@sigep77, I agree with just about everything. My biggest question is not for the program but more for the fans on this blog. Some of us knew that the talent level was some what low and depth was an issue. Yet when we spoke out and said things negative about the team , ie, predicting a loss, that person is criticized and blog bashed. OC40 knows we ,as a team, are not very good and he only wants to see improvement. I personally am shocked we went so far backward. When things are not good, the head guy catches the crap. He had better have an above average recruiting class. Guys that can compete, if not next year,the year after. I am willing to give three years before I jump all over OC40's band wagon. He is just a bit premature in his firing talk. My fingers are crossed that we have the right HC  in place. I will go on the record and say I don't think we have the right coordinators in place. JMHO.

@Local

I get where you're coming from and agree, however, his message is tired, boring and rarely insightful.  It's just bash, bash, bash.

I agree there are a few who drink the Kool Aid and can get all over people and follow blindly.

I'm not sure about the OC being the wrong guy, but I agree the DC is not the right fit.  Our D has regressed quite a bit OR the end of last season wasn't as good as we thought and the teams we played were even more crappy than we were.

On paper it sounds as if we will have an above average recruiting class, that however means nothing until they kids lace 'em up and perform.  I think most recruiting rankings are bunk and need to be evaluated two to three years POST NSD.

I also agree about the HC catching crap, but I think the vitriol AND lovefest are a bit over the top for a first time HC.  I'll admit, CP excites me with his energy and enthusiasm as well as what appears to be a very good recruitment plan.  I truly believe CP needs four years BUT he MUST show YOY improvement, if by the end of year three we have not seen steady progress, maybe a fourth year is not deserved.

The other piece I failed to mention and I think is something to pay attention to is this is Pat Chun's first ever head Football coach hire and he wants to rise in the ranks, there is no chance he fires CP in the next three years, he will give him time to be successful since their success are tied to one another.

Look OC40 is my friend, and I was against his sometimes dramatic approach to our head coach position. But I guess I have drank the KoolAid because I am on board.

Phrases like "Lets be realistic" and "We can't think like that because of our size" are the problems with the FAU fan base. I have seen more than 5 contributors tell OC40 to go to the SEC because thats the kind of fan they are.

Well incase you haven't seen about the only thing the SEC does, in practically every sport, is win.

Every single day kids at FAU ask me and others "Who is your favorite football team?" and when your response is "The Owls" it almost always is followed by "But who is your "other" team?"

So should we chastise and seem abashed when OC40 wants immediate winning and is confused by everyones hopeful attitude? Because if you have ever been on an SEC message board there is no "Wait until next year." If Nick Saban went 3-9 they would tear down his statue and pray to Paul Finebaum and the ghost of Bear Bryant for another coach, it wouldn't take 3 years of mediocrity for them to think "Lets get him out of here."

A little drama in a team and fan base is ok. I don't think you should fire Charlie after one year, because everyone deserves a second chance.

But go 6-6 on your second chance once shame on you. Go 6-6 the third chance shame on me.

We are a team abundant with talent, and we don't even get the best players in our state. And even with our scraps and bottom of the barrel recruits we some how throw together the athletes to compete in every game.

If anything it is clear cut a coaches chops because of the size of our program.

We don't have to play the guessing game with our coaches either you are good or you're not. It was evident that Pelini was not the man for the job. He wasn't charismatic, he didn't recruit well, and he wasn't really an "X and O's" genius so why keep him around to go 6-6 and maybe eventually 7-6 simply because his team is naturally talented.

So now what do I see with Partridge? He's charismatic and can recruit, and not every coach has to be Chip Kelly to win. Urban Meyer is paid 5 million a year to coach special teams and guide a QB and be the face of a program, he's no Malzahn, Ault, or Kelly, but he surrounds himself with the best in his field and he hires men talented enough to pick up the areas that he doesn't know as well. Clearly Partridge has not surrounded himself with coaches talented enough to win. If he were half the talent evaluator of coaches as he was players we wouldn't be where we are today.

