[olldflame]

Ballah09 what is wrong with Bennett?

Great man by all accounts. Just not the guy to lead us to where we need to go.

Looks like we are back to stating our opinions as fact

I don't know if he would be or not, but your previous assessment that Bennett can build a program but not maintain it is flawed He has had 2 college HC jobs His results did fall off after a great start at Coastal, but at Catawba they were getting nothing but better and better when he left for Conway

[Jonathan Carone]

D2 and FCS are totally different animals. We saw how he couldn't sustain it at Coastal.

Also, if he's a great fit, why's he been coaching high school for the past five years and why did he accept a non-coaching county AD position? Why hasn't he been coaching college football? I don't want a coach who hasn't coached college football since 2011.

[Purple Haize]

D2 and FCS are totally different animals. We saw how he couldn't sustain it at Coastal.

Also, if he's a great fit, why's he been coaching high school for the past five years and why did he accept a non-coaching county AD position? Why hasn't he been coaching college football? I don't want a coach who hasn't coached college football since 2011.

Lots of reasons why people leave coaching. You have one keeping you up st nights now

[Chippy]

I think all we need is a new "playbook". We are too simple and predictable on offense. If we can't run off right tackle, we're done. I would like to know how many times we ran off right tackle on first and 2nd down this season with little or no gain.

It is not the only problem, but I agree we need more diversified and creative offensive play calling The Daley experiment has been an abject failure I'm fairly certain Gill was pressured to replace Stamn at OC last year, and rather than look for an experienced and successful replacement, he went in house and just reassigned people, which seems to be his modus operandi If Gill wants to remain a D1 HC he needs to realize his own limitations and understand he needs an OC who has proven he can get the job done

I don't think the DC should get off easy either. We were last in sacks in the BSC and our D put very little pressure on the QB and could not stop the run in the last 3-4 years. The bend but don't break concept was awful painful to watch at times. While we did create a lot of TOs it was mostly due to athletic CBs and not always pressure upfront.

[Equinox]

If it’s too expensive to pay Gill off to leave, then move him into the position of acting AD for the duration of his existing contract, with Mickey Guridy working behind the scenes. Then we can hire a head coach (Streeter), and allow Liberty not to tick away another bloated contract by having Tuner as a figure head / ambassador of the athletics program, because if stays in his current position again the team is destined to be a bottom feeder in the BCS for the next 2 years.

[Cider Jim]

Gill...move him into the position of acting AD

Hey, that was my original idea.

[Purple Haize]

Gill...move him into the position of acting AD

Hey, that was my original idea.

2 people proposing the same bad idea doesn't make it a good one

[olldflame]

Making Gill some sort of figurehead AD would be a total Sham, and a transparent one at that In addition, I don't see him returning any value for doing whatever he would do in that role, while drawing his full coach's salary At least if they fire him, he will have the opportunity to take another coaching job, and I believe his salary there would be subtracted from the buyout We need to hire a real AD, and IMHO we need to do it without delay, regardless of what happens with Gill

[BJWilliams]

I do think that we need to get a new AD in as soon as possible, so that we can get the football coach situation settled, but I also think that we don't need to make a "knee jerk hire" either just so we can have someone in place because fans and donors clamor for one

[Purple Haize]

So This is still moot since Gill is still LU's football coach

[JK37]

As a football coach I think a replacement for TG is in order. However, because of the character of the man, if he is retained I will not hesitate to get behind him and support him in anyway I can. There seems to be those that want to take their ball and go home if he is not replaced. That's the "entitlement world" in which we find ourselves.

+1. The people here saying they'll pull monetary support are ignorant to me.

[thepostman]

I think Gill will be our football coach next season. For better or for worse.

[Jonathan Carone]

If he is, it has everything to do with paying a $3-4 million buyout and not a vote of confidence.

[thepostman]

I'm sure that would be the reason. I get it. It's just frustrating.

[Purple Haize]

I just find it unseemly to dance on his grave when there hasn't actually been a funeral yet

[jinxy]

Why is it ignorant. Its ignorant to think we will be any better when we have stunk on special teams for 5 years, wimbo absolutely cannot stop the option and offense is a total train wreck. So who is the ignorant one

[BJWilliams]

Ask yourself this question jinxy...how will you pulling your financial support change the special teams? How will you pulling your financial support help Coach Wimberly better learn how to defend the option? How will you pulling your financial support help the offense to perform better?

