JMU - Everett Withers

[reeder]

What makes this Houston coached team better than the Withers coached team? The announcers said that Coach Houston has made the defense better and raised the level of intensity. is there that much of a difference? JMU was doing pretty well last year until Vad Lee got hurt...

What's different about this year and Coach Houston?

[RootinFerDukes]

a better football coach is the difference I'd say.

[DirtyDukes]

Everett was all show and no substance. Houston is the opposite.

[chicagoduke]

A lot of my fellow Dukes can't stand Withers since he took the first FBS job he could find, but I have a different perspective.

He was exactly what the program in Harrisonburg needed when he got here. We needed a shot of adrenaline and he was exactly that. The program had grown complacent, and Mickey Matthews wasn't taking us to the next step. The facilities were improving and yet the on-field success wasn't changing.

Then in comes Withers. He brought with him the "Juice" and really re-energized the program. A lot of alumni started paying attention again and he took a product that had become stale and made it sexy again. He had his faults, but overall I think he was great for our program. His biggest strength was likely recruiting. Everyone knows about Vad Lee, but JMU is stacked with young talent right now. The Redshirt Freshman and Sophomore classes are really deep right now and should contribute at a high level for the next several years.

....side note on one of our young kids.....our True Freshman Cole Johnson is gonna be a gun-slinger and all-american in a couple of years. 6-5, quite mobile, and a cannon for an arm. He's a bit skinny now (and that's why JMU was able to get him), but if he fills out he's gonna be one of the best ever at JMU....but I digress.

So where is Houston an upgrade? There are a few really obvious areas:

1. X's and O's: It just feels like he's a better coach in every way on game days. There haven't been any moments this season where I was left scratching my head based on a call.
2. Staff Hires: Withers hired a really YOUNG staff. He was taking guys who were Grad Assistants at other programs and making them our OC and DC. I think he gave promotions to some guys who just weren't ready. Houston has hired a blend of veteran coaches (Kirkpatrick and Trott most obviously) and mixed in some younger guys. It seems to be working.
3. Media interaction. Houston seems to get along well with the media, whereas Withers acted like the media was an adversary.
4. Houston is a DUKE. He tweets about other teams on campus. He ends every interview with "Go Dukes!", and seems to really love the team and university. Withers just never seemed like one of us. He obviously had one foot out the door the whole time he was here and it was obvious in hindsight.

[The Duke Dog]

A lot of my fellow Dukes can't stand Withers since he took the first FBS job he could find, but I have a different perspective.

He was exactly what the program in Harrisonburg needed when he got here. We needed a shot of adrenaline and he was exactly that. The program had grown complacent, and Mickey Matthews wasn't taking us to the next step. The facilities were improving and yet the on-field success wasn't changing.

Then in comes Withers. He brought with him the "Juice" and really re-energized the program. A lot of alumni started paying attention again and he took a product that had become stale and made it sexy again. He had his faults, but overall I think he was great for our program. His biggest strength was likely recruiting. Everyone knows about Vad Lee, but JMU is stacked with young talent right now. The Redshirt Freshman and Sophomore classes are really deep right now and should contribute at a high level for the next several years.

....side note on one of our young kids.....our True Freshman Cole Johnson is gonna be a gun-slinger and all-american in a couple of years. 6-5, quite mobile, and a cannon for an arm. He's a bit skinny now (and that's why JMU was able to get him), but if he fills out he's gonna be one of the best ever at JMU....but I digress.

So where is Houston an upgrade? There are a few really obvious areas:

1. X's and O's: It just feels like he's a better coach in every way on game days. There haven't been any moments this season where I was left scratching my head based on a call.
2. Staff Hires: Withers hired a really YOUNG staff. He was taking guys who were Grad Assistants at other programs and making them our OC and DC. I think he gave promotions to some guys who just weren't ready. Houston has hired a blend of veteran coaches (Kirkpatrick and Trott most obviously) and mixed in some younger guys. It seems to be working.
3. Media interaction. Houston seems to get along well with the media, whereas Withers acted like the media was an adversary.
4. Houston is a DUKE. He tweets about other teams on campus. He ends every interview with "Go Dukes!", and seems to really love the team and university. Withers just never seemed like one of us. He obviously had one foot out the door the whole time he was here and it was obvious in hindsight.


Great post - I would add from my perspective that Withers could not / would not be able to motivate a "unit" to fully play together. Cohesiveness is what I think he was / is unable to create ... time will tell.

Given the same players, I would give him a 5% chance of replicating this success. He created too much dissension across the board and the players were not his biggest fan. The success they had last year buried a good bit of these sentiments but they were there.

Our bigger problem down the road will be to keep Houston!