Nick Holt is Officially Gone
- Thread starter BigTimeAt69
- Start date
I'm hoping for Jim Leavitt
There were a few reports I saw that he would possibly be a candidate at USF or Colorado State. However USF just made their hire and CSU seems focused on Butch Jones. Interestingly Urban Meyer is supposedly helping CSU with their search. Seems as though Washington State may want to consider him as a DC also.
Wasn't Leavitt the Kansas State assistant who appeared on camera during their Alamo Bowl game against Purdue? If memory serves he seemed a tad frustrated while watching their defense try to defend Drew Brees.
You're probably thinking about Mike Stoops, he was the DC. Brent Venables was LB coach on their team at the time. Leavitt was already at USF at that time.
Question for the board..
Who typically hires and fires the assistants on the defensive side of the ball, the HC or DC? Could we see more changes once the new DC is hired? I can't imagine Brohm and Bobinski approaching a top tier DC candidate and saying we'd love to have you run our defense, but you have to work with these specific coaches under you.
Who typically hires and fires the assistants on the defensive side of the ball, the HC or DC? Could we see more changes once the new DC is hired? I can't imagine Brohm and Bobinski approaching a top tier DC candidate and saying we'd love to have you run our defense, but you have to work with these specific coaches under you.
Nothing to stand corrected about. No one knew what would happen.
His defenses weren’t exactly good at UConn, giving up 28+ in 2 of his 3 seasons as DC...
Well you got your wish! You knew somebody was going to be the scapegoat and it wasn’t going to be anybody named Brohm. Call me very unimpressed with the names currently be speculated as his replacement. My lone Hope is that this puts an end to the era of Purdue philosophy of recruiting undersized defensive linemen and hoping by redshirting another year they will magically become Big 10 size. In this day and age where high school athletes start taking supplements and doing weights in 9th grade, there is not much more they can legally grow once they arrive! If you want a 330 pound lineman you need to recruit one. Small quick linemen are not effective against power schools
The new DC will likely be allowed to bring their guys or have input on position coaches, which would be why you would want to get the hire done as soon as possible. My guess is that Poindexter isn’t going anywhere, and that may be a good or a bad thing. He is currently a co-DC, so that could be an interesting aspect in the whole thing.
I will admit I am not a fan of letting Holt go, but it’s done and now I think Brohm needs to do a great job at getting the next DC.
Personally, I thought the first replacement should be Williams. The offensive line was horrendous and it took way to long to make personnel adjustments that seemingly helped. I know folks were playing positions for the first time, but instead of seeing improvement amongst those players, we saw changes. Even an average line would have probably sent Purdue to a bowl game, yet here we are.
The next move should have been special teams. They constantly set the defense up for failure. They were more of a detriment on the defense than the DC was IMO. You shouldn’t really notice special teams in a game, but they stood out game in and game out with terrible momentum destroying plays.
I think Purdue will show improvement in the OL and only defense next year (mainly because it can’t get worse, but also because the ‘19 guys so far look like the real deal and more of them will be stepping in).
My question....what does this do to recruiting and how many years will PU now need to install the new defense? Do we now give Brohm an additional two years?
No, I don’t think this should buy him any more time. He bought his two years with the ‘19 and ‘20 class. You can’t squander talent of players like Moore, Bell, and GK. The excuses are all gone after next year. If he doesn’t get to 10 wins by the end of ‘21, I imagine Purdue will at least look around. Next year the seat gets warm if he doesn’t get to a bowl, but the team will still be young and maybe he gets a pass. But the fan base will be going nuts if he can’t make a bowl with the talent he has recruited.
The most important aspect to next year, in my opinion, is getting some grad transfer help (or Juco if you find somebody ready to help right away). The problem is, Purdue has been whiffing on those guys (not sure why. Purdue has a high powered offense and immediate playing time). Time is running out to fix one of the biggest areas of need.
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Dude, give it up. Brohm knows he needs to win next year. Keeping Holt wouldn't have accomplished that. The defense was lost this year. My guess is he'll install a DC with a very proven track record given the money he has to spend.
Defense will be better next year, it could not be any worse. Wisconsin didn't punt a single time. Not once. This defense brought an anemic Northwestern offense to life. They couldn't stop anyone when it counted.
