Ed Daniels

[JerseyWave]

I don't believe anyone is advocating the firing of CJ regardless the outcome of the 2014 season. He does have to make changes on his coaching staff without question. We have many instances of a poorly coached team and poor game management. These are correctable.

Ed Daniel's editorial is way off. Tulane has never been quick to pull the trigger on a Head Coach. Usually Tulane has waited too long to make a change. It is not unreasonable to expect to see progress in year three of a coaching regime. Tulane has never operated with a sense of urgency while continuing to fall further behind peer institutions in the college sports arms race. Rick Dickson is guilty of awarding contract extensions to coaches that are clearly failures. The Bob Toledo extension was a disaster. The Ed Conroy era has been a disaster (check RPI) but he might finally have figured out recruiting to buy himself more time.

And I do expect Homecoming to be festive since Tulane is coming off a huge road win and is claiming the game is a sell out. Memphis has owned Tulane Football for the past decade so we will see if this team is mature enough to take another step forward.

[mbawavefan12]

I think Ed's point is just changing coaches to be changing is not the answer. We've had both good and bad over that span. The problem is when we hire the right guy he leaves early and when we hire the wrong guy he stays too long.

I agree with this but am not sure that is exactly what ED said. Toledo, for example, was sinoly terrible and stayed too long.

[jonathanjoseph]

I don't believe anyone is advocating the firing of CJ regardless the outcome of the 2014 season. He does have to make changes on his coaching staff without question. We have many instances of a poorly coached team and poor game management. These are correctable.

Ed Daniel's editorial is way off. Tulane has never been quick to pull the trigger on a Head Coach. Usually Tulane has waited too long to make a change. It is not unreasonable to expect to see progress in year three of a coaching regime. Tulane has never operated with a sense of urgency while continuing to fall further behind peer institutions in the college sports arms race. Rick Dickson is guilty of awarding contract extensions to coaches that are clearly failures. The Bob Toledo extension was a disaster. The Ed Conroy era has been a disaster (check RPI) but he might finally have figured out recruiting to buy himself more time.

And I do expect Homecoming to be festive since Tulane is coming off a huge road win and is claiming the game is a sell out. Memphis has owned Tulane Football for the past decade so we will see if this team is mature enough to take another step forward.

Great post.

[torbida]

I'm for giving CJ time-we played in a bowl last year ,we got a fresnman, sophmore heavy team with tremendous promise (yesterday's win showed me what's in store). The axe needs to fall on the clown AD and Cowen's manifesto aka the Tulane model.

[torbida]

First bowl game in a decade and people around here call for a change. 18 new starters, frosh at QB.

well said. the potential is there -let CJ see it through.

[winwave]

Actually there are 9 new starters this year.

[tpstulane]

All 31pts vs Houston were scored by true freshmen.

[DfromCT]

All 31pts vs Houston were scored by true freshmen.

Yes, and for the first time this season we didn't have stretches of blatant incompetency on both sides of the ball and Special Teams. We have young talent, we have to coach them into displaying it, as they did on Saturday.

The Price brothers need to go as soon as the season ends. And we need to hire a real Special Teams coach. As Golfnut was discussing with me, Bobby April would make a great ST Coordinator. But, Woody, he's not retired living the good life in the Big Easy. He's got that position with the Raiders in the NFL. On the one hand it might take a lot to lure him from the NFL, but on the other hand no coach has job security with the Raiders. I say bring him home to New Orleans and we'll have some of the best ST around. He can be the TE coach as well. He'll help recruiting and we won't worry about lousy special teams.

[Dave breslin]

Good point D from CT. I haven't taken a shot at CJ, but I have seen some big improvement needed from the coaching perspective. Seems the offense is understanding the plays/overall operation, especially with young players, but that clock management is still bad. Ed Daniels is correct, CJ has brought us way up the road--too bad we still have the apathetic AD as a hindrance to success. But kudos to the team for playing respectable ball for a change. Could use that ST coach with local ties Does Bobby still have the fire? And O line -thanks for playing like men - You've reached puberty!

