ok, what now?

[milanmiracle]

Please, lighten up run.  Smile, have a little fun over a pathetic situation. 

You hire people to provide a service to do a job.   Carlson is not meeting the expectations to do this job.  Also, effective leadership do not need to be experts in a specific discipline, but effective leadership make decisions to bring in experts to resolve situations.

How do you support the situation Valpo is in right now?  Also, the "why can't you do the job" and armchair QB explanations are a copout.  There are many, many coaching  candidates out there.  The excuse that "you are not the coach, you are not there" is a lame remark.  The football program is 2-31!  It needs change and the university is not doing a thing about it. I don't having to be Bill Belicheck to know that change is required.

BTW, I do care about Valpo, it is a great school but this situation is embarrassing.  In you want a high level perspective, my coworkers who are Valpo alums laugh about the situation and could care less.  They ask why there is football at Valpo in the first place.  When you see this, some level of change is required.  The problem  is that the university is terribly ineffective resolving a $4M to $5M annual issue.

My wife is a former employee and alum, and she thinks the same thing. I get jokes about it at work too. Heck, when Valpo was winning a game I actually got texts and phone calls asking if Valpo was really winning. Not exactly good for the brand image now is it?

[covufan]

Did I expect more improvement in '12?  Yes.  Would I like to see Valpo football competitive in the PFL?  Absolutely.  I admit that seeing the scores, especially the first quarter or first half scores, is demoralizing.  I also know that I'm not close enough to the program to get a feel for if the program is moving the the right direction.  Based on the W-L and Points for/against criteria, I would expect more in the third year of this coach.  I also know that Horne was not very successful in his first three seasons, and was allowed to continue.  Many of Horne's following 13 years were within one game of 0.500 or above.  If the AD is looking beyond W-L record - quality of recruits, relationship of staff and players, players giving their all, etc. - then I'll give the AD some room, as we've chosen the AD to make these decisions.  Overall, I'm very happy with the AD and the improvement of all other VU sports. 

I'm sure that the AD and coach Carlson are very aware of the short leash for 2013.  We can't have another 1-10 year, and with two new programs to the PFL and two other new coaches, 3-8 might not be good enough either. 

Time for basketball, then baseball, then looking at our 2013 football recruits.

[usc4valpo]

usc, why you don't put in your resume to be the next head coach of Valpo football? Oh wait, THE JOB ISN'T OPEN!! Until it is, if it becomes open, quit trying to fill a position with your gibberish about how you seem to be a better armchair football coach than Coach Carlson has shown as an on-field coach to this point.

True, the job isn't technically open but I think at least some posters on here have come to the conclusion we're just waiting out the clock. Count me in that category. Even if USC4Valpo is the worst armchair quarterback ever, what are they going to lose, 2 more games in three years? Not a real big drop off there. 0-33 isn't very different from 2-31. And what exactly has Carlson shown as an on the field coach? How to get annihilated in the first half? It's not like they're losing close games, they're getting crushed right out of the box. The reality is, when you are historically bad, people will speculate about your job and who to replace you with. If he were 31-2 we wouldn't be having this conversation.

Thanks for praising my capabilitiies of being a great armchair QB!

[milanmiracle]

usc, why you don't put in your resume to be the next head coach of Valpo football? Oh wait, THE JOB ISN'T OPEN!! Until it is, if it becomes open, quit trying to fill a position with your gibberish about how you seem to be a better armchair football coach than Coach Carlson has shown as an on-field coach to this point.

True, the job isn't technically open but I think at least some posters on here have come to the conclusion we're just waiting out the clock. Count me in that category. Even if USC4Valpo is the worst armchair quarterback ever, what are they going to lose, 2 more games in three years? Not a real big drop off there. 0-33 isn't very different from 2-31. And what exactly has Carlson shown as an on the field coach? How to get annihilated in the first half? It's not like they're losing close games, they're getting crushed right out of the box. The reality is, when you are historically bad, people will speculate about your job and who to replace you with. If he were 31-2 we wouldn't be having this conversation.

Thanks for praising my capabilities of being a great armchair QB!

Thought you might get a kick out of that! 

[usc4valpo]

It's all good. 

[valporun]

usc, why you don't put in your resume to be the next head coach of Valpo football? Oh wait, THE JOB ISN'T OPEN!! Until it is, if it becomes open, quit trying to fill a position with your gibberish about how you seem to be a better armchair football coach than Coach Carlson has shown as an on-field coach to this point.

