SB Nation User Blog: Todd

Happy 4th everyone. Back Monday.

Todd — Sat, 04 Jul 2009 17:03:16 -0000

Happy 4th everyone. Back Monday.

Don't forget...lunch at the Bottletree. It will make you look older.

Todd — Fri, 03 Jul 2009 15:24:35 -0000

Don't forget...lunch at the Bottletree. It will make you look older.

Man, that would have been a great catch by Byrd....

Todd — Fri, 03 Jul 2009 14:25:43 -0000

Man, that would have been a great catch by Byrd....

Alabama senior center Evan Cardwell is not expected back with the Crimson Tide's football team this...

Todd — Fri, 03 Jul 2009 13:44:34 -0000

Alabama senior center Evan Cardwell is not expected back with the Crimson Tide's football team this season, the Press-Register has learned.

Cardwell has dealt with a recurring back injury during much of his collegiate career, though it's not clear if he will go on medical scholarship. He has already obtained his undergraduate degree from UA and is currently enrolled in graduate school with a sports management specialty.

OL Evan Cardwell not expected back with Alabama's football teamt

Cardwell started at C for the latter half of 2007 after Antione Caldwell's suspension, but saw no (meaningful) playing time last year and never managed to crack the first team rotation during spring practice this year, instead watching William Vlachos and David Ross battle it out through camp. Hopefully he'll get a medical scholarship so he can finish his graduate degree on the University's dime.

ed- didn't see the fanpost, so belated h/t chinesedentist

Your RBR Friday (not so) Random Ten...

Todd — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 23:59:04 -0000

...is apparently in the mood for Muddy Waters.

...and I am more than happy to oblige...

Bonus Track at #11: Muddy Waters - Blues Before Sunrise. I am not making this up. Leave your random tens in the comments. YouTubery after the jump.

Wait 'til You Hear Him Sing "Rammer Jammer"...

Todd — Fri, 03 Jul 2009 02:43:18 -0000

Out of Curiosity: Is Year Two Always a Step Forward?

Todd — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 23:10:09 -0000

Has nothing to do with this post, but it's the first thing that comes up when you search "out of curiosity," and I like it.

Last year about this time I was reading one of the preview magazines and it made a blanket statement to the effect of "Alabama will win more games this year since programs always show improvement in year two under a new head coach." I'll try avoid splitting hairs over what "show improvement" means under these conditions, since improvement doesn't always equal wins, and the idea that a team is going to be better just because it has had a year to better absorb a new coach's schemes and style ignores a lot of factors like player attrition/graduation, the difference in schedule between years, staff turnover, recruiting, and etc. But since this is just me amusing myself during the long dark that is the offseason, I decided to take a look at all of the current SEC coaches (save Mississippi State's Dan Mullen, who has never been a head coach, and UT's Lane Kiffin, who's only head coaching experience was with the Oakland Raiders and therefor doesn't count as head coaching experience) and see if their win totals improved from year one to year two at each of their coaching stops.

As you can see by the chart below, there's enough evidence (at least among the SEC head coaches) to support the assertion that teams will show improvement in year two of a new head coach:

A few thoughts:

Houston Nutt, shockingly, is the only anamoly here, posting a one game improvement at Murray State, then overseeing a one game regression at Arkansas.
Only Rich Brooks and Gene Chizik managed to consistently regress (though to be fair, Chizik only had the on chance, while Brooks managed it at both Oregon and UK).
Saban and Bobby Johnson posted the biggest increases in win percentage in the league at 28% (at Alabama and Furman, respectively), while Saban and Mark Richt have posted the biggest increase in number of wins with five.
Five of the ten coaches listed here managed nine or more wins in their first year on the job. Not sure what to make of this, honestly. You can argue that they are such good coaches that they were able to win immediately with someone else's players (who clearly weren't winning with them to begin with, otherwise "new head coach" wouldn't be there), or that they walked into a situation where success was inevitable and that anyone could have come in and won right away. Either way it's impressive, and honestly I'm a little surprised that only Nutt regressed. I would have imagined more of them would have pulled a Miles and stayed static until their recruits were truly in the system (year three mainly), but that's not the case.
Even though there is generally improvement in year two, unless you are dealing with a proven head coach like Nick Saban or Urban Meyer or a program with the facilites and tradition to facilitate a big leap forward (like Georgia and Richt), for the most part a one or two game swing is the likeliest scenario for a new head coach heading into his second year.

