DMC praising ND O-line coach

[jlasson]

I saw in an interview with ND media when DMC got the generic "what do you like about this opportunity at Notre Dame?"

He briefly touched on the history of the program before praising the entire offensive staff at Notre Dame. He made a point to single out Harry Hiestand as someone he is really excited to work with. He also talked about how he was excited to be surrounded by a bunch of "experts" at their positions. Now obviously any good coach is going to show excitement about his new job to the local media no matter where he goes, but the fact these statements are pretty telling to me.

Look DMC clearly didn't plan to be a lifer when he came back to IU, he's not a play caller so he wasn't going to take the OC job and he wants to be a HC someday so he needs to continue moving up the ranks as quick as possible if that's his end goal. I won't argue that ND RB coach is a promotion from IU running backs coach in any given year, but his comments are still pretty jarring to say the least, this dude clearly has no faith in the current staff on the offensive side of the ball.

I don't want to be negative, I'll reserve judgment for Bell before he calls his first game, and Heard has had some success in the past so I'll give him a one year mulligan as well but I'm not reserving any judgment for Hiller, you're either a good coach or you aren't and Hiller has proven he is the latter. Everyone knows a position group should steadily improve the longer an assistant coach has been at his position, getting to recruit and develop your own players is usually a boost from inheriting someone else's guys. Hiller has been here a full 5 years, every single offensive linemen on Indiana's roster was someone he recruited. We all have eyes and can see that there was just nothing working right with his O-line. Looking at the O-line since Hiller was hired, there will have been 3 OC's one great, one terrible, and one average. The O-line performance has remained the same since Hiller was hired: awful, you don't have to be an expert in math to understand the constant in this equation. There's just no excuse for this man to be on staff and I'm going to keep saying it until something changes with the Hoosiers O-line.

 

[IndyIUFan66]

It’s frustrating to feel this way (as so many do) but few like Tom Allen is refusing to see this as openly as he should.

We know he is willing to make changes. He fired his first S/C coach day after season 1. He fired Sheridan by 10am day after PU game this year. I get sense Warren DC was behind scenes “encouraged” but I don’t know anything definitive.

But c’mon, 5 years of a body of work and a pure, dry eyed analysis of the IUFB program would say the OL has NOT been a place of strength. Yet Hiller is up to $550K a year Coach still on staff and it is hard to understand it.

I love IUFB and I’m pulling for Tom Allen, who has upped recruiting incredibly and has made some good hires on his coaching staff.

This is the main sticking point most hardcore fans have right now. If News broke a great new OL coach we’re coming in, I can’t think of anything else I could criticize now - meaning until the new OC & DC plays next year and we see the results, I am optimistic about a turnaround next season. Think the Defense will be solid again. But the offense is on the hot seat and the main are of concern is OL!!

 

[Walt542]

OK. Everybody has a grip about Hiller still having his job. I too am wondering how that is. But it is getting really old guys. CTA is apparently going with him for whatever reason and we just keep beating that drum on here. Maybe it is time to give it a rest and just watch to see what happens. I think CTA is the best coach IU has had in a while and he gets to make those decisions for whatever his reasons are which he is not sharing with us. I am getting kind of tired of reading the same old thing every day about it.

 

[jsenleo]

OK. Everybody has a grip about Hiller still having his job. I too am wondering how that is. But it is getting really old guys. CTA is apparently going with him for whatever reason and we just keep beating that drum on here. Maybe it is time to give it a rest and just watch to see what happens. I think CTA is the best coach IU has had in a while and he gets to make those decisions for whatever his reasons are which he is not sharing with us. I am getting kind of tired of reading the same old thing every day about it.

Yep, coming here anymore does seem like Groundhog Day.

 

[MyTeamIsOnTheFloor]

I saw in an interview with ND media when DMC got the generic "what do you like about this opportunity at Notre Dame?"

He briefly touched on the history of the program before praising the entire offensive staff at Notre Dame. He made a point to single out Harry Hiestand as someone he is really excited to work with. He also talked about how he was excited to be surrounded by a bunch of "experts" at their positions. Now obviously any good coach is going to show excitement about his new job to the local media no matter where he goes, but the fact these statements are pretty telling to me.

