Virginia postgame discussion

[buzz_wiser©]

... we actually needed +5 to win a bet.[emoji6]

And as usual..I came up short ;-)

 

[Skeptic]

Really? Are you serious?

Dabo coaches how he was coached by Gene Stallings. Stallings was taught bt Bear Bryant and heavily influenced by Tom Landry.

All coaching trees bear a similarity in thinking. It doesnt just spring from someone’s mind spontaneously.

Dabo acknowledges a huge debt to Stallings because he got his first job from him, as WR coach, with no experience, but his coaching and organizational philosophy evolved 180 degrees the other way. It is fair to say he loves the man. He has him at every event for Dabo. But he doesn't coach like him. The "Clemson Culture" is his. Check out his Family Nights. His Family Picnics. Check out Dabo renting a theme park for a day for the team, girlfriends, wives, coaches, wives, kids. Check out Dabo interviewing coaching candidates in the bleachers during his son's football game. Check out Dabo recruiting his assistants to help him coach little league or recreation basketball. (Then show me Gene Stallings dancing the Funky Chicken or whatever in the locker room after a big win.) On the practice field and game sidelines Swinney is a tough nut, but he is not Bryant or Stallings -- and, importantly, Saban -- with the rest of it. And if there is one solid thing that will keep him from leaving Clemson for Alabama, that is it. Don't forget whether in sports or business, we all learn lessons from bosses. And some of those lessons are on how not to do something. So yes, you can call me Serious.

 

[Vespidae]

So yes, you can call me Serious.

Family Nights and picnics don’t have anything to do with preparing a team. The best fried chicken and apple pie money can buy won’t win games. But that’s just my opinion.

 

[Milwaukee]

“Derka derka, moar winz pleeze.”

Seriously, this is the kind of lazy thinking that plagues this board. It basically communicates to others that you are unable or unwilling or both to put forth the thought to contribute to a meaningful discussion of how - or if - we can improve.

Oh my.

 

[Tech93]

I have given to the AT fund for 20 years now, but don't know the inner workings on the athletic department other than hearing that Chan was much friendlier with the staff there then CPJ. I heard that a few years ago so maybe that has changed. Our program needs a master marketer to be inventive, aggressive and persistent in developing and spreading the GT story. People don't just give money and good athletes don't just show up bc we are GT...no organization can be fully successful like that. I have always felt that GT has lacked in that area.

 

[Vespidae]

I have given to the AT fund for 20 years now, but don't know the inner workings on the athletic department other than hearing that Chan was much friendlier with the staff there then CPJ. I heard that a few years ago so maybe that has changed. Our program needs a master marketer to be inventive, aggressive and persistent in developing and spreading the GT story. People don't just give money and good athletes don't just show up bc we are GT...no organization can be fully successful like that. I have always felt that GT has lacked in that area.

I recall that when Bill Curry was offered the HC job at Alabama, Bobby Dodd told him to take it. He felt that conditions were such that, no HC could win at Tech. Granted, Rice did a fabulous job rebuilding the AD. I’m hopeful TStan will follow in his footsteps.

 

[Skeptic]

Our players have enough talent to win, when they put forth sufficient effort.

You do know that is pretty insulting, right?

 

[Skeptic]

Family Nights and picnics don’t have anything to do with preparing a team. The best fried chicken and apple pie money can buy won’t win games. But that’s just my opinion.

The culture surrounding a team and the program and all its participants, tens of dozens of them from stat guys to social media to players and head ball coach have everything to do with winning games. And if Bobby Dodd is in the conversation I have read of some of his bowl game preparations: volleyball. While the opponents went all out in full gear. Check out his bowl record.

 

[Vespidae]

The culture surrounding a team and the program and all its participants, tens of dozens of them from stat guys to social media to players and head ball coach have everything to do with winning games. And if Bobby Dodd is in the conversation I have read of some of his bowl game preparations: volleyball. While the opponents went all out in full gear. Check out his bowl record.

Tell it to Butch Jones.

 

[Skeptic]

Tell it to Butch Jones.

About Dodd? Not sure of your intended point, but if it is that a guy can do all this -- I know and care nothing about Butch Jones or Tennessee -- and still be a terrible coach, well, that is no news flash. If it is that Butch and his boys play volleyball and still lose, well, okay. Should have Dodd's luck, I suppose. Otherwise, I just don't follow.

 

[Vespidae]

About Dodd? Not sure of your intended point, but if it is that a guy can do all this -- I know and care nothing about Butch Jones or Tennessee -- and still be a terrible coach, well, that is no news flash. If it is that Butch and his boys play volleyball and still lose, well, okay. Should have Dodd's luck, I suppose. Otherwise, I just don't follow.

We were talking about the use of maxims and a "theory of the game" that is common to most coaches of a particular coaching pedigree. Stallings, for example, learned how to coach from Bear Bryant and learned how to prepare from Tom Landry. Landry, you see, was an engineer ... and developed and prepared his teams in a very specific way. Stallings once said that if you go into anyone who ever coached for Landry (as he had), you'll see the same approach.

