ACC Coaches Talk Anonymously About Conference Foes for 2020

[UpstateSM]

“It could be a long year. They looked more talented in past years than in 2019, and the supply is only going downhill."

"That system pressures the quarterback to be such a smart, good player, that when the right talent isn't in there they automatically put themselves in trouble."

"What (offensive coordinator) Sterlin (Gilbert) should be able to do is help (Tommy) DeVito read things a little better, maybe simplify some decision-making."

"Their offense needs to do something different. The general perception in the P5 is that tempo isn't as difficult to defend as it was five or six years ago. It feels like a novelty now, at least the way they run it."

"The one bright spot in their recruiting is that they have some big, athletic receivers and some more behind them. They're losing their top production guys, but this is their one real depth position."

They have to change their approach to recruiting if they're going to survive in the ACC. The level of talent they're bringing in isn't going to be able to run this system effectively enough to win consistently."

"Right now you can define (Dino Babers') time there as a single breakout season where he had a quarterback that was a unique talent in (Eric) Dungey. You can't make a pattern of that. The defensive and offensive quality hasn't really shown improvement outside of having a hot hand one year."

Hard to argue with most of that

 

[cuse10]

They have to change their approach to recruiting if they're going to survive in the ACC. The level of talent they're bringing in isn't going to be able to run this system effectively enough to win consistently."

More than fair. Everyone isn't a diamond in the rough. The staff has to find ways to get the high three star guys with a four star talent or two in the class. I have a really bad feeling about the schedule this year. Under normal circumstances, they could have gone 4-0 in conference play and found three to four wins in the ACC. I see them at the level they were at last year if guys don't step up tenfold this season.

 

[GreekFreak]

Geez. Rather sobering comments from those who coach against us. Although how many of these folks picked us to do well in 2018? None.
The only bone that I would pick with the comments is categorizing our receivers as our "one real depth position." While we have some guys with potential there hasn't been consistent excellent performance from any of them. The most accomplished one left early. In my opinion, our secondary is our real depth area. We have some proven play makers there along with quality depth behind them.

 

[Newhouser]

The last quote is telling - love Dino and his message but results need to improve.

 

[Trueblue25]

what a majorly majorly unfortunate schedule to head into a year where we retain youthful experience in our roster.

I’m worried about the way this schedule falls. You can say 2020 doesn’t matter anymore, I assure you if the season happens it will matter.

 

[syrBossHogg]

“It could be a long year. They looked more talented in past years than in 2019, and the supply is only going downhill."

I slightly disagree with this as I think our talent has gotten better every year since Dino arrived, but there are still some pain points on the roster and our overall talent is still bottom tier ACC.

"That system pressures the quarterback to be such a smart, good player, that when the right talent isn't in there they automatically put themselves in trouble."

Agreed, but this offense is still pretty QB friendly IMO.

"What (offensive coordinator) Sterlin (Gilbert) should be able to do is help (Tommy) DeVito read things a little better, maybe simplify some decision-making."

Agreed.

"Their offense needs to do something different. The general perception in the P5 is that tempo isn't as difficult to defend as it was five or six years ago. It feels like a novelty now, at least the way they run it."

I agree that offenses need to always evolve/adapt over time, and more teams are running tempo so it is not a real unique novelty anymore. But there weren't many issues with scoring a couple years ago.

"The one bright spot in their recruiting is that they have some big, athletic receivers and some more behind them. They're losing their top production guys, but this is their one real depth position."

WR1 has always been able to produce in this offense. If someone could get a 1,000 yards last year with a young inconsistent QB and a poor o-line, I think WR will be fine going forward.

They have to change their approach to recruiting if they're going to survive in the ACC. The level of talent they're bringing in isn't going to be able to run this system effectively enough to win consistently."

Agree with this, recruiting needs to step up but I think the team can go bowling with the talent they do bring in right now. It's not a high bar to clear

"Right now you can define (Dino Babers') time there as a single breakout season where he had a quarterback that was a unique talent in (Eric) Dungey. You can't make a pattern of that. The defensive and offensive quality hasn't really shown improvement outside of having a hot hand one year."

