Bear Down Wildcats

Can we shut this thread down now? Ha ha.. cabrones

Don't think we'll be able to shut it down till we beat a good team, which is absolutely possible if Tate stays healthy.

I've been pondering the question, 'If you could fire RichRod today, would you?' this morning, and I'm torn. On the bright side, it's a much more positive place than I where I was three weeks ago. On the other hand, part of me believe RichRod will never win a Rose Bowl here, so we might as well get the coaching crap shoot started earlier.

Another question: what do you think is happening in the 'Fire Todd Graham' thread on the ASU sites?

UALoco wrote:Can we shut this thread down now? Ha ha.. cabrones

..why?

ASUHATER! wrote:

UALoco wrote:Can we shut this thread down now? Ha ha.. cabrones

..why?

Because RR was saved by a QB whose starting potential he overlooked.

Nothing's changed my mind, RR isn't going anywhere anytime soon. Only difference is now the possibility of "winning" season is greater than it was earlier in the season.

Longhorned wrote:

ASUHATER! wrote:

UALoco wrote:Can we shut this thread down now? Ha ha.. cabrones

..why?

Because RR was saved by a QB whose starting potential he overlooked.

Longhorned wrote:

ASUHATER! wrote:

UALoco wrote:Can we shut this thread down now? Ha ha.. cabrones

..why?

Because RR was saved by a QB whose starting potential he overlooked.

This completely.

EV, respectfully disagree with your post and LH'd nailed why.

I am so happy the cats won today and that probably means RR with with us for another season or two. Doesn't mean that changes my opinion on his coaching, recruiting, and stubbornness.

CalStateTempe wrote:EV, respectfully disagree with your post and LH'd nailed why.

I am so happy the cats won today and that probably means RR with with us for another season or two. Doesn't mean that changes my opinion on his coaching, recruiting, and stubbornness.

I couldn't agree more. Solid post CST.

Puerco wrote:Don't think we'll be able to shut it down till we beat a good team, which is absolutely possible if Tate stays healthy.

I've been pondering the question, 'If you could fire RichRod today, would you?' this morning, and I'm torn. On the bright side, it's a much more positive place than I where I was three weeks ago. On the other hand, part of me believe RichRod will never win a Rose Bowl here, so we might as well get the coaching crap shoot started earlier.

There's no way on God's green earth you can fire RR now. And unless Tate's performance suddenly falls off a cliff, he's not going anywhere any time soon.

RR just has to pray Tate doesn't get hurt, which unfortunately is an inevitability in his offense.

My patience w/RR was running very thin as well but I did think he deserved to still have his job. He got rid of the dead weight d-coaches, brought in some good recruiters, and he did offer Tate as a QB..Something many other coaches did not. He is stubborn but he finally has a QB that can run his offense and who makes everyone around him better. Keep the thread and Beardown.

Puerco wrote: On the other hand, part of me believe RichRod will never win a Rose Bowl here

In all fairness, no UA FB coach has ever gotten the team to the Rose Bowl, much less win one.

Last sole conference championship was early 1940s Border Conference. Never won the WAC.

RichRod and Tomey came close, but both ended up tiring of recruiting and never were able to follow up.

Need to get a young hungry HC from a smaller school, who still has the drive needed. Someone like Sean Miller.

CalStateTempe wrote:EV, respectfully disagree with your post and LH'd nailed why.

I am so happy the cats won today and that probably means RR with with us for another season or two. Doesn't mean that changes my opinion on his coaching, recruiting, and stubbornness.

Absolutely CST.

CalStateTempe wrote:EV, respectfully disagree with your post and LH'd nailed why.

I am so happy the cats won today and that probably means RR with with us for another season or two. Doesn't mean that changes my opinion on his coaching, recruiting, and stubbornness.

I'm not sure this thread is ready to die, but we can certainly put it on ice. Team goes 5-4 in P12 (7-5) overall, then this will have been a successful season where RR earned his money and his spot. Right now that is looking likely, but things can change on a dime. We get to win #7 in the regular season and this thread can die a sudden death.

