It’s now come
out officially, with the release of the emails, that Embree’s ouster was in the
making days before the Sunday announcement, and well before the Utah game,
which probably wouldn’t have saved his job anyway. Embree was surprised by the info, saying he
was led to believe it was a very difficult decision, but the documentation
shows it was a calculated move that was likely in the works behind closed doors
for awhile.
The university
almost announced the planned firings of defensive coaches Greg Brown and Brian
Cabral on the day of the Utah game. That release was pulled late,
since obviously they were trying to keep their real plan secret from Embree and the media, and that would have created a circus questioning everyone's status.
Bohnhead has said that he had spoken to some coaches privately before Utah about possibly coming here
as coordinators and no one would bite; however, Embree has stated that he had a
name defensive coordinator lined up who was also a LB coach, the only reason
that one could conceive of Embree firing his friend and mentor. None of it
mattered to Bohnhead since he needed to make a splash to guilt us into giving
him money to spend. Can you imagine the
uproar if the team had somehow managed to pull the Utah game out?
The university and Bohnhead's “planned”
improvements are great and all, but will have very little physical effect until
2016 (when Bohnhead actually stated today that they will be operational) or beyond,
which means that this year’s players will all be gone, except for some fifth
year juniors; although they should be somewhat of a recruiting tool-even Embree
had already been using some of the proposed plans to woo prospects, even though
next year’s class will only get to use the facilities for one or two years at
best.
Unfortunately,
in the meantime, CU will remain basically the worst and oldest football
stadium, practice fields and operation areas in the Pac-12 (Henderson compared
the Dal Ward to a “youth hostel” in comparison to their competition’s
facilities). Almost everyone else has
recently is doing, or is at least farther along in their development: Cal just
completed a major stadium update and renovation, Washington is in the process
of doing the same, Arizona’s will be done next year, USC is planning to
overhaul the Coliseum, even Oregon is expanding the already amazing complex they
have; Stanford and Oregon St. have completed expansions or renovations in the
recent past.
Bohnhead has twice
now spearheaded donor guilt trips, pleading for cash for facilities, only after
he had to in order to attract a coach. I
will give him some credit for the Pac-12 move, but I am not convinced this was
due to his effort, but great circumstances and some history prior to his
arrival. Great job!
Go Buffs!
Some dude in erie said something like "embree got punked. Bohn punked buff nation." That dude was right on!
ReplyDeleteI would love to see a facilities improvement but have to be concerned about the current administration undertaking such an important task and handling that much $$
ReplyDeleteGO BUFFS!
I have to say that I am not a big fan of Bohn. I was in school at CU when both Embree and Bieniemy were playing. Scooter was and remains now my favorite Buff football player. Both of these guys are very good position coaches and excellent recruiters. It is hard to know whether Embree can become a good head coach because he made two major mistakes when he put together his staff. Neither DC Brown nor OC Bieniemy have what it takes to be coordinators (yet). Three rookies leading a rebuilding project was not a good idea. The Buff defense was burned over and over this year because Brown did not have his players in the right positions. They never seemed to realize that all those "missed assignments" they claimed were the problem were primarily due to players being out of place when the plays started. When an opposing team is in the red zone on the two yard line, you cannot stop many pass plays when your corners are playing SEVEN yards off the line of scrimmage. In other words, they were playing closer to the back of the end zone than the player they were supposed to be guarding. On offense, our playcalling was consistently atrocious. I can't tell you how many times all I could think was WTF! When you call a quarterback sneak even though you got the first down, it shows that you are just not paying attention to what is going on.
ReplyDeleteAs for facilities, I am glad that CU is finally aware that they need to keep up with the competition. At the same time, I have been to games at Stanford, Cal, USC, UCLA, ASU, and Arizona. Folsom is a GREAT place to watch a game, light years better for watching football than the Coliseum or the Rose Bowl. The worst seats at Folsom are better than MOST seats at USC or UCLA. Stanford's was much better than Cal's, and Sun Devil stadium was nicer than Arizona. I still prefer Folsom to any of them.
IF CU follows through on the financial commitment they have made, I think that in 5 years MacIntyre will have built CU into a top tier school once again. As Slick Rick noted years ago, CU has EVERYTHING that money cannot buy. Now that we are putting the money where our mouths are, we are going to be hard to stop.
DeleteExcellent points! We had a lot of good position coaches the last two years, but unfortunately not much else on the staff. They are and were great recruiters. Remember that last year's class was ranked in the top 25-30 on the strength of Embree and his staff's ability to close with some big name recruits the last week (Crawley, Wright,Hall, Hobbs, Powell)-they did that with their previous class as well (Nembot, Juda Parker, Asiata who left). We should reap the benefits in the future still, if MacIntyre can hold on to them.
It's not the stadium itself that needs the most help but the facilities the athletes use-weight room, indoor practice facility, even high tech meeting and video viewing spaces.
Husky Stadium in Seattle was amazing before renovations so I a definitely want to return and check it out when they are done.
Yo D Smith,
DeleteImproved facilities and commitment from CU has certainly helped the basketball teams. How 'bout them Lady Buffs! I am hoping that the $$$ promised show up and allow the new staff to really be out there on the recruiting trail HARD.
Love your site. Have been overseas and out of state for much of the last two years, so it is hard to get my Buff fix sometimes. Unfortunately, I did get to sit through every game this year. No help for the blood pressure, I tell ya.
Sorry about the "anonymous" post earlier, my internet connection here in the Netherlands was messing with me and I was trying to get it posted quickly.
I do feel that the new MAC in town may be the real deal. Hope his staff comes together well. I also think that he will be a VAST improvement in player development, game day coaching and preparation for the different teams we face. I also think that these particular parts of the process are vastly under-rated, and that obsessing about 4 and 5 star recruits is a waste of time. It's been awhile since a 5 star recruit came to Boulder and actually DID anything on the gridiron.
If we consistently develop good and very good players into BETTER players, then CU will once again become a highly prized place to play.
And one last thing to say about Embree and his plan to fire LB coach Cabral as a fix to his bad teams -- yeah, that's right, the widely respected coach of all those NFL linebackers was the problem! That thought process was idiotic and shows that Embree had no clue as to what the problem was. Hire the best person for the job, and not just your buddies and things will work better.
Glad I have a fan outside my family and a few local friends! Where in the Netherlands? I, too, was in Boulder in school for much of the Embree and Bienemy years, and have always been a fan of Jon in any capacity, of Eric as a player, but not so much as a coach, especially ore than RBs.
DeleteThe almost firing of Cabral had more to do with Embree bringing in a DC who is a LB guy, and Jon even said the decision had been killing him.
I can only hope the Buffs are now on an upward trajectory.
We are in the Ede / Lunteren area which is in the Gelderland Province. Not far, in fact from Nijmegan, the birthplace of Eddie and Alex Van Halen. It's a little over an hour from Amsterdam, and about 25 miles from the German border.
DeleteLooking forward to being back in Boulder next week, and can hopefully find some tix to see the basketball team.