Reports: Maryland Hires Local Super-Recruiter Mike Locksley as Offensive Coordinator

I don’t mind if you focus elsewhere. I really don’t. I think you’re a smart guy, so I appreciate your responses.

I think it’s interesting though when you qualify some of your responses. Our thread has bounced around a few topics, but you seem to have qualified one of my original thoughts. I know you apologized for it, but I think it was also pretty clear. Actually, I’m not sure it could have been clearer. I really don’t want to hurt MD recruiting, so I don’t want to belabor the point. The original thread — that you authored — noted that the new OC may have off the field issues. That is something that I incorporated into my response to one of the previous discussions. If Mike Locksely was a great recruiter and an okay Xs and Os guy and that was it, I think the discussion would be limited. The problem is what you already identified. There’s more. That what I pointed to in my quote. I appreciate your apology because that is one of my main points. It’s not just that he’s a great recruiter, it’s not just that he is unproven at Xs and Os, it’s that he has had multiple — multiple — off the field issues. I know that you apologized about misinterpreting the “main thrust” of my argument, but I just felt the need to clarify that issue.

I understand your point about the transfers and the lack of belief from fans. I feel differently because of certain injuries and the prospect of those players coming back. Yes, there have been transfers, but I expected many of them. RE is not new to me, nor should he be new to anyone who has followed college football. He is particular and he is pretty direct. I don’t necessarily see it as a bad thing, but I could see it rubbing people the wrong way. So, I factored transfers and other issues into my depth thoughts. It’s fascinating to me that no one really acknowledges that. They had multiple injuries week in and week out and, still, the coaches are the focus. I understand that the games did not go as planned, but the injuries play a factor. They just do. Even in college football.

I understand that many people don’t believe that the system works. Of course, some of the same people thought that that Auburn’s no huddle system was great and that Gus M would be a great hire for MD (I’m talking about MD fans and analysts outside of MD). A year later and less “elite” players and the system suddenly does not work. Like him or not, in favor of the statistics or not, Crowton came here and had the 60th ranked offense in total yards. I guess some think there are lots of garbage yards or that the stat was not that important. This is the same man that showed up and said that Brown was a quarterback. Most MD fans thought that he was full of it or that he didn’t know what he was talking about until they discoverd that Brown was a player. The thing that really gets me is that MD was actually very close to winning a lot more games this year. If they had won those games, we would not be having this discussion. A couple of years ago, after some down seasons, the Fridge said he was close and no one really wanted to give him an opportunity. Lots of fan (and moderators) on this post were negative about him and the future of the program. That is actually one of the reasons why I think Anderson fired him so quickly. He catered to the fans and thought that without Franklin, he needed to move on. He actually listened to the fans (one of the things that I think got him in trouble) and fired a pretty good coach. I think he’s doing the same thing now with Crowton. Everyone can cite all of the articles they want, but do we really think he openly campaigned for the CSU job because he felt his position was safe here at MD or because he thought he was going to
get the boot. The guy’s not stupid. He knew a lot of fans were calling for his head, so he was looking for a way out.

I qualified the VA coaches. I said that they were very different. I do think, however, that there were fans that wanted to fire them after their first seasons. That’s the point I was making. Very different, but similar in that people wanted to get rid of them. Nott completely analogous, but the point was that some fans wanted them gone and the administration stayed the course. The coaches were “friendlier” or nicer. I have not problem admitting that. I don’t know much about Bennett, but it seems as though Mike London is a really good guy.

I hear you about focusing elsewhere. It’s cool. Fear the turtle!!