Agree, but Tommy did help win them a couple games that year.

 

[nzm136]

“It could be a long year. They looked more talented in past years than in 2019, and the supply is only going downhill."

I slightly disagree with this as I think our talent has gotten better every year since Dino arrived, but there are still some pain points on the roster and our overall talent is still bottom tier ACC.

"That system pressures the quarterback to be such a smart, good player, that when the right talent isn't in there they automatically put themselves in trouble."

Agreed, but this offense is still pretty QB friendly IMO.

"What (offensive coordinator) Sterlin (Gilbert) should be able to do is help (Tommy) DeVito read things a little better, maybe simplify some decision-making."

Agreed.

"Their offense needs to do something different. The general perception in the P5 is that tempo isn't as difficult to defend as it was five or six years ago. It feels like a novelty now, at least the way they run it."

I agree that offenses need to always evolve/adapt over time, and more teams are running tempo so it is not a real unique novelty anymore. But there weren't many issues with scoring a couple years ago.

"The one bright spot in their recruiting is that they have some big, athletic receivers and some more behind them. They're losing their top production guys, but this is their one real depth position."

WR1 has always been able to produce in this offense. If someone could get a 1,000 yards last year with a young inconsistent QB and a poor o-line, I think WR will be fine going forward.

They have to change their approach to recruiting if they're going to survive in the ACC. The level of talent they're bringing in isn't going to be able to run this system effectively enough to win consistently."

Agree with this, recruiting needs to step up but I think the team can go bowling with the talent they do bring in right now. It's not a high bar to clear

"Right now you can define (Dino Babers') time there as a single breakout season where he had a quarterback that was a unique talent in (Eric) Dungey. You can't make a pattern of that. The defensive and offensive quality hasn't really shown improvement outside of having a hot hand one year."

Agree, but Tommy did help win them a couple games that year.

Idk... I guess it depends on the year, but I don’t think we’ve consistently had offenses that were good at scoring under Dino when you normalize for possessions, which is the most accurate way to measure.

We may have been good at scoring during Dungey’s last year, but it was because of his special talent if we were.

I’ve said all along that this offense needs to attract high quality recruits to work. I’m not sure that it has. Don’t get me wrong. We do have many solid players, and very few (if any) of the players are “bad.” I firmly believe that virtually all of our guys belong in the P5. But it takes more than what we’ve been bringing in to consistently beat FSU, Clemson, and Miami/VT/GT* and otherwise compete in the ACC. We need several more studs in each class to build on the foundation that we’re currently bringing in. We’re close, which is why we’ve gotten some marquee wins, but Dino hasn’t been able to get us “there” talent wise yet.

*I know we went the distance with a very good Miami (at Miami) and we beat a down FSU, VT, and #2 Clemson recently, but there is a difference between a scattered win and a consistent pattern.

 

[Alsacs]

Offensive Line determines how good a Dino offense is.
Dino has really started recruiting OL depth.
Our OL killed us last year till we made changes.
If we can have a consistent good OL the skill position talent can be covered up.
That is how less talented teams can compete.
Player development on the OL.

 

[SURules]

it doesn’t show much respect for Dino from other coaches in the ACC based upon that article. Interesting but not surprised as we have had only one good year where things broke right for us and we had Eric Dungey.

 

[AngryOtto]

To me OL has been the constant problem. Dungey masked a lot of the issues with his athleticism. TD is more pure pocket. When the line did not give him time we were done. His decision making last year was also below average.
If the OL and TD can improve we will score at lot of points.
We have had backups in the past play for Dino and have big games.
Concerning coaching. We have been in a lot of games or beat teams every year since Dino arrived with guys that were lower rated than other teams.
We are not getting the four or five star players. I’d like more higher rated three stars and I think it will happen. Bringing in some new assistants this last year will be dividends in post covid recruiting.

