Post by Aggie One on Jan 16, 2009 13:58:37 GMT -5
The Call Goes Out For A General Named Lee
by Craig R. Turner
bluedeathvalley.com
When the “Dukes of Hazzard” was one of America’s top TV shows in the early 80’s, the plot was simple. Bo and Luke Duke, a pair of well meaning country boys, were always in trouble with the crooked local authorities and an overbearing kingpin named Boss Hog.
The odds were always stacked against the Duke Boys who were well intentioned by never had much of a chance because they were often outmanned and didn’t have the tools necessary to elude the county jail.
Then one day Bo Duke found an old Dodge Charger going for bottom dollar that from the outside didn’t look like much but under the hood there was a one big time 440 engine that had a lot of miles on it but and sounded like thunder when it was revved up.
Well Luke Duke, being a sly fellow that he was, decided a new paint job, some shiny new rims and a little tinkering with that old big block and a few new parts might do the trick.
It took them a while but when they rolled it out of the barn that ’71 Charger was ready – a new 440 turbocharged hemi, a new racing suspension, a four on the floor Hurst stick shift and new pristine leather interior. Hazzard County would never be the same after that.
Athletic Director Wheeler Brown fooled literally everyone in Greensboro in by passing on some of the most noted names in HBCU football coaching like Broadway, Frazier, Webster, White, all of which were thrown around in tall order for nearly two months even in a bracket poll on this web sitenafter the mid-season firing of Lee Fobbs Jr.
The public consensus was that A&T had to find a proven head coach to turn around a football team that has not had a winning season since their 2003 10-3 MEAC championship team.
Instead Brown went back to A&T’s most recent history of its last championship team when he was the Assistant AD and reached out to a bring back the major cog in that 2003 success in then defensive coordinator Alonzo Lee. Lee who turned 50 years old earlier this week got one huge birthday present when Brown anointed him as the new football coach at North Carolina A&T.
Brown, a football guy to the tenth dimension, must have seen the potential of a fast shiny orange muscle car hidden under a little rust in this seasoned veteran because even though Lee has never been a head coach on the collegiste level he sure has made an imprint with his defenses in places like South Carolina State, FAMU, Hampton, and just past season at Morgan State crushed A&T 41-3 during the Aggie homecoming.
The first public reaction was “oh no, here we go again”- picking another untried assistant with no head coaching experience to try turn around a program that had been floundering for five years and had just finished a 3-9 season with its running back coach managing one of these scarce wins in 2008.
The word went out everywhere and often that another Lee Fobbs like experience or inexperience was about to begin once again. But there are some very clear and very distinctive differences you must recognize about Lee, whether you agree with his selection or not, they are indisputable.
#1 - Lee’s defenses are not to be taken lightly. After arriving at Morgan State three years ago, the Bears were one of worst defensive teams anywhere in the nation but finished tops in the MEAC and second in the nation in 1-AA.
That’s right in the nation, allowing just 236 total yards per game. The Bears were first against the run and third against the pass with a plus turnover ratio of +17 which is awesome on any level of football. Talk about turnarounds, they don't get much better than that.
Even his actual scoring average was actually a mere 12.3 against but Morgan’s offensive woes donated nearly ten points a week in turnovers for points which count against the final totals no matter what. That went a long way in getting Brown’s attention but other factors played a large role in picking Lee.
#2 - The company he has kept – He’s called defenses as a coordinator for the likes of the legendary Joe Taylor, Billy Joe and Willie Jefferies, all soon to be College Football Hall of Famers. That is a fact that Fobbs could never offer on his resume.
He single handily was responsible for the development of a lot of All-Americans for Taylor at Hampton that struck true fear in the MEAC and who went on to pro careers and turned into solid citizens as well. That is something special to take into consideration when by not just only saying being around winners breeds winners but when you are a major reason in making it so actually confirms that statement.
#3 – He's respected. Lee has been a serious finalist for the head jobs at FAMU, Tennessee State, and even turned down the Howard job not to mention a couple of D-II opportunities in both the SIAC and the CIAA when they focused on him early on, all in just the last three years. There is a clear recognition that he possesses real leadership skills which was lost last season by his predecessor in some very key moments when this team was still competitive until after it played NCCU and lost 28-27 which both the team and fans felt they should have one if not for a major error in coaching judgement.
Lee has been wanted for some time and strongly considered by a lot of good programs but never allowed himself to be coerced into a job he may not have wanted or cared about in the first place.
His heart was is in it when Brown first contacted him over a month and half ago. He didn’t try to play cutesy like some of the big guys. He just wanted to coach and he still cared for A&T even though he was forced out when former head coach George Small was fired in 2005. Brown understood that and remembered that fact.
