Dan Mullen's thoughts on Odom.

[Bullmastiff 1]

Interesting listen.

Likely won't sway anyone's opinions, but informative take by a coach that actually faced Odom. Interviewed by Cofield.

 

[LocoRebel]

Funny, I'm listening to this right now on the podcast version of the show. Mullen has an opinion that carries more weight than ours should, agree or disagree. Worth the listen.

 

[Bullmastiff 1]

Funny, I'm listening to this right now on the podcast version of the show. Mullen has an opinion that carries more weight than ours should, agree or disagree. Worth the listen.

It should, but because he didn't say clown show or he sucks it won't matter to some.

 

[WarthogRebel]

Coaches are like Doctors- they never say anything bad about each other in public.

 

[Masked_rebel]

Coaches are like Doctors- they never say anything bad about each other in public.

There is truth to this...
Also I think Mullen lost 2 times to him at Mizzou, so you can't really call a guy trash if he beats you. I think there's some good information in the Interview with insights from a Respected coach on our program as well.

 

[j. spilotro]

Coaches are like Doctors- they never say anything bad about each other in public.

Thank you.

 

[dcut03]

What I like about this interview is how he mentioned that Coach Odom isn't stuck in a particular system. He is williing to change scheme on order to maximize his players' stretngths. Also not afraid to air it out or go uptempo on offense being a defensive minded coach.
Hopefully this helps as early as next season, not trying to potentially jam a square peg into a round hole.

 

[reagan21]

What I like about this interview is how he mentioned that Coach Odom isn't stuck in a particular system. He is williing to change scheme on order to maximize his players' stretngths. Also not afraid to air it out or go uptempo on offense being a defensive minded coach.
Hopefully this helps as early as next season, not trying to potentially jam a square peg into a round hole.

He had Heupel as his OC. We need someone as innovative.

 

[LVRebel2000]

Interesting listen.

Likely won't sway anyone's opinions, but informative take by a coach that actually faced Odom. Interviewed by Cofield.

View embedded media

Thanks for posting. That was a good interview. He seemed genuine in his excitement and belief that this would be a good hire for UNLV. Hopefully Odom will get settled in quickly and we won't see a huge regression in year 1 like we did with Arroyo due to major roster turnover.

 

[faurotfield]

He had Heupel as his OC. We need someone as innovative.

After Heupel left, the offense regressed under Derek Dooley. In fairness to Barry, he tried to hire Hugh Freeze, Jedd Fisch, and Eli Drinkwitz initially but the first one was shot down by the SEC/Mizzou AD and the latter two declined. If he can find a good OC, it is hard for me to imagine him not having a lot of success. I am confident he will improve the defense himself.

 

[Rebel_Luv]

IT was stated on here somewhere about what the player thought of CA. I had a USC player in my station a couple days ago. Talked about UNLV and the firing. Told me he has a few friends that go to UNLV and said that they did not like their coach. So maybe he was the problem and a more likeable coach would be able to recruit better? I hope so, because this hire gets me up from my chair ,but no yelling or jestering in praise.

 

[LINEBACKER_U]

Arroyo had two recruits committed. It's freaking December... With TWO recruits!!
Did this guy just quit working 3 months ago????

 

[LVRebel2000]

Arroyo had two recruits committed. It's freaking December... With TWO recruits!!
Did this guy just quit working 3 months ago????

Maybe he saw the writing on the wall?? Who knows, but definitely weird.

 

[Rebel1986]

That is why I thought it was funny that some people on this site were talking about the great recruiting class we would lose. He had one good QB, and that was about it in the 2023 class. I have a feeling he was going to take the easy way out and recruit mostly transfers for a second year.

 

[lvrebalum2012]

Maybe he saw the writing on the wall?? Who knows, but definitely weird.

With the transfer portal being what it is, early signing period here in December is completely pointless. I'd expect majority of HS recruiting/commitments to happen after this first round of transfer portal is done as they head towards signing day in early spring.

This makes a lot of sense based on Arroyo's emphasis on the portal.

