For now...Keep
For now...Keep
I've taken a few days to THINK about what I am about to say, I am not an alum but my love for the Irish is as deep as it could be without once being a student there, here are my thoughts from a person who once was an athlete ( major league baseball ) on emotion and the status of Notre Dame Football, as weak as it sounded to me when the coach of BC can get his guys up for ND by merely asking the question "How many of you guys were recruited by Notre Dame" we must change something right now, intelligence, savy, football talent are all a given at this point in a college football players career, emotion is not, we are SOFT, and thats a direct result of how they are coached, Charlie is a stud, he has shown them how to perform with pain--he's doing it, he is a great coach who cares and would do anything to restore this program, his recruiting has shown that, but he is not the Head Coach that they need, if all his work cant produce a better effort than last week against BC then he is not the man for the job, if he cant explain to these guys that they are the GATE KEEPERS of this proud school and get them to play accordingly then he is not the man for the job, like all of us I wanted him to succeed but its been too long since they played like NOTRE DAME is supposed to play, if you dissagrre with this I understand but when I watched ALA/LSU this past weekend you could see the hitting and effort on both sides of the field, those boys were sold out to win, we are not, Ara, Lou, got that part done and even if we dont match records or talent with the elite of college football these days we must match emotion, when my QB gets his nose rubbed in the dirt after an intercection and is taken out by HIS coach for a play to correct him and we do nothing it shows these guys just dont get it and thats a reflection of the coach, in the past that guy would have paid with a mouthful of Irish football, I will say it again we are soft, and when you are soft you shrink back into your own shell instead of stepping up to the challenge, the culture must change and as much as I wanted Charlie to succeed its time to change, all this rhetoric about loosing a top flight 09 class is crap, its been done with less before and is being done with less today in LUBBOCK, UTAH, BOISE STATE, of course in todays college game things are much different than past decades, thats the point, it has been decades since NOTRE DAME has been a bust you in the mouth program, the motor of a football team is its emotion and the guys up front, we do not have that and all the 4/5 star skilled players in the world wont fill that void, its time for a leader who understands that instead of just x's and o's, Charlie is to be admired for all he has tried to do and what he has accomplished, the first two years with the BCS money we got he practically paid for his contract so in that sense he has done his job, my hat is off to this guy, but he has to go, the football program has become irrelavant, sad as that sounds it is the truth, the new coach has to understand the power of EMOTION
Yea...what he said...Now ya got me going again...
seriously...the only thing i differ on is Charlie leaving...I am not convinced he is incapable of stirring some emotion...although, I'm not holding my breath because the odds look bad if history is an indicator. I'm hoping against hope he's been restraining himself, or these guys will catch the vision all of the sudden, and just snap.
This team is the '08 "Irish"... I'd like to leave '08 with the "Fightin'" part back. And yes, I too think this soft culture is on Charlie...but, I'm a little tired of hearing how young these guys are...15 year olds understand there are games you just refuse to lose lest you muck up tradition, and have to deal with that... IS IT ALL THAT DIFFERENT?
Would love to have the talent Charlie continues to drag in, and get the results...I'm already tired of Colin Cow-Turd calling South Bend the Football equivalent of the bermuda triangle...talent enters, never to be seen again... (He is funny...but he seems a little too Mayish on this...too much satisfaction in his voice...plus he's a verbal masturbationist...he'll just keep sayin' it because it entertains him).
Also agree there are folks out there doing it with less...I see Mountain West teams all the time...Bronco Mendenhall is pretty freakin' Stoic...but his players Sell Out every second of every game...they play every game like they have something to prove...they protect their tradition with ferocity...you'd think BYU had a tradition of Heisman trophies and national championships...lately Utah is right there with them...they flat out smack people in the mouth.
And before anyone starts on the Mountain West...yea i know, its about like the big east, and Utah and BYU are ranked way too high...I agree. But how bad is it when we could lose to any/all of BYU, UTAH, TCU...and throw in Boise Sate as a maybe. I won't do the SDSU comparisons...you all can look it up, and take it for what its worth.
One more time for emphasis...So what I think I just said, hypothetically speaking, is we might well have finished in the middle of the Mountain West Conference...go ahead explain that away...Youth, new defense, whatever. But imagine verbalizing your thoughtful explanation surrounded by Stamms, Stonebreaker, Zorich, lyght, Bolcar, Denson, Taylor, Brown, Ismail, Mcdougal, Bleier, Montana, Bettis, Brooks...hell Rudy for that matter...add to the list on your own...You tell me what look they might have on their faces as you explain "middle of the road in the mountain west". I believe there are some folks Notre Dame ought to be able to punch in the mouth perenially...We are bigger, stronger, smarter, and/or faster, and have a far greater tradition to ferociously defend...I think something along those lines is what you'd get from the crowd above...no excuses.
...on to the non-hypothetical...we got smacked around by BC (AGAIN!)...no pride...no understanding of the tradition, no anger....NO EMOTION....No Excuses. If you think this loss was the refs, or schematic...man I saw a differnt game than you did.
Again, I believe there are some folks Notre Dame ought to be able to punch in the mouth perenially...I'd like to think thats BC and Sparty....hate to have to use Duke, SDSU, Navy, and Air Force as our Benchmark...but BC and Sparty will continue to give us fits if we don't start playing with some anger and emotion...and it needs to be part of the culture, not just a 180 lb special teams guy here, and a linebacker there. Making it a culture starts with a coach, and his vision being sold to the players.
Just for reference...Tony Rice's tiny little butt was one of the first to throw a punch in the Miami Brawl of 88...then he turned around and torched 'em. The guy knew what he was playing for...he bought in, sold himself out...whatever you call it, he was absolutley fearless, and would not tolerate disrespect of his program...Lou did that with Tony, and that entire team, and most of the teams that followed...thats selling the vision, and in turn getting everything out of your players...thats doin a Lou. We don't need to do brawls...but we need that vision and buy-in/commitment. If CW can't do a Lou, then he better hire his ass, or find some assistants that can do Lous.
Ask yourself how often you see these from our guys:
a Pancake Block (I'll even settle for two guys putting their assignment 4 yards off the ball)
a de-cleater hit (will settle for a helmet ejection)
a running back flatten a D back en route to the end zone
an opposing defender of any kind getting KO'd
an opposing QB, WR, RB getting KO'd
an opposing premier (or mediocre for that matter) running back get shut down (<100 yards)
an opposing premier (or mediocre for that matter) wide receiver get shut down (<100 yards)
No opposing pass plays over 30 yards
No opposing running plays over 15 yards
a running play over 20 yards
Running back over 100 yards
no Sacks allowed
a blocked kick of any kind
a kick of any kind returned deep into opposing territory
forced turnover
...others
...how many times did we do 3 of these in a single game...these are core Football performance goals...but also most are indicators of buy-in as these are effort/determination driven as much as talent...Anello is the best example I have of buy-in...he has a limited role, but we are getting every ounce God gave him...buy-in brings a fearlessness and ferocity to your game...90% of the team SHOULD be just like him. Are they? who else but Charlie can fix it?