 

[AngryOtto]

Changes I would like to see offensively. Using the middle of the field more often. Take the adjustments at the line away from the rb. Let the rb focus on hitting the hole and gaining yards and let the center or qb make the adjustments at the line of scrimmage.

 

[AAM62]

Idk... I guess it depends on the year, but I don’t think we’ve consistently had offenses that were good at scoring under Dino when you normalize for possessions, which is the most accurate way to measure.

We may have been good at scoring during Dungey’s last year, but it was because of his special talent if we were.

I’ve said all along that this offense needs to attract high quality recruits to work. I’m not sure that it has. Don’t get me wrong. We do have many solid players, and very few (if any) of the players are “bad.” I firmly believe that virtually all of our guys belong in the P5. But it takes more than what we’ve been bringing in to consistently beat FSU, Clemson, and Miami/VT/GT* and otherwise compete in the ACC. We need several more studs in each class to build on the foundation that we’re currently bringing in. We’re close, which is why we’ve gotten some marquee wins, but Dino hasn’t been able to get us “there” talent wise yet.

*I know we went the distance with a very good Miami (at Miami) and we beat a down FSU, VT, and #2 Clemson recently, but there is a difference between a scattered win and a consistent pattern.

Scoring has been inconsistent and atrocious in the red zone

 

[TheCusian]

Idk... I guess it depends on the year, but I don’t think we’ve consistently had offenses that were good at scoring under Dino when you normalize for possessions, which is the most accurate way to measure.

We may have been good at scoring during Dungey’s last year, but it was because of his special talent if we were.

I’ve said all along that this offense needs to attract high quality recruits to work. I’m not sure that it has. Don’t get me wrong. We do have many solid players, and very few (if any) of the players are “bad.” I firmly believe that virtually all of our guys belong in the P5. But it takes more than what we’ve been bringing in to consistently beat FSU, Clemson, and Miami/VT/GT* and otherwise compete in the ACC. We need several more studs in each class to build on the foundation that we’re currently bringing in. We’re close, which is why we’ve gotten some marquee wins, but Dino hasn’t been able to get us “there” talent wise yet.

*I know we went the distance with a very good Miami (at Miami) and we beat a down FSU, VT, and #2 Clemson recently, but there is a difference between a scattered win and a consistent pattern.

I’ll say it again just for good measure: Dino has had as good a start as any coach since P. There are not a lot of coaches that have those scattered wins and a 10 win season. We all want to be better. But, he’s still here and he’s got a couple more years to build.

Recruiting is difficult. We get out-cheated and we’re in a weird spot in the country. It may be that way for a long time.

 

[longislandcuse]

Another point on recruiting.. even if we stay stagnant, we fall behind. Just looking at our class rankings in the division, Clemson is #3 and FSU/Louisville both have current top 25 classes.

Conference wide, UNC/Miami are flirting with Top 10 classes.

Half the ACC resides in the 30’s, including NC State and BC.

We’re hovering around 50.

Other ACC schools are picking up the pace and we’re still same bat time, same bat channel year after year.

 

[nzm136]

Another point on recruiting.. even if we stay stagnant, we fall behind. Just looking at our class rankings in the division, Clemson is #3 and FSU/Louisville both have current top 25 classes.

Conference wide, UNC/Miami are flirting with Top 10 classes.

Half the ACC resides in the 30’s, including NC State and BC.

We’re hovering around 50.

Other ACC schools are picking up the pace and we’re still same bat time, same bat channel year after year.

Bingo. I get not being top 20. That’s a pipe dream. I think we should be around 40 in order to have a fair shot at beIng highly competitive. That range puts us mid tier in the P5 w/ regards to talent, and good coaching + mid tier P5 talent = consistently strong teams.

The good news is that we’re not far off - a couple good players every year puts us there. The bad news is that I think we’ve stagnated.

