Sportsfan

1 hour ago, Big 4 Hoops Blogger said:

This week on the show, we discussed if we believe UB can contend in the MAC this year. John believes anything is on the table. We also got into UB's upcoming MAC slate which features the top teams in the conference.

Please fast-forward to the 45:00 mark. Appreciate any comments and opinions!

 

Great episode Mike, John!

Thoughts to consider.

1. Is UB talented, or just athletic?  The KenPom data would indicate athletic, but not skilled in basketball fundamentals.  John, do they do anything well from a "skills" coaching view.  They are poor shooters, bad defenders, poor passing, turnover machines, half court offense, etc.

2. Why are the bad on defense?  Coaching or Attitude?

3. Blue Collar?  They are not "gritty" at all.  Actually, from the games I have seen, the complete opposite of "Blue Collar".

4. Defense wins championships.  They have been bad on defense for 4 years.  Also, you cannot win championships without a half court offense that you can execute at the end of games (tight/close).

5. With today's portal and NLI, you have to win "today'.  There are no longer any "Development" programs.

6. Jim is not a good coach.  Nate went to Alabama and in the same time period has them at #2.  Jim has taken a Top 25 program an moved it down to 200.

22 hours ago, bulls2684 said:

It’s moving a week earlier starting next year 

 

https://www.ubspectrum.com/article/2022/10/faculty-senate-executive-committee-begins-process-to-add-fall-break-in-2023-24

Still don't understand the "Why".  Seems like a unique idea to have a session in the middle of winter break.  Students don't need 40 days off between semesters.

9 hours ago, enrique14150 said:

It kills me a little to think, though, if the band and students were back, if this place was an absolute snake pit tonight, could that have rattled Toledo?  Enough to make the difference down the stretch?  Come on, athletic department, get to work.  You too True Blue, where the heck have you been?

Why does UB have the crazy start of classes schedule for students?  Most universities return from Winter break in early January.

16 hours ago, Big 4 Hoops Blogger said:

That’s part of what makes this difficult. I do believe Jim Whitesell is a great person and I’ve been hoping he could turn things around.

I’m not sure what direction UB will go. I could even see the program holding onto him for another year or two.

I’m a fan of Bryan Hodgson but I don’t believe he’ll ever be the head coach at UB. That said, I do hope Buffalo targets a young coach with strong recruiting ties when they eventually do make a change down the line.

Sports is a business and the 3 key outcomes required from a Head Coach = Recruiting, Get the players to play hard (as a team) and Program Energy (fans).  The X's and O's can be left to the assistance coaches.  

Unfortunately Jim is average at best at all 3.  This will translate (in a conference UB should be 1, 2 or 3 every year) into average results across the board.  Alnutt and donors must see this, just look at the Bowling Green attendance. 

Or that the coaches want to transition to a TE that can stretch the field and is 6'5.

How would the evaluation go for the program under Stutzman after 7 years? 

Not much local marketing around the program, but seems to be competitive in the MAC, but not the success he had a Bloomberg.  

Buffalo =Top US Universities = Academic Ranking and Funding (see endowment image). 

Athletic Program = TBD

Maybe redshirting Chatman so he can replace Harnett next year.

Mading looked like he will contribute little this year in the early games.  Good skills, but very weak.

For as big as the roster is, this team is not a strong rebounding team and a turnover machine.

Jones will need to score if they have any chance of winning the MAC.  No one else on the team can be counted on to score consistently night after night. 

8 hours ago, ukbro00 said:

Even the guys that left last year. None of them ended up in a better situation. They either dropped down and played more (no superstars) or moved up and basically sat on the bench.

I think a percentage of the transfer portal is "dippers" that are just exploring if there is someone that will be interested.  There could be many reasons, location, NLI, playing time, P5 bright lights, etc.  The coaches in college football are worse than the players (as a %) in regards to transferring.  BTW, I think it is very logical for a player that has received their degree to explore/transfer.  

I think the mindset of many players is that they went to college and picked "football" as their major.

Major areas that needs upgraded in recruiting

WR - need to be able to stretch the field

DE  - need someone who can be disruptive in the backfield

LB - someone with speed (Running QB hurt the team all year)

11 hours ago, BrooklynBull said:

Not if you want to play the game the way it was meant to be played.

Hopefully the fan experience investment is coming soon.  Hard to build a larger fan base with the current amenities.  Knowing how much has already been invested in the last 10 years, the next 10 will be interesting (scoreboard, lower football field, remove track, new soccer pitch, new track facilities, football weight room, etc.).  A lot to fund with so few "Big Donors"

Not sure the investment needed to drop the field, remove the track, and provide soccer their own pitch will be coming soon, let alone a new domed stadium in Amherst, NY.

Got to say, the basketball area is much nicer than the football field.  I think the football players stuff is good, but for fans, Alumni is a better venue.

Agree, especially in Buffalo, and a real home field advantage if UB ever gets out of the MAC

I believe the better option is an investment in UB stadium to make it fan friendly, with maybe a yearly game at the new stadium (once built).

It seems the investment funding required could be years (if ever) away.  UB has the worst stadium in the MAC.  Track, soccer lines, 20 year old scoreboard, etc.

3 hours ago, rma said:

They might have wanted to play the same songs again since they were not able to have vocal accompaniment during halftime. Mars is also not an easy song to march to (it’s in 5/4, and most people have two legs) so they might have played it again to have another or better video of it. It also could be possible that at this point in the season they don’t have enough time to put together a 30 minute show (10 at halftime + 20 after the game) with their schedule and high standards. One of the staff members noted some members played Friday night at hockey, arrived at 8am on Saturday for football, then had hockey right after the football game yesterday. 
 

