Fire Brock Spack

[redbirdfan04]

You all have been bitching about no offense for years. About how Spack can’t get the right offensive coordinator, can’t develop a QB, can’t recruit a QB, is too predictable with his play calling, yada, yada, yada. Yet Spack is the best thing ever to happen to Redbird football.
You all (you, Total Red, MadBird and others) remind me of Bears fans still living off the ‘85 season. You’re Spacks’ lap dogs.
Good boy…woof, woof.

Spack is the best thing that happened to ISU football. He along with every fan is pissed about this season. I have confidence he will right the ship and be in the post season again next year.

 

[CaliRdBrd]

Just curious how long you have been a fan? My reason for asking is I graduated in 82, been a fan for over 40 years and I know our dismal history. If you suffered through some of that Spack still looks good

Tallest pygmy.

 

[fourthandshort]

Since 2016 we have 6-5 or worse every season but one. We haven’t had a relevant offense since 2015. We are NOT a top 3 or 4 team in this conference. We are where we are at because of his coaching and leadership. You act like everything is just fine and it isn’t. I hope I’m wrong. I want to be wrong. I hope next year is turned around. This year is not a blip on the radar. It is a culmination of the last 5 years. You should also talk to some former coaches who have gone on to better jobs and find out how things are going here.

No I don't act like nothing is wrong. Ive been harping on Spack and his pass offense for many years .. I am very well documented on this point.

Bur he is our guy, he knows how to run a program .. he builds defenses like very few in FCS, and builds run games better than most. I just want him to open his mind to letting an OC being in charge ... truly in charge of the pass game and QB. That is Spack's main weakness ... yet still made the quarter in 2019 and gave the National Champ all they could take that year.

Grass isnt always greener .. what is your plan to attract someone who will do better and not leave in 2-3 years ?

Case in point .. Dino Babers, EIU with Garapolo .. no thanks !!

 

[fourthandshort]

I think we're being trolled by an AD plant to gauge Spack support.

 

[fourthandshort]

Tallest pygmy.

Yeah, playing in the MVFC .. pygmy's ? Sure, such a valid point. Checkmate, Spack loses .. fire him now !!!

 

[CaliRdBrd]

Yeah, playing in the MVFC .. pygmy's ? Sure, such a valid point. Checkmate, Spack loses .. fire him now !!!

You completely missed the reference. The MVC, as a conference is insanely good. No argument there.
I was simply stating that, among all time Redbird coaches, Spack is the tallest Pygmy.
However, 6-5 for eternity seems to suit you all just fine, so carry on.

 

[Trey_Guidry4three]

Dumb comment

Another Redbird kool-aid fan in denial. He should've taken the money and RUN

 

[redbirdfan04]

Another Redbird kool-aid fan in denial. He should've taken the money and RUN

In denial of what? Please go back to bashing the basketball team for winning.

 

[fourthandshort]

I don't know how closely you read the board. Timmy, Madbird and I are nobody's lapdogs. We acknowledge the fact that Coach Spack has done things no other Redbird coach has done like take the team to the National Championship in 2015. In 2019 the team went to the 3rd round of the playoffs with two road playoff victories. The 2020 team was set to be even better. We would have had Romeo McKnight, John Ridgeway and QB Brady Davis who was healthier than he had ever been. All those players and more were gone by the Spring '21. So yes, we're rational, fair-minded people that acknowledge both the good and the bad. We plead guilty to that. We don't qualify as lapdogs but you have to own that fact that you're one of the jackals that shows up when things go poorly. You don't show up in the South Dakota thread, you don't show up in the N. Iowa thread. Those were ranked teams that Redbird Football beat this season. There was nothing to whine or complain about so you were dead silent. What kind of fans show up when things go wrong? Scavengers. Well at least you're good at something.

Uh, this x 1000 !!!

 

[fourthandshort]

You completely missed the reference. The MVC, as a conference is insanely good. No argument there.
I was simply stating that, among all time Redbird coaches, Spack is the tallest Pygmy.
However, 6-5 for eternity seems to suit you all just fine, so carry on.

ok, mis-read your point .. and honestly, your only valid point on this thread. Yes, he is the tallest among the pigmy's of ISUr history. But what do you think his peer coaches from NDSU, SDSU, UNI, etc would say about playing against Spack teams ?

