October 2023

[Bluewyn Gold]

Bluewyn Old

What is your definition of good ?

First off, bravo times two on the nickname. I own it and would change the screen name if I could only get my granddaughter to show me how.

Good? At the FCS level? I'd say the Dakota State schools. We're not there yet and that's what we should be aiming for in the year 2023. In the meantime, UD has a long way to go to compete at that level. Domination and not playing down to the level of the next several opponents would be a start. Agree?

[Section J]

This team has yet to demonstrate that it's capable of rolling anything or anyone.

Bet at least a few of them can roll a doobie.

[Bluewyn Gold]

Announcement? That’s a joke, the winter and spring teams would be pissed, as would the field hockey and volleyball teams as they’d all be ineligible for tournament play.

The simple reality is that few would care, William.

UD and others considering reclassification have 5,000,000 reasons why field hockey, volleyball, and tiddlywinks tournaments won't matter a single iota when the time comes to announce an FBS move. Didn't stop JMU from announcing in Nov.; won't likely be an impediment to UD doing similarly if/when the time comes. UD will make their move and then feign indignity on behalf of the "student-athletes" when the conference bans them from tournament play for a half season.

Pending NCAA legislation that increases reclassification fees 1,000 fold (to $5M) will have more of an impact on timing than considerations for the CAA underwater rugby and pesäpallo tournaments.
https://www.ncaa.org/news/2023/6/28/med ... hools.aspx

[jd of de]

Wow. Misogyny lives.

[Caribbean Hen]

Bluewyn Old

What is your definition of good ?

First off, bravo times two on the nickname. I own it and would change the screen name if I could only get my granddaughter to show me how.

Good? At the FCS level? I'd say the Dakota State schools. We're not there yet and that's what we should be aiming for in the year 2023. In the meantime, UD has a long way to go to compete at that level. Domination and not playing down to the level of the next several opponents would be a start. Agree?

I kind of agree, but I don’t think we’re going to be like the Dakota schools. I think we need to be like JMU (the FCS version) who competed very well with those midwestern FCS bullies. If JMU was still FCS we would most likely be playing against the Wimbery and Bermudez types. Now, Carty is building Delaware up as a Mecca of where FCS talent wants to play, that is my dream anyway.

One other common theme on here is if you’re not in the top 5 you ain’t no good…. I just disagree with that. You can have a great season even if you don’t win it all.

You’re Old school! That’s the way you take a joke!!!

[Henzone]

Vince Papale once chastised me for mentioning that I was an active participant on gohens because he felt the board was out of touch with reality.

Certainly that's debatable.

Winning is the common denominator we all share and so does the fanbase in general. Caribb is a FCS guru which is like having cable TV or land line phones. At one point in time we all loved them both. But, things have changed. I think the season is going great so far and am convinced, as are many of our non convincibles, that Chrissi will do her best to move up. We are out of that loop so once everyone has offered their opinions we can only sit back and wait.

Ryan Carty didn't come to UD to win a NC because he probably won't . He came to restore the program he loved & respected and show the football world he is a competent head coach. Winning the CAA, doing well in the playoffs will be a great springboard when we move up. Again just win as much as you can with whatever system works and if he follows that formula the Hens will make the fans and the administration happy even if they fall short of the big trophy while waiting for the elevator.

[tenn hen]

Henzone- Rawak reads the board so why write a letter. this kills 2 birds with 1 stone?
I agree she's working to move us up so start by removing future cupcakes for a more appealing schedule to fans.
announcing the facilities campaign would not hurt winter/spring sports. It would be a strong signal to fans.
football is the money maker that funds those other sports.
Our ranking in polls is close to meaningless this early. Montana is above us and check out their record/opponents.
with all due respect my man, we're better than last year, but there were glaring weaknesses again that stood out.
if you're correct -winning is the only thing that matters to our fans so just sit tight. The CAA is ours for the taking!

just 2 weeks till the Dukes- that's Duquesne Dukes. "come on man"! we know why they were on the schedule. We're like PSU to them. just saying.

[Cluck U]

The Hens are certainly a lot more fun to watch…and we are better than we have been for a long time. But, we are not that good…yet.

Rankings.

World championship lacrosse rankings, 1-4: USA, Canda, Haudenosaunee, Australia.
Australia has ZERO chance to win it all and recently got destroyed by the top two…and lost 11-6 against #3 (in a game that wasn’t as close as the score).

FCS rankings are similar. Crow about being Top 15, but that means little.

Carty seems to be building us up to compete with the big boys. He has focused on upgrading the skill positions…but we aren’t winning anything big until we get bigger and better on both lines…and also special teams.

