In my view it was way more then just a couple missed kicks.
- Missed kick
- Only using Cooper to run the ball
- Limited passes to people not named Dropsy Brown III
- Prevent Offense entire second half
- Playing for a field goal with over 2 minutes to play on the (CMU)11 yard line, 3 time outs left and 2 min. warning, 3 rushes gained 4 yards, took off 45 seconds off clock
- BAD play calling
- Bad in-game adjustments (second half sucked)
- Really bad time for a slow evolving Trick Play on Aztec offense.
- Pretty obvious Trick Play being called on fake punt from CMU
- What happened to the TE's in the second half
- Shut out in Second half
- Out coached and out played in second half
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Thank you for putting this list together. It's been swirling in my head since the game was winding down, and been parsed out by me in a slew of texts to various texts groups - Aztec and otherwise (lots of sports friends that check in re the Aztecs) - and some posts here and on FB.
There are more I could add, but you did a GREAT job with this list. Thank you and well done.
You just can't make that many mistakes, errors in judgement, bad decisions and not see that he's just not a good coach.
Nothing really in his background suggests Lewis is going to be the guy who can take us to our version of the "promised land" ... consistently contending for conference championships, winning them regularly, being in the national conversation as one of the top 2-3 G5 teams in the nation, and on occasion get in the playoffs.
You know, like, say ... Aztec Basketball and Brian Dutcher maybe? Nothing we've seen yet has shown that either. NOTHING.
If he was the guy, we'd already be seeing signs he is. Playing more disciplined, great tackling, good angles on D, smart and at times imaginative play calling. Show me ANYTHING.
The thing that really shows me is him being billed an offensive "guru" and the dude runs Cooper into an obvious brick wall 33 times in one game ... for a 1.9 yard average. We've seen nothing he's a guru, instead the opposite. The only play that impressed yesterday was the first TD to Wolfe. That was a GREAT play design. That was it, just one play.
Also, this is a year we aren't good, it's a year to be aggressive, be unpredictable, open it up ... he turtled it up and played "not to lose" a la Brady Effin Hoke!
Jeff Tedford's first year at Cal, he took over a 1-11 Tom Holmoe coached team and went 7-5, while greatly improving their fundamentals, discipline, tackling, play calling, and he was running 2-3 spectacular trick plays a game. The sleepy Cal fanbase was electrified.
THAT'S what I expected to see here with Lewis given his so called "Guru/Genius" we were sold.
Maybe the worst coached and most frustrating half I've ever seen- and that's saying A LOT watching Aztec football since the early 80s.
By comparison, let me make an extreme example. Let's say you could hire Nick Saban or Mike Leach (RIP). If Leach, you'd already be seeing signs of life and improvement... his wide open offense moving the ball, gaining tons of yards, and putting up lots of points. We might lose games for now 48-42, but we would seeing SOMETHING. I know that as I saw Leach do it at every 2nd and 3rd tier P5 program he was at, playing against top tier P5 programs. LOVED that quirky guy and his beautiful football mind.
If Saban, you don't think we'd be seeing LOTS of improvement EVERYWHERE already?
One more example closer to home and more realistic... Barry Odom at UNLV. I could list 4-5 Boise State coaches. Kalen Deboer at Fresno State. Troy Taylor at Sac State. With all those guys, you could see it right away, regardless of first year record.
My point was if you hire the right guy, you see signs early. You typically do not see anything like the cluster we saw yesterday and the first 3 games.
Then you add in his motor mouth, speed talking cliches and platitudes ... "AztecFast" ... "BeTheAlpha". Give me break. If we were actually seeing ANY of that, I'd be all in. Frankly he's a big talker, seems full of hot air and not a guy who coaches like either cute slogan/motto.
Don't give me the BS his systems takes a year and half, two years to kick in. I see several in here and FB saying "well, he said it's going to take 2-3 years ...". He never said it was going to take a year and half to be good, he said it would take that long before this thing really hit its stride.
I doubt even he expected us to be this inept. Did he expect he would be the main culprit and contributor to this garbage?
I'm not knocking the kids, I'm not throwing the kicker under the bus ... though the kicker is a serious issue.
I'd LOVE to be wrong about him and see him be the next coaching star in the NCAA. I'd happily admit I was wrong.
But i played to this level, have tons of friends who played at this level and above in the NFL, several who became highly successful coaches and watch football for almost 60 years and 50 as an adult, you know it when you see it.
This won't end well. Again. Wicker is pathetic hiring coaches, in football and other sports. ADLT is even more clueless. Bit a good combo or recipe.
If he's still here when a new coach is hired, he shouldn't be within 1000 miles of making that selection. If I was his boss, I'd make him put together a blue chip committee to vet and recommend the next one. I GUARANTEE you i could do better than him, as could several others in this board. THAT is an issue.
I expect we should see SOME improvement. But cutting to the chase, he's not going to be the next Chris Peterson. Or even Barry Odom.