More to the point, what they would say if our AD did what you and some others want, and fire him ... I have zero doubt the coaches from the other elite programs in the MVFC would be astounded at such a decision given Spacks success. And by this logic, 10 of 12 programs in the MVFC should be firing their HC every 2-3 years. Hell, even SDSU should have fired their coach by now with this kind of logic.

 

[Redbird]

In the 6 seasons since Tre/Marshaun run of a championship appearance and a quarterfinal run Spack has gone 33-31 overall and 19-25 in conference. Two playoff appearances with a first round exit against Central Arkansas that we should have won (Even though we shouldn't have been in the playoffs that year) and the impressive quarterfinal run that gave the toughest game to NDSU. His season records for those seasons are 6-6, 6-5, 6-5, 10-5, 1-3, 4-7. Tell me how we are going in the right direction. Tell me why we haven't capitalized off of that two season run that should have set us up for years from a recruiting standpoint? We have only got worse since the 2015 season with one good season in 2019.

Fourth, I have read many of your posts that provide a tremendous amount of research. I know that you are smart and have a ton of common sense from what I read on here. You have to agree with what I have provided to you above. What is going right now in this program isn't working. Period. I understand that he has transformed this program to have higher standards but there in lies the problem. We expect more and we haven't been getting it. We are where we are at because he has led this program to it, good and bad, but the bad is now outweighing the good.

 

[isuquinndog]

As a person who isn't a big college football fan, haven't the coordinators been a big issue since that championship game run? I know the Spack is in charge of that but how much does that turnover/oddness have to do with our struggles?

 

[fourthandshort]

As a person who isn't a big college football fan, haven't the coordinators been a big issue since that championship game run? I know the Spack is in charge of that but how much does that turnover/oddness have to do with our struggles?

In the 6 seasons since Tre/Marshaun run of a championship appearance and a quarterfinal run Spack has gone 33-31 overall and 19-25 in conference. Two playoff appearances with a first round exit against Central Arkansas that we should have won (Even though we shouldn't have been in the playoffs that year) and the impressive quarterfinal run that gave the toughest game to NDSU. His season records for those seasons are 6-6, 6-5, 6-5, 10-5, 1-3, 4-7. Tell me how we are going in the right direction. Tell me why we haven't capitalized off of that two season run that should have set us up for years from a recruiting standpoint? We have only got worse since the 2015 season with one good season in 2019.

Fourth, I have read many of your posts that provide a tremendous amount of research. I know that you are smart and have a ton of common sense from what I read on here. You have to agree with what I have provided to you above. What is going right now in this program isn't working. Period. I understand that he has transformed this program to have higher standards but there in lies the problem. We expect more and we haven't been getting it. We are where we are at because he has led this program to it, good and bad, but the bad is now outweighing the good.

Appreciate the nice comments. And if we're having this same conversation in say, 3-4 years, with those same results ...sure .. it is a reasonable conversation. But he does too many things well. And he can site 2016 and 2019 as very strong teams, along with 2011 and 2012 .. top 10 level teams. Now 2016 team was way too inconsistent ... but they went into NW and beat a very strong NW team .. no fluke, won the scoreboard, won the stats, and clearly played with/better than NW that day. And we outplayed #10 UCA on their field, but lost on 2 fluke plays in Q4, or that team allso makes the quarters at 6-5. But all those teams had no Tre or Marshaun.

This is life in the MVFC ... and I just don't assume the grass will be greener with our next hire. And I still come back to my earlier points .. how would the top programs in MVFC (and FCS) react to a Spack firing ... obviously, I dont know ... but I would bet money they would be stunned.

Now the AD can do what he wants .. but he better have what it takes to find the next guy to take us further than Spack has. Eventually, Spacks time will come to end ... but we just had a quarterfinal season 1 full season ago. Now just is not the time.

