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Baylor should be the model

bigbirdRU

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Mar 6, 2010
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their program is one that is easy to mimic. Offense is the future, and here is a team that has been a top ten program in a state already saturated with big time teams. They have disrupted the old guard of football fairly quickly. In the past six recruiting classes they have had 0 top 30 classes and only 2 in the top 35. Yet they play exciting football and have competed with the best.
 
Lots of rich, proud, -- and most importantly -- football crazed alumni.

While I am encouraged with just how far we've come in the last 15 years, it's not even a valid comparison.
 
Honestly if I tried I couldn't find a worse comparison. RU students and fans spend their entire lives lamenting about the R U screw. Baylor grads love their school.
Rutgers has 65,000 students and an endowment of 918 million
Baylor has 16,000 students and an endowment of 1.15 BILLION.
They also paid for an entire new stadium with donor money and we can't raise 5 million for a new staff.
Comparing RU to Baylor is like comparing the USA to New Guinea
 
Honestly if I tried I couldn't find a worse comparison. RU students and fans spend their entire lives lamenting about the R U screw. Baylor grads love their school.
Rutgers has 65,000 students and an endowment of 918 million
Baylor has 16,000 students and an endowment of 1.15 BILLION.
They also paid for an entire new stadium with donor money and we can't raise 5 million for a new staff.
Comparing RU to Baylor is like comparing the USA to New Guinea
The built the stadium after all the success. They stunk forever.

They hired Art Briles. That's it

He's one of the best offensive coaches ever
 
Yep, Art Briles would also never have any scandals...oh wait, nevermind.
 
The built the stadium after all the success. They stunk forever.

They hired Art Briles. That's it

He's one of the best offensive coaches ever
They always had money. They built the stadium and success after RG3. Briles made his bones atHouston but our fans demand a proven P5 winner. For the record, Briles was 34-28 as Houston HC. Despite being a 4 star RG3 had 4 P5 offers.....SN would not want his commitment.
 
Yep, Art Briles would also never have any scandals...oh wait, nevermind.
Scandals are overlooked & ignored when you win big. Art Briles is a winner so Baylor doesn't live under a perpetual dark cloud.
 
So we should move the school to Texas, build a new stadium, clone our 2 multimillion donors into 10, and then sprinkle pixie dust on Laviano to give him the hidden talent of RG3?
 
VK..you have the facts. By the way, how quickly people forget some of the problems Baylor also recently had. And the #1 item...it's a private school that doesn't have to deal with the local State politics and bs that we have in NJ so much like ND, Stanford, Duke, BYU, TCU and other successful private schools their alumni support their school..academically, athleticly and facility wise.
 
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This is far more important that any scheme or play calling tendencies.
Actually there is one relevant thing about Baylor. Playing the offensive scheme that they do may not guarantee success, but trying to play a pro style against a bunch of teams they can't recruit against would be a guaranteed failure.

If it is true that RU can't pay for a "name" coach for another 6 years, they need to concede that playing a pro-style would start every season with 3-4 losses, and instead hire a coach that plays an offensive style that minimizes the advantage the OSU, MIch, PSUs, etc. have in the trenches.
 
This is far more important that any scheme or play calling tendencies.
Is it? Its not like Baylor is selling out a stadium even as large as ours. Or that Art Briles was some high end coach. No - really - they got a great coach from the undifferentiated pile of CUSA/MWC level coaches out there. I have no idea who else was on the market in 2007, but I doubt Baylor really out bid anyone.
 
Actually there is one relevant thing about Baylor. Playing the offensive scheme that they do may not guarantee success, but trying to play a pro style against a bunch of teams they can't recruit against would be a guaranteed failure.

If it is true that RU can't pay for a "name" coach for another 6 years, they need to concede that playing a pro-style would start every season with 3-4 losses, and instead hire a coach that plays an offensive style that minimizes the advantage the OSU, MIch, PSUs, etc. have in the trenches.
Exactly, that is the one relevant thing you take from Baylor. In a landscape surrounded by Texas/Oklahoma/A&M, they and TCU have been able to make some headway with the use of a spread. They both use an air raid version but a more ground based read option would be fine with me too.

