Ketch's 10 Thoughts From The Weekend (Sark has a lot to do)

[Ketchum]

@Ketchum ...Do you guys have someone in the Athletic Dept. telling you to lay off of PK???? I believe it was you a while back that told us if an assistant was going to be laid off at the end of the season, WHY WAIT until then. I might be mistaken about you being that guy, BUT that's exactly what you're suggesting in your TTFTW!

Why is that?

Nope.

I just don't believe in firing guys after one bad outing, especially when part of the problem was the head coach not being able to keep the offense on the field in the second half to help that defense.

 

[Ketchum]

What if the first 3 are Strong like?

I don't think that will happen, but if it did, all bets are off. But, Sark is very popular.

 

[Ketchum]

I don’t agree with this. If something isn’t working you fix it. It doesn’t mean he would have known how ineffective PK‘s defense‘s would be two years later. Not fixing makes Sark look even worse. If you have an employee working for you that you catch stealing two years after you hire him you don’t keep him around. PK has to go. Get it done.

I just don't know that your example is an apple to apple deal.

 

[Ketchum]

A few thoughts....

1. The offensive play calling in the second half against Tech wasn't good. However, it wasn't the reason we lost the game. With that being said, since we can't seem to get pressure on the QB and force turn overs, Sark needs to stop with the All Gas, No Breaks talk. This team needs to win games with its offense the rest of the season. Open up the playbook and let Card run the football more often. For instance, one of the two scoring drives in the second half against Tech involved Card scrambling.

2. I know I sound like an Aggie, but this team REALLY needs to finish 8-4 this year in order to maintain recruiting momentum. Maybe 7-5 with a bowl victory, but it's critical that we finish strong. With that being said, it's difficult for me to pin-point which games we win the rest of the way. It's sad, but I am already bracing for a 6-6 or even a 5-7 season. I hope Sark proves me wrong. I am not holding my breath though because I have battered fan syndrome with what we have dealt with 11 out of the last 12 seasons.

3. I would agree with Ketchum that PK likely isn't going to be retained at the end of the season unless there is drastic improvement on defense which I don't foresee. If we don't retain him, we would be on the hook for $1.7M for next season. In fact, I could see the entire defensive staff being let go so the new DC can pick his staff. I would hate for that to happen to Gideon because he is a Texas EX. However, I could maybe see us retaining Bo Davis because he has recruited so well and that he is on the 2nd year of a 4 year deal for $1M a year. What's crazy is we will still be paying Herman's buy out next year which is $5M +. I hate to see us throw all that money away though. I am praying that Sark and PK can turn this thing around.

Dang, I am even more depressed writing all that above. I am going to bed.

Good post, though, even if depressing.

 

[Ketchum]

“Hot For Teacher“ sucks
”Dance the Night Away“ has to make the list.

VH fans rank hot for teacher at No.3

Readers' Poll: The Best Van Halen Songs

Picks include ‘Right Now,’ ‘Panama,’ ‘Hot for Teacher,’ ‘Eruption’

www.rollingstone.com

 

[Ketchum]

With the talent that’s coming in…10 wins minimum next year should be reasonable expectations…

He was hired to be better than Herman. What we're watching isn't better.

 

[Ketchum]

Doesn’t make sense. Sark getting to 8 this year would be great improvement. Also probably means are defense starts to figure it out. Even if not, pretty big leap to say Sark is done in 2024 after 8 wins year 2 and Arch coming.

We've lowered the bar for Sark to such a degree that eight wins is seen as a massive win/accomplishment.

 

[Ketchum]

Im tired of having to read these from @Ketchum year after year, and thats not a slam to him. **** me win some god damn games. Get over the hump......

My question for this week: No one to take the top off a defense? Where the hell is Brennan Thompson? Even if we'd just used him as a decoy a few times he still has speed an opposing D just cant ignore.

Redshirting it would seem.

 

[Ketchum]

This was a difficult, but one of your TTFTW pieces yet, Ketch.

I think in the best interest of maintaining some form of continuity, we all want to see Sark and PK succeed. And on the positive side of a negative result, I don't think we're as far away as some think.

While I might be in the minority, I do think our Big 12 opponents have developed a script they follow to influence 4th quarter collapses... and it's based on dominating time of possession and running more plays. The Tech coach even suggested as much in his post game pep talk to his team. At some point, the defense will break.. and that's all that really needs to be said in coaching circles.

You combat that by making excellent in-game adjustments... and that is true on both offense and defense. And obviously, we're really seeing neither. One successful, time-consuming 2nd half drive out of 6 won't cut it on offense. And 13 late down conversions and red zone failures won't cut it on defense.

Probably the most disturbing sign I saw yesterday was in Sark's post game comments about the offense and their "lack of execution". It reminded me of the Lynn Amadee days, where he would use the same old explanation running a simple tired unchanging offensive scheme.

If you're Sark, and your idea of "in game adjustment" is consistently running inside zone plays through an interior OL that is being dominated at the point of attack... you need to take a very close look in the mirror and avoid the "we couldn't execute" mantra. Nobody cares. Put your players in a better position to win. If you're losing the battle between the tackles... stretch the defense horizontally and put your best players in space. Quit calling plays inside a phone booth while leaving your defense out there to collapse.

