IMO - this changes the decision-process / thinking for a small number.
The Tom Herman article someone posted yesterday summed up what I've thought for years - these SEC fans cheer you on b/c you play for their team, but good luck getting their help / support once you are no longer providing that service to them. Most of the SEC boosters just want you to get your arts and crafts degree so you can be a PE coach and wear their colors around the building.
Something about this model just feels messed up...
Maybe things are different today than it was when I was a student, but this is a series of mistakes strung together. This is the kind of thing that really hurts a coach.
1. The coaching and support staff needed to have more communication with the players over the last few months, with players being spread out due to COVID. When you see them all the time at Spring Practice and voluntary workouts and study hall, you have a better idea how they’re doing. You’ve got to make up for all that lost connection now.
As a player, you shouldn’t have any doubt that your coaching staff has been checking in on you personally.
2. George Floyd’s and other’s deaths and the protests that have followed are on the minds of most everyone from elementary age on up. As a coach, you’re a fool if you and your assistants aren’t talking to your players and support staff about it, and checking in on how they’re doing. The head coach doesn’t have to call everyone (there are a lot of players), but he ought to talk to a lot of players and his assistants should be talking to the rest.
3. You can be mean like Bobby Knight, and you can be quiet or reserved like other coaches, but if players feel like you’re dishonest or untrustworthy, your time as a coach is all but over. If Norvell had misspoken and meant that he was going to talk 1:1 with everyone and hadn’t finished yet, I don’t think you’d see the tweets about his statement being BS. This looks more like trust issues had been festering, and this is the icing on the cake.
4. FSU has been having a great recruiting year, and you need your players to help recruit. If they’re mad, bad things will follow. You can also bet that opposing coaches are showing this to recruits they’re competing for.
Number 3 is the really important point—as a coach, there’s not much worse than losing the trust of your players.
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