[wavefan03]

Actually there are 9 new starters this year.

bad quote from me - I think the announcers said 18 frosh/soph getting playing time

[winwave]

Hopefully what last week showed was that the old axiom is true- they aren't freshman anymore.

[JDTulane]

Ed spot on as usual.

+1 great read and great reasoning to pacify the "fire him now" critics.

[Greenanyway]

"Change has been a 40-year constant for Tulane football. And, the results are telling."

It would seem this way to a casual observer, one who has looked at our program from a comfortable distance. I respect ED, and agree with much of what he has said in the past about TU sports, but not this time.

As I think about the dozen head coaches that have ranged from Pittman to Johnson, I see two critical errors made by our administrations (among many others).

1) Missing out on two major talents in Infante (following Smith) and Rodriguez (following Bowden) in an attempt to hire folks who would stick around. Of course, this totally ignored the fact that our most successful periods were led by folks who we knew probably wouldn't stay (Smith / Brown / Bowden). You don't build success by hiring mediocrity and sub-mediocrity, and hoping they stay. You build success by hiring the VERY BEST coach available (within reason) every time until you finally have a program worth staying at.

2) Despite what Mr. Daniels has written - Holding on to poor coaches for FAR TOO LONG (i.e. Davis, Teevens, Scelfo, Toledo...?)

Rampant "change" may appear to be the culprit to some. I think not in this case.

Now the big question of the day - Should CJ be added to the list at the end of my second point above?

Before you attempt to answer, or re-answer the question, please forget a moment about what you think will happen, or can happen. Simply apply your observations of our recent talent development, team discipline, and game day management to the test. Improved recruiting will only work if talent can be developed. Short of this, games will be lost and future recruits will fade away.

I sincerely hope that I am wrong. I hope that Houston was a turnaround point for us. I hope that we win our last three games. I hope that CJ becomes a very successful coach at TU, and things finally come around.

My observations thus far tell me no, and that CJ will ultimately be added to the list following Toledo.

Of course, our ability to hire such quality as Smith, Infante, Brown, Bowden, and Rodriguez has been almost snuffed out by the recent administration.

However, it can be done.

Unfortunately, I've been around since the days of Bobby Duhon, so I won't likely see it either way.

[MicMan]

Hire whomever you want, but the fact is it's Tom Benson's field sponsorship paying CJ's contract. No way an outsider gets that kind of lettuce.

[nawlinspete]

"Change has been a 40-year constant for Tulane football. And, the results are telling."

It would seem this way to a casual observer, one who has looked at our program from a comfortable distance. I respect ED, and agree with much of what he has said in the past about TU sports, but not this time.

As I think about the dozen head coaches that have ranged from Pittman to Johnson, I see two critical errors made by our administrations (among many others).

1) Missing out on two major talents in Infante (following Smith) and Rodriguez (following Bowden) in an attempt to hire folks who would stick around. Of course, this totally ignored the fact that our most successful periods were led by folks who we knew probably wouldn't stay (Smith / Brown / Bowden). You don't build success by hiring mediocrity and sub-mediocrity, and hoping they stay. You build success by hiring the VERY BEST coach available (within reason) every time until you finally have a program worth staying at.

2) Despite what Mr. Daniels has written - Holding on to poor coaches for FAR TOO LONG (i.e. Davis, Teevens, Scelfo, Toledo...?)

Rampant "change" may appear to be the culprit to some. I think not in this case.

Now the big question of the day - Should CJ be added to the list at the end of my second point above?

Before you attempt to answer, or re-answer the question, please forget a moment about what you think will happen, or can happen. Simply apply your observations of our recent talent development, team discipline, and game day management to the test. Improved recruiting will only work if talent can be developed. Short of this, games will be lost and future recruits will fade away.

I sincerely hope that I am wrong. I hope that Houston was a turnaround point for us. I hope that we win our last three games. I hope that CJ becomes a very successful coach at TU, and things finally come around.

My observations thus far tell me no, and that CJ will ultimately be added to the list following Toledo.

