It's Evidently Official Lacroix Has Resigned

[Guest GrayEagleOne]

Just to clarify, Butch LaCroix did not play here; so in that sense he is not one of our own. However, he did coach here about seven years previously, leaving when Todd Dodge left. Butch is a graduate of the University of Houston.

I also question just how much input LaCroix and Peterson, two of our more experienced college coaches, had in devising the defense. Both were defensive backs in college and should still remember a thing or two about playing.

[SilverEagle]

Just to clarify, Butch LaCroix did not play here; so in that sense he is not one of our own. However, he did coach here about seven years previously, leaving when Todd Dodge left. Butch is a graduate of the University of Houston.

I also question just how much input LaCroix and Peterson, two of our more experienced college coaches, had in devising the defense. Both were defensive backs in college and should still remember a thing or two about playing.

.....and as I said in a thread about the Navy game, surely Peterson (who coached the wishbone for years) would have been invaluable in preparing for Navy. But I have to wonder how much input he had in the game plan, since we seemed totally incapable of stopping it.....with two weeks to prepare.

[GoMeanGreen1999]

.....and as I said in a thread about the Navy game, surely Peterson (who coached the wishbone for years) would have been invaluable in preparing for Navy. But I have to wonder how much input he had in the game plan, since we seemed totally incapable of stopping it.....with two weeks to prepare.

Tulsa and MTSU games got a nice little addition to games that just made you chuckle with that nice little Navy addition.

[greenjacket]

Which results in 2-10.

[greenjacket]

Fine, don't compare him to Gary Deloach's group, or anyone else's defensive staff for that matter. Just compare his experience to those around him on this current and returning staff and see what you get. That's the point here. He's our most experienced defensive COLLEGE coach. He was a two time all american at that position, he then played it at the highest level in the NFL before a degenerative disk forced him to retire, then he coached it successfully here for 6 years during his first stint.

And I see that you mentioned the 13 years out of football thing again which has absolutely nothing to do with his abilities. Re read GMoney's post again.

Rick

That alone could have done us more good had he coached the corners.

[FirefightnRick]

Yeah, it does. It has a lot to do with his abilities to recruit and coach. Take anybody who hasn't been doing something in 13 years, and their ability to do it will have been compromised. That's just reality. Deny all you want. Drink some more green Kool-Aid.

BL wasn't completely out of football those 13 years as has already been stated. You can ASSUME all you want that if someone takes time off from a life-long career that they will somehow forget all they know but that is not alway's the case and that wasn't it with BL. I have been out of teaching for 12 years and could go back tomorrow if I had to. I have an uncle that has been a retired VP for Southwest Airlines the past 6 years and is contract talks right now to return in the Spring. Just two examples of football coaches that came to mind is WT's Don Carthel who missed 9 years before taking up coaching again at WT and FAU's Shnellenberger who was out of coaching for nearly 5 years before successfully building FAU up from scratch.

http://gobuffsgo.cstv.com/sports/m-footbl/...thel_don00.html

During his first season in Canyon, Carthel and the Buffs surprised everyone after being picked last in the LSC preseason poll as they collected a 10-1 regular season record and captured the school's first Lone Star Conference Championship in 19 years. Excitement about Carthel's program was also at new heights as attendance soared, averaging over 14,000 fans a game at Kimbrough Memorial Stadium during the regular season. In addition to gaining praise from many WTAMU alumni and area media outlets, Carthel was honored by his peers after the completion of the season by being named 2005 Lone Star Conference Coach of the Year.

After leading the Buffs to a 10-2 record in his first season in Canyon, Carthel was named the 2005 Lone Star Conference Coach of the Year.

After enjoying a breakout campaign in his first year on the job, Carthel and the Buffs still had a lot to prove in 2006 as they set out to let the Lone Star Conference and the rest of Division II know that WTAMU was once again a consistent gridiron force on the High Plains of Texas and that 2005's 10-2 campaign was no fluke. The Buffs left little doubt as they posted an 11-2 season and became the first squad in school history to claim back-to-back outright conference championships. In addition, WTAMU put another mark in the school record book as it claimed the program's first ever NCAA-II playoff victory with a thrilling 30-27 overtime victory over Abilene Christian. After leading the country in Division II average attendance the previous year, Buff fans again came out in droves to support the team to help WTAMU rank first nationally in total attendance.

