BEWARE!!! LONG A$$ POST!!!
Cane brethren, let me attempt to drop a little level-headed logic in here and calm the nerves. Everybody's all worked up and acting like the sky is falling.
My staff and I are currently in the process of trying to bring a once dominant football program back to it's days of glory, much like Richt is attempting to do at Miami. The similarities between our program (our struggles) and Miami's program (and Miami's struggles) are incredibly similar.
I'd like to use this dreadful experience that I'm (we're) going through to give you guys a more level-headed perspective on Miami.
1.
CULTURE - When we arrived here the first thing we noticed was the lackluster culture. Everybody had become used to mediocrity. The former alumni (some of which have sons on the current team) were still living in the past and talking about their glory days. There's really nothing recent to boast over, much like Miami. Kids weren't being held accountable, they were often thrown under the bus by former coaches and their work ethic sucked. They weren't having fun playing football, they were simply doing it because they're from Bradenton and that's what's expected of them. Everybody here had a loser's mentality. That's all they've known. Our seniors have never seen anything better than a 5-5 record. (one season they went 1-9) THIS IS A VIRUS AND IT CAN'T BE CURED IN ONE SEASON!!! YOU HAVE TO "FILTER" YOUR PROGRAM AND WEED OUT THE LOSERS. This means we've had to do several things. We've benched kids. We've brought up younger/hungrier kids from JV. (we have tons of 10th graders on our depth chart) Those kids haven't been infected by the virus yet. We've also had to suspend kids almost every week for various reasons. (not coming to practice, bad grades, refusing to do conditioning/weights, skipping workouts, getting in trouble on campus, etc etc etc) We just booted our starting CB and starting Free Safety last week for habitual offenses and this week we had to suspend a starting O-lineman cause he got caught stealing cheeseburgers from the cafeteria. It's always something dumb with these kids. Like I said, IT'S A VIRUS.
WHEN YOU DON'T CARE ABOUT FOOTBALL, CAUSE YOU'RE USED TO LOSING, THEN YOU DON'T STAY IN LINE.
2.
SCHEMES - Much like Miami, we are a pretty good defensive team (top-3 in Manatee County) and an incredibly mediocre offensive team. The defense wasn't very good recently and again, much like Miami, we came in and installed a new scheme and we've seen instant improvements. However, the offensive side of the ball is much harder to "plug-and-play". Much like Miami's fans, our locals are questioning us almost every week, win or lose. We've heard a million different theories as to why our offense sucks and all kinds of advice about what we should be doing. Here's the thing they don't realize though. Our HC/OC was Broward County Coach of the Year in 2014 and he had the
#2 offense in all of South Florida (Broward + Dade). They scored more points against Flanagan High School than any other team/offense during the Devin Bush era. And this is without any D1 athletes. THE GUY KNOWS HOW TO RUN AN OFFENSE. We've seen him have big success before. Remind you of anybody? Sounds like Richt to me. New flash,
THESE GUYS DIDN'T FORGET HOW TO COACH. The truth of the matter is.... (and I'm sure Richt is going through the same thing)...we can't run our whole offense with these new kids. Our WR's are unreliable. Our QB is very shaky with his reads. Our O-line is young and inconsistent. We also don't have the talent that our school is accustomed to having because they're all playing for other local teams. (sound like Miami?) Combine those things with the "virus" I spoke about in point
#1 and you have a terrible and inconsistent offense that
LOOKS poorly coached/coordinated on Friday nights. (much like Miami's offense)
When attempting to revamp a program you have to erase everything that has become "habit" over the years. This doesn't happen over the course of one season. Impossible.
You're installing new schemes and new concepts that your players are completely unfamiliar with. You're trying to instill a work ethic that has been missing. You're trying to instill accountability. You're trying to revamp the S&C program and create a new culture in the weight room. (much like Miami is doing) And on top of all that, you're trying to gain the trust of 50+ kids that have been let down by their coaches year after year.
You can lead them to water but you can't make them drink. And you can coach your a$$ off in the attempt to make them better players but at some point they're going to revert back to what they've been doing for the past couple years. It's a habit!
We (Miami) had a SENIOR wide receiver catch a kick out of bounds on the 2 yard line today. Seriously?!
The fact that we even have Lewis and Berrios returning kicks is a microcosm of how bad the recruiting was under the last regime. Those 2 guys have no business returning kicks. The WR and CB position are very "un-Miami" right now in terms of speed and talent. The Linebacker position is being carried by 3 true Freshman. The RB position is GOOD but not elite enough to make-up for the deficiencies at OL and WR or the inconsistencies at QB.
Did you guys really think Miami would go 10-2 this year? That's almost unheard of in a Head Coach's first year. (has it ever happened before?)
Even if Richt was the best coach walking earth, we don't even have enough talent/depth to go 10-2 right now. (and we already talked about the virus/culture)
I don't wanna compare high school ball to big-time college football but I think the situations are very similar. The analogy is accurate IMO. I kinda wanted to give you guys my/our perspective on what it's like to revamp a struggling program and the various challenges it presents.
So many great coaches have started their (new) regimes with crappy seasons.
BREATH FELLAS. Have faith. Be patient.
IT'S A PROCESS.
I knew you had it in you haha.