(01-10-2017 10:07 PM)CyberBull Wrote:  

(01-10-2017 12:57 PM)ShoreBuc Wrote:  He was a pleasure to watch on the field unless your team was playing him. Wish him all the best at FAU and he should do great

He did nothing against USF...

Smith was a great college back that should have gone pro after his junior year as GOL ran him to death in his last year and was damaged goods by the time he reached the NFL.

He did nothing against USF because USF stacked the box with 8 guys and Kyle Israel couldn't complete a pass to save his life. USF blitzed the **** out of us and Israel wasn't capable of completing a pass under heavy pressure and couldn't evade either. If we'd had a real OC then, we'd have been running the spread with Greco at QB and he'd have at least gotten outside and made some plays with his legs. What a complete waste our offense was with his ability wasted in 2007 and 2008.

Also, he did go pro after his junior year.

(01-10-2017 04:49 PM)BearcatMan Wrote:  

(01-10-2017 03:50 PM)KnightLight Wrote:  

(01-10-2017 01:51 PM)jaredf29 Wrote:  

(01-10-2017 01:07 PM)oldtiger Wrote:  I'm surprised he's not still playing in the NFL or CFL. He was impressive.

Too many injuries, probably from literally carrying games for GOL.

Yeah...certainly nothing to do with him tearing his ACL in the NFL and then in another year, a season ending thumb injury, and how he was never the same after that.

But yeah, those extra carries against Rice and Tulane is what did in his NFL career.*

Joint fatigue is a cumulative thing...more work = more strain. Kind of like college pitchers who have crazy innings counts blowing out UCLs in the minors.

Also makes them stronger.

DeAngelo Williams, LaDainian Tomlison, Thurman Thomas and plenty of others all had more career carries in college than Kevin Smith.

Everyone knows its the luck of the draw when it comes to knee injuries...and sadly, Smith was playing behind the worst NFL OL (and on the worst NFL Team) but one of his last major NFL injuries was a non-contact injury to his ankle after his foot grabbed/got stuck in the artificial turf.

(01-10-2017 10:30 PM)No Bull Wrote:  He will be a good coach. He has a lot of heart.

Miles and miles of it.

(01-11-2017 12:25 AM)knightastic Wrote:  

(01-10-2017 07:31 PM)SublimeKnight Wrote:  

(01-10-2017 04:49 PM)BearcatMan Wrote:  

(01-10-2017 03:50 PM)KnightLight Wrote:  

(01-10-2017 01:51 PM)jaredf29 Wrote:  Too many injuries, probably from literally carrying games for GOL.

Yeah...certainly nothing to do with him tearing his ACL in the NFL and then in another year, a season ending thumb injury, and how he was never the same after that.

But yeah, those extra carries against Rice and Tulane is what did in his NFL career.*

Joint fatigue is a cumulative thing...more work = more strain. Kind of like college pitchers who have crazy innings counts blowing out UCLs in the minors.

There is a pretty good correlation with this. Also some old school football weightlifting programs emphasized asymmetric muscle building (squats, squats, squats, with far less quad development) that put extra strain on knee ligaments.

As a side note, some of our fanbase puts GOL somewhere between God and the upper echelon of Saints.

I don't get the GOL worship. Even MOD over at Rivals just can't let him go...constantly tweeting about anyone that's ever worked with him.

You would think the guy won >70% of his games at UCF with how some view him but it was just about .500 and he left the Program in complete shambles and devoid of Talent his last few years that has UCF in the current mess rebuilding.

It really is a generational thing. Older UCF fans know and understand what GOL did for a floundering UCF program. He stabilized the program, gave it credibility and built a foundation. New fans do not appreciate how important the foundation is. They don't understand the value of things like bowl games, top 10 finishes and the respect of your conference peers (except USF fans of course). Newer fans have no concept of where the program progressed in the first 10 years of his tenure. That said GOL was old school and refused to change when change was needed and in the end things passed him by. GOL checked out after the Fiesta Bowl. Brent key became the recruiting coordinator and head coach in waiting. This was a huge mistake in GOL not seeing that Key was not where UCF needed to go.

I personally believe that UCF might still be stuck in CUSA if not for GOL. We would have been mediocre at best. We had highs a lows with GOL. Little in-between. Had he left at that point and allowed UCF to go a different direction we might have been better off.

