Pat Hill did not lose his team; he just can't coach

by Kevan Lee on Nov 26, 2008 10:30 AM PST in WAC rivals Comment 5 comments

Somewhere, somehow, things went very poorly for Pat Hill and his Fresno State Bulldogs. But don't for a second think that Pat Hill lost the respect of his team.

"They were still listening to me, they were still playing hard," Hill said. "It wasn't about effort, it was about execution. I never lost these kids.

Is it supposed to be a relief that Fresno's failures were a matter of execution rather than effort? In our opinion, that makes the situation worse. Essentially, Hill is saying, "The kids were playing hard, but they just didn't know what they were doing."

So which is worse: a team that gives up on its coach or a coach who can't coach his team? Hill can't get by forever with a few big wins over BCS schools and a fu manchu that makes him look like the guy from American Chopper. Sooner or later, the fact that his teams routinely fail to execute consistently will come back to bite him.

But just for the record, Pat Hill would like everyone to know that he did not "lose his team."

"Had I lost them, it would have been time for me to go. But in 12 years, I've never lost a team."

Or won an outright WAC championship.

Read more: Internal affairs: news from around the non-BCS [ESPN.com]

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I just had a thought. Maybe the WAC isn't as bad as everyone says that it is. I mean 6 of the 9 teams have won at least half of their games. Maybe Fresno State is a good as everyone thought that they were. Maybe, just maybe Boise State is just outright better than them all. I take that back, Boise State is DEFINATELY better than everyone else. Too bad Fresno, I guess their motto should be "There's Always Next Year" instead.

Happy Thanksgiving to all you guys!

by goodhandsman on Nov 25, 2008 10:50 PM PST reply actions 0 recs

Happy Thanksgiving to you, too, ghands.

You might be right about the WAC being better than everybody thinks, mostly because everybody thinks the WAC is downright Sun Belt-ish. They have actually had some good out-of-conference wins this year, which is a lot more than other conferences (Pac-10) can say.

And yes, Karl Benson put me up to saying that.

by kevanlee on Nov 26, 2008 12:12 AM PST reply actions 0 recs

So, are you saying we should break out the Dennis Green "THEY ARE WHO WE THOUGHT THEY WERE!" quote?

by JasonHaberman on Nov 26, 2008 12:14 AM PST reply actions 0 recs

"and we let 'em off the hook"

by BlueTurf on Nov 26, 2008 2:47 AM PST reply actions 0 recs

Karl Benson must be quite persuasive. Getting to 6 or 7 wins in the WAC is not tough – it just shows how bad the bottom of the conference is. Here is the road to 7 wins:
-Beat the bottom for a nearly guaranteed 3 wins (yes even Pat Hill) W's against NMSU, Utah St, Idaho
-Guaranteed loss to Boise State.
-That leaves 4 remaining conference games. Go .500 and pick up 2 more wins and you are 5-3
- Schedule a 1-AA (FCS) opponent – everybody but Fresno did – now you are 6-3
- Win one of your 3 other games – preferably against a middle of the road mid-major (UNLV, Toledo) or a down on their luck BCS team (UCLA, Wash St) 7 wins.

The WAC's 'quality' non-conference wins this year are against:
Oregon 8-3
Rutgers 6-5
So Miss, BGSU, UTEP 5-6
Miss St, UNLV, UCLA 4-7

by BlueTurf on Nov 26, 2008 5:48 PM PST reply actions 0 recs