Look DMC clearly didn't plan to be a lifer when he came back to IU, he's not a play caller so he wasn't going to take the OC job and he wants to be a HC someday so he needs to continue moving up the ranks as quick as possible if that's his end goal. I won't argue that ND RB coach is a promotion from IU running backs coach in any given year, but his comments are still pretty jarring to say the least, this dude clearly has no faith in the current staff on the offensive side of the ball.

I don't want to be negative, I'll reserve judgment for Bell before he calls his first game, and Heard has had some success in the past so I'll give him a one year mulligan as well but I'm not reserving any judgment for Hiller, you're either a good coach or you aren't and Hiller has proven he is the latter. Everyone knows a position group should steadily improve the longer an assistant coach has been at his position, getting to recruit and develop your own players is usually a boost from inheriting someone else's guys. Hiller has been here a full 5 years, every single offensive linemen on Indiana's roster was someone he recruited. We all have eyes and can see that there was just nothing working right with his O-line. Looking at the O-line since Hiller was hired, there will have been 3 OC's one great, one terrible, and one average. The O-line performance has remained the same since Hiller was hired: awful, you don't have to be an expert in math to understand the constant in this equation. There's just no excuse for this man to be on staff and I'm going to keep saying it until something changes with the Hoosiers O-line.

McCullough’s comments at ND were just coach-speak. Typical pablum for the media and message boards. I wouldn’t read too much into them.

I did take note of our new guy Craig Johnson saying the OC dictates a lot of what a RB coach needs to do. Now THAT makes me ponder.

 

[jlasson]

OK. Everybody has a grip about Hiller still having his job. I too am wondering how that is. But it is getting really old guys. CTA is apparently going with him for whatever reason and we just keep beating that drum on here. Maybe it is time to give it a rest and just watch to see what happens. I think CTA is the best coach IU has had in a while and he gets to make those decisions for whatever his reasons are which he is not sharing with us. I am getting kind of tired of reading the same old thing every day about it.

I want to be supportive of CTA, many people on this board know I defended CTA during the season when he was getting a lot of flack for his blowout losses early in the year. As Indy IU fan said, the only consistent criticism most of us have for him is Hiller, but IMO, O-line coach is the 3rd most important assistant coach on the team behind the two coordinators, it cannot be overlooked and given the performance of the O-line over the last three years, I can't help but question the judgment of anyone who thinks the man in charge of that position should return in 2022.

I still believe in CTA, but I'm not going to hold back about the O-line until something changes on the field, if by some miracle Hiller actually fields a competitive O-line for the first time since he inherited Kevin Wilson's Offensive players, I will stop my critiques. Since I don't believe that miracle will happen, the much more logical change that needs to happen is getting someone new at the helm. The apathy this fanbase has is the reason Dolson and Allen haven't been held accountable for making necessary changes.

I'm not saying we have to be as quick to pull the trigger on coaches as OSU/Bama, but I think there was a stronger case for Hiller to be fired after this season than Sheridan. At least Sheridan had to deal with a mess at O-line, walk on running backs, losing IU's best receiver 1/4 of the way through the year, and of course had to decide between a walk on or a true freshman non early enrollee at QB for the last 6 games of the year. Obviously his play calling should still have been called into question, but there are far more reasonable excuses to be made for the him than Hiller. The O-line stayed remarkably healthy all year, they were still awful from start to finish for the 3rd straight year.

 

[vesuvius13]

Hopefully the OL will be much better this year or Hiller will be gone after this year. He did much better at smaller schools but not in the B1G. This year will tell the tale on Hiller.

 

[MyTeamIsOnTheFloor]

Hopefully the OL will be much better this year or Hiller will be gone after this year. He did much better at smaller schools but not in the B1G. This year will tell the tale on Hiller.

Correct.

The margin of error at smaller schools is larger too. For example, Sun Belt and CUSA schools hardly ever face a PLAYER with Big Ten East-quality talent, much less a whole team of them.


We gotta step up - one and all.

