I’ve seen Tony Franklin’s name pop up a bit on VT forums as a candidate for the OC position should there be an opening after the season. No doubt, Franklin’s got a lot going for him: he’s an innovator, he’s had success, and there might even be a personal connection between him and Bud Foster (“might” being a key word there.) Given the right support, he’d probably have success just about anywhere. What I’m not seeing as much, though, are a few reasons why Franklin doesn’t seem like a VT hire.
- Franklin’s part of the Hal Mumme “Air Raid” coaching tree. Out of all the different spread offenses in heavy use right now, the Air Raid is the most pass-first of the bunch. Franklin’s been doing some things in the running game that are exciting, but he’s still got the reputation of a gun-slinger. The early iterations had their roots in ball-control-by-passing Walsh roots, but it’s long gone these days.
- Franklin isn’t the only spread coordinator or QB coach out there. He’s not even the only hot Air Raid guy out there, assuming that’s where Beamer wants to look. Mumme’s line is huge: the guys who’ve coached under him include Mike Leach, Chris Hatcher, and Sonny Dykes, and the guys they’ve coached include Dana Holgorsen and Art Briles. If Beamer wants an Air Raid guy he’s got his choice, and it goes without saying that if he wants a Rodriguez, Meyer, Sumlin, Kelly, Gundy, etc. guy, there’s plenty of them out there.
- I think anyone reading this would agree that Frank Beamer values loyalty, and that he expects his coaches to have the same trait. Franklin almost ruined his chances at coaching major programs by writing a warts-and-all account of his days coaching at Kentucky.
- There’s also his later coaching experience at Auburn, where he clashed with HC Tommy Tuberville, and was fired only a few weeks into the season. The general consensus is that Franklin got shafted by a head coach who only partially embraced the offense on the field, and didn’t provide Franklin with the players or staff needed to run it. I think Hokie fans can see why this is something to consider.
- I can’t say I’ve ever heard it confirmed, but my impression is that Coach Beamer prefers his coaches stay out of the public eye and keep a low profile even in football circles. Beamer himself does most VT clinics and presentations, and even articles featuring other VT coaches are pretty simple and pretty sparse. Franklin, on the other hand, has made a mint off of selling his services to schools all over the country.
- The biggest thing, in my mind at least, is that there are probably a lot of employment opportunities for Franklin, assuming he even wants to leave what seems to be a fulfilling and stable gig with Louisiana Tech. If VT considers him safe enough to take a serious look at, no doubt many other schools are doing the same thing.
I’ve got no clue at all what’s going on in Beamer’s head. With all this in mind, though, I have to think that any changes we see will follow what’s come before, with any new coaches having close ties to Frank himself, either through direct experience at Tech, or through regional or collegial connections.
FYI, Brophy attends La Tech practices, and probably has the best write-ups on what they’re doing: http://brophyfootball.blogspot.com/
All we need is a true spread so our defense can be as good as West Virginia, Baylor, UNC, etc. The Tarheels can get 50 and still lose by 18. WE DO NOT need a spread offense. It seldom, if ever, translates to solid defense. We need an offensive identity, and tons of reps in it so that we can execute. The style of the Beamer era suits me fine. I just want more imagination, better execution, and someone who can teach the screen pass. We cannot run one now for sure.
I definitely agree on the need for a new OC who is dedicated to one system and who will run it no matter what. However, I am of the opinion that the spread is a fad that will run its course in due time. There’s a reason you don’t see any NFL teams running it. About the closest they came to it was the “wildcat” and that seems to have petered out.
If Beamer decides to bring in a new OC … and I hope he does …. then I hope it’s someone who will run a Power I-based offense that uses the run to set up the play-action pass, provided that we can find an “old school” O-line coach too who will re-instill the toughness that VT offensive lines used to have back in the 1990s. That’s what made VT what it is, that’s who we are. We need to get back to that.
True, the SEC has shown that the ‘spread’ is sort of a fad. SEC schools put a premium on defensive lineman who can disrupt a spread offense. And, even with those SEC schools that go to a spread (i.e., Florida under Myer), the offense still makes sure to have a strong offensive line and running game to turn to when necessary.
Bud Foster disagrees with you.
http://sports.espn.go.com/ncf/columns/story?columnist=schlabach_mark&id=4340650
I would be against Franklin just based upon his apparent character issues. There are plenty of other fish in the sea.
