2009 Big Ten Coaching Grades - Tres, KF, JoePa
by Graham Filler on Jan 17, 2010 3:24 PM CST
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PrintWe'll go in order of finish this year, from Tress to Lynch. Big Ten coaches were improved in some aspects this year, such as installing working passing games, but a few coaches have shown so little improvement you wonder how they keep their jobs sometimes.The biggest question in rating the 2009 coaches - How much credit should a head coach get for having one of the best defenses in the nation?
Fritz Crisler is glad that he never was subjected to The Rivalry, Esq.'s grading system.
On to the grades...
Jim Tressel
Last Year's Overall Grade: B
Adaptability and Gameplanning: Tress, even in the wake of a horrendous offensive performance v. USC, didn't make any offensive changes. It was the same misshapen, non-cohesive attack, one that inspired many to question aloud if Pryor was being misused. But after the the Purdue trainwreck, things done changed. The zone-read run finally was used to get Pryor out wide and Jimmy T finally realized that Troy Smith wasn't his quarterback, instead rolling TP out of the pocket and giving his biggest weapon easier reads. But kudos to Tress, even if the changes came late, they did eventually take shape. My favorite stat:
Pryor Interceptions through 5-2 start: 8
Pryor Interceptions during 6-0 finish: 3
Discussion: Last year, JT turned the reigns over to TP quickly and I gave him his due. This year, defensive brilliance made Jimmy's conservative gameplans seem smart as the season wore on. The coup de grace, of course, was smashing the high powered Oregon attack with ball control and typical bend-but-don't break defense. I'm always conflicted on grading Tress because I always believe he's too conservative and yet he always makes alterations that eventually pay off.
Season Grade: B
...
Kirk Ferentz
Last Year's Overall Grade: B-
Adaptability and Gameplanning: Ferentz was forced to make changes all year because God hates Iowa skill players and because of early suspensions. These moves weren't seamless, but his team refused to lose until NW took advantage of a Ricky Stanzi injury. In came Vandenberg and there went the winning streak, but I will always respect how Ferentz put JB into the fire against OSU (20-33, couple of touchdowns) and almost came away with a win. Iowa never panicked either, not against OSU, PSU or even Indiana. And I won't be one to criticize KF for going conservative against the Buckeyes at the end of the game.
Discussion: In 2008, I chided Ferentz/O'Keefe for being too conservative. In the Orange Bowl, it seems they listened to me a bit. Iowa noticed early that crossing routes and rollouts were shredding the Yellowjackets. So what did GT get a healthy dose of? Crossing routes and rollouts. Kudos to Ferentz and staff for continuing the development of a skull-crushing defense and understanding their player's limitations.
Season Grade: A-
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Joe Paterno and Staff, Penn State
Last Year's Overall Grade: A
Adaptability and Gameplanning: It's really hard not to judge Penn State and all of it's coaches on the two losses. This was such a transparent team - talented to the max defensively, but easily overrun on offense v. solid teams. But our own Bama Hawkeye predicted 4 PSU losses, basing his idea on the loss of so many offensive starters. Joe and Jay Pa trusted their own system enough to avoid the upset/letdown losses and the Spread HD continued to be undeniably successful.
Unfortunately, BSD and everyone else could have used better gameplanning against Iowa and OSU. If you're getting beat up front early and obviously, something needs to change. If you're down 10+ points late in the game, you shouldn't be running off-tackle right to Royster.
Discussion: In 2008, a veteran Penn State team and a new offensive system gelled perfectly and JoePa looked like the perfect figurehead: adaptable and wily. Though 11-2 is no disappointment, whoever was diagramming and calling plays this year didn't seem to fully understand the negative effect of a green offensive line.
Season Grade: B
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Eh
I almost completely disagree about the play calling at Penn State. When you are getting owned up front like Penn State was there isn’t some magical solution; you usually you just have to take your medicine. Running the ball had to be part of the plan because every single downfield pass play and even most of the screens in those two games ended with Clark on his back. There was very little that could have been done in the coaches boxes to fix this.
The biggest issue isn’t that the coaches didn’t know what they were doing, it was that no one who was setting preseason expectations predicted the line would be as bad as it was (and this includes bamahawkeye, who will no doubt chime in here about how right he was despite picking Penn State to lose three games they didn’t and constantly telling us about how MIchigan was back baby woo).
