It is being reported that BB will give up QB coach duties and hire ......................................................................................................................................................................................................... his son, Josh Blankenship. BB has obviously gone mad and he must either be replaced or be reassigned to the nonexistent PE program. Doesn't he understand that most of the fanbase has just turned against him by doing this?

Now this is nothing personally against Josh, BB or anyone on the staff, but this also confirms some of the speculation that other assistants will be looking to move on too - especially on the defensive staff. This will probably go down as the worst move in the history of TU sports, but is obviously created by a perfect storm occurring in the FB program.

1. A new AD who knows virtually nothing about TU athletics in general, has a bad track record in general and cows down to the already established sucessful programs he never experienced at EMU.

2. It shows the complete confusion of the entire administration at TU and their lack of oversight in controlling and hiring people to run the various athletic programs.

3. No coach, professor, employee or department member should have complete autonomy to do as they please with a program they do not fund.

4. Accountability and hiring practices should be reviewed by those at the top.

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Going into a much tougher league next year should have created a culture of more competence for the staff and the program. A FB program is no stronger than those in charge of it. And doing this is akin to giving the finger to the fans, administration, donors and season ticket holders. We have now become the laughing stock of CUSA, AAC, the state of Oklahoma and the college FB world in general.

THIS IS MADNESS!

This may be a rant, but it is what it is. I just hope the "confirmed" rumors are incorrect. If so, I'll delete my rant.

IMO

NO GO TU!

I could go along with Josh being the QB coach, IF we were bringing in a new hot shot OC. Nepotism can only go so far......I can hear a staff meeting with 2 sons on staff....yes, dad........yes, dad......yes, dad!!! Tell me it isn't so.....someone on the staff will be named OC, just pick someone....are you kidding me!!!!!! Somebody to work with the QB's is fine with me(and Needed), so Josh doing that......no big problem.......the nepotism, that's a question mark!!! We probably weren't going to pay a real college coach to work with the QB's that had any experience and Josh probably came on board for about 1/2 the money. It wouldn't surprise me if BB didn't agree to pay him out of his salary. Now, who is pumped about the offense will will run next year???????????? Who said it couldn't get any worse!!!!!!

So here is the bottom line, we just fired a coach with this resume'.

*29 years as a college coach, recruiter and coordinator who coached at Kansas St, Colorado St, N 'Colorado and Washington St. He has coached in the big 12, Pac 10, Mt West and CUSA. GP has been a staff member of 13 bowl teams including 2 at TU.

And as his replacement, we just hired a coach with this resume'.

2 years as HS head coach at Muskogee HS.

My question is this, did we improve ourselves? And if we aren't going to make schematic changes and have a real QB developer, is that a step up or back? IMO its the latter.

Most likely next year would have been Josh's last year at Muskogee....so is dad looking out for his son's future by getting him into college coaching while he can......possibly at the expense of a D-I program. Like I said, if we have a new hot shot OC coming in and BB is going to be just the head coach, I don't mind the addition of Josh.....so we will have to wait and see....but I don't have very high hopes for a good outcome!!!!

Just to change the subject for a minute......sometimes reading the Rivals board is like being in a class of 13 year old girls.......this clique doesn't like what he said......that clique doesn't think you know shi.....then some semi choice words for that person. I have to say, I have been on a Tulsa Board(website) long before many of those posters even knew their was a Tulsa board and I've never quite seen it like that. Sure people disagreed but it was done in a more civilized manner. I guess the world is changing and if that is the direction we're going......it isn't getting better!!!

(01-17-2014 06:57 PM)jfisher Wrote:  Just to change the subject for a minute......sometimes reading the Rivals board is like being in a class of 13 year old girls.......this clique doesn't like what he said......that clique doesn't think you know shi.....then some semi choice words for that person. I have to say, I have been on a Tulsa Board(website) long before many of those posters even knew their was a Tulsa board and I've never quite seen it like that. Sure people disagreed but it was done in a more civilized manner. I guess the world is changing and if that is the direction we're going......it isn't getting better!!!

Amen on that!!!!!!

Agree with the Rivals board comments, that is why it is more enjoyable to post on here. We may disagree with each other, but we don't have to make negative personal comments about each other while disagreeing. Speaking of disagreeing, most everyone will disagree with my take on the Josh Blankenship rumors.

I am taking a wait & see approach on the latest news. I'd personally rather see Josh Blankenship on our staff than Greg Peterson for a few reasons :
1. Some change is needed after a horrific season.
2. Hoping this change moves Dan Bitson to WR coach.
3. As crazy as it sounds, I really believe that Josh will have Bill's ear to make needed changes much more than Greg did.....either Greg agreed with leaving Cody Green @ QB or he was unable to convince BB otherwise.
4. I think Josh will be a good coach. My sister teaches at Union & met Josh while he was still working there & said he worked with & related to the "troubled, rougher kids" much better than any teacher/coach she had ever seen. Josh is closer in age to the players & I was actually hoping last off-season that we could figure out a way to get him on the staff.

