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Was it Worth it to Fire McNulty?

Knightmoves

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Sunday morning QB questions:

If McNulty was retained by Hobbs after Ash’s firing do Sitkowski and Blackshear play against MD yesterday, and probably the rest of the season?

Have the potential Sitkowski and Blackshear redshirts been a known issue to Hobbs and the team this season? I thought that Campy made reference that it may have been an issue for awhile, not just the past few days.

Interested to read others thoughts.
 
Yes

He could not adapt to anything. Granted he was right - he can't design plays that don't call for blocking (or whatever he said). However, to continually run those slow read-option handoffs with Art was laughable. The read-option isn't an option if the QB NEVER keeps the ball or if he does he makes Tom Brady appear fast. I think Art kept it once over 3 games and he followed the fake (idiot). That's all on McNulty and his inability to adapt to the talent around him, of course "talent" on this team is a stretch.

That said, I still think he is a fine coach, but not under these circumstances.
 
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Not worth it IMO. Not because of these theatrics necessarily but we’re paying him anyway; what’s the point of reducing a coach count -1 just to turn the reins over to an even less experienced coach? Campy isn’t going to make something out of nothing.

Case for Ash is clear - gives you more time to hire a new HC. OC? Not so much. .
 
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Not worth it IMO. Not because of these theatrics necessarily but we’re paying him anyway; what’s the point of reducing a coach count -1 just to turn the reins over to an even less experienced coach? Campy isn’t going to make something out of nothing.

Case for Ash is clear - gives you more time to hire a new HC. OC? Not so much. Though if you’re gonna have to wait til the end of the season only to announce Leipold, I’m gonna riot. .

Particularly if you take Hobbs at his word that the reason to make the change at this time was to not give up on this season. I really wonder if we got the real story on McNulty. Maybe he signaled he was not too pleased to be passed over for the interim job for a guy two years removed from being a HS coach?
 
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Particularly if you take Hobbs at his word that the reason to make the change at this time was to not give up on this season. I really wonder if we got the real story on McNulty. Maybe he signaled he was not too pleased to be passed over for the interim job for a guy two years removed from being a HS coach?
Entirely possible.
 
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No it was a knee jerk reaction from an administrator who has no clue what he was doing. It was either a power move or the guy has no clue how football works. It in no way was going to improve the offense.
 
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Bigger question is, in my mind, was it worth it to fire Ash now if you are not going to hire a coach until December?

Good question. We discussed this a great deal and the crew that wanted Ash fired immediately said we could get a jump on hiring the next HC.

Now that the decision is made to fire Ash there are very few candidates to consider. Shouldn’t Hobbs have known that already? Now we wait till the end of the season like everyone else looking for a HC.

But we’ve lost two top offensive players in the process.
 
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Yes if the plan was to cut bait completely. McNulty has some credit and if he had some successes as interim it creates more of a problem. Some people may want to make him HC. Also creates a power struggle.

The move signals that this is nunzios team for this year. And a full on search is underway for a totally new coach. Doesn't leave much grey area. Although people here love to find it anyway.
 
We scored zero points in McNulty's last 2 weeks.
We scored 7 points without him (and a starting QB and RB)

The college game (and NFL) has changed dramatically in 10 years.
If we are going to being back Schiano, he BETTER have an OC ready.
also, Schaino needs to simplify his defense to match up to the RPO.
 
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Bigger question is, in my mind, was it worth it to fire Ash now if you are not going to hire a coach until December?

It seems to me Hobbs did exactly what 75% of posters here wanted. Not you if you weren't one of them but pretty disingenuous for anyone who wanted Ash gone immediately to question it now.

I wonder if once it was decided Nunzio would finish his former boss (OC) had to go too. Wouldn't want the players confused who they had to answer to.
 
It seems to me Hobbs did exactly what 75% of posters here wanted. Not you if you weren't one of them but pretty disingenuous for anyone who wanted Ash gone immediately to question it now.

I wonder if once it was decided Nunzio would finish his former boss (OC) had to go too. Wouldn't want the players confused who they had to answer to.

I am totally fine with him being gone now. But the reason I was ok with him being let go mid season was under the premise that a new coach would be hired way ahead of December to get a head start. That is why I stated "if you are not going to hire a new coach until December".

If you are going to hire a coach mid season, obviously it wouldn't be a coach that is coaching now but I would think that would have been part of Hobbs decision making on when Ash gets fired.
 