#4 – Recruiting. Lee knows this state and has strong contacts with several area high school coaches. He is aggressive and does his homework. Speak to him for a while and you can see why players and potential recruits tend to gravitate to him.
It’s not Obama-like charisma or his rock star status but people in football know him and they trust what he tells them. He's the kind of guy you want in a foxhole with you which is appealing when you are up against it.
He’s a spiritual guy and that is often needed because coaches are role models for a lot of kids but don’t mistake him for being a choir boy (no joke intended) because he can pull a Dick Cheney on you if the situation calls for it.
#5 – Finances. By not getting into the bidding wars over coaches with colleges with bigger personnel budgets trying to hire a high profile coach, A&T avoided a huge pitfall that it fell into when former AD Dee Todd hired Fobbs at a eye raising base of $165,000 which hamstrung the football program from hiring of an experienced coaching staff which was desperately needed.
This factor is as important if not more so than hiring a top guy with a big reputation. Don’t get me wrong. Lee will be making a handsome sum as the new coach but his assistants will also need to be above average which should attract some very decent candidates with the freed up money now available which was something Fobbs never could do during his tenure.
#6 – Not much of learning curve needed in dealing with MEAC competition. Lee has coached either with or against nearly everyone in this league.
Personally, I would not want to coach against a guy who knows all my tendencies or my playbook or even possibly both. He will make a tough out for anyone in this league even if outgunned or not and he will beat some folks that A&T hasn’t touched in quite a while. It may not come in year one but it will come and come soon.
#7 – Finally, there’s some continuity. A&T needs this badly. We have rightfully earned the reputation of being a revolving door because of both bad decisions plus not having the patience or gumption as to how to properly deal with building a program.
We went short term for as while with Jucos and transfers–no movement and no retention. Then we went pure high school and the results were just that. Men against boys when every other school brought in 5-8 transfers that contributed right away and that is how it is done in 1-AA football, at least with the successful teams.
What A&T needs and what I think Lee can bring is balance to the puzzle. Experience is a factor that I just don’t believe will be his major obstacle at A&T. It won’t be recruiting. It won’t be staffing. It will be changing the culture, the mind set of being a loser, and getting this team to work hard in both the offseason and in the classroom, then execute and leave it on the field on Saturdays.
So like many of you not blinded by the glitz anymore, I welcome ”General Lee” back to Greensboro and wish him much success.
I just hope that A&T fans can eventually get over their wish for the golden calf and realize they got a pretty good football coach in the house now that will make them proud if they give him half a chance. I think they will.
by Craig R. Turner
bluedeathvalley.com
When the “Dukes of Hazzard” was one of America’s top TV shows in the early 80’s, the plot was simple. Bo and Luke Duke, a pair of well meaning country boys, were always in trouble with the crooked local authorities and an overbearing kingpin named Boss Hog.
The odds were always stacked against the Duke Boys who were well intentioned by never had much of a chance because they were often outmanned and didn’t have the tools necessary to elude the county jail.
Then one day Bo Duke found an old Dodge Charger going for bottom dollar that from the outside didn’t look like much but under the hood there was a one big time 440 engine that had a lot of miles on it but and sounded like thunder when it was revved up.
Well Luke Duke, being a sly fellow that he was, decided a new paint job, some shiny new rims and a little tinkering with that old big block and a few new parts might do the trick.
It took them a while but when they rolled it out of the barn that ’71 Charger was ready – a new 440 turbocharged hemi, a new racing suspension, a four on the floor Hurst stick shift and new pristine leather interior. Hazzard County would never be the same after that.
Athletic Director Wheeler Brown fooled literally everyone in Greensboro in by passing on some of the most noted names in HBCU football coaching like Broadway, Frazier, Webster, White, all of which were thrown around in tall order for nearly two months even in a bracket poll on this web sitenafter the mid-season firing of Lee Fobbs Jr.
The public consensus was that A&T had to find a proven head coach to turn around a football team that has not had a winning season since their 2003 10-3 MEAC championship team.
Instead Brown went back to A&T’s most recent history of its last championship team when he was the Assistant AD and reached out to a bring back the major cog in that 2003 success in then defensive coordinator Alonzo Lee. Lee who turned 50 years old earlier this week got one huge birthday present when Brown anointed him as the new football coach at North Carolina A&T.
Brown, a football guy to the tenth dimension, must have seen the potential of a fast shiny orange muscle car hidden under a little rust in this seasoned veteran because even though Lee has never been a head coach on the collegiste level he sure has made an imprint with his defenses in places like South Carolina State, FAMU, Hampton, and just past season at Morgan State crushed A&T 41-3 during the Aggie homecoming.
The first public reaction was “oh no, here we go again”- picking another untried assistant with no head coaching experience to try turn around a program that had been floundering for five years and had just finished a 3-9 season with its running back coach managing one of these scarce wins in 2008.
