is a coordinator at a BCS school rather than a head coach or a head coach at a FCS school in order to deflect attention away from other BCS head coaches who do not get the job.

 

[Wheaton]

I'm skeptical of pipelines. Wacker was supposed to have a pipeline to Texas.

This is a little different though I think. Wacker just being Wacker was not good enough to make kids leave their home state to go way up north.

With coach N. he would be recruiting some people from Hawaii and Samoa, Polynesia like himself. He would also be recruiting many Latter-Day Saint kids.

That may seem like a reach, but if you've ever meet a devout Mormon you know that they hold the churches values close to themselves. Coach N. could probably do a good job convincing the athletes parents that he too hold their same values and their child would continue to be exposed to them outside of their household/home state.

just a thought...

 

[Stan The Caddy]

They could also just go pro like Calvin Johnson did when Paul Johnson was hired.

Touche.

I was referring to Demaryius Thomas.

 

[FireDaveLee]

Re-Tweeted by MV: Jomilmil As I underdstand it, Ken Niumatalolo has not interviewed for the Minnesota job and Minnesota has not asked for permission to talk to him.

The rumors are almost becoming comical.

 

[Monty519]

Re-Tweeted by MV: Jomilmil As I underdstand it, Ken Niumatalolo has not interviewed for the Minnesota job and Minnesota has not asked for permission to talk to him.

The rumors are almost becoming comical.

LOL I love coaching searches.

 

[JackiO]

I am hearing rumors as well that he is in fact a finalist, and if true I would rather have Horton in here next year than some gimmicky garbage offense that would turn any casual fan we had off from the team. Honestly I will be so extremely disappointed my excitement for the program would quickly diminish to nothing. Maybe it is true and a lot of the big names or up and comers we were going for simply said no.

 

[Weddings and Steak Frys]

This is a cunning strategy by Maturi. Going after Niumatalolo so he comes here on a boat, and thus we can't track him.

I'm on to you, Joel.

This is a brilliant ploy by Joel. Think about it, he loves the women's rowing team most (in a non-stalking way). We paid a "boat load" of money for their new boathouse. I heard from a guy that the sports guy at KAAL in Austin said his source told him that the ladies crew squad set out yesterday morning with some guy dressed like the killer in "I Know What You Did Last Summer" in the Coxswain seat. There was one other spot in the boat that was mysteriously not filled. While the KAAL guy said he heard from a doctor in Blooming Prairie that it was the cold and flu season and thus a girl could just be sick, he wasn't buying it. He thought they rowed down the Mississippi to the Illinois River to the Chicago River right out into Lake Michigan and up to Navy Pier. He checked with the dude he roomed with at Normandale CC who is now a popcorn vendor on Navy Pier who confirmed there was a guy who looked like "an Islander" alternately singing the Village People Classic "In the Navy" and screaming "Who Hates Iowa?". The popcorn guy said the movie killer and the girls helped this guy into the boat and they started rowing back. He also said they might have smuggled some Asian Carp over the electric barrier designed to keep them out of Lake Michgan and glued red "motion" W's on them. No one has seen them since. I'm heading to the boathouse now to wait out their arrival.

 

[91 CLA Grad]

Pioneer Press retweeting Navy's pre-game radio host:

"As I underdstand it, Ken Niumatalolo has not interviewed for the Minnesota job and Minnesota has not asked for permission to talk to him."

Take it for what it's worth.

 

[howeda7]

While this is not Trestman-esque I've soured on the idea of trying to run this offense here, and since he cleary will bring it with him, I hope he's not the guy. It worked for GT for a while, but once teams face it every year, not so much. While I think we would avoid ever going 1-11 with it, I also don't think we'd ever see Pasadena. We'd end up back in the 6-6 in a bad year, 8-4 in a good year territory. No thanks.

 

[RodentRampage]

It's not gimmicky, it's not garbage. It's old school football. Air Force has 3815 yards rushing. Army has 2863 yards rushing. Nave has 3328 yards rushing. Georgia Tech has 3924 yards rushing. All of these teams are going bowling this year. (Well, Georgia Tech is 6-6 so it's not certain.) Army, Navy and Air Force have completed around 53% of their passes, Georgia Tech's problem is that they only completed 38.3 % of their passes this season, the running game had to carry the entire burden.

It's really interesting how similar the completion percentage is for the academies this year. Air Force is at 53.1%, Army is at 53.2%, Navy is at 53.4%.

I don't recall anyone who was bored with the Gophers running game, and they wouldn't be bored with the option.

 

[Bo Darville]

It's not gimmicky, it's not garbage. It's old school football. Air Force has 3815 yards rushing. Army has 2863 yards rushing. Nave has 3328 yards rushing. Georgia Tech has 3924 yards rushing. All of these teams are going bowling this year. (Well, Georgia Tech is 6-6 so it's not certain.) Army, Navy and Air Force have completed around 53% of their passes, Georgia Tech's problem is that they only completed 38.3 % of their passes this season, the running game had to carry the entire burden.

It's really interesting how similar the completion percentage is for the academies this year. Air Force is at 53.1%, Army is at 53.2%, Navy is at 53.4%.

I don't recall anyone who was bored with the Gophers running game, and they wouldn't be bored with the option.

Yes! Let's emulate a .500 ACC team.

 

[13 Lined Ground Squirrel]

I wouldn't mind an old-school offense and a team full of giant Samoans.

 

[50PoundHead]

As someone who has coached defense I can say with authority.....yes there is (at least the flexbone).

The formations you run really limit what kind of passing you can do. If your corners are serviceable and dont fall asleep, it can be nearly impossible to pass out of.
It is tough to stop its run game though.