(01-11-2017 10:42 AM)StatueKnight Wrote:  

(01-11-2017 12:25 AM)knightastic Wrote:  

(01-10-2017 07:31 PM)SublimeKnight Wrote:  As a side note, some of our fanbase puts GOL somewhere between God and the upper echelon of Saints.

I don't get the GOL worship. Even MOD over at Rivals just can't let him go...constantly tweeting about anyone that's ever worked with him.

You would think the guy won >70% of his games at UCF with how some view him but it was just about .500 and he left the Program in complete shambles and devoid of Talent his last few years that has UCF in the current mess rebuilding.

It really is a generational thing. Older UCF fans know and understand what GOL did for a floundering UCF program. He stabilized the program, gave it credibility and built a foundation. New fans do not appreciate how important the foundation is. They don't understand the value of things like bowl games, top 10 finishes and the respect of your conference peers (except USF fans of course). Newer fans have no concept of where the program progressed in the first 10 years of his tenure. That said GOL was old school and refused to change when change was needed and in the end things passed him by. GOL checked out after the Fiesta Bowl. Brent key became the recruiting coordinator and head coach in waiting. This was a huge mistake in GOL not seeing that Key was not where UCF needed to go.

I personally believe that UCF might still be stuck in CUSA if not for GOL. We would have been mediocre at best. We had highs a lows with GOL. Little in-between. Had he left at that point and allowed UCF to go a different direction we might have been better off.

There is a difference between respecting what he did and believing he was infallible.

(01-11-2017 11:00 AM)SublimeKnight Wrote:  

(01-11-2017 10:42 AM)StatueKnight Wrote:  

(01-11-2017 12:25 AM)knightastic Wrote:  

(01-10-2017 07:31 PM)SublimeKnight Wrote:  As a side note, some of our fanbase puts GOL somewhere between God and the upper echelon of Saints.

I don't get the GOL worship. Even MOD over at Rivals just can't let him go...constantly tweeting about anyone that's ever worked with him.

You would think the guy won >70% of his games at UCF with how some view him but it was just about .500 and he left the Program in complete shambles and devoid of Talent his last few years that has UCF in the current mess rebuilding.

It really is a generational thing. Older UCF fans know and understand what GOL did for a floundering UCF program. He stabilized the program, gave it credibility and built a foundation. New fans do not appreciate how important the foundation is. They don't understand the value of things like bowl games, top 10 finishes and the respect of your conference peers (except USF fans of course). Newer fans have no concept of where the program progressed in the first 10 years of his tenure. That said GOL was old school and refused to change when change was needed and in the end things passed him by. GOL checked out after the Fiesta Bowl. Brent key became the recruiting coordinator and head coach in waiting. This was a huge mistake in GOL not seeing that Key was not where UCF needed to go.

I personally believe that UCF might still be stuck in CUSA if not for GOL. We would have been mediocre at best. We had highs a lows with GOL. Little in-between. Had he left at that point and allowed UCF to go a different direction we might have been better off.

There is a difference between respecting what he did and believing he was infallible.

I don't know of a single fan that thinks he was infallible or without his issues. That is just a ludicrous statement. Most of the GOL supporters know that he had his good and bad. But I think that they react to the "blame Bush" contingent of fans that think that everything bad to happen to UCF football was GOL's fault and everything good was in spite of him. For example those fans think that giving him credit for the Fiesta Bowl season is wrong because it was all Blake Bortles. these fans just KNOW that with some other coach UCF would have won multiple NYE Bowl games, have better recruiting and even maybe a P5 invite because of "UCF's location, facilities, student body size, etc etc etc." Monday morning QBs. It again goes back to the same old "sleeping giant mentality. Some fans still believe that tripe, and that somehow on field success is somehow related to where your school is located rather than what you do with the talent that you have.

(01-11-2017 11:49 AM)StatueKnight Wrote:  

(01-11-2017 11:00 AM)SublimeKnight Wrote:  

(01-11-2017 10:42 AM)StatueKnight Wrote:  

(01-11-2017 12:25 AM)knightastic Wrote:  

(01-10-2017 07:31 PM)SublimeKnight Wrote:  As a side note, some of our fanbase puts GOL somewhere between God and the upper echelon of Saints.

I don't get the GOL worship. Even MOD over at Rivals just can't let him go...constantly tweeting about anyone that's ever worked with him.

