If McDonald struggles turn to Perles and Lester

[kcsu]

Both of these guys have forgotten more about being an OC than McDonald knows. Perles was an excellant OC at NDSU and i like OC's that have OLine experiance and he has it at the highest level. Lester has been and OC and Head coach for a very long time. Shafer needs to lean on these guys and if McDonald cant get the job done i would turn the job over to or let these guys take on a bigger role

 

[SmilinBob]

I understand that we don't want another Parino (sp) or what ever that guys name was that was the first OC under Robinson but after just one game I'd say this is jumping the gun just a bit.

McDonald has to just learn from his mistakes, fix the fixable and then figure out what he is going to do by being prepared before the play even happens. I don't understand that we'd have a smooth switch over in OC's...hoped yes...but there are going to some growing pains here. Plus, McDonald has those same guys you mentioned to go over what happened and these guys are a team and they WILL work together as a staff to fix the issues.

I was a little worried about his feel for the flow of the game and it was a choppy feel the whole time and someone else pointed out that he seemed to not be ready and went to what he knew as our strength, Smith. That bothered me but again, learning game speed isn't just for players.

 

[rosconey]

whats scary- we have 2 assistants who were oc's and we still looked that discombobulated -
the first few series maybe- but it was the whole stinkin game-

and the players saying it was because of noise sounds like a real cop-out = i guess the road games last year were real quiet -lol

if anyone doesnt have serious doubts about mcdonald being a 1 trick pony they didnt watch the game-

i dont want him to fail-but what i want aint got diddly to do with anything -

 

[IthacaBarrel]

whats scary- we have 2 assistants who were oc's and we still looked that discombobulated -
the first few series maybe- but it was the whole stinkin game-

and the players saying it was because of noise sounds like a real cop-out = i guess the road games last year were real quiet -lol

if anyone doesnt have serious doubts about mcdonald being a 1 trick pony they didnt watch the game-

i dont want him to fail-but what i want aint got diddly to do with anything -

I agree with you, we just have to hope he can learn from Saturday and continue to get better. I would think that this is quite common for new coordinators, staffs, etc. it sucks but that is where we are. What sucks, is we just groomed a coordinator and now are at it again.

There is no disputing what we saw Saturday was abysmal

 

[rocklloyd]

We're a stepping stone, and just like how we groom 2 and 3 star recruits into great football players, the same thing will always happen on the coaching side. We don't pay enough to pull in big time coordinators. Heck it was only recently our head coaching salary became semi-respectable versus the peer group.

 

[Dmcnabbrules]

I believe the assistants are getting more money now than when Marrone first arrived.

 

[IthacaBarrel]

I believe the assistants are getting more money now than when Marrone first arrived.

As fans, money isn't our issue. Shafer hired his OC and its their job to put an offense out there to score points. After test 1, they get an F. Good thing is you don't have to wait very long for test 2,3,4. We should at least be able to get 350 yards and 24-27 points on offense on offense versus NW on offense, if we can't then we will have a very tough time winning.

 

[anglerman]

We're a stepping stone, and just like how we groom 2 and 3 star recruits into great football players, the same thing will always happen on the coaching side. We don't pay enough to pull in big time coordinators. Heck it was only recently our head coaching salary became semi-respectable versus the peer group.

No college team is going to pay more than the NFL my friend. I think now that we are in the ACC we will be able to pay coaches much higher salaries than in the past So we may not remain a steeping stone

 

[HOFCeluck]

IIRC Marrones first OC was at the same job at a BCS program before coming here.

 

[Dmcnabbrules]

As fans, money isn't our issue. Shafer hired his OC and its their job to put an offense out there to score points. After test 1, they get an F. Good thing is you don't have to wait very long for test 2,3,4. We should at least be able to get 350 yards and 24-27 points on offense on offense versus NW on offense, if we can't then we will have a very tough time winning.

I was just responding to an earlier post that stated we couldn't pay enough to get big time coordinators. My point was Shafer had/has more financial resources available to him then Marrone did.

 

[kcsu]

McDonald may end up being great however his first outing was pretty poor. My point is that cupboard isnt bare. There are some really solid football minds on that staff. I think that they will figure it out and i believe that going forward HCSS will be spending more of his time on the O side of the fence

 

[rosconey]

attack and fail is much better than a play it safe offense-

 

[rocklloyd]

No college team is going to pay more than the NFL my friend. I think now that we are in the ACC we will be able to pay coaches much higher salaries than in the past So we may not remain a steeping stone

Time will tell.

