THE STATE OF FURMAN FOOTBALL

[apaladin]

I don't see this season as some sort of trend.

Clay has coached at Furman for 20 years, been head coach for seven years, been honored as SoCon coach of year twice, led the team to two conference championships, led the team to four playoff appearances, and last year coached the best Furman football team in the last 15 years.

So, Clay is averaging a conference championship every three years, a play-off birth every other year, and I wouldn't trade Clay's tenure at Furman with any other coaches' record in the SoCon.

I'm tired but the football team sure looks like they are I'm good hands, I think replacing Clay is insane, and, if we're not discussing replacing coaches, what exactly do you expect Clay to do?

What do we expect from CCH? Pretty simple win football games, be competitive and don’t be the only win on 2 teams schedule.

[gofurman]

I don't see this season as some sort of trend.

Clay has coached at Furman for 20 years, been head coach for seven years, been honored as SoCon coach of year twice, led the team to two conference championships, led the team to four playoff appearances, and last year coached the best Furman football team in the last 15 years.

So, Clay is averaging a conference championship every three years, a play-off birth every other year, and I wouldn't trade Clay's tenure at Furman with any other coaches' record in the SoCon.

I'm tired but the football team sure looks like they are I'm good hands, I think replacing Clay is insane, and, if we're not discussing replacing coaches, what exactly do you expect Clay to do?

What do we expect from CCH? Pretty simple win football games, be competitive and don’t be the only win on 2 teams schedule.

I don’t think anyone wants to lose CCH. he is great ! Just a REALLY frustrating year. We are the ONLY win for Charleston Southern and VMI. If it weren’t for us these programs would be winless. we were told we had great recruits ready to step in. And it’s game 8 today. EIGHT. youth is not quite the excuse it was 4 games ago.

[apaladin]

We were awful in 2014 and 2016. Our recruiting was lousy and there was no way we were going to get better with the staff we had. That IMO is not the case currently.This is one bad year with a number of black swan events.

We weren’t near as bad in 2016. Lost to Michigan St by 15. Lost 4 games by one score. Beat WCU by 28, ETSU by 45 and won at VMI by 14. The 2016 team scored 40+ points 3 times. We’ve only scored in the twenties twice this season against scholarship teams.(24, 20). We haven’t sniffed 30. That 2016 team would beat the snot out of this years.

[tim]

We beat a non scholly and eked out a win at Cit after playing miserably.Does it take more than a great coach in this new era? Sucking won't work anytime anywhere. Past Furman success usually involved hitting the portal for a QB.

[The Jackal]

We were awful in 2014 and 2016. Our recruiting was lousy and there was no way we were going to get better with the staff we had. That IMO is not the case currently.This is one bad year with a number of black swan events.

We weren’t near as bad in 2016. Lost to Michigan St by 15. Lost 4 games by one score. Beat WCU by 28, ETSU by 45 and won at VMI by 14. The 2016 team scored 40+ points 3 times. We’ve only scored in the twenties twice this season against scholarship teams.(24, 20). We haven’t sniffed 30. That 2016 team would beat the snot out of this years.

The 2016 team also had a lot of seniors at key positions (including QB, RB, WR, etc.) This team is basically freshmen at the same positions.

[Affirm]

Win-Loss record is not the only factor, I realize.
Even so, here is a thought.
Long-term view.
I am not ready to give up on Furman Football.
Keep CCH unless Furman has fewer than the following number of wins at each one of the following future times:
end of 2024 season 2 wins
“ “ 2025 season 3 wins
“ “ 2026 season 4 wins
“ “ 2027 season 5 wins
“ “ 2028 season 6 wins
“ “ 6 seasons cumulative 2024-2029 combined 27 wins
7 seasons 2024-2030 combined 35 wins
8 seasons 2024-2031 combined 44 wins
9 seasons 2024-2032 combined 54 wins
10 seasons 2024-2033 combined 56 (fifty -six) wins (though preferably more than fifty-six).
Then he can retire.
Age 71.
107 total wins at Furman.
At any point if not meeting each one those thresholds, then regretfully ask him to retire, or regretfully fire him.
CCH may or may not have to be fired.
Give him a chance, with a standard as outlined above (with of course all the other behavioral and academic standards unconnected to Wins and Losses).

[Furmanoid]

We were awful in 2014 and 2016. Our recruiting was lousy and there was no way we were going to get better with the staff we had. That IMO is not the case currently.This is one bad year with a number of black swan events.

Agree. Still some issues, like the ability to snap the ball better, are odd. Seems we could find someone to do that

Some coaches just assume that anybody can do it. They’ll just throw a guard in there & just expect it to work. It’s a very hard position. I hope our coaches aren’t that dumb.

Have we had 2 or 3 centers get hurt or something?

[Furmanoid]

We were awful in 2014 and 2016. Our recruiting was lousy and there was no way we were going to get better with the staff we had. That IMO is not the case currently.This is one bad year with a number of black swan events.

We weren’t near as bad in 2016. Lost to Michigan St by 15. Lost 4 games by one score. Beat WCU by 28, ETSU by 45 and won at VMI by 14. The 2016 team scored 40+ points 3 times. We’ve only scored in the twenties twice this season against scholarship teams.(24, 20). We haven’t sniffed 30. That 2016 team would beat the snot out of this years.

