Delaware player assaults teammate

[93henfan]

Yeah man, I don't belong to any camp, other than the camp who is depressed at how UD has destroyed its football program.

I wanted KC gone, badly. Now I want Brock gone, badly. There is no excuse for UD not to dominate FCS football and this chucklehead can't even make the playoffs.

How do our selection committees whiff so fucking badly on things like University Presidents, Athletic Directors, and team head coaches? The incompetency level is just incredible for a school such as Delaware.

Try one last time to correct the lack of vision for the program for the past 50 years. Go FBS while there's still a window. Reinvigorate the fanbase and community before it is absolutely too late (if it isn't already).

Or just drop football and spare the embarrassment.

[GannonFan]

So Brock has proven to be a crock. Who's up next? I have no desire to visit GoHens. That site is a dumpster fire.

EDIT: OK, so I did just go visit GoHens. I read that the season tickets that came in on Friday have Harrison printed on the ticket for the first game (Jacksonville). Oh the irony!

93, BHBK, Cluck, Gannon, It just amazes me that the group at Go Hens is blindly accepting a coach who claims he needs four years to "rebuild" all facets of a program that, two years prior to his arrival, was in the NC game. This coach, by the way, had 9 positions from 2002 -2013 and brought a record of 53 & 80 with him. Of course he needs four years, his wife and kids have moved 6 times and he has probably been threatened with an Elain Bobbitt if they move again. He truly is a snake oil salesmen. ATTACK my butt.

I too have pretty much gone silent at Go Hens. One would think we hired Saben to coach a team coming off the death penalty. I still go to a few games a year but dropped my six season tickets and quit donating when Brock was hired. It just is not worth a four hour round trip to see a team that the coach declares is a work in progress.

KC had to go. For whatever reason, and he had some personal things to overcome (death of a brother among one of them), and his fire for coaching was out near the end. Strangely, he may have re-found the fire for coaching at SHSU. But Brock, and you're right, has been a major disappointment. He came in in January of 2013 (why they waited two months after the season to fire KC is another example of the administration dropping the ball). He signed off on and was perfectly fine with the recruiting class KC had at that point. So he's had that class, the class for 2014, and now this class. His team is loaded with freshmen for some reason, despite now being in year 3 of the "rebuild". He's already said they won't be competitive in 2015 so this year is already shot, and that was before he's had all these players leave the program over the off season, including this guy breaking a kid's jaw in the locker room. He could've made the playoffs in his first year, and had a three game losing streak to end the year when one win would've gotten him in. Maybe he's putting things in the right direction, but there's never a reason why it should take 4 years, at the earliest, to do that in college football. Most people take a year, maybe 2, but not 4. And with the lack of a quality QB in the system, 2016 would seem to be not a very attractive year either. Like you said, we weren't coming off of a death penalty here, we've had guys in the past few years since he's been here playing on Sundays so there was something.

But as I said when they fired KC, that had to be done, but fixing the coach was not even close to the biggest issue with the program. The biggest issue was running off the longtime season ticket base and not having a plan on how to overcome that. We still don't have a solution to that and the program, obviously, is floundering.

[89Hen]

There is no excuse for UD not to dominate FCS football

You going fishing?

[Grizalltheway]

There is no excuse for UD not to dominate FCS football

You going fishing?

Right, because mid-Atlantic schools totally dominate FBS.

[89Hen]

You going fishing?

Right, because mid-Atlantic schools totally dominate FBS.

They did when UD was good.

[93henfan]

Right, because mid-Atlantic schools totally dominate FBS.

They did when UD was good.

Yep. You had Penn State. And then there was Penn State. Also Penn State.

[Grizalltheway]

They did when UD was good.

Yep. You had Penn State. And then there was Penn State. Also Penn State.

FWIW, I'd very much like to see UD get back to where they should be. The whole NDSU dominance thing got old a while ago. Hopefully we can do something to start putting a crack in it this weekend.

[89Hen]

They did when UD was good.

Yep. You had Penn State. And then there was Penn State. Also Penn State.

I didn't notice GATW changed the C to a B. Mid-Atlantic did dominate FCS in the 2000's... Delaware, JMU, Richmond, Villanova and Delaware again. AppSt isn't far from "M-A".

[YoUDeeMan]

"NEWARK – The two-quarterback rotation Delaware has employed through preseason football camp will continue when the games start, Blue Hens coach Dave Brock said Thursday.

