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Good article on "Team Identity"
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PapaIrish37
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Very interesting article. What goes along with the toughness and fundamentals, if you use Rockne, Leahy, Ara, Devine and Lou as markers of great ND coaches is discipline.
The players worked on fundamentals according to the article and Ross Browner's quotes. To my memory those teams and especially the lines (O and D) had great discipline (I wasn't around to see Rockne's or Leahy's teams). They were excellent blockers and tacklers. Line penalties were rare .
I am sure if you committed a foolish penalty there would be hell to pay when you got to the sideline or to practice the following week. My impression was that this was a general theme. Lou's teams, as they started to slide the last couple of years seemed to begin to lose this.
How much of this is due to attitude and how much to the amount of time devoted to fundamentals as opposed to learning complicated schemes is debatable. Especially in the line, if you are thinking too much you probably aren't playing well.
So what does this hold for a BK led team? I don't know. Some of the comments from some of his former players seem to hint that discipline was an essential part of the plan. They seemed to say he was a tough SOB and that they may not have all loved him but they certainly loved playing for him and respected him. Not too different from what you read about how many of the players felt about Coach Leahy (I am not annointing BK the next coming of FL or any other Irish coach - just saying).
Time will tell but I think this is the type of attitude and foundation that has been missed recently under the Dome. We can only hope BK coaches them up, kicks their butts when needed and wins a lot of games as he said on Saturday.
GO IRISH!
The players worked on fundamentals according to the article and Ross Browner's quotes. To my memory those teams and especially the lines (O and D) had great discipline (I wasn't around to see Rockne's or Leahy's teams). They were excellent blockers and tacklers. Line penalties were rare .
I am sure if you committed a foolish penalty there would be hell to pay when you got to the sideline or to practice the following week. My impression was that this was a general theme. Lou's teams, as they started to slide the last couple of years seemed to begin to lose this.
How much of this is due to attitude and how much to the amount of time devoted to fundamentals as opposed to learning complicated schemes is debatable. Especially in the line, if you are thinking too much you probably aren't playing well.
So what does this hold for a BK led team? I don't know. Some of the comments from some of his former players seem to hint that discipline was an essential part of the plan. They seemed to say he was a tough SOB and that they may not have all loved him but they certainly loved playing for him and respected him. Not too different from what you read about how many of the players felt about Coach Leahy (I am not annointing BK the next coming of FL or any other Irish coach - just saying).
Time will tell but I think this is the type of attitude and foundation that has been missed recently under the Dome. We can only hope BK coaches them up, kicks their butts when needed and wins a lot of games as he said on Saturday.
GO IRISH!
Ultimate Penn St. Hater
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Good article. Go Irish!