I wasn't challenging your observations or opinions. You're reporting what you've read and the logical assertions drawn therefrom. I'm a big fan of Jet / Fly Sweep formations and their potential to disrupt / confuse defensive keys. I just don't like it as a primary scheme. This goes to potential recruiting impact as well.

What killed the west coast offense?

I agree we need to juice up the O, become far less predictable, and use our SA intelligence to our advantage. I thought we had a good strategy vs Oregon, and that seemed to end. I'm sure Gould would argue losing 2 or 3 Centers was critical.

BTW, how many trick plays did we run this year, 1?

Oh didn't think you were challenging me or anything, just clarifying my thoughts from multiple posts I had made about the subject into 1 response. I think we are on the same page in terms of our thoughts on the jet sweep. It can be effective, but shouldn't be your main go to play. I think I'm still just confused about the hiring of Speckman though.

Official release about Speckman. We can chill out on the fly offense, he's assistant HC and RB coach (at least it's not OC). I think this hiring is another case of Hawkins working with him in the past (Willamette and Montreal). I guess this also means Coach Chapin was one of the coaches let go by Hawkins.

http://www.ucdavisaggies.com/sports/m-footbl/spec-rel/121516aad.html

I do remember Hawkins saying in his presser that he was all about being creative and using deception to make it difficult to know where the ball is. So it makes me think he will definitely use elements of the fly in his offensive scheme of things.

I would think as Assistant HC he will have a significant amount of influence about using or incorporating the fly offense no matter who ends up being the OC.

I mean, I guess. I just think that if it was going to be heavily implemented it would be more likely that he would be OC/RB coach. Idk what to think anymore, this hiring has kind of thrown everybody off on what to expect going forward (I know I didn't expect something like this). I do agree that it kind of makes sense in regards to what Hawkins was saying during the presser that deception was going to be key in the offense. The whole point of the fly is to try to be deceptive. Like I said, I have no idea whats going on anymore haha.

My guess in this hire (Speckman) is an example of trying to bring in a veteran coach within the UCD football budget. Speckman will bring a lot of experience in the coaches offices plus serve as an inspirational force to the players, that have been beaten down by all the losing! Hawkins & now Speckman are both "dont feel sorry for yourself" types! "Got to get it done" types! My guess from this hire is Coach Hawkins is paying a lot of attention to whats going on between the ears on the Aggie roster
GO AGGIES

elements of the fly...fine. We already did that a ton last year, but a base fly offense, especially with our personnel remains a disaster in my opinion. Speckman is certainly a cool hire though...especially when he's not OC.

Hawkins is definitely hiring coaches with experience, and experience in top positions... Not first timers.

Who will be the OC? That is the biggie, and that person has to be OK with Hawk hiring his staff.

The players on the team are good & ready to be coached up!

I'm excited about the hires that Hawkins has made so far. These are high quality, very experienced coaches that he has history with so they'll work well together. I love the Zen, wisdom, and philosophy stuff that is important to Hawkins and it seems that these coaches buy into those values and I think it will play well with our scholarly athletes.

Speckman has overcome his disability and has been successful both a player and a coach. His story is inspirational and his bio says that he has been a sought after motivational speaker for big name corporations and organizations. He wrote a book about "figuring it out and getting it done." I like what he brings to the coaching staff.

My mom got her master's degree while working full time and raising 3 kids as a single mom. Whenever I would be whining about something she always used to tell me, "Quit complaining and do something about it!" It used to drive me nuts as a kid but it was one of the most valuable lessons she ever taught me. It's nice to know that Hawk and Speckman are like that too. I think they're going to "figure it out and get it done."

FYI, Speckman plays the trombone, and Asst, RB Coach Jim Chapin will not be retained. Best wishes, coach... Lugga had a great year, as did Kelley.

http://www.davisenterprise.com/sports/aggies-add-two-key-coaches-to-hawkins-staff/

No wonder Hawk loves Speckman. He started all 40 of his college games at linebacker, andhe was a finalist to become the HC at Portland State. Most recently he sued the DMV in Wisconsin for making his life unnecessarily tough to get a driver's license, even though he had been driving for decades.

This clip is great, takes a few minutes for him to get warmed up.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OiorA6Mna54

"Turn your setbacks into comebacks"

That's gold right there.

Per the Modesto Bee, Modesto JC's Sam Young will be joining Hawkins' staff as a consultant. There was a prediction that this would happen.

http://www.modbee.com/sports/college/article121225003.html

After watching Gould's staff of very young coaches, obviously looking at UCD as a stepping stone, I am absolutely delighted by the way Hawk is assembling his staff. This group is going to develop impressive game plans and just as importantly, make in-game adjustments. Something Gould's staff did not effectively do. And this group (collectively) has seen just about every in-game scenario you could imagine. They will not be stumped. This reminds me a lot of my days at UCD with Biggs, Arp, Lou, Moroski and the rest with 10-20+ years each. And the recruiting thus far has not fallen off. Count me as one very optimistic alum.

