Let me start off by confessing that I like the hire of Chris Ash.
I'm not sure I love it. I'm also not sure that I don't really like it. Yet, I have to confess that I completely understand those that have serious reservations about Tom Herman's latest chess board move.
When you have to go back nearly half a decade to find the level of success that would justify his hire, it goes that way and it's impossible to talk about Ash as a defensive-minded leader of college players without mentioning that the last time he had a really good defense, Mack Brown was only two seasons removed from coaching the Longhorns.
Of course, Bill Belichick could have been the coach at Rutgers and he might have struggled with the talent discrepancy that exists with that program within the reality of living in the Big 10, especially if he wasn't able to cheat outside the boundaries of giving his players some cash.
At some point, Ash has to rebuild his career and he's going to get that chance at a school that plays in the type of offensive-crazy conference that has swallowed whole many a defensive coordinator. What we know about Ash is pretty simple ...
a. He was a complete success as a defensive coordinator at places like Wisconsin and Ohio State, while developing a reputation of being a tremendous teacher of fundamentals. How much of a success was he? In his last season with the Buckeyes in 2015, his defense finished second nationally in scoring defense and ninth in total defense. That's really good.
b. He was a complete failure as a head coach at Rutgers, while developing a reputation as someone that was in over his head. How much of a failure was he? Well, he got the axe five games into this season, mostly because he was 2-15 in his last 17 games, which included a 15-game losing streak in conference play. That's really bad.
The good news is that he hasn't been hired to be the head coach. He's been hired to do the thing in which he's had a lot of success.
I would also contend that I'm not entirely sure the Longhorns could do a lot better, at least on paper. At the college level, there aren't a lot of names out there with better coordinator resumes than Ash and given that Tom Herman has displayed zero interest in going into the NFL to find his answer, it's important to note that Ash is at the top of the tier of coaches that represented the selection pool.
Is it a comfort hire? Of course, it is. I have to believe that one of the reasons Herman's loves this hire is because he is so comfortable with Ash. After all, Ash is the guy that Herman called in on the most important week of the 2019 season because he so trusted his voice on all matters related to defense. A comfort hire can be a good thing, but it also will find sneers when the person doing the hiring hasn't displayed a real taste for hiring folks not already in his cell phone contact list.
At the end of the day, Ash might not check every single box, but he probably checks more than anyone else that might be in Herman's cell phone, which is a weird way to call someone the best hire possible, but it might be the best.
No. 2 - Some notes about Ash's resume ...
* In his first season as defensive coordinator at Wisconsin, his unit led the Big Ten in conference play in total defense and pass defense efficiency, while ranking fourth nationally in passing yards allowed (163.6), 13th in scoring (19.0) and 15th in total defense (316.4).
* In his second season at Wisconsin in 2012, his unit ranked 15th nationally in total defense (322.5), 17th in scoring (19.1), 18th in fewest passing yards allowed (193.6), 22nd in pass efficiency and 24th against the run (128.9).
* His one season at Arkansas wasn't very distinguished, but the pass defense did improve from 113th nationally to 72nd.
* Helped to immediately improve the Ohio State defense in 2014 upon his arrival as co-defensive coordinator, as the Buckeyes went from No. 112 in the nation in pass defense and 47th in total defense to 29th in pass defense and 19th in total defense in his first season.
* In his second season in Columbus, the Buckeyes ranked 2nd nationally in scoring defense and ninth in total defense.
* In his three full seasons at Rutgers, his defenses finished 116th, 97th and 89th in total defense.
No. 3 - About the offensive coordinator search ...
Can we just focus on a section of @Anwar Richardson's coordinator notes from Sunday afternoon.
"Once again, I was told by a person close to Herman that Herman does not believe the offense played so poorly this season that it needs an overhaul. Instead, I was told Herman’s main goal is to find a play-caller who matches his offensive philosophies. My interpretation of that information is once the smoke clears, there is a chance Herman’s hire may not have a lot of hype, but will have the attributes he desires."
Perhaps the offense doesn't need an "overhaul," but let's keep it 100 about that side of the ball.
* In Sam Ehlinger's final 8 games of the season, he posted a quarterback efficiency number (134.83) that would have ranked 63rd nationally, two spots ahead of Rice's Tom Stewart.
* The running game was led by a pair of running backs that sometimes showed up and sometimes didn't from week to week.
* The receiver unit was such a mess by the end of the season that not only could receivers not get open or consistently catch the football, Herman had to remove both receivers coaches on his coaching staff because half of the receiver room was ready to mutiny.
* The tight end position basically became an unplayable unit in the passing game by the end of the season.
* The offensive line gave up more sacks than any team in the conference and basically was known as a group that couldn't handle any twists or stunts an opposing team ran at the group.
