Win 7 games and face San Diego in the first round of the playoffs. Seems to work for Poly. >:O

But then they get NDSU...

Well, I know what the plan should not be - hire another position coach.

We haven't sniffed the playoffs yet - I'd take that setup and run with it.

We lose 20 Seniors. This is going to be interesting.

To put things in perspective, Sac St. is losing 6. I'd say 20 is a lot of guys to lose.

I hope we can put something together coaching-wise to save some of these recruiting commits.

That's the problem with starting over from square one. We will likely have some guys defect too. Hopefully we can hold onto upcoming talents like Keelan Doss and Josh Kelley.

Hopefully those talented young Aggies will see the benefit of a degree from UC Davis vs Fresno State.

"Win 7 games and face San Diego in the first round of the playoffs. Seems to work for Poly."
"But then they get NDSU..."

At some point in the FCS playoffs, (or if you're one of the fourteen teams in the Big Ten,) you get NDSU, or worse yet, somebody who beat NDSU.

I worry that Gould may take some very good Aggie talent with him wherever he ends up. He was certainly a good recruiter and some of his current recruits might opt out as well. So this year's recruiting process might be in a state of flux for a while. I think it's crucial that we get a top quality coach in here as reasonably quick as possible so he has a bit of a chance to get his coaching staff assembled with at least some time to hit the recruiting trail.

As for the future of Aggie football, I'm optimistic. I feel like we've got some solid D1 athletes returning, fingers crossed, that give us a good foundation to move forward. Four Big Sky teams made it to the playoffs and two of them had 4 loses. We can do the same or better. I'm getting excited again for Aggie football!

No matter who gets hired some players will leave, others will rise to the occasion. Let's not forget that Gould's best year was with Biggs' players.

I'm not really worried about guys leaving. That may or may not happen. My concern is not with who we hire next either. My concern is whether we are really committed, as both an institution and alumni base, to bring Aggie Football to the next level. If Blue had been here four years ago, we may not be in this situation at all, but Blue still has a lot to prove. Walk the walk Dr. Blue...walk the walk.

I lost my confidence in Coach Gould this year, but after sitting in on some higher level discussions with alumni, Dr. Blue, and some others, I think he was doomed from the start. I'm more worried about the staff landing in a good places...they worked their butts off for the Aggies.

I've been following Aggie Football for the past few seasons and I'm very optimistic for the future. The young talent they've recruited in the past few years is special. I think their most talented players are just soph and fresh players. Guys like Baumgart, Spencer, Harrell, Doss, Kelley, Jamison, Bennett, Rogers, Vaughn and others will lead this team to new levels. Harrell, Jamison, Rogers, Preece and Vaughn all saw playing time as true freshman and actually contributed. Harrell is an amazing receiver and Jamison lead the team in sacks. I'm confident with the right coordinators, this team can win championships.

we are not close to winning a championship with this talent. This staff did a pretty good job at recruiting, we are better than we were 4 years ago, but it seems the top teams in our conference are too. EWU beat Washington State, who is in the top half of the Pac-12. We are not even close to their talent level on either side of the ball. Overall, we lack team speed, are vastly undersized on the DL and at LB, lack depth at key positions, and have yet to find the right guy to run the offense at QB. Ben Scott was a nice player, but not a game-breaker in any sense. Spencer might be the guy we think he is, but he needs to put it down on the field. Love your optimism, but Bill Walsh himself wouldn't have won a championship with this team. This staff never had a chance, but assuming Dr. Blue is ready to make the necessary changes in admissions, academic support, and facilities, we have hope on the horizon.

Interesting that you think we never had a chance, we supposedly have better recruits, more speed, yet we have regressed since the Biggs era. I haven't seen many games the past 2 years... But when we continue to make simple errors with clock management, go an extended period without a hurry up offense, run predictable plays that alums are calling in the stands, and continually opt for field goals when TDs are urgently needed, I think a change at the top could easily produce more points and a few more wins. Am I wrong? More points and longer drives means the defense gets a rest, which makes them rested and better... more wins builds confidence. It's easier to recruit off of a 5 or 6 win season. ... this season had an easier schedule, yet we still struggled to get to 3 wins. It is true bigger changes are needed to become a consistent playoff contender.

