I’ve been trying to listen to some the interviews of Whipple and Bates. They both impress me very much. It seems to me the biggest decision a head coach can make to affect his success, is first and foremost the coaching staff, and especially the coordinators. Just like we talk about depth of players, we need depth all the way through the staff and honestly this group of coaches, in my opinion, is the best we have had in a long time.
Narduzzi needs to set the tone and direction, but now he has to give these guys the freedom to do their thing. And I think he will. When you hear all the preseason prognosticators talk Pitt they talk about what we lost. They talk about why we’ll struggle. They even talk about the new OC as a possible negative with a new system. And I am not completely blind, I get it, but I think this coaching staff is going to be the reason our players “overachieve” this year.
When I hear Whipple talk, I get excited for what he brings. His experience is phenomenal and he talks like a teacher. That teaching will help Pickett tremendously. He is going to make sure these kids know their roles and is going to call plays to our strengths. If their are things he wants to do as a coach but doesn’t feel good about the players ability to implement he’ll set it aside for now. If you look at our offense last year we did that in the run game but our passing game scheme was pathetic. Some of it was on the players but a lot was on coaching. Pickett has shown a pretty strong ability to hit the quick slant across the middle but we didn’t see that as frequently as I think we could have. Instead we saw tons of rolling a right handed qb out to his left and have him throw against his body. I’m excited for Whipple’s offense. With his experience and coaches he’s worked for I could see him using a lot of stuff that the Chiefs are using with all their speed guys. Players will still have to make plays but as we saw when Canada was here, if you scheme correctly, coaching can give you an advantage over a more talented team. Think Clemson 2016.
As for Bates, I liked our defense last year considering what we had player wise. I think our talent level and athletic ability has jumped this year. Losing Weaver sucks. No way around that. But we’ll have players to fill in and hopefully hold their own. The rest of the D-Line is better in my opinion. The lb’ers are inexperienced somewhat, but more athletic and the back four should be way ahead of last year as well. I’m anxious to see this defense be aggressive. If we can generate a pass rush with just the front four he will have a lot of freedom with how he can call his defensive plays. Mix in blitzes better. Come from different places. I think this defense can be really good this year.
In the end you need talent, but talent alone is not enough. You need great coaching. You need to develop players that are considered “less talented”. And you need to scheme to your strengths as well as to your opponents weaknesses. I think we finally have the pieces in place in the coaching staff to finally have a chance at that big breakout season. But then again maybe that’s my yearly over optimistic self talking me into getting my hopes up again. You’d think after 30 some years of doing this I would learn about high hopes and dreams with Pitt Football.
Narduzzi needs to set the tone and direction, but now he has to give these guys the freedom to do their thing. And I think he will. When you hear all the preseason prognosticators talk Pitt they talk about what we lost. They talk about why we’ll struggle. They even talk about the new OC as a possible negative with a new system. And I am not completely blind, I get it, but I think this coaching staff is going to be the reason our players “overachieve” this year.
When I hear Whipple talk, I get excited for what he brings. His experience is phenomenal and he talks like a teacher. That teaching will help Pickett tremendously. He is going to make sure these kids know their roles and is going to call plays to our strengths. If their are things he wants to do as a coach but doesn’t feel good about the players ability to implement he’ll set it aside for now. If you look at our offense last year we did that in the run game but our passing game scheme was pathetic. Some of it was on the players but a lot was on coaching. Pickett has shown a pretty strong ability to hit the quick slant across the middle but we didn’t see that as frequently as I think we could have. Instead we saw tons of rolling a right handed qb out to his left and have him throw against his body. I’m excited for Whipple’s offense. With his experience and coaches he’s worked for I could see him using a lot of stuff that the Chiefs are using with all their speed guys. Players will still have to make plays but as we saw when Canada was here, if you scheme correctly, coaching can give you an advantage over a more talented team. Think Clemson 2016.
As for Bates, I liked our defense last year considering what we had player wise. I think our talent level and athletic ability has jumped this year. Losing Weaver sucks. No way around that. But we’ll have players to fill in and hopefully hold their own. The rest of the D-Line is better in my opinion. The lb’ers are inexperienced somewhat, but more athletic and the back four should be way ahead of last year as well. I’m anxious to see this defense be aggressive. If we can generate a pass rush with just the front four he will have a lot of freedom with how he can call his defensive plays. Mix in blitzes better. Come from different places. I think this defense can be really good this year.
In the end you need talent, but talent alone is not enough. You need great coaching. You need to develop players that are considered “less talented”. And you need to scheme to your strengths as well as to your opponents weaknesses. I think we finally have the pieces in place in the coaching staff to finally have a chance at that big breakout season. But then again maybe that’s my yearly over optimistic self talking me into getting my hopes up again. You’d think after 30 some years of doing this I would learn about high hopes and dreams with Pitt Football.
