Heacock achievements at Kent

[Pita]

What a nice article in the Vindicator about Coah Heacock.  I know
I am his loyal supporter.  Undoubtedly he'll be off to Purdue.  I
sincerely wish him the VERY BEST?

[guin52]

Coach Heacock has done an outstanding job where ever he has been, did a great job at YSU for a much better price.

[ItalianPenguin]

Coach Heacock is an outstanding defensive coordinator. That is his niche in life and he's good at it. But he is not head coaching material and never will be. The glorification of his years as a head coach at YSU amazes me. He made the playoffs 1 time in 9 years. No other coach anywhere is given 9 years to produce that poor of a result. Wolford hasn't made the playoffs in 3 years and everyone wants his head on a platter. I'm sure Jon will be a great success at Purdue or wherever else he ends up. Just not as a head coach.

[guin52]

I believe that Coach Heacock had a winning record while at YSU, at a much more reasonable price tag to the university, this has nothing to do with Wolf, but are we better or did we just spent more money.

[HappyPenguin]

I believe that Coach Heacock had a winning record while at YSU, at a much more reasonable price tag to the university, this has nothing to do with Wolf, but are we better or did we just spent more money.

Heacock wouldn't have won at Pitt. They wouldn't have even tried. They treated those games as scrimmages with a check at the end.

I agree with IP, guy is an amazing d-coordinator but is simply not HC material.

Are we better off now? Time will tell but at least I can now go into every game knowing we are going to try to win. Did a JH team EVER score a TD against a BCS team?

I got a newsletter from the football program, and it has brief Q&A with Stanton, Hess and Pace. All 3 listed beating Pitt as the highlight of the season. That wouldn't have happend under JH's watch.

Can we get better? Sure. Is our lack of 2nd half adjustments and vanilla defense frustrating? Yes. There wasn't much, if any, turnover in staff so far this offseason.

This year will tell us 2 things. Can Wolf rebuild an o-line that lost a lot of players? Thats suppsoed to be his area of expertise. And how will we perform with some stability in the O & D coordingator spots this year? If we don't get any better, the staff will have no one to blame but themselves, something they have seemed reluctant to do thus far.

[OleYSUfan]

Good comments from IP and HP. Heacock was and is a very good defensive coordinator, but does not have what it takes to be the HC. Heacock would have never won at Pitt! That gave YSU instant recognition.

Lets give our current HC some more time, I believe he will elevate us to the playoffs soon. I must admit our defense has been shoddy, especially pass rush, linebackers and secondary coverage. 

[Wick250]

I endorse all the comments made in this thread.  Jon Heacock is a fine man and an excellent defensive coordinator.  He just lacks whatever intangibles are required to be a successful head coach.  Have you forgotten the farce of having two starting quarterbacks quit in the middle of a season?

I am deeply worried about Wolford as we head into his fourth season.  2013 was destined to be a rebuilding year after the success of 2012.  But that success never happened.  Now, we must replace the entire defensive front and nearly the entire offensive line.  A formidable task. 

[IAA Fan]

I agree with everyone here as well, but I think all of you (but 52) skipped over the biggest factor ...the $$$ dumped into the program. I am not going to say that would have made coach H a better head-coach ...but I am willing to bet he could not have afforded Shane Montgomery ...currently making more than 3-times more than previous OC's made.  Just think for a bit what a Coach S offense with a Coach H defense could be doing right now?

The only comments that I take exception to are those about Pitt. Seeing money games for what they are is not a failure as a head-coach ...it is a quality. The truth is that a quality Pitt club would have "rocked" us just as badly as they did the last times we played. Also, you can bet your bottom$ that coach Tressel made it poignantly clear just how we were to play against OSU, if we were to collect our 1.2 mil (which was later reduced with our requirements). It is that pay-check that is paying for Wolf and his staff today.

We have games against other big-10 squads because we played like that. That is ...do what ever they tell us to do. Furthermore, if last year's team would have had a game like the post-season game against JMU ...Pitt would not have been their answer. Note that Pace said his top game was at sold-out Penn State game ...not Pitt ...even though we were soundly-defeated. The bigger the program we play ..the more exciting it is for the guys ...win or lose. I am more impressed that we led Penn State (coach H) and Michigan State (coach W) by 3-points with less than a couple of minutes to play in the first-half of those games. Watching JoePa stomp his feet is priceless.

[guin52]

Would of Coach H been blown out by North Dakota and South Dakota in the same season, beating Pitt was huge there is no doubt, but for a big win to be really big it has to be part of a big season.  I ask the same question are we better off or did the university spend more money.

[ItalianPenguin]

The jury is still obviously out on whether Wolford is the answer, but the bottom line is that a change had to be made when it was.

[ysuguins4]

Coach H is a great defensive coordinator, and I would love to have him running our defense, but 1 playoff appearance in 9 years is unacceptable.  Wolf has 2 more years to get us into the playoffs, or he too will be gone.

[WelcomeToYoungstown]

In other news, we have two basketball teams who are playing pretty well...

[ysufan0505]

Who cares about Heacock? He was an average HC. He doesn't coach here anymore, let it go

[Pizza]

I had the "unique" opportunity to coach with Coach a few years ago.

He bent over backward to help me. I will never forget that. He too, has forgotten more football ( especially on defense),

than many of his colleagues (and detractors),.......will ever know, in their lifespan.

He proved that this year!. AGAIN !!

He is a class dude. I wish for Coach nothing but the best.

[guin52]

Guin 4 it seems that the new standard to go to the playoffs is 1 in every 5 years, if Coach H was given one more year he could off met your standard.