Former DC Kerry Coombs (Cincy Bearcats Interim Head Coach)

[buchtelgrad04]

How do we know for sure that it was bad coaching? Do we know who was available to play? Who was at 100%? Was Tuf capable of covering as long as the passer was getting rushed the way Lawrence was? Could it be that that scheme worked against Clemson because Togiai, Smith, and Cooper were in Lawrence's face all night long? Unless you're clairvoyant, I don't know how you can be sure that the fault lies with Coombs.

I’ll give it a go...

How do we know it was bad coaching? We all watched the game.

Do we know who was available to play? There’s an availability report that came out the day of the game. Yes, we know who was available to play.

Who was at 100%? In the national championship game, nobody is 100%. From either team.

Was Tuf capable of covering as long as the passer was getting rushed the way Lawrence was? No. He’s never been able to cover no matter who’s rushing. Have you not watched him play the last 25 years?

Could it be that that scheme worked against Clemson because Togiai, Smith, and Cooper were in Lawrence's face all night long? Maybe, but if you aren’t getting pressure...maybe take 1 of the 4 LBs off the field and replace them with DBs so you can cover better...aka...play more nickel.

Unless you're clairvoyant, I don't know how you can be sure that the fault lies with Coombs. When the defense is given a wedgie, you typically look at the DC.

 

[cincibuck]

And you know more about being a DC than Coombs. You know a better scheme than the one the coaching staff produced, or do you think Day never asked Coombs what the defense was going to do? And there’s no chance they had to ask Tuf to do something he wasn’t capable of because they didn’t have other options? And yeah, I did watch both games carefully and there was a huge difference in the time Lawrence had to pass and the time afforded Alabama’s QB.

you may be right. Coombs may not be good at his job, but I’m going with what I believe I saw that night. Alabama was in better physical shape entering the game thanks in part to playing ND instead of Clemson. They had the ability to run AND Pass. They got the ball to their playmakers. They were n Field’s face all night long. They were clearly the better team on the field that night.

 

[Buckeye86]

Regardless of the circumstances, Coombs was embarrassed by Bama and Sarkisian.

And like Beck/Warinner before him, if it is the problem it appears to be (although we will be unfortunate enough to see glimmers here and there) it won’t really rear its ugly head again until we play another Bama-level team. The good news is that doesn’t happen very often, the bad news is that’s what’s required to win a championship.

I don’t think the question is can he be a competent coordinator; we’re going to beat 90% of the teams on the schedule just based on talent alone. The question is can he be elite.

He failed pretty badly in his first go around. Maybe there were mitigating circumstances, but the adjustments were basically non-existent throughout the game in personnel or scheme, which is the most concerning thing.

Maybe he didn’t have many options, but could it have really been much worse trying literally anything else? Ohio State got exactly one stop in the game on a forced turnover prior to Bama shutting it down to grind clock.

So, say we generally cruise through the regular season next year with minimal bumps in the road but with glimmers of concern Beck/Warinner 2015-style, but then get completely embarrassed in the post season again.

Does Coombs get fired on the spot to avoid another 2016 Clemson (or 2020 Bama) level embarrassment the next year?

Point being, in its current iteration with the talent and offense, you can float by as the DC at Ohio State not being great while still winning 90% of games.

However, when there are warning signs that your coordinator might not be elite—like, say, getting completely embarrassed by an elite opponent—you’re going to throw multiple seasons away (even if you literally have the best talent in college football history on your team like Beck/Warinner did for OSU in ‘15, and—although it wasn’t quite as elite—‘16) if you give the coordinator the benefit of doubt because they don’t look as awful against regular opponents.

Maybe Coombs turns it around with a full offseason and better depth in the secondary, but there are some serious warning signs here, and we likely won’t really know how deep they go until the post season next year.

 

[Jaxbuck]

I’ll give it a go...

How do we know it was bad coaching? We all watched the game.

Do we know who was available to play? There’s an availability report that came out the day of the game. Yes, we know who was available to play.

Who was at 100%? In the national championship game, nobody is 100%. From either team.

Was Tuf capable of covering as long as the passer was getting rushed the way Lawrence was? No. He’s never been able to cover no matter who’s rushing. Have you not watched him play the last 25 years?

Could it be that that scheme worked against Clemson because Togiai, Smith, and Cooper were in Lawrence's face all night long? Maybe, but if you aren’t getting pressure...maybe take 1 of the 4 LBs off the field and replace them with DBs so you can cover better...aka...play more nickel.

