An analysis by Coach Wyatt

[ARMORMAN]

OK, want a quick and professional comparison of af, navy, and army offensive football?

Want an unvarnished opinion of exactly why, as monkensminion posted, "we suck"?

Warning, this is not complimentary to either Jeff Monken or more especially, our O line "coaching". Instead, it's basically what P&D has been saying from the get-go: Our O line play sucks, likely in part because of improper coaching, and we really never needed to abandon the under-center triple because of cut block rules. This is not to say we are not Monken fans because we ARE. We love the guy. But that doesn't mean we love what is happening this year...

Watch the last 15 minutes or so of this video.

https://vimeo.com/875755174

[PrideandDream]

Whoops. Now someone with real credentials is calling them out and badly. Hard to watch this and not see the stark differences.

For those that don't know about Coach Hugh Wyatt he is a Double Wing Guru and highly successful coach. He's coached at numerous high schools, over seas, and has a broad base of experience. He in fact invented the well known "Wildcat" formation which started in HS and worked its way up the ladder. His high school team was the "Wildcats" and so that's how they named it. He's taught a ton of clinics and written books and conducted videos. He is a Yale graduate and a 4 year football player there. So he's not just some bum off the street. But don't take my word for it, Google him. You''ll find he's more than qualified to make an assessment of our team and our play.

Lastly, it's important to know he is a STAUNCH Army fan and supporter. He wants us to win just as much as anyone else in this forum and any fan I know.

PD

[wpgrad]

There is a disconnect somewhere in this whole situation. I don't doubt the expertise of the Wyatt guy. But, on the other hand, you can't tell me that Army has like 15 coaches and 25 "support staff" and all 45 of them are as stupid as being portrayed in this video.

[PrideandDream]

There is a disconnect somewhere in this whole situation. I don't doubt the expertise of the Wyatt guy. But, on the other hand, you can't tell me that Army has like 15 coaches and 25 "support staff" and all 45 of them are as stupid as being portrayed in this video.

Look incompetence exists everywhere in life:

Government - We've seen incompetence at the highest levels
Military - We've all seen leaders that were totally out of touch with what needed to happen
Churches - Don't even get me started on this topic and the atrocities and incompetence
Schools - look at how bad off education is especially at large universities
Corporations - totally uncommon for CEOs and their staffs have run big and small companies totally into the ground with incompetence

So would you really be that surprised to find out a group of football coaches couldn't fix something? Especially at Army?

Here's the deal, and this is what Coach Wyatt is getting at. The details of coaching o line, or any position really, are small and particular. They involve stance, weight distribution, alignments, head and hand placement, assignments, communication, footwork, angles, and many other small details that when collectively added up make the difference. You can't just tell guys to play harder or give more effort. You have to coach the small particulars in individual drills and group drills and ultimately full team. And once you coach it and you see a guy demonstrate the competence to do and repeat his assignment then you demand it from him. But it has to be taught first. In essence this level of expertise is demanded more at a Service Academy due to the talent disparity. Big teams get away with stuff many times because they have talent. This happens at every level. You can run a scheme that looks good at the D2 level that really wins because of a talent advantage not a coaching advantage.

This is the exact point I make about last year's navy game. We are trying to run gun the first three series and can't because one we can't block and two we can't execute at other positions. And that's against guys without a massive talent gap.

Last week Troy brought 5 guys on a pass play against us. We had 7 in protection and took a sack. How does that happen? Well on that specfic play the RB abandoned the A gap and went outside to help the right tackle. Then the backer came through the A gap and sacked Daily. So here's a simple coaching tip, the kind of detail I'm talking about, you always tell the running back to pass pro from inside out. Meaning you don't abandon the A gap until you see the backer actively back pedaling. Then you can go outside. And you work the RB with the O line in group pass pro sessions. And in those sessions you present these kinds of looks. The backer blitzing through the A gap would be the most basic pass pro look for a RB to look for. So either we didn't coach that or the RB is totally in the wrong head space. Look it's one play but it's illustrative of my point. There are fine details that sometimes only a real expert can express. And as I continue to point out I'm not certain we have an expert coaching the O line.

Food for thought.

PD

[ARMORMAN]

There is another, even larger problem, imho:

WTF to do if this gun thing continues to misfire?

