I love listening to Chow.

[Utah]

On Whitt as Utah’s OC, as many claim:

I never saw Whitt. He told me to go to work and I worked. He’d talk to me about situations during the game, if he liked the tempo or whatnot, but every coach does that. During the week, Whitt left me alone. I’ve not heard he treats anyone else differently.

On Saban/Whitt’s philosophy of protecting the defense: 

Defense wins championships. I’ve heard that Saban tells his offense, “just don’t screw it up.” It’s the smart way to coach. It’s the smart way to win games. If your offense protects your defense, you will win games.

Chow on Lane Kiffin:

My god. Someone tell Kiffin to just keep your mouth shut.

[ironman1315]

But fans think Whitt is a micromanager. How could Chow know better than fans?

[Utah]

I think part of Whitt’s problem is the opposite. He hires guys who don’t have the experience/confidence to do their own thing. 

He tells the offense the same thing Saban tells them: Don’t screw it up. Don’t turn the ball over. Get points in the redzone. 

That is all he requires from his offense. 

Look at who he has hired in the PAC-12: 

Chow – Chow did great things. He had the confidence to run his offense and do it in a way that minimized turnovers. 

BJ – He had the confidence, but too many turnovers. Which lead to bringing in Erickson. But, the TO’s didn’t go down, so BJ left. 

Christensen – Just a unmitigated disaster. I’ll give Whitt a pass on this one.

ARod/Harding – Two young guys, who were afraid to turn the ball over, no confidence in their system, so they played scared and it showed. 

 

Now, hopefully Taylor, even though inexperienced at this level, has confidence in his system and Whitt tells him to go to work and disappears until Saturday at game time, Taylor can put together a dynamice offense that protects the ball. 

 

I’m excited for Taylor. What an opportunity. He gets to take over an offense of a top tier PAC-12 team. A team that is in the hunt for a south title every year. A team that just needs a little bit from its offense to turn into a great ride. I think his offense and QB skills could be a huge asset to the team. 

I can’t wait for spring ball. 

[KiYi-Ute]

I wouldn’t say that we’re a top-tier PAC12 team. I love the sound of that, but it just hasn’t been proven on the field yet. I’d put us in the upper half of the conference. Like we’ve all heard before, we’re close, but haven’t quite broken through yet. I’m excited about the Taylor hire, he’s unproven at the D1, P5 level; but I’m cautiously optimistic that it will be an improvement over what we had this season.

Close only counts in horseshoes and hand grenades.

[Utah]

So, more wins than every other team not named Stanford the last three years doesn’t put you in the “one of the top teams” conversation? 

 

[Uterider]

And in those same three years this program played in the Vegas Bowl, The Vegas Bowl and the Foster Farms Bowl. So no, not elite tier in the conference.

[deleted]

I’m excited for Taylor and excited for Harding to take on a larger role (and as you said perhaps grooming for the HC when KW retires). I think Taylor will do things that were well beyond the capacity of ARod with the QB position. 

BUT…

I fear a gimmicky offense that doesn’t translate successfully against the type of athletes on D @ USC, UW, UC hell even OSU. I fear three and outs that take 15 seconds off the clock. I hope we maintain a run first (even if it’s read-optiony) mistake-free offense. I really really don’t want to see us get away from a nasty defense because I’ll always take a vanilla offense over a pourous D in favor of a flashy O. And I hope it goes without saying that the price you pay for that (at least at Utah) is guys like Chase Hansen playing SS. 

[pedro]

Thank you.  I’ve been trying to be civil whenever I’ve seen folks accuse Whit of Micro-managing the O, but it was getting way too tiring.  It’s sad that so many believe anything that is on the internet.  Rumors become fact way too quickly.  

 

[Tony (admin)]

Well as Abe Lincoln once said, “don’t believe everything you read on the internet.”

[cbmute]

I’m not sure what the problem is with the offense. I have no insider information. But clearly there has been a problem with the offense for many years. The problems always seem to be the same. Kyle is the common denominator. I don’t know how anyone can defend Kyle when it comes to the offense. 

I think he is a very good coach. His record the past three years alone shows this, not to mention 2008. But as far as the offense is concerned, the team has been bad with the same problems for too many years for that not to fall on the head coach. 

I have my theories as to why it is bad, but theories mean nothing only the results matter. UntiI see differently I will assume the talk leading up to the season will be the offense will be more wide open and faster paced. That will last a couple games or less and we will be right back to where we have always been. We will see the QB lose confidence as the season goes on and have a poor completion percentage.

I hope I’m wrong but I’ve seen this story happen several times and I will assume to see it again this next year. In this regard I’m certainly a doubting Thomas.  

[Puget Ute]

Unfortunately Westlee Tonga’s tweet a few days ago fueled that fire.

That said, I sincerely hope Troy Taylor’s offensive scheme will take into account the far speedier/more athletic LBs/Corners/Safeties will will face in the PAC. As long as he can train the QBs to quickly make the right decision, and act on it, and help get the ball to our WRs/RBs in space, then he can be very effective.

[Uterider]

What did Tonga tweet?

[UtahSig]

@pugetute Taylor’s offense seemed to handle the speeder/more athletic LB’s/Corners/Safties in the PAC 12 when EWU played Washington State (I know, it was WSU and it was only a one game sample size), but it is enough that I am hopefully with the players we have he can get is to the top half of the P12 in offense.

[Daedalus]

Yeah, I’ve never seen any actual evidence that Whitt interferes with the offense. Maybe his failure is that he isn’t more involved — when he took over special teams for a season it became the legend it is today.

[Stone]

That’s good stuff. Where did you find these quotes?

[Anonymous]

Please move on from Chow.  Everyone else has.  Bill Reilly stated on his show that Chow would never be back due to his low energy.  He was often found asleep in his office.  He sucked at Hawaii and his successor had immediate results.  The legend of Norm Chow the QB whisperer is dead.