The 2016 team also had a lot of seniors at key positions (including QB, RB, WR, etc.) This team is basically freshmen at the same positions.

But this many games in, the Freshman are more experienced than lots of “veteran” teams were in week 1-2. The straight “youth” part matters maybe more on the lines where an 18 yr old just isn’t strong enough, but the skill guys only get slower with age.

[AllTimeFU]

We were awful in 2014 and 2016. Our recruiting was lousy and there was no way we were going to get better with the staff we had. That IMO is not the case currently.This is one bad year with a number of black swan events.

Agree. Still some issues, like the ability to snap the ball better, are odd. Seems we could find someone to do that

Some coaches just assume that anybody can do it. They’ll just throw a guard in there & just expect it to work. It’s a very hard position. I hope our coaches aren’t that dumb.

Have we had 2 or 3 centers get hurt or something?

I don’t recall any Centers being on the injury list. I listed these 3 clips of our Centers (51,61,72) on the other thread.

https://x.com/PaladinFootball/status/18 ... 9673925976

https://x.com/PaladinFootball/status/18 ... 3543774695

https://x.com/PaladinFootball/status/18 ... 5246941376

[The Jackal]

We were awful in 2014 and 2016. Our recruiting was lousy and there was no way we were going to get better with the staff we had. That IMO is not the case currently.This is one bad year with a number of black swan events.

We weren’t near as bad in 2016. Lost to Michigan St by 15. Lost 4 games by one score. Beat WCU by 28, ETSU by 45 and won at VMI by 14. The 2016 team scored 40+ points 3 times. We’ve only scored in the twenties twice this season against scholarship teams.(24, 20). We haven’t sniffed 30. That 2016 team would beat the snot out of this years.

The 2016 team also had a lot of seniors at key positions (including QB, RB, WR, etc.) This team is basically freshmen at the same positions.

But this many games in, the Freshman are more experienced than lots of “veteran” teams were in week 1-2. The straight “youth” part matters maybe more on the lines where an 18 yr old just isn’t strong enough, but the skill guys only get slower with age.

I don't know about all of that. Here's what I see, for instance.

This is a first down. I don't know what VMI is necessarily doing defensively, but their MLB appears to be either spying Hedden or has some sort of instruction to fire on him when he gets outside the pocket. That makes sense as most teams are going to take the risk of forcing him to speed up his decision-making.

I do not know this for sure, but Hedden appears to be waiting for WR to get free on the far side. The WR beats his man and Hedden squares up looking to launch a deep ball. He doesn't have enough time to do that, gets popped, fumbles, and that ends up being the turning point in the game.

I am not a QB coach, but Grant Robinson is 5 yards in front of Hedden by himself. To me, that's the throw. It's first down. We're in plus territory. The throw you want isn't there (or you don't have time to make it). Take the short toss and let him get 6 or 7 yards.

Again, I have no idea what the right call is here. I suspect there's a progression. Maybe he didn't see the linebacker. Maybe he thought he had enough time to get a chunk throw. I may be wrong, but if you throw the ball right at the point the video starts you (1) don't get hit (2) don't fumble and (3) throw to an open receiver who has space and momentum.

[Afurmanfan]

AP-I will not talk you off the hedge, or even a ledge.
Negatoids are going to be negatoids. You have never had anything but a pessimistic attitude which is your absolute right to have.
Enjoy.

[apaladin]

AP-I will not talk you off the hedge, or even a ledge.
Negatoids are going to be negatoids. You have never had anything but a pessimistic attitude which is your absolute right to have.
Enjoy.

Certainly not true I am very positive when it is warranted. If being the only win on 2 teams schedule that 16 other teams have beaten and you’re not negative then you really don’t care about FU foitball as I do.

[Affirm]

I think that next year we CAN get to 3 wins, perhaps Presbyterian, NCA&TSU, & VMI seeming to be reasonably good possibilities.
A loss against any of those 3 will require the upset win over someone else in order to get to 3 wins in 2025.
We do have an interesting schedule next year, but it is not an easy one.
I do not want CCH to be “on a hot seat”, but without at least 3 wins in 2025, he may be “on a hot seat”.

[purplehorse123]

I have not been able to make it to a game this year. In years past, it often seemed that we went as the QB went -but I know the Ingle Martin’s & Tyler Huff’s of the world need to be surrounded by good players .

My question is how much of our problem on offense is due to the QB position?

[apaladin]

I have not been able to make it to a game this year. In years past, it often seemed that we went as the QB went -but I know the Ingle Martin’s & Tyler Huff’s of the world need to be surrounded by good players .

My question is how much of our problem on offense is due to the QB position?

IMHO-I think a good portion of the problem is at the QB position. Both seem to make poor decisions more often than not and they don’t seem to see the field well. From the stands we can see wide open receivers but they just don’t pick them up for whatever reason. They seem to lock in on the primary receiver. Coaches are not helping continuing to throw sideline passes that just ask to be picked off. Seems like we just don’t want to throw over the middle much. Just my 2 cents.