If TStan has said this in corporate, he would have been fired. You are expected to deliver. This is the problem with GT ... there are no consequences for bad performance.
There is “big corporate” and there is “small corporate”. In small corporate, you’re largely making your own talking points. In large corporate, your PR/corporate communications people are writing your talking points out. The GTAA has media relations people, but we’re probably somewhere in between the big and small corporate as far as our media relations are concerned. We should have had clear talking points for this question, especially going on 680 for a planned conversation. You should have rehearsed it a couple of times.
I’m not sure if we didn’t have anything clear written up, or if we had exactly what Stansbury said, or if Stansbury elaborated on his talking points (you shouldn’t elaborate).
This statement is also a side item. He’s talked to our money people. They want winning to start now. They care far more about the rest of the season and our NIU game than they care about what nobody heard on 680. He can’t worry about sunk costs—he has Collins as his HC and he has X amount of undesignated funds to work with and maybe he has a (virtual) rolodex and some other options—his focus should be on how to get the best results from where we are right now with an accurate inventory of our assets.
{I still have a Rolodex—it’s like an antique now}
I was interviewed once for an article. When I read the article, I was amazed at how wrong everything was…even my “quotes.” I’d take this with a grain of salt. Bottom line: he should publicly support his coach. Behind the scenes may be a different story.
Same thing happened to me. In fact the story had exactly the opposite tilt I had given in my talk. The reporter took bad notes and just made stuff up. Now I always have a handout transcript ready.
That’s one reason I should listen to the interview an hear what he said in context.
Generally speaking, the thornier the question you’re answering, the shorter your answer should be. Not a one-word answer, but the more you say, the more ambiguity you add, and the more room you add for misinterpretations. So, keep it short and crisp.
I feel a little better after hearing the coordinators talk. However, if the comparison is to the Bobby Ross teams, I don't recall that team having so many issues with fundamentals. I do not remember feeling like the teams in the late 80s were treating a live game as though it was a scrimmage. During the Citadel game, I felt as though GT was practicing instead of playing. Even when losing, it appeared to me that GT was trying to test out new plays instead of continuing to run plays that were working. In the NIU game, the substitutions and the speed of getting the play call in were the worst I have seen in a football game. I have seen terrible high school football teams, but I don't remember ever seeing a high school team have that much trouble with those issues. Several posters have asked if the team had even practiced substitutions and play calling against a play clock. During the game, I wondered the same thing.
My biggest concerns are not that the QBs missed some TD throws, that the OL had some miscues on blocking, nor that the secondary gave up some big plays on confusion. My biggest concern about coaching is that the team went thru Spring practice and fall camp, yet we don't even have a system in place to rotate defensive players effectively, a system to get the play call in on defense fast enough, nor at least on one occasion a system to get the offensive play call in fast enough. If the team had been efficient at fundamentals, but lost because players made some mistakes, I would still be upset but I wouldn't have this much concern about the program in general.
I think how we practice has something to do with this. Having fun, having the DJ, getting the players engaged shouldn’t be totally incompatible with lining up quickly, getting quick reps in, and learning disciplined playing practices.
This team has most of the players who lost to The Citadel and to Syracuse. We’ve had two seasons of more losses than wins. I don’t understand how you don’t come out against a team like NIU with your hair on fire looking for a win.
To their credit, I think the receivers did—they just didn’t get the ball enough until the second half.
