.. but it seems like we're being awfully short-sighted here.

McBride has yet to have a losing season, and because of the possibility of him having his first one, we're screaming for his head? That makes absolutely no sense to me.

I'm asking everyone to stop making emotional decisions here. Stop for a moment, take a deep breath, step back, look at the big picture, and make a solid analysis of the situation.

I know the arguments against McBride: Lack of discipline by the team. A lack of communication by the coaching staff (the Tate thing). A lack of imagination by the coaching staff. A lack of recruiting a kicker. Yadda yadda yadda...

I pose two questions:

1- If we fire McBride now, who takes over? Our favorite play-calling whipping-boy Tommy Lee?

2- We all agree that we have a major weakness at QB. We all know that the QB is the most important position on the field. When was the last time we had a real QB? Answer: McCoy. Look at what the Utes did when they had a real QB. Don't think for a moment that the Ute coaching staff hasn't been trying to recruit QB's.

The moral of the story: you can recruit, but you never know if the kids are going to pan out.

I don't want to get into an argument over whether or not McBride should go. You won't change my mind, and I won't change yours. If you step back, look at the big picture and still think he should go. Fine. That's your prerogative. I believe Hill is doing the right thing with McBride. He's got a solid groundwork going. Give him 4 years. If things don't work themselves out, then start looking. 4 years isn't very long. It seems like my daughter was born yesterday. She turns 3 in 3 months.

All I ask is for people to step back, take a deep breath, take a look at the big picture for a moment before verbalizing.
 

One last question: What would you do if you were in McBride's shoes? Don't give me emotional answers like "resign". I mean, what can he do to fix the team? Or are you just an arm-chair coach that doesn't understand the first thing about coaching D1 football?

U-Ute

thank you for writing my feelings exactly.
As for what can be done, here it is. (I have been through this as a coach).

1. He has tried Whetman and even given him support but the poor kid just hasn't gotten the job done and I would turn to another kicker. I watched the coaches show last night and Mac admitted that Ryan will kick this week.
2. Inform the seniors it's put up or sit down. If you're going to loose you may as well give the younger players a chance to gain some experience.
3. Honestly evaluate the coaching being done and look for improvement even if it means hurting feelings. This may only happen at the end of the season, but make all assistants accountable right now and put them all on notice that changes need to take place.
4. Keep working hard.

> .. but it seems like we're being awfully short-sighted here.

> McBride has yet to have a losing season, and because of the
> possibility of him having his first one, we're screaming for
> his head? That makes absolutely no sense to me.

The reason that I want him gone is because the Ute football program has stagnated. Are you happy with a mediocre season every year? Look at the basketball team, before Majerus we had a mediocre team year in and year out except for the one year we played UNC in the first round. Well we got rid of Archibald and brought in Majerus, would you be willing to go back to a program that was consistently mediocre, one that consistently hovered around 15-15 16-14 (about the equivalent of a 7-4 in the MWC)? Of course not. This program can win, it just cant under McBride. He has proven that year in and year out with very mediocre seasons in what might possibly be one of the worst major D-1 football conferences in the nation. We expect more, you should expect more.

This team has hit rock bottom. We got killed by a Washington State team that got beat by Idaho at Washington State. We got beat by a CAl team that got killed by Fresno State.
How many straight years of mediocrity can you take. Do you see improvement on the horizon? If you were on the board of directors of a major corporation and its CEO continually turned in mediocre numbers, would you continue to sing his praises? The time has come, lets take the Ute football program where Majerus has taken the basketball team. Hell if Marshall can field a team every year that can compete why cant we?

Respectfully, I think you've missed the point on a number of issues here and I'll try to address as many as I can.

> .. but it seems like we're being awfully short-sighted here.

> McBride has yet to have a losing season, and because of the
> possibility of him having his first one, we're screaming for
> his head? That makes absolutely no sense to me.

Be real. There is nowhere in the country except perhaps Ball State where the fans don't call for the coaches head after a 0-4 start.

> I know the arguments against McBride: Lack of discipline by the
> team. A lack of communication by the coaching staff (the Tate
> thing). A lack of imagination by the coaching staff. A lack of
> recruiting a kicker. Yadda yadda yadda...

Why is this yadda yadda? These are the biggest problem and even though you are asking for us to give our solutions rather than criticize, I think you've missed the point. A lack of discipline is a reflection of a coaching style and in many cases a coaches decisions about what kinds of players to bring in. This can't simply be solved in a coaches meeting. You can have the best of game plans and without discipline it won't be pulled off. The "Tate thing" is mind numbing. My point is that there are things wrong on a very fundamental level that no amount of brainstorming is going to fix.

> I pose two questions:

> 1- If we fire McBride now, who takes over? Our favorite
> play-calling whipping-boy Tommy Lee?

I for one, and I think most agree, that you don't do it during the season. Buy out the contract at the end and there will be a much larger pool to select from. I think with the commitment to excellence the U already has, there will be some good coaches who will want to come be part of that situation.

> The moral of the story: you can recruit, but you never know if
> the kids are going to pan out.

