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Points where Flood lost me

RUMBA-JK

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Jun 13, 2014
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Was never ecstatic about the choice of Flood - his selection carried the aroma of desperation - the winner by default... but still one could hope - hope that he might emerge from obscurity and be wise & inspiring. Well, hope got washed away by the tide of mediocrity and repeated evidence that Flood is comprehensively clueless - especially in areas that he has not witnessed others deal with numerous times before - essentially, when faced with a challenge that he would have to figure out on his own - look out, disaster looms! When facing situations with little precedent, Flood veers toward poor decision making.

A huge, huge turning point in my impressions of him was in the email/grade situation - the inquiry was wrong - but understandable & probably forgivable - - but when Flood planned out the various step to meet the instructor - carefully selecting a remote location, carefully selecting his non-identifying attire, and all the time blatantly and willfully ignoring the blunt advice and cautions of the academic support staffer - During all of this, a voice should have been going off in Flood's head - a voice should have said "What I am planning to do is flat-out WRONG, it violates conduct standards and I must stop" -

The other point is now a bit like a flash-back ... it annoyed me at the time, but it seemed then to be just a moderate annoyance. However, it has stuck in my head - and after revisiting it, it now really turns my stomach ... This set of comments from Flood about the QB decision - and the tone / message from Flood starkly suggests some fundamental common sense flaws in how he analyzes things & expresses himself

What nauseated me can be found in this September 7, 2015 article:
http://www.nj.com/rutgersfootball/i...hayden_rettig_named_rutgers_starting_qua.html

SPECIFICALLY THIS SECTION:

So, what more could Rettig have done to win the starting job?


"It's not about what more anybody could have done," Flood said. "Ultimately I've got to look at the body of work and make a decision based on what gives our team the best opportunity to be 1-0, just like we do at every position."


Flood said the body of work was the deciding factor in the choice, but he didn't elaborate on what specifically separated Laviano from Rettig.


"I wouldn't want to do that because I don't really want to share what we see as a staff as maybe the deficiencies of any of our players and give those thing up in game planning to our opponents," Flood said
.

I can remember reading this and thinking 'Flood is an idiot .. and a malicious one!' Instead of simply tap-dancing his way out of the conversation, saying ' we are blessed with two great choices, but we had to pick one & we are going with Chris and are delighted to know that Hayden is poised to lead the team at a moment's notice' .. noooo ... he stupidly had to wander off into making some ambiguous insinuation about some sort of 'deficiencies' that Rettig had - 'deficiencies' that apparently were quite evident in Flood's head - and entered into his thinking. I thought - wow, what king of a jerk coach throws a kid under the bus like that?

Ultimately with Flood, we have 'to look at the body of work and make a decision based on what gives our team the best opportunity' - we have to get beyond the W-L and look at the quality of the vision & the decision making & the probability of future success. When it comes to Flood - the quality is just not there.
 
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A huge, huge turning point in my impressions of him was in the email/grade situation - the inquiry was wrong - but understandable & probably forgivable - - but when Flood planned out the various step to meet the instructor - carefully selecting a remote location, carefully selecting his non-identifying attire, and all the time blatantly and willfully ignoring the blunt advice and cautions of the academic support staffer - During all of this, a voice should have been going off in Flood's head - a voice should have said "What I am planning to do is flat-out WRONG, it violates conduct standards and I must stop" -

This X 1,000,000!!

When this story broke the hoards of Floodies were completely ok with this. Some saying he was defending his player BS, others saying that this wasn't a big deal. Really? Do they have no morals at all? And what didn't make the public report was his treatment of those that work with the Athletic Academics Support Services.

His so called best qualities (good man, cares for the players, people love him, wants to do best for the program) was a complete mirage. He is not a good man and not good for Rutgers. Add in the fack that he can't recruit or coach, why should he stay on?? BTW there is more bad news to come!
 
Fire him too! And, then fire the idiot who hired him! Easy.

Look, Laviano is a tough kid who just does not have the skill set for Div. I football. Any coach who does not see that, should really not be coaching.


But seriously. How will you justify yourselves if a new HC is hired and if he starts Laviano? Will everyone admit they were wrong or will a new campaign begin immediately calling out the new HC as a moron or an idiot or any of the other pet names I've seen Flood called recently
 
I would say the Pitt game in 2012. The team mailed it in . Losing the final 3 games of that season was a waste with that talent . In 2013 , it became obvious he had to go
 
But seriously. How will you justify yourselves if a new HC is hired and if he starts Laviano? Will everyone admit they were wrong or will a new campaign begin immediately calling out the new HC as a moron or an idiot or any of the other pet names I've seen Flood called recently
That's an easy one...
Off season arm strength building workouts. Along with brain building exercises to improve decision making ability.
:)
 
What are some of you going to say next season if our new HC starts Laviano over Rettig?

