Assistant Coach Hotboard

[Spaceman Spiff]

Not looking like Joe Salave'a is under consideration for DC at Oregon.

Poo. I'd rather have had Salave'a than Brown, honestly.

Ummm why? If Oregon, the school he’s been coaching at for some time, doesn’t have faith in him as a playcaller on defense then why the hell would we?

I mean, Don Brown just got fired and does not have a recruiting rep.

Salave'a at least appears on the way up and has recruited several top 25 national players.

[ChooChooCat]

Honestly I couldn’t give a shit less if my DC recruits, that’s the job of position coaches. Don Brown has been recruiting for us fwiw.

Brown was also a scapegoat, prior to last year his defenses have been on point.

If you want Salave’a then you want poly recruits with no guarantee of being able to call a game defensively. Good with the bad.

[Spaceman Spiff]

Honestly I couldn’t give a shit less if my DC recruits, that’s the job of position coaches. Don Brown has been recruiting for us fwiw.

Brown was also a scapegoat, prior to last year his defenses have been on point.

If you want Salave’a then you want poly recruits with no guarantee of being able to call a game defensively. Good with the bad.

I don't hate Brown, but even before this year, he'd given up 62 and 56 to Ohio State in back to back years. He never actually held OSU under 30, although one was an OT game.

It worries me bc he had even talent or a talent advantage vs everyone but OSU at Michigan. 2020 would have been 3 years of Michigan's D getting beatdowns like we got from ASU.

I get Salave'a needs to prove his chops calling a game, but I'd feel better about the recruiting and I feel like Brown has to prove he hasn't receded as a play caller and that his struggles vs OSU aren't indicative of an issue.

My final thing, and I promised myself I'd be positive, so please don't ding me, but I think Fisch is gone in 3 years or so. I'd rather have a recruiting base to leave talent for the next regime.

It's not a slam on Brown either. He'll be the best DC we've had in a bit. I just would have preferred Salave'a.

[RichardCranium]

He’s been coaching Pueblo HS, IIRC.

I thought he was with the Sugar Skulls.

He may have been. He stepped down from Pueblo after the ‘19 season.

I thought Farber was coach at Pueblo for all of eternity.

[wyo-cat]

Sanders was there 6 years.

[Postmaster]

The guys on 1450 said they heard rumblings that another former player might be added to staff.

Anyone else hear this?

[azgreg]

[azgreg]

[Sid]

Teddy.

[Chicat]

Teddy.

Looks like it will be a part time position. Either way, great job by Fisch.

[EastCoastCat]

Things are getting exciting and we haven’t even seen the first snap.

Trying to temper my excitement but at least the building blocks seem to be in place.

[Irish27]

How long will it take the guys who hated the Judd Fisch hire to change their minds? I highly doubt hiring Brennan would of brought as much excitement for the upcoming season. Fisch has done everything correct so far. Plus, the recruiting is going better than I anticipated.

[UAEebs86]

Need to see it on the field first Irish.

[Merkin]

I was excited for the Tomey hire, for Mackovic, for Stoops, for RichRod, and for Sumlin.

I don't just have anything left regarding UA football.

Be he is doing and saying the right thing, just need to see if it all gels.

[ASUHATER!]

I'm excited for him now but he is on an extremely short leash until I see on the field results. Nothing he's done so far can be more important than Ws

[Chicat]

How long will it take the guys who hated the Judd Fisch hire to change their minds?

Let’s see where we are on this date 2023. Then I’ll let you know if I’ve changed my mind.

[catgrad97]

I'm with Merkin. I have nothing left. I've given U of A football more chances and more forgiveness than a wayward son.

Make it happen on the field, then we'll celebrate. Until then, asking for a retraction of justified criticism of how this hiring was handled based on a few off-field optics really reflects a fan POV that has learned nothing since Mackovic.

I. Want. Results. Nothing less.

[ASUHATER!]

I'm with Merkin. I have nothing left. I've given U of A football more chances and more forgiveness than a wayward son.

Make it happen on the field, then we'll celebrate. Until then, asking for a retraction of justified criticism of how this hiring was handled based on a few off-field optics really reflects a fan POV that has learned nothing since Mackovic.

