Topic: So, do we still want to get rid of Doc?

[MUther]

No one in there right mind would get rid of a G5 team coach that is ranked and undefeated.  What kind of message would that send to someone we hiring.

and if we lose to Charlotte, AGAIN?  Doc's had lots of good seasons with unacceptable results.  I feel Doc is letting people do their jobs and staying out of the way.  All good with that.  I also want to see how Wells deals with a year of success.  Year one to two weren't kind to Litton and Green.  Want to see if he keeps his head on straight and continues to develop. 

[GreenDaddy]

I’ve been a big “get rid of Doc” man, but it maybe best if he stayed considering the way this season and team has pulled together. Team chemistry is a funny thing, and I’d be scared to mess with it right now. As someone pointed out above, with Covid hitting our budget and lack of quality coaches available we maybe better off standing Pat for 2 more years. Doc has loosened up the reigns this year and obviously given Cramsey more freedom. I like where we are at right now.

[MUther]

63 is not old.

A 63 year old who has played and coached for 75% of his life isn't going to go fish for the rest of it.  He has a solid staff and team in place and, particularly with an extra year eligibility option given to everyone, can do some really great things over the next few years and establish his legacy.

He has proven to be an every 5-6 years one hit wonder than a consistent coach building a legacy.  See 2013,14,15,16.  yes YES um  NO.   I don't want to see THAT repeat ever again.

[lexkyherdfan]

I’ve been a big “get rid of Doc” man, but it maybe best if he stayed considering the way this season and team has pulled together. Team chemistry is a funny thing, and I’d be scared to mess with it right now. As someone pointed out above, with Covid hitting our budget and lack of quality coaches available we maybe better off standing Pat for 2 more years. Doc has loosened up the reigns this year and obviously given Cramsey more freedom. I like where we are at right now.

It may not even be Doc giving Cramsey more freedom as much as Cramsey may not have felt comfortable with what he had driving the offense last couple years. It could have been both coaches. 

The one thing that has been really great is we have an excellent coaching staff.  We will lose some coaches if we do go undefeated.  I would hate that as we have some solid coaches and Brad Lambert has our defense playing lights out.  On offense...you can see when we get rolling how confident they are. Yesterday we started slow...it wasn’t because of bad play calls as much as Grant was overthrowing the receivers.  Looked like he was a little amped up from everything.  Once he settled down it rolled along. Look at his incompletions. Most were in first few drives.   

I just hope Covid doesn’t derail things.

[The E-Man]

I've been very critical of Doc, and rightfully so.. Doc has not been winning other than bowl games. We have suffered a lot of very humiliating losses both at home and away. This is the first time, we've had a good team since 2014. The question is, can Doc win another CUSA Championship and bowl game? If so, I'm all in giving Doc a year-to-year contract, based on his coaching performance.

[parshall2marshall]

I've been very critical of Doc, and rightfully so.. Doc has not been winning other than bowl games. We have suffered a lot of very humiliating losses both at home and away. This is the first time, we have a good team since 2014. The question is, can Doc win another CUSA Championship and bowl game? If so, I'm all in giving Doc a year-to-year contract, based on his coaching performance.

It is obvious ( to me at least ) that this Season has been "set up" in so many ways and for a very long time. Maybe even dating back to Snyder. I saw the "predictor" thread from the analysts with the Herd in the 90%-ile range for victory in our final 3 regular season games. Gave me a chuckle because 2 or 3 bad bounces aren't going to cost us any of those games, for example.

But if it doesn't lead to a better conference affiliation and more $$ for Marshall it won't mean much in the longer run.

[herdfan129]

I have been in the "Fire Doc" camp for a long time now. Just look at the signature in all of my posts lol

If....this is a big IF with Doc as our HC.....but if he can finish this season undefeated and ranked in the Top 15 then I will 100% support giving him another 1-3 years.

If he manages to lose to Charlotte, Rice, FIU, or in the championship game (if we make it) then he has to go imo. The bowl game I will hold off on to see who we play before I comment on that.

For now, I'm going to enjoy the success of this season.

