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I spoke with a current player.

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MiamisMoperiestMopes said:
Better than 5 wins. Or 7 wins. Yeah not where we want to be but talent alone should get us to the 9-10 win range in a few years based on his recruiting ability. We’ll win a big game here or there but also lose something we have no business losing. Similar to Oregon last year. If I have to chose that over not playing a bowl game I’ll go with it. I’ll always be a fan.
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every bum can win 9 games here. the talent that we recruit allows for that (golden, Manny, Shannon all did that). they were all trash coaches. no one is talking about not being a fan lol. we can criticize a failure in a persons coaching ability and still be fans. Mario failed as a coach. he passed w flying colors as a recruiter. he had a chance to give himself a pass by making quick changes to the staff after what was an abortion of a season. we still have zero staff changes and form everything coming out publicly, it doesn't sound like were getting changes
 
It worked at Oregon: Mario proved he could turn around a once top ten overall program which had become mediocre into a very strong football program.

Despite all the growing pains this year, Mario has some pretty recent proof that his way does work after a couple years. I’m sure all the returning players/new players it’s a big adjustment but he’ll turn it around.

If year 2 is a repeat of year 1, then I’ll start to actually worry.
 
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UrineDaloop said:
Butch seemed like he was heavily involved in all aspects of the program but to a reasonable degree where he didn’t forget that even with all the heavy structure, players still had to play with some looseness alongside the discipline.
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Butch was very hands on at practices, especially with the D Lineman and LBers...I watched him drag MANY DLmen off of GreenTree by the face mask (Wilfork included) for not practicing up to standards. Don't get me wrong, he LOVED his kids...but there was certainly accountability on GreenTree back then.
 
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TooColdToHold said:
The guys from Footballville also mentioned last night that a player described the new environment as military-like.
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Nah stick with it and keep running the soft ones off. I’m not a Georgia or Alabama fan but I’m willing to bet this is how their program is ran inside the athletic building. You can probably add Michigan to that group as well. Butch probably ran the same as well. It’s all a part of culture change. Yep there goes that word culture again.

Gattis still need to go though before anyone mentions the obvious part.
 
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RiDLer80 said:
I saw fist year coaches at Washington, Duke, USC and TCU all have major success.

No excuse for the ****show we saw this season.
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Add Texas Tech to that… first year coach, been in the college game like 6 yrs (former HS coach), beat Texas and OU in the same year for the first time in school history. Won their bowl game against a team with a pulse.

Might be a flash in the pan but TTU fans gotta be happier than punks in prison in right now.

And I’m a little jealous… not gon lie 😂
 
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AlexCane said:
Nothing earth-shaking, but this place is pretty slow now anyways. This player is an upperclassmen and was on Manny's teams too. Mature kid.

In no particular order:
  • He said that the guys that left had to leave. We've heard that a lot. Still hard for me to digest that 1/5 of the roster had to go.
  • He was "surprised" that Darrell Jackson left. He said his loss will hurt.
  • He said that the team would have won more games with Manny this season, but that long term, the team is better off with Mario.
  • I asked him what he thought of Mario. He said Mario is a "good dude" and "focused." And that he knows how he wants to handle things at this stage of his life. It sounds as if Mario is far more structured than Manny. No surprise there. But I did sense a little reservation re: his thoughts on Mario. Personally, I think Mario may want to dial down the drill sergeant routine, at least once he gets his fingerprints on the roster. I think that'll come with time, particularly when Mario's upper-classmen can teach the under-classmen how to do things.
  • He mentioned the injuries as a wild card this year. To my surprise, since I doubt many college-aged kids are familiar with this, he mentioned that this was not S&C but rather "bone" injuries (as he put it). That is a topic I don't want to discuss again but I'm pleased to hear that.
  • He said that there are some "good" rooms and some "bad rooms." I mentioned I thought TE was a good room and he agreed and said Arroyo is a beast.
  • He mentioned that Will has had 4 offensive coordinators in 5 years.
  • That of course led into the topic of our favorite OC.
    • I told him that I didn't think Gattis did a good job of putting pressure on the defense. Little to no tempo. The "check with me" permitted the defense time to take a breather and assess the play. And that the lack of spacing precluded a lot of 1-on-1 opportunities. (I probably should have mentioned the lack of a deep ball too!)
    • He said that that is kind of what he thought early in the season too, but that he spent time in the room and didn't know what else Gattis could have done.
    • He said that he was able to understand what Gattis was conveying but the offense in general wasn't able to. Things were simplified but not understood.
    • He said that day 1 stuff was not understood well into the season. Like foundational stuff.
    • He said we ran a lot of the same stuff we did with Lashlee but with a different terminology but kids couldn't get it. Is this a result of having so much turnover in the offensive staff??
    • He suggested maybe Gattis' failed in regard to communication-although he understood it. Some coaches/individuals have a way of connecting with 18-22 year old kids. It doesn't sound like Gattis was able to connect with the majority of the team.
    • So, apparently, we are not talented on offense and dumb. Luckily, we're no longer broke. Because broke, dumb, and bad would be a bad combination.
That's all I got.
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This was some interesting stuff, and as you said nothing earth shattering. Much has changed about college football since I played, but the locker rooms not so much; Teams don't usually expose much of what goes on in the inner sanctum of the locker room to outsiders. It's something you learn early in your career, like discussing injuries. Players seldom comment negatively on their coach, just as coaches do not publicly humiliate players when they make mistakes.

All stakeholders are aware of the routine, which is why the guys who go to the transfer portal thank God and the university for the opportunity and say they made great relationships and had fond memories as they slam the door shut behind them. It's hard for fans who see the season in soundbites and for a few hours on game day to grasp the enormity of it or how the pieces connect over an entire season, year, or career.

We talk about "Coach Speak." To me this was "Player Speak." Your player sounded pretty diplomatic, appears to have a buy-in, and is cautiously optimistic.

My favorite is that he understood Gattis's O but not many others did. Good for him! And as you noted, the reason our players couldn't get it is because we haven't done a great job recruiting kids with football smarts. A few years ago, the hot topic was corners who couldn't turn on the ball, which is a skill most corners learn in high school, not still having a problem with three years into their careers.
 
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TimeBum said:
Frustrated World Cup GIF
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Lashlee wasn't walkin' through that door in 2022 - Diaz would have lost plenty.
 
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