Defensive Coordinator Van Malone

[Pony147]

But would have been better off if he had!

Kicking himself now. Wife telling him....'why the h*ll did you wait so long'?

Honest questions: How would the defense be performing if it were under (in your opinion) better leadership? Do you have a problem with the scheme or with Van (or a combination of both)? Do you think Van can learn from his mistakes and grow into a better coordinator?

[orguy]

Malone is doing a fine job with what he has. And so we are clear, he has next to nothing to work with. If you were paying attention, you saw one of his most experience and best players ejected in the first quarter.

I have said this several times: You can scheme offense all you want and sometimes you might be successful. However, defense is about athletes. Where are the athletes on defense? They are not there. Add to that, we changed schemes so that we can match up with the offenses we will face long term. There is not a team on our schedule that if committed to running it right up the gut of the defense will we be able to stop.

We gave up 49 points to a team that put up 35 on Frank Beamer's Virginia Tech team. You should be thankful we had the lead at the half.

I have a lot of faith in Malone. There isn't a D-coordinator alive that is going to hold the teams we are facing below 35 with the talent Malone is dealing with. We need to get the offense moving better and keeping this defense off the field.

Refreshing post. Too many fantasy landers on this board dismiss the role of talent when it comes to D. Defensive talent is difficult to come by for a program of our stature. Always will be. Given what Malone has been provided I think its fair to reserve judgement this early.

[JoeKidd]

While no one should be calling for Malone's head or even questioning his credentials/abilities 5 weeks into the season I think it is fair to expect the Defense to show improvement both fundamentally and scheme wise. We have got to figure out how to shore up the tackle to tackle space schematically against mobile quarterbacks and the run as we are going to face this for the rest of this year and the future.

I saw Carlos Carroll in on a bunch of tackles when he was in the game including 1 for a TFL. I thought he was fairly highly regarded coming out of HS, maybe he can step up and be part of our answer at LB. I also saw Matt in on some tackles when he was in, but I am guessing it will take a while for him to get the feel for the speed of the game at this level.

[couch 'em]

There has been some phenomenally bad defense, wide open players, huge, huge holes in the field with no D personnel in it, big bags of nothing everywhere. I don't think it is out of line to question whether a first time DC is doing everything right. However given the talent level I think only someone with enough football coaching chops to see past the talent can really comment here. I don't think many of those types are on this board.

[mrydel]

So you actually think a DC has devised a plan that leaves people wide open? I guess he also says "don't tackle" and "get outrun ". It is a talent issue much more than the DC. As time goes on and the talent improves, changes in scheme may be done to better suit what we have. But for now we are lacking in too many areas.

[couch 'em]

So you actually think a DC has devised a plan that leaves people wide open? I guess he also says "don't tackle" and "get outrun ". It is a talent issue much more than the DC. As time goes on and the talent improves, changes in scheme may be done to better suit what we have. But for now we are lacking in too many areas.

No DC devises a plan that leaves people wide open. If that mattered you wouldn't have good or bad DCs. Just saying he shouldn't be beyond question.

[mrydel]

I am definitely not saying he is beyond question. I am saying he should be given the opportunity to get some appropriate players with which to work before crucifying him. Last recruiting period was used to upgrade the offense and we are seeing results. Let's get some defensive players in and see what he can do.

[Pony Boss]

Our defense hasn't gotten worse...it's more or less the same. Teams would let off the gas usually because they were up 3 or 4 tds and just stopped scoring. This year SMU actually has an offense so they keep playing us the entire game, and the stats make it seem uglier than it is. Fact is the team is competitive this year and moving in the right direction. As someone else pointed out, it hasn't been our luck to have played the best offenses in the country at each level these past few games.

[JasonB]

Our defense hasn't gotten worse...it's more or less the same. Teams would let off the gas usually because they were up 3 or 4 tds and just stopped scoring. This year SMU actually has an offense so they keep playing us the entire game, and the stats make it seem uglier than it is. Fact is the team is competitive this year and moving in the right direction. As someone else pointed out, it hasn't been our luck to have played the best offenses in the country at each level these past few games.

The other thing to keep in mind is that last year's team was designed to run clock and waste time, so you don't see the defense on the field as much.

