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http://www.post-gazette.com/stories/spo ... ke-673940/

What about Roper?

Bob Green wrote:http://www.post-gazette.com/stories/spo ... ke-673940/

What about Roper?

It appears the OC reports might be premature. Anyway, it is great Montgomery is returning.

Bob Green wrote:It appears the OC reports might be premature. Anyway, it is great Montgomery is returning.

Yea, I can't imagine Scottie would come back as OC without some word of Roper moving on to another venue. He was WR coach, IIRC, for Cut's first year before leaving for the Steelers. What a selling point that should be for recruiting that the former WR coach for the Steelers has returned to his alma mater .

devildeac wrote:

Bob Green wrote:It appears the OC reports might be premature. Anyway, it is great Montgomery is returning.

Yea, I can't imagine Scottie would come back as OC without some word of Roper moving on to another venue. He was WR coach, IIRC, for Cut's first year before leaving for the Steelers. What a selling point that should be for recruiting that the former WR coach for the Steelers has returned to his alma mater .

After the hand wringing experienced by some when moves of Coach Middleton and Coach Lubick were announced, it's exciting and refreshing to see the first hire announced. Coach Cutcliffe continues to upgrade the coaching staff at each opportunity.... a trend that mirrors a similar trend in recruiting players.

Former Duke football standout and assistant coach Scottie Montgomery will return to his alma mater to serve as the program’s Associate Head Coach and Offensive Coordinator/Passing Game while coaching the Blue Devil wide receivers, head coach David Cutcliffe announced on Monday.

That is the most confusing and longest job title ever.

http://www.goduke.com/ViewArticle.dbml? ... EM_ID=4200

CameronBornAndBred wrote:

Former Duke football standout and assistant coach Scottie Montgomery will return to his alma mater to serve as the program’s Associate Head Coach and Offensive Coordinator/Passing Game while coaching the Blue Devil wide receivers, head coach David Cutcliffe announced on Monday.

That is the most confusing and longest job title ever.

http://www.goduke.com/ViewArticle.dbml? ... EM_ID=4200

I choose to focus on the Associate Head Coach part of the job title. That means he is above Roper in the food chain. At least that is my interpretation.

Okay, I'm semi-kidding above. Being slightly more serious, even though Roper remains OC and responsible for play calling, I am optimistic Montgomery will have a major impact on game plan development and contribute stuff (highly technical term) he learned in the NFL.

I think what's interesting is not the title he got, but what he didn't. Wasn't he Duke's recruiting coordinator before? During the introductory conference he was lauded for his recruiting, but he wasn't given that title. Makes me wonder who coach is targeting for special teams and the recruiting position, as it can only be one person now. That's interesting to me. Coach Cut has already said that he knows special teams, but I can't see a new coach just being the recruiting coordinator.

Joe Gibbs and Bill Parcel's said something on different occasions, but were identical in their message. Lot's of guys can draw up scheme's and game plans. This group can script plays pretty well for specific drives at the beginning of a game and the better ones in that group can make some half time adjustments, but there's really only a handful of guys that can consistently make adjustments in the game either during drives or in between positions. I think Coach Cut is actually one of those guys who can make adjustments in the game. I was in Nashville TN for awhile and watched some games to be up on the discussion at the office. Tennessee always had talent when he was there, but that didn't mean he always had better talent than his opponent. When he went back to TN in 2006, their offense instantly got better and jumped again in 2007. So, where am I going with this...
1. Coach is mentoring Roper as much as is the players, he's not a final product. Like the players, he show's flashes. For example, 4th Quarter adjustments and play calls against Va in 2010 when they won that game at the end. There were a lot of good plays, but also good calls made by the coach. What about Boone's game against Va this past year. They scripted some plays on the first drive to set plays up for later in the game. Play calling involves knowing when to pull the trigger. Roper saw the safeties cheating up to stop Boone's option run. That opened up Blakeney (or Jamison...can't remember) for a big play.
2. While I question play calling, coach cut and roper are cerebral guys...for instance, they know Jela looks pretty darn good. I think they also know he'll be lot better as he gets older if they don't wear him out as a freshman. I think they save plays and make gambles they can beat a team with lessor talent without revealing too much. In the case of Richmond in 2011, I think it bit them in the pants, but I don't think they counted on a great kicker turning bad. In short, the play calling is very purposeful.
3. Players still have to make plays. I remember Thad Lewis missing a wide open Huffman against Ga Tech on a brilliant designed play call. That game was close, a TD was a lock as no one was close to him and I think it would put Duke back on top 17-10 or something like that. Instead, GaTech went on to steam roll the Devils. This last bowl game, we had two RB fumble the ball a step away from the endzone. That's not play calling. Players have to make plays.
4. Before we cast him aside or call him a loser, you always have to answer the question...who ya gonna get to replace'm. To have Montgomery call plays when he never has...with a new QB and several freshman and redshirt freshman WRs....can you spell disaster? Again, citing some hall of fame coaches, there's only a handful that do it really well.

So, unless you know you're getting a great play caller, let's let Baldie keep learning and improving. He's a young fellow. Besides, at some point, I think Junior-Senior QBs start to take over final decisions in this offense. Perhaps some of those questionable calls were really up to Renfree. Only Coach Cut knows the full evaluation on Roper and he's not going to throw him under the bus. We really don't know, but I'm still very optimistic about next year.

The Football Fan wrote: So, unless you know you're getting a great play caller, let's let Baldie keep learning and improving. He's a young fellow. Besides, at some point, I think Junior-Senior QBs start to take over final decisions in this offense. Perhaps some of those questionable calls were really up to Renfree. Only Coach Cut knows the full evaluation on Roper and he's not going to throw him under the bus. We really don't know, but I'm still very optimistic about next year.

It's very hard to argue with the excellent points you have made, but it is also so frustrating to watch. I am very much looking forward to see what our new QB brings to the mix, or most likely new QBs. I will forever be a fan of Renfree's, but like coaches, it is nice to see new faces and new talents on display. Maybe you are right, and Roper is "learning the ropes", but if he isn't, then he should be "on the ropes" in my book.