Yep I am thinking the same thing. He was our OC back in 2014-15 and ran our defense into the ground. His plan was to run 100+ play in one game. Yes we scored a lot of points and covered a lot of yards. But so did the other teams after the third quarter. We gave Texas Tech a run for their money, we scored 30 or more points on them but again by the end of the 3rd quarter we were gassed. Maybe he learned better now is our only hope.

Bearkat94 said:

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Yep I am thinking the same thing. He was our OC back in 2014-15 and ran our defense into the ground. His plan was to run 100+ play in one game. Yes we scored a lot of points and covered a lot of yards. But so did the other teams after the third quarter. We gave Texas Tech a run for their money, we scored 30 or more points on them but again by the end of the 3rd quarter we were gassed. Maybe he learned better now is our only hope.

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I think Longo was a good choice for y'all. Much better developer of quarterbacks than Bell. I went to Sam Houston for a semester in grad school, so I genuinely hope to see them succeed

parch said:

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bear2be2 said:

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Daveisabovereproach said:

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Btw, I'd like to add that I am not one of Bell's former teammates or buddies; He seems like a nice guy, but objectively speaking, he does not have a lot of skins on the wall, and I can't really point to much that he did at Baylor that would make me think he needs to be a head coach. Just my .02

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We've already had this discussion on Jeff Traylor and Joey McGuire -- and Art Briles before that -- but Shawn Bell had eight years as a head coach before he ever coached a single practice at Baylor.

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The typical HS-to-D1 coaching jump tends to be guys who've wrecked shop at the HS level, like Joey and Traylor. Shawn was an above average HS coach who absolutely torched his bridge in Clifton, never won more than 9 games at Magnolia West, and inherited a stacked team in his one season at Cedar Ridge and only won one playoff game with them - and the next guy up took that same roster to the state semis a year later. My kids are in the Cedar Ridge pipeline and I'll say that his rep around here is not great.

I have nothing against Shawn, but the previous poster is right that he has very few skins on the wall to call his own and running a D1 program at this point is an enormous leap based purely on his resume.

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I'm not a Bell hater, but if he was not a former Baylor quarterback, I don't think he would've been hired. I've asked this before in other threads where we discuss Bell, but if you were his agent tasked with pitching him for a head coaching gig, what would you even say? He didn't develop a single quarterback here that didn't get shown the door in pursuit of some better option. Bottom line, Spav a huge upgrade.

After reading the comments on Bell I guess Phil longo is the better choice. We play UT in Austin next fall, if Phil can get the right players who knows. We have 3 star QB they redshirted this passed year from DeSoto DJ
Bailey. Passed for over 7,000 yards in high school and 89 TD's. Hopefully Phil longo will have him line out come fall.

Daveisabovereproach said:

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parch said:

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bear2be2 said:

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Daveisabovereproach said:

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Btw, I'd like to add that I am not one of Bell's former teammates or buddies; He seems like a nice guy, but objectively speaking, he does not have a lot of skins on the wall, and I can't really point to much that he did at Baylor that would make me think he needs to be a head coach. Just my .02

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We've already had this discussion on Jeff Traylor and Joey McGuire -- and Art Briles before that -- but Shawn Bell had eight years as a head coach before he ever coached a single practice at Baylor.

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The typical HS-to-D1 coaching jump tends to be guys who've wrecked shop at the HS level, like Joey and Traylor. Shawn was an above average HS coach who absolutely torched his bridge in Clifton, never won more than 9 games at Magnolia West, and inherited a stacked team in his one season at Cedar Ridge and only won one playoff game with them - and the next guy up took that same roster to the state semis a year later. My kids are in the Cedar Ridge pipeline and I'll say that his rep around here is not great.

I have nothing against Shawn, but the previous poster is right that he has very few skins on the wall to call his own and running a D1 program at this point is an enormous leap based purely on his resume.

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I'm not a Bell hater, but if he was not a former Baylor quarterback, I don't think he would've been hired. I've asked this before in other threads where we discuss Bell, but if you were his agent tasked with pitching him for a head coaching gig, what would you even say? He didn't develop a single quarterback here that didn't get shown the door in pursuit of some better option. Bottom line, Spav a huge upgrade.

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It was more than being a former Baylor qb. He was a coach's kid from a coaching family, and also was a pretty successful high school head coach and had a lot of hs contacts and recruiting knowledge. Once he got to Baylor as an assistant he was spoken highly of in coaching and recruiting, coached multiple different positions. He has some legit coaching cred and is on a legitimate path upwards. Whether he would be a good college head coach is mostly down to natural talent, the kind that is unique to really good head coaches, and really can't be seen until one gets that opportunity.

I get how people like to downgrade him because of his Baylor legacy, but he should get credit for his experience, unbiasedly. He should get his shot somewhere eventually, then we'll see.

Bearkat94 said:

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After reading the comments on Bell I guess Phil longo is the better choice. We play UT in Austin next fall, if Phil can get the right players who knows. We have 3 star QB they redshirted this passed year from DeSoto DJ
Bailey. Passed for over 7,000 yards in high school and 89 TD's. Hopefully Phil longo will have him line out come fall.