Outside of Devin Duvernay, there wasn't anything about this offense that is worthy of anything better than a C-grade for most of the season, so while this offense might not look desperate on the stat sheet, it sure looked that way to the eyeballs.
I would offer to Herman if he was reading this that his offense needs more work than he believes. Don't go with comfort on this one because comfort is what got him here.
No. 4 - Scattershooting on coordinator hires ...
My first real memory as a professional reporter covering a Texas head coach replacing a coordinator occurred in 1997 when John Mackovic was looking to find a new defensive coordinator following the 1996 season.
Gary Darnell was out and the task for Mackovic was to find the best coordinator that money could buy. Names like Florida defensive coordinator Bob Stoops were tossed around as possible options, yet after Mackovic's "nationwide search," he decided to turn the keys to the defense over to ... gulp ... Texas defensive assistant coach Bobby Jack Wright.
When the occasion called for going dynamic, he went with comfort. Some say he picked Wright because he didn't want anyone in place that could ever overshadow his offense. Regardless of his reasons, the move was a disaster and it probably cost Mackovic his job by the end of the following September.
It got me to thinking about every coordinator change of the last quarter of a century in Austin. Here's the rundown ...
1997 (Out) Gary Darnell, (In) Bobby Jack Wright
Arguably, the single-worst decision in the history of the Texas football program.
2004 (Out) Bull Reese, (In) Greg Robinson
There were a lot of questions about this hire because Robinson had flamed out at the defensive coordinator for the Kansas City Chiefs after winning two Super Bowls as the defensive coordinator with the Denver Broncos. It proved to be an incredible hire, as I'd personally rate Robinson as the best defensive coordinator in school history based on the job he did in both 2004 and in 2013.
2005 (Out) Greg Robinson, (In) Gene Chizik
When Robinson left to take the Syracuse head coaching job, Brown went out and flexed some muscles by hiring the guy that many felt like was the best defensive coordinator in the sport. The Longhorns ended up winning a national title with Chizic as DC.
2007 (Out) Gene Chizik, (In) Duant Akina/Larry Mac Duff)
Arguably, it was the dumbest thing Mack Brown did in his time at Texas. Akina has never been anything other than a tremendous position coach and Mac Duff was an NFL special teams guy. Everyone knew it was a mistake when it happened, except for Brown.
2008 (Out) Duane Akina/Larry Mac Duff, (In) Will Muschamp
Brown corrected his 2007 mistake by going out and hiring the best defensive coordinator in college football, which helped pave the way to two of the best seasons in school history.
2011: (Out) Greg Davis, (In) Bryan Harsin
This is probably the toughest situation to grade because Harsin has proven over time to be a heck of an offensive mind, but the Longhorns never totally took off on offense like the unit was expected to upon his hire. That was mainly because the quarterback play was so uninspired, although David Ash had the best season of his career (153.3 efficiency). The team did win 17 games over two seasons, which is significantly better than most of the other two-year windows inside this decade.
2011 (Out) Will Muschamp, (In) Manny Diaz
Brown was really into the idea of hiring the two young gun coordinators in college football, so he coupled Harsin with Diaz, who had literally coached one season of major college football. After a solid first season, the floor collapsed in season two and when Brown decided to give Diaz another season in 2013, he basically ended his own tenure.
2013 (Out) Bryan Harsin), (In) Major Applewhite
Brown went with the comfort hire, pairing Applewhite with Darrell Wyatt and giving his former quarterback control of play-calling duties. Given the state of the quarterback position that year, you'd have to say Applewhite did a solid job in his only season as the play-caller.
2016 (Out) Shawn Watson, (In) Sterlin Gilbert
Gilbert did a decent job, although probably not a good enough job to warrant having the president of the school flying out to Tulsa in an effort to beg him to take the job. This basically added up to adding one additional life boat on the Titanic.
Bottom Line
On every occasion when the Longhorns went out and hired at the highest levels, the program was rewarded. On almost every occasion when the Longhorns hired for comfort, it proved to be disaster. Just some food for thought.
No. 5 - Man, I just don't know what to say about this Texas basketball team ...
Yes, I watched the Central Michigan game.
Yes, I questioned my decision-making at various stages of the first half.
Yes, I weirdly like this team, even if I don't know if it's better than pretty good.
Maybe it’s because the team feels like a basketball equivalent to the Island of Misfit Toys and I'm a fan of misfits.
I just don't know.
Anyway, Texas beat Central Michigan this week, which is better than losing to Central Michigan.
That's about all I got.
No. 6 - The biggest upset in NCAA Volleyball post-season history?
I'm probably not the one to make such a declaration, but consider the following:
* Texas had been to 13 straight regional finals prior to its loss to Louisville on Friday.
* Texas had won 26 consecutive home matches and was undefeated at home in 2019.