PS - everyone freaking out about the fly sweep needs to calm right down. I'm sure some elements of that offense will find their way into the scheme, but Hawk isn't going to implement the full offense. Speckman has a lot more to offer than his offensive schemes.

I'm loving the direction the program is heading in and can't wait to watch the future success. I'm certain the players are going to tap into this new energy and direction and take their playing to the next level. Hopefully the student & fans will join us on this ride. I think the players and entire Davis community are going to look back on this as the turning point for Aggie Football.

They will not be stumped. This reminds me a lot of my days at UCD with Biggs, Arp, Lou, Moroski and the rest with 10-20+ years each. — Bige70

Amen to that. I remember games with Sochor (as a fan, not player) where we were loosing at half. We would sit back and wonder what the "old fox" had up his sleeve for the second half. He rarely got out coached. This is one area that has "befuddled" me during the Gould era. Seems like we would be competitive in a lot of games for one half, then get out foxed in the second.

Modesto Bee reports one hour ago that Aggie Sam Young will work for us as a consultant. He loves Davis, will study a lot of film... Hawk offered him a job at Boise which he declined.

Three coaches with significant HC experience.

Coach Young is a great guy and eats, sleeps pigskin...excellent hire.

I'm hearing that in addition to previously mentioned duties, Speckman will indeed be the new OC.

Well that's an interesting turn of events.

Well obviously Daft is gone and apparently now Speckman has taken his job + Chapin's job with the RB's. Are we going to be seeing Cody Hawkins come in as the new QB coach to replace the 2nd half of Daft's responsibilities? Who would be surprised by that? I wouldn't.

I've been doing some reddit searches on Hawkins and the most common non-Cody complaint/description I've seen about him from Colorado fans is they felt his success at Boise State was largely due to Petersen's genius as a coordinator. This didn't particularly bother me because that kind of thing can always mean that he's good at identifying talent, delegating, and nurturing good ideas when he hears them.

And really so far that's all seemed to be the case with this staff -- he's pulling in veterans with a lot of experience and generally past histories of success on and off the field. If the criticism in regards to Coach Pete and BSU are true though then that implies to me that Speckman is going to have a lot of freedom to install the fly as little or much as he sees fit -- especially since it fits with Hawk's description of what he wanted to do on offense. Hopefully Hawk and/or Speckman have some wrinkles in mind to address the concerns with it, but honestly it looks to me that all the verbal evidence points to it being the scheme next year.

Also, why make Speckman OC and not announce it? Was Hawk holding out for a different coordinator that he couldn't sway over? Miscommunication with the marketing staff?

I too find it weird that, if the info we are hearing through the grapevine is correct, Speckman wasn't announced as the OC in the release. I find it hard to believe that the press release would have flat out incorrect information. And if Hawkins was by chance holding out for another coordinator, why would he get a guy that runs a very specific and unconventional scheme to be the replacement? That doesn't seem to line up, at least to me. I don't know how well the fly could work at this level. I don't think there is enough data, again at this level, to say one way or the other, but I do think OldAggie's concerns are more than valid about this scheme. If it was a dominant play style, we would see major programs run it... which we don't.

And really so far that's all seemed to be the case with this staff -- he's pulling in veterans with a lot of experience and generally past histories of success on and off the field. If the criticism in regards to Coach Pete and BSU are true though then that implies to me that Speckman is going to have a lot of freedom to install the fly as little or much as he sees fit — Zander

Beyond what they end up doing with the offense, the Hawkins hire has generated tremendous excitement and support from alumni. While I don't know what the dollar figure is, to have all the assistants paid through donor contributions is huge. And collectively, these guys have a tremendous amount of football knowledge. They are not going to implement a pop warner offense that can not work at this level. After all, THIS IS DIVISION 1 FOOTBALL, lol.

ITS THE BIG 12 BIG SKY

Until they take the first snap next year, I'm not going to worry about what they run. However, not having an OC named from the get go is a bit concerning for recruiting and planning. So far the Hawkins era is coming across a bit jenky. In any event, to be clear, this is still Division 1AA. I know they call it Division I, FCS, whatever, but we play very small time football at UCD right now. We are so far from FBS football (real Division I) it's ridiculous. We aren't even "big time" in FCS. Give Hawkins what he needs to bring our program to the forefront, build what we need, and let's bring get us to the "big time" at least in the Big Sky.

On the US national team, the offensive coordinator was Paul Wulff, current OC for Suc State. He was there with Tucker and Hawkins: https://usafootball.com/blogs/robert-tucker/post/10274/2015-u.s.-men%E2%80%99s-national-team-coaching-staff-announced-for-ifaf-world-championship-in-canton,-ohio-
And we know what he did for Suc last year.