A Sea Of Red

Thanks Rocco for getting us here but it's time to go in a different direction. Same story every year.

TDDance234 wrote:Thanks Rocco for getting us here but it's time to go in a different direction. Same story every year.

Same prevent defense, same coming out flat in late road games, same obsessive offenses (Rashad to the left, the reason for my screen name, and Chris Summers on a fade/SirChauncey on a pistol dive) same "goals" for every season that are never achieved. Same high expectations. Same mediocre results.

No celebrating a Co-Big South Champs if we win next week. There's nothing to celebrate. We have the best program in the Big South, and we're stuck in 2nd gear. Bring in a new coach, bring new life to the program.

ToTheLeft...I couldn't agree more.

If we assume our talent is superior to othes BS teams, then I would consider your argument. However, I don't see that our talent is that good. We lack a run game outside of Mike, whether it's the lack of a quality line, play calling or average RBs. The reality is Coastal played a perfect game, like RMU, and we didn't. We're not good enough we're we can turn the ball over, etc and expect to win against most teams comparable in talent. We're getting there. Be patient.

I believe there is a touch hyper-sensitivity at play here. Yes, that was a mess in the first half and I am second guessing our defensive strategy as much as everyone else. But let's not get carried away based on one disastrous half of football that essentially killed our primary goals.

Chippy wrote:If we assume our talent is superior to othes BS teams, then I would consider your argument. However, I don't see that our talent is that good. We lack a run game outside of Mike, whether it's the lack of a quality line, play calling or average RBs. The reality is Coastal played a perfect game, like RMU, and we didn't. We're not good enough we're we can turn the ball over, etc and expect to win against most teams comparable in talent. We're getting there. Be patient.

Then stop setting goals of "make the postseason" and "win in the postseason".

I go by what the coaching staff says. Preseason I am fairly certain I heard that talk around the office was "Frisco or bust"... so if the goal is "Fight for a Big South title" then make that the goal. If the coaches overestimate their talent that badly, then it's still on them, and it explains our problems. They call plays thinking we're better than we are. "Oh, this dive to SirChauncey hasn't worked all game except for the touchdown, but we'll keep doing it since we're Liberty and we're going to the playoffs".

Sly Fox wrote:I believe there is a touch hyper-sensitivity at play here. Yes, that was a mess in the first half and I am second guessing our defensive strategy as much as everyone else. But let's not get carried away based on one disastrous half of football that essentially killed our primary goals.

Come on Sly. It's not one half. It's a history of the same old stuff. Take off the blinders man, you can't spin this one that much.

There are no blinders here. Just a bit of experience telling me that things are never as great as they seem when things go well or as bad as they seem when things go awry. We are obviously in the latter category today. But I still believe Coach Rocco is the best man for the job.

Sly Fox wrote:There are no blinders here. Just a bit of experience telling me that things are never as great as they seem when things go well or as bad as they seem when things go awry. We are obviously in the latter category today. But I still believe Coach Rocco is the best man for the job.

So then Elon 07, Presby 08, Stony Brook 09, JMU 09/10 are all just "going awry"? It's a pattern. We just play so many BAD teams in between that it makes us forget what we really are.

The fact that Rocco says he can't recruit the players to play a 4-3 at this level, but when we play a 4-3 we're worlds better, but yet he still plays the 3-4, is a microcosm of his inability to stray from what he thinks is best. And it's gotten old.

You all are ridiculous. You mustve gotten so used to all the wins during the previous years before Rocco. We are a top 25 football team 40 of the last 44 weeks. Can't expect much better than that.

TDDance234 wrote:Thanks Rocco for getting us here but it's time to go in a different direction. Same story every year.

You are right in the sense that Rocco hasn't won the big one. But before you run the guy out of town, you need to have a better solution waiting in the wings. You don't have one.

Anyone calling for Rocco to be fired is delusional and/or hasn't followed Flames football, or any football for very long. We will be ok in the future and we will make the playoffs in the next few years.
What we have to remember is we are never as good as we think we are in any sport. We want to win so badly, when we don't it is very disappointing.
As far as "Frisco or bust", I would be disappointed if Presby's coach didn't say or preach that until they are eliminated. That has to be the goal of every team, and less than 2% of the teams are going to get there.

