Okay, so assume Stoops isn't going anywhere.

[phxcat]

There's some good news:

1. We have renewed reason for optimism about the D. They played very well night and have in three of the last 4 games (excluding only Oregon). The secondary stopped its leaking for the most part and we have Flowers, Mcnight and Shaq to grow into fixing any lingering issues. I would go so far as to say we are strong or solid next year at every position except DE.

2. We're not losing as much on OL as we might have thought at one point. I.e., replacing this unit shouldn't be that difficult.

3. It shouldn't be hard to find upgrades at K and P.

4. Dan Buckner. Not many teams add an experienced player like this overnight.

5. The only Pac 10 south team we play in our first 6 games is SC and they're barred from the championship game. I.e., if we're 2-4 heading into UCLA, the season will still be far from over.

[AZfootball18]

There needs to be a ton of changes everywhere. Stoops most likely won't be gone so he needs to start getting rid of people.. players (starting with the kicker) and coaches. On the other hand I'm excited about Buckner and the D next year. Lets just hope Criner comes back but it doesn't matter who comes back when we have horrible play calling and all around poor coaching.

[phenom5]

Stoops needs to...

Hire an OC.

Hire a Special Teams Coach.

Recruit Criner

Find a kicker.

[catgrad]

Stoops needs to...

Hire an OC.

Hire a Special Teams Coach.

Recruit Criner

Find a kicker.

Stoops needs to learn how to be a head coach. His in-game decisions are dreadful. He constantly seems blindsided by the events on the field and his reaction is to scream at assistants. He needs to be thinking 3-4 plays ahead of the game in his mind and be ready to make quick decisions. Right now, he thinks two-dimensionally and simply reacts to the action unfolding in front of him. Not a recipe for success.

[phenom5]

I've all but given up on Stoops learning to be a HC, and improving his in-game management. Honestly, I've pretty much given up on Stoops after last night, but I have a (sinking) feeling that we're stuck with him.

So in that regard, I'd like to see him bring in some good, knowledgeable, experienced assistant coaches to help him run the offense, and manage the game.

[azbbyes]

i don't agree the d was good against usc or asu. i do think the run defense improved against okstate. but golden, wilcox,perkins looked lost and there was no pass rush whatsoever. but i am also optimistic about next year thanks to addition by subtraction, and hopefully some coaching changes.

[Merkin]

Stoops needs to learn how to be a head coach.

And the first part of leading is delegating. He needs to hire an OC and give him complete free reign.

[Drugolf]

Stoops needs to learn how to be a head coach. His in-game decisions are dreadful. He constantly seems blindsided by the events on the field and his reaction is to scream at assistants. He needs to be thinking 3-4 plays ahead of the game in his mind and be ready to make quick decisions. Right now, he thinks two-dimensionally and simply reacts to the action unfolding in front of him. Not a recipe for success.

I agree Catgrad. The entire staff lack vision and creativity. Always seem to be functioning in a vacuum. The amount of offensive playmakers this team has should result in all sorts of creative plays and placalling that never seems to transpire.

[dmjcat]

There's some good news:

1. We have renewed reason for optimism about the D. They played very well night and have in three of the last 4 games (excluding only Oregon). The secondary stopped its leaking for the most part and we have Flowers, Mcnight and Shaq to grow into fixing any lingering issues. I would go so far as to say we are strong or solid next year at every position except DE.
agree although the DE hole is a big one
2. We're not losing as much on OL as we might have thought at one point. I.e., replacing this unit shouldn't be that difficult. Disagree completely. We seem to have a lot of posters that seem to think that we have boatloads of good OL in the wings.......we don't.

3. It shouldn't be hard to find upgrades at K and P.
Agree

4. Dan Buckner. Not many teams add an experienced player like this overnight. agree

5. The only Pac 10 south team we play in our first 6 games is SC and they're barred from the championship game. I.e., if we're 2-4 heading into UCLA, the season will still be far from over. Somewhat agree, the first part of the schedule is going to be brutal. I don't to even think about what OSU is going to do to us on the road

[Winger]

He needs to hire an OC and give him complete free reign.

Byrne would have to force this imo and he is not going to do that imo.

dmjcat - to give you hope on the oline, this year's oline imo was the worst in modern Arizona football history, next year's could hardly be worse.

