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Hobbs Pressed by Kratch on "Significant Improvement"

Knight Shift

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https://www.nj.com/rutgersfootball/...-improvement-reasons-for-2019-excitement.html

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“I don’t know that I could verbalize ‘significant improvement,’” Hobbs said. “There are many ways, obviously, this coming season could go where we say, ‘Hey, we did really well.’ That’s not necessarily wins. We want wins, obviously. We’d like to get to a number of wins where we can start thinking about whether we are going to be bowl eligible, and I think there is an opportunity in the first half of the season for us."


Hobbs said there is no “red line” or magic number for wins he is looking for as a metric of improvement – “I don’t think you can approach it that way. Seasons have ebbs and flows.” – but he did mention a desire for Ash and the program to break through and achieve a milestone win similar to the pair of victories over ranked conference opponents Steve Pikiell and the men’s basketball team scored this past winter.
“What we would love to have is a signature win where it is very clear that, ‘Boom, this program is going somewhere,’” Hobbs said. “We’ve had that in basketball. Even with whatever the record is in basketball, folks have seen our trajectory, and that’s what Year No. 4 is about for our football program. Showing our fans that we’re on the right trajectory."
 
Staying bowl eligible early in the season (that’s a new metric) would indicate wins against UMASS, BC and either MD or Indiana.
 
Being, historically who we are simply means that our interpretation of success is not that of winning programs.
Many are truly worried about us beating anybody! My guess is that Hobbs is one of these. If I'm right, we are looking at very low expectations.
 
I don't think his comments are unreasonable. I actually don't want Hobbs to declare a number of wins Ash needs to hit to keep his job.

Let's say Hobbs said that Ash needs to win 6 games to keep his job. And Ash ends up beating UMass, Liberty, and barely beating BC, UMD, IU, and UI. And the rest of the games are blow-out losses, with porous defense and no identity on offense. That passes the 6-win bar, but certainly isn't an indication that the program is on the right path, versus just getting lucky to barely win those games.

On the other hand, let's say Ash ends up blowing out UMass and Liberty, blowing out Minn and UI, and a 10-point win over Penn State. And let's say the loss to Mich State was due to an overturned fumble call, and the loss to Ohio State was due to a last-minute Hail Mary pass that allowed OSU to come from behind to win. And the remaining losses were all by 2 touchdowns or less, with a strong defense and offense that improved through the season. In that scenario, Ash does not pass the 6-win bar, but I'd feel a hell of a lot better keeping him on board after a season like that than I would in the previous example where he passes the 6-win bar.
 
Of course he’s spinning. What do people expect him to say?

“I will fire Chris Ash if he wins less than 5 games this year.”
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I don't expect him to define a number of wins but Ash is starting to rub off on Pat by using broad terms to define success.

“I don’t know that I could verbalize ‘significant improvement,’” Hobbs said. “There are many ways, obviously, this coming season could go where we say, ‘Hey, we did really well.’ That’s not necessarily wins. We want wins, obviously.

MIND BLOWING. Wins = success, everything else is the talk of a complete and utter loser. The football leadership of the school is really starting to piss me off.
 
His performance goals from your boss should be specific and quantifiable. What he tells the press in this situation should not.
Agree that quantifiable goals don't need to be shared with the press.

Disagree that goals between Ash and Hobb need to be specific and quantifiable. Some goals can be qualitative.
 
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I think 5 wins and competitive in the losses would be the minimum to keep his job. He definitely needs a bowl game to guarantee his return(barring any off the field issues).
 
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I don't think his comments are unreasonable. I actually don't want Hobbs to declare a number of wins Ash needs to hit to keep his job.

Let's say Hobbs said that Ash needs to win 6 games to keep his job. And Ash ends up beating UMass, Liberty, and barely beating BC, UMD, IU, and UI. And the rest of the games are blow-out losses, with porous defense and no identity on offense. That passes the 6-win bar, but certainly isn't an indication that the program is on the right path, versus just getting lucky to barely win those games.