11-2 with a win against SEC #3 and not even any close calls against Big Ten teams that didn’t win BCS games against other league champions isn’t exactly a disappointment in hindsight IMO.
I know about your diabolical plan.
by KevinHD on Jan 18, 2010 12:28 PM CST reply actions 1 recs
If this looks like the PSU fans crawling out of the woodwork, well, it is.
I watched all of the Iowa game and most of the OSU game until it was obviously over. We tried rollouts – couldn’t set the edge without holding. We tried screens – linemen fought through. We tried quick passes – receivers couldn’t get through bump and run. What were we supposed to do? Run the flexbone?
by ReadingRambler on Jan 18, 2010 11:36 PM CST up reply actions
If there are two people I love from reading the BSD comment section, it’s ReadingRambler and Kevin HD. So I just wanted to explain where this came from.
Here’s Run up the Score grading the coaches after Iowa:
Coaching Grade: D. Hey, it’s easy to say that the players on the offensive line aren’t getting the job done, but it’s up to the coaching staff to get the proper personnel on the field and make adjustments in protection. That never happened. Passing plays often too slow to develop, given the pressure that was being put on Clark. A stunning lack of emotion on the field, even when things were still going well.
Here’s from the comment thread:
when Clark was struggling clearly getting down on himself,and sitting alone, why is there no one, like a coach, to talk to him on the sideline to help him out; to try to get him ready for the next critical series?
This is RUTS after the OSU loss:
Yesterday’s game was an absolute owning of the home team — coaches, players, fans, offense, defense, special teams — from beginning to end….The playcalling was atrocious. If you don’t have enough confidence to throw the ball on 3rd and 5, do us all a favor and kneel on the ball three straight plays and punt.
And Kevin in the comments section:
The story is the OSU front four, which is awesome, the predictable special teams FAIL and the offensive coaches making sure we never had a chance with the play calling.
Again, I know it’s weird to give a B rating to a non-Tressel coach with 11 wins, but I was swayed by the reactions of people who know more than I do about the PSU offense and the coaching staff. It seems that everyone holds PSU coaches to a high standard and in their couple of losses, that standard wasn’t met.
by Graham Filler on Jan 19, 2010 10:10 AM CST up reply actions
I've been lawyer'd
I don’t disagree with the grade, and I’m not accusing you of being unfair, but even after saying those things right after the game, the overriding theme of the season was that very good, very strong d-lines completely ruin our offense and offer no alternatives to the usual gameplan.
It’s also worth noting that, in Iowa to some extent and v Ohio State the entire game, the special teams sucked so bad at the field position game Penn State was playing deep in their territory, discouraging much in the way of risk-taking or innovative play calling.
PSU drives during the first 3 quarters started on the Penn State: 16, 24, 20, 29, 7, 33, 23, 13, 8, 26.
OSU’s three touchdowns? Penn State 9 (!), Ohio State 40, Ohio State 48.
We were conservative against OSU, but in hindsight it’s hard to really blame the coaches. And, I know no one cares, but there should be credit given for destroying every other team on the schedule with a sound game plan for each. No one else in the conference did this.
I know about your diabolical plan.
I've disagreed with RUTS before, and I disagree with him there.
Didja watch the Iowa game when Spievey shoved Graham Zug into the turf? That was basically those two games defined. I’m not sure what RUTS would have the coaches do, since quick passes were shut down by press coverage.
Literally the only complaint I have would be the quarterback draws on 3rd and medium. That was essentially giving up the series.
by ReadingRambler on Jan 19, 2010 10:51 AM CST up reply actions
Tressell a B ?
Are you drinking my friend? LOL! Coach Tressell plays to his teams strengths! And though everyone & their mother wanted him to, “..take the cuffs off Pryor!”, we all have to remember one thing: Tressel sees Pryor EVERYDAY, in practice, class, & private conversations! I trust The Sweater Vests decisions on when it was finally time to open up the play book for TP! Yeah, we should have won the USC game, but the offense was on the sideline when that game was lost, remember? I give Tressell an A- on the 2009 season! That’s my story, & I’m sticking to it!
"You never stand so tall as to when you reach down to pick someone up."
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