Does JM plow ahead? Does he continue with the same scheme and the same coaches, under the assumption that it all just needs more time, more reps? If Wyatt and P&D and others are correct, you can't fix unqualified coaches and/or an ill-fitting scheme. And how long does he continue with unacceptable performance? What if we go 3 and 9 this year? How many more losing seasons without CIC's or bowls? If he can't fix it, that don't impress any Power 5 programs, if that speculation carries any weight.

Or does he go back to the future with an under-center triple, ala af? Does he fire a man he just hired, along with all the position coaches who have not demonstrated success. Does he consider that as an act of consummate disloyalty, since he was the one to make this change? Does he even have the budget to buy-out all the contracts and re-hire? Does he have the disposition to eat that large crow and basically say to his staff and his players and his recruits and his donors and supporters: "My bad, I guess we can live without cut blocks after all".... That ain't gonna impress any Power 5 programs either; again, if that even was part of his motive for the switch.

To quote George Clooney in Oh Brother, Where Art Thou: "We're in a tight spot..."

Not to make light of this, but we sure the hell are. We abandoned the one, singular (under-center, triple option) offense that has enabled af under 3 Head Coaches and navy under 2 and us under 3 to compete for 4 decades at the FBS level, go to bowls, crack the top 20, and take down or take to the wire a helluva lot of Power 5 Giants. Instead of revising and polishing a tried-and-true scheme that had gone stupid-dumb under Davis, we seem to have succumbed to the Todd Berry alure of big plays and a wide-open field.

And now we're in a tight spot.

Hate this.

[wpgrad]

There is a disconnect somewhere in this whole situation. I don't doubt the expertise of the Wyatt guy. But, on the other hand, you can't tell me that Army has like 15 coaches and 25 "support staff" and all 45 of them are as stupid as being portrayed in this video.

Look incompetence exists everywhere in life:
Food for thought.

PD

Lets be clear what this would be saying--Jeff Monken, Mike Viti, and Matt Drinkall don't have a clue how to run an offense and teach lineman. And therefore Monken needs to can both of them asap, and the Offensive Coordinator while he is at it.

Thats what a person is saying if they are supporting what Coach Wyatt is saying.

And that person is saying this after a whopping 6 games of a new offense. It hasn't even been two months.

[ARMORMAN]

One thing is just beyond debate:

Irrespective of whether we continue to run this gun thing or go back to an under-center triple, we had better figure out how to fix an O line that's been ineffective for too long. To quote John Madden:

"Want a good football team? Play good linemen."

[palidog]

Jim Young came to West Point in 1983., used the standard offense that year and failed. In 1984, he implemented a new offense and had success. So it is possible for a team to have success in the first year of a new offense.

[PrideandDream]

There is a disconnect somewhere in this whole situation. I don't doubt the expertise of the Wyatt guy. But, on the other hand, you can't tell me that Army has like 15 coaches and 25 "support staff" and all 45 of them are as stupid as being portrayed in this video.

Look incompetence exists everywhere in life:
Food for thought.

PD

Lets be clear what this would be saying--Jeff Monken, Mike Viti, and Matt Drinkall don't have a clue how to run an offense and teach lineman. And therefore Monken needs to can both of them asap, and the Offensive Coordinator while he is at it.

Thats what a person is saying if they are supporting what Coach Wyatt is saying.

And that person is saying this after a whopping 6 games of a new offense. It hasn't even been two months.

Well given the play of the o line the last couple of years and 6 games so far that is exactly what is being said. You are what your record says you are. No one loved the old offense and it failed due to o line play. It’s evident in film. This offense is struggling for similar reasons.

So yes right now I’m telling you that Monken Viti Drinkall and thatcher don’t know how to run and coach an offense. Maybe that changes by end of year. But right now through six games we look like crap.

PD

[WrekDivr]

I found this video an interesting watch. I’m not all that interested that he doesn’t like Army’s move to the new offense, bit I found the detailed breakdown of the O line play very interesting. How the center holds the ball, how far the line is from the ball, the posture in stance before the ball is snapped, etc.

I wonder if Davis’ best contribution was coaching the O line. Viti was moved there last year and we struggled big time. This year it’s Viti and Drinkall and we are struggling again. Regardless of the type of offense we run, we need great line play if we want to sustain drives.