As for the Carroll comment, he was in on several plays in the game, and has shown up on special teams a few times this year as well.

[footballdad]

But would have been better off if he had!

Kicking himself now. Wife telling him....'why the h*ll did you wait so long'?

Honest questions: How would the defense be performing if it were under (in your opinion) better leadership? Do you have a problem with the scheme or with Van (or a combination of both)? Do you think Van can learn from his mistakes and grow into a better coordinator?

I guess it would be impossible to perform any worse:

http://espn.go.com/college-football/sta ... totalYards

Honest answer, I haven't heard ONE person call for his replacement prior to the end of the season. Just a thorough & honest evaluation THIS YEAR, not 2017. Nobody is crucifying the guy, just making basic observations about blown coverages, blown run assignments, and what appears to be a lack of adjustments, which falls on the defensive staff. If there is no improvement, you can't just write off the rest of this season, and all of next season, waiting for 'talent' to save the day in 2017. Talent argument is fine against TCU & Baylor. Falls flat on it's face against JMU & ECU.

And where is all this talent that is going to step in and make an immediate impact? The last 2 classes have 8 combined 3 star recruits (rivals). 7 are offensive players and only 1 defensive player. Yes the staff is trying hard, and putting in the effort, but the reality is (on paper) our last 2 classes will be ranked middle of the road in the AAC.

Half this board questioned the hiring of a DC with great recruiting chops, but zero experience. Those questions are growing louder.

Fans and recruits are the opposite of patient.

[Junior]

No one gets fired for this year. People get fired after one bad year, then a second year with little to no improvement.

Unless you're a good friend of JJ. Then you get an extension...

[feelan]

It helps the defense out when your offense can get a few first downs, which we didn't do much in the second half.

[Rebel10]

But would have been better off if he had!

Kicking himself now. Wife telling him....'why the h*ll did you wait so long'?

Honest questions: How would the defense be performing if it were under (in your opinion) better leadership? Do you have a problem with the scheme or with Van (or a combination of both)? Do you think Van can learn from his mistakes and grow into a better coordinator?

I guess it would be impossible to perform any worse:

http://espn.go.com/college-football/sta ... totalYards

Honest answer, I haven't heard ONE person call for his replacement prior to the end of the season. Just a thorough & honest evaluation THIS YEAR, not 2017. Nobody is crucifying the guy, just making basic observations about blown coverages, blown run assignments, and what appears to be a lack of adjustments, which falls on the defensive staff. If there is no improvement, you can't just write off the rest of this season, and all of next season, waiting for 'talent' to save the day in 2017. Talent argument is fine against TCU & Baylor. Falls flat on it's face against JMU & ECU.

And where is all this talent that is going to step in and make an immediate impact? The last 2 classes have 8 combined 3 star recruits (rivals). 7 are offensive players and only 1 defensive player. Yes the staff is trying hard, and putting in the effort, but the reality is (on paper) our last 2 classes will be ranked middle of the road in the AAC.

Half this board questioned the hiring of a DC with great recruiting chops, but zero experience. Those questions are growing louder.

Fans and recruits are the opposite of patient.

JMU was faster than SMU and ECU was faster and more athletic than SMU. And you could see it on the field. JJ recruited moslyt FCS talent with a few FBS level players sprinkled in so it should not surprise you that a good FCS level team beat us. So the talent argument does come into play with ECU and JMU regardless of the rankings because you could see it on the field. Check the offer lists not the stars and you will see that a lot of players we recruited had no other offers and that includes no FCS offers. I believe the year before last around 9 players in the class had no offers at all. We are reaping what JJ has sown.

If you take notice most of the players in this class have P5 offers. I believe it is well over 50% and it might be the highest percentage since the DP. Stallion has calculated the percentages in anther post. That is what you need to observe.

[smitty329]

Didn't PLine play Linebacker in HS? Given success of Freshman, should he move to defense ala Pope? At least he could plug the holes the oppsing team is running through.

[footballdad]

Rebel10, check the offer lists and WALK ONS for JMU & ECU. I think someone mentioned JMU or ECU had 4 walk ons starting on their defense! Your argument falls completely flat no matter how many times you repeat it. TCU & Baylor all day, JMU & ECU no way.

They 'looked faster' to you