Ferman only at this point
A Miami guy with tons of Miami connections in schools where he coached, a shotgun spread with two backs, and a great recruiter… Color me intrigued.
Interested to hear skeeters grade. I’m gonna guess C+.
This is a huge get. OC with success taking a qb coach position. Mario going beast mode.
I think we now have the staff to finally win the ACC. Do we have the depth yet? Worried about LB and OL.
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Ponce is from Miami and coached all over the city including at FIU under Mario.
We can safely assume he is a good recruiter.
Seems like a good hire to me.
1992: La Progresiva Presbyterian School (Offensive coordinator)
1993-96: Coral Gables H.S. (Quarterbacks/Wide receivers)
1998: Miami Northwestern H.S. (Quarterbacks)
1999-2000: Miami Central H.S. (Offensive coordinator/QBs)
2002-03: Miami Coral Reef H.S. (Head coach)
2004-06: Miami Senior H.S. (Head coach/Offensive coordinator)
2007-12: Florida International (Wide receivers)
2013-18: App State (Co-Offensive coordinator, Passing game/QBs)
2019-20: Louisville (Passing game coordinator/QBs)
2021-present: App State (Offensive coordinator/QBs)
Why C+?
No real QB development track record, career largely in Scott Satterfields shadow, not a big recruiter, not an “up-and-comer”. Big worry if it’s a stepping stone to OC when Gattis leaves.
Overall the hire could have been used for an A+ recruiter, lights out technician, or an up-and-comer OC heir apparent. Better than Jon Richt but with an open checkbook I’m a little surprised.
Not an A hire, not an F. Somewhere in between? B-? If there wasn’t the nagging “in line to be OC when Gattis leaves” I’d prob bump to a B.
all i know is that Cristobal has a knack for identifying coaching talent. alot of his hires have gone on to become head coaches…its really impressive actually.
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Should have good connections in Florida. Coached HS for 13yrs, then FIU. Agree will be first real recruiting test/challenge
I am excited about this hire except if it is a foregone conclusion that he is OC in waiting. If Ponce is just the QB coach, this is a super hire. He has a track record of helping QBs improve, and he has never had a talent like TVD.
Why are people saying it’s a foregone conclusion….Did Mario say that?
I’m fine with it…Nice connections too…Glad he’s a co and not the main play caller, because I never saw the fascination with him.
Like that he was a part of some balanced offenses, and he did coach solid G5 caliber QBs in Lamb and Thomas at App state.
Some people do speak well of him though, so he may be more impressive than what his resume looks like to me.
I would have said C+as a play caller and would gladly have been proven wrong. But I don’t mind the hire as QB coach.
I only expect Gattis to be here for 1-2 years. He was already in the running for a P5 job this year. Ponce also given the “passing game coordinator” title and it’s unlikely another hire will be made on offense with a similar “inside track” towards OC.
So when Gattis leaves it will be Ponce vs an outside hire and that’s not a gamble I’m keen on. I would have much rather had an up and comer in the position vs an outside hire.
Thus my main issue is that it was a wasted opportunity. I don’t think he’s superlative in coaching or recruiting to outweigh the missed opportunity for an up and comer.
I will say that I’ve always liked Appalachian State’s physicality and they have the uncanny ability to generate big plays with the run (seemingly every year)…This year with Ponce at helm was definitely their best year throwing the football…Chase Bryce just couldn’t stop turning it over against ULL in both meetings if I remember correctly.
Already, we’ve seen Mario’s recruiting prowess rescue what looked like the worst recruiting year in decades. If anything, Mario is known as a recruiter, and I think Mario’s zeal in recruiting will guide the recruiting efforts of his assistant coaches. Year and year out, it is validated that teams contending for NCs win the recruiting wars.
I thought App State should have beaten the Canes this year. They had a strong offense, especially in regard to rushing the football. I would rather have had a young, up and comer, but I think Ponce will do the job, and all the more better if he turns out to be a productive recruiter.
That C+ play caller damn near beat “defensive genius” Manny Diaz last year. Miami only beat App State by 2? points at home. IIRC, their offense looked pretty good for a supposed cupcake.
They aren’t a cupcake. They were a top 40ish team. And Miami was off of Bama and teams have played very poorly after Bama the last 10 years. And don’t forget they returned a kickoff for a TD in the game.
Miami was favored by like 7 in the game if I remember correctly.
Again, I’m pretty neutral on Ponce…Their offense was respectable but didn’t do a ton against us. All in all I would rate it an “as expected” or “slightly bad” offensive year for them (whipped, a lot because of turnovers twice against ULL)…But again Chas Brice is nothing special and was a turnover machine all year with Duke, and then against Sun Belt champ twice this year. Their defense was the better unit…Mainly against run and with the pass rush. Their secondary was weak, and King was only so/so against it.
Basically what I’m trying to say is I remain pretty neutral on him, but have seen nothing to put him up there with a top candidate for a UM OC job…Maybe I’m wrong, and maybe he is impressive with his acumen in an interview and ready to take a step up. His past relationship with CMC obviously did not hurt anything.
They were a bad, uncooperative cupcake. Nothing worse than an uppity cupcake.
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Lol…no they definitely aren’t that
I can name a clear 70 1A teams they would be favored over on a neutral field…And another 20-25 it would be a field goal on either way.
They would lay 17ish to Duke for instance…11.5ish to Cuse…