More members does not always mean the band sounds better. UB’s lack of an undergrad music education program really hurts it here. FWIW UB’s band is about average in the MAC of the 8 MAC marching bands I’ve seen in person. They’re also larger (and better) than Wake Forest and Vanderbilt’s bands when I saw those.
 

But yes agreed on the investment. It is getting better though. 10 years ago there were enough people to scrape together a band to send to Cleveland. A few years ago when the men were in Oklahoma and the women were in Connecticut both playing the NCAA tournament at the same time, the band had enough members, staff, and budget to send to both locations.

I personally feel is all part of the gameday experience.  If SUNY wants to call UB it's flagship, investment in athletics is required.  My entire point was about $$ investments.  AAU school with MAC level investments in Athletics and Band.

29 minutes ago, BrooklynBull said:

It was family weekend at UMass which helped ticket sales.  I understand the band playing after the game, but way play what was played at halftime again?

An investment by the University in the UB band is really needed.  They need 3 times as many member to really sound good at a college football game.  

With 30K students, there is no reason the UB band should look like a High School Band.

Good that he was at least in the radar of those P5 programs, but not sure I believe he actually picked UB over a Michigan, Florida State or Tennessee unless the NLI was significantly higher.

I do believe it took an unneeded risk by hiring a coach that hadn't even been a coordinator for football, but Mo should be allow time to build the program back from the Lance teams.  Not only was Lance's timing back, but it took a number of the key players with him.

Only time will time if Mark's risk will pay off for him.

How long will it take, 2, 3 years.  Or maybe, is it the schemes?

Statistics after 3 games are hard to explain, other than lack of talent or scheme.

1. Defense has give up 5.9 yards a carry against Maryland, Holy Cross and Coastal Carolina, and has 3 sacks and 11 TFL (opponents have 10 sacks and 23 TFL).    This isn't Ohio State, Penn State or Georgia as the opponents.
2. Offensive has given up 10 sacks and averaging 2.9 yards per carry.  It was just a few years ago the Offensive didn't give up a single sack most of the season.  Again, this isn't Michigan, LSU and Alabama as the opponents the first 3 games.
3. Outscored 61 to 23 in 2nd half.  This would point to talent gap and coaching adjustments.

How about 9-3 and 8-4 and graduate student.  That is what most colleges aim for, except for the Semi Pro College teams.

The OL is not very good.  When a former DL walk-on (recently put on scholarship) is playing college OL for the first year and seeing significant action, something is wrong.  BTW, at 6'0 , 280, undersized for OL.

Also, maybe going back to 3 linebackers would help stop the run.  5 DB's regardless of the opponent is odd.

21 minutes ago, UBinMD said:

You bring up very good points.  Coaching has become even harder. Now you have to do the initial recruiting, then get the kids to buy into your system, get them to all play together in that system. Each year you then will be required to re-recruit them or show them each individual love so they don’t feel slighted. God forbid you have a good season because then your team is targeted for poaching (see any recent NFL Super Bowl team). They coach then needs to recruit new players as well. That’s a pretty exhausting task with 2-3 layers more than what has been required in the past. It’s a challenge for sure.

Doesn't sound much different than a normal leaders challenges in any business. 

20 hours ago, clodney said:

I honestly don't feel too comfortable donating anymore because of stuff like this. We pay low salaries, give up a ton of home games for paydays on the road, and we have old facilities outside of the new fieldhouse which took 20 years to fund. I don't understand where any of our money goes and I don't have a clue how the other schools always seem to pay so much more.

This is so spot on....besides some cheerleader tweets from Mark Alnutt, his communication is really bad (maybe unless you are in his inter circle) and vision for the athletic department nonexistent. 

Football scheduling is awful - UMass and UConn...2 of the worst FBS programs...what is the value of these (other than East Coast) games.  What player would want to come to play the current out of conference opponents.  Put them on 2 big stages per year (high end P5) and get some $$ to invest in facilities.  Same with basketball.

21 minutes ago, UBinMD said:

A little surprised GT was the choice but I guess that may have offered the most PT? Hopefully he finally gets what he’s looking for.

Yea...agree, best wishes, but definitely not a school players dream of attending one day and winning a "National Championship". 

On 4/9/2022 at 1:08 PM, UBinMD said:

Kahlil Mack became a #5 pick based upon hard work and desire. He put up huge numbers in the conference he played in, but his domination as an individual against a quality opponent on national TV moved him from 2nd round/late 1st to top 5. Ohio St knew he was going to be a problem, schemed for him and he still beat them. You still have to bring it. JP works his ass off, his teammates know it, his coaches know it. Hopefully he has a solid NFL career. I sincerely believe Osbourne would still be doing what he’s doing if he went to Miami or not. Players are get opportunities and they have to seize it. There are hundreds of RBs with 3/4 year shelf life. Big time guys on the brand name teams fail regularly.

Agree...the NFL finds players...doesn't matter what school you go to...they have scouts all over the place....once in (either drafted or free agent), you have your chance....only a very, very, very small percentage of players actually make it onto a active roster...heck, there are only 1,696 active each week (53*32) and the average NFL career is 3.3 years.  Maybe the USFL will stick around and open up some additional opportunities.