Was Wright the Wrong Choice

[iceman]

thought this might be a good topic starter

[Automic]

iceman said:

thought this might be a good topic starter

Whether or not he was right or wrong, Spavital was THE choice.

[Brentman]

Tough to make that call with just one year under his belt. Right or wrong...he has got to have 2-3 years to implement his system, and style of coaching. He still only lost games that he was supposed to anyway...or had a 50/50 chance of winning. I don't think they lost any that they should have flat out won...

[trojansrule]

I agree with Brentman. There is always a period of adjustment, especially when the offensive philosophy is changed from what was favored by the previous coach. The worst thing that Union can do is create the impression that you are out if you don't win state. You never want to have potential coaches believe they can never be successful enough to get job security. They will look elsewhere for better and safer opportunities. Good coaches don't want to go to programs they perceive to be unstable.

[newman]

Spavital would have been a terrible choice. There is more to being a head coach than cursing at your players. I would even go so far as to say that Union has a better defensive coordinator now, Ward, than Spavital. He did more with less than I ever thought possible.

Coach Wright does not need to implement his system. This was tried and it doesn't work with the Union type of kids. If he wants to implement his style of offense, he needs to go to BTW, Muskogee, Lawton or back to Indiana. What he needs to do is spend all off-season learning the passing game. If he would do that, hire an passing type offensive coordinator/QB coach and let them call plays, Union will not lose a game next year. That's only if Rogers stays at Union. If he leaves, all bets are off.

[Automic]

newman said:

Spavital would have been a terrible choice. There is more to being a head coach than cursing at your players. I would even go so far as to say that Union has a better defensive coordinator now, Ward, than Spavital. He did more with less than I ever thought possible.

Coach Wright does not need to implement his system. This was tried and it doesn't work with the Union type of kids. If he wants to implement his style of offense, he needs to go to BTW, Muskogee, Lawton or back to Indiana. What he needs to do is spend all off-season learning the passing game. If he would do that, hire an passing type offensive coordinator/QB coach and let them call plays, Union will not lose a game next year. That's only if Rogers stays at Union. If he leaves, all bets are off.

You are the only person I have ever heard say that Spavital would have been a terrible choice. I doubt as many would have transferred and all of them would have probably had more respect than they do now for Wright. I went to a Union practice this summer and Wright really didnt seem to be doing much but standing around. I know you have most of assistant coaches doing the constant coaching with the head overseeing, but he wasn't even giving his 2 cents on what to do better. It's like a baseball coach sitting in the dugout all of practice on his cell phone... what does that do? I agree that you dont axe Wright, but he really wasn't that impressive to me.

[iceman]

From what i've read on these boards Wright really dont seem to be a good fit at Union. I know that Coach B is a hard act to follow but losing good coaches, kids, making bad decisions. Just seems alittle below Union standards to me.

[johnnymac]

admin said:

newman said:

Spavital would have been a terrible choice. There is more to being a head coach than cursing at your players. I would even go so far as to say that Union has a better defensive coordinator now, Ward, than Spavital. He did more with less than I ever thought possible.

Coach Wright does not need to implement his system. This was tried and it doesn't work with the Union type of kids. If he wants to implement his style of offense, he needs to go to BTW, Muskogee, Lawton or back to Indiana. What he needs to do is spend all off-season learning the passing game. If he would do that, hire an passing type offensive coordinator/QB coach and let them call plays, Union will not lose a game next year. That's only if Rogers stays at Union. If he leaves, all bets are off.

You are the only person I have ever heard say that Spavital would have been a terrible choice. I doubt as many would have transferred and all of them would have probably had more respect than they do now for Wright. I went to a Union practice this summer and Wright really didnt seem to be doing much but standing around. I know you have most of assistant coaches doing the constant coaching with the head overseeing, but he wasn't even giving his 2 cents on what to do better. It's like a baseball coach sitting in the dugout all of practice on his cell phone... what does that do? I agree that you dont axe Wright, but he really wasn't that impressive to me.

What type of baseball coach sits in the dugout on his cell phone during practice?

[Automic]

johnnymac said:

admin said:

You are the only person I have ever heard say that Spavital would have been a terrible choice. I doubt as many would have transferred and all of them would have probably had more respect than they do now for Wright. I went to a Union practice this summer and Wright really didnt seem to be doing much but standing around. I know you have most of assistant coaches doing the constant coaching with the head overseeing, but he wasn't even giving his 2 cents on what to do better. It's like a baseball coach sitting in the dugout all of practice on his cell phone... what does that do? I agree that you dont axe Wright, but he really wasn't that impressive to me.

What type of baseball coach sits in the dugout on his cell phone during practice?

Just my point

[johnnymac]

Most coaches I know of are pretty active in their practices

[Automic]

johnnymac said:

Most coaches I know of are pretty active in their practices

I'm not gonna name names, but I know coaches who could name some of their staff members who do just that.

[washedupredskin]

newman said:

Spavital would have been a terrible choice. There is more to being a head coach than cursing at your players. I would even go so far as to say that Union has a better defensive coordinator now, Ward, than Spavital. He did more with less than I ever thought possible.

Wow, just an ignorant post. Spavital is the best defensive coach in the state and there's really no one else close. Of course there's more to coaching than cursing at your players, but you don't know crap about football if you think that's all he does. Did you sit through the film sessions with his players? Have you actually been to a practice? Why don't you ask all of his former players that he cursed at who they wanted for the job(hint: I'm one of them). All of them, and I mean every single one of them, wanted Spav to be head coach. You can even ask the players currently on the team who they wanted during the coaching search, 90% of them will say Spavital. Spav was named one of the top 10 assistant coaches in the nation by CFN, was Ward? Ward did good with an undersized defense, but Spavital's defenses are the best in the state every single year reguardless of talent. They(the Tulsa World) called the defense on the 04 team the no name defense. That defense was statistically one of the best in 6A history. Did you not find it interesting that with Spav helping out at Muskogee, they shut Union down twice and beat them twice. Spavital is better at scheming and defensive gameplans than anything else he does.

[footballfan]

I think Spavital should have had the job. I hate to say it, but I think Union is getting what they deserve after what they did to Coach Spav. I have a really bad feeling about what is going on with Union football now--especially with Coach Stockton quitting. Our kids are in eighth grade and their grade will be the ones who suffer because they won't have Coach Stockton next year. I really feel sorry for the Union football players.

[Baashar]

Eh. Ive got faith in Wright. I dont think hes a bad choice, whether he was the wrong choice or not is a different story. I feel Spavital should have had the job, he would have done excellently im sure and he has been loyal to the Union program for years and years. So was it the wrong choice? Yes. Was it a bad choice? No. I think Wright has done a good job for his first year playing Oklahoma football. I dont agree with all of the decisions he has made and there is alot of things he has done that go against the Union way. Of course hes gonna bring in his own system and traditions, but he shouldnt be shunning Union's traditions and ways either.

And Patric is right. Spavital's defense almost always ranked first in state, year in and year out, regardless of the talent they had that year. At the very least, hes a defensive genius. And I gurantee you, most of the football players would much rather play for Spavital then Wright.

[washedupredskin]

And to answer the topic of this thread: YES. There was only one right choice, because of all the dynamics involved.