I. Want. Results. Nothing less.

Yup. I am not going to a game or investing anything more than passing attention to the program until I see results and consistency.

[scumdevils86]

Agreed. This is all wonderful to see on paper I guess. Definitely impressive so far...on paper. But literally the only results I care about are wins and having a defense that isn't bottom 5 in the country for another decade.

This year I obviously have incredibly low expectations. 2021 in a semi post pandemic world I'd be happy with just not losing every game by 30 points.

2022 would be great to see us approaching a bowl game. 4 or 5 wins

2023 I want to see a big leap to general respectability and a much higher talent level.

[Irish27]

This is the time the program needs all the support it can get. For the coaches to show potential recruits the community is behind the program, fans need to attend. The program is not going to get turned around in a year, but I really hope this staff will get it turned around faster than what it took Stoops.

[Merkin]

It's been a very long time since the Tucson community was behind the football program.

I use this example often, but when Khalil Tate was the most exciting player in college football, and the Cats had a 3 game winning streak going, and had a ranked Wazzu team coming into town on a nice evening. Attendance was around 48,000 if memory serves, maybe less. That was when I knew the RichRod era was over. Now with the Sumlin disaster it's probably just a passing thought.

I think it's great that Cecil and Hunley were hired as position (only) coaches, and they seem to be doing work, making a lot of calls, but not only do the recruits not know who they are, the Cecil ASU interception return was in 1986. I graduated 1985, and my youngest is 27 years old. It's getting to the point where parents now may not remember them all that well. Having nice NFL careers will help though.

[ASUHATER!]

It's been a while, but it hasn't been that long. During the first 3-4 years of the Stoops era, we regularly averaged like 50-53k people per game in attendance. We sold out at least a third of our games. The student section was always full with 10k students. And that was with us winning like 3-6 games a season.

[azgreg]

[azcat49]

Now that’s a good video

[cerec_cat]

That is bad ass!

[Alieberman]

Alright... that video just gave me a football boner.

[Carcassdragger]

Damn thats good.

[Irish27]

Fisch gets it. Videos like this one will get the buzz going and hopefully get life back in Arizona Stadium. I am so glad we have a coach who really seems to cares. Sumlin never got it, in my opinion, he didn't care. Why would he with nice paychecks coming from Texas A&M and the UofA?
Every person has their opinion about Fisch and the program, but being an alum, as many of you are, I will support our school no matter what their record is. One final thing, "Bear Down!"

[Chicat]

I apologize for my ignorance but what exactly would change if everyone on this board suddenly became Jedd Fisch’s most loyal supporters?

I mean, if 4 and 5 star recruits are waiting for me to declare my undying affection for a guy who hasn’t even coached a practice yet, please someone let me know.

[Sid]

That gives me something to believe in.

[Spaceman Spiff]

How long will it take the guys who hated the Judd Fisch hire to change their minds? I highly doubt hiring Brennan would of brought as much excitement for the upcoming season. Fisch has done everything correct so far. Plus, the recruiting is going better than I anticipated.

Excitement counts very little for me. People were excited about Sumlin right up until BYU or getting down like 30-0 to Houston.

I want to see performance on the field and a solid foundation of talent laid before I'm excited. Right now, I think Fisch has done well in the transfer portal. It's hard to evaluate that because this is a unique transfer portal with immediate eligibility and no year of sitting.

I'm less than convinced that the HS recruiting will absolutely lay the talent groundwork. It's not terrible considering, but not studded with can't miss prospects who will absolutely raise the talent level. If we were pulling a bunch of 4 stars, I'd be impressed that he'd raised the level.

Saying we're excited and a down hasn't been played yet...sometimes that's the easiest time to get excited. Playing the games can have a sobering effect. I want to see the talent level going up, particularly with HS recruits, plus that transferring to improvement on the field.

I'm not unrealistic. Fisch can succeed in year 1 with a losing record because the cupboard was pretty bare. But I don't want to be excited for the hype, I want to be excited about results, and I'm not of the mind we're to that point.

[PieceOfMeat]

How long will it take the guys who hated the Judd Fisch hire to change their minds? I highly doubt hiring Brennan would of brought as much excitement for the upcoming season. Fisch has done everything correct so far. Plus, the recruiting is going better than I anticipated.