Dodd always argued to go for a TD rather than settle for a field goal. He felt the percentages favored bold, rather than conservative play. Frank Broyles and Ray Graves voiced similar approaches.

Dodd, Neyland and Bryant believed strongly that defense wins games. Their style of play was such that they emphasized forcing opponents into making a mistake that could be capitalized upon. Bryant once said in his opinion, "that" was the game of football.

Neyland, Dodd, and yes ... Bryant ... summarized their approaches so player's could understand them and play the system they were being taught.

Getting the team together for volleyball is part of it . But it's ancillary to my main point. People learn complex systems through repetition of simple keys.

 

[dressedcheeseside]

I had a bug man tell me that I didn't have a roach problem in my house. He said it's typical after a rain to see a few roaches running around, the rain chases them in. I wonder why I am reminded of that when I read this board after a loss?

 

[katlong]

Just to we are clear: I love the option. I love CPJ. I love Tech, win or lose. I love TQM. Now that we've gotten that out of the way...Seems that we just aren't utilizing everything in our bag of tricks, but I don't get why.
Can someone who really understands the option explain why we aren't pitching the ball to the A-backs? Is it poor reads, bad blocking, the play calling, TQM trying to do it all, or is there something else at play here?

 

[dressedcheeseside]

Just to we are clear: I love the option. I love CPJ. I love Tech, win or lose. I love TQM. Now that we've gotten that out of the way...Seems that we just aren't utilizing everything in our bag of tricks, but I don't get why.
Can someone who really understands the option explain why we aren't pitching the ball to the A-backs? Is it poor reads, bad blocking, the play calling, TQM trying to do it all, or is there something else at play here?

A little of all of the above, but mostly poor blocking. The outside run game requires a numbers advantage. Making good blocks is required to gain advantage.

Also, defenses are selling out to stop the run but we are unable to take it vantage of that through the air. We need to do that.

Rain is a factor as well. Three of our four losses were in the rain. QBs are less likely to pitch when the ball is slippery.

We also need to establish the dive better and more consistently. When you force more defenders to the middle, it frees up the edge.

 

[tmhunter52]

You do know that is pretty insulting, right?

Do you prefer that our players lack sufficient talent to win even with sufficient effort?

 

[stech81]

Just to we are clear: I love the option. I love CPJ. I love Tech, win or lose. I love TQM. Now that we've gotten that out of the way...Seems that we just aren't utilizing everything in our bag of tricks, but I don't get why.
Can someone who really understands the option explain why we aren't pitching the ball to the A-backs? Is it poor reads, bad blocking, the play calling, TQM trying to do it all, or is there something else at play here?

Without knowing TQM I can only guess. Remember at the start of Fall practice he was not going to be the starter. But due to injured player that changed as the season got closer. Now this part is only my opinion which if you listen to my wife will be wrong. He is a first year QB it takes time to get all the reads in at the speed of the game. Also a player who is athletic wants the ball in his hands.

 

[tmhunter52]

Without knowing TQM I can only guess. Remember at the start of Fall practice he was not going to be the starter. But due to injured player that changed as the season got closer. Now this part is only my opinion which if you listen to my wife will be wrong. He is a first year QB it takes time to get all the reads in at the speed of the game. Also a player who is athletic wants the ball in his hands.

A successful QB in our system must make quick decisions on running plays, be a good runner, make good pitches, take hits on most plays, read defensive coverages and deliver timely, accurate passes. That's a lot to expect from a new QB, especially. He will get better.

 

[Skeptic]

Do you prefer that our players lack sufficient talent to win even with sufficient effort?

I prefer our players not be demeaned with the insinuation, intended or not, that they lose because they don't try. If the other guy is smarter, that's genes and you can't fix it. If he's better, more athletic, then you can't fix that. But to lose because you don't try? Never. They are trying. A coach can go a long way with that.

 

[Augusta_Jacket]

Do you prefer that our players lack sufficient talent to win even with sufficient effort?

I think you're missing the point. It's one thing to say our players didn't execute well, it's quite another to say they didn't try, which is what can be inferred when you say they didn't give sufficient effort. You can give all the effort you want, but if you miss a block, or an assignment, or run the wrong route, or make a bad read, then you lose the play. If you lose enough plays, you lose the game. We haven't executed well in a lot of our games, including our wins, but I don't see a general lack of effort as the problem.

 

[jeffgt14]

Just to we are clear: I love the option. I love CPJ. I love Tech, win or lose. I love TQM. Now that we've gotten that out of the way...Seems that we just aren't utilizing everything in our bag of tricks, but I don't get why.
Can someone who really understands the option explain why we aren't pitching the ball to the A-backs? Is it poor reads, bad blocking, the play calling, TQM trying to do it all, or is there something else at play here?

TQM is certainly making the wrong reads on several occasions but go watch a replay of some of these games and tell me what the hell our tackles are trying to do every play.