"I am 100% SHOCKED Rettig didn't transfer after LAST season (2015). He actually gave Rutgers another try?"..how's that?
 
But seriously. How will you justify yourselves if a new HC is hired and if he starts Laviano? Will everyone admit they were wrong or will a new campaign begin immediately calling out the new HC as a moron or an idiot or any of the other pet names I've seen Flood called recently
Slyker, I don't push the ignore button on anyone. Because, everyone has a right to their opinion. And, I can respect that. Heaven knows I come off of the wall on some, myself. But, you sir have an agenda that just doesn't hold water. Why would I admit that Laviano is a better choice? Just because two fools come to the same conclusion doesn't make it correct.
Have you ever played any football, anywhere, any level? If you have then you should realize, and see with those clouded eyes he just doesn't have the skill set. And, no it's not the OLines fault, or lack of seperation from WR, or even lack of experience. It's his own inabilities, to first demand better protection, understand how to drop back an adequate distance, how to step into a pocket, know what 3 seconds is and have that clock constantly ticking(he holds the ball to long), be able to take the snap from center(no it's not the centers fault). And, when he understands that those basics, to have the ability to scan a Defense, call the correct play at the line, execute it, by knowing where the ball will go, and again with the ability of getting the ball there in a timely manner, also will need to stretch the field from time to time, while not having to wind up to throw the ball(no arm strength).
Unfortunately, for Ru he lacks those skills. The fact that Flood refuses to allow another QB to even sniff the field, speaks volumes. And, if another coach would ever make that mistake again, under the same circumstances, I will repeat....Fire Him too!
So, I won't push that ignore button. But, Slyker your stick is getting old.
 
But seriously. How will you justify yourselves if a new HC is hired and if he starts Laviano? Will everyone admit they were wrong or will a new campaign begin immediately calling out the new HC as a moron or an idiot or any of the other pet names I've seen Flood called recently

But seriously, if a new coach comes in and starts Laviano ... one of a few things has happened -

(1.) The new coach is able to get the right people - and - new coach's insightful OC & QB coach have successfully diagnosed & corrected technique issues that have been seriously compromising Laviano's performance - and they have been able to build on some of his positive attributes - and transformed Laviano into a complete QB
.... to this ... most everyone would say - Hooray -

(2.) The new coach is different - but more of the same - and if he just keeps doing what isn't working and if, similar to Flood, won't consider exploring alternatives... it will immediately be grim.
.... to this ... most everyone would say UGGGHHHHH! NOT AGAIN!!!!

(3.) The new coach has an injury riddled team & Laviano is the only choice.
.... to this most everyone will say ... ugh - wait til next year....

To be clear - Flood as a human being is not 'an idiot' he is not a 'moron' - but he has faced critical situations - major, important critical situations and his decision making has been uninspiring and in the worst instances, examples of monumentally very bad judgment.
 
To me it was simple.

Choosing a D-3 QB over Rettig, enough said.
Not benching Nova against Kent State was it for me. I never really believed in the guy in the first place, and that alone showed he was in so far over his head that he probably wouldnt be able to recover. And he basically hasnt. Aside from the last 6 quarters of last season and the win against Michigan, its been downhill since then in basically every way.
 
The only way a new coach will start Laviano over Rettig next year is if Laviano transfers to the same school that Rettig does.

Back on topic: Flood lost me with the email issue. You have to be pretty dumb to not realize emails leave a digital trail. Also, why would you push to keep a kid eligible if he's having problems passing dance appreciation? I would think the best thing for that kids future would be to stop playing football and focus on the books.
 
Ultimately with Flood, we have 'to look at the body of work and make a decision based on what gives our team the best opportunity' - we have to get beyond the W-L and look at the quality of the vision & the decision making & the probability of future success. When it comes to Flood - the quality is just not there
Nicely done.
This last game was the icing on the cake for me. The players did not look like the Coaches gave them the best chance to win. We did not look like a well coached team.
 
This X 1,000,000!!

When this story broke the hoards of Floodies were completely ok with this. Some saying he was defending his player BS, others saying that this wasn't a big deal. Really? Do they have no morals at all? And what didn't make the public report was his treatment of those that work with the Athletic Academics Support Services.

His so called best qualities (good man, cares for the players, people love him, wants to do best for the program) was a complete mirage. He is not a good man and not good for Rutgers. Add in the fack that he can't recruit or coach, why should he stay on?? BTW there is more bad news to come!

That was it for me. He blatantly went out of his way to show everybody he was trying to subvert both policy and FOIA (or its state level counterpart). He should be fired for sheer stupidity.
 