Blake Rankin and Joe Walker, their competition too close and earnest to call, will share snaps when the Hens open Sept. 4 against Jacksonville (Fla.) at Delaware Stadium. They’ve taken turns with the first-team offense throughout camp.

“I just know they’ve both played well enough to play,” Brock said Thursday night after informing the players of his decision."



http://www.delawareonline.com/story/spo ... /71289608/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;


Get ready for a looooooooooooooooooooooooooong season, UD fans.

Here's Brock, on the QB situation:

"Sometimes, Brock pointed out, it takes game action for a player to demonstrate abilities that perhaps weren’t quite as evident at practice."

Well, duh, coach...YOU are the idiot that didn't give Rankin a single snap last year.



"I think it shakes itself out. I don’t think it’s a yearlong thing.” [Brock]


Translation: Rankin is going to be on the bench by the end of the year unless Walker completely screws up.

Rankin, Brock's transfer pick (oh, the irony), isn't good enough...and he has reached his potential. Walker (Brock's recruit) isn't good enough right now, but has a higher up side.

So, UD has two QBs...neither are impressive. In fact, we have a freshman lefty who is impressing everyone at practice. Even Brock says he will push the other two QBs next year...but he will redshirt this year.

In other words, we are throwing away this year and hoping next year we'll compete. Of course, next year we will have the so far ineffective Rankin, and an inconsistent Walker battling for the starting position, and a freshmen who by most accounts is better than them both, but will be battling for the starting position without any 2015 snaps. So really, we will be looking at 2017.

[89Hen]

I guess he's never heard of "when you have two QB's, you have none".

[GannonFan]

Brock was already on record saying that he's looking forward to being competitive in 2016 (or something close to that statement) - he said that during the 2014 season. 2015 was always a throwaway year and it's shaping up to be that (depleted WR corps due to off-field issues, depleted secondary because of the same, and now the lack of a standout QB). On the bright side, there'll be fewer and fewer people in Delaware Stadium to have to suffer through this.

[bluehenbillk]

GF is correct, 2015 is a building year, period.

[93henfan]

GF is correct, 2015 is a building year, period.

As were 2014, 2013, 2012, 2011.

How long are the few thousand remaining season ticket holders (is it even still at 5k?) supposed to wait?

[YoUDeeMan]

Woo-hoo!

We're down 5 projected starters for our opening game.

And we'll still romp.

Hey, UD might not become an FBS team anytime soon (or forever), but Brock has already brought FBS tactics to Delaware. Brock suspended a starting DB and a back up TE for one game...against a pathetic Jacksonville team.

[89Hen]

And we'll still romp.

You sure about that Cluck? Didn't they give up 35 to the Fins last time they played?

[GannonFan]

GF is correct, 2015 is a building year, period.

As were 2014, 2013, 2012, 2011.

How long are the few thousand remaining season ticket holders (is it even still at 5k?) supposed to wait?

The last season ticket holders are the diehards and they'll probably actually die while still being season ticket holders. They may not actually come to the games much, but they'll buy the tickets out of habit. Last year the crowds were announced at 15k when they were really never more than 12k. Look for it to be even less again this year, maybe announce 13-14K and have the actual be something under 10k. It's getting to the point where even a move to FBS can't save it because no one would know about it. Such a dropoff from less than 10 years ago when they couldn't move up to FBS because they didn't have a plan in place to seat all the people that would've come. When the book is written on how to kill a football program, the case study that is Delaware will be closely studied.

[vutomcat]

How long do you think Brock will last?

This makes me very nervous about replacing Talley in the not too distant future.

[93henfan]

How long do you think Brock will last?

This makes me very nervous about replacing Talley in the not too distant future.

As long as he wants. It's not like he can do much more damage to the program than what's already been done.

[vutomcat]

Christie will need a job soon...

[YoUDeeMan]

How long do you think Brock will last?

This makes me very nervous about replacing Talley in the not too distant future.

As long as he wants. It's not like he can do much more damage to the program than what's already been done.

I'm not sure about that (not the fact that he has all the time he wants)...more damage is being done every year we put off being competitive. And a boring offense and no playoffs will drive another nail in the coffin.

Devine gave some hope for a fun offense...Brock seems to have personally put the brakes on that plan.

As far as Talley goes...nova better be careful. When that guy leaves, nova football may disappear entirely.

[GannonFan]

How long do you think Brock will last?

This makes me very nervous about replacing Talley in the not too distant future.

