Drew Thatcher No Longer Listed on the Army Football Staff Website

[ArmyRedLeg]

If Thatcher is gone, I hope it was on good terms. He is early in his career and is likely to do well leveraging his time as an OC at Army - especially at a future Army opponent.

[WrekDivr]

Sal makes it official.

http://blackknightnation.com/drew-thatc ... ing-staff/

[kfan12]

My source in the athletic department indicated there was a strong concern that Navy was going to go hard after worley, and his promotion was required to keep him here and of course because he was the best person to run the new/old offense.

But when you think about the fact that Monken fired his longtime coaching friend Davis, brings in a new guy and moves him halfway across the country, and then fires him as well in less than a year… What a ruthless business

IDK what is going on there. Some of us have believed that the O-line has been the biggest problem for 3-4 years. Year before last became unable to get one-yard gains on 3rd and 4th down tries, blocking rarely having an impact at the second level because they are getting beat up front unless they were playing 2nd tier FCS competition. Couldn't run outside because they let backside pursuit tackle the back before he ould get three yards. Yet here we see Viti now promoted to Assistant Head Coach for Offense / Offensive Line and Drinkall as offensive line coach (his bio on goarmywestpoint.com also shows him as co-offensive coordinator). Beginning to wonder if Viti is a sacred cow whose performance is not questionable no matter what position he's in, based on non-football factors. Liked Worley's game calling against CC, but still that had at least as much to do with surprising them with an offense Army hadn't run all year as anything else. Guess we'll see, but if you can't run your bread-and-butter plays and routinely get some yardage, it doesn't matter what scheme you run. A bit shocking to see the OC go and from an outsider's view the biggest weakness in coaching promoted.

[Dong Fong '09]

My source in the athletic department indicated there was a strong concern that Navy was going to go hard after worley, and his promotion was required to keep him here and of course because he was the best person to run the new/old offense.

But when you think about the fact that Monken fired his longtime coaching friend Davis, brings in a new guy and moves him halfway across the country, and then fires him as well in less than a year… What a ruthless business

IDK what is going on there. Some of us have believed that the O-line has been the biggest problem for 3-4 years. Year before last became unable to get one-yard gains on 3rd and 4th down tries, blocking rarely having an impact at the second level because they are getting beat up front unless they were playing 2nd tier FCS competition. Couldn't run outside because they let backside pursuit tackle the back before he ould get three yards. Yet here we see Viti now promoted to Assistant Head Coach for Offense / Offensive Line and Drinkall as offensive line coach (his bio on goarmywestpoint.com also shows him as co-offensive coordinator). Beginning to wonder if Viti is a sacred cow whose performance is not questionable no matter what position he's in, based on non-football factors. Liked Worley's game calling against CC, but still that had at least as much to do with surprising them with an offense Army hadn't run all year as anything else. Guess we'll see, but if you can't run your bread-and-butter plays and routinely get some yardage, it doesn't matter what scheme you run. A bit shocking to see the OC go and from an outsider's view the biggest weakness in coaching promoted.

I'm sure Viti brings a lot to the table in terms of recruiting and what not. But he has not done a good job as an offensive line coach. I'm guessing he was a solid fullbacks coach even though he was not a triple option fullback himself.

I do know that Viti was very close with Brent Davis, and Viti wants to be the head coach at Army one day. That might be a lofty expectation on his part since it seems like he hasn't really performed as the line coach (his ceiling might be as a fullback coach). As someone else has mentioned before, he should probably go coach elsewhere for a while to get some new experience. That being said, even though he wasn't in an option offense as a cadet, after being part of this coaching tree for like 8 years, he should know the triple option offense well. I think it probably says something about how much Viti has developed and how Monken views him, that when Brent Davis was out for our bowl game in 2020, and this year for CC, Monken asked for Worley to call the plays instead of Viti.

I also wonder how meaningful these coaches' titles are. After our defense played bad in 2019, Loose was demoted with an assistant head coach title i believe.

To your point about the line. Our new tight end coach played offensive line at Florida and just came to us from being their offensive line quality control coach. I'd be shocked if he wasn't intimately involved with coaching the entire offensive line, and I have to imagine having a former lineman as a coach will make a difference. Maybe the plan is to move this new coach to offensive line after he gets a season at Army under his belt.

[kfan12]

....

To your point about the line. Our new tight end coach played offensive line at Florida and just came to us from being their offensive line quality control coach. I'd be shocked if he wasn't intimately involved with coaching the entire offensive line, and I have to imagine having a former lineman as a coach will make a difference. Maybe the plan is to move this new coach to offensive line after he gets a season at Army under his belt.

Thanks for pointing that out. Read his bio, At least some potential to contribute to the O-line's improvement.

[Lusk2003]

New slot back coach

http://blackknightnation.com/staff-upda ... cks-coach/