Why was Year 1 a success????

[wattjose]

I think we can all agree that the first year of CTS was a success. Not just because of the win column, but because of how the team played and competed the majority of the season. I would like to discuss why Year1 was a success under CTS. I have a few ideas..........

The biggest reason this year was a success was the hiring of the coordinators. Bringing in that experience on the offensive and defensive side of the ball I think was invaluable. The offense was able to adjust to using to very different QB's this season. The coaches knew what each was capable of and were ready to call plays accordingly. Palandech by no means light the place up throwing the ball, but he did progress as the season went on and became a better passer. Aside from Barney Cotton being important to the success of the team, his previous relationship with the O-Line coach I'm sure helped speed up the development of the run game.

The other reason that this team won 3 games and nearly won a few more was that the Seniors had bought into what CTS wanted to do. I remember him saying that one of the first things he said to the Seniors is that he wanted to win now and that he needed them to help. That attitude filtered down to the rest of the team as it seams not just the seniors, but the entire team bought in. The team needed every ounce of talent and effort they had to compete with this years schedule, and that never would have happened if Sanchez walks in and "starts over".

I'm sure there are many other reasons, these are two of the most important I think.
Looking forward to next year!!!!!!!!!!

 

[RebelinWA]

The cannon being its proper, natural color does a lot for me.

 

[rebelbuck]

Winning the Cannon, competing into the 4th quarter in almost every game (Could have had a few more wins) . Adding needed staff members in the Strength & Conditioning department.

Getting things turned in the right direction off the field in terms of training staff, travel accommodations, dressing up the offices. Embracing the City as a selling point.

Excited to see what year 2 brings with the next recruiting class, off season workouts (Sanchez already spoke about challenging each and every player) and new faces emerging in the spring.

 

[Sam-I-am]

..........

The biggest reason this year was a success was the hiring of the coordinators. Bringing in that experience on the offensive and defensive side of the ball I think was invaluable. The offense was able to adjust to using to very different QB's this season. The coaches knew what each was capable of and were ready to call plays accordingly. Palandech by no means light the place up throwing the ball, but he did progress as the season went on and became a better passer. Aside from Barney Cotton being important to the success of the team, his previous relationship with the O-Line coach I'm sure helped speed up the development of the run game.
....

Yes indeed. CTS was brilliant in bringing in experienced coaching for his staff. We saw improved fundamentals and heightened desire to play at a high level at nearly every position because of it. I think that this is where CTS distinguishes himself so well from so many other first time HCs at the college level. Too many times we see HCs in their first D1 job completely filling their staffs with virtual rookies at the D1 level and then, after a couple of seasons, they are fired due to the rookie mistakes of their staffs.
Your reference to Cotton is a great example. He has been coaching for close to 30 years from being a HC to being an OL coach and everything in between. In college he learned under Hall of Fame coaches and played for Paul Brown in the NFL. Then he coached at all levels, including building a pitiful New Mexico State Offense into a Top 25 offense when CTS was a player and GA at that school. The importance in the experience of so many of the coaches was that the experience came from winning programs and most of them came in lower populated areas like Nevada. Cotton was the HC of Hastings College in Nebraska and later became the OC at NMSU & then Nebraska.
It goes even deeper into the staff down from the coordinators. To keep with the Cotton example, because of their relationship, Cotton was able to convince John Garrison to turn down much more money from a Power 5 school to coach the OL for CTS at UNLV. That's a pretty amazing feat in this day and age and look at how it paid off. Garrison came from coaching 9 & 10 wins per season OLs at Nebraska to UNLV where he opened the season with only one OL who could, arguably, make the 3 deep at Nebraska. Look at what he did with them or, more appropriately, look at what he got them to do. Coach Garrison got those undersized and/or fundamentally unsound OLs to become twice the men that they were last Spring. One of many reasons why he was so successful in that achievement was due to the fact that Garrison was just a lowly ranked DE prospect when he enrolled at Nebraska, weighing only 250 lbs, who worked his tail off to become a 2nd team All Conference center in a conference known for great centers. He went from being a lowly ranked DE that basically nobody wanted to playing for National Championships and our OLs knew that he was a man who could, and did, "walk the walk". They knew that he didn't demand anything more from them than what he had demanded from himself as a player and we saw the dividends of that on the turf.
There are so many other examples of this on the current staff on both sides of the ball that I could take all day on this but I hope I got my point across on the brilliance of CTS in this regard.
Have to go now. Later.
Go Rebs!

 

[wattjose]

Yes indeed. CTS was brilliant in bringing in experienced coaching for his staff. We saw improved fundamentals and heightened desire to play at a high level at nearly every position because of it. I think that this is where CTS distinguishes himself so well from so many other first time HCs at the college level. Too many times we see HCs in their first D1 job completely filling their staffs with virtual rookies at the D1 level and then, after a couple of seasons, they are fired due to the rookie mistakes of their staffs.
Your reference to Cotton is a great example. He has been coaching for close to 30 years from being a HC to being an OL coach and everything in between. In college he learned under Hall of Fame coaches and played for Paul Brown in the NFL. Then he coached at all levels, including building a pitiful New Mexico State Offense into a Top 25 offense when CTS was a player and GA at that school. The importance in the experience of so many of the coaches was that the experience came from winning programs and most of them came in lower populated areas like Nevada. Cotton was the HC of Hastings College in Nebraska and later became the OC at NMSU & then Nebraska.
It goes even deeper into the staff down from the coordinators. To keep with the Cotton example, because of their relationship, Cotton was able to convince John Garrison to turn down much more money from a Power 5 school to coach the OL for CTS at UNLV. That's a pretty amazing feat in this day and age and look at how it paid off. Garrison came from coaching 9 & 10 wins per season OLs at Nebraska to UNLV where he opened the season with only one OL who could, arguably, make the 3 deep at Nebraska. Look at what he did with them or, more appropriately, look at what he got them to do. Coach Garrison got those undersized and/or fundamentally unsound OLs to become twice the men that they were last Spring. One of many reasons why he was so successful in that achievement was due to the fact that Garrison was just a lowly ranked DE prospect when he enrolled at Nebraska, weighing only 250 lbs, who worked his tail off to become a 2nd team All Conference center in a conference known for great centers. He went from being a lowly ranked DE that basically nobody wanted to playing for National Championships and our OLs knew that he was a man who could, and did, "walk the walk". They knew that he didn't demand anything more from them than what he had demanded from himself as a player and we saw the dividends of that on the turf.
There are so many other examples of this on the current staff on both sides of the ball that I could take all day on this but I hope I got my point across on the brilliance of CTS in this regard.
Have to go now. Later.
Go Rebs!

I completely agree Sam-I-Am. Garrison is probably the most important hire right behind the coordinators. I really hope we can keep this staff together for 2-3 years before any leave for different jobs. CTS will need a few years to show more improvement and build more relationships with potential replacements. I was very impressed with the connections CTS already had at the college level, I just hope he can co to i.e. To build on those before he has to replace someone on the staff.

 

[Sam-I-am]

I completely agree Sam-I-Am. Garrison is probably the most important hire right behind the coordinators. I really hope we can keep this staff together for 2-3 years before any leave for different jobs. CTS will need a few years to show more improvement and build more relationships with potential replacements. I was very impressed with the connections CTS already had at the college level, I just hope he can co to i.e. To build on those before he has to replace someone on the staff.

I "think" that CTS can keep them around long enough it, and only if, we can get the money in for the facilities to be upgraded.