On the other hand, let's say Ash ends up blowing out UMass and Liberty, blowing out Minn and UI, and a 10-point win over Penn State. And let's say the loss to Mich State was due to an overturned fumble call, and the loss to Ohio State was due to a last-minute Hail Mary pass that allowed OSU to come from behind to win. And the remaining losses were all by 2 touchdowns or less, with a strong defense and offense that improved through the season. In that scenario, Ash does not pass the 6-win bar, but I'd feel a hell of a lot better keeping him on board after a season like that than I would in the previous example where he passes the 6-win bar.


I'll gladly take either scenario...
 
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Of course he’s spinning. What do people expect him to say?

“I will fire Chris Ash if he wins less than 5 games this year.”

How about “I believe in chris and the job he’s doing . But what’s happened here the last few years has been unacceptable by any standard, especially the standard of winning which is how we are ultimately judged . Everyone here understands that. I am not going to put a number on how many wins we expect or deem to be acceptable. But we need to perform better and win games.”
 
How about “I believe in chris and the job he’s doing . But what’s happened here the last few years has been unacceptable by any standard, especially the standard of winning which is how we are ultimately judged . Everyone here understands that. I am not going to put a number on how many wins we expect or deem to be acceptable. But we need to perform better and win games.”
Who the hell cares? None of what he say to the media or to appeal to the fan base matters when it comes to whether Ash has a job here after this season. Hobbs is doing the right thing by spinning his comments by not making headlines.
 
I for one am actually pleased with Hobbs' comments. I think he learned from his comments last summer, which did not age well.

He is smartly being flexible, but I think it is pretty clear that winning games against UMass, Illinois, and Liberty alone won't be "significant" enough improvement. He also understands that the opportunities are mostly front loaded in the schedule, so they need to show something early.
 
Who the hell cares? None of what he say to the media or to appeal to the fan base matters when it comes to whether Ash has a job here after this season. Hobbs is doing the right thing by spinning his comments by not making headlines.

Then why the hell did you ask?
 
I think Hobbs posts on this board:

"I think we saw significant improvement in the second half of last season. We didn’t score points."

If you ignore 1/2 the game, then sure we made "significant improvement".
 
You may be right as far as what Hobbs is thinking, but that number is BS. There is no reason to bring him back with 4 wins.
4 wins - 8 losses all by 7 or less points - QB ( insert name) throws 18 TD’s and 5 interceptions. Running game gets 1500 yds. You firing Ash ?.
Now I can’t see this happening but point is decision to fire or keep coach should not be based solely on wins.
 
I don't expect him to define a number of wins but Ash is starting to rub off on Pat by using broad terms to define success.

“I don’t know that I could verbalize ‘significant improvement,’” Hobbs said. “There are many ways, obviously, this coming season could go where we say, ‘Hey, we did really well.’ That’s not necessarily wins. We want wins, obviously.

MIND BLOWING. Wins = success, everything else is the talk of a complete and utter loser. The football leadership of the school is really starting to piss me off.

Starting to?
 
I don't expect him to define a number of wins but Ash is starting to rub off on Pat by using broad terms to define success.

“I don’t know that I could verbalize ‘significant improvement,’” Hobbs said. “There are many ways, obviously, this coming season could go where we say, ‘Hey, we did really well.’ That’s not necessarily wins. We want wins, obviously.

MIND BLOWING. Wins = success, everything else is the talk of a complete and utter loser. The football leadership of the school is really starting to piss me off.
I watched that B1G press conference his players have bought into it to. Very surprised when the commentator asked what would be a successful season? The answer of win never came from our players mouths. It was more being competitive, staying the course, working hard, correcting our mistakes. There is no emphasis on winning, it's more about not losing the game or beating yourselves.

I know some believe in that motto, but I just can't get on board with it, as I was never taught that way. To me it's a more tentative stance, don't make a mistake. Causes you to think than react. I was taught, know your assignment, go full out, if you should miss, hit the next guy you see. Miss him hit the next guy, whatever you do don't stop till that whistle blows. Being competitive isn't the name of the game, winning is, go out and get it, it's yours for the taking.
 
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I don't think his comments are unreasonable. I actually don't want Hobbs to declare a number of wins Ash needs to hit to keep his job.