I am totally fine with him being gone now. But the reason I was ok with him being let go mid season was under the premise that a new coach would be hired way ahead of December to get a head start. That is why I stated "if you are not going to hire a new coach until December".

If you are going to hire a coach mid season, obviously it wouldn't be a coach that is coaching now but I would think that would have been part of Hobbs decision making on when Ash gets fired.

As hard as it is to get a good HC I'd think it'd be even harder to find someone to fill in midseason. You'd be eliminating anyone who already has a job.

Once again many here never gave it much thought, just wanted their pound of flesh.

"Be careful what you wish for...….."
 
Bigger question is, in my mind, was it worth it to fire Ash now if you are not going to hire a coach until December?

This is what I am saying . Ash would have kept yesterday much closer . It just makes you really wonder if Hobbs knows what he’s doing . Ash should have been canned last year, and bringing him back/firing him is a head scratcher
 
I can't imagine McNulty as interim head coach with all the rambling.

i thought it was strange to get rid of him at the time. I don't see what is gained unless there was a previous discussion about Camp taking over as interim and him wanting to run a different offense. It makes a transition more simple.

I don't know how we'll do with a HS offense in the B1G though. I always remember Teel talking about how much he had to learn when he came to RU and needed to learn a college offense, thats more complicated.
 
I don't know how we'll do with a HS offense in the B1G though. I always remember Teel talking about how much he had to learn when he came to RU and needed to learn a college offense, thats more complicated.
Frankly to me that's part of the problems at least in current times. I want KISS..make it was easy as possible to pick up and learn, less complexity.

You should read what Leach's qbs have said about his offense and the learning of it. I made a post about an article talking about the Leach qb room. One of the things they said was no matter how simple your offense be it junior college or high school or whatever this is even more simple. IMO for a school like us this is the path of least resistance. It's basically the theme for the Leach tree coaches and the Air Raid....not that they follow his plays his Air Raid to a T but more the theme of KISS....Air Raid being more a philosophy than the actual plays.

A small snippet from the article:

Jorgensen: We didn’t really have playbooks.

Brink: Any high school, any junior college, no matter where you were, your playbook gets simpler when you get to Washington State.

Tuel: Literally as simple as humanly possible.

Apodaca: I remember I threw a pick or something, and I remember asking him what coverage that play is good against. And he goes, “Well, you should have just thrown it to this ****ing guy because he’s standing there wide-ass open.”

Halliday: I said to Leach, “What do I need to do to get the ball there on time?” He was like, “Well, just throw it to the guy who’s ****ing open.” I was like, “Yeah, no, I get that dude, but what do you want me to do to get there quicker?” And he was like, “I don’t give a shit what you do. Just throw it to the guy who’s ****ing open.”

Tuel: You expect someone with that reputation, with that many successful quarterbacks under his umbrella, to have some secret sauce or special way of calling plays or reading defenses or just some scheme that’s better than everyone’s…He just found a way to make it as simple as he can.
 
Frankly to me that's part of the problems at least in current times. I want KISS..make it was easy as possible to pick up and learn, less complexity.

You should read what Leach's qbs have said about his offense and the learning of it. I made a post about an article talking about the Leach qb room. One of the things they said was no matter how simple your offense be it junior college or high school or whatever this is even more simple. IMO for a school like us this is the path of least resistance. It's basically the theme for the Leach tree coaches and the Air Raid....not that they follow his plays his Air Raid to a T but more the theme of KISS....Air Raid being more a philosophy than the actual plays.

A small snippet from the article:

Jorgensen: We didn’t really have playbooks.

Brink: Any high school, any junior college, no matter where you were, your playbook gets simpler when you get to Washington State.

Tuel: Literally as simple as humanly possible.

Apodaca: I remember I threw a pick or something, and I remember asking him what coverage that play is good against. And he goes, “Well, you should have just thrown it to this ****ing guy because he’s standing there wide-ass open.”

Halliday: I said to Leach, “What do I need to do to get the ball there on time?” He was like, “Well, just throw it to the guy who’s ****ing open.” I was like, “Yeah, no, I get that dude, but what do you want me to do to get there quicker?” And he was like, “I don’t give a shit what you do. Just throw it to the guy who’s ****ing open.”