Unfortunately, I still think Sark is in denial about his own shortcomings. And I sure hope to hell he snaps out of it.

Thanks for the kind words. I feel like it was a run of the mill column. Have felt like shit for two days and just wanted to get it done. lol

 

[Ketchum]

Dreams is one the best songs ever made…not even top 10 is crazy.

Readers' Poll: The Best Van Halen Songs

Picks include 'Right Now,' 'Panama,' 'Hot for Teacher,' 'Eruption'

www.rollingstone.com

Fans voted Dreams No.10. It was definitely under consideration, yet I don't think leaving it out is a crime.

 

[Ketchum]

Arguably, it should have happened 9 months ago.

touche'

 

[Ketchum]

Hey Ketch, you're spot on with the Van Halen top 10. And it looks like me and you both are waiting on jet sweeps to be part of the offense. There are several players (Worthy, K. Robinson, Brennan Thompson, T. Milton) who can take a jet sweep and get that 3rd & 2 or 3rd & 3 or longer with their speed. I guess Sark has amnesia when it comes to using jet sweeps.

I literally have been thinking a jet sweep was coming on every drive since the Alabama game.

It's been such an effective play and yet.... where the **** is it?

 

[Ketchum]

Two things I believe. If you ever stop believing that Texas is going to win every game then you have set your mind to lose.
I will say it again, the defense cannot stay on the field for the majority of the time. The offense has gone out and run three plays and are coming off the field so fast that the defense does not even have time to sit down.

The second half drive charts on offense doomed a defense already facing doom.

 

[Ketchum]

Firing your DC in week five means that it should have happened nine months ago.

Kwiatkowski has eight games to continue to improve this side of the ball. In each of the last two weeks, the defense has looked nothing like what it looked like against Alabama. Instead of attacking from all
It's flat out not good enough, but we're not at a stage where an upheaval needs to occur.

That was his mulligan. I'm not sure how many more he has.”

This could have been cut and pasted from a writing last season. Same coordinator, same scheme, same results. Without a heavier Paterson influence that pressures the quarterback, and presses receivers opposing coaches have no reason to respect it. They’ll go for fourth downs, increase total plays, and exhaust the defense.

I don't disagree.

 

[MB-HORNS]

He was hired to be better than Herman. What we're watching isn't better.

He currently has a Charlie Strong type record. He has to get better.

 

[TilGabriel]

I'm just not seeing it from Sark from 30,000 feet up.

He hasn't proven to have the in-game coaching chops through 16 games.

I'm not 100-percent certain he doesn't make it, but if you ask me a question today about it, I'm not going to lie.

Thanks for clarifying. I feel like he's still got his path to success in front of him, but the margin of error just got very, very tight. That was a very winnable game, and he played a key role in the loss. I'm a fan of the expression, success has many fathers; failure is an orphan. But this failure has many fathers.

My recipe for a successful tenure is this:
First, take care of business at home this week. If the "they're going to break" comment wasn't enough to get them really pissed off, I don't know what character we have on the team.
Beating OU is now a must-win or a hot seat will be firing up early.
Steal a game you're not "supposed" to win--Okie State, Baylor, K State, etc.
Stay in contention, if we get to the B12 title game (which seems far fetched), seat auto-cools.
Finish 8-4

Fires PK. Hires best human for the job. Hopefully GP stays on with a fat salary, easy (for him) focus and no need to recruit.
Arch shows up to campus; redshirts (which buys Sark some time as well)
Ewers second year in the system.
Shows command and trust with WR corps
O-line youth movement starts to define a 5 man culture
Defense infusion of talented youngsters starts to pay off
Sark wins road games like he should, probably still loses at least one or two that he shouldn't.
Has to make the B12 title game W/L doesn't completely matter, but we have to be competitive.
Finish 9-10 wins.

As I write all that, I can feel the "kool-aid"-ness of it. But I would counter, their future/his future is still within their control. The lesson for the team, and the commitment level has to be, Bama every week.

 

[Ketchum]

Here we are, year 13. I feel like Tom Hanks in Castaway.

Except in this version, the little raft I’d been working on the last 12 years just got shredded and blown out to see. I have to start all over again.

This isn't Castaway.

Tom Hanks made adjustments. Sark doesn't.

 

[Ketchum]

I’m more interested in how the team reacts. Do they fight back? Do they make folding in the 4th Q their trademark as a team? The season hangs in the balance based on their mentality. Do leaders stand up and say that’s it, we aren’t doing this anymore?

Folding in the 4th quarter is literally their trademark.

That's what McGuire told his team at halftime.

"I told you they would break."

 

[Ketchum]

I’m guessing UT brass encourages Sark to hire an OC as their last ditch effort before firing him. So
- 2023 new DC
- 2024 new OC
- 2026 new HC

Seems somehow familiar

I can't see that happening.