So before we reprimand OC40 for his antics lets just sit back and realize that other "larger" programs get things done because of fans who see through the cloud of politically-correct generalizations that Charlie loves to throw at us and cause an out cry and get the administration to make changes. Fans who love their program so much that they are willing to fire and hire a new coach until one fits regardless of how ridiculous and unlikely it is.

You see it as crazy. I see it as perhaps if we had a few more crazy callers and bloggers who didn't have "another team" and are fully devoted to the Owls we could one day compete for something better than the Bitcoin Bowl in 2017 when the team is finally put together.

Excellent post Jake!

Jake said

Because if you have ever been on an SEC message board there is no "Wait until next year." If Nick Saban went 3-9 they would tear down his statue and pray to Paul Finebaum and the ghost of Bear Bryant for another coach, it wouldn't take 3 years of mediocrity for them to think "Lets get him out of here."

Posted On: Nov 21st 2014, 11:03 PM #338362

I agree with a lot of what you and OC40 say.  OC & I actually have conversations (in-person) a couple times a month and I enjoy bantering back and forth in good spirit.

"But let's be realistic."  

…and by the way, don't confuse being realistic with accepting losing.  I want to win yesterday, not today.

Fan bases can make all the demands in the world.  We can make demands just like the SEC fan base, but that doesn't make us an SEC program.  I don't believe those SEC fans making most of those demands are the ones making those changes happen.  What separates us from those programs are donors of high-influence and big dollars.  We have very few, if any.  

Will Muschamp's buyout is $6.3M.  So some Bull Gators (the largest donors) get together and say : here is $20M, get this numb nut out of here and get a new coach.  His severance package will be what we have paid our Head Coaches combined in the history of our program.

That's just realistic. That doesn't mean I accept losing in any way…and it doesn't mean others should stop making their demands.

Owls Up!

Jake said

Look OC40 is my friend, and I was against his sometimes dramatic approach to our head coach position. But I guess I have drank the KoolAid because I am on board.

Phrases like "Lets be realistic" and "We can't think like that because of our size" are the problems with the FAU fan base. I have seen more than 5 contributors tell OC40 to go to the SEC because thats the kind of fan they are.

Well incase you haven't seen about the only thing the SEC does, in practically every sport, is win.

Every single day kids at FAU ask me and others "Who is your favorite football team?" and when your response is "The Owls" it almost always is followed by "But who is your "other" team?"

So should we chastise and seem abashed when OC40 wants immediate winning and is confused by everyones hopeful attitude? Because if you have ever been on an SEC message board there is no "Wait until next year." If Nick Saban went 3-9 they would tear down his statue and pray to Paul Finebaum and the ghost of Bear Bryant for another coach, it wouldn't take 3 years of mediocrity for them to think "Lets get him out of here."

A little drama in a team and fan base is ok. I don't think you should fire Charlie after one year, because everyone deserves a second chance.

But go 6-6 on your second chance once shame on you. Go 6-6 the third chance shame on me.

We are a team abundant with talent, and we don't even get the best players in our state. And even with our scraps and bottom of the barrel recruits we some how throw together the athletes to compete in every game.

If anything it is clear cut a coaches chops because of the size of our program.

We don't have to play the guessing game with our coaches either you are good or you're not. It was evident that Pelini was not the man for the job. He wasn't charismatic, he didn't recruit well, and he wasn't really an "X and O's" genius so why keep him around to go 6-6 and maybe eventually 7-6 simply because his team is naturally talented.

So now what do I see with Partridge? He's charismatic and can recruit, and not every coach has to be Chip Kelly to win. Urban Meyer is paid 5 million a year to coach special teams and guide a QB and be the face of a program, he's no Malzahn, Ault, or Kelly, but he surrounds himself with the best in his field and he hires men talented enough to pick up the areas that he doesn't know as well. Clearly Partridge has not surrounded himself with coaches talented enough to win. If he were half the talent evaluator of coaches as he was players we wouldn't be where we are today.

So before we reprimand OC40 for his antics lets just sit back and realize that other "larger" programs get things done because of fans who see through the cloud of politically-correct generalizations that Charlie loves to throw at us and cause an out cry and get the administration to make changes. Fans who love their program so much that they are willing to fire and hire a new coach until one fits regardless of how ridiculous and unlikely it is.