But yes, in meantime, Spack needs to fix the pass offense by finding an OC, and giving him some leash to be in charge.

 

[MadBird]

Appreciate the nice comments. And if we're having this same conversation in say, 3-4 years, with those same results ...sure .. it is a reasonable conversation. But he does too many things well. And he can site 2016 and 2019 as very strong teams, along with 2011 and 2012 .. top 10 level teams. Now 2016 team was way too inconsistent ... but they went into NW and beat a very strong NW team .. no fluke, won the scoreboard, won the stats, and clearly played with/better than NW that day. And we outplayed #10 UCA on their field, but lost on 2 fluke plays in Q4, or that team allso makes the quarters at 6-5. But all those teams had no Tre or Marshaun.

This is life in the MVFC ... and I just don't assume the grass will be greener with our next hire. And I still come back to my earlier points .. how would the top programs in MVFC (and FCS) react to a Spack firing ... obviously, I dont know ... but I would bet money they would be stunned.

Now the AD can do what he wants .. but he better have what it takes to find the next guy to take us further than Spack has. Eventually, Spacks time will come to end ... but we just had a quarterfinal season 1 full season ago. Now just is not the time.

But yes, in meantime, Spack needs to fix the pass offense by finding an OC, and giving him some leash to be in charge.

Plus which, even tho it feeds the frustration a huge lunch, we beat two ranked playoff teams this year - UNI and USD. So, very inconsistent, up and down, whatever you want to say. How much blame to Spack? How much "punishment"? Deserves to lose his job after a couple years of "mediocre"?

I like the suggestion on some earlier post - new AD has a sit down the Spack and says, guy we love you and your approach and what you've done here, but let's figger out a way to get that offense jazzed up. Do you need some more dough to hire a "better" OC? Okay, let's get it done. Lots of guys over on redbirdfan.net ready to donate to that cause!!

 

[Virginia Redbird]

I think the AD will certainly have a frank discussion with Coach Spack. The Spring/Fall seasons of 2021 do nothing to help him build the athletic program. I don't think it is too hard to figure out the main problem has been offense. The Head Coach is always the one responsible. He sets the program and hires the assistants. Firing the Head Coach usually means a total house cleaning. You may strike it right or you may regress. I believe if the offense could have produced just a few first downs and chewed up some clock in those 4th quarter loses there was a good chance the Birds win those games. Instead we got turnovers and a bunch of 3 and outs and they lost.

If I was AD for a day I would ask ... do we need a total rebuild of the program or is this current situation fixable. Then if fixable, is the current guy the one to fix it. If I felt the current situation was unfixable and/or the guy in charge was not capable of fixing the problems then I would fire the coach. I think the Redbirds are fixable so the question becomes is Coach Spack the guy to fix it. The answer to that question is whether he is willing to make changes to his offensive coaching staff and coaching/recruiting philosophy. I don't expect him to be Air Coryell but I don't expect him to be Woody Hayes either (dating myself obviously). He has more than proved he can put a decent defense on the field virtually every year.

We will see what the AD does, his call. My guess is Spack is going nowhere at least for 2022,

 

[MadBird]

I think the AD will certainly have a frank discussion with Coach Spack. The Spring/Fall seasons of 2021 do nothing to help him build the athletic program. I don't think it is too hard to figure out the main problem has been offense. The Head Coach is always the one responsible. He sets the program and hires the assistants. Firing the Head Coach usually means a total house cleaning. You may strike it right or you may regress. I believe if the offense could have produced just a few first downs and chewed up some clock in those 4th quarter loses there was a good chance the Birds win those games. Instead we got turnovers and a bunch of 3 and outs and they lost.

If I was AD for a day I would ask ... do we need a total rebuild of the program or is this current situation fixable. Then if fixable, is the current guy the one to fix it. If I felt the current situation was unfixable and/or the guy in charge was not capable of fixing the problems then I would fire the coach. I think the Redbirds are fixable so the question becomes is Coach Spack the guy to fix it. The answer to that question is whether he is willing to make changes to his offensive coaching staff and coaching/recruiting philosophy. I don't expect him to be Air Coryell but I don't expect him to be Woody Hayes either (dating myself obviously). He has more than proved he can put a decent defense on the field virtually every year.

