New Defensive Coordinator Robb Smith

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bottlebass said:
Can't argue against it being a step back. Not sure why you are so butt hurt about someone liking our old defensive regime better. Quick google search tells me per ESPN stats we are going from 20th to 74th... Like I said, a step back. And like I said Flecky better come up with a lot more offense and ASAP.
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I liked our old defensive staff but it is just reality that they were not going to be back. As for looking at rankings, can you honestly say that if we played the following teams we would still be the #20 defense in the country:

TCU
Texas A&M
Alabama
Ole Miss
Auburn
Florida
Virginia Tech

If you can compare that to our schedule and think our defense would have done just as well if the schedules were flipped then more power to you as you are wearing the thickest pair of Maroon and Gold colored glasses ever. I am not saying that this guy will do better then Sawvel/Claeys but it is foolish to look at their #74 and our #20 and act like those rankings came against a similar class of opponent.

No way of knowing how Smith will do here and I am sorry to see the current defensive staff go as well but I am not going to declare this a massive step back until I get a chance to see what he is able to do next season.
 

sirloin1078 said:
Just to make sure, we're lamenting the loss of a DC whose defense had one elite performance?

The same DC who got absolutely shredded by......Rutgers?
The same DC who let Penn State walk right down the field in the 4th Quarter and OT?
The same DC who let leads slip away against Iowa and Nebraska? (He gets a pass for Wisconsin....I still put that on Leidner)

In the words of Magic Mike Tice.....Ok, Calm Down....
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Rutgers - - It was a bad game.
Penn State - - Probably the best anyone played Penn State's offense except for Michigan
Iowa - - - We lost that game 14-7. . .you're blaming the defense. Ok
Nebraska - - We gave up 24 total points and got shut out in the second half. Blaming the defense again on that one?
 

sirloin1078 said:
Just to make sure, we're lamenting the loss of a DC whose defense had one elite performance?

The same DC who got absolutely shredded by......Rutgers?
The same DC who let Penn State walk right down the field in the 4th Quarter and OT?
The same DC who let leads slip away against Iowa and Nebraska? (He gets a pass for Wisconsin....I still put that on Leidner)

In the words of Magic Mike Tice.....Ok, Calm Down....
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This is the most not sense post in a while, and it has been crazy.
 

On first glance getting rid of Sawvel and Co is the definition of throwing the baby out with the bath water. He and Claeys severely overachieved recruiting rankings.

That said, culture change and a clean sweep of staff is probably in the cards. Fleck may live to regret it, but that's where we are.

It's also.possible Sawvel said thanks but no thanks. With his enormous success here with low ranked recruits it was only a matter of time until he left. Also, he and the administration butted heads. Culture change.

This Robb was at Rutgers in 2012 and had the 28th ranked defense per S&P. At AR he was 6th, then 71, then 63. So, all over the place.

Have to trust Fleck here but losing Sawvel and Co is a big blow. No other way to look at it IMO. What could be so with better recruits?
 

sirloin1078 said:
Just to make sure, we're lamenting the loss of a DC whose defense had one elite performance?

The same DC who got absolutely shredded by......Rutgers?
The same DC who let Penn State walk right down the field in the 4th Quarter and OT?
The same DC who let leads slip away against Iowa and Nebraska? (He gets a pass for Wisconsin....I still put that on Leidner)

In the words of Magic Mike Tice.....Ok, Calm Down....
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He's the same coordinator that put his team in position to win every game; the same D coordinator who had the lead in every 4th quarter this year with the exception of Nebraska (tie). Albeit easy schedule, but their Defense allowed for the offense to be in position every game this year. That's saying a lot for any B1G team with a B1G schedule. Lastly, look at the level of talent the Gophers had in their secondary. Prior to this year, wasn't Sawvel the secondary coach? Brock, Briean Boddy and Murray all in the NFL 1st year out of college. As a result, some feel the recruiting will take a hit. Claeys/Sawvel are responsible for the best secondary the program has ever had in recent memory. Not even close..
 