Unless you're clairvoyant, I don't know how you can be sure that the fault lies with Coombs. When the defense is given a wedgie, you typically look at the DC.

One in game adjustment I know I was thinking about regarding Borland; if you are stuck with a guy on the field, for whatever reason, and you know he can't cover then he may as well blitz. He's useless dropping back, not his fault...he simply isn't athletic enough to cover people at that level so adapt to what he can do for you and send him. Almost everytime. You have fuck all to lose and maybe something to gain. Their QB, like all QB's, is a different guy under pressure.

I'd rather see, another, long Bama TD because the blitz didn't quite get there than see Tuf Borland doing his best impersonation of me chasing the fucking Heisman winner (again).

 

[AuTX Buckeye]

The biggest thing that worries/d me about Coombs is coming out of half time.... 0 adjustments all year... Hafely felt like he came out with an entirely different scheme at half time to adjust. Coombs ... I saw nothing all year and that a huge red flag

 

[billmac91]

My biggest beef, and I consistently called it out all year, was the shear lack of hiding man vs zone coverage.

I just don’t understand it.

Bama used the most basic motion to identify what they wanted, and then just candy from a baby. You can’t give elite teams that much information pre-snap. It’s honestly weird to me, our coaching staff didn’t self-scout this and make adjustments throughout the year.

I’m not as hung up on the 4-4 debacle, bc I’ll trust the coaches had some type of plan in mind. What I struggle with was the decision to constantly play man from it, and also, just giving away the coverage so easily.....

People always talk about offensive creativity.....how you can design plays to stress a defense and heft easy yards. Hafley was creative as a DC in a lot of unique things they did from showing coverages pre-snap and dropping out of it into something else. It’s not the easiest thing in world to do, but you can 100% show man coverage pre-snap to drop into zone and vice versa. It takes strong communication and disciplined players....but we did it last year.

If anything, I just want to see more creativity next year, and less reliance on man coverage. Offenses are too good anymore (even without the elite players of Bama) to be so basic and give away so much. Look at the Indiana game....and if just say, if you don’t want to force Coombs out (I don’t, I genuinely like him) go get a young stud DC that showed great promise elsewhere in smaller conference, and get them on staff. One of the better non P5 defenses I saw this year was Coastal Carolina. I’d have no issue with OSU targeting a guy like Chad Staggs, their DC, and inviting him to OSU under whatever title they have available, and let him get involved in defensive game planning.

 

[Buckeye86]

People always talk about offensive creativity.....how you can design plays to stress a defense and heft easy yards. Hafley was creative as a DC in a lot of unique things they did from showing coverages pre-snap and dropping out of it into something else. It’s not the easiest thing in world to do, but you can 100% show man coverage pre-snap to drop into zone and vice versa. It takes strong communication and disciplined players....but we did it last year.

If anything, I just want to see more creativity next year, and less reliance on man coverage. Offenses are too good anymore (even without the elite players of Bama) to be so basic and give away so much. Look at the Indiana game....and if just say, if you don’t want to force Coombs out (I don’t, I genuinely like him) go get a young stud DC that showed great promise elsewhere in smaller conference, and get them on staff. One of the better non P5 defenses I saw this year was Coastal Carolina. I’d have no issue with OSU targeting a guy like Chad Staggs, their DC, and inviting him to OSU under whatever title they have available, and let him get involved in defensive game planning.

I’ve said it already in the thread, but I think forcing Coombs to run Hafley’s system he’s probably not familiar with limits the adjustments and creativity.

I agree that outside of dropping Coombs, which isn’t a good idea, finding a spot (Mattison retiring, for instance) and bringing in a young guy who knows the system and can help with the overall structure while taking over play calling would be a really solid step forward.

 

[AuTX Buckeye]

I’ve said it already in the thread, but I think forcing Coombs to run Hafley’s system he’s probably not familiar with limits the adjustments and creativity.

I agree that outside of dropping Coombs, which isn’t a good idea, finding a spot (Mattison retiring, for instance) and bringing in a young guy who knows the system and can help with the overall structure while taking over play calling would be a really solid step forward.

Agreed but i keep coming back to Barnes and wtf are you doing here

 

[billmac91]

I’ve said it already in the thread, but I think forcing Coombs to run Hafley’s system he’s probably not familiar with limits the adjustments and creativity.