[THECHAMPISHERE]

I have been in the "Fire Doc" camp for a long time now. Just look at the signature in all of my posts lol

If....this is a big IF with Doc as our HC.....but if he can finish this season undefeated and ranked in the Top 15 then I will 100% support giving him another 1-3 years.

If he manages to lose to Charlotte, Rice, FIU, or in the championship game (if we make it) then he has to go imo. The bowl game I will hold off on to see who we play before I comment on that.

For now, I'm going to enjoy the success of this season.

Very reasonable answer considering what we've been through for the last decade.

[herdorbust]

Only one guys opinion. But the sooner the better for me.

[MicDrass1]

This staff has done a great job!  I can’t deny that!!  Wells has changed everything!!!  Knew he was special after reviewing his Hs film.  I’m glad our best qb is now playing and performing well!!!!!!  He’s going to be a national star!!!  Drayton and Sapp have glued the secondary together. 

[bbcard1]

I am pretty sure either Lambert of Cramsey is our next head coach.  That said, they may get a coordinator call for a bigger school that will pay more than our head coach gets. I am fine with keeping Doc until he retires.

[Herdmeister]

Herd2, the one singular thing that jumps out to me about Lambert's unit is how well they have been tackling. Solid tackling can really make up for missed assignments, along with team speed.

In this current environment, there's no way MH will pull the plug on Doc. If Doc is gone, it'll be Doc's choice.

It would have always been Doc's choice.  MH would never let him go unless like when he was at ECU he was ordered to do so

[Herd72]

Even an undefeated season and something decent in the way of a bowl game does not make up for all the years of bone numbing poor decision making in my book. A wise coach once said great players make good coaches. I truly believe had fate and Covid not intervened with the schedule we were supposed to play and Green at QB it would have been another mediocre year. I am not giddy with excitement about wins over the likes of Eastern KY and UMass. He will stay if he wants, but I would prefer a change.

[herdinphilly]

Season isn’t even close to being over. A lot of things can happen.

That’s some strong optimism.

[svherd]

I believe everyone knows that the problem was for the last two years. When CL, unexpectedly left, it left Doc with IG. What this year has shown how lean we were at that position.
I honestly feel a little bit bad for Doc and Cramsey. Must have been terrible not being able to play your style of football in order to compensate for an inept QB. There is some blame
that the staff didn't have anyone waiting in the wings after CL. With that said I don't believe it's fair for his recruits to have a good year and then fire the HC. Not that I would give him another 5-10 year extension. A shorter two-year contract or year to year may be in order.

We’ve been bad since 2015. CL was a cancer, IG was a cancer. This team genuinely likes one another and you can see that. That hasn’t been the case since 2014.

Doc needs let the OC and DC do their jobs. I don’t have an issue keeping him around if he does that. We can’t play ultra conservative. Having Wells helps immensely

[Echo 5]

I could be wrong, but isn't Mike Hamrick's contract up around the same time as Doc's contract (next June)?  If so, I wonder what impact that has on things (especially if Mike wants to move on)?

I've been as critical of Doc as anyone, and on a normal year I'd probably hope this was it.  COVID has made this year far from normal, and I don't think we'd want to risk a new HC hire in early 2021 for many reasons.  Assuming they want it, I'm betting Doc and Hamrick both get short extensions (1 year or so) just until things return to some level of normalcy and predictability.

[longtimeherdfan]

Yes. Because we need to look at what's going to make the program better 5 and 10 years down the road. Even if that means going and finding a coach who will only be in Huntington for the next 4 to 5 years before moving on to a bigger program. If those 4 to 5 years improves the program, it's a win.

As stated in an earlier post, given the budget issues, perhaps the best decision is to have Doc as the coach for the 2021 season. However, if his replacement can be found for the same money being budgeted for his salary, then pull the trigger after this season.

[coalherd]

Believe me, MU's financial situation may be the biggest factor in determining the next MU head coach.  Falling or at least stagnant enrollment prior to the COVID outbreak/crisis means not a lot of $$$$ just laying around Old Main and elsewhere on campus.

