For the good of the Program

[Stonewall]

HCSC needs to let OC do his job.

I’ve asked this question and never gotten an answer. What happened after our first 3 games? Our offense was humming in those games but has become incredibly predictable since then. I/we may never know, but I’d love to know who is calling the plays and if that has changed and why.

I have been told it's been a problem through the players family grapevine.I don't have firsthand knowledge though.

[Bootsy]

Mr. Teller...YOU are a good sport, my friend!

[yikas1]

Watching our soft pass D get burned game after game, can't believe anyone thinks Jones needs to stay.

OC play calling started strong but became predictable.

[8993]

I'm going to say something that could be controversial here and know that I'll likely get backlash for it:

You can be an App guy and not be right for the program at this time. Shawn was hired at a time where we needed stability. Nobody could have predicted that Drink would be a one-and-done coach, but he was and we needed somebody to come in and put the fires out. He was an easy hire and one that the fanbase rallied for. Had he not been hired, the Athletic Department and Doug would have been roasted if things didn't turn our perfectly for whoever took over in that alternate reality.

Shawn has done his job in providing stability but, outside of that, there's not much to be said. We won some big games in the limelight, like TA&M and Troy with College Gameday, but we dropped games that should've been competitive wins, like Texas State and Western Kentucky. In my mind, there is a lack of cohesion on this team and a lack of motivation and that all starts at the top. Shawn getting in front of the mic for pressers and saying the same thing every week isn't working, so what needs to shift to make it work for the last two of the season?

Dale is an App guy who has made shifts in the second half of the season, but being an App guy should not mean we keep you around because you bleed black and gold. Lots of people bleed black and gold, but that doesn't always mean you get an infinite amount of chances to get it right. I'd say this about every coach or player. I think of it like this: if any of us got a job where the CEO was also an App grad, something we connected over in the interview process and during work hours, we would not be given tons of chances to screw up before that CEO would say to us, "I appreciate what you've done here, but this isn't working."

But Shawn isn't going anywhere this season. He'll get one more season to fix things up, but if we're in the same place in a year, he can start looking for a coaching gig at some DII school in Georgia. The rest of the coaching staff is up in the air. Personally, I think changes need to be made to get this team motivated again, but consistency is also key. There are big-time donors who won't put another penny into App if things don't turn around quickly, but with us being at the end of the season, my take is that the next nine months are going to be dicey for donor dollars and promise of better times ahead.

[AppSt94]

Drink was only here long enough to get his HC title on his resume to get a better paying gig. Fair to say that he may have stayed two years, but one year wasn’t all that surprising.

I’m not going to disagree with you on next year being the year for decisions, but I am of the opinion that he is safe as long as he doesn’t lose the team. The NIL and transfer portal are a big deal and we are at a severe disadvantage with both. Chancellor Everts owns the portal piece and is working to get that fixed. That takes time. We shall see.

[Appalum33]

I have a coworker who is friends with quite a few current players. She said they are all over it. No one is happy. They didn’t elaborate much more than that, but her sense was that they have all lost their faith in SC and other coaching staff.

[ArmantiWaterSafety]

It has just really.....reallyyyyyyy bad timing.

We had everything in front of us after College Gameday, and I do mean everything. Money was pouring in, somewhat literally.

This season has been hard to stomach for a multitude of reasons, but the hardest one to stomach is the one we can't see (aka cash flow).

I'm certainly not one to stop donating because of a bad season, but a lot are and that's their prerogative. It unfortunately lines up perfectly with the "per seat" donation model they're introducing starting next year, and a lot of people will use that as an excuse to not renew. Passion was at an all time high after CGD, and it has massively fallen off. I even noticed myself not being near as upset about the Marshall result as I would have been during a normal App loss because my expectations have fallen so much based on a creeping in realism vs. optimism.

I really do hope I'm wrong, but if we lose our next 2 games, I don't think the wait list for season tickets will continue to exist.

[AppSt94]

Honestly, to stop donating because of one bad football season is petty and childish. That money goes to support student athletes across the entire athletics department.

[bigdaddyg]

I threw out the question before the season started asking what would happen if, god forbid we went 8-4. There was a consensus that many would absolutely melt down. I thought 8-4 might be the worst case scenario but now 6-6 could be the reality. To completely abandon the program as some seem to indicate is insane. Most every normal program has a dip every now and then.

[OldAppPlayer]

Here’s a thought: considering the state of mediocrity we’ve hit, how about the coaches deploy a mandate that says “for every grandstanding moment an App State player committs, every single player on the roster is required to run 2+ gassers after a full pad, full contact practice. No days off, no walk throughs, you quit, you’re done.

You're naive if you don't think they are penalized for stupid errors...

Maybe. But you’ve most likely never ran a gasser if you think the players continually celebrate game after game after g… Semantics aside, we are terrible and I seriously can’t fathom why a player would want to celebrate after ANY play considering the current record

I've put blood sweat and tears in the field at KBS. I can guarantee I have ran more gassers on that field than you have nonsensical posts on here -- which is a lot.

Fun fact -- at high level college football, gassers aren't that hard. Give me a 100 yard pencil roll if you want difficult.

I had to do sprints along with doing a 100 yard leap frog at App. What years did you play?

[spacemonkey]

It has just really.....reallyyyyyyy bad timing.

We had everything in front of us after College Gameday, and I do mean everything. Money was pouring in, somewhat literally.

This season has been hard to stomach for a multitude of reasons, but the hardest one to stomach is the one we can't see (aka cash flow).

