The official stance of the Wahooze blog team: Fire Mike London. Don't waste any more time figuring out that he's not the guy, because, clearly, he's not the guy.
Furthermore, if we had any better options it would be time to Bench David Watford.
And Dominique Terrell should have his scholarship revoked. Luckily for him, we have two bigger fish to fry.
Very frustrated right now. Very frustrated. Three weeks to get ready to go to Pittsburgh and shit the bed.
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| It's over, coach. We've turned. |
Watford is the worst.
ReplyDeleteHow did Lambert lose this battle in the preseason? I don't get it.
ReplyDeleteI read wahooze all the time, and I have a great deal of respect for all of your opinions, but this is what I feared the most about this season. I feared that if we got off to a bad start, that everyone would be calling for mike London to be fired. I think that that is the worst thing that can happen to us. London is not a great strategic coach but he is a pretty good recruiter. If we were to fire him now, we will lose Quin Blanding, Andrew Brown, and any other top notch recruit and we will be starting all over again. I know that our fans hate to hear this, but we have to be a little more patient. We need our fans now more than ever because I really think that we have a chance to get things turned around now that we have this new coaching staff. Look at how better the defense is. Most of the time when you fire a head coach, you don't retain much of his staff. Which means that we would probably lose coach tenuta and the defensive coaches. After years of complaining about Al groh's 3-4 defense and the problems that we had on defense under coach reid, do we really want to start over now that we have a very good defense. Now offensively, we were horrible today. But its funny to me that you fans are asking for a qb change after complaining so much about the quarterback changes that we went through the past few seasons. At the beginning of the season we all agreed that playing one quarterback and allowing that quarterback to grow would be the best idea. Don't change your mind after a few bad games. And lets be honest, Watford cannot take all the blame. Our receivers are not getting open and they are dropping passes. Our offensive line did not give Watford time in the pocket. So everyone on offense is the blame. Putting in a new qb will not fix these problems. Please Fans I know that you are angry and frustrated but think about the big picture and don't jump off the bandwagon. The fans have to do their jobs just as much as the coaches do. We can never recruit well when the stadium is half empty or when the coach is constantly on the hot seat.
ReplyDeleteThere's a lot here to discuss (and I imagine UVA fans everywhere are discussing all of the above) - thanks for the comment and reading the blog, Anon.
DeleteAnywho, as far as the QB comments go - the drops today were AWFUL for sure - just as much blame there on the 3 points as Watford (and to some extent play calling/deciding to go for it on 4th 3 times). That all being said, I can't say I've seen shakier QB play anywhere this side of Logan Thomas.
My comment above was more, if we assume Watford is starting because he beat out Lambert, then jeez how is it possible Lambert is somehow worse? I trust the coaches (I think) enough to play the best QB, so I'm not calling for a Watford benching - it's just astounding to me that we don't have a better option. As Kendall said, "if we had better options" - it's a shame we (apparently) don't.
Great comment, thanks for reading, thanks for posting.
DeleteI'm pissed right now. Pissed and impatient. We've been waiting for a decade for competent football.
But I'll sleep on it tonight and I'm sure I'll see the light tomorrow morning. Tonight? Darkness.
We need more fans like this guy. Watford struggled, but benching him and throwing Lambert out there with a shit offensive line and receivers with clubs for hands wouldn't solve anything. London has tremendous potential as a coach, hitting the reset button now would do nothing besides set us back another 5 years. Patience, look at Welsh's first 5 years, it is nearly impossible for any coach to completely turn a crap program around in 4 season, especially considering we replaced every coordinator in the offseason. And there are a ton of other examples of coaches who struggled in the first 5-6 years, Mack Brown at UNC, Bill Snyder, Frank Beamer, etc; I'm not saying London is guaranteed to be one of those guys, but at least give him a chance.
DeleteHell I would have gone for it on 4th and short options too. Pitt scored 58 points last week. And sure you can believe in the defense but who would have thought they would have pitched a shutout for the rest of the game. I'm tired of passes doinking off wide open receivers and tight ends. And I'm also tired of the offensive line being as firm as a sheet of paper.
ReplyDeleteWe have a championship-caliber defense. It's probably one of the best in the country. Now we just had an offense to even compliment it halfway
I'm saying it and don't need to sleep on it. London, has to go!!!! London, has had 4yrs to figure this out that's enough time... He might be a great coach and recruiter but he's not a great head coach in my opinion. Not to fire London because of the fear of losing Blanding and Brown is just stupid.. These two athletes are not going to change the program,(Kai Parham, Michael Johnson, Ahmad Brooks.) - These were 3 five star recruits in one year and what did they do for the program?
ReplyDeleteGreat coaching does that. If UVA wants to be a BIG TIME FOOTBALL program they are going to have too spend BIG TIME CASH. A great head coach can coach mediocrity into a team that fights for every yard, and plays balls out on every play. I've been a UVA fan since 94 so I'm not going off the band wagon, I'm just an upset fan that sees a program with a lot of potential continue to struggle.
Joe, I respect your opinion, but I think you are wrong. If the goal is to become a big time program, then you must have big time players. As the saying goes its not about the x's and o's, its about the jimmy and the joe's. Having a great strategic coach will only get you so far if you have average players. We have spent big money on a coaching staff that we all believed would be pretty good. Tenuta, O'Brien, and the other coaches are the ones that can game plan and coach up the players. Coach London has proven an ability to be the best recruiter that we ever had. What are the chances of uva getting a coach that can recruit better than he can. And I disagree with you saying that a few five star players are not going to save the program. one player named Cam newton brought Auburn a championship. One player named johnny menzel allowed texas a&m to compete in the SEC. You say that the program has a lot of potential. The reason for that potential is because we have improved our recruiting since mike London became the coach. Now it is time to let this coaching staff work there magic. I believe that we have the best staff that we could possibly get at uva. Im still not to sure just yet about steve Fairchild, but I think the other coaches are the best that we can hope for. In my opinion, head coaches get to much credit when a team is winning, and to much blame when they are losing. Every great coach is great because he has talent and a great coaching staff around him. My name is Darryl by the way. I meant to put that in the heading but it didn't work.