We will see what the AD does, his call. My guess is Spack is going nowhere at least for 2022,

Well, as I like to point out now and then, he's capable of putting a decent offense on the field virtually every year - Matt Brown set passing records for Spack's first 4 years, Roberson was a force (with Coprich) for two years, Jake Kolbe had two very decent years at QB and is career top 5 in several passing categories, and there was this guy named Robinson who graduated a couple years ago who wasn't a bad RB. The offensive breakdown is really only a couple years old, we can argue about whether the Brady Davis/J Rob years were "decent" or not, but I would argue the sky is not falling over the long haul. Was not good at all this year or in spring, no question about that.

 

[Total Red]

In the 6 seasons since Tre/Marshaun run of a championship appearance and a quarterfinal run Spack has gone 33-31 overall and 19-25 in conference. Two playoff appearances with a first round exit against Central Arkansas that we should have won (Even though we shouldn't have been in the playoffs that year) and the impressive quarterfinal run that gave the toughest game to NDSU. His season records for those seasons are 6-6, 6-5, 6-5, 10-5, 1-3, 4-7. Tell me how we are going in the right direction. Tell me why we haven't capitalized off of that two season run that should have set us up for years from a recruiting standpoint? We have only got worse since the 2015 season with one good season in 2019.

I certainly can't disagree with your basic premise that things are trending in the wrong direction. I don't think even Coach Spack disagrees with that. He has talked about his dissatisfaction with the current situation and his desire to get things back to way they used to be. In reviewing program history, we can't give credit to the 2020 season that never was, but as I mentioned in another thread, we had lots of talent ready to go that fall that was no longer here by the Spring of '21. We had lost James Robinson but the team was stronger at almost every other position. We had D-Linemen that were coveted by FBS schools and QB Brady Davis was in his best shape ever after successful ACL surgery. I'm sure he was ready to crank it up that fall and 2020 had a chance to be better than 10-5 2019.

And we've seen the program dip before. 5-6 in 2013 only to be followed by 13-2 in the 2014-15 season. So what happens next? Coach Spack admits that the transfer portal "free agency" is a gamechanger and not one he really likes. That doesn't necessarily mean he can't compete and win in this new environment. He brought in an excellent set of twins from Montana prior to this season (Deming brothers DE and TE).

A QB has to be on the shopping list. Would a QB want to come here? YES. The majority of players in the portal are looking for increased playing time. They're looking for a school that needs help at QB. The last thing you want to do is transfer and then remain sitting on the bench for another season. If you're looking for a D-I program in need of help at the QB position then Illinois State has to be high on your list. You could be the starting QB in Camp Randall at Wisconsin next fall. Sure, the offensive line might struggle to protect you but if you can think fast with a quick release, you might complete some passes anyway. If you have a really good day and throw 3 TD passes, you could put yourself on the NFL radar because they will know that your teammates were overmatched. If the Redbirds lose 56-21, you'll still look good.
Coach Spack has earned the opportunity to turn this around. It's Football Recruiting season. Let's see who we get.

 

[cubird]

Maybe the AD is more focused on getting the damn indoor practice facility built so Spack and other sports can prepare on the same playing field as their peers!

 

[TIMMY]

Spack and Brennan will have the same end-of-season meeting every coach and AD have after every season in every college sport across the country. Brennan will lay out his expectations for the future and so will Spack. I expect when Brennan brings up the coaching staff Spack will bring up coaching staff compensation.

It's going to be interesting to see how long Spack hangs on. Lake Ripley is calling and so are the walleye.

 

[DBird]

Spack and Brennan will have the same end-of-season meeting every coach and AD have after every season in every college sport across the country. Brennan will lay out his expectations for the future and so will Spack. I expect when Brennan brings up the coaching staff Spack will bring up coaching staff compensation.

It's going to be interesting to see how long Spack hangs on. Lake Ripley is calling and so are the walleye.

He might hang on longer if Timmy offers his expertise!
We need you Timmy!!