Why Did Figg Replace Santa Cruz As DC?

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sarvicdar
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Why Did Figg Replace Santa Cruz As DC?

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Why Did Figg Replace Santa Cruz As DC?

Here's Santa Cruz, an upcoming coach, that in his first season at UH last season as DC did a stellar job imo (the numbers don't lie as the defensive unit's points allowed per game (27.7) were one of the lowest of UH's defenses in the last 10 seasons) yet Graham moved Santa Cruz to coach DE this season.

It makes no sense.

It begs the question why.

It (Graham) is demoralizing to watch and support.

From UH's web site-

In his first season at his alma mater, helped direct a UH defense that led the conference in takeaways and ranked in the top 25 nationally in interceptions and passing yards allowed.

To scowl at Graham's decision is rightfully so because last season the HC continuously praised his DC. And at one point he wished Santa Cruz was his DC when he was coaching at ASU.

With so much upside and Santa Cruz, who has already proven himself, replaced by Figg, who's track record (he coached at William Jewel ... hooray) pales in comparison to Santa Cruz are the type of moves by Graham that will someday haunt the HC imo.

What is going on inside Graham's head?

This year's defense under Figg is underperforming. The numbers don't lie-80 points allowed in 2 games is ominous, especially when Portland State rolled up almost 500 yards offensively with a QB that completed only 48% of his passes. Add in the fact that there were 16 mistackles and UH's defense made PSU look better than they are.

The bad thing about all this is that last year's defensive players are caught in the middle of this mess. Here's a group that built a rapport with Santa Cruz, trusted the DC and his new system, and then have it all taken away this season by Graham's questionable decision making. This is mind boggling to see because I really had respect for Graham.

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Re: Why Did Figg Replace Santa Cruz As DC?

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not saying you are wrong, but... those are a lot of assumptions. are there any rumors out there suggesting anything? it looks like a lot of the titles from last season are different now, as last year it seemed like everyone had "coordinator" or "assistant" or "associate" head coach in their titles and now they don't. It does seem odd to make the change at DC but unless there's some word out there about players being demoralized or something like that, I don't think we should project that onto the situation without knowing if that's the case. Still, it is a weird thing and I didn't even think about it until you pointed it out.

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Re: Why Did Figg Replace Santa Cruz As DC?

Post by Nisei »

I don't think last year's defense was VSC's system. I believe that regardless of who the DC is, the scheme will always be Todd Graham's War Dog defense.

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Re: Why Did Figg Replace Santa Cruz As DC?

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Nisei wrote: Tue Sep 07, 2021 10:28 am I don't think last year's defense was VSC's system. I believe that regardless of who the DC is, the scheme will always be Todd Graham's War Dog defense.
Finally, someone is on the right track. VSC was the DC in name only. Todd Graham was the DC last year, end of story. It was very easy to see at practices and during games. Figg is handling parts of the DC role now, but make no mistake about it Todd Graham is the DC.

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Re: Why Did Figg Replace Santa Cruz As DC?

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Last season VSC was also the associate head coach, which is a bump in pay from a position coach. This season Figg's the associate head coach. From what I can see VSC was definitely demoted. But then again someone going to say I'm off the track.

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Re: Why Did Figg Replace Santa Cruz As DC?

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sarvicdar wrote: Tue Sep 07, 2021 7:13 pm Last season VSC was also the associate head coach, which is a bump in pay from a position coach. This season Figg's the associate head coach. From what I can see VSC was definitely demoted. But then again someone going to say I'm off the track.
I think you are right. Graham is DC and Special Teams coach. It seems like he moved people he knew into certain positions and moved other’s out. Figg was following Graham around on the sidelines this last game. His son was there too. On the news today they showed Graham coaching up our dbs. I thought that was part of Figgs new job? Seems like the way things are going Graham will end up coaching all positions. I wonder why he moved Abe to runningbacks. That seems like that is the job you get before you are dumped. Sometimes I think Graham took this job just give his son exposure at OC. Not too impressed so far. Our defense seemed to be getting better last season but seems to be going backward. I hope that I am wrong but I hate watching these ugly games. I am having Chow flashbacks. Chevans legs are keeping us in the game. The mechanics of our freshman quarterback is weird. Who hops in the air just before handing off the ball?
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Re: Why Did Figg Replace Santa Cruz As DC?

Post by poidog »

RedZone wrote: Tue Sep 07, 2021 9:26 pm
sarvicdar wrote: Tue Sep 07, 2021 7:13 pm Last season VSC was also the associate head coach, which is a bump in pay from a position coach. This season Figg's the associate head coach. From what I can see VSC was definitely demoted. But then again someone going to say I'm off the track.
I think you are right. Graham is DC and Special Teams coach. It seems like he moved people he knew into certain positions and moved other’s out. Figg was following Graham around on the sidelines this last game. His son was there too. On the news today they showed Graham coaching up our dbs. I thought that was part of Figgs new job? Seems like the way things are going Graham will end up coaching all positions. I wonder why he moved Abe to runningbacks. That seems like that is the job you get before you are dumped. Sometimes I think Graham took this job just give his son exposure at OC. Not too impressed so far. Our defense seemed to be getting better last season but seems to be going backward. I hope that I am wrong but I hate watching these ugly games. I am having Chow flashbacks. Chevans legs are keeping us in the game. The mechanics of our freshman quarterback is weird. Who hops in the air just before handing off the ball?
something doesn't smell right, but I don't know what it is. but i'll say one thing... i hope the play gets cleaned up a lot and soon, because we could get sloppy football for half of what Graham is being paid. Will he even be here in a year?