 

[Crossblock]

And Why wouldn't He be excited about working with Hilestand as OL? Professional and College experience Who has shown ability to teach and improve OL. Favorable experience with Illinois, the Bears and others. As opposed to Darren Hiller whose success includes .......

 

[IndyIUFan66]

I hope Tom Allen is aware of the OL coach concerns. He should have his finger on the pulse of things. If Dolson is involved (ie we do t have the budget to fire him/eat a contract) then at least Allen could be having those conversations privately with him. But if it were more “hard to fire a friend” then he should know it could really hurt his future and be careful not judging results on field unemotionally!

 

[Indianaftw]

McCullough’s comments at ND were just coach-speak. Typical pablum for the media and message boards. I wouldn’t read too much into them.

I did take note of our new guy Craig Johnson saying the OC dictates a lot of what a RB coach needs to do. Now THAT makes me ponder.

Not trying to argue, but coach speak??? I would take Harry Hiestand in a heartbeat. He's a bad ass line coach. jus sayin.

Marcus Freeman has assembled a freakin awesome staff and they are already killing it in recruiting with the top rated class going into next year.

 

[MyTeamIsOnTheFloor]

Not trying to argue, but coach speak??? I would take Harry Hiestand in a heartbeat. He's a bad ass line coach. jus sayin.

Marcus Freeman has assembled a freakin awesome staff and they are already killing it in recruiting with the top rated class going into next year.

Agreed, but …

Coaches never say “my new team and coaching staff stink.” Its always “thank God I got this wonderful opportunity.”

And never “thank God I got out of that hellhole I just left.”

 

[Big Red Crimson Buffalo]

I agree that Hiller stinks. It’s some kind of “friends and family plan” going on with that one and many head coaches get fired for being too loyal to underperforming assistants. This is the gamble Allen is taking and good luck to him on that, It could be the fatal decision that gets him canned.
As far as DMC: the guy always struck me as being loyal. Loyal only to himself. He’s trying to chart his path to be a head coach some day. No shame in that but I think he was part of the chemistry problem on this team. He brought in “his guy” from his former team, ran everyone else off. In that sense, the guy was a new coach on the staff and wasn’t open to looking at his full RB room. He had the RB position pegged from day 1 and everyone already on the roster wasn’t going to get the opportunity. He bungled the RB room himself from Day 1. Sure, blame some of that on the OL but how do you play two walk-on’s over everyone else? He claimed he made the move from the Chiefs to IU because he “just loved Bloomington and IU.” Right.
He was here thinking he’d be on a fast track to OC or Allen’s replacement. He saw that wasn’t going to be the path and he bolted.
Now, he gets to work at ND with a guy who he figures will be more “receptive” to him moving up. Quite frankly, the guy always came across as down-to-earth in his conversations but not entirely the brightest mind.
My prediction is that his kids end up there eventually and if he doesn’t move up, he’ll bolt again within 2 seasons.
Just watch how this plays out. He doesn’t stay anywhere long and he’s hunting for bigger goals.

 

[Hoosier Clarion]

I saw in an interview with ND media when DMC got the generic "what do you like about this opportunity at Notre Dame?"

He briefly touched on the history of the program before praising the entire offensive staff at Notre Dame. He made a point to single out Harry Hiestand as someone he is really excited to work with. He also talked about how he was excited to be surrounded by a bunch of "experts" at their positions. Now obviously any good coach is going to show excitement about his new job to the local media no matter where he goes, but the fact these statements are pretty telling to me.

Look DMC clearly didn't plan to be a lifer when he came back to IU, he's not a play caller so he wasn't going to take the OC job and he wants to be a HC someday so he needs to continue moving up the ranks as quick as possible if that's his end goal. I won't argue that ND RB coach is a promotion from IU running backs coach in any given year, but his comments are still pretty jarring to say the least, this dude clearly has no faith in the current staff on the offensive side of the ball.