You would think the guy won >70% of his games at UCF with how some view him but it was just about .500 and he left the Program in complete shambles and devoid of Talent his last few years that has UCF in the current mess rebuilding.

It really is a generational thing. Older UCF fans know and understand what GOL did for a floundering UCF program. He stabilized the program, gave it credibility and built a foundation. New fans do not appreciate how important the foundation is. They don't understand the value of things like bowl games, top 10 finishes and the respect of your conference peers (except USF fans of course). Newer fans have no concept of where the program progressed in the first 10 years of his tenure. That said GOL was old school and refused to change when change was needed and in the end things passed him by. GOL checked out after the Fiesta Bowl. Brent key became the recruiting coordinator and head coach in waiting. This was a huge mistake in GOL not seeing that Key was not where UCF needed to go.

I personally believe that UCF might still be stuck in CUSA if not for GOL. We would have been mediocre at best. We had highs a lows with GOL. Little in-between. Had he left at that point and allowed UCF to go a different direction we might have been better off.

There is a difference between respecting what he did and believing he was infallible.

I don't know of a single fan that thinks he was infallible or without his issues. That is just a ludicrous statement. Most of the GOL supporters know that he had his good and bad. But I think that they react to the "blame Bush" contingent of fans that think that everything bad to happen to UCF football was GOL's fault and everything good was in spite of him. For example those fans think that giving him credit for the Fiesta Bowl season is wrong because it was all Blake Bortles. these fans just KNOW that with some other coach UCF would have won multiple NYE Bowl games, have better recruiting and even maybe a P5 invite because of "UCF's location, facilities, student body size, etc etc etc." Monday morning QBs. It again goes back to the same old "sleeping giant mentality. Some fans still believe that tripe, and that somehow on field success is somehow related to where your school is located rather than what you do with the talent that you have.

Intelligent post. Would read again.

Also, most (not all) UCF Fans realized 2013 would be the high mark as most of the on-campus and off-campus recruiting restrictions, plus the loss of 19 scholarships from the NCAA Sanctions handed down on the former AD Keith Tribble and former Asst Coach David Kelly were going to be showing up once those Seniors and top Juniors left after that season.

Very disappointed that nobody got the Jimmy McGinty reference...

(01-11-2017 08:58 AM)CitrusUCF Wrote:  

(01-10-2017 10:07 PM)CyberBull Wrote:  

(01-10-2017 12:57 PM)ShoreBuc Wrote:  He was a pleasure to watch on the field unless your team was playing him. Wish him all the best at FAU and he should do great

He did nothing against USF...

Smith was a great college back that should have gone pro after his junior year as GOL ran him to death in his last year and was damaged goods by the time he reached the NFL.

He did nothing against USF because USF stacked the box with 8 guys and Kyle Israel couldn't complete a pass to save his life. USF blitzed the **** out of us and Israel wasn't capable of completing a pass under heavy pressure and couldn't evade either. If we'd had a real OC then, we'd have been running the spread with Greco at QB and he'd have at least gotten outside and made some plays with his legs. What a complete waste our offense was with his ability wasted in 2007 and 2008.

Also, he did go pro after his junior year.

Correction noted....still my point is that he carried that team offensively. All those carries made him a UCF legend ...and deservedly so...but absolutely decreased his shelf life. That is why I don't begrudge Marlon Mack turning pro.

In terms of production against USF, the Bulls shut down alot of good running backs during those days including teams with the benefit of a above average QB play (see UL, WVU, Auburn, etc).

(01-11-2017 10:42 AM)StatueKnight Wrote:  

(01-11-2017 12:25 AM)knightastic Wrote:  

(01-10-2017 07:31 PM)SublimeKnight Wrote:  

(01-10-2017 04:49 PM)BearcatMan Wrote:  

(01-10-2017 03:50 PM)KnightLight Wrote:  Yeah...certainly nothing to do with him tearing his ACL in the NFL and then in another year, a season ending thumb injury, and how he was never the same after that.

But yeah, those extra carries against Rice and Tulane is what did in his NFL career.*

Joint fatigue is a cumulative thing...more work = more strain. Kind of like college pitchers who have crazy innings counts blowing out UCLs in the minors.

There is a pretty good correlation with this. Also some old school football weightlifting programs emphasized asymmetric muscle building (squats, squats, squats, with far less quad development) that put extra strain on knee ligaments.

As a side note, some of our fanbase puts GOL somewhere between God and the upper echelon of Saints.

