Mike MacIntyre has been raving about the new facilities at Folsom Field. His office has the most beautiful view of any football coach's office in the country, college or pro. I hope he is enjoying it while he can, because it is likely that he will no longer be the occupant of that office when New Years Day rolls around.
There are things he can do to avoid that fate, but they will be difficult. He needs to hold himself and his entire staff accountable. That responsibility comes with the title and $2 Million (plus incentives) salary.
Some folks on the staff are NOT doing their jobs. The game against Hawaii was lost for many reasons and there is lots of blame to go around, so let's look at some of the most egregious examples.
Special Teams Coordinator--
Special Teams play against Hawaii was horrendous. Not every coaching staff has a coach whose SOLE RESPONSIBILITY is to coach Special Teams. But the BUFFS have had the same one now entering his third year. If Toby Neinas doesn't resign out of sheer embarrassment following the debacle against Hawaii, MacIntyre should do the right thing and show him the door. Or reassign him... or maybe put him in charge of the Gatorade. Anything except let him continue to coach the special teams unit.
Much time has been spent talking about replacing the punter and place kickers from last year. The good news is Diego Gonzalez looks to be solid and Alex Kinney will only get better. It's hard to be a true freshman starting his first game. Chris Graham also did well on the kickoffs. What those young men can't control is blocking, and it's up to the coordinator to have good blocking schemes. They didn't on either side of the ball.
MacIntyre needs to take over from Neinas or reassign another coach to this position. The Buffs are not good enough yet to overcome special teams blunders that give other teams easy points.
Offensive Coordinator / Play Calling
Brian Lindgren REALLY needs to work on his play calling. The Buffs never seem to get a rhythm going against Hawaii, and that happened in many games last year as well. At one point, the Buffs had started dominating running the ball. Even the announcers pointed out how tired the Hawaii line was getting. Then, the next three times the Buffs got the ball they did nothing but throw the ball (very poorly) to go three and out each time. That provide Hawaii some rest and they got stronger again.
Time management also needs to be worked on. The Buffs have no one to blame but themselves for not having time at the end of the game. Yes, the refs were horrible in not allowing the Buffs to have a final snap. But the only reason it was an issue is because of two wasted timeouts in the third quarter. Also, with 10 seconds to play and needing a touchdown, what you are supposed to do is throw passes into the end zone. If the ball is caught, you score. If not, the clock stops. If you throw to the five yard line and the guy doesn't score, the game is over. That's what Lindgren called. HORRIBLE PLAY CALLING in crunch time.
It's time for MacIntyre to take over the play calling duties.
Offensive Line Coach
Gary Bernardi needs to let his guys know that it okay to block on passing plays. Sefo had no time in the pocket all night. Last year the Buffs gave up the fewest sacks in the Pac-12. This year looks like they will give up the most. And Sefo is going to be pretty damned banged up as well.
Also, you need to forget the "great story" aspect of some of your players and put the best football players on the field. The RIGHT TACKLE is horrible. He's smart, a wonderful being, and speaks many languages. That's nice. But he's has no football intelligence and gets hung out to dry over and over again on passing plays. Just wait until he starts playing against Pac-12 talent. I could say it's going to get ugly, but it's been ugly for 28 games now. Just because a guy LOOKS like he should be a great player does not make it so. The funny thing is, the guy looks so good that he will probably be drafted into the NFL. He'll ace the Wonderlic test, blow them away at the combine with his size and strength, and when he puts pads on in camp he will look formidable. But when it's time to pass block they will find out the flaw. Liken him to a baseball player who rips it up in the minors and then finds out he can't hit a major league curve.
The Good News
Jim Leavitt and Joe Tumpkin are awesome. It's going to be fun watching the Buffs play defense this year, and they will get better and better as they learn from these two great coaches.
Conclusions for MacIntyre
The Buffs should win handily next week. They should have won handily against Hawaii. Three guys on the coaching staff owe the team an apology (and one a resignation).
When Mac gets back into his office, he needs to take a good look around and decide what he's willing to do to keep his job. If he is not willing to make some changes, and quickly, he will be forcing Athletic Director Rick George to start making changes of his own.
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