Quote:
Originally Posted by Goatnapper'96
What was Gary Crowton's biggest coaching fuax pas?
I know this is meanspirited yadda yadda, but I am not a warm and cuddly guy.
What comes to my mind:
Flying into Reno the day of the game and how that reflected how prepared the Y was to play.
HOT OFF THE AP WIRE: BYU goes for it again against AF on 4th down and the Falcons score another TD!!
Not recruiting a JC QB after the 2002 QB debacle.
The 2002 QB debacle.
2002 in general. In hindsight that was a piss poor season, amazing what a good year before can soothe the wounds.
Having John Beck roll out and throw the ball, which was intercepted, against Stanford in 2003. That was the straw that stirred my drink.
The amount of carries for Curtis Brown against UNLV in 2004.
Hiring IndyCoug to defend him to the death.
I think I would say the largest game day faux pas was the Reno game. Followed closely by ignoring Curtis Brown against UNLV.
The worst call I say was the one with Beck against Stanford in 2003.
The worst position management was the handling of qb spanning all of 2002 and into 2003. It ended when he picked Beck as his starter after spring ball in 2004, but by then too much damage was done and he was relying upon a kid not prepared for the schedule ahead.
Great guy and I could not be happier for his success at Oregon, but I am much happier with the state of things now.
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Looking back, these are the key points, which have been hashed and rehashed.
1. Changed the passing offense from being balanced between WR/TE/fullback/running back to a WR based system too quickly with no WR talent to do it. The Chow offense was predicated on timing and route running. The Crowton offense was based on offensive threats and matchups. We didn't have the talent in the system to make that switch.
2. Failure to use JC quick fixes at key positions, especially OL.
3. Failure to utilize Norm Chow holdovers Reynolds, Bosco, etc to help him acclimate to BYU and help him ease into things slowly and not change too much too fast. Success in 2001 probably did him in there.
4. Lack of QB development. Probably not all his fault, because he didn't have the most to work with, but the biggest mistake was going from Engemann to Berry. Engemann to Olson would have been OK, but Engemann to Berry was a nightmare decision.
5. Not going conservative in 2003 and running with Braithwaite, Whalen, and Vakapuna when the passing game is not there and run and playing defense will win you the game. i.e. Stanford, AFA, Wyoming 2003 and 2004 UNLV
6. Pissing off fans by continually making excuses for everything.
7. Hiring Bronco instead of KW. A good defense in 2004 probably would have gotten him a winning record and kept his job.
Things that weren't his fault.
1. Recruiting thugs. Nobody set out to recruit thugs and the guys that got in trouble all promised to sign the Honor Code, and most of them were perceived to be good character guys.
2. Making sure his kids kept the Honor Code.
I don't think the HC scapegoat thing was fair for Crowton--or for Hale.