our non con last year was 4 scholarship teams that would beat the absolute brakes off of Adrian. Stetson was cancelled which would have also been a win last season.
We went from beating NAIA title contenders and one score PFL games to losing to non top 25 D3 at home and 40 point half time deficits.
like I said spilled milk. It would be nice if there wa SOMETHING, that is above average PFL we can take into next season.
i get the sentiment. But when you review who else Valpo has hired and who else is currently employed in the PFL. Tad bleak
It makes you wonder though why Fox was sacked. Did Fox want more cash or more financial support? Would that have skimmed off the profit from the football program? Did he and Hosmer have a spat? We never understood the rationale for the sack over than the template statement.
I wouldn’t say Fox was a great success, and at the end he was 21-33 and lost every year except for a COVID year. But so far Waddle looks terrible and is going through a honeymoon year, and there has to be improvement or a plan to clean up a pathetic year. Also, it would nice to have some semblance of an offense which is embarrassing.
Part that makes me the most nervous pertaining to the offense: Keefe, McNeeley, Mansaray, Gundy, Melchiori are all senior level and above students.
If they all leave. Presumably Caron Tyler leaves. That has Downey, Long, Rumoro, Ricketti, Mackay as our offensive “Core”moving into next season.
Unless there would be DRASTIC internal improvement , it’s almost impossible to see high level PFL play on that side of the ball.
The 4 game redshirt buffer is over only 3 games remain. If there are young players on the roster that Andy Waddle has recruited. There is no excuse not to see them the next three games
@valpofb16 - when these guys leave, how much worse will the offense be given where they are today? If they bring in new players, the offense cannot get much worse.
Given where Valpo was, in a LinkedIn perspective Waddle’s end of year performance review is Needs Improvement and should be on a Performance Improvement Program. One positive of Waddle is that he doesn’t spew inspirational BS quotes.
Carlsons resume was much stronger than Waddles. If you take out his previous two 8-3 seasons he had a 41% win percentage at Marietta.
Carlson, while he absolutely flamed out here. Was in the scholarship NAIA playoffs with Ohio Dominican/Tri State. Won 93 games at between the two in comparison to Waddles 55 at the D3.
Carlson just was at the end of his rope here. Not defending the guy at all. But pre revisionist history that was a much more defendable hire than Waddles.
Program is also night and day from what Carlson inherited. Kroenke, Locker room, weight room, returning talent etc etc
post revisionist history…. , that Jacksonville coach also had to vacate all of his PFL wins for providing full ride scholarships
This comparison may sound sacrilegious, but did Valpo hope that they might be getting the football version of Homer Drew when they hired Carlson, i.e., an NAIA program builder who was affordable, faith-based, and thought to be a candidate who could grow into a successful D1 coach? (I wasn't paying close attention to VU football at the time Carlson was hired.)
LOTS OF INJURIES TO BOOT!
@david81 , Carlson was actually maybe a splashier hire than Fox and Chick. His major claim to fame was taking dump or essentially non existent programs in Ohio Dominican and Tri West and vastly increasing funding and talent.
To my knowledge he did a great job with the funding portion getting a lot of footballs equipment / jerseys into the 21st century. (Chick had the money for the weight room and locker room almost immediately).
He also did increased talent from 2010. By that point of his career he was hell bent on proving his high power offense. No cared about clock and score. We had some drives that were 9 seconds with three straight quick passes. Tough to contain people when the opposing OC has a dartboard of 90-95 plays to throw at a defense
It is a sad state of affairs when we are discussing whether Waddle or Carlson is or was respectively better. Carlson was given 4 years and was 3-41, and I learned a lot of Valpo athletics when they didn’t sack him after year 3. Regarding Waddle, he is struggling but you need to give at least another year to clean things up. Waddle does seem like a decent dude and not a buffoon.
@valpofb16 thank you for your response. From my more distant perspective, I found the Carlson thing somewhat bewildering. I couldn't fathom how a guy who enjoyed genuine successes at lower collegiate levels was so unsuccessful at VU.
At the DIII level, more patience as he was given a lot of slack @Marietta. Lets see what he does in the signing period/who leaves etc in mid December. They gotta get the players to fit his system. It's ironic our best offensive game of the year was against our former coach.