Maybe this isn't your intention, but to me, this statement reads as though you're confusing people's disliking how he was hired with people's opinion of the guy himself.

The guy could end up being great here, but that doesn't mean the hiring process wasn't extremely flawed, nonsensical, and driven by nepotism from 1 individual (robbins).

Fisch wasn't hired because his results as a coach thus far, he was hired because of his buddy running the university, and he was hired over the (seemingly) overwhelming opinions of everyone else involved.

This is the time the program needs all the support it can get. For the coaches to show potential recruits the community is behind the program, fans need to attend. The program is not going to get turned around in a year, but I really hope this staff will get it turned around faster than what it took Stoops.

Good luck with getting the majority of fans (more specifically, the non die-hard football crazy type of fan) behind this sentiment. If he does better than a trainwreck then the fans will come around to the guy and start showing back up. To request instantaneous blind loyalty to an unproven guy with zero ties to the university and that didn't seem to meet any of the pre-requisites layed out by the AD is a bit much.

That said, yes, it's nice to see an apparent enthusiasm and bringing in some staff that are alumns who love the university. If Fisch can keep up the effort/energy and get us to .500 in year 3 (and assuming recruiting is going better than it has the last handful of years now) then I'd assume the more casual fans will start showing up in droves. Tucson wants to support football, they just need someone to work for them, to show them it's ok to believe again in a program that has let them down so badly for so long.

::::edit::::
and as i was typing that Spiff posted a somewhat similar thought, and others have posted it as well obviously, I think the consensus isn't anything against Fisch personally, but he's going to have to prove it on the field.

[Spaceman Spiff]

I was excited for the Tomey hire, for Mackovic, for Stoops, for RichRod, and for Sumlin.

I don't just have anything left regarding UA football.

Be he is doing and saying the right thing, just need to see if it all gels.

I get both sides. I'm not hating on people who want to be positive and excited. Maybe they're better fans than I am.

I'm just sort of with you in that I've seen excitement go up in smoke too many times before. Excitement for a new hire is the simple part at Arizona. Converting that into long term success is the hard part.

But no hate towards people in the honeymoon phase. Maybe I'm just the bitter thrice divorced guy who grumbles about how they all look good on honeymoon in Hawaii.

[azcat49]

I was very vocal about not liking this hire but I have been surprised and pleased for the most part with his moves.

That said he needs to win on the field and improve recruiting. Pulling a kid from the Hamilton stronghold is a great start.

I also think next year will be a bit of fools gold as I think he wins 4 or 5 games as zi think with all the guys getting an extra year that our roster isn’t as bearish as it could have been. The transfer portal really helps to plug in the holes so I think we pleasantly surprise expectations.

If they are aggressive on defense and opportunistic on offense and look prepared and play with a chip on their shoulders I will be very happy. Talk shit about the scum and beat those Fers and I will be elated and more of a believer

[Chicat]

Four or five wins next year would be great. But if that momentum doesn’t extend to the next recruiting period we will be looking at 4-5 wins in Year Four.

I don’t need smoke blown up my ass in the first six months of the Jedd Fisch era. I need a foundation for excellence being built over these next three years.

I don’t begrudge anyone jumping on the bandwagon now. And I will have no issue with you rubbing my reticence in my face somewhere down the line. Because that will mean that I was wrong and Jedd Fisch was the right hire. It will make me nothing but ecstatic to have been on the wrong side of this one.

But trying to drag me now? When we just lost a 3 star recruit because he didn’t hear from the coaching staff? Let’s hit pause on that for the time being.

[tgrumpy2]

Four or five wins next year would be great. But if that momentum doesn’t extend to the next recruiting period we will be looking at 4-5 wins in Year Four.

I don’t need smoke blown up my ass in the first six months of the Jedd Fisch era. I need a foundation for excellence being built over these next three years.

I don’t begrudge anyone jumping on the bandwagon now. And I will have no issue with you rubbing my reticence in my face somewhere down the line. Because that will mean that I was wrong and Jedd Fisch was the right hire. It will make me nothing but ecstatic to have been on the wrong side of this one.