Such a Tease: The History of the 3-4 Defense and Another Preview Shot

Todd — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 00:28:14 -0000

In writing the 3-4 defense primer for this year's edition for Yea Alabama, I was forced to cut a lot of the "history" aspects due to space limitations (and the fact that OTS's O-Line article went twice as long as oringally planned, with ~~sexy~~ awesome results), but a lot of it was fairly interesting stuff that I enjoyed researching and I'm sure a lot of you would be interested in. But, being the doofus that I am, I didn't bother saving the unused text after the article was submitted so....yeah. Thankfully, NFL Gridiron Gab has a great rundown on it's history and some interesting notes on our own beloved Nicktator and his development into one of the top coaches in the country under Bill Belichick.

When Belichick arrived (in Cleveland after a successful stint as DC of the New York Giants, a 3-4 team), he began dismantling not just the team but, in many respects, also the entire Browns organization so as to be able to rebuild it. From changing the way the Browns practiced, traveled and even ate, there was nothing he didn’t put his hands on.

Sound familiar? Not only did Saban learn about defense from one of the best defensive minds in the NFL, it would appear that the groundwork for The Process was laid in Cleveland as well. Further:

"Bill found a defensive coordinator he really liked in Nick Saban," said current Virginia HC Al Groh who was an assistant on Belichick’s Browns staff. "Even though the defense was the part of the team that Bill felt the most passionate about, he felt comfortable in putting Nick in charge of it. And Nick’s expertise was in the 4-3 — that was consistent with his background, that’s what he was familiar with — so that’s the defense he put in."

Two things to note here: First, Belichick was comfortable enough with Saban's abilities that he turned over the part of the team that got him the HC job in Cleveland to begin with, despite the fact that Saban ran a different defense than the one that had taken the Giants to two Super Bowl titles in five years with Belichick (and Lawrence Taylor) wreaking havoc on NFL offenses. Second, Saban continued to use the 4-3 scheme he was more familiar with from the time he took over as DC for the Browns up until his move to the Miami Dolphins. If you'll remember, Saban's defenses at LSU were 4-3 based defenses (you can actually download one of his LSU playbooks here, and every base diagram calls for four down linemen), and even during his time at Miami he was essentially running a 4-3 defense though most of his time with the Dolphins. I would happily wager that Jason Taylor, a prototypical "Jack" linebacker if there ever was one, had more to do with his move to a 3-4 scheme than anything. Taylor, who played weakside linebacker for Akron before moving to defensive end his senior year, was a versatile enough athlete to play with his hand down and standing up and gave Saban the ability to completely disguise his defensive front, something the 3-4 is tailor made for (and a topic I get into in Yea Alabama). Anyway, it's a great read and it ties in nicely with this Yea Alabama tease, so go check it out, right after you pre-order your copy of Yea Alabama '09 (remember, you need 42 copies). As for the tease:

...ooooooooo, pretty diagram...

ed.- Since I wasn't able to show a lot of the text that goes along with the diagram above, several astute commentators over at the tidesports forums have noted that the gap on the weakside is open, leaving the defense prone to a counter. The diagram is meant to illustrate the responsibilities of the Mike and Will in run support, i.e. filling any open gaps left by the down linemen. In this diagram, which is a straight power run to the strong (TE) side, the ball is already snapped and the defense has ostensibly read the play and is flowing towards the ball, meaning the Mike fills the open gap on the play side while the Will is left to "scrape" the play. Should they read counter to the weakside, the Will steps up to fill the open gap while the Mike trails or, conversely, if the back sees a cutback in the open A gap on the weakside, either the Will cuts back with him or one of the safeties comes up to make the tackle. Just to clear up any confusion...

Rachael Taylor wishes to inform you...

Todd — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 01:33:35 -0000

...that the countdown widget has returned. You're welcome.

A little something to get you pumped up this morning...

Todd — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 13:00:01 -0000

A little something to get you pumped up this morning...