* Texas was the No. 2 overall national seed and Louisville was unranked.
Even if it doesn't qualify, it was an incredibly disappointing way to end the season, which now has to be chalked up as a failure when you consider the high standards the program has established. Of course, we'd be lying if we said that Texas needing five sets and a former player coming out of the stands to talk to the players in a huddle against unseeded UC-Santa Barbara wasn't a sign that potential trouble loomed.
Time for Jerritt Elliott and Co. to regroup.
No. 7 – BUY or SELL …
[QUOTE="coopdog, post: 13315635, member: 506"]The hiring of Ash will cause staff changes on the defensive side of the ball?[/QUOTE]
(Buy) More changes are coming. For instance, he's a defensive backs coach and there won't be three of them on the roster in a month.
[QUOTE="tx_wood915, post: 13315272, member: 9920"]Under the new DC, Texas has one defensive player finish the 2020 season with double digit sacks[/QUOTE]
(Sell) That's one hell of a leap you're asking me to make.
(Buy) I'd say 9 wins at first glance.
(Sell) I find that unrealistic at this point. Not impossible, but unrealistic.
(Buy) That's much more realistic, although whatever unnamed OU quarterback emerges has to be viewed as the betting favorite.
(Buy) 10, actually.
(Sell) There's a reason why he waited four years before coming back into coaching. The moment he flipped the switch off in 2010 after the national championship game, he was never able to recapture the magic.
(Buy) Yes, I think Coburn has that kind of upside.
(Sell) That ain't happening.
(Sell) Young kids will like it and long-time fans will treat it like they do almost every Star Wars movie, which is mostly with disdain.
No. 8 – Eternal Randomness of the Spotty Sports Mind …
... T-minus five days until the bowl season starts.
... Where has this Dallas Cowboys team been all season? For one day and possibly one day only, it all came together for the Pokes against a team with a winning record. It doesn't mean that this team is winning a playoff game (or even winning the division), but it was better than the Buffalo game.
... Bill O'Brien has more in common with Jason Garrett than anyone in Dallas or Houston would ever want to admit. Of course, they beat Tennessee in Nashville one week after getting taken to the woodshed at home by Denver. Of course.
... The Packers kind of deserved to have that game against Chicago to come down to a two-point conversion, but the Bears just couldn't complete the miracle.
... Having Christian McCaffrey on your fantasy team is like having Ladainian Tomlinson in his prime. If you can't win with that dude on your roster, you suck.
... I enjoyed watching the Chiefs game on television, but I would never watch a game like that in person. And to think... many of you think of me as a snowflake. Ha, that'll show you.
... Whew... Luka's gonna be alright.
... I'd be so upset if I were a Cleveland Indians fan right about now. Corey Kluber goes to the Rangers because the Indians want to dump some salary? Yikes. On the other hand, congrats to Rangers fans!
... Colby Covington getting knocked out this weekend was a pleasant UFC245 moment.
... Kevin De Bruyne is the one guy in the Premier League that makes me drool and wish he played for Liverpool.
... Speaking of Liverpool, here's . hoping the Reds draw Real Madrid for the Champions League round of 16 on Monday morning. There's a big score that needs to be settled.
... Thank you, Norwich City.
... Enjoy.
No. 9 - The List: My Updated Oscars Rankings...
Best Picture:
1. Once Upon a Time in Hollywood
2. Parasite
3. The Irishman
4. Joker
5. It's a Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood
Lead Actor:
1. Joaquin Phoenix, “Joker”
2. Leonardo DiCaprio, “Once Upon a Time in Hollywood”
3. Eddie Murphy, "Dolemite is My Name"
4. Matthew Rhys, “It's a Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood ”
5. Timothée Chalamet, "The King"
Lead Actress:
1. Lupita Nyong'o, “Us”
2. Jennifer Lopez “Hustlers”
2. Beanie Feldstein, “Booksmart”
Supporting Actor:
1. Brad Pitt “Once Upon a Time in Hollywood”
2. Al Pacino, "The Irishman"
3. Tom Hanks, “It's a Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood”
4. Song Kang-Ho, "Parasite"
5. Joe Pesci, "The Irishman"
Supporting Actress:
1. Jo Yeo-Jeong, "Parasite"
2. Margot Robbie, “Once Upon a Time in Hollywood”
3. Da'Vine Joy Randolph, "Dolemite is My Name"
4. Julia Butters, "Once Upon a Time in Hollywood"
5. Elisabeth Moss, "Us"
Director:
1. Quentin Tarantino, “Once Upon a Time in Hollywood”
2. Joon-HoBong, "Parasite"
3. Martin Scorsese, "The Irishman"
4. Marielle Heller, “It's a Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood”
5. Jordan Pelle, “Us”
No.10 - And finally...
Oh, Philadelphia...