There's never a guarantee and I've said even if we switched and failed I would try again with another coach who hopefully could implement it better. It's not about guarantees, it's about which avenue gives you the best chance and opportunity to move up on the college landscape and some form of spread is likely the answer. College football is littered with examples of teams performing above their perceived status using a spread but as for pro style you can only go down the totem pole about as far as MSU/Wisconsin/Stanford.
 
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They always had money. They built the stadium and success after RG3. Briles made his bones atHouston but our fans demand a proven P5 winner. For the record, Briles was 34-28 as Houston HC. Despite being a 4 star RG3 had 4 P5 offers.....SN would not want his commitment.
Lol, I would have. Over time built them up to a conference and division title winner in his last couple years after the previous coach was 8-26 and 5-17 in the previous 3 years before he took over. Defense probably was and still is to some degree an issue for him but his offense is so damn good it overcomes a lot of it.

Problem is most people never look deeper. They have their biases for one thing or another and it's automatic trash heap without a closer look.
 
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I think Baylor is a great example. I believe Baylor paid Art Briles $1.8 back in 2008 to become their coach. He was an unproven offensive mastermind. This is exactly what we need here.

We need to find an up and coming offensive mastermind and pay him about $2.5 million and let him grow.
 
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I think Baylor is a great example. I believe Baylor paid Art Briles $1.8 back in 2008 to become their coach. He was an unproven offensive mastermind. This is exactly what we need here.

We need to find an up and coming offensive mastermind and pay him about $2.5 million and let him grow.
You do realize that its our defense that has been terrible for three years now, right?

I guess what Im saying is - this isnt really a template. Hire unproven HC is basically what everyone outside of the top 20 programs does. Sometimes you are Baylor and it works. Sometimes you are - well pretty much everyone else and it works less well.
 
Imagine multi-million dollar facility and stadium upgrades, competitive recruiting classes, a rabid fan-base, and a proven, creative head coach with a reputation of maximizing rosters and a resume that includes multiple Fiesta Bowl victories.

That's what Washington has right now under head coach Chris Petersen (formerly of Boise State).

And they are currently 4-5 (2-4).

Last year, they weren't much better: 8–6 (4–5)

Petersen didn't suddenly forget how to coach or run a first class program.

You still need better play-makers than your opponent.

Their fans are starting to get restless too...
 
Wisconsin and Michigan State are actually much closer to Rutgers. So if they can do it, there is zero reason why we can't.
 
You do realize that its our defense that has been terrible for three years now, right?

I guess what Im saying is - this isnt really a template. Hire unproven HC is basically what everyone outside of the top 20 programs does. Sometimes you are Baylor and it works. Sometimes you are - well pretty much everyone else and it works less well.
I believe an offensive mind has a greater impact on college football than a defensive mind. That is why I would prefer an offensive coach over a defensive coach.

We were good when we had Robb Smith on defense and a secondary. I think we can get back to that level with a good DC and an experienced secondary.
 
Imagine multi-million dollar facility and stadium upgrades, competitive recruiting classes, a rabid fan-base, and a proven, creative head coach with a reputation of maximizing rosters and a resume that includes multiple Fiesta Bowl victories.

That's what Washington has right now under head coach Chris Petersen (formerly of Boise State).

And they are currently 4-5 (2-4).

Last year, they weren't much better: 8–6 (4–5)

Petersen didn't suddenly forget how to coach or run a first class program.

You still need better play-makers than your opponent.

Their fans are starting to get restless too...

Correct, you need both, I hope people here understand that. A great HC who can't recruit won't win much just like a great recruiter who can't coach won't win much either. You need both to be elite. You can be ok or even good with just one of those but never elite.

If you don't have either (like us right now) then you are truly doomed.
 
I think Baylor is a great example. I believe Baylor paid Art Briles $1.8 back in 2008 to become their coach. He was an unproven offensive mastermind. This is exactly what we need here.

We need to find an up and coming offensive mastermind and pay him about $2.5 million and let him grow.
He wasn't exactly unproven.
 
Imagine multi-million dollar facility and stadium upgrades, competitive recruiting classes, a rabid fan-base, and a proven, creative head coach with a reputation of maximizing rosters and a resume that includes multiple Fiesta Bowl victories.

