Michigan State is working to hire Cardinals DL coach Winston DeLattiboudere to the same role.

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I think the main problem is a lack of faith in Danny Collins as DC. His story is great and inspiring, but being inspirational isn't the same as being qualified to coordinate a Big Ten defense. Even with talented assistants, the team needs the DC to be the strong leader who sets the tone and defensive philosophy for the whole unit.
 


hsfbcoach said:
I think the main problem is a lack of faith in Danny Collins as DC. His story is great and inspiring, but being inspirational isn't the same as being qualified to coordinate a Big Ten defense. Even with talented assistants, the team needs the DC to be the strong leader who sets the tone and defensive philosophy for the whole unit.
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Way down on the list. The guy has been around Fleck's program for a decade and has been heavily involved in the defense for 1/2 of those years.

What did you see this year that shows he is not a leader? He'd be fired already if Fleck didn't think he could lead. They were middle of the pack and were really young at CB's. Run defense was top 1/2 of the league and right behind Iowa. Pass defense struggles with Williams and Nestor missing time. They were #2 in Sacks (5 of 35 from DT's). I'll take that in year #1 for him.

The DL coach obviously did not fit in and our DT's struggled throughout the season. If your DT's struggle, your defense is going to struggle.
 



MaxyJR1 said:
Way down on the list. The guy has been around Fleck's program for a decade and has been heavily involved in the defense for 1/2 of those years.

What did you see this year that shows he is not a leader? He'd be fired already if Fleck didn't think he could lead. They were middle of the pack and were really young at CB's. Run defense was top 1/2 of the league and right behind Iowa. Pass defense struggles with Williams and Nestor missing time. They were #2 in Sacks (5 of 35 from DT's). I'll take that in year #1 for him.

The DL coach obviously did not fit in and our DT's struggled throughout the season. If your DT's struggle, your defense is going to struggle.
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I also think we'd see a mass exodus of top defensive players if that were the case.
 



Schnauzer said:
It just seems to me that the evidence of poor pay and/or atmosphere for assistants at MN is overwhelming
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Perhaps.
Which assistants other than Heatherman have gone on to great success elsewhere
 

MaxyJR1 said:
Way down on the list. The guy has been around Fleck's program for a decade and has been heavily involved in the defense for 1/2 of those years.

What did you see this year that shows he is not a leader? He'd be fired already if Fleck didn't think he could lead. They were middle of the pack and were really young at CB's. Run defense was top 1/2 of the league and right behind Iowa. Pass defense struggles with Williams and Nestor missing time. They were #2 in Sacks (5 of 35 from DT's). I'll take that in year #1 for him.

The DL coach obviously did not fit in and our DT's struggled throughout the season. If your DT's struggle, your defense is going to struggle.
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i think people would say the warts this year were a big step back, and that's fair

68th in def eff (last year 11th) coupled with some really bad games in terms of how they looked (NW, Iowa, MSU and very soft vs Cal, Rutgers, and Purdue; i won't hold OSU and Oregon against him as we were clearly out-athleted there) coupled with probably an over-inflated view of what we had on the roster (like people thinking Koi was going to be like Travis Hunter this year which is lol and PJ is partly to blame for this).

we'll see. hopefully he will continue to improve, but i agree with you that the defense was missing some horses this year overall so its tough to put blame on him squarely. got some growing to do in terms of scheme, timing, etc. but those are very much things you expect in a guys first year calling plays
 

Honest observation: I don't believe that Danny Collins played college football; not on his resume anyway. Might not have played HS football? This obviously isn't a roadblock to success, but it might mean a steeper learning curve when designing and calling full scale defenses (rather than coaching a position). Initially, he might not fully appreciate how chaotic and confusing the finals seconds before a snap can be even for the best football players--especially if their assignments become difficult to reconcile in that last critical second or two before the snap. X's and O's operate one way on paper, like a thoughtful chess game. But X's and O's which require too much instantaneous decision-making in the heat of battle can be problematic, because, in that fluid and confusing environment, the likelihood increases that not every player will instantaneously make the same choice or decision. And then you might get a missed assignment that, worst case, yields an explosive play. IMHO, that is why defenses that are having trouble often step back and "simplify" assignments. (This might also shed light on why the Gophers offense, which does so little to stress defenses by way of confusion at the moment of attack, has so few explosive plays occurring off of broken defensive assignments.)
 