This change isn't some sort of reset or built-in excuse. The new DC will scheme with the players available and be responsible for putting them in position to succeed. IMO the expectation for next year is to get back to a bowl game and to compete for the West the following year. That was the case regardless of this change.
He gets one season with Neal & GK and needs to take advantage of it...
You're correct about Leavitt, thanks. I think that the coach in the press box area, on camera visibly frustrated, may have been Venables. Will have to watch that game again to confirm for sure. Hopefully BTN shows it again before I forget about it.
Those guys will cover some deficiencies next season, but there will be more overall talent and depth on the d line in 2021.
Agree about 2021 but next year should be pretty good as well with Watts, Johnson, Deen, Sullivan, et al having a year under their belts and an offseason of strength development. Along with Faucheux - looking forward to seeing him on the field.
Exactly, and in 2021 most of those guys will be back and another year older. Losing one or two guys per year, no matter who they are, won't result in drop-off. We'll be out of rebuilding and into reloading as long as Brohm is pulling in top 30 classes.
Especially that Northwestern game. They didn’t score an offensive touchdown in about 2 months then score on first two possessions against us
Yeah Holt made roughly $600k and was 80th paid assistant in college ball. Got to up the ante. Cannot get behind a new up and comer that has not implemented a defense and called games before.
Some of that just personnel. That 75 yard td run, BrennanT was there, should have been a 3-4 yard gain max, and he just ran by the rb and then chased him down the field.
Really, if the DC has guys in position to make plays/tackles, the rest is on the player. That happened plenty this year. Bad angles, missed tackles, etc. Need an upgrade in talent.
Is this even serious? Who else would one have played. Ben Holt was HM All BT by coaches.
Purdue played a converted DE at lb halfway through the season because the other lbs that fans are clamoring for do not know where to line up let alone read keys.
I think if Neal was back, and Bailey and Jones stayed healthy this would not even be a topic of convo right now.
If Purdue knew how to line up a punt returner and have him fair catch punts likely go bowling this season
This.
Nick might have needed to go, but the idea that Brohm was just sitting there like a spectator letting Nick play favorites on defense is laughable.
Having both together should improve the linebackers and secondary all by itself. If the second and third levels can improve independently the defense could make big jump collectively.
I expect Brohm to look for a DC with an aggressive mind set as Brohm has the offense to support a higher risk defense.
True no one knew except Brohm but I did think we had more of an experience/personnel problem than a coaching problem.
This change would indicate the top of the program disagreed with my thoughts.
I wonder if Brohm is looking for a high pressure defense. It did seem that Holt was hesitant to do that.
Part of me says he'll elevate Poindexter. But the other part of me thinks he can't take that risk of another bad season and needs to go with a highly experienced coach. He has the money there to pretty much hire whomever he wants. I don't think we'll be as dependent on a blitzing scheme for pressure next year with Neal, Watts, Karlaftis, and Barnes/Hudgins. They should be able to put plenty of pressure on the QB.
I think that's one move I'd be disappointed in. Elevating Poindexter wouldn't create much of a buzz. With the amount of money we have available for the position, we can get a stronger coach/recruiter from outside the current staff.
Yeah, I'm sure personnel is why the DBs were constantly playing 10 yards off the ball....
I'm not an advocate for elevating Poindexter. And I don't think Brohm can take that risk. He has to see better results next year or his seat becomes extremely warm.
I’m hoping that the DC has the personnel flexibility to effectively play some bump and run with single high safety to force QB’ to really accurate and let a safety play up closer to the line of scrimmage as well as drop into cover two and be a bit more conservative when needed. Keep them guessing.
I did honk that front four will be good enough to handle how ever they play behind them.
The point is an average safety makes that read and tackle. And sure, personnel can dictate whether one plays off or tight coverage.
Yes, I'm serious. Jaylan Alexander's play was far superior to Ben's throughout the entire season. He's more atheltic, was better at making tackles at the point of contact and was never dragged downfield as Ben was on the regular. Jaylan was a sophomore and by the eye test was better in all facets. Taller, quicker, stronger ... need I go on?