 

[elimunelson]

Dino is the answer no matter the question.

to me the issue is existential. We are in a conference that makes it really hard for us to sustain though. Bridge is years in the ACC for us are 4 win seasons vs 7 in the big East

I know people hate to hear it but this conf is SEC LITE w annual clemson and soon to be strong FSU

 

[Newhouser]

Our kicking game and Dungey's legs were two of the biggest reasons our offense was dangerous in the 10 win season.

 

[ForeverOrange]

We have gone from coach to coach to coach, but no matter the coach, the recruiting has remained the same. It just seems like a hurdle we can't get over for numerous reasons discussed on these boards. The only difference with Dino, is that we have beat teams where talent-wise we had no business beating, and it is because of that, that I am willing to be patient and see what Dino can do.

 

[TheCusian]

Dino is the answer no matter the question.

to me the issue is existential. We are in a conference that makes it really hard for us to sustain though. Bridge is years in the ACC for us are 4 win seasons vs 7 in the big East

I know people hate to hear it but this conf is SEC LITE w annual clemson and soon to be strong FSU

I don't hate to hear it. I prefer 4 wins and all that TV money than what UCONN is living through. The pipe dream of a viable NE football conference is probably news that some don't want to hear though.

 

[SoBristol]

ACC is tough, we have to recruit better. Obvious.

I see 2019 as the outlier in our trend. The roster is better, but the OL was a mess, unsettled, and too young (and undersized) in 2019. The OL is way better in 2020, with 4 positions settled, good candidates for the open spot, better size as the returning starters have gotten stronger. Just make the comparison to where we were entering 2019. If these assistant coaches don’t make that observation, their opinions aren’t worth much.

 

[Bayside44]

We have gone from coach to coach to coach, but no matter the coach, the recruiting has remained the same. It just seems like a hurdle we can't get over for numerous reasons discussed on these boards. The only difference with Dino, is that we have beat teams where talent-wise we had no business beating, and it is because of that, that I am willing to be patient and see what Dino can do.

Marrone was building a model, Dino seems to be as well. If those two German kids were raised in Western PA our # probably jumps to what would be deemed acceptable.

 

[IthacaBarrel]

We have gone from coach to coach to coach, but no matter the coach, the recruiting has remained the same. It just seems like a hurdle we can't get over for numerous reasons discussed on these boards. The only difference with Dino, is that we have beat teams where talent-wise we had no business beating, and it is because of that, that I am willing to be patient and see what Dino can do.

Agree 100%. If dino can't recruit at Syracuse who can would be my major question and I am with you willing to really stick this thing out long term with Dino. Long term. We have some nice wins and one great season, I get it not great but willing to keep riding it out. I also really like Dino being the head coach at Syracuse as opposed quite a few alternatives

 

[TheCusian]

We have gone from coach to coach to coach, but no matter the coach, the recruiting has remained the same. It just seems like a hurdle we can't get over for numerous reasons discussed on these boards. The only difference with Dino, is that we have beat teams where talent-wise we had no business beating, and it is because of that, that I am willing to be patient and see what Dino can do.

Yep. The best hope for parity on recruiting is reform of the system to crack down on cheaters (prolly a pipe dream) some slow geographic reordering based on global weather issues or the most likely --- slow build with an innovative series of coaches that keep us above the .500 line and into bowl games.

The pre-COVID schedule this year had us sitting pretty for a bowl, IMO. Now, if the season happens the high water mark is probably 4 wins for most programs in our situation.

 

[FreakTalksAboutSU]

We need a coach who wants to stretch the field. I've said it for 25 years now. We have a similar climate and a similar facility as North Dakota State. Let's be an offense first team like them. Let's use our building. If we are gonna lose lets lose 52-45. But let's score a crap load of points and be exciting.

Sigh. I like Dino, but more and more, while his intentions are good, I am worried he is just another coach not getting it.

 

[Trueblue25]

In my opinion, and I HATE mentioning this but things look a little better today had we beat MTSU at home in 2017. I know that only makes 5 wins but that loss was just absolutely horrible.