MNVCGUY said:
I liked our old defensive staff but it is just reality that they were not going to be back. As for looking at rankings, can you honestly say that if we played the following teams we would still be the #20 defense in the country:

TCU
Texas A&M
Alabama
Ole Miss
Auburn
Florida
Virginia Tech

If you can compare that to our schedule and think our defense would have done just as well if the schedules were flipped then more power to you as you are wearing the thickest pair of Maroon and Gold colored glasses ever. I am not saying that this guy will do better then Sawvel/Claeys but it is foolish to look at their #74 and our #20 and act like those rankings came against a similar class of opponent.

No way of knowing how Smith will do here and I am sorry to see the current defensive staff go as well but I am not going to declare this a massive step back until I get a chance to see what he is able to do next season.
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I didn't say I expected them to retain sawvel. who knows how much control sawvel had or TC had anyway.

As far as your comparisons we held Washington State to 12 points. Only team on your list with a better offense was Alabama and that was only by a few spots.
 

Bob_Loblaw said:
Rutgers - - It was a bad game.
Penn State - - Probably the best anyone played Penn State's offense except for Michigan
Iowa - - - We lost that game 14-7. . .you're blaming the defense. Ok
Nebraska - - We gave up 24 total points and got shut out in the second half. Blaming the defense again on that one?
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When the defense falls apart in the clutch....yes, I put some of the onus on the defense.
 

bottlebass said:
I didn't say I expected them to retain sawvel. who knows how much control sawvel had or TC had anyway.

As far as your comparisons we held Washington State to 12 points. Only team on your list with a better offense was Alabama and that was only by a few spots.
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Washington St. played in the PAC 12. Of course they average a ton of points per game. No defense in the PAC12!
 




Welcome aboard Robb. I hope you are cool with winning the Big Ten West a few times.
 

sirloin1078 said:
When the defense falls apart in the clutch....yes, I put some of the onus on the defense.
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Wow. Well, I want to break it to you, you're going to be disappointed with the new hire.

If giving up 14 points is a problem, you're putting Coach Smith in a TOUGH spot.
 

A better question would be, do you think Sawvel would have had a better ranked defense with the Arkansas players playing the Arkansas schedule than Smith did.
Sawvel did wonders with our secondary while he was here. The players he brought in were not highly ranked, but he certainly got them to play. As our DC, he steadily improved and made adjustments as the season went on.
 

gopherfield said:
Robb's defense had epic meltdowns against lowly Mizzou at the end of the year, and in the Belk Bowl against VA Tech. He won't have SEC defensive talent here. Could have done better.
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What? He's not "elite?"
 





Nate said:
paging DeltaHog
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Been traveling most of the day and just had a chance to jump on here. Personally I am glad to see him go. Did well a few years ago with players developed by previous coaches. I actually used an IheartRobbSmith hashtag in 2014. Been real disappointed in the second half in recent games. Hope he works out well for you guys.
 

savagerube said:
Arkansas gave up 30+ points eight times this season. Out of those eight games, seven of them were against top 25 opponents (3 in the top 15). I think its safe to say Smith's defense won't be seeing the same type of offensive talent in the B1G as well...
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Well, if we truly intend to be ELITE.... B1G West > B1G Champions > Rose Bowl > National Champions you are telling me that this is not the guy.

To achieve step # 4, you need to be better than the SEC, and everyone else for that matter.
 

bottlebass said:
Can't argue against it being a step back.
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Seriously? He has yet to coach a single game for us and there's no argument it's a "step back?" Let's relax and wait and see.
 

A_Slab_of_Bacon said:
That doesn't make what you said make sense...
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How doesn't it make sense exactly? The defense was shredded by the worst team in the conference, and when they needed a stop in a couple other games, they didn't come through. And he's being lamented as some kind of defensive genius. He's a good coach, no doubt. But we're not going to revert back to the days of Jim Wacker.....
 

sirloin1078 said:
How doesn't it make sense exactly? The defense was shredded by the worst team in the conference, and when they needed a stop in a couple other games, they didn't come through. And he's being lamented as some kind of defensive genius. He's a good coach, no doubt. But we're not going to revert back to the days of Jim Wacker.....
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You've whittled that list down to one game now?
 


sirloin1078 said:
How doesn't it make sense exactly? The defense was shredded by the worst team in the conference, and when they needed a stop in a couple other games, they didn't come through. And he's being lamented as some kind of defensive genius. He's a good coach, no doubt. But we're not going to revert back to the days of Jim Wacker.....
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How many stops did they make in the games when we needed them that we won vs the games that we lost?
 

bottlebass said:
I didn't say I expected them to retain sawvel. who knows how much control sawvel had or TC had anyway.