True, the job isn't technically open but I think at least some posters on here have come to the conclusion we're just waiting out the clock. Count me in that category. Even if USC4Valpo is the worst armchair quarterback ever, what are they going to lose, 2 more games in three years? Not a real big drop off there. 0-33 isn't very different from 2-31. And what exactly has Carlson shown as an on the field coach? How to get annihilated in the first half? It's not like they're losing close games, they're getting crushed right out of the box. The reality is, when you are historically bad, people will speculate about your job and who to replace you with. If he were 31-2 we wouldn't be having this conversation.

Thanks for praising my capabilities of being a great armchair QB!

Thought you might get a kick out of that! 

I guess I'm still looking for that "kick"-er?

[usc4valpo]

usc, why you don't put in your resume to be the next head coach of Valpo football? Oh wait, THE JOB ISN'T OPEN!! Until it is, if it becomes open, quit trying to fill a position with your gibberish about how you seem to be a better armchair football coach than Coach Carlson has shown as an on-field coach to this point.

True, the job isn't technically open but I think at least some posters on here have come to the conclusion we're just waiting out the clock. Count me in that category. Even if USC4Valpo is the worst armchair quarterback ever, what are they going to lose, 2 more games in three years? Not a real big drop off there. 0-33 isn't very different from 2-31. And what exactly has Carlson shown as an on the field coach? How to get annihilated in the first half? It's not like they're losing close games, they're getting crushed right out of the box. The reality is, when you are historically bad, people will speculate about your job and who to replace you with. If he were 31-2 we wouldn't be having this conversation.

Thanks for praising my capabilities of being a great armchair QB!

Thought you might get a kick out of that!

I guess I'm still looking for that "kick"-er?

nice pun!
"
Laughter is the valve on the pressure cooker of life. Either you laugh and suffer, or you got your beans or brains on the ceiling.
Wavy Gravy

[milanmiracle]

usc, why you don't put in your resume to be the next head coach of Valpo football? Oh wait, THE JOB ISN'T OPEN!! Until it is, if it becomes open, quit trying to fill a position with your gibberish about how you seem to be a better armchair football coach than Coach Carlson has shown as an on-field coach to this point.

True, the job isn't technically open but I think at least some posters on here have come to the conclusion we're just waiting out the clock. Count me in that category. Even if USC4Valpo is the worst armchair quarterback ever, what are they going to lose, 2 more games in three years? Not a real big drop off there. 0-33 isn't very different from 2-31. And what exactly has Carlson shown as an on the field coach? How to get annihilated in the first half? It's not like they're losing close games, they're getting crushed right out of the box. The reality is, when you are historically bad, people will speculate about your job and who to replace you with. If he were 31-2 we wouldn't be having this conversation.

Thanks for praising my capabilities of being a great armchair QB!

Thought you might get a kick out of that! 

I guess I'm still looking for that "kick"-er?

Well played!

[new2ff]

Been following all the different college FB playoffs [ FB junkie that I am ] & there are some pretty good teams in Indiana. D-3 Franklin was pretty dang good, Indianapolis had a salty D-2 team, Butler is pretty good & on upswing for PFL & NAIA, how about Marian ? We should be able to put together a good team, gotta be all about recruiting. Let's hope coach brings in some good players this year to go with what we have coming back.

Anyone hear anything on recruiting? Most scholarship schools should be pretty much finished by now.

[VULB#62]

PFL teams don't comment on recruits until their deposits are in and that's around  May.

[covufan]

Anyone hear anything on recruiting? Most scholarship schools should be pretty much finished by now.

Not really, it is just getting interesting.  Coaches have a few more days until a 3 week quiet period, where they can't contact the recruit by phone or in person.  Until signing day (early Feb), everything is in play.  With some kids not committing until signing day, other schools that were in the mix now have to sign another player, and so on it goes.  Some recruits are waiting to hear back from the top tier schools (if a scholarship opens) before signing with a lower BCS school, and so on...

Recruiting for the scholarship schools are just getting warmed up - far from over.

[new2ff]

Anyone hear anything on recruiting? Most scholarship schools should be pretty much finished by now.

Not really, it is just getting interesting.  Coaches have a few more days until a 3 week quiet period, where they can't contact the recruit by phone or in person.  Until signing day (early Feb), everything is in play.  With some kids not committing until signing day, other schools that were in the mix now have to sign another player, and so on it goes.  Some recruits are waiting to hear back from the top tier schools (if a scholarship opens) before signing with a lower BCS school, and so on...

Recruiting for the scholarship schools are just getting warmed up - far from over.

