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Everyone’s friend

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.
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Idk if Manny is tryna be errybody’s friend, or not, but I ain’t never seen him chew *** on the sideline. That’s enuff for me. I ain’t saying he gotta go full on Bobby Knight, but gah****… We got dudes FUCCIN up left and right (Coaches too), and all they get is a hug, a couple words of encouragement, clap, clap, fist pump. Maybe he gets on em in practice, idk…. but u can’t be they best friend and their Head Coach and expect to be ultimately successful. Before some of you muhfuccas (😂🤣😂) get your panties in a bunch, “chewing ***” don’t necessarily mean cussin the players. Figured I’d mention that.
 
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Saw Manny’s quote today about how he was proud of the team for finding a way to win. WTF, how about “we won, but that’s not Miami football. Jobs are on the line and young guys are hungry and those who want it will see the field”
Can you imaging Saban being happy they “found a way to win” against App State? That right there is the difference.
 
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rok said:
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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TimeBum said:
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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One this you guys are missing, Pete had quality assts. He had Norm Chow as his OC, and guys like Eddie O running his D-Line. Pranks aside, Ken Norton Jr was letting his LBs get soft.

Manny just realized 'his guys' were going to get him fired, last season.

Our only hope is Manny, who has done pretty well assessing his weakness, looks inside at himself and decides to upgrade the people around him, or atleast listen to the guys who've been around successful programs before (Trob, who's already publicly stated we don't practice tackling enough).

Also, I think USC simply cares about their football teams success more.
 
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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Credit for "identifying issues" and "making changes" are the last resort of the slurper. Everyone on this forum identifies our issues in real time, and his changes have been failures
 
Is Manny too friendly with his players? I don't know the answer to that but the coaches? I think his history here has proven he's willing to do whatever to win.

- His first season here he lets go of the entire Richt staff that he worked with and cultivated relationships with for 3 year.

- 2nd year here he fires Dan Enos and offensive staff after the offense flops year one under Enos.

- 3rd year here Manny let's go/encourages his bff Blake Baker to bounce because he's taking back DC duties. He also adjusts the rest of defensive staff which includes relegating Mike Rumph to a recruiting role after having him as a CB coach for 5 years. Then hire a new CB coach, DVD, who was basically Rumph's understudy.

In conclusion, Manny's history doesn't show him being friendly when it comes down to the bottom line. Manny's biggest failure thus far is his inability to hire the right people around him not being too buddy-buddy with staff. Manny needs to get this **** right. If he can't, then spin the wheel again until you get it right BOT.
 
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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...
That's where the similarities end, because unlike USC, we're not firing anyone for underachieving.
 
TimeBum said:
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.
Click to expand...
Pete Carroll got fired for being too friendly in New England.

He outrecruited everyone in his state and actually was/is a coach with good, well thought of schemes, where his players can flourish and grow.

Contrary to Manny, Carroll actually lets his players practice hard and wants high energy and physically. Manny just talks about it.
 
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kanecrazed said:
That's where the similarities end, because unlike USC, we're not firing anyone for underachieving.
Click to expand...
Helton lasted until year 7, despite coaching there for 5 years before picking up the head coach title. Shannon was gone after 4, Golden in year 5, Richt got pressured to make immediate changes after year 3, Diaz is only in year 3.
 
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...
Wow seems spot on. Likely why our tackling and pursuit angles are awful.
 
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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...
I'm obviously not there so I don't know but I've always gotten the sense this is the tack Manny has taken.
 
Astcloud11 said:
Helton lasted until year 7, despite coaching there for 5 years before picking up the head coach title. Shannon was gone after 4, Golden in year 5, Richt got pressured to make immediate changes after year 3, Diaz is only in year 3.
Click to expand...

Shhhh...

don't point out obvious facts that undermine the narrative. That's just being uncool here.
 
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I don't think our players fear Manny at all. Not that you have to be the guy that loses his **** at the drop of a hat but you have to have a certain level of fear. Fear of losing games, losing playing time, and of imperfection. This week should be **** for the players at practice and I'm willing to bet it's the same ol same ol.
 
I actually think this is an important observation that explains quite a bit about what Diaz lacks in the HC role.

You have a HC that doesn't have the 'clout' that a former player, or a coach with a longer track record, brings to the role. A players' coach with a short list of accomplishments and experience would be better off leaning pretty heavily on his assistants...not sure Manny did that enough to start his tenure.

Don't want to beat a horse that's well dead, but his unnecessary creation of 'touchdown rings' once he became HC was pretty telling....
 
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