It has been said that BB wouldn't make any staff changes because 2014 is his make or break season & he wants to keep his career in his own hands. IF this is the only change made ( I still hope there is more to come), I think it validates that theory. BB may know this is potentially his last year & he trusts his son Josh to help him pull through.

I do agree that if TU plays anywhere near as bad as last season, it should be BB's final season as head coach. I'm just not as certain that bringing in Josh as an asst. (not OC) is bad news, as most everyone else appears to think.

BTW, I heard from a secondary source that another TU coach was leaving. That was over a month ago & that coach is still on staff. I am still hopeful that there is more news to come (more change to come).

If there is another staff member leaving, I hope it isn't a defensive staff coach or any coach with the initials DJ. Hopefully the initials are "SD" since that area has been completely subpar and often embarrassingly inept. Its just a question of accountability.

I just think we haven't really made any changes as long as BB still has a hand in offensive schemes and play calling. He was the worst offensive coach we had last year IMO and that is why he needs to fire himself from that job next year IMO. That too is called accountability. In HS, head coaches often coordinate the offense or the defense out of necessity, but in the modern game of college FB, that cannot be done IMO.

If there is just minimal change, I don't see how that will help since the offense returns less experience next year than last. That means we have to turn it up on defense to win games in a tougher league and better schedule. Last year, the offense was supposed to carry us, but was a complete bust. This next year, we just won't have the horses IMO to improve as long as the system doesn't change.

Rabid, if the rumored change I heard does happen, you will be happy. I hope Peterson isn't the only change. I agree last season's offense was a complete disaster. I think Cody Green & BB's stubborn move to keep him at starting QB, led us to a downhill spiral we never really pulled out of. I may agree with your post in a few weeks, but I want to wait until all the recruits & staff changes are in.

As I said above, I have no problem with Josh coming on board as long as it isn't as OC. Maybe a little youthful energy and thinking might help the offense and Josh may provide that, but not as OC. If more changes are coming on the offensive side of the ball, I'm OK with Josh.

What everyone is afraid of on the rivals board is that the OC will Josh.

I just can't convince myself that hiring JB - who I'm sure is a nice guy like his father, is presently capable of drastically improving the QB's play or the overall offense in any meaningful way since our schedule gets tougher next year and the wins will be harder to get. I suppose I'm saying to myself "is this hire an improvement"? I think not. I just don't think there is any possible way that any improvement will occur and there is a very, very good chance it will get worse. We will be "experience challenged" offensively next year anyway and that alone will make the job harder. And then there is the question of our overall talent level on offense.


imo

I still think there's a chance someone was just using some ill placed logic.....OC job opening = Josh hired for football staff= Josh is the OC. I think that's a fallacy of the 3rd term or something like that. That would even be a hard sell for BB!!!!!! If BB isn't going to change the offense.....would you want your son associated with the disaster that was last year's offense. I just don't see it.......unless Josh has come up with a whole new offense.......like the single wing HUNH or the dropback wishbone. No, I'm going to still hold out some hope that sanity will rule in the end.........fingers crossed......toes too!!!!

(01-19-2014 06:33 PM)jfisher Wrote:  I still think there's a chance someone was just using some ill placed logic.....OC job opening = Josh hired for football staff= Josh is the OC. I think that's a fallacy of the 3rd term or something like that. That would even be a hard sell for BB!!!!!! If BB isn't going to change the offense.....would you want your son associated with the disaster that was last year's offense. I just don't see it.......unless Josh has come up with a whole new offense.......like the single wing HUNH or the dropback wishbone. No, I'm going to still hold out some hope that sanity will rule in the end.........fingers crossed......toes too!!!!

Mine crossed as well.

Here is my main problem with hiring a close relative in this way. If the TU offense were to be as bad as last year and the QB play were also terrible and the AD decided to keep BB on for another year, but told him he'd have to let another asst go, would that Asst be his son? Would he even consider such a move if he thought his own son was part of the problem? In other words, does JB have eternal job security as long as BB is the HFBC?

IMO

Great point........also one son has been working in the college game and the younger one comes in and is his semi boss......that might also be some trouble!!!

Bump

I noticed that there was a little "back and forth" between BB and DE last night. I think there may be a QB change coming if DE can't "manage" the next 2 games well. But here is my take.

I bumped this thread because I wanted to emphasize "why" JB shouldn't have been hired for this position this way. ------ It runs the possiblity of creating a rift like we saw. Basically what happened was BB blaming the QB (DE) because he couldn't bring himself to be outwardly critical of JB, his son. In other words, he was protecting JB by "lighting up" and benching DE at least for last night. And the fact he hired JB to coach the position and probably still has a "hands on" approach to "monitoring" that position, he can't be critical of "the coach" because even though he isn't personally in charge of QBs, he has "control" of them through his son.

So he has put DE and JB in a very difficult situation that he himself is responsible for. This should have been discussed before the hire and fire was made last spring.

IMO