VanGorder - New DC!

[dublinirish]

funny thing about schumate, he goes from being a few weeks ago mentally not able for the playbook to now being a stud and basically unbenchable.

 

[BleedBlueGold]

funny thing about schumate, he goes from being a few weeks ago mentally not able for the playbook to now being a stud and basically unbenchable.

I was thinking about this yesterday. One of my biggest pet peeves in college is a scheme that is too difficult and hamstrings an athletic player from going out and making plays. I feel that was sort of the case w/ Diaco. Obviously Shu and others needed time to adjust to a new scheme, but is it possible that BVG's system is less mental and lets guys just get out there and play football? The defense is flying around all over the place making plays. Look no further than Redfield, Shumate, Farley, and the numerous true freshmen who have already had success on the field this season. It's very exciting.

Side note: I absolutely love watching BVG on the sidelines. Happy or mad, the guy brings passion.

 

[Cackalacky]

funny thing about schumate, he goes from being a few weeks ago mentally not able for the playbook to now being a stud and basically unbenchable.

Yeah...part of it was the perceived breakdown against Rice and our fans undeniable ability to see the dark side of anything. I think Shumate will be much better in BvGs scheme. I look forward to it.

 

[Bogtrotter07]

And of course I wonder how much having Pat Eilers on the back end is helping. Kyle McCarthy is great, the kids love him and it was a big shock, especially being within the timeframe of the player suspensions, quite a one two.

So not only do you loose a guy that was described as a graduate student capable of handling the responsibilities of a position coach, but their has to be a hit to communication and teamwork on the back end, because of the reduced coaching contact.

So then Kelly, BVG, or the program gets a really high powered guy, great business success, started out his college at Harvard as a student only, and tried his hand at transferring into ND to try to make the football team. The guy played like three different positions for Lou; the original team player, so to speak. He has to be making a difference, and part of the reason Shumate and Redfield's games have taken off.

Would like more information on his impact, if anyone has it, whether my hypothesis is right or wrong.

 

[Irish8248]

funny thing about schumate, he goes from being a few weeks ago mentally not able for the playbook to now being a stud and basically unbenchable.

I'm not surprised, it's a vicious cycle. You need reps to be good and you only get reps when you're good. BK alluded to this earlier last week. Shu wasn't getting the reps he needed to improve and therefore players like AC were able to hold down the spot. Now he's getting the vast majority and is showing it off as well.

 

[TheTurningPoint]

I am curious to see if he can stop Navy. That is the true definition of being successful at Notre Dame as the DC.

 

[palinurus]

I know a link was posted here last night, but I'll leave it anyways because he deserves the recognition...

Hopefully, eventually, this guy will come out of his shell a little....

 

[Bogtrotter07]

I am curious to see if he can stop Navy. That is the true definition of being successful at Notre Dame as the DC.

In my opinion, that is the most important question left unanswered, in this thread. But so far his defenses have exploded the meager options thrown at them. If he doesn't kill the option, something is wrong. He is so good at getting players to get where they need be, without making it obvious, pre-snap.

The second most important question is, "Will his defense continue to be so player health friendly?"

 

[dublinirish]

I am curious to see if he can stop Navy. That is the true definition of being successful at Notre Dame as the DC.

also physical grooming standards

 

[GoldenDomer]

I would love to see BVG stonewall that option attack. It is a tough task, but we can definitely use our speed to our advantage and have them guessing instead of sitting back and letting the Flexbone dictate how the game is played.

 

[irishog77]

I am curious to see if he can stop Navy. That is the true definition of being successful at Notre Dame as the DC.

Not sure if I buy that. These days, the mantra among teams that play against a triple option team (and Navy sets THE BAR for that style of play-- the system has been in place forever and they use smart, disciplined players to run it) is just get out with a win and hope to be injury free.

I think executing on offense is just as important as defensive execution when playing against Navy. Get a lead on them, and make it more difficult for them to get comfortable running their regular offense.

If ND plays great 1st and 2nd down defense and executes on offense, they should be fine. If Navy still runs for 300 yards against ND, I don't think it will mean BVG isn't successful. I'd rather see BVG's defense shine against spread and/or passing teams, as those teams are more prevalent than the Navy's of the world. I'd rather see BVG excel against them than Navy.

 

[Emcee77]

I think TP was kidding. This D is built for speed and it should have no real trouble stopping Navy enough times to get the W.

