Fire Brock Spack

[Hamdonger]

This not a reaction over 1 game and you know that.

Fourthandshort...you are a beacon of light around this place and you deserve GREAT props! I eagerly read your posts.

I'm 100% with Redbird on this one. Punting with a short field...repeatedly. Getting so uptight in crunch time that we lose track of very basic fundamentals - and I'm talking from a coaching perspective. And this kicker bullsheep has gone on much much much too long. These 3 aspects are beyond concerning, they're ALARMING. I cannot believe there's not a kicker on campus who can hit a 40 yarder regularly...under pressure... boot the ball in the end zone...and hit XP's at a 95% clip. Somebody's off-season job, even an undergrad intern, should have been assigned this: To find a kicker with balls. Even if it means a women's soccer player. Sorry for the unintentional faux pas there.

An A.D. with a football background would be borderline livid right now, imo, regarding those 3 issues and its combined ripple effect...on top of a predictable offense. A Coach's wet dream, exclaims Timmy! That ripple effect, I bet, has cost us 2 wins a year the last several years. Football peeps, tell me I'm lying!

Personally, I really like Brock. Professionally, I'm checking out.

Here's why. We're playing a hunkered down, timid, fearful, and terribly predictable game in crunch time. Is there anything more gross in all of football???

I do acknowledge Brock could go out and make 1M a year as a DC for a strong P5. As a head coach...is he getting better?? I don't see it. Bless his heart.

 

[isuquinndog]

The wheels are turning. A search firm has been selected to help find a new President. I thought President Tarhule had an excellent chance of having the "Interim" removed from his title but that is looking less likely.

So a new President gets hired and then that person begins to build a staff to their liking. The new hires will include a permanent AD. Then the new AD reviews the various athletic programs and personnel. The wheels are turning but I doubt things will get rolling fast enough for anyone here.

Much at stake in ISU president search, and many ways to err

Illinois State University trustees have chosen to use Parker Executive Search as the hiring and consulting firm to help find the next president. The firm will be paid $110,000 plus expenses. There's a lot to be done to identify a diverse pool of highly qualified candidates and make sure the new...

www.wglt.org

Thanks for the article link. I get busy and don't check WGLT as much as I want.

Interesting to note there that the tenure of university presidents across the country are down but the percentage of schools using a search firm is up.....things that make you go hmmm.

 

[Bird Friend]

The wheels are turning. A search firm has been selected to help find a new President. I thought President Tarhule had an excellent chance of having the "Interim" removed from his title but that is looking less likely.

So a new President gets hired and then that person begins to build a staff to their liking. The new hires will include a permanent AD. Then the new AD reviews the various athletic programs and personnel. The wheels are turning but I doubt things will get rolling fast enough for anyone here.

Much at stake in ISU president search, and many ways to err

Illinois State University trustees have chosen to use Parker Executive Search as the hiring and consulting firm to help find the next president. The firm will be paid $110,000 plus expenses. There's a lot to be done to identify a diverse pool of highly qualified candidates and make sure the new...

www.wglt.org

Being a state institution, ISU has to follow appropriate procedure. That involves a nationwide search as the first in a series of steps. At this point, Tarhule has probably as good a chance as anyone else. That said, I don't think it's all that common for a provost to move to the presidency at the same institution.

Based on the article, it also seems we're not very far into finding our next president, especially if they've just now selected a search firm.

 

[TIMMY]

We got the ball with 2:48 left and a 6-point lead. We lined up in the pistol with a wing right and 2 guys split to the left. The play was a dive with the wing blocking back. we got a decent double team on their 1 tech but our left guard tried to belly-blast their 3 tech and was driven backwards. Gain of 1. 2nd Time out. 2:41 left. 2nd and 9. We line up with 3 wideouts and our TE in a wing. Another dive and Blakemore gets stuffed because both guards come off the ball too high and are driven back. Oh, they had 7 in the box because everyone in the free world knows Spack ain't throwing it. Gain of 1. Time out Eastern. Their last. Now the pièce de resistance. We line up 4 quick. That's right! Everyone knows it's a run. It's Spack for goodness sake. And again the pistol. We run right and the entire line gets caved. 11-yard loss.