You are right, guess I meant that we should pretty much know those being recruited or with intentions to go D-I or II.
I hope we are not waiting until February to make the decisions on who we are going after. there should already be a number of players on our radar & hopefully the coaches spent some time under the Friday night lights watching them.
For my skilled positions [ including LB/DB ], I'd look for kids that make plays/players.
I always get a kick out of coaches that put so much value in size, speed or even to some extend where kids played & miss out on " good football players".
I remember Zach Thomas that walked on at TT & ended up leading the big 12 in tackles 2-3 times & still didn't get picked until the late rounds of NFL [ too short, too small, too slow ] LOL, guess the fact that he could tackle missed the coaches eye somehow [ think he was All-Pro a few Times ]

[VULB#62]

There was a FB Twitter tweet about the staff being on the recruiting trail in early December.  But, as I said earlier, the dust in scholarship D-IAA and to some extent D-II has to settle out and signing periods are exhausted before the PFL can begin to see real commitments and they are prevented from identifying signees until the enrollment deposits are in hand -- therefore, as in the past, we won't know who is coming to VU until May.  Some of the recruiting sites, however, have listings of kids' interests and in some cases Valpo gets a mention.

Hope they go to the JCs and land a couple of skill position difference makers.  I don't know what is legal in regard to FCS scholarship Xfers but would love to see a couple come on board as well.  Butler QB Lancaster was one such player -- help turn Butler around in one year.

[usc4valpo]

it is amazing how many lives this topic has. 

I think Valpo will get student who think education first and play football more as a extracurricular activity, well at least I hope so.  If they are not taking this approach, then they are obviosuly making a bad decision.

Lord, I hope they readjust and not go status quo.

[VULB#62]

UPDATE:  I went to FB Facebook.  Apparently they had a visitation weekend recently and landed their first verbal commitment for the class of 2013.

[VULB#62]

After watching several bowl games this long weekend, two were of special note to me:  Northern Illinois v. FSU and Stanford v. Wisconsin.  In both cases "staying close" by playing tough defense made both games interesting. 

In the case of the Rose Bowl, it allowed Stanford (the #6 US News National University behind only Harvard, Yale, Princeton, MIT and Columbia -- pretty strong academic place) to win a hard fought battle by playing intense defense against a much bigger and more powerful team in Wisconsin.  Here is a USAToday link to a story about that:

http://www.sportsonearth.com/article/40826500/

The second was the gutsy performance by the Huskies.  They were overmatched, no doubt about that (kinda like a PFL team going up against a top rated FCS scholarship team), but all the way into the third quarter they were within a touchdown of Florida State and even threatening to take over the game's momentum in the third quarter.  They eventually lost 31-10.  But 31-10 is a respectable defeat (unlike our 2012 59-0 YSU score) and showed they could compete.  More important, it showed that "staying close" by keeping the Points Against number low is a way of always putting yourself within reach of a win. 

SO........  My New Year's Resolution is to continually hope that in 2013, the Valpo football coaching staff FINALLY wakes up to the reality that so many of us have pointed to in various forms and that has been reinforced by so many games like the Rose Bowl, or NIU, or little Wagner making a run into the second round of the FCS playoffs: to win games, the defense must stop people and keep scores close enough to allow the offense (I don't care what system it is) to win it.

[usc4valpo]

62, good analysis...but although Stanford may be a bit smaller, be assured that they are a very strong, powerful team.  They can play football in the trenches with anyone and are obviously very well coached, whether it was Harbaugh or currently Shaw.  One thing I observed was how well they gang tackle and how they show proper tackling techniques.  USC, Valpo and other football schools should review this game to review tackling fundmentals.

One other thing to note about the game - Stanford's TE's are truly outstanding (not outstanding as described by Lou Holtz) in all areas.

Overall, the Rose Bowl was a pleasure to watch, both teams were prepared and played well.

[vu72]

Agree with 62, defense keeps you in games, just look at Butler's basketball team. Their in your face defense keeps teams close and allows for unusual funny bounces and good shooting to win close games.

Football is no different.  We need to try to attract better speed and size, something everybody already knows.

[setshot]

Gamecocks beat the wolverines,bulldogs beat the huskers and Clemson & Gtech also win. Point: :PCarlson needs to do some recruiting down here in SC & Ga.Problem though:who in their right mind would leave the SE in order to play ball in NWI?  Only fools rush in. GO COCKS!

[VULB#62]

Gamecocks beat the wolverines,bulldogs beat the huskers and Clemson & Gtech also win. Point: :PCarlson needs to do some recruiting down here in SC & Ga.Problem though:who in their right mind would leave the SE in order to play ball in NWI?  Only fools rush in. GO COCKS!

I'm sure Campbell and Davidson are wondering about that talent as well.  Now Mercer will help to dilute that pool some more. 

Hard-nosed football players are everywhere, not just in the warm climates.  Valpo has got to find them wherever they are and play some freakin defense.

[usc4valpo]

Also, get all players in the Niels Science Center, turn on the Rose Bowl tape, and watch Stanford defense tackling technique.  Quit flopping and play fundamental football.