Just some info on Shoop for the people out there that arent too familiar with him / dont know what type of D he plays.

Background
Shoop played WR and graduated from Yale. He was a grad assistant at Yale and Virginia. He was the DB coach at Northwestern, Boston College, and UMass. Hes been the DC at Yale, Villanova, Army, William & Mary, Vandy, and Penn St. And was the Head Coach at Columbia for a few years.

Performances
Shoop had Vandy as a top 25 D in the nation all 3 years he was there. His D also forced 30 turnovers his final year at Vandy. In his 1st season at Penn St, Shoop had them 7th in scoring D and 2nd in total D in the country.

Penn St improvements from 2013 to 2014:
Total Defense: 381.3 to 278.7
Yards Per Play: 5.3 to 4.27
Rushing Defense: 144.00 to 100.46
Passing Defense 237.30 to 178.20
Tackles for Loss 69 to 92
Turnovers Forced 13 to 21

Advanced Metrics
Defensive S&P+ - 23rd to 15th
Defensive FEI - 43rd to 8th
Defensive F/+ - 53rd to 10th

Defensive Style
- Runs a base D of a 4-3 and meshes between Over / Under. He also runs some 3 man front and sub packages, depending on the opponent, game situation and defensive personnel.
- He does coach from the press box.
- In the base 4-3 under, DL are in a 1 tech, 3 tech, and 5 tech, while the "4th DL" is in a 7 or 9 tech, pretty much outside shoulder of the TE or OT, depending on the offensive formation.
- Coverage wise, Shoop prefers to run quarters or a 2 deep shell.
- Loves versatile players. Hes also willing to adapt or tweak his D based on his teams personnel.
- Scheme wise, it's similar to Seattles D under Pete Carroll.

Shoop quotes on D

quote:
"based on two premises, relentlesspursuit and never-ending pressure. First thing I say to the guys all the time is everyone has a game plan until they get punched in the face. We throw the first punch and keep on punching. We make sure it's not the last punch and keep on punching. That's who we are."

quote:
If you’re asking my beliefs in a perfect world, the Tampa 4-3 (i.e. the Tampa 2 based out of the 4-3 alignment) is something I have always studied. Coach (Mike) Tomlin has had a great affect on me when he was at the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. He’s now the head coach of the Pittsburgh Steelers and he’s a William & Mary graduate, so he and I have spent a great deal of time together.

Coaching from the Press Box

quote:
"When I watch film, that is the view I have," Shoop said. "It is a more sterile setting. I can have my notes in front of me and I feel like it is most similar to me watching film during the course of the week. It gives me a chance to step back from the action and be a problem solver and decision maker, and hopefully make good decisions and put us in a good position."

quote:
"I certainly don't believe in bend but don't break," Shoop said. "I believe in trying to dictate tempo. I think we will be a very aggressive defense."

Thoughts on MLB spot:

quote:
"Whatever the defense is, you need that guy; that Ray Lewis-type personality in the middle that is a tremendous leader with a high football IQ, extremely intelligent and is an outstanding player," Shoop said.

Willing to Adapt:

quote:
"We try to tailor our schemes to what our players are capable of doing rather than try to fit them into a scheme," Shoop said. "If that means in today’s games a team is two backs and one tight end or one back and two tight ends, grind it out football, maybe we’ll be a more traditional, four down linemen, three linebackers, four DBs."

Versatile Defenders

quote:
"As I said, one of the things I think we do a really good job with is keeping our terminology easy and utilizing guys as interchangeable parts and stemming out of a 4 3 to a 3 4," Shoop said. "And doing things like that and keeping the same guys on the field."

How he describes his D

quote:
We want to be an in-your-face defense that is fun to play. We are built around relentless pursuit and never-ending pressure. Each defense takes on an identity of its own. We are a big zone-blitz team; we have evolved into some man-free and quarter-concepts, things like that. I always talk about three things: A, we are committed to stopping the run; B, we don’t want to allow big plays. C, and we want takeaways. If we do those things, we will be successful.

I know we all have our opinions on what we want us to do at the DC spot and with staff changes and all that. But if we get Shoop, it would be a home run hire IMO. The turnaround in 1 year at Penn St and his success at Vandy speaks for itself. Even more so considering the difference in talent we have than both of those schools. He also has a completely different philosophy than Chavis as Shoop is against being a bend / dont break D and how he wants relentless pressure, to dictate the tempo of the game, and have versatile players. That style is a perfect fit with the talent we have here. Getting Shoop would be a fantastic hire.

This post was edited on 1/7/15 at 9:36 pm