But trying to drag me now? When we just lost a 3 star recruit because he didn’t hear from the coaching staff? Let’s hit pause on that for the time being.

I am going to drag you for this. We don't know the other side of this story and my guess is there is one. We won't hear it because the other side is not allowed to comment on players or commits other than the basic stuff of where they came from and a brief resume of their talent. If Fisch had been losing a ton of commits since his hire I might be with you on this but he hasn't. If Fish hadn't been bringing in what appears to be decent football talent since his hire I might be with you but sorry, you're way premature on this one. Yea Fisch still has to win and we all k know it but until you know all the story you may want to hit pause.

[Sid]

Losing KC does warrant concerns, but I highly doubt they blew this kid off for no good reason. Perhaps they talked to his HS coaches and were told some information and made a decision on this kid? Who the F-K knows, but if that were to be the scenario then it would fall right in line with Jedd’s branding campaign for our program.

[azcat49]

That recruiting is key and I expect us to be in the 30’s nationally with any coach.

Most important is developing these guys which really hasn’t been done since Stoops crew in his middle years when he had about 5 future head coaches on that staff.

He is having a wonderful honeymoon and I think that first game in Vegas against a BYU team who will have zero film on us/him will be fun and will push up expectations quickly.

What he will learn fast is this fan base has had so many let downs and unfulfilled expectations that he will really need to keep the foot to the pedal.

I like his attitude though and hearing he is very happy at the helm of our program is a breath of fresh air

[Spaceman Spiff]

Four or five wins next year would be great. But if that momentum doesn’t extend to the next recruiting period we will be looking at 4-5 wins in Year Four.

This is the tipping point for me. It isn't so much about Fisch's work in his first season. It's how well he transitions to building something that will stand up year to year.

Overachieving to 4-5 wins in year 1 but not expanding on that would be a major disappointment. If he goes from 4-5 and brings us to a winning record by year 3 with more talent, then I see it as worth being excited over. Right now, the talent base isn't something that can sustain winning records without a buttload of luck.

It's that next step into a better talent core and a winning record that would genuinely help me think Fisch is an upgrade.

[azgreg]

It's official.

[azgreg]

[azgreg]

[MountainCat]

Bruschi Task Book

Advise No. 1 - Uniform Burning Bonfire.

[azcat49]

Optics are great and certainly getting paid for lunch time meetings is a plus for TB

Agreed on the uniforms. You want to bring back desert swarm then start with the uniforms. Fake it until you make it

[Chicat]

Losing KC does warrant concerns, but I highly doubt they blew this kid off for no good reason. Perhaps they talked to his HS coaches and were told some information and made a decision on this kid? Who the F-K knows, but if that were to be the scenario then it would fall right in line with Jedd’s branding campaign for our program.

Four or five wins next year would be great. But if that momentum doesn’t extend to the next recruiting period we will be looking at 4-5 wins in Year Four.

I don’t need smoke blown up my ass in the first six months of the Jedd Fisch era. I need a foundation for excellence being built over these next three years.

I don’t begrudge anyone jumping on the bandwagon now. And I will have no issue with you rubbing my reticence in my face somewhere down the line. Because that will mean that I was wrong and Jedd Fisch was the right hire. It will make me nothing but ecstatic to have been on the wrong side of this one.

But trying to drag me now? When we just lost a 3 star recruit because he didn’t hear from the coaching staff? Let’s hit pause on that for the time being.

I am going to drag you for this. We don't know the other side of this story and my guess is there is one. We won't hear it because the other side is not allowed to comment on players or commits other than the basic stuff of where they came from and a brief resume of their talent. If Fisch had been losing a ton of commits since his hire I might be with you on this but he hasn't. If Fish hadn't been bringing in what appears to be decent football talent since his hire I might be with you but sorry, you're way premature on this one. Yea Fisch still has to win and we all k know it but until you know all the story you may want to hit pause.

The story I know is that one of our recruits put it out on social media that there was a lack of interest from the new coaching staff. There hasn't even been any anonymous push back on that story. Even if Fisch & Company were not interested in keeping the kid in the fold, a phone call to him and his parents to tell them he should explore other options is the bare minimum. The fact that no one has fed Scheer or any other writer a story that says that's exactly what happened leads me to think that what KC Ossai tweeted is true.

