by the way
Everyone feel free to link stuff here for discussion, whether it be from the news, other blogs, your own blog, etc.
for instance
http://insider.espn.go.com/espn/blog/index?entryID=3949012&name=feldman_bruce&a...
Feldman's got a list of "intriguing assistant hires." Here's what he says about Verducci:
3. Frank Verducci, Notre Dame, offensive line: Former Irish line coach John Latina had done an outstanding job at his previous stops, but his tenure in South Bend under Charlie Weis did not go well. For all of Weis' tough talk, the Irish have been a very soft team. Notre Dame has had its three worst rushing seasons in school history under Weis, rushing for 126 yards a game in 2006, a record-low 75 yards a game in 2007 and 110 yards a game this past season. They also have surrendered a shocking number of sacks despite having an O-line with a lot of high-profile recruits with a ton of experience. Enter Verducci, a one-time Iowa line coach who has spent the last decade in the NFL. If Verducci can't help turn the Irish into a good running team, Weis probably gets the boot next winter.
Also listed:
* Scott Loeffler to Fla as QB coach
* Greg Robinson to UM as DC
* Mark Whipple to Miami as OC
* Bill Young to Okla St as DC
* John Chavis to LSU as DC (this is who they got instead of Tenuta)
* Jeremy Bates to USC as QB coach/playcaller
* Walt Harris to Akron (!) as QB coach/passing game coordinator (oh how the mighty have fallen)
* Jerry Azzinaro to Oregon as DL coach
* Bobby Diaco to Cincy as DC
The eternal mystery of John Latina
Was he simply not that good of a coach - more specifically, not that good of a running game coach - or did Weis' meddling on things like scheme and practice time prevent him from getting the most out of his players?
On one hand, he produced several NFL linemen at Ole Miss, was a student of Joe Moore and was hired by Spurrier before Weis pried him away. On the other, he apparently hasn't gotten so much of a whiff since hitting the market in January (maybe he wants to take a year off).
On one hand, he has produced some very good running games, including averaging more than 200 yards per game and 4.5 per carry at Clemson in 1995-96. On the other, he has produced more mediocre to downright awful running games, including failing to average more than 159 yards per game or 4.0 per carry in any of his last five years at Ole Miss. Compare that with Verducci, whose teams averaged something like 170 yards per game and well over 4.0 per carry in 10 years at Iowa.
If Weis lets him do his job, and he better after the last two seasons, Verducci will get this turned around immediately.
I don't think it was all Latina
I think Haywood had some blame in that as well. Our RBs are some of the poorest running RBs I have ever seen. They have very poor vision. I don't know if that is something that can be taught, but there were multiple games where the holes were there and our RBs just never hit them, or would run into tackles. It was a formula for running game disaster--poor blocking with poor running.
Oregon did some really interesting things for vision.
by domer.mq 
, Tuesday, March 03, 2009, 19:07 (6293 days ago) @ Pat (Moco)
They had this really high-tech system for conditioning vision in the offseason. It was profiled after they ran all over Michigan in 2007. And in a "scientific" way, they had quite measurable results. The muscles that control the eyes are capable of a workout just as much as any other muscles.
--
Sometimes I rhyme slow sometimes I rhyme quick.
I remember that profile
by LaFortune Teller , South Bend, Tuesday, March 03, 2009, 19:24 (6293 days ago) @ domer.mq
And I remember that the Oregon system didn't involve clapping with a metronome. For the life of me, that's the only thing I remember about it.