Status of Coach Willie Martinez

[volsforever27]

So if the only issue was Martinez couldn't get any new talent in due to numbers, why did the secondary struggle during his first stint here AND why do UGA fans speak so poorly of him? They hated him during his short time there.

There is a track record here. I'm not hating on him just to hate. I wish our secondary would excel every year, but all I have to go by is past performance.

 

[TitanicVolz]

It makes u laugh when folks are like "Hes got guys and diamonds like Mosley playing in the nfl?Oh u mean after they left him they magically became better huh they just all look like sh*t playing here huh lol...I dont know what the deal is with retaining Martinez bt hes here so wtf bitching for days about it really gonna do?

Personally i don't think they play enuff of the younger dudes either way.Its like they play scared to make a change.Either they to loyal to the upperclassmen or feel abdicated to them whatever the case.I mean let's think who's taking the field week 1 vs Okalahome at there crib.Okie quarterback is careless with Ints last year but boy gonna sling the sh*t outta the rock.Been nice to get Gibson guys like Matthew's some real rum time.At some point u have to play ur young dudes and hope they can hold it down period!

 

[volfan411]

So if the only issue was Martinez couldn't get any new talent in due to numbers, why did the secondary struggle during his first stint here AND why do UGA fans speak so poorly of him? They hated him during his short time there.

There is a track record here. I'm not hating on him just to hate. I wish our secondary would excel every year, but all I have to go by is past performance.

Georgia fans hated him as a defensive coordinator and his first time here he was coaching players Dooley recruited the first half of his time here.

He did recruit some very good players that ended up in the NFL his first time here but I agree had limited success.

 

[Vol737]

I’ve been told the secondary guys we’ve picked up in the portal are better than the guys we already had that transferred out. Fine. I’ve been told the young guys we recruited are better (Gibson, Matthews, Conyer, Thomas) which I agree with. The incoming freshman at DB and S come with great accolades and I am excited about those guys. So, if we don’t see significant improvement in our secondary play next year…am I to believe what I’m told after that wrt Martinez?? I can live with another season of Martinez, but if they are no more of a feared unit by the end of next season than they are now, what would you have me to believe next?

 

[BobbyMcGee]

The worry is him staying not going. Not speaking for myself.

So again we will have a season when the defense will have the team they are playing in a 3rd and 12 and you know that if our opponent throws the ball they will get the first down, even if they have a subpar QB and then we will watch and the second you see it is in fact a pass play for a few seconds before the ball is thrown you just know in your gut it will be completed and then sure enough it is completed for 15-16 yards and a first down and so the defense does not get a rest. Wow am I looking forward to September!

 

[DaddyChad]

Thank you!! I think that proves my point that he was limited in what he could recruit due to the DB room being full, other needs on the roster that took priority and scholarship reductions.

As I said earlier I don’t care either way if they kept or let him go but some of the criticism is unwarranted at this point of the rebuild.

Nah don’t let pesky things like logic and facts get in the way of a crazy rant by some of these “fans”.

 

[DaddyChad]

I’ve been told the secondary guys we’ve picked up in the portal are better than the guys we already had that transferred out. Fine. I’ve been told the young guys we recruited are better (Gibson, Matthews, Conyer, Thomas) which I agree with. The incoming freshman at DB and S come with great accolades and I am excited about those guys. So, if we don’t see significant improvement in our secondary play next year…am I to believe what I’m told after that wrt Martinez?? I can live with another season of Martinez, but if they are no more of a feared unit by the end of next season than they are now, what would you have me to believe next?

I think it won’t matter. He was considering retirement this time around. Idk how long he wants to keep coaching anyways. I guess we’ll see what’s up when the details of the new contract come out. I would imagine it will be a short term one anyways.

 

[DaddyChad]

So again we will have a season when the defense will have the team they are playing in a 3rd and 12 and you know that if our opponent throws the ball they will get the first down, even if they have a subpar QB and then we will watch and the second you see it is in fact a pass play for a few seconds before the ball is thrown you just know in your gut it will be completed and then sure enough it is completed for 15-16 yards and a first down and so the defense does not get a rest. Wow am I looking forward to September!

The third and fourth and long competitions make me want to pull my hair out as well but I think you will find they’re not as often as in the first couple of years. It’s a problem no doubt.

 

[sonofUT62]

I don’t care if he’s kept or not BUT I think a fair assessment is warranted. If you want to discuss criticism of the secondary, there’s plenty to discuss as well. This staff walked into a house fire basically; before you start to rebuild you’ve got to put the fire out, get the smell out, then rebuild it with the right pieces.

You can use splits and spread to do some stuff on offense but defense if you don’t have speed you’re screwed. It’s not just about speed athletically, it’s about speed mentally as well. Outside of Hadden you haven’t had a corner that had those attributes of being able to cover an elite SEC WR and being experienced enough to mentally process what’s going on quickly. Guys like Gibson and Matthews are far superior talent than what we’ve had; our freshmen coming in are far superior to what we’ve had. You just now have the players to actually develop and evaluate your coaches. This was never a situation like Georgia or Bama where the cupboards were full; Banks and Martinez had the cupboards empty with the kitchen on fire and the rats running out of the door when they came in.