I just hope this really is the start of an upward trend; there is reason to believe it might be, but there is also cause to be skeptical.

I will say this: I am looking forward to next weekend's game already. And it has been a few years since I have been that excited about UA FB.

As someone who was calling for RR head, I would be more than happy to be wrong and hope that he has maybe turned a corner by finding the right qb.

Alieberman wrote:finding the right qb.

Even a blind squirrel finds a few nuts I guess.

Have to give props to RichRod for being the only school to offer Tate as a QB, but if Dawkins hadn't of gotten hurt...

Going to a crappy bowl will save RichRod for a couple of years I guess, but getting tired of mediocrity.

I've gone from about 100% fire RR to 90% fire RR. He's still about 30 feet deep in a hole he has dug for himself that he has to get out of before he's earned the right to stay at this point.

ASUHATER! wrote:I've gone from about 100% fire RR to 90% fire RR. He's still about 30 feet deep in a hole he has dug for himself that he has to get out of before he's earned the right to stay at this point.

Just out of curiosity, what does he have to do? Would going 6-6 and beating ASU and then winning whatever lesser bowl game we got at least give him a grace period with you? This year isn't over and we can still easily collapse and go back to being terrible and if that were to happen, I"ll jump on your bandwagon. I've said this before that another losing season and I'll lead the frenzied crowd to the castle gates myself. I just do not want to start over if we don't have to. I don't care that he flirted with another school, most coaches do that. My concern was his defense and if he had not taken extreme steps to correct that I would have been on your bandwagon already. So I'm asking, what in your mind would it take for you to change your mind. I would hope its something reasonable and sane.

tgrumpy2 wrote:

ASUHATER! wrote:I've gone from about 100% fire RR to 90% fire RR. He's still about 30 feet deep in a hole he has dug for himself that he has to get out of before he's earned the right to stay at this point.

Just out of curiosity, what does he have to do? Would going 6-6 and beating ASU and then winning whatever lesser bowl game we got at least give him a grace period with you? This year isn't over and we can still easily collapse and go back to being terrible and if that were to happen, I"ll jump on your bandwagon. I've said this before that another losing season and I'll lead the frenzied crowd to the castle gates myself. I just do not want to start over if we don't have to. I don't care that he flirted with another school, most coaches do that. My concern was his defense and if he had not taken extreme steps to correct that I would have been on your bandwagon already. So I'm asking, what in your mind would it take for you to change your mind. I would hope its something reasonable and sane.

I get a feeling for some of the anti-RR crew, it would take an undefeated season.

tgrumpy2 wrote:

ASUHATER! wrote:I've gone from about 100% fire RR to 90% fire RR. He's still about 30 feet deep in a hole he has dug for himself that he has to get out of before he's earned the right to stay at this point.

Just out of curiosity, what does he have to do? Would going 6-6 and beating ASU and then winning whatever lesser bowl game we got at least give him a grace period with you? This year isn't over and we can still easily collapse and go back to being terrible and if that were to happen, I"ll jump on your bandwagon. I've said this before that another losing season and I'll lead the frenzied crowd to the castle gates myself. I just do not want to start over if we don't have to. I don't care that he flirted with another school, most coaches do that. My concern was his defense and if he had not taken extreme steps to correct that I would have been on your bandwagon already. So I'm asking, what in your mind would it take for you to change your mind. I would hope its something reasonable and sane.

I am not Hater, but I would be classified in the group that has been supportive of moving on.

I want a winning conference record for the 2nd time in 6 tries. Before the season that mean 8-4 (because we should have swept the non-con)... we lost to Houston, but so be it.

At least 7 regular season wins or bust. Why we even acknowledge OOC wins against the schedule we play is a mystery to me...

Spaceman Spiff wrote:

tgrumpy2 wrote:

ASUHATER! wrote:I've gone from about 100% fire RR to 90% fire RR. He's still about 30 feet deep in a hole he has dug for himself that he has to get out of before he's earned the right to stay at this point.