 

[Irish8248]

also physical grooming standards

Under the lights badass BVG >>>> Goth Rice BVG

Also, I recall BK mentioning that BVGs defense can transition into bear fronts specifically for option teams. Pretty sure BVG coached against Paul Johnson and Georgia southern. It won't be his first rodeo against an option

 

[Bogtrotter07]

I think TP was kidding. This D is built for speed and it should have no real trouble stopping Navy enough times to get the W.

Kidding or being facetious?

 

[Old Man Mike]

1]. Having our Big Dog exploding with energy on the sidelines is probably nearly as important to our Defense as his practice coaching genius; NO DCs should ever be in the booth;

2]. Re: Shumate. Vs. Rice Shumate didn't understand the zone principles of the nickel package well enough. As deep protection, he should never vacate and go to the opposite half of the field until the play direction is completely obvious. He violated this at least three times, hanging Farley [who each time took his proper short receiver coverage] out to dry. Even Redfield the near-rookie came over to him to talk about it. He seemed to get that subtlety vs Michigan, but time will tell;

3]. Navy: Our current defense is penetrating and very fast. That should spell doom for the edge options. We've never been so fast to close down space. Our corners are good enough to be "island corners", & that leaves BVG 9 guys to get creative with without sweating Navy's passing. We are almost a "base-nickel" team right now. We [other than polishing up our avoiding-chop-blocks techniques] have a much simpler adjustment to make vs a triple option. The only stressful element in this [in my opinion] is the first [fullback] option. If Day, Jones, Utupo, Cage hold up as brickwall center stuffers, and Schmidt's instincts are as good as they seem, I can't see that doing much either;

4]. .... and I can't imagine Navy having a clue as to how to stop Fuller, Robinson, Carlisle, and Koyack.

5]. as to BVG and recruiting ... duh ... Trumbetti, Cage, Blankenship, Tranquill, Hill, Watkins, "just to name a few" and to say nothing about the guys already verballing for 2015 .... if that's our biggest problem we'll be national champs as long as he stays.

 

[Redbar]

And of course I wonder how much having Pat Eilers on the back end is helping. Kyle McCarthy is great, the kids love him and it was a big shock, especially being within the timeframe of the player suspensions, quite a one two.

So not only do you loose a guy that was described as a graduate student capable of handling the responsibilities of a position coach, but their has to be a hit to communication and teamwork on the back end, because of the reduced coaching contact.

So then Kelly, BVG, or the program gets a really high powered guy, great business success, started out his college at Harvard as a student only, and tried his hand at transferring into ND to try to make the football team. The guy played like three different positions for Lou; the original team player, so to speak. He has to be making a difference, and part of the reason Shumate and Redfield's games have taken off.

Would like more information on his impact, if anyone has it, whether my hypothesis is right or wrong.

Small point, but Pat transferred in from Yale, graduated in science then got a mechanical engineering degree a year later, all while playing football. Really good guy also. No specific info but Pat is one of those guys that has a lot to offer and any time spent around him is probably well spent time. Glad he volunteered to come back and try to give something to these young guys.

 

[Bogtrotter07]

Small point, but Pat transferred in from Yale, graduated in science then got a mechanical engineering degree a year later, all while playing football. Really good guy also. No specific info but Pat is one of those guys that has a lot to offer and any time spent around him is probably well spent time. Glad he volunteered to come back and try to give something to these young guys.

My bad. Rube, for confusing the two! Reps! and thanks for the correction!

 

[Catholics_Rule]

gif of the year, no need to hold a vote and wait. doesn't really capture the awesome crazy eyes like the HDTV live shot of this though. My 10 year old was scared of it and had to convince him that is exactly the feeling the opposing teams will have.

That's the image that stood out the entire game on Saturday for me. I jumped up and was laughing at the same time! AWESOME!!!!

 

[ResLife Hero]

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"><p>I call this one "Trying to Block a Brian VanGorder House Blitz: A Comedy" <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/LOLverines?src=hash">#LOLverines</a> <a href="http://t.co/ryjSAICxkM">pic.twitter.com/ryjSAICxkM</a></p>— First Down Moses (@1stDownMoses) <a href="https://twitter.com/1stDownMoses/status/509050162388279296">September 8, 2014</a></blockquote>
<script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

 

[ulukinatme]

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"><p>Now I just have to animate this... <a href="http://t.co/N4V74UeCjv">pic.twitter.com/N4V74UeCjv</a></p>— ndmspaint (@ndmspaint) <a href="https://twitter.com/ndmspaint/status/509038445059006464">September 8, 2014</a></blockquote>
<script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

 

[ResLife Hero]

 

[ulukinatme]

Kelly has replaced, what we thought were good coaches, with that appears to be, great coaches.