 

[RebelSoldat]

The more I think about this hire, the more I like it. Not a flashy name but he has a good track record and seems really dedicated to making UNLV succeed on the field. Let's see how it plays out. We have nothing to lose at this point.

 

[Masked_rebel]

That is why I thought it was funny that some people on this site were talking about the great recruiting class we would lose. He had one good QB, and that was about it in the 2023 class. I have a feeling he was going to take the easy way out and recruit mostly transfers for a second year.

I wouldn't say that's the easy way out. That's the new way of thinking. The portal is basically free agency and the recruiting trail is the draft. If you want to assure success, you go hard at getting best available talent, and then recruit talented young depth that you hope develop and stick around. We can offer 4 and 5 star P5 bench players NILs and playing time vs trying to convince them in HS to pick us over a P5.
That Said, Arroyo wasn't this great talent evaluator he gets cracked up to be... he started Friel in multiple games over Bailey and missed on a lot of HS guys. Always seemed to be bringing in QBs without a real answer to be QB1.

 

[LINEBACKER_U]

I get that we're in the new portal age... But there has to be some balance and you are going to need high school players. Two high school commits in the month of December is absolutely ridiculous.

 

[bcvegaspt]

I wouldn't say that's the easy way out. That's the new way of thinking. The portal is basically free agency and the recruiting trail is the draft. If you want to assure success, you go hard at getting best available talent, and then recruit talented young depth that you hope develop and stick around. We can offer 4 and 5 star P5 bench players NILs and playing time vs trying to convince them in HS to pick us over a P5.
That Said, Arroyo wasn't this great talent evaluator he gets cracked up to be... he started Friel in multiple games over Bailey and missed on a lot of HS guys. Always seemed to be bringing in QBs without a real answer to be QB1.

Our "QB Guru" lucked out by inheriting his only good QB from a "high school coach."

While we have depth at the position, this depth needs to be developed. Arroyo didn't develop the QB's.

 

[Couev]

I get that we're in the new portal age... But there has to be some balance and you are going to need high school players. Two high school commits in the month of December is absolutely ridiculous.

You can do a lot with transfers. You can fill holes and add quality to areas of need for an immediate fix. You can add some developmental depth as well. Just like you can get generally a more instant lift from JuCo players. But I think it's crazy to try and build a program without a core of HS players--especially guys you can grayshirt and redshirt.

Getting your HS recruits to buy in and grow in your system instead of of running at the first lack of instant gratification or competition I think is the NEW recruiting skill. You have to evaluate the guys you recruited and retain the ones who are developing and encourage the ones that aren't to enter the portal and replace them with guys ready to play.

But just 2 early commits for the next season is short-sighted and bad program management. I'm sure he'd say that he would have hit recruiting harder with an extension, but at a certain point you have to recruit like your job depends on it, not letting your job decide your recruiting plan.

It's bad optics at best, lazy coaching at worse.

 

[Bullmastiff 1]

Our "QB Guru" lucked out by inheriting his only good QB from a "high school coach."

While we have depth at the position, this depth needs to be developed. Arroyo didn't develop the QB's.

Friel regressed this season for sure.

 

[dcut03]

Friel regressed this season for sure.

Hard to say.

I think all of our QBs struggled with the offense this season. Yes, even Doug.

Something was up, but the passing game was pretty bad and inefficient for everybody. The only game where it clicked was game 1 of the season.

Doug performed the best, a lot of that was extending plays with his legs and making stuff happen. Not a ton of easy pitches and catches on schedule for anyone, outside screen plays.

This nwas one of the my biggest gripes of this season and with Arroyo specifically.

And it wasn't just poor O line play. They weren't great, but definitely better than last season. But yet the passing game just was not very consistent or easy.

Was it scheme? Was it play calling? Was it execution? Since all of our QBs that have all been decently establised in their own right, all seemingly struggled, it makes me think it wasn't their fault.

 

[1Tripoda]

Friel regressed this season for sure.

Big time regression. Where is Maiva?

 

[Bullmastiff 1]

Hard to say.

I think all of our QBs struggled with the offense this season. Yes, even Doug.

