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Dec 5, 2017
4:22:43pm
bwahlberg Walk-on
RE: Analysis of comments about ex-Montana coach Bob Stitt. Good fit for BYU?

Montana Grizzlies fan here, I've been keeping an eye on where Bob Stitt might land and saw that he's getting a lot of BYU chatter.  Thought I'd add my perspective.

1. This was his contract year and he was not extended.  He wasn't fired.  Main reasons being we lost to our rival 2 years in a row, both times costing us a post-season birth.  Also both times our team was more talented with a winning record, while theirs was younger with a losing record, yet we lost both times.  Additionally Bobby Hauck, a former coach who was wildly successfull started campaigning for the job and won support from our biggest $$ boosters who started the narrative before the season that Hauck should replace Stitt.  The embarassing losses, missed post seasons, plus MAJOR booster pressure was too much for the AD to ignore.  

 

2. There's a post here about "The fly sweep based offense".  The fly sweep isn't his offense, it's a single play.  You know how many times he ran it this season?  Never.  The prior two before that?  Less than 10.  Stitt's offense is a shotgun offense that's fast paced.  He uses 4 wide receivers most of the time.  Of that mix he likes his interior receivers to be one group that's smaller/faster screen catching guys and the other to be bigger/heavier guys that would traditionally be TE's.  Those guys he would use to block on run plays quite a bit.

 

3. He loves to spread the ball around, I think in his 3 years we had just 1 WR the whole time go over 1000 yards.  He wants to use 6 to 8 WRs in his offense (keep in mind that 2-3 of those would be what was once TE's).  He also wants to run the ball, all three years our top two backs would have about 500 to 700 yards each.  

 

4. His running backs HAVE to be able to pass protect.  Without the common use of a TE our QBs were less protected and over his 3 year time here he really worked on having his RBs improve their pass protection. 

 

5. The challenge though is that without a more traditionally designed offense our running game was lacking compared to prior systems, and our QBs got hurt... A LOT.  In 2015 our starter broke a bone in his leg, the backup a few weeks later tore a tendon or some muscle in his lower leg, and we had to rely on the 3rd string QB for 3 games until the 1st stringer came back.  His 2nd year the 1st string QB (same guy from the year before) missed a few games with a concussion.  This last year his starter (a new one) was lost for the season when he shattered his ankle, the backup was knocked out of a game with a concussion, and the 3rd string was horribly ineffective/unprepared, so we had to use one of our inside WR's in a game (who was the 3rd string QB in 2015 and 2016) to help win 1 game.  

 

6. Stitt is a great recruiter, real personable.  His players love him, the parents love him, his system really attracts STUD QBs/WRs.  He likes to have big linemen too, so he doesn't go small anywhere.   He's adapted and learned a lot while he was here too.  He backed off his high-speed offense to work on efficiency.  He also stopped going for it on 4th down as much.  

 

I'd say as an OC, he'd be an awesome hire.  I'm told he had a chance to go to USC 4 or 5 years ago for the same job, but turned it down because at that point he only wanted to be a head coach.  

Also, I'm a life long Packers fan... Jamaal Williams is a dude.  Love the way he's turned it on this 2nd half of the season.

bwahlberg
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bwahlberg
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