In Reply to: DF Did Actually improve posted by MANTIS9 on July 27, 2025 at 23:06:18
CDF gets an "Incomplete" for his coaching performance last year.
-Late start with massive rush just to fill out staff and keep roster together and no real chance to recruit, or hit transfer portal hard
-Insanely difficult front of the schedule (esp. with Indiana coming out of nowhere to be a playoff team)
-Absolutely atrocious OC performance, dropping to almost dead last in rushing and scoring TDs in the Redzone
-A lot of injuries on the OL (plus bad OC playcalling/scheming and maybe a bad OL coach).
the positives:
He kept the roster together when they all could have left in the transfer window after Kelly left (but he couldn't bring in new transfers)
He kept the team playing hard despite the dreadful start
the 3 game winning streak and 4/6 to close season
Defense was solid and we were in most of our games, even if final scores didn't always reflect it
Immediate recognition that Bieniemy and Castillo needed replacement (I thought he'd wait a year longer to try to fix them, but he cut them loose FAST)
Recruiting seems to be better than it has been in almost a decade.
the Negatives:
That opening press conference at media days
The running game falling off of a cliff after being one of the best in the country for years
OL play (somewhat due to injuries and playcalling/not running the ball)
The Pass rush not showing up until mid October (was it all just moving Femi? I don't think so, I think it took awhile for Malloe to get all the pressure packages in)
Our best WR being on the bench for most plays - Loya - especially his bread and butter 3rd down/redzone plays
Not using Keegan Jones well at all, after begging him to stay
So, **if** his improvement at media days is indicative of the type of improvement we can see, it could be a good year. A LOT depends on the Coaches - did we get the right guys for OC and OL? Can Malloe get the defense firing on all cylinders earlier, with all the new pieces? TBD, but there's reason to hope that last year was the bottom, and that with recruiting and the portal ticking severely up, we have massive potential for growth. But, if we face plant this year, it is easy to see the recruiting start to fall apart again and a lot of our most important players bolting via the portal again. Making a Bowl game is pretty crucial, tho even that isn't a requirement, depending upon why we don't (if it's injuries to key players/position groups? Ok. But if it's still being almost dead last in rushing and redzone, and the defense isn't as stout? Hmm...