I don’t have a ton of time today, but I wanted to get out some ideas on how Smith has progressed, and see if people see this the way I do. I’m going to give some key areas and then grade them. We should probably do this every year to hold coaches accountable.

Recruiting: somewhere between a B to B+ (up from C+). I’ve always said you can win with legit 3-star talent, and Smith has been the best at getting high 3-star talent and even some legit 4-star talent. The level of athlete has improved each year. Failure to recruit a good kicker in 5 years is disturbing, and QB recruiting failures were a concern until very recently.

Preparation: B+ (stable). There’s nothing glaring here. His teams have always been well prepared, and that trend seems stable.

In game coaching: C (Up from D-). There were minor improvements here. This past season, there were times I thought he’d be a degenerate and go for it, but he punted. So that’s some progress. Overall still way too much miscalculated risk. I’m convinced he doesn’t understand statistics very well at all. Until coaches realize the “stat sheet” is an aggregate of all teams, many of which are better than yours who go for it more and skew that sheet, they’re going to continue to make these miscalculations.

Player Development: B+ (stable). Only a few guys in each class wind up not contributing, and that could be for their own reasons. But he seems to mostly put players where they should be, and finds a roll for all players. I said Martinez should have been the starting back from game 1 this past year, so I think he still doesn’t always have the right personnel on the field. Identifying the best player from day 1 is an area that needs improvement.

Staff hires and management: B+ (stable). Holds staff accountable. Hires good fits. Even willing to hire an unproven guy like Brey who had obvious talent yet no real experience. The Lingren hire keeps this from being an A for me. Lingren is okay, but he’s a weak link in many ways.

Character/Loyalty: A+ (stable). No character problems with Smith, his staff, or his players. Players seem loyal to him and the program and “buy in”…staff hasn’t left. All good signs that he’s doing things the right way.

Motivation: A+ (up from A). Seems a real strength that nobody talks about. Inspires his players. And it seems this is improving as players buy in and see results.

Let me know your grades below. Feel free to go off topic.

Angry’s still out hosting the in-laws, but figured it would be a good time for a fresh thread.  Prior one was getting stale and starting to load slowly.

Making this a general thread, so talk about whatever.

In recruiting, the dead period for JUCO and Transfers is over and visits can start happening again.  Expect a few visitors this week that fit that description.

I’m expecting 1 known commitment to happen within the next week.  No spoilers, but fills an immediate need.

Is this coming season the year of the Beaver?(at least in football)

Seems like the football schedule and roster are shaping up to be our best shot to reach a NY6 bowl game in quite some time.

Non-Con vs UC Davis, San Diego State and @ San Jose.   We skip USC (and ASU).  Toughest games will likely be in the NW division with Oregon on the road and UW at home.  Hopefully a bye week will be favorable and land before one of those games.  Schedule is apparently delayed as the league tries to figure out a way to screw over the Beavs chances.  But will it matter?

I haven’t paid much attention to MBB or WBB.  WBB did recently top #10 UCLA, which is nice to see.  But both teams appear to be middle of the Pac this year.

Baseball is still several weeks away, so we’re hitting the dead period as far as I’m concerned.  Will try to keep bringing any football recruiting rumors/tidbits to this thread if I come across anything.

GoBeavs!