Just out of curiosity, what does he have to do? Would going 6-6 and beating ASU and then winning whatever lesser bowl game we got at least give him a grace period with you? This year isn't over and we can still easily collapse and go back to being terrible and if that were to happen, I"ll jump on your bandwagon. I've said this before that another losing season and I'll lead the frenzied crowd to the castle gates myself. I just do not want to start over if we don't have to. I don't care that he flirted with another school, most coaches do that. My concern was his defense and if he had not taken extreme steps to correct that I would have been on your bandwagon already. So I'm asking, what in your mind would it take for you to change your mind. I would hope its something reasonable and sane.

I get a feeling for some of the anti-RR crew, it would take an undefeated season.

Great point... because I have seen a lot of people calling for that.

And for the pro-RR crew to acknowledge that his collective tenure has been bad? I guess he'd have to get caught naked in a hotel room with a with a live boy or a dead girl.

I've stated it ad nauseum... I want winning conference record (5-4, 6-3) more often than not. And 4-5 in a bad season, not his 2nd-3rd best.

With our joke OOC scheduling overall record means nothing to me. Nor does a dogshit bowl. It would be akin to a MLB coach trying to get credit for pre-season wins.

Finishing this season with a better career conf winning % than Mike Stoops would be a good start. Looking a lot better right now than it was 9 days ago.

tgrumpy2 wrote:

ASUHATER! wrote:I've gone from about 100% fire RR to 90% fire RR. He's still about 30 feet deep in a hole he has dug for himself that he has to get out of before he's earned the right to stay at this point.

Just out of curiosity, what does he have to do? Would going 6-6 and beating ASU and then winning whatever lesser bowl game we got at least give him a grace period with you? This year isn't over and we can still easily collapse and go back to being terrible and if that were to happen, I"ll jump on your bandwagon. I've said this before that another losing season and I'll lead the frenzied crowd to the castle gates myself. I just do not want to start over if we don't have to. I don't care that he flirted with another school, most coaches do that. My concern was his defense and if he had not taken extreme steps to correct that I would have been on your bandwagon already. So I'm asking, what in your mind would it take for you to change your mind. I would hope its something reasonable and sane.

Show he consistently beat LA schools. Show he can consistently beat ASU. Improve recruiting a ton. Act more professionally on the field. Stop losing games by 30+ points.

ASUHATER! wrote:

tgrumpy2 wrote:

ASUHATER! wrote:I've gone from about 100% fire RR to 90% fire RR. He's still about 30 feet deep in a hole he has dug for himself that he has to get out of before he's earned the right to stay at this point.

Just out of curiosity, what does he have to do? Would going 6-6 and beating ASU and then winning whatever lesser bowl game we got at least give him a grace period with you? This year isn't over and we can still easily collapse and go back to being terrible and if that were to happen, I"ll jump on your bandwagon. I've said this before that another losing season and I'll lead the frenzied crowd to the castle gates myself. I just do not want to start over if we don't have to. I don't care that he flirted with another school, most coaches do that. My concern was his defense and if he had not taken extreme steps to correct that I would have been on your bandwagon already. So I'm asking, what in your mind would it take for you to change your mind. I would hope its something reasonable and sane.

Show he consistently beat LA schools. Show he can consistently beat ASU. Improve recruiting a ton. Act more professionally on the field. Stop losing games by 30+ points.

I guess I was hoping for something a bit more concrete on this. I really was trying to create a discussion and not discourse here. Personally I think he lost recruits last year because everyone knew he was on the bubble and I'm pretty sure other programs used that against him. Why do you wanna go there, he's gonna get fired. That being said he actually pulled in a few really decent recruits the past two years and we've seen that on defense. Again I'm not trying to argue this defense is great, I'm saying there is measurable improvement. I understand it has to be consistently better. I doubt if his on the field demeanor ever changes, Its gonna be what it is. So what does he need to do in your mind? Go 6-6 this year and have a top 30 recruiting class or better? Is it going to take two years or three or four....What is it going to take?