I'm no football expert, but I'm not sure how much Ben Scott progressed since his first explosive game two seasons ago. Injuries seem to remain an issue. Did we grind our offensive line down by overworking them, by not giving them a blow versus Oregon and others? I don't know. Did our talented WRs drop an inordinate amount of catchable balls?

I read Dr. Blue's piece on what are the successful components to a football program, most of it standard stuff. But I did find pointing out the need for a coach who can motivate highly intelligent players interesting.

We have some talent here, I hope Coach Gould doesn't poach us ...

After watching the past 4 years of football, its my opinion that we have very few players that would even start on the top tier teams in the league. Usually, we match up better at 1 or 2 positions on either side of the ball. Overall, I believe our recruiting has been very good for what we can get, but our pool of recruits is very small. Think about it this way. When Montana sees a film of a recruit, they have no concern about getting him into school. They have no concern about him staying eligible. They have a huge fan base, history, and good facilities. They get kids we can't. Our first inquiry is to look at his transcript before we can even consider him. That's a handicap we live with. We then must fight the Ivies and lower tier FBS schools to attract those recruits. We've done okay, but we are still far behind. Blue believes, and I do too, that we must start with the infrastructure...if you build it, they will come.

I do think a change in our offense is the key to any success for us in the future. That does fall on Coach Gould. Our conference is wide-open, and all of the successful teams spread you out and score. I've been calling for a change to a spread offense since Gould's first year, and we just kept running the same old "3 and out" ball control offense. The change in our offense is mandatory in my mind. We have tried to be the Stanford of the Valley (3 TEs, lots of running) and we just don't have those guys. Dr. Blue and I discussed the Stanford process, how they get recruits, and we just don't offer what they can. We lost one kid a few years ago who walked-on at Stanford, never played any significant role, but just being there was enough for him. We don't have that culture.

We should have beat Weber, but I'm not sure how many other wins we really had this year. Scheduling two FBS schools is just stupid. Time to get smart, schedule wisely, and make the necessary changes at the top to make it work. We'll see. I'm hoping they bring in Troy Taylor and run the spread. He coached Jake Browning and all the other Folsom High QBs that have had a lot of success. Can't wait to see who's coming in.

I agree with you on this one. Our talent is improving, but we have A LOT of work to do before we really turn the corner. I think Gould and staff had some roadblocks along the way, but that doesn't mean that the record they accumulated was acceptable, it was time for a new direction. I have faith in Dr. Blue to find a coach that meets his standards and is ready to lead this program into a new era of success.

I agree with you that it was time for a change. I don't think he was going to change the offense as long as he was head coach. He benefited from a series of NFL caliber backs at Cal, and we've never had any. Running the ball works when you are just bigger upfront and better at RB than the LBs, but we need to use our kids' intelligence, run complicated routes, and use deception with inventive play-calling to cover our lack of talent on offense.

With 20 seniors leaving and late in the recruiting cycle, the new guy is going to have to hit the JC's hard.

OA, but we have the talent to secure 4-5 wins like Coach Biggs, right? We should at least be middle of the Big Sky.

I understand Montana's attractions, but we also have advantages. I think any intelligent student-athletes would appreciate a university campus, international students, with an awesome campus and town, over being in the middle of nowhere. San Francisco over Bozeman.

I skimmed an article where the writer explained the offensive tricks and schemes Coach Peterson uses to beat schools that have higher caliber / higher rated recruits. I wish I bookmarked it ...

Stanford has much more than culture. Their campus, facilities, resources, beauty, and academics are tops in the whole country. ... I think Coach Les referred to the "eye candy" we need, and I hope a new Athletic Training Facility would provide that. I heard some alums talking, they were hoping for something at one of the end zones at Aggie Stadium with a 2nd or 3rd story that might serve mixed use / multiple purposes ... with some space on a higher level overlooking the field for alumni gatherings. UCLA's new football performance building will open onto their practice facility.

What do you think about Rob Nash?

I'm really pushing a kid I coached towards UCD. 4.3 student, extremely smart, but also wants to play at the best school we can play for. Honestly, this very smart kid, doesn't think much of what we can offer compared to the other schools recruiting him. Just getting "smart" kids who value degrees will not get it done.

Stanford has the whole package...we offer the degree. Not even close. If you build it, like Cal Poly has done in baseball, they will come.