Now I understand we're a zone team. But it's college football. How do we not have a Get-out-of-Dodge run-out-the-clock offense? Just 3 ****ing plays to win a game. We don't teach linemen to fire out and block back? We don't have a fullback? We don't have a guard that can pull? We can't run gap/power? We can't run lead/ISO. We can only run out of the pistol? I coached football for 40 years. I've always been a Spack guy but I'm sorry that's incompetent. We need a football-minded AD pronto.

 

[Bird Friend]

Thanks for the article link. I get busy and don't check WGLT as much as I want.

Interesting to note there that the tenure of university presidents across the country are down but the percentage of schools using a search firm is up.....things that make you go hmmm.

Just remember that correlation doesn't always mean causation. Then again, money is involved with both of these, so money might be the causative factor.

 

[DougSutton]

Coach Spack has the advantage of our football program not having a great tradition prior to him taking over and taking us to Frisco once.

But our record since then isn’t good, attendance is down, and our old school brand of football is not exciting. Outside of the 2 basketball programs, are any ISU programs trending up? Even the always successful volleyball program has been run into the ground.

Fair point about Coach Spack's accomplishments. At the same time, the Cubs hadn't won the World Series in 108 years and just a few years after winning, Joe Madden was fired.

I like Coach Spack and won't take a stance either way but I do understand that winning, driving fan support, and revenue matters and we've been pretty ok the last few years. I've never met Coach Spack but everyone I personally know that has really likes and supports him.

The dilemma I see is that our success has been mediocre since the national championship game, good enough to be somewhat competitive but not so bad that we're at the bottom of the conference. If we were in or near last place, those are much easier decisions to make from a business standpoint but when you factor that we continue to be somewhat competitive and have a coach that seems to be a great person and ambassador to our community, that creates a difficult dilemma.

Big time college athletic programs that care about winning (LSU firing Ed Orgeron just 2 years after they won a National Championship comes to mind) wouldn't allow this level of success.

I care about these things less than i used to. I would love ISU to be challenging for MVFC titles every year but if they don't, it is what it is and I've found myself caring more about other FBS teams. That's just the phase of life I'm in now I guess. I'll always want ISU to be successful and will follow from a distance but won't be involved like I was when I lived in B/N.

 

[Bird Friend]

We got the ball with 2:48 left and a 6-point lead. We lined up in the pistol with a wing right and 2 guys split to the left. The play was a dive with the wing blocking back. we got a decent double team on their 1 tech but our left guard tried to belly-blast their 3 tech and was driven backwards. Gain of 1. 2nd Time out. 2:41 left. 2nd and 9. We line up with 3 wideouts and our TE in a wing. Another dive and Blakemore gets stuffed because both guards come off the ball too high and are driven back. Oh, they had 7 in the box because everyone in the free world knows Spack ain't throwing it. Gain of 1. Time out Eastern. Their last. Now the pièce de resistance. We line up 4 quick. That's right! Everyone knows it's a run. It's Spack for goodness sake. And again the pistol. We run right and the entire line gets caved. 11-yard loss.

Now I understand we're a zone team. But it's college football. How do we not have a Get-out-of-Dodge run-out-the-clock offense? Just 3 ****ing plays to win a game. We don't teach linemen to fire out and block back? We don't have a fullback? We don't have a guard that can pull? We can't run gap/power? We can't run lead/ISO. We can only run out of the pistol? I coached football for 40 years. I've always been a Spack guy but I'm sorry that's incompetent. We need a football-minded AD pronto.

Don't we have an OC who should be calling the plays / in Spack's ear?

 

[GOP_Redbird]

I think Coach Spack has "mailed it in". He was offered the Kansas job years ago and turned it down... Why? Because the big schools give folks 2-3 years or they are out. Here at Illinois State, Spack can coast 6+ Wins and stay here forever collecting a nice check.

Tip the cap to Spack for what he has done... ISU needs to find a Pedon type who will come in hungry to win and make a name for himself.