Of course, our ability to hire such quality as Smith, Infante, Brown, Bowden, and Rodriguez has been almost snuffed out by the recent administration.

However, it can be done.

Unfortunately, I've been around since the days of Bobby Duhon, so I won't likely see it either way.

Coach Johnson does not have what it takes to be a successful HC. However CJ would make an ideal ATHLETIC DIRECTOR.

[wavemania]

Telling Mr Fitts he is in charge and needs to do the right thing in regards to athletics!

[tpstulane]

http://clarionherald.info/clarion/index ... s-for-help

[Jonathan]

Would someone email Ed and ask him to email this great article to Fitts and everyone on the Tulane board.

[Bigschtick]

Would someone email Ed and ask him to email this great article to Fitts and everyone on the Tulane board.

I emailed him to thank him for being one of the few media people that ever tell Tulane what they
need to do. Why don't you just print and send it to Fitts?

[JerseyWave]

Clearly, without mentioning him, Daniels is pointing the finger directly at Rick Dickson. Daniels is telling Fitts he has good coaches, they aren't the problem, he should demand better performance! Rick Dickson doesn't demand results, not when you give contract extensions to losers. Tulane coaches have very cushy jobs and are under no pressure from their boss to win. That's the problem!

[wave97]

A very nice job of shining a laser of sunlight on the performance of "Mr. Sunshine & Happiness" without ever mentioning his name. Well done Ed! Be careful, you may be associated with the "lunatic fringe" who actually measure results by wins & losses.
Ed was also clear that the next AD is going to need President Fitts' complete support if we are going to turn around the fortunes of our athletic programs.

[COChip]

I get his larger point that Tulane's major problem is the administration and not solely the coaches for the abysmal performance over the years but to try to give the current coaches a pass like he's doing just isn't right. If Conroy and Johnson were good coaches their teams would be performing better. A 20 win season at VMI and a "smoke and mirrors" bowl season doesn't absolve them. The focus should be on Fitts and Dickson and everything else is just the results of their mismanagement.

[wave97]

In regards to Football, CJ & Staff have upgraded the talent level & they deserve this season to prove themselves. How Rick Dickson is still breathing the air inside the Wilson Center is beyond my comprehension.
For athletics to have any hope of success in the near future President Fitts needs to put his foot up to Rick Dickson and push him out the door.

[tpstulane]

I get his larger point that Tulane's major problem is the administration and not solely the coaches for the abysmal performance over the years but to try to give the current coaches a pass like he's doing just isn't right. If Conroy and Johnson were good coaches their teams would be performing better. A 20 win season at VMI and a "smoke and mirrors" bowl season doesn't absolve them. The focus should be on Fitts and Dickson and everything else is just the results of their mismanagement.

It's hard to judge any coach with lack of resources and support. It's extremely difficult for any coach to overcome the Tulane model. Tommy Bowen with Rich Rod did and left before it was put fully in place. Rod would never come back and work under the Model. Rick Jones overcame it for awhile. Perry Clark bypassed it and left before he was going to be subject to it. Nowadays we always end up with a 5th or 6th choice. It's rare today to get better coaches to come here under this administration. Yes we hired Pierce because of a great past success and a good salary for a baseball coach. He's a competitive guy and believes he can have success here with certain "promises" he received from Tulane. It will be interesting to see if he can overcome the Tulane model in the long run. All one has to do is a look at the recent botched up firing of a strength coach. Charging your head football coach for a parking spot. Telling coaches a microwave oven is not in an athletic budget but a university item. These are just a few things that go on. I was once told by a former Tulane staffer, "Yes we lie to you guys, but it's for your own good". Until Tulane makes a legitiment commitment and not just unfulfilled promises things will remain the same.

[winwave]

I get his larger point that Tulane's major problem is the administration and not solely the coaches for the abysmal performance over the years but to try to give the current coaches a pass like he's doing just isn't right. If Conroy and Johnson were good coaches their teams would be performing better. A 20 win season at VMI and a "smoke and mirrors" bowl season doesn't absolve them. The focus should be on Fitts and Dickson and everything else is just the results of their mismanagement.

Spot on.