Former DC Kerry Coombs (Cincy Bearcats Interim Head Coach)

[AuTX Buckeye]

The hiring of Coombs made sense at the time. Bringing in a young, first time HC you want veteran coaches around him. The hope was that by bringing in a guy like Coombs that has plenty of experience it would allow Day to focus on the offense and admin stuff.

Having trustworthy coaches you don’t have to check up on is the difference between Urban Meyer and Nick Saban. If Day doesn’t feel Coombs is someone he can blindly trust, he needs to find someone who he can trust before we get too far into 2021.

Hiring Coombs was a reactionary hire to try to save the class. He had his veteran guys like LJ & Matthison.... remember Matthison was paired with Hafely last year....

i’d be interested to see coaches who get a 2nd go around with the same school and how that works out... I really dont think it does ever....

 

[Jaxbuck]

I knew this thread would be at the top this morning (and likely a good portion of the off season). I love the guy but Sark made him look bad last night. Real bad. Others have done the same but didn't have the war room of NFL 1st rounders to make it fatal.

I'm willing to see what Coombs can do going forward with a more complete roster but I have reservations, not going to lie.

 

[Buckeye86]

FOR THE LOVE OF WOODY MARCUS FREEMAN DOES NOT COACH DBS AND OR SAFETIES... HE COACHES LINEBACKERS>...

so if you hire Freeman you still need to hire a DBs coach .... again of LJ Sr, Matthison, Washington, Coombs, Barnes ... who are you firing .... right now you got 3 guys coaching the front 7 LJ/Matthison/Washington.... Hiring Marcus means you’d have 4 guys....so again who are you firing

This is entirely hypothetical so a complete waste of time, but...

LJ Sr retires, Washington (who is hopefully being tutored) moves down to DL, and the spot is opened up for Freeman to coach LBs.

Greg Mattison is also a candidate for retiring at this point, for a more general discussion of where me might find some flexibility to shake up the defense.

 

[AuTX Buckeye]

This is entirely hypothetical so a complete waste of time, but...

LJ Sr retires, Washington (who is hopefully being tutored) moved down to DL, and the spot is opened up for Freeman to coach LBs.

Greg Mattison is also a candidate for retiring at this point, for a more general discussion of where me might find some flexibility to shake up the defense.

I get there are ways to make it happen but people acting like he would magically make things better is a different matter... plus I’d kinda like to see how he does out of Fickel’s shadow for a year or two before anointing him as savior

my arguement is you can’t say fire coombs and hire freeman

 

[Buckeye86]

I get there are ways to make it happen but people acting like he would magically make things better is a different matter... plus I’d kinda like to see how he does out of Fickel’s shadow for a year or two before anointing him as savior

my arguement is you can’t say fire coombs and hire freeman

I agree completely regarding seeing what Freeman does without Fickell.

Also, if Day is forcing his DC to play that single high safety, cover-3 base all the time—Freeman has no experience with that just like Coombs doesn’t (I’m pretty sure).

 

[AuTX Buckeye]

I agree completely regarding seeing what Freeman does without Fickell.

Also, if Day is forcing his DC to play that single high safety, cover-3 base all the time—Freeman has no experience with that just like Coombs doesn’t (I’m pretty sure).

which makes me wonder if Day did not ask Coombs about that before the hire... which would lend credence to my thoughts on Coombs being a reactionary hire ...

 

[muffler dragon]

I'll say is this: I believe Hafley was/is a better defensive coordinator than anyone on staff. Yet, he also had Chase, Okudah, etc. The secondary is missing people (as @jwinslow has pointed out), but the scheme is lacking.

I am not going to dog out/rail on Kerry.

 

[cincibuck]

1. That shitshow last night doesn't happen

Or the shit show in the second half of the Indiana game, or the second half of the Penn State game?