 

[Virginia Redbird]

There is no comparison with the Power 5, it is all money-driven at that level. Huge money, really huge money! At the FCS level, there are not that kind of dollars and that affects everything. Spack could have probably taken an FBS head coach job and cashed in. He also probably would have lasted a few years and then on to the next school. More money but bouncing around the country I am sure gets old. I think Spack likes the stability at ISU and his ego is not the same as the FBS-level coaches. LSU is a perfect example. Win a National Title and was kicked out a couple of years later. Kelly gets a ridiculous contract and he will be gone in the blink of an eye if he does not right that ship really soon. Spack is safe as a baby in it's Mama's arms. You don't have to win at ISU to keep your job. Honestly, you do not have to win. You just have to be at least mediocre and not embarrass anyone. Don't get me wrong, I am not saying Spack does not want to win championships. I am saying that maybe the fire in his belly to do that is not anywhere near as hot as it was his first few years. He knows he is under zero pressure, win or lose. It really does not matter. Add in the instability of the athletic department due to the unexpected departure of the AD and I would guess the ISU Athletic Department is a bit of a mess right now. I have no inside information on that, just an educated guess looking at the course of events. Something like that had to be destabilizing to the athletic department in a number of ways.

 

[Redbird]

As I read all the comments I really do think we are all on the same page. We all know he needs to go but because of circumstances we know he gets through next season. Without any inside knowledge, my money is on him coaching next year and retiring before getting fired. I also agree that we need a Pedon type who is young and fired up to come in and make a difference so he can leave it better than he found it.

 

[TIMMY]

Don't we have an OC who should be calling the plays / in Spack's ear?

1st it's not about play-calling. It's about having the plays in our playbook. And calling them. The OC and Spack were both in the huddle during the timeouts.
Brock Spack has forgotten more about football than I will ever know. But that last drive was horseshit. The team and the Oline in particular were put in a no-win situation.

 

[Total Red]

Don't we have an OC who should be calling the plays / in Spack's ear?

OC Tony Petersen does call the plays

 

[Total Red]

..on top of a predictable offense.

He can talk about modern football but he is still a tough defense, run the ball, type of guy. It is his football DNA, it just is.

I'm glad I watch the games. If I only depended on this board for news, I would believe that we have a run the ball predictable offense. Here are the facts. Through 3 games we have 1276 yards of offense. Of that 699 yards have come through the air and 577 on the ground.

The first good Redbird offensive drive ended when Annexstad threw deep for an INT ON FIRST DOWN. On first down gets all caps because that used to be a common complaint. We were predictable, we never threw on first down. Well there's your first down pass. Another drive ended when we attempted a WR pass.

Most of the basis for criticism comes from the Redbird possession that began with 2:48 to go and the 'Birds leading 13-7. Most coaches are going to run the ball every down in that situation. That is especially true when you've already thrown 2 int's and your defense has been playing very well. If you know football you know that's true. When it comes to the actual execution of those 3 plays I will defer to Timmy. He found plenty of flaws and that's why his posts are must read material. With the poor execution there was never any hope of gaining a first down, but it did force EIU to use up their timeouts and that was a major goal of the three running plays. As it turned out 2:48 was a little early to focus on just getting EIU to use up T.O.s. They got the ball back with 1:32 to go but they only needed 1:07 to travel 93 yards. The defense should have held. In hindsight it's easy to say we should have pressured the QB more because that was working (I agree) but we also could have won if we had been able to tackle EIU receivers inbounds.

Coulda, woulda, shoulda but didn't, resulting in a loss and a board meltdown. Now that's predictable.

 

[Bird Friend]

I'm glad I watch the games. If I only depended on this board for news, I would believe that we have a run the ball predictable offense. Here are the facts. Through 3 games we have 1276 yards of offense. Of that 699 yards have come through the air and 577 on the ground.

The first good Redbird offensive drive ended when Annexstad threw deep for an INT ON FIRST DOWN. On first down gets all caps because that used to be a common complaint. We were predictable, we never threw on first down. Well there's your first down pass. Another drive ended when we attempted a WR pass.

