good deal ...I was glad to see that he wasnt the one responsible for calling plays for the sooners last year...when he was the dc at nebraska though they had a pretty dang good defense...this is a good hire for Les Miles...first getting RP now getting a solid dc...pretty good couple of weeks if you ask me.
I think this is a similiar hire as was Miles. Pretty much a wait and see approach by many I would assume. Definitely nothing to do cartwheels over, but then again maybe he turns out to be the best DC LSU has ever had.
I am not casting judgment, just passing along a thought. He was responsible for OU's secondary, although he had some players hurt, OU's weakest point was their secondary as school after school (A&M, USC) lit them up...
Agree! It's the weakest link on their team. I hope he's not the type of coach that is stubburn to his type of system. Memo to Pellini, Adopt Nick Saban's defense, it worked!
From the article linked above: Pelini changed OU's secondary scheme upon his arrival, with coach Bob Stoops' blessing. Previously, OU aligned its cornerbacks depending on which hash mark the ball was spotted. Pelini wanted the cornerbacks to remain on the left or right side permanently, much like in the NFL. Remember when Saban started to install his defense our pass defense was terrible, but after Saban recruited the players to play that scheme then everything fell into place. OU doesn't have the same caliber db's and corners that LSU has. I think Pelini's scheme will work with our current staff, and give Miles a lot of credit for finding a DC to compliment the players and reputation that we have. I do not totally agree that this is a wait and see hire. I think that Pelini has the resume and is a proven coach. Of course you never know how a player will react to a coach, and we will have to wait and see, but I will be surprised if there is a major drop off in our defense next year with Pelini at the helm. In my opinion, Miles is off to a very strong start. He was able to keep Jimbo and despite the recruiting situation, was able to land a pretty good class. Now, if it is true, he will have hired a proven defensive coach with NFL experience for our DC. Now he just has to win 10+ games a year and a MNC or two and everything will be fine.
Veedo, very good points I think. Ou had some good athletes but they loss a ton in 2003 off their entire D and had some key injuries during the season last year. Remember how bad our defense was when Damien James got hurt? Most people don't realize that Saban's defense were terrible in yards allowed his first couple of years in his system. And I love the idea of keeping the CB's on the same side of the field all of the time with the nickel back moving from side to side, just like Saban did it.
One more thing. I would hope we never hire or not hire a coach due to the results of one or two games. We did that already with Dumbardo but than did it right with Saban. We put too much stock in Dumbardo's game vs LSU but than ignored Saban's results vs us, thank goodness.
Agreed. Just like Miles, Pellini isn't a "household name" and a lot of Tiger fans may be saying, "who?". But once you start researching him, and doing your homework, you realize that it is a pretty sound hire.
