Mudslide

Thank you so much for your tireless work, Kim. Loving embraces from all of us at OBD. You will be sorely missed. May your God's love hold onto you always.

Those attorneys down in South Carolina sure do know how to write. 'Twas a great article Jon, as usual. I'll echo Smith's love on the article ... much good research, funny as he!!, and perfectly presented. Thanks for making my morning coffee time more enjoyable. By the way Jon, do you have a Boston accent or southern?

My concern is not so much the dismal record of the recent teams, and definitely not the quality of players. What gets me is the enormous, outrageous turnover in players (and staff). And some of these are excellent basketball talents. It seems that there is something afoot in the program and no one is spilling the beans about it.

I have yet to see a one-on-one interview with any of the departing players or their friends. I don't see that any reporter has dug deeply into these folks social media posts. (Being that this is the forte of writers such as John Canzano, he who particularly enjoys writing hit pieces on the Ducks, I'm surprised.) The Fall of the Lady Ducks will be nothing but speculation until we see a public expression of this basketball demise. (They may exist, but I haven't seen any.) For me ... I don't particularly care to know the reason. I just know that the poor seasonal performances are mounting. I don't really care about Coach Graves past record. I'm of the what-have-you-done-for-me-now crowd. If a corporate CEO made millions for another company, and only tens of thousands for our company ... but has lost millions over the recent years ... well, what would you do?! Even though it will be costly to UO, I certainly hope we awake tomorrow to find an end to the train wreck and engaging a new and worthy coach.

And I'm sure that Samples' Texas recruiting pipeline intrigued DL mightily. But for certain, DL would not hire him if Samples didn't have aspirations to improve himself and in his career. Desire for personal growth seems a very important attribute for DL.

You make a good point, David. Samples is likely on a standard trajectory to be a head coach. I don't know his salary with the Rams, but he was hauling in a cool half-mil at ASU. Locklyn was at a 'pedestrian' $400,000. (I think most of us got into the wrong line of work. ) I don't deny that Samples is an elite recruiter which seems a very important skill to possess for DL. I was just pulling for another young coach (Isaac) that has some chops, as well.

The curious part of me wonders why he 'chose' to be a passing game coordinator at a losing college over his Los Angeles Rams running back coach position. Hmmm. My question aside, he certainly can recruit. I guess that's why DL wanted him.

