OrediggerPoke
Well-known member
Bob Stitt, head coach of Colorado School of MInes, was a candidate for the OC job before Cole's hiring. I dont think he ever got a serious look because he isnt a longtime buddy of Glenn. But here is why I think he should get a hard look to take over as OC after this year if the ship is not righted.
I know a lot of people would really hesitate to even consider a d2 guy. Afterall, Glenn and his buddies are basically all d2 and d1AA guys. But what Stitt has done at Mines is downright incredible. Colorado School of Mines was the laughing stock of college football for well over 60 years. This fact makes great sense considering that Mines is a difficult school with no other options but engineering and difficult sciences.
Coach Stitt came to Mines from Harvard, where he was the OC. Before his arrival, Mines hadnt had a winning season in something like 30 years. It was embarassing that our fight song at games was something like, "we suck, its ok, you will work for us someday." SInce then, Stitt has amassed a record of 54-40, including an undefeated regular season and trip to the 3rd round of the D2 playoffs in 2004. Many people would be quick to give credit to his assistants, however CSM has been a constant revolving door and stepping stone for his assistants. I dont think any of the current staff has even been at Mines more than 2-3 years. Its amazing that Stitt is still at Mines and its inevitable that some program will lure him away and the only one that i would ever feel comfortable in seeing is UW.
The main reason why I think Stitt would be successful at UW is for some of the same reasons that Stitt has been successful at Mines. Stitt has realized that he has no chance of recruiting the same size and speed as other schools. Similarly, Wyoming just will never recruit the same athlete as the top schools (even in our own conference).
Stitt has adapted his offensive gameplan to weaken the other team's advantages. For instance, Mines O-line typically averages about 250-260 and is almost always smaller than the other team's D-line. So instead of running a vanilla run attack (i.e. wyoming), he allows the D-line to push their usual 2-3 yards and then utilizes the shovel pass. The shovel pass goes pass the ensuing D-line and the RB actually has some space to produce yardage. Then, the D-line will stop pounding the O-line, thus allowing for the RB to get some yardage more conventionally.
Now Stitt's version of the spread offense is very complex and requires a ton of intelligence and discipline, things that both Harvard and Mines excel at. However, we already saw how a Wyoming team can run a complex offense under Tiller and I would argue that it was pretty successful. Due to Mines' difficult curriculum, the team actually practices and has much less time for film study than a team like Wyoming.
This year Mines is 3-1 and looking to compete for an RMAC title. On paper, Mines should be getting blown out every game. Here are some stats from 2004, for you stat guys: (I think 530 yards a game is good, they are putting up similar/slightly less numbers this year)
TEAM STATISTICS CSM OPP
--------------------------------------------------------
SCORING....................... 515 301
Points Per Game............. 39.6 23.2
FIRST DOWNS................... 356 255
Rushing..................... 121 125
Passing..................... 210 114
Penalty..................... 25 16
RUSHING YARDAGE............... 2126 2224
Yards gained rushing........ 2368 2514
Yards lost rushing.......... 242 290
Rushing Attempts............ 404 500
Average Per Rush............ 5.3 4.4
Average Per Game............ 163.5 171.1
TDs Rushing................. 32 23
PASSING YARDAGE............... 4766 2678
Att-Comp-Int................ 548-401-11 392-221-22
Average Per Pass............ 8.7 6.8
Average Per Catch........... 11.9 12.1
Average Per Game............ 366.6 206.0
TDs Passing................. 40 20
TOTAL OFFENSE................. 6892 4902
Total Plays................. 952 892
Average Per Play............ 7.2 5.5
Average Per Game............ 530.2 377.1
KICK RETURN AVERAGE........... 20.1 21.1
PUNT RETURN AVERAGE........... 11.1 14.0
TIME OF POSSESSION/GAME....... 30:33 29:20
3RD-DOWN CONVERSIONS.......... 84/160 76/184
3rd-Down Pct................ 52% 41%
4TH-DOWN CONVERSIONS.......... 10/19 15/31
4th-Down Pct................ 53% 48%
SACKS BY-YARDS................ 25-148 15-121
TOUCHDOWNS SCORED............. 72 43
I know a lot of people would really hesitate to even consider a d2 guy. Afterall, Glenn and his buddies are basically all d2 and d1AA guys. But what Stitt has done at Mines is downright incredible. Colorado School of Mines was the laughing stock of college football for well over 60 years. This fact makes great sense considering that Mines is a difficult school with no other options but engineering and difficult sciences.
