The Sock 'Em, Bust 'Em Board Because that's our custom

This, perhaps, is not subtle

July 15, 2016 by Mike Casazza

I’m working on some preseason stories, and one of them is, in some fashion, about the West Virginia defense and/or defensive coordinator Tony Gibson. I think the premise, or at least a building block, will be the mythology of the 3-3-5. There have been some whispers that its time is up and the Mountaineers won’t be good enough stay ahead of offenses that have gained ground. (Spoiler: Gibson disagrees, though he welcomes that bravado.)

But it brings up a valuable debate, one that goes beyond the basic “Scheme or players?” question.

How much of WVU’s success is the obtuse 3-3-5 and how much is the talent/coaching?

Well, Rich Rodriguez believes in the latter, going so far as to invoke poppycock.

“When I hired a coordinator, which was a little bit unique, I wasn’t looking so much for a scheme, because I think schemes are overrated, as much as I was looking for a personality and attitude. And I kind of set the parameters, this is what I want him to do. But I’m not going to coach it or teach it, I’m going to let my defensive staff to do that.”

Juicy!

That’s interesting. For starters, whoo boy, that’s a shot across the bow of his former defensive coordinator, is it not? Second, Rodriguez made a very, very strong hire to replace Jeff Casteel when he lured Marcel Yates from Boise State, where he’d built an excellent defense.

It was a 4-2-5.

The point Rodriguez was making was that, sure, the 4-2-5 is useful. Boise State’s numbers don’t lie. But Yates has a leadership about him that makes it work. I think you find a similar dynamic at WVU, where players swoon for Gibson.

This really isn’t intended to be about Rodriguez, the offseason star of Solid Verbal’s Scheme Theme Month, which is heavy on schemes and features one really enjoyable podcast heavy on the scheme that made Rodriguez so successful. It might be that the 3-3-5, which clearly fell out of favor at Arizona the past two years, is aging. Believe it or not, Jeff Casteel, who we always though was among the very best at what he does and would be a head coach sooner rather than later, is out of college football right now. It might be something else.

Did the Pac-12 catch up to the odd stack? Did Casteel loose a step? Was the offensive and coaching talent in that league, which boasts a lot of both, superior for a short time? Did Rodriguez spot a trend and choose to end it before it cost him more than games?

And is any answer relevant here at WVU and within the Big 12?