It's not the sexy hire, obviously. Throughout the process and yesterday, I remained cautiously optimistic. I wasn't thrilled with the hire (truth be told, I wanted Fuente), but I also didn't think it was the OMGZZZ WORST HIREZ EVAR!

After thinking it over, I'm growing more optimistic. This hire is about two things:

1) Teaching

Ignoring the questionable play calls and gameplans even, it was pretty easy to tell that our quarterbacks were woefully unprepared. Neither Lee nor Jefferson seem to have corrected the same mistakes they've made since stepping on campus, despite both showing tremendous potential at times. That's unfortunate.

Kragthorpe may not be Norm Chow, but he is a trained QB coach, he's had success mentoring guys before and actually spent more than two years of his entire coaching career coaching the position (he also played the position). I think we'll begin seeing the dividends of that pay off immediately (even if that means Mettenberger taking the starting job from day 1).

2) Returning to an identity

The ugliness of the Gary Crowton offense, took many turns. Most times it appeared we had no sort of plan in place at all. Kragthorpe is addition by subtraction in the sense that he's gonna throw out the 45 different formations, hone it down to a few and then operate the offense from those base sets, tinkering with the concept of the play rather than the way it's lined up.

Finally, here's a couple thoughts. From a good Texas A&M blogger:

quote:
As for what type off offense he’ll run, we were just moving to his ideal attack when the Buffalo Bills hired him as QB coach after the 2000 season. Ideally, I believe he’d favor a power running game with a passing game that is concept-based. You’re not going to out-formation people, you’re going to out-package them, i.e. you’re going to run a lot of plays from one formation or personnel grouping, so if they stop on concept in the play, he will pick on the other two options they’ve left open. I think you’ll see a lot of 11, 12, 20 and 21 personnel with him, depending on how versatile your FB is.

For a reference:

11 personnel = 3 Wide, 1 RB, 1 TE
12 personnel = 2 Wide, 1 RB, 2 TE
20 personnel = 3 Wide, 2 RB, 0 TE
21 personnel = 2 Wide, 2 RB, 1 TE

No more of this multiple formation, mass substitution stuff that we saw under Gary (Tennessee game anyone?). This is about simplification, getting back to fundamentals, and playing good football.

I know looking at his offensive numbers, they aren't exactly awe-inspiring. As fans, we typically can only judge an offensive by it's output (not that that is a wholly bad thing). But there are other factors to consider. R.C. Slocum said Kragthorpe is one of the brightest offensive minds he coached with in 14 years.

This wasn't the sexy hire. But it was about fit, and that's a lot more important. All hands on deck... all ducks in a row. Is it the right hire? Time will tell...

Good read from Rosetta with quotes from Slocum:

LINK

This post was edited on 1/21/11 at 10:34 am