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Yes. Not only has Shawn Bell not made a case as a D1 HC, you could argue he hasn't even done enough to make one as an OC. He's just sort of been above average, at best, in every area in his coaching career so far. Certainly not bad at his job but not exceptional in any way. And those jobs typically go to coaches who were exceptional in their previous stop.

I think a problem Bell has is that his college experience is all conservative offense based. He played for Pease then worked for Nixon and Grimes as OCs until this season. Then this season at UH the offense went for a stretch of about 4 games without a TD or something like that. It was being talked about during our UH game. All that cost that OC his job and it was notable Bell was not promoted which I was pulling for. Also notable McGuire who I am assuming he is tight with has never offered him the OC job in Lubbock. But McGuire probably thinks he has to try to run a Leach offense and do some kind of pass on every down philosophy as best he can or be run out of town. Anyway being conservative on offense is not real popular in these parts even among the Sam Houstons etc.

parch said:

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Bearkat94 said:

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After reading the comments on Bell I guess Phil longo is the better choice. We play UT in Austin next fall, if Phil can get the right players who knows. We have 3 star QB they redshirted this passed year from DeSoto DJ
Bailey. Passed for over 7,000 yards in high school and 89 TD's. Hopefully Phil longo will have him line out come fall.

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Yes. Not only has Shawn Bell not made a case as a D1 HC, you could argue he hasn't even done enough to make one as an OC. He's just sort of been above average, at best, in every area in his coaching career so far. Certainly not bad at his job but not exceptional in any way. And those jobs typically go to coaches who were exceptional in their previous stop.

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No one here has any sort of insight whatsoever that qualifies them to grade the work of Bell, or any other position coach for that matter. Those who do have that insight have continually found a spot for him on their staffs -- and consistently moved him forward on a path toward an eventual OC and/or head coaching job.

You need good players to be a good position coach. Bell helped make a championship quarterback out of Gerry Bohanon and has coached a bunch of scrubs since. Blake Shapen was and is just a below-average FBS quarterback unfortunately, and the two guys he had this year don't even come close to rising to that level.

PartyBear said:

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I think a problem Bell has is that his college experience is all conservative offense based. He played for Pease then worked for Nixon and Grimes as OCs until this season. Then this season at UH the offense went for a stretch of about 4 games without a TD or something like that. It was being talked about during our UH game. All that cost that OC his job and it was notable Bell was not promoted which I was pulling for. Also notable McGuire who I am assuming he is tight with has never offered him the OC job in Lubbock. But McGuire probably thinks he has to try to run a Leach offense and do some kind of pass on every down philosophy as best he can or be run out of town. Anyway being conservative on offense is not real popular in these parts even among the Sam Houstons etc.

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All good points.

After UH's offensive woes this year (he has been both QB coach and interim OC and is now QB coach again), I don't see how he would be up for HC of an FBS program. He's either going to need a lot more time showing a steady presence, or will need some breakout players at QB to get a shot as a full-fledged OC. He'll then need the same, steady production for a number of years or some breakout years as an OC to get a shot at HC. Seems to me he's got a ways to go. The good thing for him is that he's young and time is on his side. It would be a lot different if he was already in his late 50's or 60s or something.

morethanhecouldbear said:

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PartyBear said:

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I think a problem Bell has is that his college experience is all conservative offense based. He played for Pease then worked for Nixon and Grimes as OCs until this season. Then this season at UH the offense went for a stretch of about 4 games without a TD or something like that. It was being talked about during our UH game. All that cost that OC his job and it was notable Bell was not promoted which I was pulling for. Also notable McGuire who I am assuming he is tight with has never offered him the OC job in Lubbock. But McGuire probably thinks he has to try to run a Leach offense and do some kind of pass on every down philosophy as best he can or be run out of town. Anyway being conservative on offense is not real popular in these parts even among the Sam Houstons etc.

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All good points.

After UH's offensive woes this year (he has been both QB coach and interim OC and is now QB coach again), I don't see how he would be up for HC of an FBS program. He's either going to need a lot more time showing a steady presence, or will need some breakout players at QB to get a shot as a full-fledged OC. He'll then need the same, steady production for a number of years or some breakout years as an OC to get a shot at HC. Seems to me he's got a ways to go. The good thing for him is that he's young and time is on his side. It would be a lot different if he was already in his late 50's or 60s or something.

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I'm not a huge Conner Weigman guy, but he should be a fairly substantial upgrade over the slop they had at QB this year.

Chriss, in particular, may have been the worst FBS passer I've ever seen.

bear2be2 said:

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parch said:

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Bearkat94 said:

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After reading the comments on Bell I guess Phil longo is the better choice. We play UT in Austin next fall, if Phil can get the right players who knows. We have 3 star QB they redshirted this passed year from DeSoto DJ
Bailey. Passed for over 7,000 yards in high school and 89 TD's. Hopefully Phil longo will have him line out come fall.

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Yes. Not only has Shawn Bell not made a case as a D1 HC, you could argue he hasn't even done enough to make one as an OC. He's just sort of been above average, at best, in every area in his coaching career so far. Certainly not bad at his job but not exceptional in any way. And those jobs typically go to coaches who were exceptional in their previous stop.