Another vote for Kent State. Until that game I rarely left a game early. The fact that he left a young QB in there when he KNEW he was off his game was absolutely horrible. What kind of a coach or talent developer wouldn't see his sophomore QB struggling with 4 picks IN THE FIRST HALF and not pull him? Not even bench him, just let him recompose himself and build back his confidence.

That game demonstrated that he was in over his head and did not have the skill set to lead a college football team.
 
But seriously. How will you justify yourselves if a new HC is hired and if he starts Laviano? Will everyone admit they were wrong or will a new campaign begin immediately calling out the new HC as a moron or an idiot or any of the other pet names I've seen Flood called recently

And what will you say if a new coach comes in and Rettig is the starter? The same thing probably.
 
For me, the "sick to my stomach" ground zero will always be his decision to leave Nova in the game against Kent.
The VT game was horrifying. I never saw a QB look more frazzled than that game. He was shell shocked and completely out of it.

Playing Coleman all season when he was very obviously not healthy was also a big one.
Apparently Turay is not healthy this year and is also ineffective.
Running Hamilton out there against Penn St.
Simply awful coordinator and coaching hires,

But mostly it's about putting kids on the field, who have no business being on the field. Whether it was Nova when he was obviously shot against VT, or Coleman when he couldn't run, or Hamilton for no apparent reason at Penn St or Turay this year. He has not shown to have any feel for whether or not someone should be on the field. It makes me wonder who else shouldn't be out there and it really makes me wonder about roster management.
 
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I would say the Pitt game in 2012. The team mailed it in . Losing the final 3 games of that season was a waste with that talent . In 2013 , it became obvious he had to go
The Pitt game crystallized Flood's tenure when it came to the QB position. He made no attempt to win that game. When he was forced to substitute Dodd for Nova, he had him hand off the rest of the game to avoid a QB controversy. Not saying that Dodd was better, or that he would have won the game, but RU could have won the conference with a win. He owed it to the team to try to pull the game out.
 
What are some of you going to say next season if our new HC starts Laviano over Rettig?

Think of it like being an NHL goalie. You could be the best goalie in the world, but if you give up 5 or 6 goals, you are going to be pulled for the backup. it doesn't mean the backup is overall a better goalie, but if the main goalie is slumping, or if the opposing team figures out his weaknesses, then you put in the backup for a change. When Laviano is struggling so mightily, without even having a much clearer upside, you have to try the other guy.
 
But seriously. How will you justify yourselves if a new HC is hired and if he starts Laviano? . . .

I will likely think something like this: "Boy, maybe Rettig stinks too. Could be. We have seen so little of him. So now we're faced with both Laviano and Rettig being not good, and unproven and unheralded backups. All of them Flood recruits. Man, we should have fired that guy earlier. He couldn't recruit anything close to a good QB. He really couldn't recruit at all."

That's probably what I'd think.
 
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From day one. It was a stupid decision to promote our OL coach who had the worst OL in country based on national statistics to save one recruiting class. He had no head coaching experience and he was left here by Schiano for a reason. After that I always thought Dodd was a better QB. He was tough, could scramble and the team respected him. If he was given the same opportunity of reps with starting team and game time he would have been a much better QB than turnNOVA. Flood was too stupid and pighead to admit his mistake and we lost game after game because of it. At first I could not stand Nova, his turnovers and his continued arrogance bothered me. But then I laid off of him as it really is the coach. Nova was who he was, bad, it was the Coach that should have realized that he didn't have it, was bad, and should have made changes. He is doing the exact same thing with Lavino and Rettig.

You can say hindsight is 20/20 but I took a lot of abuse on this board and TOS over it at the time. The argument was always you have to give the guy more time, that he was a nice guy and we are not privy to the practice, the players love him etc.etc. well now we are in a world of hurt because of it. We have set ourselves back years.
 
That was it for me. He blatantly went out of his way to show everybody he was trying to subvert both policy and FOIA (or its state level counterpart). He should be fired for sheer stupidity.

Mine as well. He had the reputation of having outstanding character, which made him acceptable even though I didn't like him. Well, the definition of "character" that I was brought up with was, "doing the right thing when nobody's looking". Flood knew he was violating policy and tried to create shadows to sneak around in to avoid detection. I can't imagine that fits anyone's definition of character.
 
I guess Flood couldn't see that Barnwell's "body of work" warranted an "F" in Dance Appreciation.
 
Flood lost me with the email/secret meeting at Princeton scandal. It showed such a lack of character and/or judgment that it was clear he should not remain as coach. I was worried by many things he did in his first year or two, but hoped he would grow out of those mistakes because coaches tend to have issues the first time they are head coaches at this level.

