The unofficial online home for fans of the Western Michigan University Broncos. Part of Collegiate Sports Nation (CSN).

So I'm out mowing the lawn today, still steaming over last nights debacle and for some reason this question came to mind and I don't know how I would answer.

After 2 weeks of the season. Who would you rather have coaching your team?

PJ Fleck
Dan Enos
Bill Cubit


I don't really have an answer, because I don't know that I would vote for any of them. Maybe that's actually my vote. NONE OF THE ABOVE.

Cubit above Enos and Fleck. There is no doubt in my mind about that one. He was the only one of the three prepared to take on a head coaching position and has by far had the most success.

Enos lacks much as a coach when it comes to motivation but seems to be a great guy in developing the character of his players. Fleck seems to be an amazing motivator. I think he isn't prepared to lead a D1 program but is the type of guy that can convince his players that a brick wall is really a door and they will run through it for him. From what little I have been able to gather and my first impression is that he is the Pete Carroll type that will try to be the players buddies instead of a father figure or authority figure. That instead of disciplining his players he will try to sweep things under the rug unless forced to do otherwise.

I feel Cubit was a combination of the two but with actual coaching ability. You could count on him to develop character guys and if they messed up he would put them through hell to make sure that they didnt mess up again or they would have to face him. I admired how his teams were always competitive and with the class that he ran his football program.

Cubes

Had enough of a presence to garner the attention of coaches and recruits, and was brilliant at developing QB's and game planning for BCS schools. Had enough connections to put together some good staffs, but not enough resources.

I think he'd make an excellent AD, and I think his son should have been retained as a QB coach if he was willing to stay.

He's better off now, the man looked great, he's getting away from this half baked operation. Raise, good job, jeeze, he was crazy to tough it out but that was part of his DNA to see things through.

Now we gotta see if this department is going to get fixed or not. It clearly wasn't the guy on the sideline that was the main issue here.

Andy Murray

(09-08-2013 08:24 PM)DesertBronco Wrote:  He's better off now, the man looked great, he's getting away from this half baked operation. Raise, good job, jeeze, he was crazy to tough it out but that was part of his DNA to see things through.

Now we gotta see if this department is going to get fixed or not. It clearly wasn't the guy on the sideline that was the main issue here.

What do U see as the main issue?

I think I agree with you guys.

I think it was also time for Bill to move on. He IS an OC and will do a great job in that capacity. But if I had to choose between the 3, its not even a question.

Yeah, KB has made some good hires. I mean, I look at Heeke up at Central. The guy looks polished and confident, but he made 4 hires (Butch, Enos, EZ, and Keno) and two were bad, one was good and an easy choice, and the jury is still out on Casino.

I'm not a big Hawk supporter, but he was a solid hire. Cubit was the right guy at the right time. She's knocked two out of the park with her hockey hires. I should say the jury is still out on Fleck, but frankly, he's done so much damage so quickly I have to give that one a thumbs down. If he can keep his recruits and put a decent team on the field next year I might jump on board, but for now..............Go Blue!

[sorry for looooong post]

The options at the end of last season were to either fire Cubit or extend his contract by 3-4 years. I wasn't a fan of either option. Would've liked to see Cubit go another year, giving him benefit of doubt for the injuries, but that wasn't in the cards. Admittedly, at the time, the bad EMU loss (not as bad as Nicholls, but bad nonetheless) was fresh on my mind and probably altered my way of thinking, so I finally leaned toward having Cubit move on.

As is typical, I don't pay toooo much attention to the program during spring and summer, but did enjoy Fleck's fired-up speeches (despite a few of his pipe-dream outlandish statements), community engagement, photo ops, and even the RTB slogan was fine in small doses. The peak of my interest was when he racked up some head-turning recruits.

But then "RTB" seemed to take on a life of its own. It wasn't a locker room side-slogan like I thought it'd be anymore. It found itself seeping into the DNA of the program, and I cringed when it became a staple on the uniforms (I don't really like helmet stickers to begin with... but now WE have them, and they're friggen oars. Not horseshoes or something relevant. Oars). We have more rowing references on our bland-white unis than Bronco references. OK, I was even able to deal with that, especially given our reasonably solid outing at MSU, a place we usually get blown out.

