Buffalo_Rob:
Career Record - 1273 - 285
Career Winning PCT. - .817
National Championships - 7
Conference Championships - 38
Bowl Record - 10-10
Playoff Record - 117-51 (.696)
Current Teams - Michigan (Leahy), Stephen F. Austin (Wilkinson)
The man: Yes I am!!!
JWest44:
Career Record - 415 - 85
Career Winning PCT. - .830
National Championships - 4
Conference Championships - 15
Bowl Record - 1 - 2
Playoff Record - 44 - 16 (.730)
Current Teams - Boston College (Leahy)
David: Welcome Buffalo_Rob, and thanks for taking the time to sit down for the interview, and let's give everyone a look into the real Rob. Name? Age?
Rob: Robert Wittman 49.. Damn 50 is coming up like a train wreck!! Just became a Granddaddy and AARP contacted me. HUH?
David: Don't they say "you are only as old as you feel." Where are you from/where do you live now?
Rob: If I was as old as I feel, then I would be in a retirement home.
JWest44: Maybe that is why AARP contacted you. DUH!!
Rob: Buffalo, New York.. I lived there the first 42 years, and then my wife and I ran away from our kids. We moved to Texas. We live about 40 miles southwest of Ft. Worth in the small (Growing quickly) town of Granbury. The funniest thing was seeing our pictures on milk cartons.
Rob: We moved from living in the City to living on a 4000 acre cattle ranch. What a change, but I really enjoyed it. We had no neighbors. I think the closest neighbor was a mile away. Talk about dark at night and quiet. I remember going to the top of the hill and watching the meteor shower a couple years ago. 4 am and my wife and I were sitting out. We saw hundreds of meteors lighting up the sky.
David: Buffalo_Rob is a more original name than Texas_Rob. Sounds too much like Texas Pete's Hot Sauce. Guess that is my mind on cooking. Back to the questions. Are you married or single, any kids?
Rob: I am married. We will celebrate our 30th anniversary this December. We have 3 children. Well they are all adult now. Our son is 29 and we have 2 daughters 27 & 26.
David: Where did you go to school?
Rob: I attended a community college up in Buffalo and got my business degree. This is why I am pretty good at giving people the business. I then went back and got a degree in Electronic Technology.
David: lol, I love the phrase "giving him the business." A classic. What do you do for work?
JWest44: That was a classic call from a Bills game after Jim Kelly had been sacked and roughed up while on the ground. The Ref said "He was giving him the business" Classic
Rob: I work in the semiconductor industry. I work in a clean room fab. We work with silicon wafers developing and manufacturing ICs that go in all the electronic devices we use today. (i.e. cell phones, autos, computers,etc...)
David: What are some of your non-WIS hobbies?
Rob: Besides WIS? You mean there are others things in life? LOL.. I am into working out. I am more like Arnold the Pig and not Arnold Schwartz$&%^$%##. TV and Eating are probably my 2 favorite hobbies. I can actually multi-task by eating watching TV and game planning all at the same time. I use to play a lot of E-mail chess. I belonged to the IECC (International Email Chess Club) and was on the board of directors. I would rate all the games for the 3000+ members world wide.
JWest44: Yard work has become my passion or maybe it is my wife's death wish for me. She is in the insurance business? Hmmm?
David: How about some of your favorite foods or styles of food? What beverage normally accompanies a meal?
Rob: I do love Italian and a good Pizza and it is hard to find one down here (They don't make pizza the same way in Texas as they do back in New York). Give me a good steak dinner or seafood. We have found one Pizza place in town that makes awesome pizza. Wings are a different story. One place was close but they sold out and it isn't the same.
Jwest44: Buffalo is a great place to eat and it shows on you still Rob. Your a freakin pig!! LMAO..
Rob: We have an awesome steak place down here in Granbury. It is called the Line Camp. Best steaks I have ever had.
David: Favorite sports figures and a moment or two that made them your top guys?