I'm in no position to know how Coombs is as a coach. I do know that this year was a year when we had to have some kids step up - right now, I see Banks and Procter and think they've become a solid addition to the back 4. I think we all saw Ward as a lock down corner, something we've grown accustomed to all the way back to Plummer and Winfield, and he just wasn't. Was it because he was playing out of position? Was it because he was told to lay that way? I don't know enough to make that call.

And why were we in a position where we had to break so many new kids in? Recruiting is a tough racket. I'm reminded of the years when Shazier had to play on one leg for most of the second half of the Michigan game because there were no back up LBs, or the year when they had to move Boren to linebacker after the first couple of games, or the years when MoC was the only RB who seemed capable. The Buckeyes don't always reload at every position. That's no problem through most of the conference games, but it shows up when you go against programs that are close to the same level. This year it was the secondary that was wiped out by the NFL draft.

My best guess is that this was a year when the offense was going to have to carry the team and until last night, they did. The absence of Togiai and Sermon hurt both for their playing ability and their leadership.

Judging this team on what happened last night is, in my opinion, short sighted. Watch the Clemson game. The team paid a heavy price for that victory - 60 minutes of hard hits on both sides. In comparison, Alabama drew a gift in the elevation of Notre Dame to #4 over aTm. They jumped out to an early lead and then just cruised without much effort expended. That Alabama scored a lot of points against a team that had to patch several holes on the O and D lines, that lost its best running threat, and whose QB was lucky to be playing at all, should not have shocked anyone. Most of the score predictions I saw posted here had the tide racking up 40 points. 52 against a weakened Buckeye squad by what may have been one of the best offenses in college football history should not shock us.

 

[dragurd]

Or the shit show in the second half of the Indiana game, or the second half of the Penn State game?

I'm in no position to know how Coombs is as a coach. I do know that this year was a year when we had to have some kids step up - right now, I see Banks and Procter and think they've become a solid addition to the back 4. I think we all saw Ward as a lock down corner, something we've grown accustomed to all the way back to Plummer and Winfield, and he just wasn't. Was it because he was playing out of position? Was it because he was told to lay that way? I don't know enough to make that call.

And why were we in a position where we had to break so many new kids in? Recruiting is a tough racket. I'm reminded of the years when Shazier had to play on one leg for most of the second half of the Michigan game because there were no back up LBs, or the year when they had to move Boren to linebacker after the first couple of games, or the years when MoC was the only RB who seemed capable. The Buckeyes don't always reload at every position. That's no problem through most of the conference games, but it shows up when you go against programs that are close to the same level. This year it was the secondary that was wiped out by the NFL draft.

My best guess is that this was a year when the offense was going to have to carry the team and until last night, they did. The absence of Togiai and Sermon hurt both for their playing ability and their leadership.

Judging this team on what happened last night is, in my opinion, short sighted. Watch the Clemson game. The team paid a heavy price for that victory - 60 minutes of hard hits on both sides. In comparison, Alabama drew a gift in the elevation of Notre Dame to #4 over aTm. They jumped out to an early lead and then just cruised without much effort expended. That Alabama scored a lot of points against a team that had to patch several holes on the O and D lines, that lost its best running threat, and whose QB was lucky to be playing at all, should not have shocked anyone. Most of the score predictions I saw posted here had the tide racking up 40 points. 52 against a weakened Buckeye squad by what may have been one of the best offenses in college football history should not shock us.

52 didn't shock us as much as the way they got 52. We expected them to at least work for it. Sure they went 16 play drives but rarely was there a 3rd and long and they seemed to have receivers running wide open on every play rather than great contested plays. Mac Jones could have eaten a sandwich back there then decided to throw the ball most plays. Najee Harris seemed to gain an extra 5 yards at least nearly every play we had him stopped etc

 

[pnuts34]