Most of the basis for criticism comes from the Redbird possession that began with 2:48 to go and the 'Birds leading 13-7. Most coaches are going to run the ball every down in that situation. That is especially true when you've already thrown 2 int's and your defense has been playing very well. If you know football you know that's true. When it comes to the actual execution of those 3 plays I will defer to Timmy. He found plenty of flaws and that's why his posts are must read material. With the poor execution there was never any hope of gaining a first down, but it did force EIU to use up their timeouts and that was a major goal of the three running plays. As it turned out 2:48 was a little early to focus on just getting EIU to use up T.O.s. They got the ball back with 1:32 to go but they only needed 1:07 to travel 93 yards. The defense should have held. In hindsight it's easy to say we should have pressured the QB more because that was working (I agree) but we also could have won if we had been able to tackle EIU receivers inbounds.

Coulda, woulda, shoulda but didn't, resulting in a loss and a board meltdown. Now that's predictable.

Plus 2 missed FGs and 1 missed PAT.

 

[CaliRdBrd]

I have not written off the season, I expected a tough game from EIU. What bothers me is not the first three games of this 2023 season but some trends over the past several years. The biggest trend of course is not very good offensive play. This, I think is my biggest complaint with Spack, he just does not do offense, he just does not. Just one thing to support my position is his failed Co-Offensive Coordinator idea that failed once and then he did it a second time with arguably worse results than the first time. We saw in the game on Saturday his instincts to always defer to his defense to win games. In my opinion his philosophy is clear as can be. He can talk about modern football but he is still a tough defense, run the ball, type of guy. It is his football DNA, it just is. He is a defensive guru, absolutely. This current team had all kinds of question marks on the defense and already they are looking pretty solid and getting better. The offense seems to be regressing and the tougher defenses are still yet to come.

The Fire Spack calls are going nowhere. Timmy is correct, they need to fill some slots before they talk about coaches. That means essentially nothing happens this year and probably nothing happens next year. Having the AD forced to resign unexpectedly has put everything back at least a year and maybe two. When the time does come I think a hard look needs to be taken on the upside and downside. Spack has been good to the Redbird program but nobody goes on forever.

What a bad football weekend this past one was. That ISU stinker and then the Bears at Tampa. The only thing offensive about either game was the smell from the offenses!

Bring back Beathard

 

[ChiRedbirdfan]

We got the ball with 2:48 left and a 6-point lead. We lined up in the pistol with a wing right and 2 guys split to the left. The play was a dive with the wing blocking back. we got a decent double team on their 1 tech but our left guard tried to belly-blast their 3 tech and was driven backwards. Gain of 1. 2nd Time out. 2:41 left. 2nd and 9. We line up with 3 wideouts and our TE in a wing. Another dive and Blakemore gets stuffed because both guards come off the ball too high and are driven back. Oh, they had 7 in the box because everyone in the free world knows Spack ain't throwing it. Gain of 1. Time out Eastern. Their last. Now the pièce de resistance. We line up 4 quick. That's right! Everyone knows it's a run. It's Spack for goodness sake. And again the pistol. We run right and the entire line gets caved. 11-yard loss.

Now I understand we're a zone team. But it's college football. How do we not have a Get-out-of-Dodge run-out-the-clock offense? Just 3 ****ing plays to win a game. We don't teach linemen to fire out and block back? We don't have a fullback? We don't have a guard that can pull? We can't run gap/power? We can't run lead/ISO. We can only run out of the pistol? I coached football for 40 years. I've always been a Spack guy but I'm sorry that's incompetent. We need a football-minded AD pronto.

I get your point Timmy! I often have a throwback to the Airplane movie once you start typing your football jive......

 

[ISUBird]

Spack has two more years after this season left on his contract. Unless something giant happens he will be here until his contract runs out.

At least he will be the first ISU football coach to get to 100 wins.

 

[Bird Friend]

Spack has two more years after this season left on his contract. Unless something giant happens he will be here until his contract runs out.

At least he will be the first ISU football coach to get to 100 wins.

If you just jinxed it . . .

 

[ISUBird]

If you just jinxed it . . .

I hope he can manage 2 wins in 30 games.

 

[Bird Friend]

I hope he can manage 2 wins in 30 games.

Agree . . . but just sayin' . . .