[thepostman]

Great insight as always beej

[Dirty 30]

D2 and FCS are totally different animals. We saw how he couldn't sustain it at Coastal.

Also, if he's a great fit, why's he been coaching high school for the past five years and why did he accept a non-coaching county AD position? Why hasn't he been coaching college football? I don't want a coach who hasn't coached college football since 2011.

Bennett got back into high school coaching to help kids and to coach his son. He had opportunities to go back to college coaching but decided to stay. He accepted the District AD position which pays pretty good and (he is not hurting for money after the situation at Coastal) he is the perfect guy for District AD job. I would love to see him get back into college coaching but I doubt it will happen. Joe has been winning with Bennett's recruits. Henderson was recruited by Bennett. Most of that Senior class are guys Bennett recruited. Eager to see how Joe does now with his own recruiting! He has been successful everywhere he has been and his players love him. I would say majority of his former players came by multiple times to the High School at River Bluff to see him and work with players at practice and put on camps. Tolbert, Simpkins, Thigpen, all NFL players, 2 of his former players are coaches at the high school now. Great man and loves the kids and knows football. One fact I do know, if he was to become the HC, the other #12 would have a package in the offense running some wildcat and zone reads because he can run it and throw it as well just like he did for him in High School. Talking about a Defensive Coordinator nightmare; having to prepare for two offenses and two QB's.

[rtb72]

Let me be clear as "an ignorant one". I will always support LU in every way I can. That means what I can do to recruit future students in some of their programs or support the UNIVERSITY! But I for one am not going to spend time or money to attend a game only to leave frustrated and disgusted (that's why I don't spend money on golf!)....especially if I see no return on investment OR the powers in place seem to be satisfied with status quo. I will choose to watch or listen from home and be frustrated (like many on this board), but I'll still have my ticket money! Ignorant....ok, whatever, but I'd dare say there are many more "ignorant one's" out there when it comes to LU Football right now. And yes......if you want to call it entitled for expecting to get "our money's worth".... that's it! If we are paying someone the highest salary in the FCS or BSC....I think we are in fact "entitled" to something besides what we are getting!

[Jonathan Carone]

I never said Bennett was bad, just not what we need. Where he is currently is likely the best fit for him at this point in his career.

It's possible to be a good coach and still not be the right fit for where we are currently.

[jinxy]

Bingo, if you have a life a family wife kids job church etc. you have plenty to compete for time. I wont waste time or money on a joke of staff and performance like weve seen. Just like rbt. Ill listen or watch. I missed one game last year and 2 this year. Its been less and less each year because of our performance.

[Cider Jim]

I don't understand why everyone is pushing the panic button. We only lost ONE conference game. ONE. Sure, it came at the worst possible time and dashed our playoff hopes, but Chuck South was a legit. top 20 FCS team. And the Coastal game didn't matter, since Gil wasn't coaching and it was out of conference.

I support Turner Gill and will be buying season tickets next year.

[ballcoach15]

As for the defense , I am been too concerned about the offense to even think of the defense. But we do need improvements on defense. As a poster mentioned earlier, we put little or no pressure on QBs. The key to good defense is the D line getting into backfield and disrupting plays. This past season we gave up too many big plays, and it seemed early in every game we left a receiver uncovered, resulting in a big play.

And another thing. We seem to have lead the nation in injuries, especially to linemen.

[Jonathan Carone]

I don't understand why everyone is pushing the panic button. We only lost ONE conference game. ONE. Sure, it came at the worst possible time and dashed our playoff hopes, but Chuck South was a legit. top 20 FCS team. And the Coastal game didn't matter, since Gil wasn't coaching and it was out of conference.

I support Turner Gill and will be buying season tickets next year.

I said all year long the results didn't matter to me nearly as much as how we looked achieving them. Against bad teams we looked great. Against mediocre teams we looked okay. Against good teams we looked horrible.

Had we competed with JSU, CSU, or Coastal I could see giving Gill another year because of progress. But there was no progress this year.