MU is in the middle of trying to complete ambitious fund raising campaigns again in the middle of the COVID pandemic:  the Herd Rises and the Marshall Rises fund raisers.  No discretionary dollars around, that I can foresee, to go out and hire a new Head Coach who no doubt will ask for a more lucrative deal overall than Doc has.  Don't imagine Doc would require a precipitous jump in pay to stick around for another season or two.  Ideally, COVID will be "under control" and vaccines for the virus will be both plentiful and available for nearly the whole country's population by the time the 2021 season rolls around.  Prospects of another great season in 2021 with FULL CAPACITY allowed at the JOAN, and perhaps also at the CAM, should bring a boost in MU's financial/$$$$ picture overall athletically speaking.

[IM4DHERD]

We are in good hands for the time being.

[pdunn]

In this season like no other, I'm very happy that the Herd is undefeated. 

But....

We're still talking about the guy who punted on fourth and one on the UNCC 30 last year, a game he not only lost but his offense didn't score a TD.  With the East title on the line.

If not for IG leaving after what was reported to be a complete meltdown would he be starting this season instead of Wells, given Doc's preference to stick with "his guy" that we've seen for years?  I doubt it but who knows.

Yeah, that was a good win over App State but otherwise we've been playing a schedule of teams that are so bad that if they played an intrasquad scrimmage both sides would lose.

I'm still holding my breath for Doc to get this done and not mess this up somehow, he has three games to do it and one is on the road, plus the championship game (fingers crossed) and a bowl game.

We can't build a program on a guy that just treads water, and exceeds expectations once every six years, just in time for a contract extension.  It's about building consistent excellence.

Having said all of that this is a good team, we really don't know how good because they have not played anyone that is "really good" too.  If you want to extend him a year, OK, to see how this bunch does when they play some teams with a pulse in a non-pandemic year but no more at this point.  One good year against a bunch of really bad competition doesn't wipe out all the really really bad coaching since 2014.

[goherd24]

Yes. He is still not the answer at coach. He didn't magically figure it out after a decade. It's still too early to be seen if he can actually not choke and win a title. This is a special group of talent, the kind Doc needs to win a title in cusa. We have had the most talented team in this conference for at least 7 of Docs 10 seasons and found a way touck it up. He found a way to lose to WKU and barely eek out a title game win over an la tech team missing about a 1/4 of their starters. He lost a title game to rice in embarrassing fashion. You must remember that we are playing the absolute worst competition in D1 football. Period. And we have 1 title in 10 years.

I am thankful that we have a great team this season, and especially that we have it on the 50th anniversary, but i still want a new coach that can win, without requiring overwhelming superior talent. And honestly, we would be awful had Green not went crazy, he would still be starting, because Doc can't evaluate the talent he has on his team and super star players continue to be discovered onoy after injuries or defections.

That being said, you can't fire the man, if we finish undefeated and with a top 15 ranking and cusa title. You just can't. He mucks it up and we end up without a title, then see ya later.

[herdorbust]

Doc hasn’t had a chance to screw it up this season. We have a solid team all around and the competition has just been horrendous. He hasn’t been in any close hard fought games to go ultra conservative. I would still love to see this team get a chance to play someone legit just to see where they really stand. This is the first year I have had zero doubt we would win the conference.  It just seems like every team in the conference crashed this year besides us.

[MUsince96]

I think he plans to step away after this year.

[MU@el1919]

I'm good with Doc staying as long as he can keep the staff intact. May be difficult to Keep Lambert but he has done a good job of hiring DC's.  Except for the first hire....:)

[Thundering In MD]

It doesn't have to be a long term contract extension.  I am OK with giving him another year.  While most of us have something that we don't like about Doc's tenure (for me it was playing Green starting in the second half at Boise), he stabilized the program.

Snyder had us in a death spiral.  While some argue that his last year showed that he was improving and that he played the hardest schedule ever, that didn't impact his game management, which did not improve much.  Anyone still remember the reverse in the end zone at UAB?  The issue that most cite to against Doc is that he sits on a lead. 

This year's defense is one of the best that I can remember.  Wells is something special.  We are nationally ranked and back on TV. 

I say give him a one year extension.  If he wants a second year and he has us nationally ranked again, give him another one year extension.