I don't want to be negative, I'll reserve judgment for Bell before he calls his first game, and Heard has had some success in the past so I'll give him a one year mulligan as well but I'm not reserving any judgment for Hiller, you're either a good coach or you aren't and Hiller has proven he is the latter. Everyone knows a position group should steadily improve the longer an assistant coach has been at his position, getting to recruit and develop your own players is usually a boost from inheriting someone else's guys. Hiller has been here a full 5 years, every single offensive linemen on Indiana's roster was someone he recruited. We all have eyes and can see that there was just nothing working right with his O-line. Looking at the O-line since Hiller was hired, there will have been 3 OC's one great, one terrible, and one average. The O-line performance has remained the same since Hiller was hired: awful, you don't have to be an expert in math to understand the constant in this equation. There's just no excuse for this man to be on staff and I'm going to keep saying it until something changes with the Hoosiers O-line.

Seems to me normal, natural and routine new team coach interview rhetoric. Not a hell of a lot different theme than our own new RB Coach talked of. Actually a very good move for DMac.

 

[Jssanto]

OK. Everybody has a grip about Hiller still having his job. I too am wondering how that is. But it is getting really old guys. CTA is apparently going with him for whatever reason and we just keep beating that drum on here. Maybe it is time to give it a rest and just watch to see what happens. I think CTA is the best coach IU has had in a while and he gets to make those decisions for whatever his reasons are which he is not sharing with us. I am getting kind of tired of reading the same old thing every day about it.

I understand your point but how many years of under production are you allowed?

 

[Walt542]

I understand your point but how many years of under production are you allowed?

Well, the thing is that it is not for us to decide. Do you think starting new thread after new thread on here is going to change CTA’s mind on the matter? I’m just saying that we have beat that horse dead and then dead again. We are going to have to live with the decision now so we might as well get used to it.

 

[Hoosiers Rising]

Well, the thing is that it is not for us to decide. Do you think starting new thread after new thread on here is going to change CTA’s mind on the matter? I’m just saying that we have beat that horse dead and then dead again. We are going to have to live with the decision now so we might as well get used to it.

That’s like a CEO telling the stock holders that it isn’t up to them so they better just get used to it. That’s how you end up with the same 15 or 20 thousand geezers at the game that have always been there no matter what. My plan is to go old school this season and listen to the radio while I do something constructive. If they win I will be happy and if they lose at least I didn’t waste my time.

 

[jlasson]

That’s like a CEO telling the stock holders that it isn’t up to them so they better just get used to it. That’s how you end up with the same 15 or 20 thousand geezers at the game that have always been there no matter what. My plan is to go old school this season and listen to the radio while I do something constructive. If they win I will be happy and if they lose at least I didn’t waste my time.

Exactly my point. You want people to fill Memorial Stadium like you're a big time program, then you need to maintain the standards of a big time program. Obviously that doesn't mean recruiting or winning at their level, but at the very least holding your players and coaches accountable and taking action when they don't meet basic standards.

 

[jsenleo]

That’s like a CEO telling the stock holders that it isn’t up to them so they better just get used to it. That’s how you end up with the same 15 or 20 thousand geezers at the game that have always been there no matter what. My plan is to go old school this season and listen to the radio while I do something constructive. If they win I will be happy and if they lose at least I didn’t waste my time.

... oh really.... Vote for Megan!

 

[Walt542]

That’s like a CEO telling the stock holders that it isn’t up to them so they better just get used to it. That’s how you end up with the same 15 or 20 thousand geezers at the game that have always been there no matter what. My plan is to go old school this season and listen to the radio while I do something constructive. If they win I will be happy and if they lose at least I didn’t waste my time.

Company makes money the people buy the stock. Football team wins games people come to the games no matter who the coach is. Simple.

I hope IU wins lots of games this year whoever is coaching the OL. As I said, I am just as concerned as everyone else by what I have seen. I am not on the inside to know why the decision is what it is. But it seems to be done and I get tired of hearing the same old arguments again and again. That’s all I’m saying. We don’t know what is going if on in the inside.

The only thing we can do is accept it or withdrawal our support. Some on here seem to be to that point. But I bet they jump right back on the band wagon if IU starts winning again. I call them fair weather fans. But, to each his own.

 

[jlasson]

Company makes money the people buy the stock. Football team wins games people come to the games no matter who the coach is. Simple.