 

[Sudano]

McDonald has to just learn from his mistakes, fix the fixable and then figure out what he is going to do by being prepared before the play even happens.

Isn't that what previous OC jobs are for. How long do we give him? It ususally takes many years for a good OC to learn their craft. We are a D1 ACC team for ****** sakes, not a level to learn how to be an offensive coordinator.

 

[SmilinBob]

Isn't that what previous OC jobs are for. How long do we give him? It ususally takes many years fpr a good OC to learn their craft. We are a D1 ACC team for ****** sakes, not a level to learn how to be an offensive coordinator.

If we played UMass and scored 40 points and had 500 yards would that him better or worse? To me, it's like taking a test at Harvard or one at Columbia College. Does it mean you're smarter if you got a better grade on the CC test? Yes, he struggled but other than the communication issues I didn't see a whole lot really wrong other than the offense played a high quality D.

They have to get better at execution, yes no doubt. There are so many first time OC's that are successful, as a matter of fact every OC out there was at one time a first time OC.

 

[Sudano]

If we played UMass and scored 40 points and had 500 yards would that him better or worse? To me, it's like taking a test at Harvard or one at Columbia College. Does it mean you're smarter if you got a better grade on the CC test? Yes, he struggled but other than the communication issues I didn't see a whole lot really wrong other than the offense played a high quality D.

They have to get better at execution, yes no doubt. There are so many first time OC's that are successful, as a matter of fact every OC out there was at one time a first time OC.

By basic deductive reasoning we wouldn't have gotten 40 points and 500 yards vs UMass. I saw alot of basic play calling issues on supposedly running the pistol offense but not really doing it. The QB never kept the ball which is the basis for the pistol. Its like running the west coast passing offense but running the ball on the same basic play. Its non sensical.
I was just corrected that its not his first OC job. I don't know if that's a good or bad thing.

 

[SmilinBob]

By basic deductive reasoning we wouldn't have gotten 40 points and 500 yards vs UMass. I saw alot of basic play calling issues on supposedly running the pistol offense but not really doing it. The QB never kept the ball which is the basis for the pistol. Its like running the west coast passing offense but running the ball on the same basic play. Its non sensical.
I was just corrected that its not his first OC job. I don't know if that's a good or bad thing.

Or they just had that type of gameplan vs a good PSU defense. There is no doubt that PSU's interior defensive line would get a lot more penetration than UMass so you have to game plan differently.

 

[rosconey]

at leastt he had some excuse when most thought he had zero experience as a oc-

to have some experience and look that bad is a little bit disturbing

 

[timkay99]

whats scary- we have 2 assistants who were oc's and we still looked that discombobulated -
the first few series maybe- but it was the whole stinkin game-

and the players saying it was because of noise sounds like a real cop-out = i guess the road games last year were real quiet -lol

if anyone doesnt have serious doubts about mcdonald being a 1 trick pony they didnt watch the game-

i dont want him to fail-but what i want aint got diddly to do with anything -

I mean, how many of the offensive players were factors for us last year in the road games? Hickey, McPherson, running backs and West. I don't think it is a stretch to say the players were taken aback by the noise and were struggling to understand the play calls. I also wouldn't underestimate the first start for Allen and the 70 thousand things running through his head. The team will look better offensively just by Allen getting a little more run.

Put me in the group that McDonald is taking unnecessary heat. Even the best OC would have had issues with all the new players experiencing significant playing time (in a NFL stadium no less) and ensuring everything was communicated. I didn't think play calling was bad, just some execution problems and the game speeding up on Drew at times.

We all knew going in that we would have to run the ball successfully on 1st down to be successful offensively and keep pressure off our QB and WR's. Just didn't execute on that down enough. Hopefully that changes against Northwestern. If it does, McDonald suddenly becomes a lot smarter!

 

[Crusty]

Fair enough Tim, but I also think the game got away from GM as well. The second half was really a dud and I was looking for us to have settled down as the game progressed but we never did. I have some serious questions about Allen being able to learn fast enough to have a good season but I am not worried about the OC. He will watch the tape and the play calling will be much better next week.