Warriner - Hiestand
Diaco - BVG


I hope this trend continues but most importantly, I wish we could lock this staff down for at least 3-4 years. It'd be so great to get the Irish machine churning at full speed before introducing change.

I will enjoy what we have, while we have it!

BVG certainly had Michigan's number Saturday night. Was it the transition from Borges to Nussmeier? Was it the transition from Diaco to BVG? Was it both? Either way, it was an incredibly impressive showing. Hopefully BVG continues to have great success, I don't want to hear any halftime excuses like "It's too late to make adjustments" like Diaco did against Navy. I think if our guys execute we should have an easier time stopping Navy in the 4-3 than we did in the 3-4. Past history has shown that "Bend, don't break" doesn't really work against Navy as they always do a fine job executing, they're not going to screw up often, so you must attack them. If our DE's contain it will keep the gains minimal, and hopefully Day and Jones can lock up the inside runs.

While I still prefer to have Heistand over Warriner, I still think we're struggling with our run blocking since Warriner left. While Michigan's DL is no slouch, and Mattison is generally a great coordinator, we certainly got stuffed sufficiently in our run game Saturday. Our OL guys have talent and experience, I'd like to see us opening holes for our talented RBs instead of them having to make cuts in the backfield or worse yet getting hit back there. Just focusing on our run blocking the last few years, I've seen some steps backwards from where we were prior to Heistand. On the other hand, pass blocking has been beautiful and Heistand has killed it in recruiting, which is why I still prefer him to Warriner.

 

[Veritate Duce Progredi]

BVG certainly had Michigan's number Saturday night. Was it the transition from Borges to Nussmeier? Was it the transition from Diaco to BVG? Was it both? Either way, it was an incredibly impressive showing. Hopefully BVG continues to have great success, I don't want to hear any halftime excuses like "It's too late to make adjustments" like Diaco did against Navy. I think if our guys execute we should have an easier time stopping Navy in the 4-3 than we did in the 3-4. Past history has shown that "Bend, don't break" doesn't really work against Navy as they always do a fine job executing, they're not going to screw up often, so you must attack them. If our DE's contain it will keep the gains minimal, and hopefully Day and Jones can lock up the inside runs.

While I still prefer to have Heistand over Warriner, I still think we're struggling with our run blocking since Warriner left. While Michigan's DL is no slouch, and Mattison is generally a great coordinator, we certainly got stuffed sufficiently in our run game Saturday. Our OL guys have talent and experience, I'd like to see us opening holes for our talented RBs instead of them having to make cuts in the backfield or worse yet getting hit back there. Just focusing on our run blocking the last few years, I've seen some steps backwards from where we were prior to Heistand. On the other hand, pass blocking has been beautiful and Heistand has killed it in recruiting, which is why I still prefer him to Warriner.

We had Hiestand for 2012, yes? If I remember correctly, we ran the ball really well. In 2013, we had a QB who, by virtue of being in the game, limited the defense's responsibility by half. I bet we run big this year if Golson continues to show teams how lethal he is throwing the ball.

I thought our run blocking has been really good until Michigan, that might be the only exception that I can remember in the last two years (disregarding Bama since were dismantled). Do you have numbers to support this? And can we identify who was on the roster running the ball?

Grabbed the numbers:

With Hiestand:

2014

Rushing: Yards / Attempt 4.59
Rushing: Attempts - Yards - TD 73 - 335 - 5
Project (just multiplying by 6: 438 - 2010 - 30) Keeping in mind this is heavily weighted down since we just finished playing an opponent that dedicated 90% of their defensive plan to stopping the run.