You don't need to convince me that the offense needs to get creative...I'm just a low level youth and high school coach, and I can call our plays out before every down. Predictability is fatal.

Don't forget this from CAForever:

COMMITTED:
ATH Jordan Perryman ** 6'0 170 Hanford High School (Hanford, CA) Tweet Highlights
DE Luka Nixon ** 6'6 235 Sherwood High School (Sherwood, OR) Tweet Highlights
OL Nick Amoah ** 6'3 275 Davis High School (Davis, CA) Tweet Highlights
OL Connor Pettek ** 6'3 288 Thousand Oaks High School (Thousand Oaks, CA) Tweet Highlights
QB Niko Harris ** 6'1 183 Sierra Canyon High School (Chatsworth, CA) Tweet Highlights
RB Tehran Thomas ** 5'11 190 Desert Edge High School (Goodyear, AZ) Tweet Highlights
WR Troy Spencer Jr. ** 5'10 180 Centennial High School (Corona, CA) Tweet Highlights

Was Daft part of that problem? ... in Gould's 1st season when we had a great possession receiver, we knew when he was in, it was pass, and when someone else was inserted, it was run. 80% chance.

Beyond the basics baseball needs, I've always felt Dobbins needed a little more color, some pop. What that would be, I have no idea.

Tough to say how many will stay though. Did they pick Davis for the program or the school? If they only picked it because of the program, they don't have much incentive to stay now that Gould has been let go. Time will tell, but I'm assuming whoever gets picked to coach here will want to salvage the recruiting season by getting a couple of their own guys on the roster.

Hopefully Dr. Blue has our recruiting coordinator - and maybe even himself - put in the work needed to keep these commitments. Six or seven phone calls won't take a lot of time, and would give the new HC a leg up. Given that Coach Gould is such a class guy, I hope he even lends a hand if appropriate.

Not sure if Daft or Gould decided on what he wanted run, but it doesn't matter anymore. We were run, run, play action or draw, on almost every drive. My opinion (again qualified that I'm no special guy) is a good OC uses short/efficient passes as a substitute for run at times, and that opens it up the rest of the offense. Also, our formations allowed defenses to pack the box against us, and blitz from everywhere. If you spread out the field, it creates one on one match-ups, even in the run game, where you only need to beat one guy to have a big play. In traditional multi-TE sets, a defensive player can leave his man to make the play since the formation is bunched up.

Gould is a class guy, but don't expect him to help us recruit. Frankly, all of Gould's recruits are at issue now, and the new coach may not even want them for his system. Blue is the AD, and his job is not to recruit players...he needs to focus on getting a coach in here with his team of recruiters.

I believe that the assistants remain under contract for some amount of time (first of the year?), and they are supposed to continue recruiting as part of their contract. of course, most will be spending a good portion of their time looking for a new job, but they are supposed to recruit. some may (or may not) be retained with a new coach.

I completely agree that the play calling and certain player positions were the cause of the lack luster performance over the past few years, but I disagree about the talent. This team stacks up just as well as any other in the conference with player size and ability. Compare the various rosters to confirm this. I think there are some players that are in the wrong positions (DB & LB), but overall talent is on par with any other team in Big Sky. Time will tell, but I'm confident with the right play calling and putting the right players in positions they have the most probability of success, this program will succeed. There is a clear need for speed in the defensive secondary, but there is speed on the offensive side of the ball. Being creative on how to use your players effectively is the key to a successful coordinator and we need more creativity on both sides of the ball.

I'm with OldAggie on our talent level. My sample is only two games, Eastern Washington and Portland State, but I don't think we matched either of them in terms of talent, and we don't have their depth.

OldAggie's comment about the kid he's pushing towards Davis resonated with me. I got to know a former Idaho offensive lineman, played on our last bowl team with Mike Iupati. Smart kid, great young man from around Palo Alto. The Ags were interested, but he wanted to play at the highest level he could and came to Moscow. I don't know if any other FBS schools were interested in him. I think players want to play at the highest level they can, and want a shot at a bowl game. We can't offer that, so at least we need to offer high-quality facilities to attract athletes from our small pool of candidates.

And before someone says that perhaps my friend didn't value an education enough to go to Davis, he was working on his masters when he finished his football career, and then he got a law degree too.

I'm not giving up on my kid! Hoping having his parents see his games, and the promise of good things to come will tip the scales.