No surprise that Coombs is the most popular thread this morning. Though he of course deserves blame, I think(like in all close games this season) that a lot affected his first year as DC, and most was out of his control. Coombs stepped into his first year as a DC with next to no off season, lost 4 draft picks(3 in the 1st round alone), had limited talent at his position of strength(DBs due to injury and/or lack of development), forced to play multiple players out of position(Wade, Williamson, etc). And regardless of if we know for sure that Coombs was forced to run a defense he wasn’t familiar, he obviously didn’t have enough time to get comfortable with it or even implement his own system. Let’s give the guy a full off season, and an entire season sans Covid-19 before we’re ready to fire the guy. He came back and everyone was elated at his arrival, because they knew how passionate he is, and how much he loves to teach and motivate. That same guy is there, but who in their right mind would’ve expected a global pandemic, and for the B1G commissioner to try and sabotage our season before it ever took off. The fact that we finished the season, still could compete and win the B1G, made it to the CFP, and made it to the NC after playing only 8gms is a miracle. We missed 3gms and lost countless players due to COVID-19 and conference protocols(our starting DE and DT for the NC for example) not being uniform across all conferences.
Maybe he is in over his head , but maybe he also is a great addition. Using the 2020 season as a barometer would be foolish because it was unlike any other season. And on the bright side, OSU has enough talent to win the B1G and get to the 2021 CFP, and exact revenge on an Alabama program that will for sure moonwalk into the CFP and NC yet again

 

[SEREbuckeye]

Hiring Coombs was a reactionary hire to try to save the class. He had his veteran guys like LJ & Matthison.... remember Matthison was paired with Hafely last year....

i’d be interested to see coaches who get a 2nd go around with the same school and how that works out... I really dont think it does ever....

Mattison was new to the team, it wasn’t like he coached at Ohio state and has the same sort of program understanding to the level Kerry does. It’s like on boarding someone to a big new company. Sure, they may have experience in the sector, but they still are new to that particular company. New rules, traditions, people, expectations, terminology, ideologies, methodologies, etc.

Now that Freeman is headed to ND, I would like to see Day continue to develop Al Washington into that same mold. He impressed the hell out of me with what he had to work with this year. As far as Kerry goes, I don’t know what Day will do.

 

[bigdog3300]

There is no secondary coach or DC, whether their name be Coombs, Freeman, Hafley, etc. that would have altered that game in any meaningful form.

Would I have liked to have seen some other approaches, mainly having Banks follow Smith? Yes. And he may have held him to 175 yards instead of 215.

Coombs got asked to make a Thanksgiving dinner with Halloween leftover candy. For as much as all the great things we want to speak on Hafley, he had these same guys last year and they sure as heck didn't look developed. We saw a thin secondary go up against 3 of the Top 5 Heisman vote getters and guess what - it went exactly as you would think it went.

This offseason and next year it will be sink or swim for many folks, and while I'm not a fan of the portal we will have no choice but to look at our options at both CB/S.

 

[bukIpower]

There is no secondary coach or DC, whether their name be Coombs, Freeman, Hafley, etc. that would have altered that game in any meaningful form.

Would I have liked to have seen some other approaches, mainly having Banks follow Smith? Yes. And he may have held him to 175 yards instead of 215.

Coombs got asked to make a Thanksgiving dinner with Halloween leftover candy. For as much as all the great things we want to speak on Hafley, he had these same guys last year and they sure as heck didn't look developed. We saw a thin secondary go up against 3 of the Top 5 Heisman vote getters and guess what - it went exactly as you would think it went.

This offseason and next year it will be sink or swim for many folks, and while I'm not a fan of the portal we will have no choice but to look at our options at both CB/S.

Forgot about this and you're right...that's exactly what we should do for next year as a bridge to 2022.

 

[NJ-Buckeye]

"It's not the X's and the O's but the Jimmys and the Joes."

 

[Hstead]

There is no way in hell we have the 120th talent in the country in the secondary. No way in hell. Yet that is where we are. To quote a great football coach "You are what your record is", Mr. Parcells. We are 120th in the country in pass defense and that is fucking embarrassing.

We are 120th in the nation, and that can only be for two reasons, talent or scheme. I argue that it is not talent. Do we have maybe the 40th best talent, I would say at a bare minimum. Not 120th.