Lots of people have been talking about how his communication has been world's better than Sumlin's, and I get that. Videos and memes are great. But he needs to make sure all the little things behind the scenes with recruiting are going smoothly too. That's what will build us into a contender.

[TheGreatCatsby]

That video is awesome! At 1:47 Tedy just destroys that guy with more than 100% effort. And those edge rushes vs. Illinois were elite level stuff.

[MountainCat]

Losing KC does warrant concerns, but I highly doubt they blew this kid off for no good reason. Perhaps they talked to his HS coaches and were told some information and made a decision on this kid? Who the F-K knows, but if that were to be the scenario then it would fall right in line with Jedd’s branding campaign for our program.

Four or five wins next year would be great. But if that momentum doesn’t extend to the next recruiting period we will be looking at 4-5 wins in Year Four.

I don’t need smoke blown up my ass in the first six months of the Jedd Fisch era. I need a foundation for excellence being built over these next three years.

I don’t begrudge anyone jumping on the bandwagon now. And I will have no issue with you rubbing my reticence in my face somewhere down the line. Because that will mean that I was wrong and Jedd Fisch was the right hire. It will make me nothing but ecstatic to have been on the wrong side of this one.

But trying to drag me now? When we just lost a 3 star recruit because he didn’t hear from the coaching staff? Let’s hit pause on that for the time being.

I am going to drag you for this. We don't know the other side of this story and my guess is there is one. We won't hear it because the other side is not allowed to comment on players or commits other than the basic stuff of where they came from and a brief resume of their talent. If Fisch had been losing a ton of commits since his hire I might be with you on this but he hasn't. If Fish hadn't been bringing in what appears to be decent football talent since his hire I might be with you but sorry, you're way premature on this one. Yea Fisch still has to win and we all k know it but until you know all the story you may want to hit pause.

The story I know is that one of our recruits put it out on social media that there was a lack of interest from the new coaching staff. There hasn't even been any anonymous push back on that story. Even if Fisch & Company were not interested in keeping the kid in the fold, a phone call to him and his parents to tell them he should explore other options is the bare minimum. The fact that no one has fed Scheer or any other writer a story that says that's exactly what happened leads me to think that what KC Ossai tweeted is true.

Lots of people have been talking about how his communication has been world's better than Sumlin's, and I get that. Videos and memes are great. But he needs to make sure all the little things behind the scenes with recruiting are going smoothly too. That's what will build us into a contender.

He committed to Sumlin and not Fisch and wasn't sure if he wanted to come after all. If one doesn't like the new coach, nothing you can do or say will change his mind. You can't please everyone. Hope he finds a better team of his choice and does well.

[Chicat]

If Jedd Fisch wants my undying affection he’ll announce that as long as he’s coach we will ONLY EVER wear the 1995 uniforms.

[Spaceman Spiff]

He committed to Sumlin and not Fisch and wasn't sure if he wanted to come after all. If one doesn't like the new coach, nothing you can do or say will change his mind. You can't please everyone. Hope he finds a better team of his choice and does well.

The bigger concern is if he's correct that no one from Fisch's staff supposedly contacted him at all.

If that's true, that's not very classy. At a bare minimum, I would expect current commits to get a phone call, even if it's to express that a mutual parting of ways seems best.

I don't know that it is true, but like Chicat said, I'm not aware of anyone disagreeing with his claim.

[aznavcat]

Shouldn't uniforms be a collaborative effort between the child-labor exploiters and the school with the school having the final say? It feels like Nike is purposely designing crappy uniforms for us (including basketball) and laughing as we wear them each game. It's like they were purchased randomly at a Goodwill. Have we ever challenged Nike? Has a U of A coach ever said, "we're not wearing that crap"? Oregon wouldn't put up with it.

If we want to establish traditional uniforms, we have to be consistent. We can't keep experimenting with 50 shades of gradient each year. Yes, bring back the killer uniforms of the Desert Swarm years and bring back the "tough as nails" attitude too. That's what we've all been waiting for since 2000