Then came the "new traditions" video, which enabled plenty of onlookers to laugh at (not 'with') us.

Then Nicholls happened.

As CD said, Kathy B's record of hires has been largely successful, despite a couple not working out for the long haul. Her most recent ones - Blashill and Murray - are top notch guys who you want on our payroll. Maybe she woke up one morning and wanted to roll the dice on football. Maybe Dunn was in her ear. Maybe our 1st, 2nd, 3rd and 4th choices all fell through. Maybe it was all of this. And here we have PJ Fleck.

We've had bad losses before. But this one cuts deep. The biggest upset outside of @ CMU 2000 in terms of Vegas odds, but at least CMU is Div 1A and we were on the road. Fleck might've gotten more sympathy from the fan base otherwise, but the steady stream of entertainment, dancing, DJs, "elite" sloganeering, and so on, makes it easy to deliver the heat to him. Bless him for trying to create a buzz and try something new, but unless you have the W's, it all comes across as flat.

A laughingstock video and loss to an FCS bottom-feeder in just one week. I dunno, in the long run, maybe - maybe - it was good TVT threw that pick and we lost the game instead of winning a squeaker and 'feeling good' about it. A huge splash of cold water might be what Fleck needs right now. I wish the guy the best and hope we're just seeing the darkest hours now, and that the upswing will follow suit soon. No other choice, really. Even if we went 0-fer the season, we lose half our recruits and this message board looks like a nuked ground zero with no carbon life forms remaining, he's here for a few contractual years.

(09-08-2013 07:57 PM)WheresWaldo42 Wrote:  So I'm out mowing the lawn today, still steaming over last nights debacle and for some reason this question came to mind and I don't know how I would answer.

After 2 weeks of the season. Who would you rather have coaching your team?

PJ Fleck
Dan Enos
Bill Cubit


I don't really have an answer, because I don't know that I would vote for any of them. Maybe that's actually my vote. NONE OF THE ABOVE.

Where's Ron English on that list?

(09-08-2013 08:45 PM)bronconick Wrote:  Andy Murray

I'm all in with hockey.

(09-08-2013 09:35 PM)holybovine Wrote:  

(09-08-2013 07:57 PM)WheresWaldo42 Wrote:  So I'm out mowing the lawn today, still steaming over last nights debacle and for some reason this question came to mind and I don't know how I would answer.

After 2 weeks of the season. Who would you rather have coaching your team?

PJ Fleck
Dan Enos
Bill Cubit


I don't really have an answer, because I don't know that I would vote for any of them. Maybe that's actually my vote. NONE OF THE ABOVE.

Where's Ron English on that list?

Holy.........let me help you. Being on the list is not necessarily a good thing The list is supposed to represent 3 equally bad choices (although I don't see Cubit as a bad choice). I think English would have done very well here. More resources, more support, easier to recruit to. But, EMU was available and he didn't have to sell his house.

As a fan base, we have to find a way to be critical of WMU football without referencing Cubit. He's gone. He's happy.

I agree. I don't like it when they bring Bill up when I'm knocking PJ.

(09-08-2013 09:51 PM)Chipdip2 Wrote:  

(09-08-2013 09:35 PM)holybovine Wrote:  

(09-08-2013 07:57 PM)WheresWaldo42 Wrote:  So I'm out mowing the lawn today, still steaming over last nights debacle and for some reason this question came to mind and I don't know how I would answer.

After 2 weeks of the season. Who would you rather have coaching your team?

PJ Fleck
Dan Enos
Bill Cubit


I don't really have an answer, because I don't know that I would vote for any of them. Maybe that's actually my vote. NONE OF THE ABOVE.

Where's Ron English on that list?

Holy.........let me help you. Being on the list is not necessarily a good thing The list is supposed to represent 3 equally bad choices (although I don't see Cubit as a bad choice). I think English would have done very well here. More resources, more support, easier to recruit to. But, EMU was available and he didn't have to sell his house.