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No one here has any sort of insight whatsoever that qualifies them to grade the work of Bell, or any other position coach for that matter.

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Then the entire conversation is hereby closed and there are no conclusions to be drawn. You can't follow this statement up with a defense of Bell as having been behind Bohanon and absolved of Shapen. According to this statement, any assessment of Bell, who is a blindingly average position coach by mine, is null and void, including yours.

Nobody's saying Bell should go straight to Bama as OC or head coach. But this is how coaching progression works. Bell doesn't have the resume yet to be a big time program OC or head coach. That's why he was a candidate for a first-year FBC job where he had some background and geographical connection. He's a guy you can take a chance on with a struggling FBS program as a coordinator, having familiarity with the team and showing some talent for the position seen inside the program.
,
I think people really overrate coaching titles these days. They don't often mean what they sound like. The titles are often a way to get more coaches hired with incentives and keep them around a while as they develop. They are often proxies, guys that may be more instrumental in recruiting, or having some diversity in different ways, not necessarily specialists.

We also see on so many occasions that a top OC or DC can be completely lost as a head coach, and some great head coaches weren't great coordinators. It's really not a good indicator of how a new head coach is going to turn out. It's just a very different job with different skills necessary to be in that particular position and develop into it, and continue to get better at it.

parch said:

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bear2be2 said:

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parch said:

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Bearkat94 said:

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After reading the comments on Bell I guess Phil longo is the better choice. We play UT in Austin next fall, if Phil can get the right players who knows. We have 3 star QB they redshirted this passed year from DeSoto DJ
Bailey. Passed for over 7,000 yards in high school and 89 TD's. Hopefully Phil longo will have him line out come fall.

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Yes. Not only has Shawn Bell not made a case as a D1 HC, you could argue he hasn't even done enough to make one as an OC. He's just sort of been above average, at best, in every area in his coaching career so far. Certainly not bad at his job but not exceptional in any way. And those jobs typically go to coaches who were exceptional in their previous stop.

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No one here has any sort of insight whatsoever that qualifies them to grade the work of Bell, or any other position coach for that matter.

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Then the entire conversation is hereby closed and there are no conclusions to be drawn. You can't follow this statement up with a defense of Bell as having been behind Bohanon and absolved of Shapen. According to this statement, any assessment of Bell, who is a blindingly average position coach by mine, is null and void, including yours.

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None of what any of us says means jack squat until one of us is an AD. It's just a bunch of opinions based on a lot of stuff we don't really know, and can't really know, because we aren't on the inside knowing what these guys are like day to day and what they do.

Dia del DougO said:

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parch said:

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bear2be2 said:

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parch said:

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Bearkat94 said:

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After reading the comments on Bell I guess Phil longo is the better choice. We play UT in Austin next fall, if Phil can get the right players who knows. We have 3 star QB they redshirted this passed year from DeSoto DJ
Bailey. Passed for over 7,000 yards in high school and 89 TD's. Hopefully Phil longo will have him line out come fall.

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Yes. Not only has Shawn Bell not made a case as a D1 HC, you could argue he hasn't even done enough to make one as an OC. He's just sort of been above average, at best, in every area in his coaching career so far. Certainly not bad at his job but not exceptional in any way. And those jobs typically go to coaches who were exceptional in their previous stop.

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No one here has any sort of insight whatsoever that qualifies them to grade the work of Bell, or any other position coach for that matter.

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Then the entire conversation is hereby closed and there are no conclusions to be drawn. You can't follow this statement up with a defense of Bell as having been behind Bohanon and absolved of Shapen. According to this statement, any assessment of Bell, who is a blindingly average position coach by mine, is null and void, including yours.

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None of what any of us says means jack squat until one of us is an AD. It's just a bunch of opinions based on a lot of stuff we don't really know, and can't really know, because we aren't on the inside knowing what these guys are like day to day and what they do.

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And those who do really know -- the head coaches he's worked for -- not only continue to keep Bell around their programs, they continue to move him into positions of increasing influence within the offense/program.

The idea that he was somehow our problem is frankly pretty dumb.

Dia del DougO said:

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It's just a very different job with different skills necessary to be in that particular position and develop into it, and continue to get better at it.

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I would say this was true in the past and may or may not be true in the future. College football is headed the way of the NFL with young play callers, rather than the CEO hands-off motivational speakers. So I think their success will become more directly tied to how they did as coordinators.

It will be a interesting time when Longo gets every plug in for his offensive. He said it his press conference he's learned to slow down to give the defense a break when they need it. I will say he has a ton experience working with some top teams in ever top conference. The only thing that will hurt is getting the NIL money like y'all and others teams. But if they can develop good 3 star players and they can transfer to the NFL it shouldn't matter.

Well as the girl said on legally blonde said we did it. Won our first bowl game in FBS level. 31-26. The last 7 for GS came within seconds before the end. I sure wish we could have kept our Defensive staff. It will be a matter of years and he will be a great coach for defense coordination in the Big guys.