My very wise old uncle once told me, ” The best way out of a cathouse on fire is to follow the crowd.” My aunt fainted and he didnt explain. I didn’t get it then and I still don’t. But he was very wise so I’m still studying it. Follow the crowd with the Pistol?
Vethokie that was one of the best posts I’ve ever seen on this site.
Take a quick read on Randy Clements at Baylor.
http://www.baylorbears.com/sports/m-footbl/mtt/clements_randy00.html
You’ve put together an interesting article. My comment is largely an academic exercise because Frank won’t get rid of Stiney. That tells me that there will not be a new hire from outside the staff. Why do I think that? What OC worth having doesn’t want people of his choice working for him? What OC wants to retain the previous, failed OC on staff? Especially one who is so close to Frank personally. That recipe is guaranteed to cook up a total diaster. So my guess is there will not be someone from outside. Heck, even the fat man is too savvy to land in a situation like that.
As to Franklin, even prior to reading your well done article I had done some “due diligence” research on this guy. As you’ve stated, he’s not a good cultural and personal fit for Frank. I’m a bit uneasy about his “character”, if you will. In short, Franklin isn’t going to be at VT working for Frank.
I don’t think he’ll “get rid of” Bryan Stinespring either, nor should we want him to do so. But I do think it’s possible that he could be removed from his position as offensive coordinator and re-assigned to something like recruiting coordinator. That’s what he’s good at doing.
Bryan has had 12 years now to prove that he has what it takes to put together and manage an offense that can contend for a national title, and yet he hasn’t been able to do it. It’s time to give someone else a chance.
If Beamer plans to move stiney out, he has already told him – so stiney can choose being demoted or taking another job somewhere else. He would be an attractive hire for a small school as a HC.
Agreed, that’s effectively what happened with Bustle. Marcus Vick didn’t want him, so we showed him the door….we probably just helped him find the right door.
Most of the VT coaches don’t leave VT because of the stability. When your boss says you really don’t have stability, in fact, you may not even have a position if you don’t move on…then you seem to readjust your expectations.
Stiney will leave to be a HC or he will be reassigned. He won’t be fired.
Yeah, we aren’t hiring Tony Franklin. No chance. He’s not going to have Beamer’s support for his offensive style and all signs point to him not having a Beamer type personality either.
I would guess our options are:
1. Ralph Friedgen.
_______________________
2. Somebody from the Morris/Clemson tree.
3. Somebody from the Harbaugh/Stanford/Western Kentucky tree.
4. Some regurgitated OC who you are vaguely familiar with, like Dana Bible. Or someone like Jim Bollman, who was the OC at Ohio State when Troy Smith was there. He currently is the OL coach at BC. Or Randy Sanders, who was OC at Tennessee from ’99 to ’05 and has been at Kentucky since. All three of those guys, Bible/Bollman/Sanders are either on staffs that have been canned (Sanders) or could be canned.
Fwiw, LA Tech is 12th in the nation in rushing O coming into todays game averaging 239 yards a game on the ground. They added 297 more yards to that stat today.
I would hardly categorize them as exclusively a pass heavy O. That seems to be what you are extenuating. We at VT should be so lucky to have Tony Franklin calling our O in 2013-14. In fact, given our our offensive scheme, coaching, and playcalling, we’d be so luckuly to have Bozo the Clown next year. Y’all see what UVA did to the same D we put 12 points up on? UVA!?!?! LOL.
Extenuating=insinuating. (Damn voice-over software.)
No doubt, plenty of teams would be lucky to pick him up. I’ll rephrase what I was aiming for: he’s very much a pass-to-open-the-run guy, and he uses lots of plays that are true run/pass combos where the QB throws or hands-off based on a particular read. It obviously is working well for him (and I think a lot of what they do is going to become “standard football” for a long time), but it’s only one way to skin a cat. Historically, it’s not the philosophy VT’s looked at, and per the public consensus on Coach Beamer, not something he’d be interested in.
When VT’s been drawn to spread-option concepts, they’ve consistently focused on run-first programs like Nevada and Auburn, and Beamer’s publicly stated an interest in what Clemson does (which echoes Auburn a bit.) Based on what we’ve heard from Coach Beamer over the years, I wouldn’t be surprised if he felt that Franklin had a solid system that wouldn’t be as successful in a tougher conference, and that its stats (especially in the run game) were inflated by the team’s possession advantage, and did so in a way that belies a run game not up to Beamer’s standards.