I'm certainly not one to stop donating because of a bad season, but a lot are and that's their prerogative. It unfortunately lines up perfectly with the "per seat" donation model they're introducing starting next year, and a lot of people will use that as an excuse to not renew. Passion was at an all time high after CGD, and it has massively fallen off. I even noticed myself not being near as upset about the Marshall result as I would have been during a normal App loss because my expectations have fallen so much based on a creeping in realism vs. optimism.

I really do hope I'm wrong, but if we lose our next 2 games, I don't think the wait list for season tickets will continue to exist.

We never had a waiting list. Artificial limit for season tickets. We would have over 12000 season tickets if real. Even if it is real...they will not renew next year because they were Chapel Hill fans. I hope I am wrong.

[ArmantiWaterSafety]

We never had a waiting list artificial limit for season tickets. We have over 12000 season tickets if real.

Yeah, I never believed it. I think it's artificial supply to create demand given the timing but I don't think they'll be able to play that card going forward.

[spacemonkey]

We (AppFans) like to brag about attendance. We have had a perfect run to have attendance. If our students drop off our attendance would be pretty sad. Hopefully It never happens. This weeks attendance should be interesting. HIGH of 39...low of 18. Hopefully it will be a big win early and we can all head to Holmes for a nice warm basketball treat.

[311neers]

Here’s a thought: considering the state of mediocrity we’ve hit, how about the coaches deploy a mandate that says “for every grandstanding moment an App State player committs, every single player on the roster is required to run 2+ gassers after a full pad, full contact practice. No days off, no walk throughs, you quit, you’re done.

You're naive if you don't think they are penalized for stupid errors...

Maybe. But you’ve most likely never ran a gasser if you think the players continually celebrate game after game after g… Semantics aside, we are terrible and I seriously can’t fathom why a player would want to celebrate after ANY play considering the current record

I've put blood sweat and tears in the field at KBS. I can guarantee I have ran more gassers on that field than you have nonsensical posts on here -- which is a lot.

Fun fact -- at high level college football, gassers aren't that hard. Give me a 100 yard pencil roll if you want difficult.

I had to do sprints along with doing a 100 yard leap frog at App. What years did you play?

Hahaha had to do pencil rolls on the football field the whole 100 yards on the frozen ground (on the astroturf). It was brutal. Puking in 20 degree weather was not fun. Then again, nothing is fun in 20 degree weather lol. Mike and Robby (Strength and Conditioning) were awesome until we had to do those after workouts.

[Yosef84]

I do understand that people are disappointed and upset (myself included) and some feel obligated to post their thoughts in public forums in order to vent. That's what message boards are for. That said, surely nobody actually thinks that these "ideas" are unique and coaches haven't already considered or implemented them. Saying we should go out and offer every cast-off from the major programs is an incredibly simplistic "fix" to our situation. In the first place, some of those guys are leaving for reasons that would indicate we don't want them. Even more commonly, EVERY G5 team in the country (as well as some P5) are thinking the same thing. Some have had success that way but many haven't. South Alabama did that with basketball last year and everything thought they would dominate....but they didn't. Fit is important!

This has been a disappointing year by any standard but folks need to remember that the level of competition in the SunBelt has improved significantly. This team has some issues to be sure but they would probably beat some of our conference championship teams from a few years ago.....or at least match their success against the same competition. The "step back' isn't as severe as people think. It is magnified because our conference opponents are now good enough to take advantage when we bring our B (or C) game.

Also, Clark took his very first HC position just in time to deal with a pandemic, Zoom recruiting and some unusual eligibility rules, not to mention NIL and the transfer portal. The landscape isn't what it was just a few years ago. I do hope we get things figured out and corrected but some of the comments on here are pretty extreme.

Also, do people think that termination is the only way to fix problems? You do know that the transition adds an additional layer of risk, especially since we usually have to hire less experienced assistants who will take our pay levels. It is entirely possible to correct issues and allow a coach to develop. If everyone on this board got fired every time we made a mistake, we wouldn't be posting here because we'd be too busy digging ditches to feed our families. I was worried when Dale Jones was hired as DC because I remembered the first time around. Since then he's done a pretty good job. Although he is responsible for his staff, that's not the same as saying he is the cause. Some issues might require an off-season to correct...whether for transition or for S&C.

I'll continue wearing my black and gold glasses and expecting the turn around. That's how I enjoy the game. My opinions don't fix a thing on the field and I would rather be disappointed afterwards than to ruin the entire season by going negative on the team I love.

[BambooRdApp]

Great Post 84

[Stonewall]

Strategically ,Drink looks like a bad hire , a bad decision.Had we hired Ivey , or Shawn at that time,{or someone else like McElwain ,who would have stayed} perhaps the momentum would have carried us to a better place today.We will never know , but DG owns this and unless he is headed to WVa he has to make it right.I don't know what that involves but he has to figure it out.

[AppSt94]

Well said 84.

[AppStateNews]

Strategically ,Drink looks like a bad hire , a bad decision.Had we hired Ivey , or Shawn at that time,{or someone else like McElwain ,who would have stayed} perhaps the momentum would have carried us to a better place today.We will never know , but DG owns this and unless he is headed to WVa he has to make it right.I don't know what that involves but he has to figure it out.

Jim McElwain? You don't honestly think he would have stayed any longer than Drink do you? He also would have ridden that Lamborghini with keys in hand to the first P5 that came calling...

[BambooRdApp]

"For the good of the program", I hope none of us are hired as AD or HC.