Something was up, but the passing game was pretty bad and inefficient for everybody. The only game where it clicked was game 1 of the season.

Doug performed the best, a lot of that was extending plays with his legs and making stuff happen. Not a ton of easy pitches and catches on schedule for anyone, outside screen plays.

This nwas one of the my biggest gripes of this season and with Arroyo specifically.

And it wasn't just poor O line play. They weren't great, but definitely better than last season. But yet the passing game just was not very consistent or easy.

Was it scheme? Was it play calling? Was it execution? Since all of our QBs that have all been decently establised in their own right, all seemingly struggled, it makes me think it wasn't their fault.

I'll say this, there were a lot of drops. Not just guys losing out on 50/50 balls or not coming down with a tough catch, but flat out drops.

Fair amount of throws that were off, but the drops were pretty noticeable.

 

[reagan21]

Big time regression. Where is Maiva?

Just finished his freshman year at UNLV. Never took a snap. Redshirt.

 

[dcut03]

I'll say this, there were a lot of drops. Not just guys losing out on 50/50 balls or not coming down with a tough catch, but flat out drops.

Fair amount of throws that were off, but the drops were pretty noticeable.

There were a fair amount of drops, I will agree.

We also had some pretty impressive plays made by both the QB and the WR's at times.

But I think those drops, which happen everywhere, stood out much more to us this year because the passing game was such a chore. When you finally get an opportunity for a positive passing play, and there is a drop it is more impactful.

I agree there wer some drops that seemed liek a relatively easy play that were just missed by dudes that have no business dropping balls.

But, Very few easy catches for positive yardage for us all season long. Even against stacked boxes selling out against the run.

Most downfield catches were broken plays, or really tough catches against coverage, or both.

 

[LINEBACKER_U]

We're not a program that's going to out-talent other teams. We will need to out-work them. Coaches and players both. By the time you're a head coach, you either have that inner drive to be great or you don't. Great coaches are relentless and driven to succeed. Not this crap with 2 commits just before early signing day. That wreaks of laziness and I'm glad he's gone.

 

[lvrebalum2012]

Hard to say.

I think all of our QBs struggled with the offense this season. Yes, even Doug.

Something was up, but the passing game was pretty bad and inefficient for everybody. The only game where it clicked was game 1 of the season.

Doug performed the best, a lot of that was extending plays with his legs and making stuff happen. Not a ton of easy pitches and catches on schedule for anyone, outside screen plays.

This nwas one of the my biggest gripes of this season and with Arroyo specifically.

And it wasn't just poor O line play. They weren't great, but definitely better than last season. But yet the passing game just was not very consistent or easy.

Was it scheme? Was it play calling? Was it execution? Since all of our QBs that have all been decently establised in their own right, all seemingly struggled, it makes me think it wasn't their fault.

My opinion: Arroyo over complicated the offense.

There’s no reason to have an offense so complicated, that when a guy like Harrison Bailey arrives from Tennessee, he’s saying that our offensive playbook is on another level compared to what he’s seen before. This is college, not the nfl. Make things easier so the players can succeed.

 

[reagan21]

My opinion: Arroyo over complicated the offense.

There’s no reason to have an offense so complicated, that when a guy like Harrison Bailey arrives from Tennessee, he’s saying that our offensive playbook is on another level compared to what he’s seen before. This is college, not the nfl. Make things easier for the players to succeed.

This times three billion. When it takes 4 seconds for a play to develop and Brum had 2.5 seconds to throw the ball you have to make some adjustments. We had so much speed in the WR corps but if you can’t get the ball to them it’s all for naught.

 

[bcvegaspt]

My opinion: Arroyo over complicated the offense.

There’s no reason to have an offense so complicated, that when a guy like Harrison Bailey arrives from Tennessee, he’s saying that our offensive playbook is on another level compared to what he’s seen before. This is college, not the nfl. Make things easier for the players to succeed.

I got the impression that Arroyo always wanted to be the smartest guy in the room.

Bailey said, preseason, that he was spending extra time learning the playbook. You could tell that he still had to think, and not react, during the games. It shouldn't be that hard.