I love all sports. Jerry West in Basketball. Mr. Clutch. He was the Professional Athlete. All my friends called me West in my younger days. However there was no better time in basketball when you had Magic, Jordan, Bird, & Dr. J. Those were classic battles and games. Many people forget or don't know that Buffalo had a Pro basketball team. The Braves and the star player was Bob McAdoo. He led the NBA in scoring 3 straight season and he had one of the sweetest outside shoots for a big man. Buffalo Bob Lanier was larger than life to me as a kid growing up. He and Calvin Murphy made college basketball so exciting in WNY.
I don't know if I have a favorite baseball player, but I grew up a Oakland A's fan. Catfish Hunter, Joe rudi and Reggie Jackson. I really love the old time players though. Ruth, Gehrig, Dimaggio. Walter Johnson, Honus Wagner, Rogers Hornsby, Shoeless Joe Jackson, etc.. Man I could go on and on.
I know this may not be popular, but O.J. Simpson was my football hero. I first watched him at USC and then with the Bills. The Juice electrified Bills fans and when he went over 2000 yards. The offensive line was called the Electric company and turned the Juice on. It still gives me goose bumps thinking about what that meant.
I love the Olympics, especially Mark Spitz the Olympic swimmer. I was glued to the TV watching him swim. What he accomplished was awesome. Michael Johnson when he was dazzling everyone in the 200 and 400 meter races.
David: how about favorite sports teams?
Rob: Anything Buffalo: Bills & Sabres. I loved the Oakland Raiders and Dallas Cowboys growing up. Needless to say I am not a fan of the Cowboys even though I live down here. The Cowboys were America's team until the fired Landry and became a bunch of thugs and show offs. It certainly didn't help that the Cowboys beat the Bills in back to back Super Bowls. I will say that Emmitt Smith and Troy Aikman are 2 of my favorite players of recent years. They both had class and a ton of Heart. The Raiders. What can be said. They aren't the same.
David: As an A's fan from the 70's, do you feel Charlie Finley was good for baseball or did he just destroy a dynasty?
Rob: I think the Charlie Findley's are good for the game. They make things interesting. You need people that are willing to push for change and new ideas. Interesting concept WIS!!! I am not sure Charlie O ruined Oakland. The A's were going to lose Reggie and Catfish Hunter to the Yankees no matter what.
JWest44: Mark Cuban is another guy. I think he is great for the game. Sure he is a jerk at times, but sports always needs people that you either love'm or hate'm.
David: Also, is Al Davis washed up in Oakland?
Rob: Definitely. Time for Oakland to go in a different direction. I think Davis got to caught up in trying to beat the NFL and lost touch with the changes happening in the game.
JWest44: Rob you are washed up. The game has passed you by buddy.
Rob: Unfortunately you may be correct.
JWest44: Looks like Oakland did well in the draft this year, so maybe the Silver & Black will turn things around.
David: I hope the Raiders turn it around for Jamarcus Russell's sake. I would love for him to have a good career. I think the Bills teams who lost 4 Super Bowls were really special. It also gives hope for small markets in the NFL along with Pittsburgh and hopefully New Orleans. Do you think the parity in the NFL is a blueprint model for Pro Sports?
Rob: I think parity is great for the game, but I also think you need one or two dominating teams. Everyone wants to beat the Yankees. When the Yanks were ordinary the game didn't matter as much.
JWest44: I hate all the movement of players from team to team which is a by-product of parity or maybe it is the other way around. It is great when your team lands a big free agent, but I would just rather see players stay put.
Rob: The Bills had their core superstars, but it was the role players that made them special. Guys like Steve Tasker don't come around too often and the way the game is set up now those guys don't last long.
JWest44: Despite losing 4 straight Super Bowls. Those Bills teams were great and the City was alive. It was the best of times except for 4 days.
David: What about your favorite sports moment (non-WiS related)?
Rob: Personally for me was when we won our softball league championship. We were decided underdogs. The team we played had beaten us badly 2 or 3 times. The 2 teams hated each other. I remember a brawl almost broke out a couple of times. I caught the flyball for the final out of the game. Man did I get drunk after that game. Thank God for my designated driver. She wasn't very happy with me either!!