 

[Ketchum]

Sark clearly is the great coordinator, poor head coach type. His poor head coaching record speaks for itself. So his best shot (and maybe only shot) at big time success IMO is to surround himself without enough elite talent, both players and assistant coaches, that he can’t screw it up. Ed O’s 2019 LSU team is the perfect example.

Defense needs a lot of pieces.

 

[Ketchum]

If Sark on the hot seat gains traction over the next year or two and he is fired, is Arch still solid? I understood the primary reason he chose Texas was because of Sark.

I expect Arch to be a Longhorn.

 

[Ketchum]

The 4th quarter issues IMO come down to 3 major issues.

1st - Our OL is just not good enough right now to impose our will on a good/decent defense. I can't count how many times our RBs were getting hit or had to make someone miss in the backfield.

2nd - The 4th quarter is all about QB play. Good/Great teams all have QBs that make the plays in the 4th. Thompson was not that guy last year and Card isn't that guy this year. Card doesn't make the plays to keep drives going.

3rd - The defense can't get stops. IMO that is all PK. We can't get consistent pressure with 4 so you want to just rush 3 on 3rd and 4th downs. Stop.

Sure feels like you're taking it easy on Sark.

 

[Ketchum]

My 2 biggest quibbles with Sark are:

1) The defense is bad since he took over. They are also a veteran unit. I do give some leeway for basically not playing anyone he recruited, but overall it feels like he has the Jimbo offense problem but with the defense.

2) Lack of offensive success when limited. I think we all believe that when all the toys are healthy Sark is amazing, but he hasn't shown he can drive the Kia when necessary.

Maybe Ewers is the key to the Ferrari and the offense goes, but if the current offense rolls out does anyone really think Sark will have it fine tuned?

The m.o. on Sark is just get the team into the second half and drag it into deep waters to drown it.

Sark doesn't make adjustments to stop that.

 

[Ketchum]

Sark is on the way to being the Wade Phillips of College Football. Great coordinator, mediocre to bad HC.

I'll never be able to drop that comparison from my brain. It's pretty spot on at this point.

 

[Ketchum]

You come across as though you believe Sark is a dead man walking in 2 years. If that's the case, is there a coach out there that you think is a better option that we could actually get? Is there a home run hire out there that would actually take the offer knowing what has happened to the previous 3 staffs, and knowing how quickly the fan base will turn on them?

No, I don't believe he's dead man walking. He simply has to perform at much higher levels.

 

[Ketchum]

The list of issues needs to include pass rush and why coming out of last season when Sark claimed it was one of the two biggest issues in the program along with OL, he did nothing to address it for this season.

His portal strategy almost has shades of Mackovic stealing Kwame Cavil from the defensive coaches to it. There seemed to be so much more focus on acquiring Hall, Billingsly, Milton, etc than edge rush war daddies. And don't tell me there weren't any options. You make options happen if it's a priority. Like he did with Worthy, K Rob, Billingsly, etc.

agreed. preaching to the choir on that one.

Missing on the top targets can't mean not getting any targets at all.

 

[Ketchum]

He currently has a Charlie Strong type record. He has to get better.

If the people who hired him knew that he would be 7-9 through 16 games, they wouldn't have even interviewed him.

 

[Baconbeard]

I agree that firing PK now means he should have already done it, but remember that Mack fired Manny Diaz after 2 games and it damn near saved Mack at Texas.

 

[Ketchum]

I agree that firing PK now means he should have already done it, but remember that Mack fired Manny Diaz after 2 games and it damn near saved Mack at Texas.

I've always viewed that it doomed him. That move set the bar at win the Big 12 or else.

 

[MB-HORNS]

If the people who hired him knew that he would be 7-9 through 16 games, they wouldn't have even interviewed him.

The Texas football cycle of life

 

[utlonghorn123]

So I’m not sold on Sark but if I remember correctly Mack had never won a championship of any kind until the Big12 Championship the year we won the National Championship with one of the greatest college quarterbacks ever. So maybe? Hopefully?

Mack was never 7-9 and 1-8 vs P5 teams..

 

[Baconbeard]

I've always viewed that it doomed him. That move set the bar at win the Big 12 or else.

I kind of feel like that was the bar coming into the season anyway considering Mack had been pointing to 2013 for a couple years.

Maybe he could have used the David Ash card and replace Manny in the offseason card to buy more time, but we'll never know. I do know that the defense showed great improvement once the change was made.

Either way, we both know it is a bad sign that we are already discussing whether Sark should fire his DC now or later.

 

[caseylex]

Say what you want about Herman, but his teams generally played hard. They were never beat down.

im talking about last year! I’m seeing better effort but still a ways to go. Looking for bright spots

 

[Ketchum]

I kind of feel like that was the bar coming into the season anyway considering Mack had been pointing to 2013 for a couple years.

Maybe he could have used the David Ash card and replace Manny in the offseason card to buy more time, but we'll never know. I do know that the defense showed great improvement was the change was made.

Either way, we both know it is a bad sign that we are already discussing whether Sark should fire his DC now or later.

yup. simple as that

 

[Ketchum]

im talking about last year! I’m seeing better effort but still a ways to go. Looking for bright spots

fair enough