I don't get the GOL worship. Even MOD over at Rivals just can't let him go...constantly tweeting about anyone that's ever worked with him.

You would think the guy won >70% of his games at UCF with how some view him but it was just about .500 and he left the Program in complete shambles and devoid of Talent his last few years that has UCF in the current mess rebuilding.

It really is a generational thing. Older UCF fans know and understand what GOL did for a floundering UCF program. He stabilized the program, gave it credibility and built a foundation. New fans do not appreciate how important the foundation is. They don't understand the value of things like bowl games, top 10 finishes and the respect of your conference peers (except USF fans of course). Newer fans have no concept of where the program progressed in the first 10 years of his tenure. That said GOL was old school and refused to change when change was needed and in the end things passed him by. GOL checked out after the Fiesta Bowl. Brent key became the recruiting coordinator and head coach in waiting. This was a huge mistake in GOL not seeing that Key was not where UCF needed to go.

I personally believe that UCF might still be stuck in CUSA if not for GOL. We would have been mediocre at best. We had highs a lows with GOL. Little in-between. Had he left at that point and allowed UCF to go a different direction we might have been better off.

I keep hearing the 'GOL built and left a foundation for the Program'

If he built such a solid foundation how did things get so bad that the Program bottomed out and went 0-12 on his way out the door?

A real Program builder leaves the Program in better shape on his way out. I'll never agree with most of the UCF posters over at the Dungeon that treat him like a God. He was the first coach to have any sort of respectable facilities to work with. Terry Bowden would have done the same or better.

People also forget that GOL was the only coach that was going to give Kevin a shot at running back. Everyone else was looking at him as a DB.

That is one heck of a staff that Kiffin is assembling. Best of luck to Smith.

(01-11-2017 02:24 PM)knightastic Wrote:  

(01-11-2017 10:42 AM)StatueKnight Wrote:  

(01-11-2017 12:25 AM)knightastic Wrote:  

(01-10-2017 07:31 PM)SublimeKnight Wrote:  

(01-10-2017 04:49 PM)BearcatMan Wrote:  Joint fatigue is a cumulative thing...more work = more strain. Kind of like college pitchers who have crazy innings counts blowing out UCLs in the minors.

There is a pretty good correlation with this. Also some old school football weightlifting programs emphasized asymmetric muscle building (squats, squats, squats, with far less quad development) that put extra strain on knee ligaments.

As a side note, some of our fanbase puts GOL somewhere between God and the upper echelon of Saints.

I don't get the GOL worship. Even MOD over at Rivals just can't let him go...constantly tweeting about anyone that's ever worked with him.

You would think the guy won >70% of his games at UCF with how some view him but it was just about .500 and he left the Program in complete shambles and devoid of Talent his last few years that has UCF in the current mess rebuilding.

It really is a generational thing. Older UCF fans know and understand what GOL did for a floundering UCF program. He stabilized the program, gave it credibility and built a foundation. New fans do not appreciate how important the foundation is. They don't understand the value of things like bowl games, top 10 finishes and the respect of your conference peers (except USF fans of course). Newer fans have no concept of where the program progressed in the first 10 years of his tenure. That said GOL was old school and refused to change when change was needed and in the end things passed him by. GOL checked out after the Fiesta Bowl. Brent key became the recruiting coordinator and head coach in waiting. This was a huge mistake in GOL not seeing that Key was not where UCF needed to go.

I personally believe that UCF might still be stuck in CUSA if not for GOL. We would have been mediocre at best. We had highs a lows with GOL. Little in-between. Had he left at that point and allowed UCF to go a different direction we might have been better off.

I keep hearing the 'GOL built and left a foundation for the Program'

If he built such a solid foundation how did things get so bad that the Program bottomed out and went 0-12 on his way out the door?

A real Program builder leaves the Program in better shape on his way out. I'll never agree with most of the UCF posters over at the Dungeon that treat him like a God. He was the first coach to have any sort of respectable facilities to work with. Terry Bowden would have done the same or better.

Maybe you are a new UCF Fan are didn't know about the severe NCAA Sanctions that were handed down on the program because of the actions from their former AD Keith Tribble and former Football Asst Coach David Kelly...which imposed multi-year penalties/restrictions on:
On-campus Visits
Off-campus recruiting restrictions
Loss of 19 scholarships

All of those started impacting the program around 2013-2014...and by 2015, the giant holes in eligible talent was pretty obvious for all to see.