I agree that outside of dropping Coombs, which isn’t a good idea, finding a spot (Mattison retiring, for instance) and bringing in a young guy who knows the system and can help with the overall structure while taking over play calling would be a really solid step forward.

He doesn’t need to run Hafley’s system....Hafley wouldn’t have run Hafley’s 2019 system, with the personnel available in 2020. He acknowledged as much in pre-season when he said OSU would have to adjust a lot based on the guys they lost.

That said....throw the schematics out. No matter what they want their base defense to be, and how they want to strategize throughout the game.......there is no reason to give so much information pre-snap. It’s ridiculous, IMO. It harkens back to Meyer’s days IMO, where he’d tell u, “we are playing press man. Our best against your best”.

A little over-simplified......but there is zero reason to give away that intel every damn snap. It’s just way too easy for opposing offense to gameplan and develop specific plays when they know exactly what they’re getting.

 

[Buckeye86]

He doesn’t need to run Hafley’s system....

Based on interviews like this, I think Day disagrees that Coombs doesn’t have to run Hafley’s system.

https://www.cleveland.com/osu/2019/...-ohio-states-defensive-plan-its-ryan-day.html

So who really controls Ohio State’s defense, one that had Hafley and Greg Mattison running it as co-coordinators this season?

It’s Day.

[...]
While the Buckeyes are losing a coach [Hafley], Day made it clear Ohio State wasn’t losing its plan or identity on defense.

Because for the first time since he took over the program, Day made it clear that Mattison and Hafley were running the defensive plan that Day wanted.

That plan isn’t changing.

 

[OregonBuckeye]

Don't great coaches adjust their schemes to their personnel?

 

[Systems_id]

The biggest thing that worries/d me about Coombs is coming out of half time.... 0 adjustments all year... Hafely felt like he came out with an entirely different scheme at half time to adjust. Coombs ... I saw nothing all year and that a huge red flag

Come on now this is disingenuous as fuck lmao. The reason you hardly saw any defensive adjustments at halftime is because that side of the ball was usually lights out in the first half. Prior to Bama, there were two games where you could say the defense underperformed in the first half: Nebraska and Northwestern. After giving up two TDs to Nebraska in the first half, the defense only gave up 3 points in the second. After giving up 10 to Northwestern they pitched a shut out. Penn State, Rutgers, and Sparty were held to a TD or less in the first half. Clemson is the exception but considering OSU held them to their lowest offensive output of the year, I think we can all agree that was a successful defensive outing.

Look I know we’re all still hurting but there’s no need to make shit up.

 

[AuTX Buckeye]

Come on now this is disingenuous as fuck lmao. The reason you hardly saw any defensive adjustments at halftime is because that side of the ball was usually lights out in the first half. Prior to Bama, there were two games where you could say the defense underperformed in the first half: Nebraska and Northwestern. After giving up two TDs to Nebraska in the first half, the defense only gave up 3 points in the second. After giving up 10 to Northwestern they pitched a shut out. Penn State, Rutgers, and Sparty were held to a TD or less in the first half. Clemson is the exception but considering OSU held them to their lowest offensive output of the year, I think we can all agree that was a successful defensive outing.

Look I know we’re all still hurting but there’s no need to make shit up.

uhm.. you’re kinda making my point.

We were great in the first half except the games you mentioned...
We weren’t always great in the 2nd half against a team with a pulse on offense.

this would lead me to believe one of the following:

• he didn’t make adjustments because “it was working in the first half” - but then when it stopped working why not make adjustments
• he wanted to make adjustments but defense couldn’t do - logical but these kids were playing for hafely last year so they should be use to changes given the vets on the team
• He did make adjustments - Yikes i dont even want to think this was the case.

 

[Systems_id]

uhm.. you’re kinda making my point.

We were great in the first half except the games you mentioned...
We weren’t always great in the 2nd half against a team with a pulse on offense.

this would lead me to believe one of the following:

• he didn’t make adjustments because “it was working in the first half” - but then when it stopped working why not make adjustments
• he wanted to make adjustments but defense couldn’t do - logical but these kids were playing for hafely last year so they should be use to changes given the vets on the team
• He did make adjustments - Yikes i dont even want to think this was the case.

You should’ve led with this post instead of making shit up.

 

[AuTX Buckeye]

You should’ve led with this post instead of making shit up.

did you read my post?????????? at all? literally the first line was COMING OUT OF A HALF TIME