That's what Washington has right now under head coach Chris Petersen (formerly of Boise State).

And they are currently 4-5 (2-4).

Last year, they weren't much better: 8–6 (4–5)

Petersen didn't suddenly forget how to coach or run a first class program.

You still need better play-makers than your opponent.

Their fans are starting to get restless too...
I think that goes to show that there's never a guarantee and clamoring for supposedly "proven" names is just an illusion like I've said. He gets paid 3.6M too btw. People may have their favorites or biases towards this or that but you never know how a coach will do at a particular location. In addition paying more doesn't necessarily lead to better results. Only a select few probably can do well anywhere they go, others need the right fit and others just aren't as good when they take the step up. Petersen did great at Boise but you never know for sure how a person will do when they step up.

Herman/Fuente are the hot names of the moment and I like them too but who knows for sure how they will perform when they actually take the step up a level.

It's still only Petersen's 2nd year there so I wouldn't write him off just yet. Patterson had an adjustment period too in his first couple years in the B12 and he needed to change the OCs to get things moving.
 
Imagine multi-million dollar facility and stadium upgrades, competitive recruiting classes, a rabid fan-base, and a proven, creative head coach with a reputation of maximizing rosters and a resume that includes multiple Fiesta Bowl victories.

That's what Washington has right now under head coach Chris Petersen (formerly of Boise State).

And they are currently 4-5 (2-4).

Last year, they weren't much better: 8–6 (4–5)

Petersen didn't suddenly forget how to coach or run a first class program.

You still need better play-makers than your opponent.

Their fans are starting to get restless too...

This idiot of a HC had the gall to say "Some good things in the run game. Jake threw some nice passes. Really did."

But Washington blew out Rich Rod's Arizona Wildcats 49-3 last week, who are 2-5 and 5-5, and also blown out by Stanford and UCLA, and lost to WSU, the team that lost to Portland Stand. Oh, heavens.
 
I think that goes to show that there's never a guarantee and clamoring for supposedly "proven" names is just an illusion like I've said. He gets paid 3.6M too btw. People may have their favorites or biases towards this or that but you never know how a coach will do at a particular location. In addition paying more doesn't necessarily lead to better results. Only a select few probably can do well anywhere they go, others need the right fit and others just aren't as good when they take the step up. Petersen did great at Boise but you never know for sure how a person will do when they step up.

Herman/Fuente are the hot names of the moment and I like them too but who knows for sure how they will perform when they actually take the step up a level.

It's still only Petersen's 2nd year there so I wouldn't write him off just yet. Patterson had an adjustment period too in his first couple years in the B12 and he needed to change the OCs to get things moving.

Mike Leach went 3-9, 6-7 and 3-9, and lost to Portland State in his first game this year, but now has WSU at 6-3. These things take time . . . . . . .
 
WSU's Recruiting classes, nationally/conference:

2015 55/10 (two 4 star, no 5 stars)
2014 70 /12 (last-no 4 stars or 5 stars)
2013 53/ 10 (one 4 star, no 5 stars)
2012 56/ 12 (last--two 4 star, no 5 stars)

Maybe RU should go to an Air Raid offense. . . .
 
Air Raid is difficult in northeast weather.

Only person to successfully do it is Andy Reid, and he had McNabb and Westbrook in their primes. Not to mention how many times his legendary DC (Jim Johnson) had to bail out the offense...
 
Mike Leach went 3-9, 6-7 and 3-9, and lost to Portland State in his first game this year, but now has WSU at 6-3. These things take time . . . . . . .
I agree with that and that's why I said it's only his 2nd year so I wouldn't write him off just yet. But I'd also say Petersen didn't takeover a program as bad a shape as WSU when Leach took over. Sarkisian basically had them at a mediocre level and Petersen is probably in that same area now. After Boise some probably thought he's going to come in and win like gangbusters quickly. He could have but it doesn't always work like that and his success was never guaranteed contrary to what some might have assumed.

Besides people tend to think in binary terms when a new coach comes in either it'll be better or worse than the previous guy. They forget that it could also be status quo in terms of results.
 