Now that UCF is off all of their NCAA Sanctions, UCF should continue to improve in the coming years when they start to build up redshirt talent depth plus with their ability to utilize all of the on-campus and off-campus recruiting opportunities.

(01-11-2017 02:25 PM)StatueKnight Wrote:  People also forget that GOL was the only coach that was going to give Kevin a shot at running back. Everyone else was looking at him as a DB.

Great point...as Smith played RB in his Junior Year of HS...but his HS got a new coach for his Senior Year and that coach wanted another player to be featured at RB and moved Smith to DB, where he did pick up some I-A Scholarship offers to play DB.

O'Leary was the only Div I-A Coach who reviewed Smith's tape from his Junior year and offered him the scholarship to play RB and the rest is history.

(01-11-2017 02:24 PM)knightastic Wrote:  

(01-11-2017 10:42 AM)StatueKnight Wrote:  

(01-11-2017 12:25 AM)knightastic Wrote:  

(01-10-2017 07:31 PM)SublimeKnight Wrote:  

(01-10-2017 04:49 PM)BearcatMan Wrote:  Joint fatigue is a cumulative thing...more work = more strain. Kind of like college pitchers who have crazy innings counts blowing out UCLs in the minors.

There is a pretty good correlation with this. Also some old school football weightlifting programs emphasized asymmetric muscle building (squats, squats, squats, with far less quad development) that put extra strain on knee ligaments.

As a side note, some of our fanbase puts GOL somewhere between God and the upper echelon of Saints.

I don't get the GOL worship. Even MOD over at Rivals just can't let him go...constantly tweeting about anyone that's ever worked with him.

You would think the guy won >70% of his games at UCF with how some view him but it was just about .500 and he left the Program in complete shambles and devoid of Talent his last few years that has UCF in the current mess rebuilding.

It really is a generational thing. Older UCF fans know and understand what GOL did for a floundering UCF program. He stabilized the program, gave it credibility and built a foundation. New fans do not appreciate how important the foundation is. They don't understand the value of things like bowl games, top 10 finishes and the respect of your conference peers (except USF fans of course). Newer fans have no concept of where the program progressed in the first 10 years of his tenure. That said GOL was old school and refused to change when change was needed and in the end things passed him by. GOL checked out after the Fiesta Bowl. Brent key became the recruiting coordinator and head coach in waiting. This was a huge mistake in GOL not seeing that Key was not where UCF needed to go.

I personally believe that UCF might still be stuck in CUSA if not for GOL. We would have been mediocre at best. We had highs a lows with GOL. Little in-between. Had he left at that point and allowed UCF to go a different direction we might have been better off.

I keep hearing the 'GOL built and left a foundation for the Program'

If he built such a solid foundation how did things get so bad that the Program bottomed out and went 0-12 on his way out the door?

A real Program builder leaves the Program in better shape on his way out. I'll never agree with most of the UCF posters over at the Dungeon that treat him like a God. He was the first coach to have any sort of respectable facilities to work with. Terry Bowden would have done the same or better.

This is the Monday morning Quarterbacking. Pure speculation and a the belief that location and facilities drives the success of a program. Case in point, USF had every advantage that UCF had with the exception of an OCS (which UCF did not have until three years into GOL's tenure during which time we went to the CUSA championship). Add to that USF played in a BCS conference so had a significant recruiting advantage. Once Leavitt was gone, Skip Holtz tanked while UCF flourished. UCF could have been in the same boat with Terry Bowden, or Skip Holtz (who was a sought after coach at the time) or whoever, but instead we progressed steadily.

As for things bottoming out in 2015? I stand on the well documented theory that GOL was not the head coach in 2014 or 15. Key was doing the recruiting and the play calling. Was GOL to blame for helping to put his buddy Key in that spot? Yup. So was Hitt. But how long did it take Frost to bounce back vs. how long did it take Taggart to get USF back? Frost still had a foundation, Taggart did not. If the cupboard was truly bare UCF would not have gotten 6 wins this season and taken another 2 teams to the wire. 2015 was a perfect storm of graduation, injuries, poor coaching and the backlash from sanctions. I for one am glad that it happened. Even with a 5 win season we might still be stuck with Key as our coach and GOL as our AD. But things got so bad that we cleaned house and now have a young and aggressive AD and several new coaches. Chalk that up to another GOL success story.