Wolf Officially Gone

[ysufan0505]

LOL....count the number of teams I. The layoffs with 8-4 and 7-5 records.  I do believe most here have lost all perspective. Even Tressel would not duplicate what he did before. Times have changed. The next guy needs a good agent. A lot of folks are going to be surprised.........

Jesus christ do you say anything positive about this program?

[YSUinBoston]

I don't get how "times have changed".  Other FCS programs manage to have sustained success and arguably even better runs than Tressel managed in the 90s (Appy State and NDSU, namely). 

But, you don't need to duplicate Tressel to have a satisfied fan base, I guess.  The post-Tressel alternative is having zero success though.  We've had one good season in the 14 years since Tressel left.  Given that just about every team that is a shade over mediocre makes the FCS playoffs now, I think it is reasonable to expect to make the playoffs three out of every five years or whatever, with the occasional deep playoff run.  That wouldn't be as good as the Tressel years, but would be lightyears ahead of what Heacock and Wolford was able to do. 

[ValleyTalk]

Be a consistent playoff team and the rest will take care of itself. We've lost ONCE at home in the playoffs and that was our first ever playoff game at Stambaugh and we lost on a last second FG! Get us to the playoffs consistently, the fans will return and there will be a greater buzz around the community.

Easier said than done.

[IAA Fan]

Here's the link to another article that says a lot:



Here are some quotes that I found interesting:
“The one thing that Heacock did really well was, everyone bought in,” Radakovich said. “Everyone loved him as a coach. Wolford was a much more polarizing figure. You either loved him or you hated him. I think that was an asset at times but it was also a detriment, because when things went bad a lot of guys weren’t ready to stick by him.”

“Guys would say, ‘What superstar is going to come in now and fizzle out?’” Radakovich said. “That lack of continuity makes it hard to build that bond you usually see in a football team, where you’re fighting for your brother. We always had great talent but with that comes a lot of individuality.”

"Shaw, who went through four position changes in his first two seasons before developing into an all-conference tight end, said the coaching staff also played favorites, which hurt team chemistry.“We knew it as players and it would rip through the locker room,” he said. “I’m not afraid to admit that. They were bringing in different guys that maybe necessarily shouldn’t have played right away, so there was never that true team camaraderie.  “A lot of us really did buy in, like [RB Jamaine] Cook, [QB] Kurt Hess, [OL] Lamar Mady, but you know that was their personality. Wolford had a personal relationship with some players, but it was lacking with other players. I think he was a great emotional leader but he couldn’t always relate on a personal level.”

"Both Shaw and Radakovich said Wolford is an extremely talented offensive line coach but felt he struggled to develop a complete team, particularly the defense and special teams. Shaw also felt the coaching staff struggled to make second half adjustments, often dominating the first half offensively before getting out-schemed in the second half."

“I love Wolford and I don’t regret the decision to come there,” Shaw said. “He’s a great recruiter, so it was never a problem trying to get talent. But I felt like we should have been a playoff team a couple times and made a couple long runs.”

Very telling statements about Wolford's coaching style.

As I continue to say ...what is so great about this guy's recruiting? We have a bunch of great athletes, but not a great group of football players. Also, clearly too much focus on skill positions ...when deep trenches is what has been missing since coach H left.

Look clearly if the guy wants to remain a HC, there is a work out there for him. In fact, it is at our level ...which is is why no members of the current staff are being considered. It would not surprise me if he already has a job.

[paladin]