As far as your comparisons we held Washington State to 12 points. Only team on your list with a better offense was Alabama and that was only by a few spots.
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There is no arguing how well our defense played against WSU and at other points as well (Northwestern springs to mind), that wasn't my point. My point was that comparing our #20 to their #74 is not a fair comparison because on the whole they played a much tougher schedule than we did.

In the end it all comes down to how well the coach uses the tools available. Somebody else pointed out that the true comparison on ability would be to give Smith our players and our schedule and Sawvel their players and their schedule, the reality is that none of us can truly say how that would have turned out. Now if Smith comes in here next year with a good portion of the defense from last year in tact and we take a big step back then we will have a better idea of just how big and influence Sawvel/Claeys were.
 


All sort of opinions all over the place. Have to trust our coach with this hire. Perhaps others wouldn't let him do what he wanted to do.
 

MNVCGUY said:
There is no arguing how well our defense played against WSU and at other points as well (Northwestern springs to mind), that wasn't my point. My point was that comparing our #20 to their #74 is not a fair comparison because on the whole they played a much tougher schedule than we did.

In the end it all comes down to how well the coach uses the tools available. Somebody else pointed out that the true comparison on ability would be to give Smith our players and our schedule and Sawvel their players and their schedule, the reality is that none of us can truly say how that would have turned out. Now if Smith comes in here next year with a good portion of the defense from last year in tact and we take a big step back then we will have a better idea of just how big and influence Sawvel/Claeys were.
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Vandy said:
Well, if we truly intend to be ELITE.... B1G West > B1G Champions > Rose Bowl > National Champions you are telling me that this is not the guy.

To achieve step # 4, you need to be better than the SEC, and everyone else for that matter.
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I just think #4 is not realistic. There have been 3 B1G teams that have won the national championship (Ohio State, Michigan and Michigan State) since the Gophers won it almost 60 years ago. Although I like the new hire, goals should be attainable, and based on the last 60 years or so, only three teams in our conference have done it. Just being realistic. I hope I'm way wrong :)
 

MNVCGUY said:
There is no arguing how well our defense played against WSU and at other points as well (Northwestern springs to mind), that wasn't my point. My point was that comparing our #20 to their #74 is not a fair comparison because on the whole they played a much tougher schedule than we did.

In the end it all comes down to how well the coach uses the tools available. Somebody else pointed out that the true comparison on ability would be to give Smith our players and our schedule and Sawvel their players and their schedule, the reality is that none of us can truly say how that would have turned out. Now if Smith comes in here next year with a good portion of the defense from last year in tact and we take a big step back then we will have a better idea of just how big and influence Sawvel/Claeys were.
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Yeah I just got caught up imagining what Sawvel (or Claeys if he was the mastermind the whole time) could have done with all the ELITE talent Flecky is about to get in here. I understand your point on the comparison. Our defense has just been consistently good over the last 5 years. This new guy's defense doesn't seem to have the same consistency. Even when we play the top teams you mention in your comparison (OSU, Mich, Penn state would be ones in the B1G you could compare to SEC teams in your comparison) our defense has played consistently well and kept us in the games. Arkansas defense has games where they get completely blown out. See the Auburn game for an example.
 

I will say that before this year Smith's defenses were light years better against pro style offenses than they were against spread teams, which is a good thing in the Big 10. We shut down Fournette and Derrick Henry but teams like Auburn and Mississippi State always scored on us and mobile QBs gave us fits. We held Texas (granted they didn't have a good offense, but still) to 59 total yards and TWO rushing yards in the Texas Bowl his first year.
 

Some pure speculation on my part:
-- Ed Pinkham was Fleck's DC at WMU.
-- Robb Smith coached under Pinkham when they were all at Rutgers (Pinkham, Fleck and Smith - Fleck was the WR coach)
-- My guess is that Fleck wanted Pinkham to join him, but Pinkham is going to be named the new HC at WMU...
-- So, Pinkham recommended Smith as the guy to hire, and Fleck of course new Smith from their Rutgers days.

In any case, we get a DC that Fleck knows and one that has a lot of P5 experience. Now, can we get any of those Arkansas recruits?
 

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