JWest44: I was also at the Bills - Miami game when the Bills final beat the Dolphins after losing 20 straight games to the Phins. Miami had beaten the Bills every game played in the decade of the 70's. How sick is that? Needless to say I hate the Dolphins more than any other sports team in the history of the world. followed closely by the Russian Olympic basketball team that stole the Gold Metal from the USA.
Rob: Remember OG Bob Kuengenburg for the Dolphins said "The Bills will never beat the Dolphins as long as I play here" Man did I dislike that guy.
David: A large number of historical events have happened in your lifetime, which do you closely identify with?
Rob: 9/11 is obviously huge and has effected every ones life. I was only 5 when John Kennedy was assassinated, but I do remember it. My mother loved JFK. I also remember Bobby Kennedy and Martin Luther King Jr. I often wonder how different the world might be if they had lived long. I do believe however that sometimes in death people become even large and more important than when they were alive. On a positive note Neil Armstrong stepping foot on the moon. I was glued to the TV waiting for it. Even though I was very young the 60's were a decade like never before and maybe never again.
David: Well Katrina hit close to home for me. If you could be a leader of an organization (any, not only sports related), what would it be, and what would you first change?
Rob: I would have to stay out of politics, especially the President. What happened to Louisiana and New Orleans was tragic. I am not sure there is an answer. What happened was catastrophic. What bothers me the most is that people are still displaced and some sections look the the hurricane just hit.
The Coach:
David: How did you find out about the WIS website?
Rob: Scott - (aka) scottso14
David: How did you come up with your user name?
Rob: I am a moron when it come to making up names, so in an attempt to not be a moron I came up with Buffalo_Rob. I am from Buffalo and my name is Robert. No way was I going to be Buffalo_Robert. I have always went by Bob, but now that I am almost grown up. I figured it was time for Rob. I am a fan of survivor and they had Boston Rob, so I said what the hell. I am going to be Buffalo_Rob.
David: Do you have any other WIS IDs that you use?
Rob: I actually have 26. Do you want me to list them all? One of them is carpediem33. I was just voted the greatest coach of All_Time!! LMAO.. OK, I am making that all up. I also go by.. Damn I don't want to tell.
JWest44: Rob you're such a wimp. David I also go by the user name Buffalo_Rob. I have taught him everything he knows.
Rob: I think you have followed me from team to team. I think that would make you a cherry-picker JWest44 and you only wish you were me.
JWest44: I think I have only made your teams better Rob.
David: Do you play any other WIS games? if yes, which ones?
Rob: I just started my first HBD team. I think I may like the game and it could shorten my GD playing days.
JWest44: I don't play any other games.
David: What do you enjoy most about WIS? Least favorite thing?
Rob: My favorite things is winning, followed closely by the girls of Leahy Thread!!
JWest44: My least favorite thing is losing, Rob you're a pervert. I bet you sniff your computer monitor. I know you do bt the nose prints on your plasma screen!! HaHa
Rob: Really it is the friends I have made here. There are just so many good people. I really enjoy the community of people.
JWest33: Yeah Scott, muddapucka (he is a sick SOB), dwhite34, 85bears (Vern), magillacutty, mtxcivc (Yo Adam), rc1990, Rich bigblue Ramirez, wod_row, & Alvarado Sorry if I forgot anyone.
David: What are your favorite GD moments?
Rob: My first National Championship. I was at Livingstone in Leahy and I had to beat 3 really good coaches. I was down at the half in each of my final 3 games and came back to win each one. I can't for the life of me remember the first 2 coaches, but I beat paranoid in the Championship game. Muddapucka and I then took the team bus and went on a fantasy ride across country and ended up in Mexico. Damn that was a good time.
JWest44: I finally made it up to D1A in Leahy at Boston College. In my first season. I beat powerful Virginia and Rich Ramirez for the ACC Conference Championship and then beat wod_row's USC in my bowl game. Back to back over what I consider two of the best coaches in the game. Many thought USC should have been in the National Championship game, so it did mean a lot to me.
David: How do you decide when it is time to move onto a new team?
