For those of you bagging on Sharp

[East Coast]

He has been a solid TE's coach (not his fault our OC's have underutilized the TE's for years) and good recruiter. Until this year, we had the 1st Team All Conference return man for like 6 years straight. . And according to Phil Steele, here are our special teams national ratings going back a few years...

2011 - 2nd
2010 - 19th
2009 - 11th
2008 - 18th
2007 - 2nd

I think that's a darn solid performance. I know our coverage and return teams were down this year, but I'm betting he gets it turned around next year. Besides, the man just bleeds purple.....

 

[TCUSA]

Yeah--people forget he's one of the guys who got us here in the first place.

 

[jack the frog]

For those that forget or were not Frog fans, our special teams used to really suck. I am not talking about 1982 either, rather just a decade or so ago. Things have come along way.

 

[BBG817]

Sharp doesn't block in the back on plays

The penalties have been in that the gray area of lots of effort/lots of discipline.

Not an excuse just guys having to weigh risk/reward of block which are in open space and more visible.

 

[count_biffula]

He has been a solid TE's coach (not his fault our OC's have underutilized the TE's for years) and good recruiter. Until this year, we had the 1st Team All Conference return man for like 6 years straight. . And according to Phil Steele, here are our special teams national ratings going back a few years...

2011 - 2nd
2010 - 19th
2009 - 11th
2008 - 18th
2007 - 2nd

I think that's a darn solid performance. I know our coverage and return teams were down this year, but I'm betting he gets it turned around next year. Besides, the man just bleeds purple.....

Yeah, but how many times have his special teams [Craig James] the bed? In bowl games no less. One " Ah [Craig James]" erases 10 "attaboy"s

 

[fanatical frog]

He has been a solid TE's coach (not his fault our OC's have underutilized the TE's for years) and good recruiter. Until this year, we had the 1st Team All Conference return man for like 6 years straight. . And according to Phil Steele, here are our special teams national ratings going back a few years...

2011 - 2nd
2010 - 19th
2009 - 11th
2008 - 18th
2007 - 2nd

I think that's a darn solid performance. I know our coverage and return teams were down this year, but I'm betting he gets it turned around next year. Besides, the man just bleeds purple.....

Good data. Thank you.

 

[Big Frog II]

Yet, we continued to put someone back there to field punts who has had problems for 2 years in a row. It did not take a rocket scientist to figure that this a poor place to put someone who struggles each and every game in that position.

 

[tcujsauce]

Yet, we continued to put someone back there to field punts who has had problems for 2 years in a row. It did not take a rocket scientist to figure that this a poor place to put someone who struggles each and every game in that position.

Except he didn't. Yes he struggled at times, and did a good bit to cost us that bowl game, but to say that he struggled EVERY SINGLE GAME at that position is a stretch.

 

[Big Frog II]

Except he didn't. Yes he struggled at times, and did a good bit to cost us that bowl game, but to say that he struggled EVERY SINGLE GAME at that position is a stretch.

No it isn't. It gave the fans ulcers everytime he went back to field a punt.

 

[chee]

For those that forget or were not Frog fans, our special teams used to really suck. I am not talking about 1982 either, rather just a decade or so ago. Things have come along way.

 

[chee]

+11

 

[tcujsauce]

Sharp doesn't block in the back on plays

The penalties have been in that the gray area of lots of effort/lots of discipline.

Not an excuse just guys having to weigh risk/reward of block which are in open space and more visible.

Sharp didn't block in the back. Sharp didn't muff a punt. Sharp didn't run out of his lane on kickoffs. Sharp didn't miss a block and allow a kick to be blocked. Sharp didn't kick a field goal wide left/right.


All that is true. And given the history of how solid our special teams have been, it would be hard for me to place all the blame on him. Ultimately, the coaches are responsible for the product that is put on the field, so by that measure, all the blame will naturally be thrown on him. However, we also need to remember that this is Gary Patterson's football team, and though the position coaches/coordinators have a bit of autonomy coaching and making decisions at their specialty (some more than others), Coach P is ultimately the final say on things.

This tells me that the coaches believed that putting Skye back on punts was the best option. They didn't do it with Gray for whatever reason (I'd suspect that they didn't want to throw a true freshman back at that position going into Big XII play... give him time to develop instead of throwing him to the wolves), they rarely put BC3 back there (probably didn't want to risk injury to a key component on offense), and beyond that, there's really not many other options. Yes, Skye had his struggles, but as I've said over and over, if the kid didn't earn it in practice during the week, then he wouldn't have been back there. This was a situation of a kid earning the opportunity, and the coaching staff trying to trust a senior to deliver, which sometimes he did, and other times he failed to execute.

 

[tcujsauce]

No it isn't. It gave the fans ulcers everytime he went back to field a punt.

Who cares about fans getting ulcers? Not coaches. Coaches are concerned with making the best decisions that they feel are going to give them the best opportunity to win a ball game, which obviously they saw Skye as that best option. If you disagree with Coach P's call, feel free to shoot him an email and see what he says.

