He doesn’t actually do the “coordinating” part of his job. He has been hands off on the O Line and the units have been operating in silos. It was very clear even in 2021 the O line couldn’t control the trenches and the team was relying on big plays from Jaren and Tyler. For the running talent we had that year we were lousy at chewing clock. Baylor and Boise manhandled our O line and it struggled with physicality. A Rod should have noticed Funk was ineffective and took steps to address it then and there. There were red flags again in 2022 and the problems weren’t addressed. Instead A Rod blamed the defense and never grasped his responsibility to manage the play calling and the offense to keep the defense off the field. He had the talent but poorly managed it. 2023 was a disaster yet he blamed the O line for not blocking but never connected the dots that maybe he needed to get someone else in there to address technique or work within its limits. He never once took responsibility for it but just blamed others.
A Rod is a good position coach, but that is very different than coordinating an entire offense and having all the pieces in the unit working in sync. He lives off the big play and is oblivious on how to manage a game.
A Rod inherited a great O Line from Grimes and took it for granted. It’s like he never grasped the O Line is the most important unit of a team because it establishes the trenches, controls the clock, enables the run so the pass can be effective, and protects the backfield. He’s a total clown show and CB needs to accept the reality that A Rod is never going to hack it in a P4 conference against physical defenses. The offense won’t get better until he is gone. If he gets 8 or more wins I will take the L, but I think it is more like 2 wins. Stop blaming the defense folks; it won’t be the problem this year.
The biggest indictment is there have been no material changes made in the offseason as to the transfer portal to bring in the right talent. The QB room is a disaster and our RBs are beat up already. NOBODY was brought in at that position. Those talented receivers are going to get press covered all games and the punter will be busy. This was all avoidable yet A Rod has continued to wash his hands of it and not taken it seriously.