Rob: I don't know. Sometimes I just want to move. A couple times I have won a National Championship and then moved on the very next season. It isn't just because the team will suck the next year. I won the NC at Northeastern in D1AA Leahy. I left a team that was preseason #1 and rated 704 for a D1A Iowa St. team that never had a human coach and was only 656.
JWest44: I usually move up when Rob leaves or when the cherries are ripe!!
David: Do you look to run all their teams the same way, or do you run each one differently?
Rob: I pretty much run them all the same way. I try and build power running teams. I do have SFA in D1AA Wilkinson and have a more balanced attack with that team. Last season we even passed more than ran.
JWest44: Power running teams are the way to go. It is very important to get the "STUD RB", but you need to have a decent passing game in place for the playoffs.
David: When taking over a team for the first season, do you have any kind of plan in place? (i.e. Are you going to be there for a set number of years or look to recruit a certain way?)
Rob: I'll look to get teams in certain areas of the country, but I never think about how long I will stay. If I was going to ever stay at one school forever it would be Livingstone in Leahy. I always look every year to move. sometimes I have had to get up and walk away from the computer just so I didn't put in an app.
David: Any suggestions for rookies?
Rob: Make friends not enemies. This game is so much more fun when you have friends.
JWest44: Rob doesn't have any friends in real life so I am ROFLMAO.
Rob: I feel like a ventriloquist and JWest44 is my dummy!!
Rob: ask questions!! There are so many people here that will really give you a lot of help. Remember it is only a game. I have to keep reminding myself of that all the time. Be patient.
David: Many GD coaches have mentioned the lack of substance in the forums and your former column in Leahy was brought up. Is there any interest in doing something like that again?
Rob: I would love to do my column again, but it took a lot of time and my creative juices dried up!! LOL.. If I cut back my teams and have more time I may attempt to bring it back and add a few new characters. Gary Coleman was one of my classic guest hosts.
JWest44: Boring!!
Rob: In all reality I try and stay away from the forums. I post things from time to time, but there is so much crap going on and I can be to opinionated for my own good. Nothing pisses me off more than when someone asks a question and you get a good discussion going on a topic and then the thread turns into a couple dopes badgering each other over something stupid.
David: What kind of split do you like to have on team vs. individual practice time?
Rob: I'll use anything from zero minutes to 20 minutes. Traditionally 10 minutes is my norm. I will run sets with no practice time at all. I will also increase my set PT as the playoffs approach. I believe individual practice is more important at the lower levels. I mostly go 140 Individual/40 team at 1AA and lower. I never practice special teams. D1A I have been using a 90/90 split.
David: Do you feel you understand the aggressiveness settings very well? And what are your theories on them?
Rob: I have little to no understand of Aggressiveness settings. I use pretty much everyone except very conservative. One theory I have is to use Aggressive/ V. Aggressive on 3rd down, especially 3rd down and long. How many times does the other team needing 10 yards completes a 10 yard pass? Seems like they do it all the time. I feel if you sit back and play conservative you are giving them that. I may be wrong, but I feel by playing aggressive the DBs and LBs might try and jump a pass route. Sure they may get burned, but they also have a better chance of picking off the pass or batting it down.
David: What are your favorite offensive and defensive formations and why?
Rob: Any formation that works!! I am a running coach and I would say the ND Box and I also like to stuff the run so I would say the 5-2.
JWest44: I would say the Wishbone and the 4-4. ;o)
David: If you could change one thing about GD, what would it be?
Rob: I would like to see the 5/8 schedule implemented, but I would like more game information. Who is playing and how tired the players are, who does what in the game and when.
JWest44: I would like to see the expanded depth charts. More spots for OL, DL, DBs, etc...
David: What coach would you least like to see in a NC game?
Rob: One guy I like to meet up with in NC games is Scottso. I think I am 3-0 vs him in the BIG game!! I am not really sure I have an answer. I have beaten pretty much every big name coach in the game. I have been beaten by them all also!! If I was going to throw out a couple names maybe ddingo, armstrong8, & paranoid. ddingo seems to put together the most balanced teams. He'll beat you running, passing, or with defense. armstrong8 has owned me recently, even when I felt I had as good or better of a team. I still couldn't touch the guy. I had no answer for his Lafayette team in Bryant. paranoid has been on fire recently and is racking up the NCs at a pace faster than the national debt. I love playing perry however. We have had some classic games in the past. I won my very first NC against him and if I remember correctly he won his first against me.