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Not convinced assistant coaches make much of a difference.

Akin to a $1,000,000/year accountant vs. a $150,000 one. You'd likely get the same result if they both did your books.
 

LesBolstad said:
Not convinced assistant coaches make much of a difference.

Akin to a $1,000,000/year accountant vs. a $150,000 one. You'd likely get the same result if they both did your books.
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Sure, if your books are along the lines of what a $150,000 accountant normally does, then both can do them equally well.

If you're books are more along the lines of what the million dollar person deals with regularly then I'd disagree.

I work in software development, not accounting, but there is definitely a noticeable difference in what you get between people based upon what you're willing to pay, whether that's entry level or principle/architect or in between.
 

Gophergrandpa said:
IMHO, that is why defenses that are having trouble often step back and "simplify" assignments.
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Glen Mason would hire new defensive coordinators to do exactly this all the time. I don't ever recall us having a better defense because of it.

If you simplify the assignments, you make it easier on the offense to pick you apart. Yeah, you give up less explosive plays in exchange for watching your defense give up 5-10 yard completions all game long.

I'd rather go down trying to play modern defensive football.
 

Coordinator pay was an issue going back to Mason. If he could have kept David Gibbs I'm certain Mason's time with the team would have been better. I also do not believe Fleck is as hamstrung on the coordinator budget as previous coaches.
 

LesBolstad said:
Not convinced assistant coaches make much of a difference.

Akin to a $1,000,000/year accountant vs. a $150,000 one. You'd likely get the same result if they both did your books.
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Then you’ve never been in a locker room or on a team that has changed coaches can be a huge difference between one and the other.
 

GopherTheJugular said:
Glen Mason would hire new defensive coordinators to do exactly this all the time. I don't ever recall us having a better defense because of it.

If you simplify the assignments, you make it easier on the offense to pick you apart. Yeah, you give up less explosive plays in exchange for watching your defense give up 5-10 yard completions all game long.

I'd rather go down trying to play modern defensive football.
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His best DC was his first, David Gibbs, who came with him from Kansas. Defense was 8th in nation in 1999 and a year later he left for the Denver Broncos as a Safeties coach where his dad was the OL coach. He had been a journeyman since. Rossi was longest tenured DC since.
 

The position might not even be available if Fleck is promoting (Robbins) DE coach to DL coach and hiring someone new for DT's
 

MaxyJR1 said:
His best DC was his first, David Gibbs, who came with him from Kansas. Defense was 8th in nation in 1999 and a year later he left for the Denver Broncos as a Safeties coach where his dad was the OL coach. He had been a journeyman since. Rossi was longest tenured DC since.
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I liked Gibbs as he seemed happy to go crazy and roll the dice / stack the box and dare folks to throw.

Granted he had Tyrone Carter back there to clean up after that kinda play. Very much roll of the dice defensive system. If TC isn't back there I think things would have been very different.
 


LesBolstad said:
Not convinced assistant coaches make much of a difference.

Akin to a $1,000,000/year accountant vs. a $150,000 one. You'd likely get the same result if they both did your books.
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Your position coach makes a big difference IMO. Not just football knowledge but building close relationships. Usually a player spends more time with their position coach than any other coach.
 

A_Slab_of_Bacon said:
I liked Gibbs as he seemed happy to go crazy and roll the dice / stack the box and dare folks to throw.

Granted he had Tyrone Carter back there to clean up after that kinda play. Very much roll of the dice defensive system. If TC isn't back there I think things would have been very different.
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Tyrone Carter and Willie Middlebrooks certainly helped with that strategy.
 

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