"Don's first two years at West Texas A&M exceeded all on-field expectations," said Director of Athletics Michael McBroom. "The success of the football team directly translated to great enthusiasm and excitement for Buffalo football throughout our community. With success comes higher expectations; our challenge now is to achieve consistent success over many seasons. I am confident that Don will be able to deliver a quality football product for our fans for years to come.".....

In January, 1992, Carthel resigned from coaching to return to Friona, where he farmed, raised his family and serving on the Friona school board for nine years.

http://fausports.cstv.com/sports/m-footbl/...r_howard00.html

Head Coach: Oklahoma 1995

Head Coach: FAU 1999-2000

Rick

[Monkeypox]

I never said a person would forget all they know, so nice strawman. I said they'll lose contacts and won't be as good at it getting right back in. You can MAKE BELIEVE all you want that it's not the case, and providing one example of a guy at WTAMU and Schnellenberger, who has a metric crap-ton more skins on the wall than LaCroix, aren't going to magically convince me otherwise.

You'll note also that FAU is a LONG LONG LONG LONG LONG way down from Miami and OU, which only further illustrates my point. Schnellenberger didn't come back in anywhere near the same level he was at when he got out, and he had a lot more experience than LaCroix. He also was only out of it for THREE years, as he was given the task of building the FAU program in 1998 (after retiring from OU in 1995).

Carthel got back in by being a VOLUNTEER assistant coach at Abilene Christian, and was initially TURNED DOWN for the job at WTAMU until the guy they hired over him failed and Carthel built his resume with a successful stint in the IFL.

BOTH guys came in well beneath where they were before.

I don't care if he was completely away from football or not. He wasn't COACHING. He wasn't RECRUITING.

Edited December 21, 2007 by Monkeypox

[greenminer]

I think it's been established that we all like to play strawman. Lets find another way to insinuate everything here traces back to the Engineer.

[stebo]

What we have going on here is a clash of the egos. Mendoza thinks that his system will work - BL has been frustrated since week 1 that he was given very little say as to how his players would even line up. I am not going to go into specifics but when you have a team - your director is in charge of letting the mid managers handle their individual teams. Once that trust is broken, it is tough to regain. What Dodge did not see - and is his mistake, is that Mendoza is a liability and BL was an asset. If BL was going to go back into coaching with an all high school coachs' staff - youw ould have at least thought that they would be looking to him for advice rather then treating him as a work out advisor. I have been very pro-Dodge, if you look back through my posts over the last year - you will not find one nehative post about him, the players, or the system. In fact, I went into the season expecting us to win 2 games and that is what we won. What makes me mad is that Mendoza is a crybaby. He does not have the respect of the players. When you take away the one tru college coach on the team that treats the players as MEN, not BOYS - you are going to have problems. These guys are not in high school anymore and need to be treated differently then the 15 and 16 year olds that 99% of this staff is used to. This resignation makes me sick to my stomach. The resignation should have been from RM, not BL.

Edited December 21, 2007 by stebo

[MeanGreen61]

0When you take away the one tru college coach on the team that treats the players as MEN, not BOYS - you are going to have problems.

One tru college coach ? Just on our defensive side. How about Chuck Petersen who coached 17 years at Air Force ? How about David Rausch ? Not a 1A coach, but was at Hardin Simmons as a defensive coach. I'm not a Mendoza fan, but LaCroix wasn't the only defensive coach with college experience.

Edited December 21, 2007 by MeanGreen61

[Monkeypox]

Carthel was out of coaching and recruiting for 9 years and wins three LSC championships afterwards.

Afterwards, he had to go VOLUNTEER as an assistant coach, got turned down for a head coaching job and had to coach in the IFL. AFTER he had built himself back up, he was able to get the head coaching job at West Texas A&M, a school 99% of the country has never heard of.