I am hopeful he will address those issues in the future. In the meantime, our favorable schedule and our life in the CAA will get us back in the playoffs with another first round victory. Onward and upward!

[Caribbean Hen]

Henzone- Rawak reads the board so why write a letter. this kills 2 birds with 1 stone?
I agree she's working to move us up so start by removing future cupcakes for a more appealing schedule to fans.
announcing the facilities campaign would not hurt winter/spring sports. It would be a strong signal to fans.
football is the money maker that funds those other sports.
Our ranking in polls is close to meaningless this early. Montana is above us and check out their record/opponents.
with all due respect my man, we're better than last year, but there were glaring weaknesses again that stood out.
if you're correct -winning is the only thing that matters to our fans so just sit tight. The CAA is ours for the taking!

just 2 weeks till the Dukes- that's Duquesne Dukes. "come on man"! we know why they were on the schedule. We're like PSU to them. just saying.

Tenn, you gotta read between the lines

She always talks about how important winning is, the cupcakes will still be on the table

You said Montana is above Delaware in the polls? Well that’s just not true for the AGS poll, unless you meant Montana State but yes the polls are meaningless at this point … just keep winning

Glaring weaknesses? Man that’s tough after a big win but yes some things need to be cleaned up, we have more talent now and the games are more fun to watch

Carty has come into a snooze fest and is getting us back to where we want to be

Maybe you are retired from FedEx where a program absolutely has to be rebuilt overnight ?

[Cluck U]

Two good articles that are reminders about Carty’s goals for our Hens.

https://www.flofootball.com/articles/79 ... e-heart-is

Carty’s offenses play fast when they have the ball, but he wants a team that is fast in every way. “When I say ‘play fast,’ I want it to be program-wide,” he says. “I want fast players who practice fast, think fast and play fast.” That’s Carty’s way, and it’s baked into his personality. He isn’t frivolous or careless. He assembles a plan and then executes it in ways that make opponents uncomfortable.

“What we believe in is a foundation of toughness and aggressive play,” he says. “We are going to take the fight to people.”


Speed. Joe would have loved to see Carty’s teams in action.


https://delawaretoday.com/life-style/ryan-carty/

“While still in high school, Carty could often be seen at Blue Hens practices, studying up on head coach K.C. Keeler's no-huddle spread offensive scheme. Keeler had just taken over the program, where he coached until 2012. In 2014, he accepted the head coaching position at Sam Houston State.

Keeler, who compiled an 86-52 record and led Delaware to its 2003 national championship, hired Carty as SHSU's offensive coordinator.

Since 2018, the Bearkats have advanced to the playoffs two consecutive years and captured two conference titles. They were a 10-0 during their championship season, ranking first in total yards (4,403), first in touchdowns (45), third in first downs (204) and seventh in passing yards per attempt (8.6).

"I learned so much from Coach Keeler, especially how to manage people and how to deal with the day-to-day troubles that might pop up," Carty recalled. "How people feel when they leave a conversation with you is a lot more important than what you say to them."’


More good quotes in that article…including his relationship with Joe Flacco.

The other thing that stands out is that Carty said that on both of his championship teams, the players loved each other. That was very clear at Sam Houston. Have to say, this team is really close. It will be fun watching how this team develops…not only this year, but in the years to come.

And yes, Carty’s goal is to win championships. Silly to not think so.

[Caribbean Hen]

Good articles Cluck

For me, the most candid Ryan Carty moment was when Big R put the following to him.. and the answer was you can create gaps in other areas like skill positions and still win and this is exactly what he’s trying to do.

On Monday, Dec. 5th, Coach Carty had a Zoom “Media Availability Call” which was hosted by Brendan Thomas.
Media participants were Kevin Tresolini, Andy Walter, Dan Steenkamer, and, I believe, Konner Metz from the UD Review.

I asked several questions at different points during the call, which I've transcribed below. As always, I refer to myself as GH (GoHens). Anything you see in parentheses are my own clarifying comments that I've inserted. Except for a final note, I've left other questions and answers to be addressed by the other media in their own publications / blogs / etc.

GH: Coach, there still seems to be a fairly significant gap between the very top teams in FCS and most of the teams in the CAA, UD included. it certainly doesn't appear to be at skill positions or coaching. Just looking at it with kind of uneducated eyes, it more or less seems to focus in on the size and strength of the offensive and defensive lines. Where do they get these guys? You've seen them where you were before, how do we get those guys?