Tuel: You expect someone with that reputation, with that many successful quarterbacks under his umbrella, to have some secret sauce or special way of calling plays or reading defenses or just some scheme that’s better than everyone’s…He just found a way to make it as simple as he can.
I see what you're saying and hope you're right. If Camp ends up the next Mike Leach or even close, we better hang on to him and take a life insurance policy on him.
 
Bigger question is, in my mind, was it worth it to fire Ash now if you are not going to hire a coach until December?

Art did look miles better than last year. It was an odd decision with no explanation.
 
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Frankly to me that's part of the problems at least in current times. I want KISS..make it was easy as possible to pick up and learn, less complexity.

You should read what Leach's qbs have said about his offense and the learning of it. I made a post about an article talking about the Leach qb room. One of the things they said was no matter how simple your offense be it junior college or high school or whatever this is even more simple. IMO for a school like us this is the path of least resistance. It's basically the theme for the Leach tree coaches and the Air Raid....not that they follow his plays his Air Raid to a T but more the theme of KISS....Air Raid being more a philosophy than the actual plays.

A small snippet from the article:

Jorgensen: We didn’t really have playbooks.

Brink: Any high school, any junior college, no matter where you were, your playbook gets simpler when you get to Washington State.

Tuel: Literally as simple as humanly possible.

Apodaca: I remember I threw a pick or something, and I remember asking him what coverage that play is good against. And he goes, “Well, you should have just thrown it to this ****ing guy because he’s standing there wide-ass open.”

Halliday: I said to Leach, “What do I need to do to get the ball there on time?” He was like, “Well, just throw it to the guy who’s ****ing open.” I was like, “Yeah, no, I get that dude, but what do you want me to do to get there quicker?” And he was like, “I don’t give a shit what you do. Just throw it to the guy who’s ****ing open.”

Tuel: You expect someone with that reputation, with that many successful quarterbacks under his umbrella, to have some secret sauce or special way of calling plays or reading defenses or just some scheme that’s better than everyone’s…He just found a way to make it as simple as he can.
It is often said that football is a simple game. Leach's system boils the passing game down to its essence; get open, throw the ball, catch the ball.
 
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I think with the new early signing date terminating coaches before the end of the season will become the norm. What I am still struggling with is why do it after 4 games rather than 6-8 unless you have a pretty good idea that the individual you want is available to be named as HC before the end of the season to take part in this years recruiting cycle rather than actually coach the team.

He has seemingly compounded the problems for the remainder of this season with his approach. He most likely made some type of commitment to NC that he would get a fair shot at demonstrating the ability to perform in the role. That to me, precludes him from hiring anyone else in the near future. If he doesn't, then unless he has an understanding with NC that he will be brought back in some capacity, there could be repercussions with a pretty strong family in the North Jersey FB circles.

Potentially worse, is that he is looking for a new coach with the condition that they take NC on as the OC or some other position rather than giving them the ability to select their entire staff. While GS might know and accept him, I am not getting the sense GS is coming any time soon nor should he without a more exhaustive search which again is difficult to do at this time of year.

Finally what happened that made Hobbs move when he did? He was CA's biggest backer and maintained it was important to show the coaching community that anyone coming to RU would get a fair shot. We are actually coming into a portion of the schedule where the possibility for a win or two was more realistic, yet he decided not to give his guy anymore rope. Do you think firing him 4 games in is a notable difference perception wise, than canning him more cleanly after three years? Did he really think NC would be able to turn things around with this roster? Did he even have the foresight to realize the potential redshirt and transfer portal implications of making the move after 4 games? I don't think he or NC realized this could be an issue. Was this more an act of panic based on self preservation as a result of a restless fan base getting nasty at him and others during home games?

Unless he was set on hiring Schiano, Jones or some other unemployed head coach now, I think he gained next to nothing by pulling the trigger now versus waiting at least a couple more weeks when the lack of significant improvement would have further cemented the basis for canning Ash and any interim selection from the existing staff should have been told their chances of becoming the next HC are very low. McNulty may have been a better choice under those circumstances.
 
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This is what I am saying . Ash would have kept yesterday much closer . It just makes you really wonder if Hobbs knows what he’s doing . Ash should have been canned last year, and bringing him back/firing him is a head scratcher
Barchi did the wrong thing in the whole Mike Rice/Pernetti thing.. he should have taken the UNC route.. defend, defend, defend, It wasn't until "they" came for his job that he drew a line.