As long as he wants. It's not like he can do much more damage to the program than what's already been done.

Well, to a point. Brock's connection with UD was his friendship with the AD, Ziady. Zaidy is likely on the way out as he was overruled by the powers that be when it came time to ditch or resign Monte Ross, the bball coach. Ziady wanted him gone, but he went and won the CAA, so he had to wait a year for him not to win the conference, which happened the next year. However, UD has a dearth of Black head coaches and firing one of the only ones became a problem and Ziady was told to resign him, which he did. The UD President left in the spring of this year and they're still awaiting a new one, and likely before then or by then Ziady will have moved on, meaning there'll be a new look at Brock. Brock's been given a real long leash to turn the program around and is entering his 4th year at the helm with little to show for it, and the 4th year has already been written off as a non-competitive year by Brock. The program is not the cash cow it used to be so who knows.

With all that said, though, the death of UD's football program has pretty much nothing to do with the head coach. The damage was done by the administration in its cavalier treatment of longtime fans, its sudden and poorly timed/poorly designed implementation of a donor program, and its incredibly slow reaction to the fans leaving in droves. They've fixed probably everything they did wrong as an administration and have made a lot of improvements, but no one is around any more to care. FCS fans didn't and don't grow on trees, it's a very small and very specific segment of the population. Driving a lot of those fans away was shortsighted as there was no one to replace them, then or now.

[GannonFan]

As long as he wants. It's not like he can do much more damage to the program than what's already been done.

I'm not sure about that (not the fact that he has all the time he wants)...more damage is being done every year we put off being competitive. And a boring offense and no playoffs will drive another nail in the coffin.

Devine gave some hope for a fun offense...Brock seems to have personally put the brakes on that plan.

As far as Talley goes...nova better be careful. When that guy leaves, nova football may disappear entirely.

Agree with the nova sentiment. Talley is nova football right now. Without him to champion it being there, is anyone going to notice if they weren't playing football, especially now that it was decided that basketball will have to do without an FBS football team on campus?

[Rob Iola]

As long as he wants. It's not like he can do much more damage to the program than what's already been done.

...

With all that said, though, the death of UD's football program has pretty much nothing to do with the head coach. The damage was done by the administration in its cavalier treatment of longtime fans, its sudden and poorly timed/poorly designed implementation of a donor program, and its incredibly slow reaction to the fans leaving in droves. They've fixed probably everything they did wrong as an administration and have made a lot of improvements, but no one is around any more to care. FCS fans didn't and don't grow on trees, it's a very small and very specific segment of the population. Driving a lot of those fans away was shortsighted as there was no one to replace them, then or now.

So friggin' sad - I remember back in the day when a Delaware home game was the event in the state, when games against teams like Lehigh and WCU(!) would sell out, when Navy would come and the campus would be awash with midshipmen for the weekend - how do you kill a program like that?

[GannonFan]

...

With all that said, though, the death of UD's football program has pretty much nothing to do with the head coach. The damage was done by the administration in its cavalier treatment of longtime fans, its sudden and poorly timed/poorly designed implementation of a donor program, and its incredibly slow reaction to the fans leaving in droves. They've fixed probably everything they did wrong as an administration and have made a lot of improvements, but no one is around any more to care. FCS fans didn't and don't grow on trees, it's a very small and very specific segment of the population. Driving a lot of those fans away was shortsighted as there was no one to replace them, then or now.

So friggin' sad - I remember back in the day when a Delaware home game was the event in the state, when games against teams like Lehigh and WCU(!) would sell out, when Navy would come and the campus would be awash with midshipmen for the weekend - how do you kill a program like that?

For reference, see UD's deployment of the UDAF program, beginning partly in 2007 with parking, and then full bore in 2008 and in several years following. UD had an alltime great team in 2010 and still had declining attendnace and had an all-time playoff attendance low. Finally figured out they were screwing the pooch in about 2013 or so and started to roll back some of it in places, but the damage had been done. Firing KC and hiring Brock (and a coaching change had to happen) was just reshuffling the deck chairs while the ship was sinking. The chairs didn't cause the ship to sink.

[93henfan]

What's sad is that there are still old timers who think that just having "Delaware" in a horribly ugly Adidas-chosen Hofstra look-alike font on the front of the jersey is good enough for an automatic three touchdown victory over Jacksonville on Friday.

I'm not confident we win comfortably. Maybe it's because I know nothing about Jacksonville. What I do know is we suck.