I would be interested to see if Willie Fritz offensive strategy (triple option / zone read hybrid) would work here with the level of recruits we bring in and that are historically available to us in NJ. I think he would be the closest to a Chip Kelly level run spread guru hire available. Not sure how this style matches up vs top half of b10 compared to more air raid concepts.



 
The Mid American Conference is the "cradle of coaches." If you unload your current coach over the next year or two, I'd look to the MAC for a fine replacement. Most of those guys would give their left nut to coach Rutgers into a winning B1G tradition. I suspect the contract price ($) would not break the bank at Rutgers.

.02

and, Go Cats !!
 
This is far more important that any scheme or play calling tendencies.
But this bsylor money you speak of is not why they are successful. The benefit of money is to go buy a saban, and insane facilities to attract top recruits. Whatever you say about their facilities, their recruiting is not impressive. So in order to win with less pieces you must think outside the box. We will never out recruit the big ten east, the same way Baylor will never out recruit the old guard of the big 12 long term ( Texas, oklahoma etc). You can not play a traditional way if you plan to disrupt the traditional powers.
 
Honestly if I tried I couldn't find a worse comparison. RU students and fans spend their entire lives lamenting about the R U screw. Baylor grads love their school.
Rutgers has 65,000 students and an endowment of 918 million
Baylor has 16,000 students and an endowment of 1.15 BILLION.
They also paid for an entire new stadium with donor money and we can't raise 5 million for a new staff.
Comparing RU to Baylor is like comparing the USA to New Guinea
This ^^^^

Really, some of our fans just don't get it. We have plenty of alumni that are indifferent to the school, let alone the general public. The largest state paper makes it a journalistic requirement for their reporters to expose our every wart. We get no love unless things are going great and then it dissipates as soon as we hit a bump in the road. Baylor is a private school with deep pockets whose alumni love the school. Plus, the local media is not looking for reasons to tear it down. Just a different world.
 
This ^^^^

Really, some of our fans just don't get it. We have plenty of alumni that are indifferent to the school, let alone the general public. The largest state paper makes it a journalistic requirement for their reporters to expose our every wart. We get no love unless things are going great and then it dissipates as soon as we hit a bump in the road. Baylor is a private school with deep pockets whose alumni love the school. Plus, the local media is not looking for reasons to tear it down. Just a different world.

If you read the post and try to get past the financial disparity you would realize the reason Baylor is good has nothing to do with their money. It's because the gave up trying to out recruit the big boys in their conference and developed a system full of above average but not phenomenal recruits.

If you are Alabama or USC, you can take the best players in the country and play the way football has been played forever. But if you are in the next tier and expect to compete, you have to shake things up and get creative.
 
If you read the post and try to get past the financial disparity you would realize the reason Baylor is good has nothing to do with their money. It's because the gave up trying to out recruit the big boys in their conference and developed a system full of above average but not phenomenal recruits.

If you are Alabama or USC, you can take the best players in the country and play the way football has been played forever. But if you are in the next tier and expect to compete, you have to shake things up and get creative.
That's no really what happened though. They hired a guy who runs an offense similar to many Texas Hs coaches, hit the jackpot with RG3, built amazing facilities will donations. Again, the coach they hired was 6 games over 500 in Conference USA. People here wouldn't want golden who had a better record in a P5 league. Hell, we have posters screaming not to hire an "unproven" MAC candidate.
 
If it's true we aren't willing to pay big $ until the B1G money comes, just get a guy to run the Flexbone. Stock the team with Jersey guys who want to be here. That should be enough to keep things at least interesting until we have the funds to double down on a big ticket staff.
 
We have a very offensive minded HC in the B1G and his name is Kevin Wilson, formerly running the up-tempo spread at Oklahoma, competing against the Baylors of the universe. Unfortunately for Mr. Wilson, defense has been and continues to be a big component of why programs in the B1G Conference win football games. While Mr. Wilson's team can score in bunches, his defense is a work in progress, and I'm being kind, and he's in year 5. Patience is beginning to wear thin even though the kind folks of Indiana, inclusive of my daughter, care much more about Indiana basketball.

I don't want to be like Baylor. I would prefer to make defensive football mandatory.
 
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