Okay, we get it. He's not Karcher, who you all hate with a passion. That's not a good enough reason.

I really want to defend him.....I think he's a good coach.....but we have a few problems here.

1) There is always questionable play calling
2) The defense cannot stop a good offense x4 years
3) Fans think we are the 12th best team in the nation - an idea that is unfounded. Higher expactations = We should play like the #12 team in the nation - something we did not do once this season.
4) Rocco gets paid top $$$.
5) Facilities and budgets are near the top of FCS

We should be better than we are, Period.

I'm not jumping on this bandwagon though. I hope DR hits the Reset button on his philosophies - Design the coaching around the team and the strengths and weaknesses. The fact is - firing a guy who wins 60% of the time isn't smart either.

No TTL you don't get it. He's had the most success in school history you can't argue the numbers. Best win percentage. Period. You don't fire that. Why would you EVER fire a coach whos team is always in the top 25. I honest worry about you fans. Get realistic. We've won the conference the last 3 years. How many schools in the country can say that. Not many.

I'm going to try to stay out of this thread for a couple of days to make sure I don't post with emotion. But in terms of on the field performance, we are in the same boat that we were in 4 years ago. It seems as though we're waffling in mediocrity.

UVAFlame wrote:No TTL you don't get it. He's had the most success in school history you can't argue the numbers. Best win percentage. Period. You don't fire that. Why would you EVER fire a coach whos team is always in the top 25. I honest worry about you fans. Get realistic. We've won the conference the last 3 years. How many schools in the country can say that. Not many.

Especially with his buyout

Seriously though. I'm not concerned about records and success and blah blah blah. Many of those wins are against bottom level talent. It's a 50/50 road. We win, but we beat bad teams. We've won, but we're getting worse as time goes on.

Our team lacks discipline. It lacks focus. It lacks the desire to go out and take care of business. Past W-L is great and all, but I don't see anyone on this team who wants to win and that's more disturbing than the losses.

Schfourteenteen wrote:
I'm not jumping on this bandwagon though. I hope DR hits the Reset button on his philosophies - Design the coaching around the team and the strengths and weaknesses. The fact is - firing a guy who wins 60% of the time isn't smart either.

Even that would be a good point but he's won over 70%.

UVAFlame wrote:No TTL you don't get it. He's had the most success in school history you can't argue the numbers. Best win percentage. Period. You don't fire that. Why would you EVER fire a coach whos team is always in the top 25. I honest worry about you fans. Get realistic. We've won the conference the last 3 years. How many schools in the country can say that. Not many.

No, the early 90's when we beat good teams was much better than this. Our stats are inflated by playing bad teams.

You won't convince me. I'm done with Rocco.

ToTheLeft wrote:

UVAFlame wrote:No TTL you don't get it. He's had the most success in school history you can't argue the numbers. Best win percentage. Period. You don't fire that. Why would you EVER fire a coach whos team is always in the top 25. I honest worry about you fans. Get realistic. We've won the conference the last 3 years. How many schools in the country can say that. Not many.

No, the early 90's when we beat good teams was much better than this. Our stats are inflated by playing bad teams.

You won't convince me. I'm done with Rocco.

Ok well you go ahead and stop supporting. Your negative attitude and quite frankly ignorant view on things will surely be missed. Go play playstation and dominate with your master philosophies. I'm going to support our coach as long as barber does. And support him as he continues to win atleast 7 a season.

the best way to put is like i said somewhere in the 8 pages of posts....our program was in the fast lane. Now it has simply stalled...we have had 3 of the exact same seasons in a row now. We can't seem to get over the top. I think blaming the offense is not the way to go i mean they have put up points all year long other than the JMU game. I think Streeter makes a lot of bad 1st down play calls that put us behind the gun in downs 2 and 3. We actually come thru a lot more than you would expect with such long downs and distances. It's the defense and special teams play that has killed us this year. Bevins started off rough (since has righted the ship in a big way), kick coverage has been poor all year, and lately we've had the fumbleitis in the return game. Of our 3 losses, 2 of them can be directly attributed to the defense getting absolutely rolled by RMU and CCU. The program is simply stalled out and until somethign is done with this defense it's going to continue to be like this. the defense simply cannot be trusted in a big game/spot down the stretch. I'm not saying I want Rocco out by any means but I do think he's dead wrong he continues to state week in week out in the interviews that the scoring defense is #12 in the nation and that is OK. It's because we have 4 to 5 absolute terrible opps on the schedule each year and another 2 to 3 like GWU and CSU that are mediocore at best. Once again, we are idling and we cannot get over this hump for the 4th year in a row.