The word went out everywhere and often that another Lee Fobbs like experience or inexperience was about to begin once again. But there are some very clear and very distinctive differences you must recognize about Lee, whether you agree with his selection or not, they are indisputable.
#1 - Lee’s defenses are not to be taken lightly. After arriving at Morgan State three years ago, the Bears were one of worst defensive teams anywhere in the nation but finished tops in the MEAC and second in the nation in 1-AA.
That’s right in the nation, allowing just 236 total yards per game. The Bears were first against the run and third against the pass with a plus turnover ratio of +17 which is awesome on any level of football. Talk about turnarounds, they don't get much better than that.
Even his actual scoring average was actually a mere 12.3 against but Morgan’s offensive woes donated nearly ten points a week in turnovers for points which count against the final totals no matter what. That went a long way in getting Brown’s attention but other factors played a large role in picking Lee.
#2 - The company he has kept – He’s called defenses as a coordinator for the likes of the legendary Joe Taylor, Billy Joe and Willie Jefferies, all soon to be College Football Hall of Famers. That is a fact that Fobbs could never offer on his resume.
He single handily was responsible for the development of a lot of All-Americans for Taylor at Hampton that struck true fear in the MEAC and who went on to pro careers and turned into solid citizens as well. That is something special to take into consideration when by not just only saying being around winners breeds winners but when you are a major reason in making it so actually confirms that statement.
#3 – He's respected. Lee has been a serious finalist for the head jobs at FAMU, Tennessee State, and even turned down the Howard job not to mention a couple of D-II opportunities in both the SIAC and the CIAA when they focused on him early on, all in just the last three years. There is a clear recognition that he possesses real leadership skills which was lost last season by his predecessor in some very key moments when this team was still competitive until after it played NCCU and lost 28-27 which both the team and fans felt they should have one if not for a major error in coaching judgement.
Lee has been wanted for some time and strongly considered by a lot of good programs but never allowed himself to be coerced into a job he may not have wanted or cared about in the first place.
His heart was is in it when Brown first contacted him over a month and half ago. He didn’t try to play cutesy like some of the big guys. He just wanted to coach and he still cared for A&T even though he was forced out when former head coach George Small was fired in 2005. Brown understood that and remembered that fact.
#4 – Recruiting. Lee knows this state and has strong contacts with several area high school coaches. He is aggressive and does his homework. Speak to him for a while and you can see why players and potential recruits tend to gravitate to him.
It’s not Obama-like charisma or his rock star status but people in football know him and they trust what he tells them. He's the kind of guy you want in a foxhole with you which is appealing when you are up against it.
He’s a spiritual guy and that is often needed because coaches are role models for a lot of kids but don’t mistake him for being a choir boy (no joke intended) because he can pull a Dick Cheney on you if the situation calls for it.
#5 – Finances. By not getting into the bidding wars over coaches with colleges with bigger personnel budgets trying to hire a high profile coach, A&T avoided a huge pitfall that it fell into when former AD Dee Todd hired Fobbs at a eye raising base of $165,000 which hamstrung the football program from hiring of an experienced coaching staff which was desperately needed.
This factor is as important if not more so than hiring a top guy with a big reputation. Don’t get me wrong. Lee will be making a handsome sum as the new coach but his assistants will also need to be above average which should attract some very decent candidates with the freed up money now available which was something Fobbs never could do during his tenure.
#6 – Not much of learning curve needed in dealing with MEAC competition. Lee has coached either with or against nearly everyone in this league.
Personally, I would not want to coach against a guy who knows all my tendencies or my playbook or even possibly both. He will make a tough out for anyone in this league even if outgunned or not and he will beat some folks that A&T hasn’t touched in quite a while. It may not come in year one but it will come and come soon.
#7 – Finally, there’s some continuity. A&T needs this badly. We have rightfully earned the reputation of being a revolving door because of both bad decisions plus not having the patience or gumption as to how to properly deal with building a program.
We went short term for as while with Jucos and transfers–no movement and no retention. Then we went pure high school and the results were just that. Men against boys when every other school brought in 5-8 transfers that contributed right away and that is how it is done in 1-AA football, at least with the successful teams.
What A&T needs and what I think Lee can bring is balance to the puzzle. Experience is a factor that I just don’t believe will be his major obstacle at A&T. It won’t be recruiting. It won’t be staffing. It will be changing the culture, the mind set of being a loser, and getting this team to work hard in both the offseason and in the classroom, then execute and leave it on the field on Saturdays.
So like many of you not blinded by the glitz anymore, I welcome ”General Lee” back to Greensboro and wish him much success.
I just hope that A&T fans can eventually get over their wish for the golden calf and realize they got a pretty good football coach in the house now that will make them proud if they give him half a chance. I think they will.