Schnelly was out of recruiting for 3 years and coaching for 5 years, they didn't play their first game until Sept 2000 but that's besides the point in that he started from complete scratch, which I doubt very few including him have ever done so. He raised his own money, he brought in his players and staff. North Texas has yet to beat him and now he's in a bowl game.

Schnelly is a great coach and proven winner on the biggest stage in college football. He has facilities NAMED after him. He has DECADES more experience than LaCroix, in several different wonderful football institutions, including the NFL. And the best he could get when he came back was an upstart program at FAU. The fact that you want to compare a guy who last coached 13 years ago at a Div. 1-AA football program to him is ridiculous.

There's no way in hell someone who played and coached at the level BL did forgets. Besides being very close to the SLC program the past 6 years it was a plus that he's from East Texas, is well known by current coaches in east Texas and has kept ties in east Texas all along. He is one of the two EXPERIENCED college coaches we had. And now he's gone. Our own lettermen who played for the man states he was one of the best and toughest secondary coaches they had ever played for and his previous record here showed that. Don't take my word for it, ask the guys who played for him. There's much more to this resignation that will eventually come out..HOPEFULLY. I simply hate the fact that because of his resignation that some MAY feel that the demise of our defense must have fallen squarely on his shoulders and that simply is not the case here. I wished I could say more, but I can't.

A lot of players praised Dickey, too. I like to see what their opinion is on a coach, because I think it's important for chemistry and for learning, but I don't care how much they like a guy if the performance on the field is poor.

I don't blame LaCroix for the overall performance of the defense. I DO blame him for the performance of the cornerbacks, which was his responsibility, regardless of what else was going on. I blame RM for the overall defensive performance, and I blame TD for hiring such an inexperienced coaching staff and for the team's overall record. I'm the customer. If the product is BAD (and it was), then I'll blame those I feel are responsible for providing that product. If people TRULY believe that Butch LaCroix is a good guy and knows what he's doing AND that he was not allowed to perform his job the way he wanted to here, then they should surely understand that this is the best possible thing for him. Perhaps he will actually get a shot somewhere to prove his worth and develop his resume and go on to bigger and better things.

[stebo]

If you guys only had ONE CLUE as to what happens behind locker rooms doors, you wouldn't be arguing with any of us. I have said my peace. I was off by one - we have two college coaches, but now only one. I am sure that most of these guys will eventually grow into their spots. But when an inexperienced DC is getting his ass handed to him game after game and he won't even let BL do his job - it is EGO, not inexperience.

[GreenBat]

But when an inexperienced DC is getting his ass handed to him game after game and he won't even let BL do his job - it is EGO, not inexperience.

DING, DING, DING!!!!

RIGHT ANSWER

[GoMeanGreen1999]

If you guys only had ONE CLUE as to what happens behind locker rooms doors, you wouldn't be arguing with any of us. I have said my peace. I was off by one - we have two college coaches, but now only one. I am sure that most of these guys will eventually grow into their spots. But when an inexperienced DC is getting his ass handed to him game after game and he won't even let BL do his job - it is EGO, not inexperience.

and for now, our only hope for this defense is that - that these guys will eventually grow into their spots, because from what I hear there is very little chance that RM will be going anywhere for at least another couple of years.

[UNTLifer]

Correct me if I am wrong, but don't the following coaches all have college experience

Offense:

Dodge

Leftwich

Gandy

Defense:

Peterson

Rausch

Graduate Assistant:

Vestal

[greenjacket]

If Tina is the DC.

[MCMLXXX]

Correct me if I am wrong, but don't the following coaches all have college experience

Offense:

Dodge

Leftwich

Gandy

Defense:

Peterson

Rausch

Graduate Assistant:

Vestal

Every coach on the staff has college coaching experience.

[GoMeanGreen1999]

Every coach on the staff has college coaching experience.

I think you knew what he meant.

[UNTLifer]

Every coach on the staff has college coaching experience.

They do now, but not going into last year.