Man, be thankful that Ron English is not your head coach.

He'll be gone in December after a 3 win year. Maybe we'll go after Cubit?

First, let me say that my dad now knows I was right that Illinois is in the right place offensively with Cubit on their side when he winced when they hired him. Cubit lost his grip on the team, and within himself in reference to it. It became not a good fit, and him going to Illinois to end his good football career -- the best will come out of him and it's showing already.

BUT to think that it'd be a good move in the right direction to have kept him for this year -- I disagree. Yes, we would have beaten Nicholls. Would we have struggled and only won by like 10? Probably. Against MSU, roughly the same outcome. To think we'd be 7-5 this year under Cubit I'd swiftly & comfortably bet against that. We needed a change, and we needed to aim high and take some risks.

With that said, that still does not avoid any criticism of Fleck on a big scale. WTF -- that is the thought. But, it is still early. We shall see. I hope this is a slap in the face with cold water splashed all over. How does he recoil from adversity? NW, Iowa, and Kent @Home will tell the tale. It will show us what his oars are really made of.

Enos? No. At best, he can end up being an OK coach, If he's given a stream of good recruits. At best, he can be what Cubit was settling into... and settling meaning the 2nd half of his career at WMU and what one would expect in the direction it was going -- winning most games we should win, winning all games we most definitely should, losing too many games we can win, and losing most games we'd have a shot at (with a periodic upset of ones we'd merely have a shot at, non-conf).

So when thinking about Enos, at best, you have to think Cubit-at-best. We did need a change... but no sense in a change when it's not a vertical move but a horizontal one. However, Cubit, IMO, is better than Enos, it just literally was best for Cubit & WMU for him to go. I think Cubit's better than Enos. So in a sense, that's a tie, more or less.

Fleck? Too early to tell. By season's end, we'll have a better grasp. Right now? Row The Boat. Let's see how he can row through adversity, since that's what the saying's based on.

Right NOW:
1. Fleck
2. Cubit
2. Enos

Bill's time here was up.

Enos was not a good choice for CMU (should have hired someone from Kelly-Jones tree) and has not done much to justify it. He might've been a better choice somewhere else but even Chip fans don't want him.

I'm not disappointed we hired Fleck specifically although I'm disappointed with what he's done so far. Still way too early to pass judgment.

We needed to hire someone like Brock Spack (former Purdue DC now Illinois State HC).

Unfortunately, I have a feeling we could not attract candidates of his caliber and wound up with Fleck instead.

I am choosing to sit back and give the rest of the year a chance to happen. I was so extremely pi$$ed saturday night that I could barely see the keyboard to type the vitriole that was spewing from my mind...

Then I took a few deep breaths, a healthy amount of beer and a nights rest. Returning to me on sunday was a healthy dose of reality. Reality is that we have a new coach, we had quite a bit of turn over in talent from last year and we lost quite a few of the starters for this year to injury. I think we are playing about 25% freshment (true, and red shirt)... quite a bit of youth on a team trying to find its new identity.

Nichols was not a bad team. They were deeper in game worn talent than WMU and they were just as fast as many of the teams number ones we will see this year in the MAC. WE were primed for an upset saturday. Add the fact that the game speed of WMU at the beginning of the game, the missed tackles and just plain poor individual effort at the onset were lack luster and it was a hole they couldn't overcome. Give some props to Nichols... they came in and never once looked like they were overmatched.

Let's just see how this week shakes out and hope that we can keep the injuries at a minimum.

I for one am willing to give Fleck a pass on this one... you guys are harsh. Glad I am not working for half of you... If I came into your organization and in less than a year created a buzz about your operation... maybe was bit silly at times but created interest without an actual product to point at and fell a little flat on my first sales call... ??? Time for change???

I think that MSU game gave us a little false hope that is making this game feel even worse... MSU is terrible too... I think I said this during the game... we just dont have the horses this year.... and when the ones we do have play a sub-par game... its going to be a pretty bad outcome.

Please Nichols is weak. The game was fraught with mistakes.