As for saying Gray would be a great triple option QB, now you are just making stuff up. Triple option is about reads, timing, and precision....not speed. You wouldn't know how well he'd pick it up till you saw him in practice. A mediocre athlete could potentially be a better triple option QB than a world class runner. (not saying he'd be bad either).

Bingo. If they run the bone, they run the bone. But it's not an offense that lends itself to a lot of flexibility.

As for the Georgia Tech WR who was a 1st round choice, I believe a Yellowjackets' fan came in here the last time this was discussed and said the Thomas would have changed commitments had he known how the Flex-bone worked. I don't put much stock in that, because Thomas stuck around. Thomas was a 1st round pick (like former Oklahoma TE Keith Jackson when it also played a similar offense, the Wishbone) because he's an absolutely beast of an athlete. It certainly wasn't because the Flexbone best suited his talents.

I do think it's a limiting offense, but if he could come here and make it work, it would be fine. I just don't know if you can win with it consistently at this high a level of football.

 

[RodentRampage]

Yes! Let's emulate a .500 ACC team.

Or we could emulate the 2009 ACC champions. Or we could emulate 3924 yards rushing.

 

[hillbillygopher]

I think this must be a joke.

Thre is nothing in this guy's resume that would indicate that he is a big time player. I liked the entry on the Wikipedia page that listed as one of the highlights of his coaching career, a win over Wake Forest. Look out Ohio State, we have Ken the Deacon Killer!

 

[howeda7]

It's not gimmicky, it's not garbage. It's old school football. Air Force has 3815 yards rushing. Army has 2863 yards rushing. Nave has 3328 yards rushing. Georgia Tech has 3924 yards rushing. All of these teams are going bowling this year. (Well, Georgia Tech is 6-6 so it's not certain.) Army, Navy and Air Force have completed around 53% of their passes, Georgia Tech's problem is that they only completed 38.3 % of their passes this season, the running game had to carry the entire burden.

It's really interesting how similar the completion percentage is for the academies this year. Air Force is at 53.1%, Army is at 53.2%, Navy is at 53.4%.

I don't recall anyone who was bored with the Gophers running game, and they wouldn't be bored with the option.

When I see a game like GT/Georgia last Saturday, where Georgia took the lead with about 1:00 left and GT was basically helpless because they had to, god forbid, throw a forward pass, it painfully illustrates that time may have passed this offense by. Sure it's great when you can pummel your opponent into submission while only throwing 5 times or so, like they did when the crushed UVa. But who thinks the Gophers are going to in that position very often? I don't. And if we can stay within 7 points of OSU or Wiscy with 2:00 left, I'd like to have more then a snowball's chance of winning those games.

 

[balds]

Ga Tech- to be fair

Ga Tech is 6-6 but has been playing most of the season with their second string QB who is very inexperienced. In his first two seasons there he went 9-4 ans 11-3 and was 5-2 vs. Ranked teams and reached as high as 7 in the AP poll.

 

[gopheruse]

Tweet from Associate Athletic Director for Sports Information guy at Navy.

@ScottStras
Scott Strasemeier

@TomDienhart Tom, this is not true. Coach Niumatalolo has not interviewed with Minnesota nor have we been contacted for permission.

 

[littlebigboy]

Good Def teams will shut down a triple option team. They will win more than they lose, but won't win consistantly against top 20 teams, which the Big Ten has a few every yr.

 

[RamblinWreck]

Yes! Let's emulate a .500 ACC team.

You can emulate a team that leads the nation in rushing; one that just rushed for over 410 yards against an SEC team (with a backup QB and 2 backup OL). You can emulate a team that has been near the top of the NCAA in "big plays" (defined as >= 20 yards). You can emulate a team that has averaged 20+ yards per pass, and has been near the top of the NCAA in passing efficiency.

The 0.500 component has little to do with the offense (although admittedly fumbles have been a huge problem this year). Most of GT's loses are solely attributable to lax defense, and shaky special teams. It's criminal how a team with the offensive production of Tech has only a 0.500 record; just goes to show how you have to play on both sides of the ball.

Gophers would be remiss to not at least consider Coach Ken as a viable option (pun intended). Personally, I'd love to see some FB at The Bank where every play has big-play potential - irrespective if it's on the ground or through the air.

p.s. there was talk about Demariyus Thomas being drafted first in the draft this year... well, while I agree he may have gone first in any system, averaging 25+ yards per catch certainly did not hurt.

 

[JackiO]

You can emulate a team that leads the nation in rushing; one that just rushed for over 410 yards against an SEC team (with a backup QB and 2 backup OL). You can emulate a team that has been near the top of the NCAA in "big plays" (defined as >= 20 yards). You can emulate a team that has averaged 20+ yards per pass, and has been near the top of the NCAA in passing efficiency.

The 0.500 component has little to do with the offense (although admittedly fumbles have been a huge problem this year). Most of GT's loses are solely attributable to lax defense, and shaky special teams. It's criminal how a team with the offensive production of Tech has only a 0.500 record; just goes to show how you have to play on both sides of the ball.

Gophers would be remiss to not at least consider Coach Ken as a viable option (pun intended). Personally, I'd love to see some FB at The Bank where every play has big-play potential - irrespective if it's on the ground or through the air.

p.s. there was talk about Demariyus Thomas being drafted first in the draft this year... well, while I agree he may have gone first in any system, averaging 25+ yards per catch certainly did not hurt.

There is so many things wrong on so many levels with this post I don't even know where to begin. There is a reason next to no one in division 1 football runs that p.o.s offense. ITS BORING and 50 years old. You wanna create fan interest? Stay away.