You see it as crazy. I see it as perhaps if we had a few more crazy callers and bloggers who didn't have "another team" and are fully devoted to the Owls we could one day compete for something better than the Bitcoin Bowl in 2017 when the team is finally put together.

Posted On: Nov 21st 2014, 11:03 PM #338362

Is that Bear Bryant Ghost availible to coach? Just saying we could get him for cheap.

fauowl said

Jake said

Because if you have ever been on an SEC message board there is no "Wait until next year." If Nick Saban went 3-9 they would tear down his statue and pray to Paul Finebaum and the ghost of Bear Bryant for another coach, it wouldn't take 3 years of mediocrity for them to think "Lets get him out of here."

Posted On: Nov 21st 2014, 11:03 PM #338362

I agree with a lot of what you and OC40 say.  OC & I actually have conversations (in-person) a couple times a month and I enjoy bantering back and forth in good spirit.

"But let's be realistic."  

…and by the way, don't confuse being realistic with accepting losing.  I want to win yesterday, not today.

Fan bases can make all the demands in the world.  We can make demands just like the SEC fan base, but that doesn't make us an SEC program.  I don't believe those SEC fans making most of those demands are the ones making those changes happen.  What separates us from those programs are donors of high-influence and big dollars.  We have very few, if any.  

Will Muschamp's buyout is $6.3M.  So some Bull Gators (the largest donors) get together and say : here is $20M, get this numb nut out of here and get a new coach.  His severance package will be what we have paid our Head Coaches combined in the history of our program.

That's just realistic. That doesn't mean I accept losing in any way…and it doesn't mean others should stop making their demands.

Owls Up!

Posted On: Nov 22nd 2014, 3:43 AM #338365

I agree in the fact that ordinary fans aren't the puppeteer behind great programs. I guess it is more having as many fans avoid monotony as we can.

It shouldn't matter that our program is 14 years old, and it shouldn't matter that we play a ton of money games. Fans, excluding ourselves on the Nest, should be mad about losing and not just "Wait until next year," or say "Its ok its just FAU"

If Pelini were still here and went 6-6 and lets say 6-6 this seasons, some would see that he isn't the man for the job and others would defend him saying that he just needs more time, and look at the OC40's of the world with contempt and wonder what he means.

After witnessing the crowd for the UTSA game and watching their Arizona game on TV, I was very impressed by their fan base and the care that the community and university has for the 4 year old program. If Coker has another losing season do you think his seat is hot? Probably.

I guess I am saying a few unrealistic fans make the world go round. It shows that people actually care enough to not only watch the game, but do some research and want the product to change because they don't accept losing no matter what. A loss to Bama hurts just as much as letting it go against UAB.

WarSeagull!

I will gain back respect with partridge if he realizes the mistakes he made with his coaching staff this year. If he doesn't. We're gonna see the same crap we did this year. Roc has to be demoted or fired. Wright has to go as well his inexperience clearly shows why our offense hasn't showed consistency for the 3 years with him at the helm. Coach needs to bring in some experience to help coach because that is the big part you currently see missing from coach P 

Just wondering how different this conversation would be if we were 7-3. Winning fixes everything. By the way, kind of sad when one show commentator has a Hurricane sticker on his wall (we know who his other team is) and the other didn't even watch the game. That's life in C-USA

Why is that sad? I was a Hurricane fan 18 years longer than I was an Owl fan. My loyalty lies with both programs. I'll always root for the Owls in head to head matchups because I graduated from FAU. I don't think it's "sad" but it is like you said "Life in C-USA" and not just that, that's life at FAU. Why? because all of us had a rooting interest in another team before FAU even had a football team!

I've defended Charlie because he's shown to be a good motivator and the team has played well (in brief stretches) under him. And frankly, he's energized the program. He's done more for to "recruit" the community than any other coach we've had. He's done more to recruit students to attend games that any coach we've ever had. The student attendance this year has been fantastic. Unfortunately, the team didn't give them something to cheer about as the year went on.