 

[Horned Toad]

No it isn't. It gave the fans ulcers everytime he went back to field a punt.

It sure gave me ulcers and although I liked Skye a lot I am so glad he graduated. It was always an adventure during punt returns as the risk/reward always had questionable value. There is certainly something to be said about what a great, sure handed job Jeremy Kerley provided during his playing days with the Frogs.

 

[ShreveFrog]

Ultimate responsiblity is with GP. He said after the game, "I blame myself." (Not for the fumbled punt, but loss in general).
Here's what I don't get: why after two seasons of cringing performance he still let Skye go back there? Practice is one thing. Game time is another. I began to wish I wore adult diapers whenever the other guys punted.

 

[Diehard]

I don't think it matters who was back there Saturday night...They should have been instructed, told, and reminded again, not to field that punt. Particularly inside the 10. All we needed to do was keep them out of the end zone for a few more minutes and the game was ours. Coach P and the defense had made some changes after MSU's long drive and were shutting them down again. This is where I have the issue with the coaching. They just were not thinking....He should not nave been anywhere close that ball.

 

[Fred Garvin]

He has been a solid TE's coach (not his fault our OC's have underutilized the TE's for years) and good recruiter. Until this year, we had the 1st Team All Conference return man for like 6 years straight. . And according to Phil Steele, here are our special teams national ratings going back a few years...

2011 - 2nd
2010 - 19th
2009 - 11th
2008 - 18th
2007 - 2nd

I think that's a darn solid performance. I know our coverage and return teams were down this year, but I'm betting he gets it turned around next year. Besides, the man just bleeds purple.....

I find these statistics highly dubious. Do they take into account a fumbled kickoff return that cost us the SMU game last year (among other bumbling plays)? Do they take into account successful fake punts in the Fiesta Bowl and Rose Bowl that in one case led to the game winning score and the other allowed points when the drive should have been stopped? I guarantee you that they do not. If a team has ever thought about a trick play on special teams, they will try it against the Frogs and it will work.


Sharp was a great player in the 80's on some horrific TCU teams, but eventually you have to look at performance. The above statistics are not a true indicator of TCU's special teams. Our special teams are poorly prepared, ripe for fakes and undisciplined. That's coaching. If it were just physical errors, one could understand that, but it is continued mental errors and sticking with players who continually make physical error after physical error. At some point, you can't blame the kids.

I know being a tight end coach for the Frogs is just about nothing since we rarely use one. We need a real special teams coach who can take us to the next level.

 

[YA]

I don't think it matters who was back there Saturday night...They should have been instructed, told, and reminded again, not to field that punt. Particularly inside the 10. All we needed to do was keep them out of the end zone for a few more minutes and the game was ours. Coach P and the defense had made some changes after MSU's long drive and were shutting them down again. This is where I have the issue with the coaching. They just were not thinking....He should not nave been anywhere close that ball.

+1

 

[Purple Daze]

I don't think it matters who was back there Saturday night...They should have been instructed, told, and reminded again, not to field that punt. Particularly inside the 10. All we needed to do was keep them out of the end zone for a few more minutes and the game was ours. Coach P and the defense had made some changes after MSU's long drive and were shutting them down again. This is where I have the issue with the coaching. They just were not thinking....He should not nave been anywhere close that ball.

I can tell you as a guy that coached HS punt returners for 10 of my 15 years that I am positive that he was reminded of that before he stepped onto the field. Every coach responsible for the punt returner will tell his guy what's relevant before he heads out. I'd also always tell mine not to back peddle, to get settled and make sure to communicate. If it was a punt that had the potential to pin us deep he was told to plant his heels on the ten and catch anything in front and to let anything over his head go. I'm sure that besides working on it ad nauseum in practice that he was reminded of it before stepping onto the field. Once the player is out there you lose control of his mental process and hope that all the time, work and effort you and him have put in pay off. For whatever reason, 11 made that decision and it hurt us dearly but I'd bet my life savings that he had been coached hard to not do that.

 

[Ron Swanson]

I find these statistics highly dubious. Do they take into account a fumbled kickoff return that cost us the SMU game last year (among other bumbling plays)? Do they take into account successful fake punts in the Fiesta Bowl and Rose Bowl that in one case led to the game winning score and the other allowed points when the drive should have been stopped? I guarantee you that they do not. If a team has ever thought about a trick play on special teams, they will try it against the Frogs and it will work.


Sharp was a great player in the 80's on some horrific TCU teams, but eventually you have to look at performance. The above statistics are not a true indicator of TCU's special teams. Our special teams are poorly prepared, ripe for fakes and undisciplined. That's coaching. If it were just physical errors, one could understand that, but it is continued mental errors and sticking with players who continually make physical error after physical error. At some point, you can't blame the kids.

I know being a tight end coach for the Frogs is just about nothing since we rarely use one. We need a real special teams coach who can take us to the next level.

What do you suspect a better ST's coach would have done to prevent the fumbled kickoff in the SMU game?

Maybe something like, "hey, don't fumble this kickoff"?

Man, I wish Coach Sharp would've thought of that.