RC: Yeah, the answer would be South Dakota, Nebraska - you look at their roster, right? It’s the five surrounding states – Minnesota (plus Iowa & North Dakota). North Dakota State is similar, you know they go into California a little bit and Florida a little bit, there's probably five or six guys from Arizona and Florida on their roster at South Dakota State, but for the most part they're kids from the local areas and they get the best ones that the Big 10 doesn't take, probably.

It’s true, Rich, I see the same thing from, I would say football-wise, a little bit more educated eyes as well, but you're right - I mean they are physical, long, big defensive fronts. There's not much difference between playing South Dakota State, North Dakota State, Montana State - those teams that I've played that we've run up against - they're all very similar on defense and they're all very good on defense but they're also really good at the skill positions and they also are really well coached. And you know, I'm with you - there's good coaching and good skill here in this league, and we'll see how William and Mary fares because I think they're a little bit physical up front on both sides of the ball as well. But you're not wrong. I would say there could always be a gap there. That's OK - you can still win with that. There was a gap there when we won the national championship at Sam Houston, too. We just had a bigger gap in the skill positions, and so it's not like you can't win – it’s kind of like the Big Ten versus the SEC, or whatever it is. You know it's not like you can't win that gap somewhere else, you can create a bigger gap for yourself somewhere else - whether it’s skill positions, or coaching or whatever it is, Rich. So, it's a good question and it's something that, obviously we're trying to do, is become that team that creates a gap somewhere between us and everyone else. And you get teams like James Madison that came from this conference that go and compete at that level, and teams like, whether it be Eastern Washington, or Sam Houston, or other teams that are in the conversation every year in the national championship talks and in the semifinals, that have created ways to combat that gap of maybe the physicality up front.

[tenn hen]

Well I threw out the lines(not OL or DL) and expected a few bites. I expected you two to nibble

Montana-shamna the Grizzlies yes ?- not Montana State who clearly need to be in the top 100 in the country- solid always. as to the polls-shmoles- "forget about it" though obviously will be more meaningful another 4 games out.
I didn't expect a rebuilding overnight here, but a few major additions to the lines -esp the OL.- u bet. Did that happen- nope-improved special teams- not yet ????? a full coordinator- not yet. need a sole guy responsible. For example- did you guys notice the poor blocking on our returns? obviously the punting problem again this season- it should have been cleared up.
maybe "glaring" was harsh, but I always have high expectations for my Hens( like in the OLD days) . The mens soccer program is rebuilding nicely in the 2nd year of the staff- It can be done. What matters to me in sports is the competency and execution of teams. If you lose and still look good, then it was the opponent who was better- simple as that. No complaints. PSU is a different animal but did we look good? no, though we fought as hard as we could. an unsuccessful Offense was exposed badly.

Consider this scenario- we lose to New Hampshire last weekend. I expect the board wouldn't have been very kind. That first period- ouch. It had me in panic mode, but we made up for it and came away with the W. Proud of that comeback but still uncertain what we've got even though we are 3-1. I'll leave it at that.

just noticed a few more posts before I was allowed to submit - I'll read them in a minute

[Cluck U]

Caribbe…I like Carty. Secretly, he hired me to be one of his influencers on the interwebbiness things. But, he has his blind spots.

Sammy’s D front was as good or better than anyone else in the country. Size, speed, aggressiveness, quickness…they had it all….and they got to opposing QBs. And they had a large OL (injuries got to them…but they had depth and good sized backups) with a really good Center.

Yes, the Wizard of Ez was a freak…as was Schmid. But that D was special. JMU cracked it for a half…but only SELA and JMU scored more than 21 points on Sammy.

Carty’s focus was the O…but, surely, he had to take note of the difference on D (after all, he practiced against it).

We’ll see. I am an optimist.

[Caribbean Hen]

Tenn the OL ain’t playing that bad and consider reading that article from Big R where Carty tells you what he’s doing

How many OL did you see escorting Wimberly into the EZ on that spectacular catch and Juke move vs St Francis? 48 yards for the TD untouched… I didn’t see any… talent gaps can win games. Our OL gave O’Connor the time he needed

You know Carty brought in a few OL last year and they were apparently no better than what we already had

Some speculation: his mindset was probably something like I’m not bringing in anymore OL If they’re just gonna be the same as what we already have. It will mess up the cohesion these guys have built playing together over the past few years. Now if someone shows me better than what we already have I’ll be all over it… OL were few and far between

But what if the Hens lost to New Hampshire…. Come on Tenn

[Henzone]

Tenn- We can make a list of concerns that's fairly long but why bother when the season is as everyone expected after 4 games. If things turn upside down like 22 then you and I will jump on it immediately I'm sure. And we always have Sammy experts to answer questions about Ryan even if he spent most of his coaching career at UNH.