UVAFlame wrote: Ok well you go ahead and stop supporting. Your negative attitude and quite frankly ignorant view on things will surely be missed. Go play playstation and dominate with your master philosophies. I'm going to support our coach as long as barber does. And support him as he continues to win atleast 7 a season.

I really don't think any of us can sit here and call him ignorant. Overreacting? yes. But the concerns over the team and Rocco's direction are valid, and some things(at least strategically) need to change. It would take an ignorant person to not see that.

Here's a thought - with a loss to Stony Brook next week, Liberty could be 0-4 against I-FCS top 100 teams.

A coach is only as good as the assistants he brings in. Im saving my thoughts in detail for the Postmortem but Coach Rocco is the man I want leading this team right now, but we are going to have to make some changes in the assistants

BJWilliams wrote:A coach is only as good as the assistants he brings in. Im saving my thoughts in detail for the Postmortem but Coach Rocco is the man I want leading this team right now, but we are going to have to make some changes in the assistants

Sorry. This one's all on Rocco. It's his job to get these guys ready to play for 3 years running now we've failed miserably at the worst times...and as head coach, it's his job to make adjustments which we haven't been able to do.

I'm certainly thankful for where Rocco has taken us but I fear this is the best we'll ever be with him leading this team. Good enough to dominate average teams but not good enough to win a game we have to win.

UVAFlame wrote:

ToTheLeft wrote:

UVAFlame wrote:No TTL you don't get it. He's had the most success in school history you can't argue the numbers. Best win percentage. Period. You don't fire that. Why would you EVER fire a coach whos team is always in the top 25. I honest worry about you fans. Get realistic. We've won the conference the last 3 years. How many schools in the country can say that. Not many.

No, the early 90's when we beat good teams was much better than this. Our stats are inflated by playing bad teams.

You won't convince me. I'm done with Rocco.

Ok well you go ahead and stop supporting. Your negative attitude and quite frankly ignorant view on things will surely be missed. Go play playstation and dominate with your master philosophies. I'm going to support our coach as long as barber does. And support him as he continues to win atleast 7 a season.

So then he can just schedule terrible teams and you'll be okay with 7 wins.

If anyone's ignoring the facts on this, it's you.

As Sch14 said, if we lose to SBU, we're 0-4 against teams who AREN'T in the bottom 20. That's pathetic. If you're okay with that, then have fun with mediocrity.

I'm pretty sure Doc said "If it's Christian, it ought to be better" Not "If it's Christian it ought to be stagnant and mediocre".

You guys who have been here a while are stuck in the "Not Ken Karcher" mode still.

Also, I plan to keep supporting because Liberty is my first and only team. I'm proud of the things LU accomplishes but I am not blindly ignorant to the things that need to change. And 4 years of the same exact thing is enough. If you're okay with mediocre, then that's fine. I'm not, and I want change. And there's nothing I can do about it but present my thoughts to a bunch of people who don't want to hear it, and that's fine. But stop with the insults and belittling me already, please? This discussion has been about the coaches, not about me. I couldn't do a better job than Rocco and I never claimed to. So why bring me into it?

If you want a mature discussion where points are made and challenged, then that's fine. But calling me a clown or a retard and saying I'm just a Playstation champ and things like that need to go. I like to present my thoughts even if they're not mainstream, and you don't have to agree, but you certainly shouldn't belittle me. That's why I left in the first place, and it's likely why I'll wind up leaving again. Just because I believe you're wrong on an issue doesn't mean you have to resort to attacking me. If you disagree, say so. In plain language. But resorting to talking down to me, ESPECIALLY when you're in the majority and won't get called out for it, is uncalled for.

Imagine if another teams fan came on the site and called you a clown. You'd call for him to be banned from the site for being a nuisance! It's all the same, even tho I'm seen as the "clown" who is always just negative.