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Re: Why Did Figg Replace Santa Cruz As DC?

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RedZone wrote: Tue Sep 07, 2021 9:26 pm
sarvicdar wrote: Tue Sep 07, 2021 7:13 pm Last season VSC was also the associate head coach, which is a bump in pay from a position coach. This season Figg's the associate head coach. From what I can see VSC was definitely demoted. But then again someone going to say I'm off the track.
I think you are right. Graham is DC and Special Teams coach. It seems like he moved people he knew into certain positions and moved other’s out. Figg was following Graham around on the sidelines this last game. His son was there too. On the news today they showed Graham coaching up our dbs. I thought that was part of Figgs new job? Seems like the way things are going Graham will end up coaching all positions. I wonder why he moved Abe to runningbacks. That seems like that is the job you get before you are dumped. Sometimes I think Graham took this job just give his son exposure at OC. Not too impressed so far. Our defense seemed to be getting better last season but seems to be going backward. I hope that I am wrong but I hate watching these ugly games. I am having Chow flashbacks. Chevans legs are keeping us in the game. The mechanics of our freshman quarterback is weird. Who hops in the air just before handing off the ball?
It is Graham's defense. Graham get's involved with all phases because it is his defense. He doesn't get involved with technique. He gets very involved in alignment, schemes and making sure players are in the right place on every play. All it takes is for one defensive player to be out of position for a big play to happen. He goes nuts when we give up yards on a critical down because a player didn't line up in the right spot. That's why you see early timeouts. He is correcting issues that he sees and is trying to correct them early in the game. His D is still new to his players and coaches.

Assistant coaches flock to Graham because he is a good teacher and mentor. If you look at the HC landscape many were tutored by Graham. In coaching you build your resume by developing skills, knowledge and experience at as many positions as you can. Why? You build value. Interesting that Chip Kelly was a DB in college. He was a position coach for DBs, RBs, LBs, ST and OL before becoming an OC. He spent almost all of his coaching career on defense before becoming an OC. Today Chip Kelly is known as an offensive coach.

If I am not mistaken the DL held PSU to net 77 yards rushing. When was the last time we did that?

We rushed the ball for 315 yards. When was the last time we did that.

Graham can't bring in coaches that knows his defense. The offense is also his. The coaches that knows his stuff are HCs. With the money he has he brings in coaches that want to learn his brand of football. He mentors and teaches. They have to learn and earn the right to run it or they are hired by other teams.

If it wasn't for the poorly fielded punts and kickoffs and the fumble in the red zone the storyline for the PSU game would have been much different. That's why he was ticked off.

He is a good one.

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Re: Why Did Figg Replace Santa Cruz As DC?

Post by RedZone »

TheDuke wrote: Thu Sep 09, 2021 5:38 am
RedZone wrote: Tue Sep 07, 2021 9:26 pm
sarvicdar wrote: Tue Sep 07, 2021 7:13 pm Last season VSC was also the associate head coach, which is a bump in pay from a position coach. This season Figg's the associate head coach. From what I can see VSC was definitely demoted. But then again someone going to say I'm off the track.
I think you are right. Graham is DC and Special Teams coach. It seems like he moved people he knew into certain positions and moved other’s out. Figg was following Graham around on the sidelines this last game. His son was there too. On the news today they showed Graham coaching up our dbs. I thought that was part of Figgs new job? Seems like the way things are going Graham will end up coaching all positions. I wonder why he moved Abe to runningbacks. That seems like that is the job you get before you are dumped. Sometimes I think Graham took this job just give his son exposure at OC. Not too impressed so far. Our defense seemed to be getting better last season but seems to be going backward. I hope that I am wrong but I hate watching these ugly games. I am having Chow flashbacks. Chevans legs are keeping us in the game. The mechanics of our freshman quarterback is weird. Who hops in the air just before handing off the ball?
It is Graham's defense. Graham get's involved with all phases because it is his defense. He doesn't get involved with technique. He gets very involved in alignment, schemes and making sure players are in the right place on every play. All it takes is for one defensive player to be out of position for a big play to happen. He goes nuts when we give up yards on a critical down because a player didn't line up in the right spot. That's why you see early timeouts. He is correcting issues that he sees and is trying to correct them early in the game. His D is still new to his players and coaches.

Assistant coaches flock to Graham because he is a good teacher and mentor. If you look at the HC landscape many were tutored by Graham. In coaching you build your resume by developing skills, knowledge and experience at as many positions as you can. Why? You build value. Interesting that Chip Kelly was a DB in college. He was a position coach for DBs, RBs, LBs, ST and OL before becoming an OC. He spent almost all of his coaching career on defense before becoming an OC. Today Chip Kelly is known as an offensive coach.

If I am not mistaken the DL held PSU to net 77 yards rushing. When was the last time we did that?

We rushed the ball for 315 yards. When was the last time we did that.

Graham can't bring in coaches that knows his defense. The offense is also his. The coaches that knows his stuff are HCs. With the money he has he brings in coaches that want to learn his brand of football. He mentors and teaches. They have to learn and earn the right to run it or they are hired by other teams.

If it wasn't for the poorly fielded punts and kickoffs and the fumble in the red zone the storyline for the PSU game would have been much different. That's why he was ticked off.

He is a good one.
Good points but not entirely true. After Portland game I saw him on one of the local news and they showed him teaching dbs technique.
Not doubting, not hating, not loving, just hoping because I am a fan.

🌴“WELCOME HOME COACH”🌴 :hello1: Go get’em Timmy :hello1:

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