DeleteDarryl, Here is the thing I do like Tenuta. He has already made improvements on the defensive side of the ball that's given. Also O'Brien is a great coach as well. He was here during the George Welsh era.. "whom in my opinion is the best UVA coach ever" - and coached better with less talent, as well as recruit players because he was a proven winner... To think that London, is the best possible coach that we can find is absurd...(AL GOLDEN)you have to win games to get recruits having losing seasons is not going to cut it.
ReplyDeleteAuburn, has always had a winning tradition. They have had high's and low's but they are still Auburn.. Cam Newton didn't change that...Also, Johnny Menzel was not a 5star recruit he was a 3star.... You don't need 5stars YES it's SEXXY for the program but UVA has won and gone to bowl games without them.
A couple of points. First, if you are satisfied with just going to bowl games, then fine. you can do that with 3 star recruits. I'm not satisfied with that. I want to compete for championships. I've been a fan since 1990 when we were number 1 in the nation. That is what I want to get back to. Second. about coach London, I guess what im trying to say is do you really want to start all over again or do you want to build on the momentum that we do have. Coach London is bringing in big time talent despite the fact that we haven't been successful on the field and despite the fact that we play in an half empty stadium on most Saturdays. If we get a new coach we lose all of the recruiting momentum that we've built in the tidewater area. I think that we could get a better coach, but could we get a better recruiter. It's not like we are going to be able to get nick saban, or a big name coach like that. I understand your frustration with London, but im saying forget about the first 3 years. This new staff changes everything about our program now. If we give them so time, we will began to win again. And by the way, I have great respect for Al Golden, but Mike London has defeated him 3 straight times.
DeleteIronic that the one other coach you singled out (Golden) is the one London has a 3-0 record against... Also I wholeheartedly agree with Anonymous above me, hitting the reset button now will only set us back another 5 years, let London grow as a coach, he's already bringing in big talent, imagine if he figures out how to win consistently...
DeleteRight now the only momentum that London is building is back to back losing seasons... Which is not going to bring in recruits. Blanding, and Brown can still go to another school if they feel like the program is not going in the right direction. If they make a smart, exciting hire to a big name coach, it will make recruits excited about the future of the program. Maybe, Mac Brown...I think coaches like that can recruit anywhere not just the Tidewater area.. I used Al Golden, as an example because look what he did at Temple? "He actually won games at Temple!!" A great coach can win anywhere...
ReplyDeleteLast I checked, Brown and Blanding were still committed to UVA. Unless that changes you can't bail on London, not with the potential he's shown (ACC coach of the year...) and the talent he's been bringing in. He's still learning to be a coach, but when he figures how to win consistently (and I think TOB will help a lot in this department this year) he could do big things. Bailing now, with no good alternative in mind (mack brown and golden aren't exactly hot commodities right now) is not solving anything
DeleteTime to stop making football decisions based on recruiting. If the coaching is terrible even Blanding and Brown will suck here.
ReplyDeleteI would love to figure out a way to hold onto the defensive staff while we completely overhaul the offense. I think the podcast will go deeper into potential candidates, but I would throw a ton of cash at Chad Morris from Clemson
Yesterday was beyond frustrating. The Terrell punt fiasco was one of the most absurd plays I have ever seen! Perhaps that was all on him, but wouldn't the coaching staff instill a sense of when it's appropriate to GET AWAY FROM THE FOOTBALL?! Totally atrocious. Then why doesn't London kick a field goal from the 3 yard line with over 3 minutes to go? Down by 8, 2 timeouts, and a defense that has been downright nasty the entire second half? That's a no-brainer. But when you couple this with the way London flubbed the use of timeouts against VT last season, it's clear that coaching on game day is a problem.
ReplyDeleteI was so inspired by the way the defense played but the offense was downright pathetic. Say what you will about the awful WR play, but the college game, much like the pro game, really comes down to having a competent, nay good, signal caller. UVA doesn't have one right now.
4 years is too early to turn on a coach. Hell look at Welsh's first 5 seasons, not much different than London's. Patience, we knew going into this season that is was going to be a rough one offensively. We have some serious issues on the offensive line, benching Watford will do nothing to change that. The running game was supposed to be a strength but behind this line we can't get anything going at all. We had a true freshman and a walkon on playing yesterday, that's not going to get it done. Not to mention NONE of our receivers can catch a damn pass, Watford struggled but the entire offense was a dumpster fire, throwing the inexperienced Lambert into the fray wouldn't solve anything. We're only 4 games into the season and are pretty much exactly where most people expected us to be. I know it's rough right now, but I don't see a clear alternative to London, yeah the idea of hiring a smart, energetic coach who will recruit well and magically turn the program around in one off-season seems exciting, but they don't exactly grow on trees (remember 5 years ago, London was that guy. In my opinion he still has the potential to be)
ReplyDeleteMike- You think Brown and Blanding would have sucked in Tenuta's defense Saturday? Not trying to be a dick because I totally agree with your second statement. Picture a Morris offense paired with Tenuta's defense with Brown, Harold, Blanding, etc.
ReplyDelete