Let's say Hobbs said that Ash needs to win 6 games to keep his job. And Ash ends up beating UMass, Liberty, and barely beating BC, UMD, IU, and UI. And the rest of the games are blow-out losses, with porous defense and no identity on offense. That passes the 6-win bar, but certainly isn't an indication that the program is on the right path, versus just getting lucky to barely win those games.

On the other hand, let's say Ash ends up blowing out UMass and Liberty, blowing out Minn and UI, and a 10-point win over Penn State. And let's say the loss to Mich State was due to an overturned fumble call, and the loss to Ohio State was due to a last-minute Hail Mary pass that allowed OSU to come from behind to win. And the remaining losses were all by 2 touchdowns or less, with a strong defense and offense that improved through the season. In that scenario, Ash does not pass the 6-win bar, but I'd feel a hell of a lot better keeping him on board after a season like that than I would in the previous example where he passes the 6-win bar.

Cool story bro but neither is happening. I think there is a better chance we lose to UMass and/or Liberty than there is that we beat PSU and/or lose close to OSU and even Mich St.

(I know this board hates the definitives but) there is no way we win more than 4 games this season. I’m predicting 2-10.
 
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signature wins mean diddly squat if the overall record is shit. Beating Iowa would be great but if RU finishes 4-8 or 3-9 it means little because it means it was more flukish than not
 
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signature wins mean diddly squat if the overall record is shit. Beating Iowa would be great but if RU finishes 4-8 or 3-9 it means little because it means it was more flukish than not

See 2017.
Everyone heralded "but 3 BIG wins!"
If was the definition of a fluke.

Most completely ignored that we had the worst offense in the country and that winning with zero offense is not sustainable (see 2018).

If we have the worst offense in the country again but fall backwards into 4 wins that isn't neccesarily progress.
 
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Sounds like he doesn't want to be held accountable for if and when Ash does not meet whatever minimum amount of wins he says to the press. If he says 5 wins, and RU doesn't win 5 games, but Ash doesn't get fired, then people will return to that conversation and say "Hey Hobbs! You said five wins! Fire his ass!".

He's being vague on purpose, as I'm sure many or most of you gather.
 
I watched that B1G press conference his players have bought into it to. Very surprised when the commentator asked what would be a successful season? The answer of win never came from our players mouths. It was more being competitive, staying the course, working hard, correcting our mistakes. There is no emphasis on winning, it's more about not losing the game or beating yourselves.

I know some believe in that motto, but I just can't get on board with it, as I was never taught that way. To me it's a more tentative stance, don't make a mistake. Causes you to think than react. I was taught, know your assignment, go full out, if you should miss, hit the next guy you see. Miss him hit the next guy, whatever you do don't stop till that whistle blows. Being competitive isn't the name of the game, winning is, go out and get it, it's yours for the taking.
I think the point of what Ash and the players (and for that matter, PJ Fleck said the same thing) is that by reducing/eliminating mistakes, you will lose less games. Focus on the moment and the play. If you don't make mistakes, you don't lose the game.

Remember when Kyle Flood used to talk about "winning championships?" How did that work out.

Even the players at Northwestern and Michigan were very much about 1 game at a time and not laying out any long term goals for the whole season. Seems to have been the speak of many of the programs/players.
 
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4 wins - 8 losses all by 7 or less points - QB ( insert name) throws 18 TD’s and 5 interceptions. Running game gets 1500 yds. You firing Ash ?.
Now I can’t see this happening but point is decision to fire or keep coach should not be based solely on wins.

You really think we will lose every game by 7 points or less? There is a very good chance we lose a couple games by 30 or more.
 
Cool story bro but neither is happening. I think there is a better chance we lose to UMass and/or Liberty than there is that we beat PSU and/or lose close to OSU and even Mich St.

(I know this board hates the definitives but) there is no way we win more than 4 games this season. I’m predicting 2-10.

I wasn't making a prediction. I was providing a hypothetical scenario of why Hobbs shouldn't specify a bar for the number of wins.
 
If we don't have 5 wins or more and Ash is still here in December the new President should tell Hobbs and Ash to go measure success by things other than wins elsewhere.


How bad of a job has the head coach done when he is afraid of talking about wins and bowl games in year 4. Is he coaching Pop Warner football?
 
Vanilla answers overall in public. As long as there are concrete definitions of success being relayed to Ash privately.
 
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