This is your worst argument of all. What would you say if a BYU hoops fan told you "It's not like we haven't recruited good players, they just haven't panned out the way we expected"? I would say, well, Majerus has made stars out of mediocre talent and your talent has done nothing but stagnate, sounds like a coaching problem to me. This is far more true in football than basketball. At least in hoops there are players so talented that it's hard for the coaches to mess them up. In football, the players are MADE at the college level. Of course it is easier to make them with better talent, but out staff does very little to develop the talent it has. Doesn't it seem odd to you that Jamal Andersen is a much better pro than college player? Kevin Dyson and Mike Anderson may well be too. Darnell Arceneaux HAS NOT IMPROVED SINCE HIS FRESHMAN YEAR. How do you explain that if not by way of coaching? It is not enough to bring in talent, you must also develop it.

> All I ask is for people to step back, take a deep breath, take a
> look at the big picture for a moment before verbalizing.

I realize you may have some sentimental attachment to McBride, maybe you know him personally. But be honest. This is not JoePa or Lou Holtz or Tom Osborne having a down year. We are having a down year with what has been almost universally acknowledged to be one of if not THE most talented Ute teams ever. We are not in a down year. We are in what should be a peak year and we are 0-4. If this is not the fault of the coaching staff, then who? Beating BYU should not be the sole basis for job security at the U.

> One last question: What would you do if you were in McBride's
> shoes? Don't give me emotional answers like "resign".
> I mean, what can he do to fix the team? Or are you just an
> arm-chair coach that doesn't understand the first thing about
> coaching D1 football?
> U-Ute

He can do several things that I have been suggesting weeks now.

1. Bench Arceneaux and Croshaw, play a younger player. You damn well know that Mac is to loyal to these two to do that. A good attribute in life but not always in football.

2. Start going on forth down when ever we're inside the 35. We have a very good defense and would lose little field position wise. It can't be worse than 10%.

3. Run Adam Tate 2 out of every 3 plays. In the past our passing game has opened up as we have beat people to death with a big back.

4. Pass on first and second down. Just doing this occasionally will make a defense less able to key in on the run.

5. Bench the QB's.

6. Bench the QB's.

7. Bench the QB's.

"He is too loyal to these two to do that. A good attribute in life but not always in football."

I think loyalty is a universal value-- always good, in all circumstances. Mac's problem is that his loyalty is misplaced. He owes it to the entire team and to the program, not to individual players. Once the interests of the team/program conflict with the interests of guys like Croshaw and Arceneaux, who have not stepped up, then Mac needs to take action to protect the interests of the entire team and the program. By excessive loyalty to any player, he is being disloyal (whether or not intentionally) to everyone else.

I am sure you agree; I'm just embellishing your point.

> One last question: What would you do if you were in McBride's
> shoes? Don't give me emotional answers like "resign".
> I mean, what can he do to fix the team? Or are you just an
> arm-chair coach that doesn't understand the first thing about
> coaching D1 football?
> U-Ute

Don't get me wrong, I mean you no personal offense. But the tone of this question implies that common fans have no place criticizing coaches because they couldn't possibly understand what it takes to run a D1 program. Big Mac frequently implies (not so subtly) that callers complaining on his radio show don't know what the heck they are talking about.

Certainly, most fans don't know the X's and O's of Dl football as well as the coaches, but it doesn't take a genius to figure out when things aren't working. Just look at the scoreboard. Mac loses far too many winnable games. And don't give me that bunk that it's players, not coaches, that lose games. Mac chose every Ute player and assistant coach. The buck stops with Mac.

I'm not a mechanic, but I know when my car is broken. I'm not a coach either (unless youth flag football counts), but I can see that Ute football is broken.

Year in and year out Mac loses games he has no business losing. For every step Mac takes forward with bowl games or wins over BYU, he takes two steps back with loses to Boise St. and going 0-4 in games he was favored to win.

U-Ute, I don't know what Mac needs to do to fix the program. I don't need to know. My job is to support the Utes by making Crimson Club donations, buying tickets, and taking my family to the games. Mac's job is to do what it takes to fix the program.

Optimistically, Mac may win 5 of the seven remaining games. At this point in his program, given the facilities and resources he has, 5-6 is just not acceptable. Based on his performance this year and in past years I don't have confidence that Mac is capable of doing what needs to be done to fix Ute football.

I don't support removing a coach mid-season, but Chris Hill should have a busy few weeks raising the money to buy-out Mac's contract and developing his short-list, so he can start making phone calls at about 8:00 p.m. on November 24th.

I think the real point in all of this is that Coach Mac's teams have never won the games that they absolutely had to win. Every year it has been the same story. We lose to teams that we have no business losing to if we want a top flight program. By top flight I do not necessarily mean BCS bowl games. I mean a team that contends for and plays for the outright conference title. Not Co-Champions. A team that does not stub it's toe against the Boise States and Idahos of the world.

Say what you want about BYU, but Coach Edwards in earlier years took BYU over the hump. They stopped losing to the Bo Did-a-ly Techs of the world. Burn me in effigy if you like. I want a Utah football team like the Y had in the late 70's and the 80's. They simply beat the teams they played. Are we only capable of being a 7 wins and 4 loses team? If so, then the four loses better come within conference play.

Because losing our OOC games and then wining our conference games will only allow everyone outside of the MWC to say and believe we are a weak conference and they will be right. Losing to the bottom three teams in the PAC-10 and then winning the conference championship will only tell everyone that the MWC champs are not as good as the worst teams in the PAC-10.

I feel that Coach McBride has had long enough to try and get it right. The best team we have had in as long as I can remember, the team that beat Arizona in the bowl game in 1994 (and I remember the Utes wining the Liberty Bowl in the sixties-1964?) still lost two games they needed to win.

Well, better get back to work.
I've deposited two cent on the way out.

Go Utes!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

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