Consistency. My points are all extremely concrete and easy to understand. To keep your job as a football coach you have to recruit, beat your rivals, generally win, don't get embarrassed and don't embarrass the program. And RR has more or less failed extraordinarily on all of those things since November of 2014.

Harvey Specter wrote:

Spaceman Spiff wrote:

tgrumpy2 wrote:

ASUHATER! wrote:I've gone from about 100% fire RR to 90% fire RR. He's still about 30 feet deep in a hole he has dug for himself that he has to get out of before he's earned the right to stay at this point.

Just out of curiosity, what does he have to do? Would going 6-6 and beating ASU and then winning whatever lesser bowl game we got at least give him a grace period with you? This year isn't over and we can still easily collapse and go back to being terrible and if that were to happen, I"ll jump on your bandwagon. I've said this before that another losing season and I'll lead the frenzied crowd to the castle gates myself. I just do not want to start over if we don't have to. I don't care that he flirted with another school, most coaches do that. My concern was his defense and if he had not taken extreme steps to correct that I would have been on your bandwagon already. So I'm asking, what in your mind would it take for you to change your mind. I would hope its something reasonable and sane.

I get a feeling for some of the anti-RR crew, it would take an undefeated season.

Great point... because I have seen a lot of people calling for that.

And for the pro-RR crew to acknowledge that his collective tenure has been bad? I guess he'd have to get caught naked in a hotel room with a with a live boy or a dead girl.

I've stated it ad nauseum... I want winning conference record (5-4, 6-3) more often than not. And 4-5 in a bad season, not his 2nd-3rd best.

With our joke OOC scheduling overall record means nothing to me. Nor does a dogshit bowl. It would be akin to a MLB coach trying to get credit for pre-season wins.

Finishing this season with a better career conf winning % than Mike Stoops would be a good start. Looking a lot better right now than it was 9 days ago.

At least you give him a path off the hit list. I even think AsuHater has a path for him as well but its probably a lot tougher path.

He ain't getting fired, so there's that.

The haters don’t know what to do at this point

whatisee wrote:The haters don’t know what to do at this point

Of course we don't, but that's a good thing. Us haters being able to say, 'I told you so,' would imply it's been a miserable season. But hey, if you think earning a couple of wins against two teams who have one conference win to split between them is a huge accomplishment, then your expectations must've been even lower than mine.

RichRod is doing better with this team than I expected, but he can't flip that 4-2 from the first half of the season to 2-4 in the second half and expect a stay of execution. We need to play 0.500 ball from here on. With four of the last six on the road, that's going to be tough. But as long as Tate stays healthy we have a decent chance.

The problems are still there, just masked by Tate. Look no further than our O Line recruiting, or lack there of. We have 1 local kid at a position where we need 5 or 6.

It is fun though to look at our team and say we can win any game on our schedule now. That feeling of anticipation is back. I guess it shows how important having the right QB is in RR's system

No doubt, 49. It's fun to be interested in the games again. And it couldn't have come at a better time with the basketball shitshow going on.

ASUHATER! wrote:Consistency. My points are all extremely concrete and easy to understand. To keep your job as a football coach you have to recruit, beat your rivals, generally win, don't get embarrassed and don't embarrass the program. And RR has more or less failed extraordinarily on all of those things since November of 2014.

They also appear to all be in the past. That's why I posted some people want RR to go undefeated this year to retain his job. Just wanting him gone due to the past, well, that ship has sailed.

I think a far more realistic outlook acknowledges RR's problems in the last two years, but that most coaches are flawed. If RR is retained or someone new is hired, they have to rebuild from those problems. If RR shows this year that he can do it, that's better than a new hire, which tends to have a high risk of failure.

azcat49 wrote:The problems are still there, just masked by Tate. Look no further than our O Line recruiting, or lack there of. We have 1 local kid at a position where we need 5 or 6.