I hope IU wins lots of games this year whoever is coaching the OL. As I said, I am just as concerned as everyone else by what I have seen. I am not on the inside to know why the decision is what it is. But it seems to be done and I get tired of hearing the same old arguments again and again. That’s all I’m saying. We don’t know what is going if on in the inside.

The only thing we can do is accept it or withdrawal our support. Some on here seem to be to that point. But I bet they jump right back on the band wagon if IU starts winning again. I call them fair weather fans. But, to each his own.

Your first sentence is terribly untrue. If a company starts to fail, people sell the stock, making the company worth less. If a football team fails, fans stop buying tix/merchendise/donations, making it much more difficult for the football program to succeed. Obviously coaches are not obliged to follow what the fans say in the same way that a company is obliged to follow the wishes of the shareholders, but the concept of fans having power is definitely true.

If IU had a real fanbase in football like it does in basketball, Dolson would've told Allen(who has shown a pathetically undying loyalty to Hiller) he needs to get rid of him after the season ends because it's clear Hiller is not a good coach and he's facing pressure from doners and the rest of the fanbase to make changes. As it is, Dolson doesn't give a sh*t about the football program and is allowing Allen to do whatever he wants even after a 2-10 season. The IU Football program is still being run like a bottom feeder, the 2021 record was just the tip of the iceberg.

 

[Jssanto]

Well, the thing is that it is not for us to decide. Do you think starting new thread after new thread on here is going to change CTA’s mind on the matter? I’m just saying that we have beat that horse dead and then dead again. We are going to have to live with the decision now so we might as well get used to it.

New thought.
Is it possible Hiller can be improved?

 

[Walt542]

Your first sentence is terribly untrue. If a company starts to fail, people sell the stock, making the company worth less. If a football team fails, fans stop buying tix/merchendise/donations, making it much more difficult for the football program to succeed. Obviously coaches are not obliged to follow what the fans say in the same way that a company is obliged to follow the wishes of the shareholders, but the concept of fans having power is definitely true.

If IU had a real fanbase in football like it does in basketball, Dolson would've told Allen(who has shown a pathetically undying loyalty to Hiller) he needs to get rid of him after the season ends because it's clear Hiller is not a good coach and he's facing pressure from doners and the rest of the fanbase to make changes. As it is, Dolson doesn't give a sh*t about the football program and is allowing Allen to do whatever he wants even after a 2-10 season. The IU Football program is still being run like a bottom feeder, the 2021 record was just the tip of the iceberg.

Um excuse me? You say my first statement is untrue and then confirm my point by making the exact same case only on the negative view? Well, OK. A company makes money people buy the stock. They loose money people dump the stock.

And then you say, if we had a ”real” fan base the AD would have had Hiller fired because the donors were putting pressure on him? Perhaps, but that to me sounds like a pretty far fetched assumption. Anytime any manager succumbs to the outside pressure from people that don’t really know what is going on they are going to create chaos within the organization. No one will want to work there. It cannot be sustained. I hope IU is not so weak as to respond to a little pressure from a fan base that gets so emotional over things they do not really understand.

Perhaps IU football made a bad decision? You and I do not really know that. Perhaps that has been the case many times over the years and that is what got us into this situation. But perhaps there are other factors that have played a big part too? Probably a case of a combination of both of those, but I will tell you that no matter what the case, if IU were to start letting donor and fan pressure run the AD then things would get much much worse much much faster.

 

[ElMeson]

It’s not a coincidence that the OL has regressed every year that CTA has been HC. CKW was a former OL and OL coach. He knew what he was looking for in a lineman. Hiller and CTA obviously don’t.

 

[Hoosier Clarion]

Your first sentence is terribly untrue. If a company starts to fail, people sell the stock, making the company worth less. If a football team fails, fans stop buying tix/merchendise/donations, making it much more difficult for the football program to succeed. Obviously coaches are not obliged to follow what the fans say in the same way that a company is obliged to follow the wishes of the shareholders, but the concept of fans having power is definitely true.

