Glenn Thomas is the new QB coach

[Nehunter88]

I think it is also very difficult to judge Garrett's work because of other contributing factors that were clearly in play. We had QBs who could not thrown the ball accurately or timely, and were too turnover proof. We had an improved line, but still struggled in pass protection. Group that with a wideout group that was horrifically young and thrown into the fire due to injuries, and you have a big question mark on where to point the finger.

With a more polished, albeit young QB coming in, combined with another year of experience for the receivers, and hopefully, more improved play on the line, we will see exactly the impact (or lack thereof) Garrett has had on his position group.

We had lots of reason to pump the brakes on passing judgment this year. Next year, its a different story. Put up or shut up time for all involved on the offensive side of the ball. There is no excuse to be as bad as we were two years in a row considering how well Rhule plugged gaps in the roster this offseason.

I just thought he caught too much flack for being young. And while this is his first time as a college coach, I thought a couple years assisting the offense in the NFL was worth something. Yes he wasn't a true assistant coach, more of an assist an assistant, but I thought that counted for something. He probably spent more time around NFL WRs than many college WR coaches.

 

[Red Blitz]

Also cuz he never played the position. One of those I can live with.
BOth is legit criticism

When I read this yesterday, was sure that somewhere I had read that he was a back up WR in high school. Finally found it. He was a WR in high school. I understand that isn't the same as D1, but it does give you additional reps and exposure just through practice. Add in the QB should understand WR routes and his obvious intelligence and I think you can scratch never played the position from this comment. Can we discuss Glenn Thomas now?

https://www.maxpreps.com/tx/cedar-h...es/garret-mcguire/bio/?careerid=cg49clk8djkm6

Garret McGuire's Bio​

Plays	Football
Class Year	Graduated 2017
Teams	Cedar Hill Varsity Football #6 • QB, LS, WR • Captain

 

[FeelLikeAStranger]

I think it is also very difficult to judge Garrett's work because of other contributing factors that were clearly in play. We had QBs who could not thrown the ball accurately or timely, and were too turnover proof. We had an improved line, but still struggled in pass protection. Group that with a wideout group that was horrifically young and thrown into the fire due to injuries, and you have a big question mark on where to point the finger.

With a more polished, albeit young QB coming in, combined with another year of experience for the receivers, and hopefully, more improved play on the line, we will see exactly the impact (or lack thereof) Garrett has had on his position group.

We had lots of reason to pump the brakes on passing judgment this year. Next year, its a different story. Put up or shut up time for all involved on the offensive side of the ball. There is no excuse to be as bad as we were two years in a row considering how well Rhule plugged gaps in the roster this offseason.

The sheet fact that he was able to get a few FR up to speed to contribute and startafter losing the top, what 4-5 experienced WR’s to injury or defection or position change was a damn good coaching job.

Someone made the point above that you need a mix of coaches…age demo and salary to make up a staff. The provincial attitude that all asst. coaches at NU must be experienced P5 coaches with long resumes is severely flawed (as is the ‘buddy hire’ argument if the coach has worked with someone previously). You cant just throw out rnames of experienced coaches and coordinators with zero ties to the HC and create an all-star staff, unless you Are/were the outlier (Alabama).

 

[FeelLikeAStranger]

I think it is also very difficult to judge Garrett's work because of other contributing factors that were clearly in play. We had QBs who could not thrown the ball accurately or timely, and were too turnover proof. We had an improved line, but still struggled in pass protection. Group that with a wideout group that was horrifically young and thrown into the fire due to injuries, and you have a big question mark on where to point the finger.

With a more polished, albeit young QB coming in, combined with another year of experience for the receivers, and hopefully, more improved play on the line, we will see exactly the impact (or lack thereof) Garrett has had on his position group.

We had lots of reason to pump the brakes on passing judgment this year. Next year, its a different story. Put up or shut up time for all involved on the offensive side of the ball. There is no excuse to be as bad as we were two years in a row considering how well Rhule plugged gaps in the roster this offseason.

The sheet fact that he was able to get a few FR up to speed to contribute and startafter losing the top, what 4-5 experienced WR’s to injury or defection or position change was a damn good coaching job.

Someone made the point above that you need a mix of coaches…age demo and salary to make up a staff. The provincial attitude that all asst. coaches at NU must be experienced P5 coaches with long resumes is severely flawed (as is the ‘buddy hire’ argument if the coach has worked with someone previously). You cant just throw out rnames of experienced coaches and coordinators with zero ties to the HC and create an all-star staff, unless you Are/were the outlier (Alabama).

 

[gazelle]

No, you're conflating having no previous experience with having previous experience.
He has stated in my link, he never played volleyball.

No, he never did, and it makes no difference. John Cook is a great coach. You don't need to play a sport to be good at coaching that sport. Being a great coach and being a great player are two different things that require different skillsets.

To take this back to the original argument and get this thread back on topic, my concern with our current WR coach is that he had no experience in coaching before he came here, which is why I think his hire was a bit of a risk, although a relatively minor one. John Cook, although he never played volleyball, had decades of experience as a coach before he became the head coach at Nebraska.

 

[Uncle Buck]

I just thought he caught too much flack for being young. And while this is his first time as a college coach, I thought a couple years assisting the offense in the NFL was worth something. Yes he wasn't a true assistant coach, more of an assist an assistant, but I thought that counted for something. He probably spent more time around NFL WRs than many college WR coaches.