The only thing Ben had on him was he was a senior and the coach's son. When you look at the eye test, Jaylan was a far superior player in all aspects. It boggled my mind throughout the season and I probably wouldn't even mention it if Ben was acceptable, but offenses would attack him and the middle of the field and the IU game was just the icing on the cake.
Yeah, I hope Alexander pans out. But he was the lb beat out by a converted DL half way through the year. Not good.
Bailey went down, Jones went down, there was a ton of opportunity for pt. He could not capitalize. His issue was largely being able to make tackles.
Clear as day when he was pulled from TCU game Brohm and Holt yelling at him on sideline to make a play or get out. He did not play much after that game.
Hope he pulls through and develops because Purdue has some real holes at lb next year. I can agree on the size and athleticsm over Holt part.
Holt seemed like a great guy and seemed to love his players. Players wanted to play for him. Holt was hurt by injuries and inexperience, but so was the offensive side of the ball too, and the offense still put up yards and points.
I do think that Brohm wanted him to be more aggressive in his style. Here is my beef with Holt. I cannot tell you how many games this year that we would get a team in a 3rd and long (10 yards or more), and they would make the first down everytime (exaggeration of course, but not too much). Why did they make the first down? We would rush 3 on the line. We had rush 4 leading up to the 3rd down, then we go 3 on the line. If we had 3 Kaftalftis type players on the line, maybe we could rush 3, but we didn't and we don't. The QB could write a book with all the time he had, and he would always find a huge hole, because the youth, inexperience, and talent of the secondary could only hold off the better WRs for so long. How we would be 10 yards off the TEs and WRs in some of these games I am not sure. Maybe our secondary coach is to blame for that, but Holt is the DC, so he has to take blame for that in some aspect too. He seemed that he wanted to use a game plan that would work if we had better talent and experience on that side of the ball, but we just didn't have it with the injuries and youth.
In the IU game, their offense was just shredding our defense for a while. After halftime, we finally seemed to change the game plan and get aggressive, and we stopped them several times. However, it seemed like that plan stopped again, because we went back to a prevent non aggressive defense. There seemed to be a disconnect with the way that Brohm wanted to see the defense play and what Holt wanted to do. I don't think this really just started this year. I think it started to show a little last year toward the end of the season. That is why Brohm wanted him to go up to the press box at the beginning of the year this year to try something different. The relationship did not seem to improve much, and probably got worse, after that.
Let's be honest. If you are winning, people seem to overlook these little things. We didn't this year, so this came to the forefront. I think new blood will be a positive for us going forward, if we hire the right DC.
I do think that Brohm wanted him to be more aggressive in his style. Here is my beef with Holt. I cannot tell you how many games this year that we would get a team in a 3rd and long (10 yards or more), and they would make the first down everytime (exaggeration of course, but not too much). Why did they make the first down? We would rush 3 on the line. We had rush 4 leading up to the 3rd down, then we go 3 on the line. If we had 3 Kaftalftis type players on the line, maybe we could rush 3, but we didn't and we don't. The QB could write a book with all the time he had, and he would always find a huge hole, because the youth, inexperience, and talent of the secondary could only hold off the better WRs for so long. How we would be 10 yards off the TEs and WRs in some of these games I am not sure. Maybe our secondary coach is to blame for that, but Holt is the DC, so he has to take blame for that in some aspect too. He seemed that he wanted to use a game plan that would work if we had better talent and experience on that side of the ball, but we just didn't have it with the injuries and youth.
In the IU game, their offense was just shredding our defense for a while. After halftime, we finally seemed to change the game plan and get aggressive, and we stopped them several times. However, it seemed like that plan stopped again, because we went back to a prevent non aggressive defense. There seemed to be a disconnect with the way that Brohm wanted to see the defense play and what Holt wanted to do. I don't think this really just started this year. I think it started to show a little last year toward the end of the season. That is why Brohm wanted him to go up to the press box at the beginning of the year this year to try something different. The relationship did not seem to improve much, and probably got worse, after that.
Let's be honest. If you are winning, people seem to overlook these little things. We didn't this year, so this came to the forefront. I think new blood will be a positive for us going forward, if we hire the right DC.
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