If a new coach starts Laviano next season, my first thought will be: you've got to be kidding me, is he really the best we've got? If at that point his actual game performance is much improved, then I will think the new staff got him straightened out. If his game performance is pretty much the same as this year, I will believe the new staff is dumb for not trying something new.
 
What are some of you going to say next season if our new HC starts Laviano over Rettig?
I'd expect the new head coach to come in with Laviano being #1 because that is what he is today. I hope the next head coach sticks with Laviano as blindly as Flood has. Laviano has deserved to be benched / replaced at several points during this season. When the RU offense scored on that 6-yard TD drive against Nebraska, it ended a TD drought of over 200 minutes by the 1st unit offense. In the last 4 games, Laviano has failed to have a passer rating over 90 (89.14, 32.89, 65.95, 84.67). To put that number in perspective, Max Wittek of Hawaii is the lowest rated qualifying passer in 1A with a 92.5 passer rating. Sure, the running game has only averaged 101 yards per game over those 4 games, but that is better than what 5 teams have averaged this season (Tulane, Georgia State, Central Michigan, UCF, and Wazzu). Obviously Laviano isn't the only problem. But QB was SUPPOSEDLY one of the tighter battles in camp so it makes no sense to keep the other guy on the bench.
 
I started realizing his coaching acumen was poor in the second half of the 2012 season, obviously starting with Kent State. The last three games of Pitt, Louisville (though not a badly played game), and VaTech were appalling. I suspected after that season he wasn't going to get it done here, but obviously it's hard to definitively say that after one season where we had a shot at a BCS bowl.

2013 was an utter mess.

Incognito Princeton-gate and email-gate ("I want to avoid public vetting of this correspondence") was laughable, and it brought the only positive attribute of his into question.
 
But seriously. How will you justify yourselves if a new HC is hired and if he starts Laviano? Will everyone admit they were wrong or will a new campaign begin immediately calling out the new HC as a moron or an idiot or any of the other pet names I've seen Flood called recently
To be honest i could give two sh1ts who the starting qb is as long as flood is not here next year. If it's Rettig that would be awesome since he should have been given a better shot this year. The kid won his first start of the year and flood should have kept giving him the ball. If its laviano whatever i just hope that when he goes into a streak of not throwing a TD for 4 straight games our next coach makes a change. Rettig was pegged to be LSU's starting qb until the offense was moved from pro style to the spread. If one thing is certain laviano is not a pro style qb he cant stretch the field and continuously throws lawn darts at our receivers feet on out routes.
 
I started realizing his coaching acumen was poor in the second half of the 2012 season, obviously starting with Kent State. The last three games of Pitt, Louisville (though not a badly played game), and VaTech were appalling. I suspected after that season he wasn't going to get it done here, but obviously it's hard to definitively say that after one season where we had a shot at a BCS bowl.

2013 was an utter mess.

Incognito Princeton-gate and email-gate ("I want to avoid public vetting of this correspondence") was laughable, and it brought the only positive attribute of his into question.

This. The 2012 RA Bowl was BRUTAL; I still to this day can't believe Nova was left in that game. He looked like an amoeba trying to throw the ball. The end of 2012 and the middle of 2013 were strikes 1 and 2 for me; the fartfest that has been the 2015 season, from Emailgate, to "talent and depth", to us playing with all of the fire and passion of Ben Stein on NyQuil while getting our heads kicked in by teams with like half their starters out (seriously, how many pedestrian players have had 'career' days against us?) is strike 3...with this Saturday looking like it can be yet another humiliating watermark in a season that's been full of 'em.


Joe P.
 
His coaching ability became suspect after the Kent State debacle in Year 1. The inability to have the team even play with a pulse against Pitt with the conference title at stake was troubling. I would have had no problem with his firing after year two, but the USF game may have 'saved' him.
Flood earned a fourth year after going 8-5 last season, but lost me for good after what was reported with Barnewell/inappropriate/covert Princeton meetings. He didn't just drag the reputation of the football program and university through the mud, but managed to do it in the most incredibly bumbling and stubborn/brazen way possible.
 
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This. The 2012 RA Bowl was BRUTAL; I still to this day can't believe Nova was left in that game. He looked like an amoeba trying to throw the ball. The end of 2012 and the middle of 2013 were strikes 1 and 2 for me; the fartfest that has been the 2015 season, from Emailgate, to "talent and depth", to us playing with all of the fire and passion of Ben Stein on NyQuil while getting our heads kicked in by teams with like half their starters out (seriously, how many pedestrian players have had 'career' days against us?) is strike 3...with this Saturday looking like it can be yet another humiliating watermark in a season that's been full of 'em.


Joe P.

I don't really have much to comment on, other than the bolded part. Quote of the year for me. Thanks.
 
I didn't think it was possible to have more anger toward our coach and his decisions and stubbornness, but this thread did it! Thanks guys!

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