[Adam Hawes]

The o-line is going to hurt losing the two tackles. It's been nice have A. Grant in there and healthy and I think Garcia has done a good job as well. In the time that Julsing saw when Garcia went down it got ugly in a big hurry. Hopefully we can get some guys coached up in a big hurry because if not next year could be painful to say the least.

[Winger]

It was crap before Julsing went down as well. From the first snap of the first game. Killed the team in about 10 different ways. I find it difficult to believe that next year's line could be worse, regardless of personnel. This year's was the worst offensive line I have seen at Arizona since I can remember, and we haven't exactly had a run of great o lines in the last 20 years. If next year's is worse you can forget about Stoops on the sideline in an Arizona uniform in 2012.

[dmjcat]

It was crap before Julsing went down as well. From the first snap of the first game. Killed the team in about 10 different ways. I find it difficult to believe that next year's line could be worse, regardless of personnel. This year's was the worst offensive line I have seen at Arizona since I can remember, and we haven't exactly had a run of great o lines in the last 20 years. If next year's is worse you can forget about Stoops on the sideline in an Arizona uniform in 2012.

No, its not difficult to believe. We were absolutely skunked in recruiting offensive lineman of any note in 2008, and 2009. Of the 4 we signed last year only one (Spurgeon) was highly thought of............and we all saw what the backups looked like this year. Add in the fact that we have lost out on all of the JUCO's we were pursuing (Fonoti may still be available) and we have what we have..........a very big problem for next year. The running game is going to be even worse. The best we can hope for is that Edmonds can pack 30-40 lbs of blubber on a few of the younger lineman so that the UA can fashion some sort of line that can give Foles 2 seconds to unload the ball. We are in BIG trouble on the offensive side of the ball. Everyone keeps yapping about Buckner, Wharton, Slavin, etc. It makes no difference who the receivers are when Foles is horizontal wondering what hit him.

[Adam Hawes]

Coach Ed is going to add weight and strength in the proper fashion to the young guys so 30 lbs of blubber is not going to happen. One thing the guys this year had was experience with and time in the program. It's hard to say at this point where the cieling for the younger guys is going to be but when you've got to replace this many starters all at once you're going to have problems.

[CatsbyAZ]

?: In the past three years when have the Wildcats had a nasty OL? 2008 when Britton was anchoring the Tackle spot? Seems like there's no shortage of criticism for the OL.

[Farva]

*Our run game can't be any worse. We didn't even have a run game. There was no consistency, and that was due to injuries. Next year we have Jared Baker coming in. I'm not even going to mention Carey, because I don't know what the hell is going on with that situation and if he comes, well that's icing on the cake. But as I was saying, we now are going to have about 5-6 running backs on the roster. The best will emerge, and don't be shocked to see Antolin, Nwoko, and Baker be the guys. I hope we stick with ONE main back as much as possible, and truly establish something. Without the run game.. we have a huge, huge problem. Bottom line: It can't be any worse than last year, and fans should be excited to see this position be one that improves.


*Our wide receiving group is deep, and pretty talented at the top. We now have good size as well. Their should be no excuses when it comes to our passing game. Foles seemed pretty accurate on his deep throws. We need to do that a bit more, take some more chances. If we don't, we're not going anywhere.

*O-line - No reason to be terrified about this. I'm not. That's not saying they might not play poorly or show their inexperience at times. But I just believe otherwise. Great size.


*Defense. I think the secondary will play better.. I think Mike Stoops wants to make sure of that. Our safeties will be better than this year's. A young D-line, but a talented and aggressive one.


If Arizona isn't afraid to take some chances, I think it has a chance to match this regular season's win total. And that's pretty good considering the schedule. However, I think Arizona could be one game better.. the schedule doesn't scary me as much as it does others. Let it fly, Foles.. and let him do it Litrell. And let the D continue to mix it up and rush 5 as it sometimes did in the bowl game. This team still has the talent, the speed, and the QB to be a dangerous team. Arizona is under the radar now. It's a perfect storm to jump up and bite people on the ass when even it's own fan base is not expecting it.

[illcat]

It appears as if Winger and I are in agreement about Stoops. He's not going anywhere he's at .500 and bowl games. So be prepared for the other shoe to drop which is coming next season 1-5 in the first 6 and probably 3 others after that. So hang on it's going to get worse.