I think Hobbs did the same thing. When there began a chorus of "Fire Hobbs" he suddenly did *something*. And as you point out.. maybe that is additional proof that he is out of his element. I think he will go for a "name" hire.. one that, he thinks, will shield him from criticism. He will look to buy a name.. not a coach that can get the job done. IMO, he is susceptible to some agent and his buddies selling him on a name for the sake of a name... and he will overpay for it.

I could be wrong, of course.. but this hire will probably guarantee him another 3 years here even if he fails. And maybe that is behind the timing as well. If he let the chorus go on all season long he might have gotten fired this year. Now he bought himself this year to find a coach and then a wait-and-see period to see if the coach will succeed.
 
I see what you're saying and hope you're right. If Camp ends up the next Mike Leach or even close, we better hang on to him and take a life insurance policy on him.
I don't know if I expect that at least not now for him maybe later in his career. To me his best path and ours too is to have a Leach tree guy or similar as OC and then down the line if that guy ever left he could possibly be elevated if that OC ever left. Leach was only at OU as OC for a year but the ball got rolling and the identity was established and it's still going today with a few bumps here and there at times. The succeeding OCs were from within the staff and outside.

Phil Longo was never a Leach assistant as as I know but he basically followed him to all his clinics, picked his brain like crazy and became a "disciple" without ever being on his staff and has turned into at least a solid P5 OC. I want to say he was a high school coach in NJ when he started doing all that stuff and now I believe one article said he meets with Leach yearly and KK too but I don't think he's ever been on staff with them.

I kind of prefer a guy who has been on staff with Leach or his tree because I think it's more of an immersion of it all which I kind of think might lead to better outcomes but there's always more than one way.
 
Was getting rid of McNulty more about his performance or Hobbs’s desire to elevate Camp? To those in the Bergen County Catholic School region, Camp is very well respected and I wonder if Hobbs’s had someone talking in his ear about him since he got hired to the staff.
 
As hard as it is to get a good HC I'd think it'd be even harder to find someone to fill in midseason. You'd be eliminating anyone who already has a job.

Once again many here never gave it much thought, just wanted their pound of flesh.

"Be careful what you wish for...….."

Anyone here who didn’t know that only unemployed coaches are available during the season doesn’t understand much about this process.

The question is what did Hobbs have in mind by firing his HC and OC this early in the season?
He knew that the most desirable HC candidates are not available till early December.

Did Hobbs know about the redshirting issues with Sit and Raheem before he fired Ash/McNulty?
 
Folks assuming he'd work for and run Nunzios offense?
Should have also fired Ashs great DC hire Buh and replaced him with anyone who could be as equally creative and aggressive.
 
16 points combined between Iowa bc and Michigan? No, he should be given a raise
 
We scored zero points in McNulty's last 2 weeks.
We scored 7 points without him (and a starting QB and RB)

The college game (and NFL) has changed dramatically in 10 years.
If we are going to being back Schiano, he BETTER have an OC ready.
also, Schaino needs to simplify his defense to match up to the RPO.
We scored 16 against BC and if we didn’t commit huge penalties we would have had more. MD and BC are pretty much equal on Defense. Iowa and Michigan are top defenses nationally. Just stating facts here. I was shocked to see McNulty go and it is the reason we lost 2 top players but time to look to the future. Need HC ASAP
 
Art did look miles better than last year. It was an odd decision with no explanation.
Maybe it would have been difficult to name him interim HC given offense scored no points against early B1G competition.
 
actually there is a rumor that McNulty had a pretty bad confrontation with some players in the locker room after the MSU game--not sure if this sped up his firing but there is speculation
 
If we are going to being back Schiano, he BETTER have an OC ready.
That's a good point. Who can he bring in as OC? McNulty no longer being an option.

Maybe his buddy Meyer would take the job. :)

In which case, I'm in.
 
Anyone here who didn’t know that only unemployed coaches are available during the season doesn’t understand much about this process.

The question is what did Hobbs have in mind by firing his HC and OC this early in the season?
He knew that the most desirable HC candidates are not available till early December.

Did Hobbs know about the redshirting issues with Sit and Raheem before he fired Ash/McNulty?

My first thhought would be the early commitment schedule (December instead of February)) to help either save of build a class. If we wait until the end of the season to hire a coach, this year's class wouldn't really be the main reason.
 
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