He was the Dwight Schrute of the coaching staff. Tough to beet that

 

[NorthwoodHusker]

No, he never did, and it makes no difference. John Cook is a great coach. You don't need to play a sport to be good at coaching that sport. Being a great coach and being a great player are two different things that require different skillsets.

To take this back to the original argument and get this thread back on topic, my concern with our current WR coach is that he had no experience in coaching before he came here, which is why I think his hire was a bit of a risk, although a relatively minor one. John Cook, although he never played volleyball, had decades of experience as a coach before he became the head coach at Nebraska.

Enough derailing, it was about past experience.
We are sitting in tall cotton now thanks to MR and staff and this is a great thing

 

[gazelle]

Enough derailing, it was about past experience.
We are sitting in tall cotton now thanks to MR and staff and this is a great thing

I assume Rhule saw something in Garrett that led him to believe Garrett would be a good coach, despite Garrett's lack of coaching experience. At this point I have no reason to doubt Rhule's judgment, and I am not going to claim the Garrett hire as a bad thing after only one year. Maybe Garrett will turn out to be a great coach and/or a great recruiter. We will see.

 

[NorthwoodHusker]

I assume Rhule saw something in Garrett that led him to believe Garrett would be a good coach, despite Garrett's lack of coaching experience. At this point I have no reason to doubt Rhule's judgment, and I am not going to claim the Garrett hire as a bad thing after only one year. Maybe Garrett will turn out to be a great coach and/or a great recruiter. We will see.

His dad is a good coach too. We used to really embrace coaches kids as players, expound on their lived advantages. I think it doesn't end at just being a player, a lot of father son coaching successes.

 

[36Blast]

I just thought he caught too much flack for being young. And while this is his first time as a college coach, I thought a couple years assisting the offense in the NFL was worth something. Yes he wasn't a true assistant coach, more of an assist an assistant, but I thought that counted for something. He probably spent more time around NFL WRs than many college WR coaches.

Agreed.

When they hired him, I can't lie, I was a bit surprised and underwhelmed. But I also think its fair to take some time to evaluate these guys. I don't think its fair to judge based on the small sample size we have right now.

As for "assist an assistant," we can say the same about Raiola working with the Bears making $15 an hour before being hired by the Huskers. He may have played at Wisconsin and had a cup of coffee in the NFL, but Garrett was raised out of the womb around this game and he has learned what it takes to be a successful football coach. There was a guy just like him named Bill Belichick who was around football his entire life, had a deep passion for the game, and was super smart. I'm not saying Garrett is the next BB, but its not like we haven't seen guys like him succeed. Ironically, when BB was 24 years old, he was a receivers coach for the Detroit Lions. A position he never coached up to that point.

Let's see how this year pans out before we burn anyone at the stake. If progress isn't made, all bets are off. Period.

 

[CombatTargeteer]

I just saw a poster on facebook that had him listed as the co-OC as well as QB coach. Am I late to the party again?

 

[Alaskajohn]

I just saw a poster on facebook that had him listed as the co-OC as well as QB coach. Am I late to the party again?

Yep, but welcome to the party nonetheless. We’ve been waiting for ya before we uncorked the keg.

PS, leave the door open for the next guy!

 

[Huskerthom]

He coached football briefly. Interestingly enough, it was his first love. He wanted to coach football, but he found more success as a volleyball coach. He has talked about his love for football on his podcast that he does with his daughter, Lauren Cook-West, called "Kicking Back with the Cooks".

My point is that Cook had almost 2 decades of volleyball coaching experience before he came to Nebraska. Our current football WR coach had no experience at coaching before he came to Nebraska, which was the point of the argument.

Your last sentence is a lie. He had 2 years of NFL experience coaching WR in the NFL.

 

[TFrazier]

Coach Cook is doing just fine regardless of how his career started. He is one of the greatest coaches in volleyball and Nebraska history. The fact his name is even in this conversation is amusing.

 

[Hville]

I agree passing judgement this early in the process isn't giving the staff or players a fair shake.

But addressing the bold. What has our current WR coach done wrong that he should be criticized? And I'm not saying you have criticized.

If I evaluated him today, I'd say he's helped bring in a good group of receivers through recruiting and the portal. Last year's recruits had good things to say about him and how well he related to them. Perhaps when it comes to recruiting his young age is a positive instead of a negative. As for on the field at this point it's probably a wash, nothing good nothing bad considering how last year went. It seems with everything that's been put in place through recruiting and the portal this off season, next year should tell us something about his ability to coach.

I agree passing judgement this early in the process isn't giving the staff or players a fair shake.

But addressing the bold. What has our current WR coach done wrong that he should be criticized? And I'm not saying you have criticized.

If I evaluated him today, I'd say he's helped bring in a good group of receivers through recruiting and the portal. Last year's recruits had good things to say about him and how well he related to them. Perhaps when it comes to recruiting his young age is a positive instead of a negative. As for on the field at this point it's probably a wash, nothing good nothing bad considering how last year went. It seems with everything that's been put in place through recruiting and the portal this off season, next year should tell us something about his ability to coach.

As to your question of what has he done to be criticized. I’ll start by saying the context I worded it was him being part of the offense that was bottom 20%. I’ll add that criticism is very subjective. When the passing game is 126th of 131 teams it’s hard to argue it’s stellar. Thus some criticism is warranted. Is it fireable criticism? Absolutely not. Is it even hot seat? Not to me. But let’s not fool ourselves. If we are going to analyze his one year performance there is some room for recognizing some achievements, the injury challenges, and room for some critique.