It is fun though to look at our team and say we can win any game on our schedule now. That feeling of anticipation is back. I guess it shows how important having the right QB is in RR's system

I wonder if going 6-6 over the next couple years, thanks in large part to Tate and therefore saving RR's job during those couple of years, doesn't end up doing more harm than good. Sure we won some extra ball games but if RR's goign to keep having the issues he's had the last few years and they're just masked by having Tate, isn't it a complete waste of one hell of an electric player's potential?

To answer your question, yes. But I think we are looking at a couple of 9 win years at minimum if he stays healthy and we challenge for the south crown

Has any UA QB gone injury free for a season in the RichRod era? Perhaps BJ Denker?

Once Tate gets hurt, this will be the entire city of Tucson.

This is year 6. Think about that. We are all arguing about a team trying for 6 wins during year 6. That's the problem with RR. That's what this fan base has been relegated to. Here's some numbers for a year 6 coach......

4-12 vs ASU/UCLA/USC

22-27 vs PAC 12

15 easy OOC wins

40-31 at Arizona

Slept on recruiting for four years because he planned on flying the coop.

Relying on ONE player in year 6 and that player started because of an injury. If Tate gets hurt, season over. Let me remind you that this is year 6. Had enough or are we still gluttons for punishment?

I'm very happy that the team is playing well and are fun to watch but I'm not going to crown RR king of UA football.

SirClinks wrote:I'm very happy that the team is playing well and are fun to watch but I'm not going to crown RR king of UA football.

Exactly. It's a deep grave he has to dig out of to earn his job back.

azcat49 wrote:The problems are still there, just masked by Tate. Look no further than our O Line recruiting, or lack there of. We have 1 local kid at a position where we need 5 or 6.

It is fun though to look at our team and say we can win any game on our schedule now. That feeling of anticipation is back. I guess it shows how important having the right QB is in RR's system

Conversely, could it not be argued that the team is adequate, not great, not terrible, but adequate, and all it lacked to win these games was a good qb? Face it, Dawkins was really bad. Basically, his shitty play lost two games for us. Had he continued, I am confident we would have lost the last two games as well.

Merkin wrote:Has any UA QB gone injury free for a season in the RichRod era? Perhaps BJ Denker?

Once Tate gets hurt, this will be the entire city of Tucson.

I feel like Dawkins is one hell of a backup QB. I know we tend to, as fanbases, hate young men because they aren't as good as we want them to be, but Dawkins is capable, and has the mentality of a great backup. He isn't phased by sudden change of play, and has a tendency to play really well when called upon in relief.

But everyone hates the QB when they struggle. I get it. I do believe that Dawkins is capable, with our RBs, of running our offense effectively. Not dynamically like Tate, but effectively. I would go as far as to say he is a good backup, and an asset vs what most teams go to when they lose their starter.

But this team has been more than just Tate in this mini run. Nick WIlson is starting to get his mojo back. Shun Brown and Poindexter have been very impressive in a part of the game people yawn about but one that is essential in this style of play...WR blocking up field. Ellison joined the fun, and all three have been pretty sure handed as well. JJ Nelson...that is one heck of a 1a to have to keep Nick from getting killed, and I feel good when Zach comes into the game to get 2 or 3 hard yards...a Billy Johnson vibe. We put the chokehold on that game, the little bit of life UCLA showed, in the 4th quarter without Tate having to do much. And that is encouraging.

For the first time in a couple of years, I feel like we have all the pieces offensively...that big play back, the productive 2nd back, the WRs that execute the gameplan well, not just run downfield, a good offensive line, and a big back to get 3rd and 1, which has plagued us for years. And our defense, while undersized, is forcing turnovers. They will give up yards in a hurry up offense style where we ask them to be on the field for long stretches, but they have done a very good job of making the other team grind for scores, and popping the occasional turnover along with timely stops. We have some young studs on that D, and boy did Jace have a game. Not just when Rosen threw right at him, but all game.