JWest44: I would hate to meet up with Buffalo Rob. Why? He just doesn't belong in the BIG game so I would hate to see him in one!! lol .. He would also cheat and look at my settings. We did play once in DII Bryant. He was a #1 seed and I was an 8th seed. Needless to say I kicked his ass..
Rob: I would love to meet up with muddapucka in a National Championship game.
Jwest44: Like mudda will ever make it to a NC game. Get real bro!! Ha mudda sucka..
David: Many coaches swap ideas and theories, and this always gives you food for thought. Have you used this sort of network, and what coaches have been influential?
Rob: The one coach that really gave me the best advice that turned everything around for me was wod_row. I have also teamed up with other coaches and have shared teams. I have learned alot for the guys I have co-coached with like yourself, mtxcivic, & muddapucka. I have probably share the most with Scott. He got me involved in the game and has had a great influence on my game as has rc1990 and magillacutty when it comes to recruiting. ddingo is one of the best reads on the forum. He is definitely one of the most knowledgeable coaches in the game.
I have probably shared more with other coaches. I always enjoyed talking about the game. There are some coaches out there that know my game as well as I do!! I have enjoyed watching other teams use some of my strategies and succeed. I always tell them to take what I give them and try and develop it more. Always try new things and keep experimenting. The game constantly evolves, despite WIS not changing the game much. Coaches are doing new things all the time.
David: Knowing many of the intricacies of GD, which school do you feel is ideal for a DIA title (all factors being equal)?
Rob: I would say right now Penn St. & USC would be the best jobs in D1A, but it does come down to the coach and not the team. Recruiting is the key. It really comes down to recruiting. Location and competition.
JWest44: I am at Boston College in Leahy and I think BC is one of the better non-elite schools to have. Recruiting in the northeast is very good.
Rob: I think the SEC is a great conference and I like my Georgia teams. I share one and recruiting is awesome in the southeast. Competition is stiff, but you can still land a great class with great players.
David: Are you looking forward to the future of GD, or do you feel it has reached a stalemate?
Rob: I am getting tired of GD. It needs a major shot in the arm and quick. I currently dropped 3 teams. Much of this has to do with things coming up in my personal life. With summer fast approaching I need time away from the computer.
My daughter just had a baby. Our first grandchild was just born on May 5th. Little Isabella Grace. Our son is getting married in Hawaii in August. Focusing on those things makes it difficult to stay interested in the game. I am not even going to get into the weeds overtaking my yard.
I also got my first HBD team and I enjoy the change, but not sure if I am going to keep that up.
I did do the survey and gave a lengthy dissertation with many suggestions. It did give me some hope for the future of GD, but I'll believe it when I see it happen.
Jwest44: plague just started a good thread. I hope WIS really works on giving us a better game.
Rob: I want to pay a special tribute to a couple coaches that have left the game recently in Leahy that I consider friends. Wod_Row, Alvarado, & coachbiz.. All of these coaches made a great impact on the game and it is very sad to see them leaving the game. I was very fortunate to have gotten the chance to compete against them and develop and friendship and learn from them. Thank You all and Good Luck!!!
I can't urge coaches coming up in the ranks enough to get to know other coaches like this and take on the challenge of getting in a conference and competing against the very best. Trust me when I say that learning from these coaches and getting to know them is much more important than winning.
JWest44: Are you through yet?
Rob: No!! I have had some special times and memorable moments. I have to say thanks to muddapucka and the Bus ride across country and into Mexico after my first National Championship at Livingstone in Leahy.
Jwest44: I had one also. After having maybe the best first half of my life. I had the worst 2nd half against Rich "bigbluefan05" Ramirez. Hats off to Rich. One of the best coaches in the game and one of the classiest.
Rob: Thanks to Perry "the paranoid" for all of his hard work on his rankings.
Thanks Rob, see you in Athens, GA
Rob: My Pleasure David..