If IU had a real fanbase in football like it does in basketball, Dolson would've told Allen(who has shown a pathetically undying loyalty to Hiller) he needs to get rid of him after the season ends because it's clear Hiller is not a good coach and he's facing pressure from doners and the rest of the fanbase to make changes. As it is, Dolson doesn't give a sh*t about the football program and is allowing Allen to do whatever he wants even after a 2-10 season. The IU Football program is still being run like a bottom feeder, the 2021 record was just the tip of the iceberg.

...let's see, didn't we have to start a walk-on, 4th string QB?...I thought so...

 

[Hoosiers Rising]

Um excuse me? You say my first statement is untrue and then confirm my point by making the exact same case only on the negative view? Well, OK. A company makes money people buy the stock. They loose money people dump the stock.

And then you say, if we had a ”real” fan base the AD would have had Hiller fired because the donors were putting pressure on him? Perhaps, but that to me sounds like a pretty far fetched assumption. Anytime any manager succumbs to the outside pressure from people that don’t really know what is going on they are going to create chaos within the organization. No one will want to work there. It cannot be sustained. I hope IU is not so weak as to respond to a little pressure from a fan base that gets so emotional over things they do not really understand.

Perhaps IU football made a bad decision? You and I do not really know that. Perhaps that has been the case many times over the years and that is what got us into this situation. But perhaps there are other factors that have played a big part too? Probably a case of a combination of both of those, but I will tell you that no matter what the case, if IU were to start letting donor and fan pressure run the AD then things would get much much worse much much faster.

Allen has made his decision. If we have another year like last year he will be done. Maybe not immediately but the writing will be on the wall in CAPS. I hope it was the right decision but I’m extremely dubious.

 

[Hoosier Clarion]

Um excuse me? You say my first statement is untrue and then confirm my point by making the exact same case only on the negative view? Well, OK. A company makes money people buy the stock. They loose money people dump the stock.

And then you say, if we had a ”real” fan base the AD would have had Hiller fired because the donors were putting pressure on him? Perhaps, but that to me sounds like a pretty far fetched assumption. Anytime any manager succumbs to the outside pressure from people that don’t really know what is going on they are going to create chaos within the organization. No one will want to work there. It cannot be sustained. I hope IU is not so weak as to respond to a little pressure from a fan base that gets so emotional over things they do not really understand.

Perhaps IU football made a bad decision? You and I do not really know that. Perhaps that has been the case many times over the years and that is what got us into this situation. But perhaps there are other factors that have played a big part too? Probably a case of a combination of both of those, but I will tell you that no matter what the case, if IU were to start letting donor and fan pressure run the AD then things would get much much worse much much faster.

...the old 1, 2 punch...

 

[Hoosier Clarion]

I truly believe Coach Allen knows something we don't and it must have something to do with NS.

 

[MyTeamIsOnTheFloor]

Allen has made his decision. If we have another year like last year he will be done. Maybe not immediately but the writing will be on the wall in CAPS. I hope it was the right decision but I’m extremely dubious.

If our running game improves in ‘22, I will bet NOW that folks won’t agree that Hiller had anything to with it. It will be “New OC and New RB Coach improved it despite Hiller.”

I won’t care WHY it improves, I just need 4 ypc. Glad to share the glory.

 

[DANC]

Well, the thing is that it is not for us to decide. Do you think starting new thread after new thread on here is going to change CTA’s mind on the matter? I’m just saying that we have beat that horse dead and then dead again. We are going to have to live with the decision now so we might as well get used to it.

I still don't think it's 100% certain Hiller will be back.

We'll see how the new OC and RB coach mesh with Hiller and how they trust him. They'll need to go through Spring practice. After that, if there's a problem, I think they'll let Allen know. Hiring and firing can happen any time of the year.

But I agree - this horse has long been dead.

