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Everyone’s friend

BigCaneAl

BigCaneAl

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Reading Bruce Feldman’s article on Clay Helton, this stood out as sounding pretty familiar:

“USC has as much, if not more talent than anyone in the Pac-12, but according to sources close to the program, Helton’s team simply didn’t practice hard or physically enough during the week to develop that talent and build themselves into an elite program. One former USC assistant praised Helton personally but said his biggest shortcoming as a head football coach was that he was trying to be everyone’s friend and players — and staffers — took advantage of that. Another former staffer likened him to a substitute teacher.”

Don’t know if it’s true of Manny, but sure sounds Iike it, and we play like it.
 
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Ziggy said:
Hmm I think you're making a big assumption here with Manny. I will say Manny is the king of identifying our issues and not fixing them. I'm so sick of hearing how good the other football teams are that compete or beat us.
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I don’t know if it’s true. Said as much….I can point to the results on the field and identify that we, like USC, play below our talent level, and play soft. Others have said it’s because Manny is too nice, draw you’re own conclusions, but something is not working.
 
Ziggy said:
Hmm I think you're making a big assumption here with Manny. I will say Manny is the king of identifying our issues and not fixing them. I'm so sick of hearing how good the other football teams are that compete or beat us.
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I hate how he always says we have to rise to the opponents level or match their energy.. Like mutha****a how about we bring the juice! He said that **** in todays conference again, smfh.. Soft *** reactive mindset..
 
Of course it's true. The culture of friendliness keeps things light and fun from January-September, but when the lights come on, everyone sees what's really happening. It worked for Pete Carrol at SC but you have to be able to back it up.
 
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skyman said:
I hate how he always says we have to rise to the opponents level or match their energy.. Like mutha****a how about we bring the juice! He said that **** in todays conference again, smfh.. Soft *** reactive mindset..
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Agreed. I can't remember the last game we came out on fire. ND under CMR in 2018 always comes to mind. I guess FSU last year too. But it shouldn't take a big rivalry game to come out ready.
 
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Two instances off the top of my head stand out. One was when one of our receivers(can’t quite remember who)kicked an opposing player drawing a personal foul a year ago or so. The player looked to the sideline assuming that he was going to be yanked but Manny let him play on. No accountability. Also, Bolden’s targeting in the Bama game. It was a stupid unnecessary play. I was 6 rows up and watched Manny run up to Bolden to pat him on the butt as if he made a good play. Manny is the anti-disciplinarian and I wonder if the man ever saw what a true disciplinarian looks like growing up. He has coddled this team. He protects them like they are baby chicks in an incubator.
 
ADELPHI said:
Two instances off the top of my head stand out. One was when one of our receivers(can’t quite remember who)kicked an opposing player drawing a personal foul a year ago or so. The player looked to the sideline assuming that he was going to be yanked but Manny let him play on. No accountability. Also, Bolden’s targeting in the Bama game. It was a stupid unnecessary play. I was 6 rows up and watched Manny run up to Bolden to pat him on the butt as if he made a good play. Manny is the anti-disciplinarian and I wonder if the man ever saw what a true disciplinarian looks like growing up. He has coddled this team. He protects them like they are baby chicks in an incubator.
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Mike Harley, no reason he should have seen the field in the second half last game. Two terrible drops.
 
I’m a slurper and believe in Manny, but definitely see the parallels between Helton and Diaz in terms of how they treat their players
 
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helton.jpg
 
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Lane Kiffin hired Helton into USC, as QB Coach and later OC. Since many of us love Kiffin, can we fire Ashley and hire Helton?

Unless he's already on a plane to Tuscaloosa with an analyst gig all lined up, pre-Alabama vs Ole Miss.

#itsmonday #laughalittle
 
I’m not saying you’re wrong, but wasn’t Shannon the guy we hired way back when to be a hard *** when Coker was accused of being too friendly? He tried things like no names on the backs of jerseys and all sorts of hard line team rules and we know how that ended. I guess my only point is that being a hard *** alone is not the answer (not that anyone really said that).
 
BigCaneAl said:
Reading Bruce Feldman’s article on Clay Helton, this stood out as sounding pretty familiar:

“USC has as much, if not more talent than anyone in the Pac-12, but according to sources close to the program, Helton’s team simply didn’t practice hard or physically enough during the week to develop that talent and build themselves into an elite program. One former USC assistant praised Helton personally but said his biggest shortcoming as a head football coach was that he was trying to be everyone’s friend and players — and staffers — took advantage of that. Another former staffer likened him to a substitute teacher.”

Don’t know if it’s true of Manny, but sure sounds Iike it, and we play like it.
Click to expand...

Pete Carroll was besties with all the players on his USC team. Didn't seem to hurt him much.

footballscoop.com

Video: Pete Carroll pranks team during Zoom meeting

During his tenure at USC, Pete Carroll was notorious for pulling pranks on his guys. Carroll did everything from bringing police officers into a team meeting
footballscoop.com footballscoop.com

"Carroll did everything from bringing police officers into a team meeting to pull a star defensive lineman out in handcuffs, to bringing in legendary singer / songwriter Bill Withers in to pose as a doctor to tell the team they'd need to wear knee-high boots in the showers until further notice before breaking out and singing "Lean on Me" as a team."

When a coach wins, no one cares if the coach is a hardass or a softie. Claiming a coach failed because he was a softie is extremely convenient because upset fans will readily believe it and they think a hardass coach will be the simple answer.
 
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