2013

Rushing: Yards / Attempt 4.46
Rushing: Attempts - Yards - TD 440 - 1962 - 12

2012

Rushing: Yards / Attempt 4.87
Rushing: Attempts - Yards - TD 506 - 2462 - 23

Pre-Hiestand

2011

Rushing: Yards / Attempt 4.82
Rushing: Attempts - Yards - TD 433 - 2085 - 25

2010

Rushing: Yards / Attempt 3.98
Rushing: Attempts - Yards - TD 414 - 1646 - 11

 

[TDHeysus]

<a href="http://s276.photobucket.com/user/rwoods2k/media/lakers_gif_zpsf44fce81.gif.html" target="_blank"><img src="http://i276.photobucket.com/albums/kk19/rwoods2k/lakers_gif_zpsf44fce81.gif" border="0" alt=" photo lakers_gif_zpsf44fce81.gif"/></a>

 

[ulukinatme]

We had Hiestand for 2012, yes? If I remember correctly, we ran the ball really well. In 2013, we had a QB who, by virtue of being in the game, limited the defense's responsibility by half. I bet we run big this year if Golson continues to show teams how lethal he is throwing the ball.

I thought our run blocking has been really good until Michigan, that might be the only exception that I can remember in the last two years (disregarding Bama since were dismantled). Do you have numbers to support this? And can we identify who was on the roster running the ball?

2012's numbers are somewhat screwed with the entrance of Golson to the QB position. 2011's numbers, Warriner's last year, are much more impressive as that came with Tommy as the helm. Some of 2012's numbers could have been hold over from 2011 as well, much like a 2002 Irish team that probably came more from Boob Davie defense and not Willingham's BS. Regardless, I'm not even as concerned about numbers as I am execution of the OL. I can tell you that we were opening bigger holes prior to Heistand (But we were also giving up more sacks, so Harry certainly helped us there). I don't see us driving guys off the line like we used to, I see our RBs getting hit in the backfield or having to make cuts before they've even made it to the line of scrimmage. If I recall we switched from man blocking to zone blocking when Heistand came in, maybe that's all there is to it, I don't know. Harry kills it when it comes to pass blocking and recruiting, but we're really not dominating many non-Rice teams at the line of scrimmage when it comes to the running game these days.

 

[Huntr]

OFD tweeted that someone had a go at BVG's wiki page; It's fantastic.


<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"><p>From DC Brian VanGorder's Wikipedia page. (Which is can be read in full here: <a href="http://t.co/E3YJzSKDQK">http://t.co/E3YJzSKDQK</a>) <a href="http://t.co/VMa06YJzJQ">pic.twitter.com/VMa06YJzJQ</a></p>— One Foot Down (@OneFootDown) <a href="https://twitter.com/OneFootDown/status/509094044857663488">September 8, 2014</a></blockquote>
<script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

Go read it before the wiki nerds change it back.

 

[SoDakDomer]

"On September 6, 2014, he delivered what some have called the greatest fist pump of all time, as his Notre Dame defensive unit shut out the University of Michigan Wolverines by a score of 31-0. [13]

Personal[edit]He and his wife, Pollie, have five children: Molloy, Morgan, Mack, Montgomery and Malone.[9] His hobbies include asking people if they think he stuttered, collecting troll dolls, and not giving a f*ck.

VanGorder has a well known love of classic muscle cars. In 2009 he purchased the 1977 Pontiac Firebird Esprit driven by fictional character "Jim Rockford" in ABC's former hit show "The Rockford Files". The purchase price of the iconic vehicle, sold by Rockford Files Executive Producer Steven J. Cannell, was reported to be $1. However, VanGorder had to promise Cannell to drive the car as his primary vehicle while retaining his facial hair. [14]"

from his wiki page

 

[Emcee77]

I am toying with the idea of making a screenshot of his wikipedia page my new avatar.

 

[Whiskeyjack]

I am toying with the idea of making a screenshot of his wikipedia page my new avatar.

Don't! Your mic and headphone avatar is iconic.

 

[Bogtrotter07]

A) The problem with running against Michigan was not a lack of running juju, or a great Michigan defense. They spent most of the game with seven players stuffed inside our interior five. And if it was a run, the safeties crashed down too.

KELLY TOLD EVERYONE AT THE PRESS CONFERENCE THAT HE RAN AS MUCH AS HE DID TO KEEP MATTISON LOADING UP THE INSIDE, WHICH MADE THE PASSING GAME WORK SO WELL. (Every play there was at least one favorable one-on-one matchup.)

II) The reason that BVG may be the best DC of all time, is I don't think he cares about being a head coach, ever again. He is dangerous, deadly, and here for the long haul!