 

[vesuvius13]

I agree that Hiller stinks. It’s some kind of “friends and family plan” going on with that one and many head coaches get fired for being too loyal to underperforming assistants. This is the gamble Allen is taking and good luck to him on that, It could be the fatal decision that gets him canned.
As far as DMC: the guy always struck me as being loyal. Loyal only to himself. He’s trying to chart his path to be a head coach some day. No shame in that but I think he was part of the chemistry problem on this team. He brought in “his guy” from his former team, ran everyone else off. In that sense, the guy was a new coach on the staff and wasn’t open to looking at his full RB room. He had the RB position pegged from day 1 and everyone already on the roster wasn’t going to get the opportunity. He bungled the RB room himself from Day 1. Sure, blame some of that on the OL but how do you play two walk-on’s over everyone else? He claimed he made the move from the Chiefs to IU because he “just loved Bloomington and IU.” Right.
He was here thinking he’d be on a fast track to OC or Allen’s replacement. He saw that wasn’t going to be the path and he bolted.
Now, he gets to work at ND with a guy who he figures will be more “receptive” to him moving up. Quite frankly, the guy always came across as down-to-earth in his conversations but not entirely the brightest mind.
My prediction is that his kids end up there eventually and if he doesn’t move up, he’ll bolt again within 2 seasons.
Just watch how this plays out. He doesn’t stay anywhere long and he’s hunting for bigger goals.

I doubt Hiller will be here after this season unless the IU OL improves a lot. IU needs a much better OL coach. Hiller looked better at polar dip than before so he must being dieting and working out.

I saw in an interview with ND media when DMC got the generic "what do you like about this opportunity at Notre Dame?"

He briefly touched on the history of the program before praising the entire offensive staff at Notre Dame. He made a point to single out Harry Hiestand as someone he is really excited to work with. He also talked about how he was excited to be surrounded by a bunch of "experts" at their positions. Now obviously any good coach is going to show excitement about his new job to the local media no matter where he goes, but the fact these statements are pretty telling to me.

Look DMC clearly didn't plan to be a lifer when he came back to IU, he's not a play caller so he wasn't going to take the OC job and he wants to be a HC someday so he needs to continue moving up the ranks as quick as possible if that's his end goal. I won't argue that ND RB coach is a promotion from IU running backs coach in any given year, but his comments are still pretty jarring to say the least, this dude clearly has no faith in the current staff on the offensive side of the ball.

I don't want to be negative, I'll reserve judgment for Bell before he calls his first game, and Heard has had some success in the past so I'll give him a one year mulligan as well but I'm not reserving any judgment for Hiller, you're either a good coach or you aren't and Hiller has proven he is the latter. Everyone knows a position group should steadily improve the longer an assistant coach has been at his position, getting to recruit and develop your own players is usually a boost from inheriting someone else's guys. Hiller has been here a full 5 years, every single offensive linemen on Indiana's roster was someone he recruited. We all have eyes and can see that there was just nothing working right with his O-line. Looking at the O-line since Hiller was hired, there will have been 3 OC's one great, one terrible, and one average. The O-line performance has remained the same since Hiller was hired: awful, you don't have to be an expert in math to understand the constant in this equation. There's just no excuse for this man to be on staff and I'm going to keep saying it until something changes with the Hoosiers O-line.

The ND OL is the type of OL we would like to see at IU. Hopefully this year will show that or we get a new OL coach.

 

[jlasson]

Um excuse me? You say my first statement is untrue and then confirm my point by making the exact same case only on the negative view? Well, OK. A company makes money people buy the stock. They loose money people dump the stock.

And then you say, if we had a ”real” fan base the AD would have had Hiller fired because the donors were putting pressure on him? Perhaps, but that to me sounds like a pretty far fetched assumption. Anytime any manager succumbs to the outside pressure from people that don’t really know what is going on they are going to create chaos within the organization. No one will want to work there. It cannot be sustained. I hope IU is not so weak as to respond to a little pressure from a fan base that gets so emotional over things they do not really understand.

Perhaps IU football made a bad decision? You and I do not really know that. Perhaps that has been the case many times over the years and that is what got us into this situation. But perhaps there are other factors that have played a big part too? Probably a case of a combination of both of those, but I will tell you that no matter what the case, if IU were to start letting donor and fan pressure run the AD then things would get much much worse much much faster.