Yes, 05, I do have some positive things to say about the program. They are WINNING.  I get the distinct impression now ( after sleeping on it) that they waited TOO long to pull the plug on Heacock but moved too quick on Wolf. Allowing for the MVFC now being MUCH tougher to win and with many very good teams, YSU doesn't have the easy path that Heacock did.  The talent level is far better here now under Wolf than Heacock. Wolf  loved to recruit and it showed. Heacock hated recruiting . Years ago I predicted the demise of YSU FB with losing seasons and everyone thought I was crazy , but the losing started immediately and you went frpom a Cadillac program to a junker quick because OF POOR RECRUITNG.  Strollo is now rolling the dice again. If he can't come up with a strong recruiter, what happens to YSU in the MVFC ? Wolf was one game short of playoffs for 4 years ( in the first 5 and that's after cleaning house with weak Heacock recruits). I'm holding off until a new coach is selected, then looking at the 2015 recruiting class he brings in and finally evaluating  who leaves before next season. Some   of the "experts" here think next year is a possible playoff year.  Not so fast my friend, as Corso would say. I think its possible there will be a drop off. And if not, I'll say so. Right now, its very dicey. 8-4 and 7-5 got teams into the playoffs. We were there. Can it get worse ? Yep, much worse. I'll let you know about my evaluation for what its worth before the season starts and as the coach is hired , the recruits signed and the players that don't come back.

Grab some popcorn.

[SoupCity]

Paladin, WINNING isn't enough anymore.  Everyone on here realizes they waited too long for Heacock to be removed.  Wolford hasn't show the ability to adjust in 5 years.  If he stayed around any longer and continued to lead this program like he did for the last 5 years (and who is to say he would have gotten any better as a Head Coach) then you would be b****ing with your BS about being 7-5 every year.  THAT'S NOT GOOD ENOUGH!!!

I really wish everyone would look outside of their tunnel vision of wins/losses.  Yes, Eric Wolford brought more wins to the program.  Yes, Eric Wolford brought better athletes to the program.  Yes, Eric Wolford provided much needed depth to the program.  And everyone saying, YSU was 1 win away for the last 3 or 4 years.  WINNING is only going to get you so far, when you INEVITABLY go on month long losing streaks.  Based on what most people here think, 1 WIN....just 1 WIN would have gotten YSU to the playoffs in each of the last 3 years.  GUESS WHAT....Eric Wolford was not able to get that 1 WIN to get over the hump.  What does that tell you?  The program hasn't improved enough to be a perennial playoff team. 

What Eric Wolford didn't do is properly develop and coach said athletes.  Athletes are only going to take you so far throughout a season.  And I can even state, that his athletes are not very good FOOTBALL PLAYERS.  Maybe they are, maybe they aren't.  Hopefully the new coach will be able to develop the athletes into football players.

Read the article again with Shaw and Radakovich.  His biggest failure, was not being able to develop a TEAM.  Favoritism, personal relationships, adjustments or lack thereof cost him the job.  Last time I checked the NDSUs of the world have great TEAMS.  YSU may have GREAT athletes, but they're not a great team.  End of story.

[IAA Fan]

Paladin:

I think any of us would just die if you said one thing positive about the program; without qualifiers or a real-quick negative post following-up.

The second we had mass-defections just after Wolf was hired, was the time to have pulled the plug. Now I am glad we did not, I gain tremendous respect for him; but just because we gave him a learning curve, does not mean we pulled too soon. He had a losing record in conference over a 5-year period of time, so he was not 1-game away from losing his job; he was on the way out.

We clearly pulled both too late and too soon for Heacock. He should have left years before he did; but he broke into the post-season with good payroll figures and we extended. He begged to move into more of a spread offense well-before he was allowed. However, once we saw his spread started to gel ...we should have kept him for a few more years (at least 2). Secondly this supposed hatred of recruiting is the biggest pile of crap I have ever heard. He recruited very well, but did not have adequate under-staff to completely trust ...so it was a huge burden for him to back them up. Wolf had very-talented under-staff and he still left his initial recruiting class to a high-school webmaster ...which killed him initially. A bunch of high-school stars, left us with little more than a good prep program ...which was evident by the number of Heacock players that continued to be our stars for the next 4-years. In his tenure Heacock made a couple of big skilled-player mistakes recruiting, but our teams were robust and talented in an era where making the post-season was far more difficult than it is now.

[guinpen]

LOL....count the number of teams I. The layoffs with 8-4 and 7-5 records.  I do believe most here have lost all perspective. Even Tressel would not duplicate what he did before. Times have changed. The next guy needs a good agent. A lot of folks are going to be surprised.........

I thought that you were looking for another team to follow or was that a dream