Coach Stitt came to Mines from Harvard, where he was the OC. Before his arrival, Mines hadnt had a winning season in something like 30 years. It was embarassing that our fight song at games was something like, "we suck, its ok, you will work for us someday." SInce then, Stitt has amassed a record of 54-40, including an undefeated regular season and trip to the 3rd round of the D2 playoffs in 2004. Many people would be quick to give credit to his assistants, however CSM has been a constant revolving door and stepping stone for his assistants. I dont think any of the current staff has even been at Mines more than 2-3 years. Its amazing that Stitt is still at Mines and its inevitable that some program will lure him away and the only one that i would ever feel comfortable in seeing is UW.
The main reason why I think Stitt would be successful at UW is for some of the same reasons that Stitt has been successful at Mines. Stitt has realized that he has no chance of recruiting the same size and speed as other schools. Similarly, Wyoming just will never recruit the same athlete as the top schools (even in our own conference).
Stitt has adapted his offensive gameplan to weaken the other team's advantages. For instance, Mines O-line typically averages about 250-260 and is almost always smaller than the other team's D-line. So instead of running a vanilla run attack (i.e. wyoming), he allows the D-line to push their usual 2-3 yards and then utilizes the shovel pass. The shovel pass goes pass the ensuing D-line and the RB actually has some space to produce yardage. Then, the D-line will stop pounding the O-line, thus allowing for the RB to get some yardage more conventionally.
Now Stitt's version of the spread offense is very complex and requires a ton of intelligence and discipline, things that both Harvard and Mines excel at. However, we already saw how a Wyoming team can run a complex offense under Tiller and I would argue that it was pretty successful. Due to Mines' difficult curriculum, the team actually practices and has much less time for film study than a team like Wyoming.
This year Mines is 3-1 and looking to compete for an RMAC title. On paper, Mines should be getting blown out every game. Here are some stats from 2004, for you stat guys: (I think 530 yards a game is good, they are putting up similar/slightly less numbers this year)
TEAM STATISTICS CSM OPP
--------------------------------------------------------
SCORING....................... 515 301
Points Per Game............. 39.6 23.2
FIRST DOWNS................... 356 255
Rushing..................... 121 125
Passing..................... 210 114
Penalty..................... 25 16
RUSHING YARDAGE............... 2126 2224
Yards gained rushing........ 2368 2514
Yards lost rushing.......... 242 290
Rushing Attempts............ 404 500
Average Per Rush............ 5.3 4.4
Average Per Game............ 163.5 171.1
TDs Rushing................. 32 23
PASSING YARDAGE............... 4766 2678
Att-Comp-Int................ 548-401-11 392-221-22
Average Per Pass............ 8.7 6.8
Average Per Catch........... 11.9 12.1
Average Per Game............ 366.6 206.0
TDs Passing................. 40 20
TOTAL OFFENSE................. 6892 4902
Total Plays................. 952 892
Average Per Play............ 7.2 5.5
Average Per Game............ 530.2 377.1
KICK RETURN AVERAGE........... 20.1 21.1
PUNT RETURN AVERAGE........... 11.1 14.0
TIME OF POSSESSION/GAME....... 30:33 29:20
3RD-DOWN CONVERSIONS.......... 84/160 76/184
3rd-Down Pct................ 52% 41%
4TH-DOWN CONVERSIONS.......... 10/19 15/31
4th-Down Pct................ 53% 48%
SACKS BY-YARDS................ 25-148 15-121
TOUCHDOWNS SCORED............. 72 43