The delusional defense of these decisions is really getting old, we heard the same "CTA knows more about the O-line than any of the fans, let's trust his decisions" After the Iowa game. It's utter nonsense, obviously CTA knows more about what's happening day to day in the O-line room than any of us. But it doesn't take a 20 year coaching veteran to see that the IU O-line has regressed to one of the worst in the entire P5 after being the strength of the team under the previous HC. The man responsible for fielding a competitive O-line has failed at his job, CTA won't hold him accountable, and then we get these clowns defending Allen's decision to keep stick with the same failure at O-line coach after we were turned into the punchline of the B1G under his watch.

Nick Saban can tell the fans/media/doners to f*ck off when he is critiqued, he actually produces results. CTA got that same luxury after 2020, if you'll remember despite the overall success, the O-line was abysmal in 2020 as well. Many people criticized CTA, I defended him putting this program in it's best place in decades. Well, one season later, it's clear that a global pandemic was the main reason for the success achieved in 2020. Any respectable coach would've gotten rid of Hiller by now, his results speak for themselves.

 

[jlasson]

...let's see, didn't we have to start a walk-on, 4th string QB?...I thought so...

Ahh the excuses that continue to flow after being blown out by Rutgers and Minnesota at home, then embarrassing yourselves against your rival in the final game of the year, this is exactly why the IUFB program is such a dumpster fire. A walk on 4th string QB should not cause your defense to give up an average of 39 PPG in the final three games of the year, especially when two of the three offenses IU played were terrible. If you had a respectable running game, the offense should still be able to function, especially considering Purdue and RU had mediocre to bad run defenses, but of course a dysfunctional O-line takes that option away.

Face it, the band aid of Mike Penix being able to throw the ball with D-linemen literally on top of him(at least in 2019-2020) and a pandemic season, temporarily masked the fact that this offensive line is the worst in the P5. Anyone who thinks the position coach at the helm the last two years deserves a job right now is just lying to them self.

 

[Hoosier Clarion]

Ahh the excuses that continue to flow after being blown out by Rutgers and Minnesota at home, then embarrassing yourselves against your rival in the final game of the year, this is exactly why the IUFB program is such a dumpster fire. A walk on 4th string QB should not cause your defense to give up an average of 39 PPG in the final three games of the year, especially when two of the three offenses IU played were terrible. If you had a respectable running game, the offense should still be able to function, especially considering Purdue and RU had mediocre to bad run defenses, but of course a dysfunctional O-line takes that option away.

Face it, the band aid of Mike Penix being able to throw the ball with D-linemen literally on top of him(at least in 2019-2020) and a pandemic season, temporarily masked the fact that this offensive line is the worst in the P5. Anyone who thinks the position coach at the helm the last two years deserves a job right now is just lying to them self.

Damn hard to out argue someone when they take both sides.

 

[Al Bino]

Well, one season later, it's clear that a global pandemic was the main reason for the success achieved in 2020.

Would you please explain how the global pandemic was the main reason for IU's success?

 

[ESalum86]

Would you please explain how the global pandemic was the main reason for IU's success?

The interesting thing about the pandemic argument is it comes from the crowd who believes IU is and always will be the worst football program in P5 and CTA is and always has been over head.

Yet, despite an unqualified head coach and being perennially dismal and doomed football program, IU was better prepared than any football program in the B1G East (except OSU) and also better prepared than the best B1G West program.

By every sense of the word last season sucked. It was the greatest example of Murphy's Law the sporting world has ever seen. But it was only one season. I believe we are closer to 2019 IU football than we are 2021 IUFB.

 

[vesuvius13]

The interesting thing about the pandemic argument is it comes from the crowd who believes IU is and always will be the worst football program in P5 and CTA is and always has been over head.

Yet, despite an unqualified head coach and being perennially dismal and doomed football program, IU was better prepared than any football program in the B1G East (except OSU) and also better prepared than the best B1G West program.

By every sense of the word last season sucked. It was the greatest example of Murphy's Law the sporting world has ever seen. But it was only one season. I believe we are closer to 2019 IU football than we are 2021 IUFB.

It was also due to bad coaches the players didn't like when coach interviewed players leaving. The terrible offense really hurt the defense but running a Georgia defense didn't work very well do to the offense and I am glad those coaches are gone.