Heupel has really outperformed on the offensive side of the ball; arguably Banks has as well considering what he inherited. It just hasn’t been fast enough for most people. We’ve had some excellent defensive performances and a lot of meh to terrible ones especially when we’ve had people injuried.

I’m actually on record as saying he’s not a bad coach. I just don’t think he’s a good coach. I don’t think he’s what a team that claims to have championship aspirations should employ. Some of this goes along with my fear that Heupel got his payday and has checked out. He doesn’t exactly seem to be beating the bushes for the best coaching staff.

 

[m1al]

I don’t necessarily agree with your summary, but your response made me chuckle out loud

I'm just picking on him. Honestly, I'm not enough a student of the game to make a fair assessment of Martinez's ability as a coach.

I do think learning technique is essential but playing DB well (especially corner) takes a special breed, that's tough, athletic, and intelligent to go along with that technique. Without those traits, even the best coaches can only do so much.

 

[volKano]

Everyone has a guy. My guy is telling me Boo is playing O. He said he really doesn’t like the contact. That’s ok with me though. Catch it and then don’t get hit on the way to the end zone.

If he doesn’t like contact it makes no sense to play offense.

 

[volKano]

CJH puts all the pressure on his DB’s. He is aggressive with the line and LB’s and if they don’t get the qb their opponents offense gets first downs. He coaches to get the ball back and try to create negative plays. LB’s help in pass protection, at times, and every dang one of them were injured. The DBs were a little better this year and had less help. If you are looking for a shutdown defense you are going to have to pick another team...and on top of that, our offense took a big step back in qb and receivers. We are going to give up 25-30 points per game and still out score the other team.

 

[airvols]

Well goodbye SEC championship, doesn’t do any good to recruit if you can’t coach them up.

 

[LWSVOL]

Well goodbye SEC championship, doesn’t do any good to recruit if you can’t coach them up.

if you think all it takes to win an SEC championship is replace the DB coach, you are in for a rude awaking. I'm sure WM will be gone several years while before we do.

 

[FollowTheLeader]

I don’t care if he’s kept or not BUT I think a fair assessment is warranted. If you want to discuss criticism of the secondary, there’s plenty to discuss as well. This staff walked into a house fire basically; before you start to rebuild you’ve got to put the fire out, get the smell out, then rebuild it with the right pieces.

You can use splits and spread to do some stuff on offense but defense if you don’t have speed you’re screwed. It’s not just about speed athletically, it’s about speed mentally as well. Outside of Hadden you haven’t had a corner that had those attributes of being able to cover an elite SEC WR and being experienced enough to mentally process what’s going on quickly. Guys like Gibson and Matthews are far superior talent than what we’ve had; our freshmen coming in are far superior to what we’ve had. You just now have the players to actually develop and evaluate your coaches. This was never a situation like Georgia or Bama where the cupboards were full; Banks and Martinez had the cupboards empty with the kitchen on fire and the rats running out of the door when they came in.

Heupel has really outperformed on the offensive side of the ball; arguably Banks has as well considering what he inherited. It just hasn’t been fast enough for most people. We’ve had some excellent defensive performances and a lot of meh to terrible ones especially when we’ve had people injuried.

......this.......

 

[DaddyChad]

I’m actually on record as saying he’s not a bad coach. I just don’t think he’s a good coach. I don’t think he’s what a team that claims to have championship aspirations should employ. Some of this goes along with my fear that Heupel got his payday and has checked out. He doesn’t exactly seem to be beating the bushes for the best coaching staff.

I mean it’s his offense and it’s been a pretty dang good one even though we took a step backwards this year. We can blame the QB, blame the OC but the real issue was our WRs sucked all year long; no one could get separation consistently when they did they dropped the ball. Saw the same sorry POS effort out of that group in the bowl game. So I’m sure we stepped back bc we lost Hooker probably stepped back a bit bc of OC change but I don’t think it was just bc of the OC or anything.

Defense is we’ve had a talent void. I think when we got Banks Heupel thought he was the best guy he could get for the job and they both had an idea in mind of the system they wanted to run. I think Heupel told Banks he would have time to get players in place much like white told Heupel he would have time. You don’t have to like it; heck sometimes I’m right there with you, I don’t like it either. But I think a lot of people if they actually consider all the variables can see it’s not time for a change yet. Next year definitely needs to improve in the secondary. FWIW I’m not sold on the defensive staff but I do think we’re just now starting to see what they can be in recruiting and development. Last two classes have been really good in quality but not so much quantity due to restricted numbers

 

[tn4elvis]

If he doesn’t like contact it makes no sense to play offense.

If he doesn’t have the ball in his hand he likely won’t get hit as often. Who really knows. Like I said everyone has a guy . It’s just what mine told me. Boo might be the most physical db we have ever seen.