If CFB sees some of the plays I’ve seen where LT has four backs in the backfield and they’re doing sweeps and counters early in the game, he might change his mind. But if those plays only come versus gassed and confused defenses, it might actually reinforce his perceptions (assuming we are right in what he thinks about spread teams.)
Ehh. La Tech hung damn near 60 points and about 600 yards of O on the same big, bad SEC team that beat Bama yesterday. That O will work. It’s been proven…..with inferior talent.
Admittedly, I’m more of a proponent of the traditional prostyle, power-I, or Ace, but we just simply cannot produce the OL in Virginia necessary to run that at a high level. We have skill players out the wazoo but not big roadgraders. As a result , the spred may fit VT better whether Frank wants it to or not.
WADR, I don’t agree with that. I think it’s a matter of developing them and coaching them properly, which we haven’t been doing at VT under Curt Newsome.
If you look at our starting O-line, you’ll see that they’re plenty big enough:
Nick Becrton 6’6″ 317 lbs.
Matt Arkema 6’3″ 287 lbs.
Andrew Miller 6’4″ 304 lbs.
Brent Benedict 6’5″ 304 lbs.
Vinston Painter 6’6″ 309 lbs.
With the possible exception of Arkema needing to add another 10 pounds or so, that’s an offensive line that’s plenty big enough to effectively employ a run-first Power-I offense at the major college level. The problem is that they have poor fundamentals (specifically, they tend to play too high and their feet tend to “go dead” at first contact with a defender) and the blocking schemes they’re being asked to execute are too complicated and too passive in nature.
As former Ohio State LB Chris Spielman recently opined on TV when discussing practice habits … “You become what you do.” So if your blocking schemes emphasize “positioning” and “walling off defenders” rather than firing off the ball and knocking the crap out of the guy across from you, it shouldn’t be any real surprise that when the situation calls for physical play in the trenches, you’ll repeatedly come up short.
Replacing Curt Newsome at the end of the season will go a long way towards improving our offense.
Am I the only Hokie who thinks that we do not need to go to a spread Oregon/UNC/Clemson type of offense? Think back to the Stanford bowl game or the second half of the Miami game in 2011. How demoralizing was it to watch those offensive lines crush the VT defensive front seven? The new guy at Pitt is the power running guru from Wisconsin. Remember how Pitt ran all over us in September. It was “watch us run the ball. Try to stop us if you can. You can’t-ha ha ha!” I predict Pitt will be very good in the ACC by running the ball. We used to run that offense. How many times did we run the ball on first down and have second and three? Remember when we used to control the clock in the second half by playing smash mouth football and letting the defense do their thing and then rest while the offense did theirs. In smash mouth, small quick running backs can work fine and be complimentary to big bruising running backs. We have had backs just like those many times. You can still pass the ball all over the place within limits. How do we get there? Frank needs to decide who needs to be fired. He needs to give up coaching special teams. The play book needs to be cut in half. No need for so many formations. I don’t see the pistol succeeding. Recruit offensive linemen who can run block first and foremost. Recruit receivers who can block. Avoid taking QB’s and making them receivers-it takes too long. This off-season needs a long period of self examination of the whole program.
Yep,pretty much….dont get enamored with thebgun slinger oooo…..FB and our tradition speak otherwise……will Saban revert to this after tonite’s loss???? Prolly not…
We need to go one way or the other, I would prefer we start recruiting nationally specifically for OL, big RBs who can move and big WRs and TEs who can block and are matchup problems. I love the I formation power running game with play action off it. I love to know when it’s 3rd and 2 we can run it straight ahead and get 3-5 yds and demoralize teams. BAMA and LSU win this way along with D…we can too. But we could also draw lots of speedy guys from 757, NC, SC, and FL IF we go to a fun spread and COMMIT to it
No, you definitely aren’t. I agree with you. I’d like to see us get back to a straight Power-I scheme again.
From reading your article, it’s obvious to me that Franklin would never get a sniff at coaching at VT. And I seriously doubt Beamer has it in him to go against his nature and get a “spread’ guy and run a completely new offense. Doing just that is what has saved Dabo his job at Clemson, imo. We can always hope. I think it is a completely necessary move…..to keep up with other schools. Offenses in the conference are improving and if we don’t make changes, we’re gonna get left behind. Or, we’ve already been left.
Based on your last paragraph, I’m guessing if there are changes Frank will call Ralph 1st.
Bingo… either he calls Friedgen or he calls no one… And that’ll be the damnable misery of it all…