So we are much more than just Khalil Tate. He is what has taken this team from being an average team to possibly special, so I am not about to downplay his impact. He is amazing. But the rest of the team has, quietly, out of the view of all those who only see the results of last season, gotten healthy and started to play well. Utah was the beginning of that solidifying. Losing Tate would be awful...like most teams losing their star QB. But we would, IMO, be better off than many teams in that situation because Dawkins is now where he belongs, and where he is better than most...backup QB. His attitude is great, he is loved by this team, and he has handled Tate's ascension well.

I want to live in EVcats world haha.

That all sounds pretty and fun but this is year 6.

scumdevils86 wrote:I want to live in EVcats world haha.

If you did you could be hurt really badly, because if our "great backup QB" ever takes the field (again) you would be f***ed. Season over.

MrMeow wrote:

azcat49 wrote:The problems are still there, just masked by Tate. Look no further than our O Line recruiting, or lack there of. We have 1 local kid at a position where we need 5 or 6.

It is fun though to look at our team and say we can win any game on our schedule now. That feeling of anticipation is back. I guess it shows how important having the right QB is in RR's system

Conversely, could it not be argued that the team is adequate, not great, not terrible, but adequate, and all it lacked to win these games was a good qb? Face it, Dawkins was really bad. Basically, his shitty play lost two games for us. Had he continued, I am confident we would have lost the last two games as well.

I would agree with this post. We should be 6-0. I also think the recruiting, especially defensively has been better But chief brings up all the points we look at in our disdain of RR.

If Tate goes down we will struggle. He is definitely the straw that stirs the drink and we can see his program is built on having that right guy. Without it his troops wonder in the desert. Can he find another Tate?

Yeah I didn't realize that a 56% completion rate for 13 TD (3 of which came against awful UTEP) and 9 INT in the last 15 games was considered "Good".

scumdevils86 wrote:Yeah I didn't realize that a 56% completion rate for 13 TD (3 of which came against awful UTEP) and 9 INT in the last 15 games was considered "Good".

Some people just love to live in denial.

scumdevils86 wrote:Yeah I didn't realize that a 56% completion rate for 13 TD (3 of which came against awful UTEP) and 9 INT in the last 15 games was considered "Good".

Love the doom and gloom. What are Tate's stats? KT looked perfectly healthy walking off the field after that curb stomping he dished out to the ruins. The "if" and "when" he gets hurt crap speaks to the doomsday world a lot of you choose to live in. The fact that this fire Rich Rod thread still has legs after a great win speaks to how many of you want the Cats to fail. Please explain to me how you want to shitcan Rich, but you would also be thrilled if by chance, the Cats win out?

Simple math. You want us to lose if you want Rich Rod gone that bad.

Amazing.

uuuhhhh have you seen qbs under rich rod here? they all eventually get hurt. usually to the point that they can't function anymore. love tate. i just hope he can last.

scumdevils86 wrote:uuuhhhh have you seen qbs under rich rod here? they all eventually get hurt. usually to the point that they can't function anymore. love tate. i just hope he can last.

Intelligent fan alert.

scumdevils86 wrote:uuuhhhh have you seen qbs under rich rod here? they all eventually get hurt. usually to the point that they can't function anymore. love tate. i just hope he can last.

Rather be on the bench at Baylor than starting for RichRod.

chiefzona wrote:

scumdevils86 wrote:uuuhhhh have you seen qbs under rich rod here? they all eventually get hurt. usually to the point that they can't function anymore. love tate. i just hope he can last.

Intelligent fan alert.

This is pure comedy on all ends.

Merkin wrote:

scumdevils86 wrote:uuuhhhh have you seen qbs under rich rod here? they all eventually get hurt. usually to the point that they can't function anymore. love tate. i just hope he can last.

Rather be on the bench at Baylor than starting for RichRod.

He lost his job at Arizona so he would not have been the starter and he was the starter at Baylor until he was benched for his play again.

Usually I save the swings and misses for the twins but I almost had to do it here.