 

[GUNTERSVOL]

I’m actually on record as saying he’s not a bad coach. I just don’t think he’s a good coach. I don’t think he’s what a team that claims to have championship aspirations should employ. Some of this goes along with my fear that Heupel got his payday and has checked out. He doesn’t exactly seem to be beating the bushes for the best coaching staff.

The problem with defensive progress arguments and therefore coaches abilities with many on here is they wanted to start a standard clock on a non-standard situation. The whole Pruitt exit with the specter of NCAA investigations, the massive departure through the portal, especially on the defensive side of the ball, and two years of recruiting before the probability of a big Hammer was taken from our competition.

The resultant composition of our DB rooms in particular has been shared and fundamentally disregarded. The retooling has been deferred till recently and the portal tracker is there for review.

The ASSUMPTIONS have to be others could have gotten more out of the players and/or broght in talent faster than Banks and Martinez. But there is zero basis for that. We now have some young, but not 18 guys high on our war room wall and some portal pieces with less risk.

The TIRED “turn their head” mantra with guys that did not have the healthy speed to stay tight enough to employ that tactic is hopefully behind us without putting inexperience on the outside requiring safety support.

Anybody that challenges CJH’s staff retention in light of the transition plan he chose are doing so without basis. Playing the what happened game while ignoring the why is what it is. Not all facts are created equal.

Canning CWM while deferring a room turnover plan till recently would be a bit classless and not consistent with his history. Let’s see if CWM suddenly got smart this year and if progress warrants a longer tenure.

 

[DaddyChad]

The problem with defensive progress arguments and therefore coaches abilities with many on here is they wanted to start a standard clock on a non-standard situation. The whole Pruitt exit with the specter of NCAA investigations, the massive departure through the portal, especially on the defensive side of the ball, and two years of recruiting before the probability of a big Hammer was taken from our competition.

The resultant composition of our DB rooms in particular has been shared and fundamentally disregarded. The retooling has been deferred till recently and the portal tracker is there for review.

The ASSUMPTIONS have to be others could have gotten more out of the players and/or broght in talent faster than Banks and Martinez. But there is zero basis for that. We now have some young, but not 18 guys high on our war room wall and some portal pieces with less risk.

The TIRED “turn their head” mantra with guys that did not have the healthy speed to stay tight enough to employ that tactic is hopefully behind us without putting inexperience on the outside requiring safety support.

Anybody that challenges CJH’s staff retention in light of the transition plan he chose are doing so without basis. Playing the what happened game while ignoring the why is what it is. Not all facts are created equal.

Canning CWM while deferring a room turnover plan till recently would be a bit classless and not consistent with his history. Let’s see if CWM suddenly got smart this year and if progress warrants a longer tenure.

I “think” if we don’t see improvement this year Martinez will probably go ahead and retire anyways. He may choose to do so anyways. For all the criticism warranted and unwarranted the guy has recruited and developed a lot of DBs that have went on to play in the NFL and coached on teams like Tennessee, Georgia, Miami. There may be a better choice out there but Martinez is a pretty good coach; you simply don’t send that many players to the league and have that many high profile jobs if you’re not a good coach.

 

[Volfan8282]

I “think” if we don’t see improvement this year Martinez will probably go ahead and retire anyways. He may choose to do so anyways. For all the criticism warranted and unwarranted the guy has recruited and developed a lot of DBs that have went on to play in the NFL and coached on teams like Tennessee, Georgia, Miami. There may be a better choice out there but Martinez is a pretty good coach; you simply don’t send that many players to the league and have that many high profile jobs if you’re not a good coach.

He’s not a good coach. It’s clear as day by the product he puts on the field. Guys are constantly out of position, piss poor tackling/form, failure to look for the ball as it’s approaching, stupid penalties, etc.

 

[DaddyChad]

He’s not a good coach. It’s clear as day by the product he puts on the field. Guys are constantly out of position, piss poor tackling/form, failure to look for the ball as it’s approaching, stupid penalties, etc.

It’s clear as day a lot of guys in the coaching profession don’t agree with you. He’s had several jobs in several places as a DB coach and DC and won conference titles as well there. Sent several guys to the NFL. Guys aren’t “out of position” most of the time; they’re where they’re supposed to be. If you have issue with the scheme they’re using or the cushion they’re allowing that’s on Banks not Martinez.

 

[swampfoxfan]

He’s not a good coach. It’s clear as day by the product he puts on the field. Guys are constantly out of position, piss poor tackling/form, failure to look for the ball as it’s approaching, stupid penalties, etc.

Often looking for the ball gives up a step or two.

 

[DaddyChad]

Often looking for the ball gives up a step or two.

With the speed we’ve had on the field and the safeties you can’t afford half a step behind.

 

[GordonC]

Often looking for the ball gives up a step or two.

With the speed we’ve had on the field and the safeties you can’t afford half a step behind.

correct, but this is a lost cause with some of the people on here

 

[pimo1]

Our staff is our staff... Accept it and roll with it. I do not get the hate man. Bruh done paid his dues.. his resume is deep. Stop. This dude has been coaching longer than most of you have been alive. He has forgotten more football than most of us will ever know. he went from HBCU's to directionals to the SEC....Cut the cap.