I'm still a friendly advocate for Lock's job going to Newland Isaac. He's a young, up-and-coming guy with a BA and a Masters degree and an impeccable running game assistant resume. Below I'll summarize a post I made in another thread. After helping guide Coastal Carolina to unprecedented success during the past half-decade, Newland Isaac joins Liberty’s coaching staff as the Flames’ Co-Offensive Coordinator/Running Backs Coach for the 2023 season. The Ducks were second in the nation for total offense last year. Isaac's Liberty Flames was 4th in total offense and led the nation in rushing yards per game. I don't know about his recruiting chops. But his record is remarkable. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Named the 2021 AFCA FBS Assistant Coach of the Year by the American Football Coaches Association (AFCA), Isaac was promoted to co-offensive coordinator at Coastal Carolina in February 2019. As well as being named the 2021 AFCA FBS Assistant Coach of the Year, Isaac was also a Broyles Award nominee. As the co-offensive coordinator during his final four seasons at Coastal Carolina, Isaac helped the Chants go from 5-7 in 2019 to 11-1 in 2020, 11-2 in 2021 and 9-4 in 2022. In each of his last four seasons, the offense has also ranked in the top-10 nationally in all of FBS in multiple statistical categories. In 2021, the Coastal offense outscored all their opponents 532-281 on the season, including totaling 100-plus points in each quarter on the year. Coastal Carolina was one of only four teams to rank in the top 25 in both total offense (5th) and total defense (25th), one of only seven teams nationally to rank in the top 30 in both most first downs on offense (25th) and fewest first downs allowed on defense (27th), and one of only eight teams to rank in the top-25 in both scoring offense (5th) and scoring defense (25th). Under Isaac’s watch, the offense also finished the season ranked No. 1 nationally in average yards per rush on the season (5.84 ypr) and in third-down conversion percentage (53.8 percent). The Chants were also second nationally in yards per play on offense (7.74 ypp) and ranked fourth nationally in fourth-down conversion percentage (76.9 percent). On the ground in the running attack, the Chants ended the season ranked No. 6 nationally in rushing offense (228.8 ypg) and in rushing touchdowns (36), as senior running back Shermari Jones ranked No. 8 nationally in rush yards per carry (6.54) and No. 24 nationally in rushing touchdowns (13). The offense also finished the season ranked No. 5 nationally in scoring offense (40.9 ppg) and was one of only five FBS schools to average over 40 points per game on the season. In 2020, the Chanticleers won the program’s first-ever Sun Belt Conference title, posted an 11-1 overall mark, including an 8-0 Sun Belt Conference record, and played in the program’s first-ever FBS postseason bowl game. The 2020 season marked Coastal Carolina’s first-ever undefeated regular season and the first time that the Chanticleers were ranked in either the Associated Press Top 25 Poll or the Amway Coaches Poll presented by USA Today Sports. Overall, the offense in 2020 led the conference in scoring offense (37.2 points per game), third-down conversion percentage (52.3 percent), fourth-down conversion percentage (76.5 percent), time of possession (33:50), completion percentage (66.6 percent), fewest interceptions thrown (5), and team passing efficiency (177.72). In his first season as co-offensive coordinator in 2019, the Coastal Carolina offense recorded over 400 yards of total offense five times, including a season-high 636 yards in the road win at UMass. The Chants were 23-for-29 (79.3 percent) on fourth-down attempts which was the second-best percentage both nationally and in the Sun Belt, while the 23 fourth-down conversions were tied for the third-most nationally behind only Army and Navy with 26. In his first season at Coastal Carolina in 2018, the Chants’ offense led the Sun Belt and ranked in the top 25 nationally in rushing yards per game, red-zone offense, time of possession, first downs, and both third and fourth-down conversion percentage for much of the season. CCU finished the year ranked in the top 10 nationally in fourth-down conversion percentage (68.8), fewest penalties (52), fewest penalties per game (4.33), and fewest penalty yards (493). In the summer of 2018, Isaac was selected to participate in the 2018 NCAA-NFL Coaches Academy which provides current, full-time college football coaches at NCAA member schools and some former NFL athletes the opportunity to expand their knowledge and insight into the world of college football coaching.

You may be doublethinking it, Jon. Oh wait. Maybe that's just me.

Thanks, Charles. His comment does seem a little passive aggressive.

For those of us that refuse to join the Social Media Generation (other than OBD, natch), will someone kindly post the comment or summarize it? Thx.

Great story and superbly written, Mike. Many thanks. I'm not a beer drinker. In fact, in spite of a longingly recalled sniff of the spirit, I too, miss Henry's flavor. But like the Phoenix, didn't H.W. Reserve rise from the boiler's ashes? Could the same analogy apply to our poor little beav brothers? The Curious Case of Henry Weinhard’s Reincarnation — Beervana WWW.BEERVANABLOG.COM Molson Coors-owned Hop Valley announced they were reviving Henry Weinhard’s Private Reserve. But they did so on April 1. A week later, Molson Coors wrote a blog post expanding on the...

I mostly agree with the above posts. But I'd also posit that Michigan and the New England Patriots demonstrated that knowing what play is coming is a big advantage.

I would hope so. His list of accomplishments is pretty stunning. Lock was getting almost $400k.

I wonder if Newland Isaac is as good as advertised. He has some pretty impressive awards and results. He helped turn Coastal Carolina from a mid-successful team to undefeated and then Liberty to 13-1. His team had the nation's highest rushing average. Hmmm.... Newland Isaac - Co-Offensive Coordinator/Running Backs Coach - Football Coaches - Liberty University (libertyflames.com)