Reusse column: Shaming players won't be path to success

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As I mentioned in an earlier post, a guy named Jason Burns fumbled away the Badgers chances at a bowl game the year before they went to Alvarez's first bowl game. He never carried the ball again. JK doesn't have that luxury which is why you saw the guy with a ball under his arm on the sideline.

Pat never says what will work in the 21st century, nor does he indicate why his suggestions are credible.
 

For those who would dismiss Reusse's perspective:

What is your alternative theory for why this team is going backwards during this season?
Please remember Brewster is not here anymore.
 

Understand the point made about Jason Burns, but he carried the ball much more than
never after his 1992 fumble, including running for 101 yards against Purdue in 1994 and scoring a touchdown in the bowl game after the 1994 season. He was not benched and Alvarez's faith in Burns remained. It's just that there were two backs ahead of Burns,
Fletcher and Moss, so your point stands.
 


MrC said:
For those who would dismiss Reusse's perspective:

What is your alternative theory for why this team is going backwards during this season?
Please remember Brewster is not here anymore.
Click to expand...

It's called cleaning house.
 

Groundbreaking stuff out of Ruesse. Most of us could see exactly what would happen when JK started throwing players under the bus weeks ago. These kind of pieces should really help recruiting, too.
 






MaxyJR1 said:
It's called cleaning house.
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+1

and it's also seeing what others can do for the future. I would guess it became clear early on that these upperclassmen were not going to produce and once that was confirmed, Kill and Co. started coaching more for the future than for this year.
 

While Reusse may be blowing the specific Kirkwood incident out of proportion, it's hard to argue with the overall point. Every week a new giant red flag goes up around Kill and his staff.
 

howeda7 said:
While Reusse may be blowing the specific Kirkwood incident out of proportion, it's hard to argue with the overall point. Every week a new giant red flag goes up around Kill and his staff.
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I have no confidence in this hire, the volume of things I've seen in the games and comments in the press, the program has no chance. You learn to crawl, stand, walk, and then run. You don't get their by saying, ha, billy fell flat on his face when he tried to walk, see how stupid he looks.
 



Reusse always chimes in when things are lowest

What all bottom feeders do attach to the sick and weak.
I may agree with the statement from Reusse or the premise that maybe the head coach and staff have some growing up and learning to do when it comes to using modern motivational tactics.
Always thought the "lopher" shirts were a path to quitting and older players and people in the program tuning out the coach and ignoring him, and not really understanding the point. Takes mature minds to understand the point of a shirt like that "accountability to yourself and teammates".
That type of motivational stuff works better when
it comes from the captains and the player leaders on the team. Unfortunately we do not seem to have a lot of that in the program now at least not looking from the outside. Would be nice if some captains would emerge and they start instituting some of this stuff, about accountability to each other to not just go the easy route and
give up.

I do think the coaches have some learning to do about the Big 10 conference, but they do not need to be called coaches from the "Bushes" to prove your point, like Reusse asserts,
why kick a dog when they are down. They the coaches are honest they lack Big 10 ready players to play offensive and defensive line at this point.
 

Loafer shirts

So in his football speeches to all areas of the state, Jerry Kill said it was his mission to help these kids graduate. Running them off makes that whole statement a public relations lie. That is Jerry Kill.
 

Oneoldgopher said:
So in his football speeches to all areas of the state, Jerry Kill said it was his mission to help these kids graduate. Running them off makes that whole statement a public relations lie. That is Jerry Kill.
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I have to think the real Oneoldgopher is going to be mighty PO'd when he returns from his promised GH exile to find out that some idiot mouth breather has hacked his account and has been posting as him all this time. I mean, someone with integrity like OOG would never promise to leave the board and then keep posting. That sort of thing could be construed to be some sort of PR lie couldn't it?

You there, fake OOG who has clearly hacked his account...Stop dragging the name of a valued and beloved poster through the mud with your hackery!
 

Oneoldgopher said:
So in his football speeches to all areas of the state, Jerry Kill said it was his mission to help these kids graduate. Running them off makes that whole statement a public relations lie. That is Jerry Kill.
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How do you know they haven't been able to raise their GPA since Kill has gotten here, making it more likely they will graduate from somewhere? You're just searching for bad things to say about the man. Go away.
 

So what. You never, ever changed your mind about something. It is, after all, a sign of intelligence to look at the facts again, make a more reasoned decision, and move on... ha, ha, ha. Wuddup.
 

Oneoldgopher said:
So what. You never, ever changed your mind about something. It is, after all, a sign of intelligence to look at the facts again, make a more reasoned decision, and move on... ha, ha, ha. Wuddup.
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Fake OOG, stop slandering real OOG. He is not a man of intelligence. He is a man of principle. He would never betray our trust. He also would not fail to understand that is possible for a coach to want what is best for his players but recognize that not all of them are willing to put in the effort required to accomplish what they are capable of. I mean, if your little "PR lie" BS was to be considered valid, then we'd have to agree that Jehwan Edwards should have been allowed to hang around unchallenged just because Kill wanted all his guys to graduate. So please Fake OOG, don't ruin the good name of the real OOG while he is on his spiritual vision quest/nation wide woolen mill tour. Let his moniker remain unsullied.
 


MrC said:
For those who would dismiss Reusse's perspective:

What is your alternative theory for why this team is going backwards during this season?
Please remember Brewster is not here anymore.
Click to expand...

My theory is that these guys aren't any good to begin with, plus they have a crap attitude and zero confidence. While Kill can't cut, fire, or w/o pr suicide, take away a kid's scholarship, he can make it absolutely miserable for these kids to stay around. The end result, in an ideal situation for all, is the kid moves on to smaller program of his choosing where he can get scholarship monies, get an education, and finish out his college football career, and Kill and staff can get someone else in of their choosing that provides what they want both in talent and attitude.

Who exactly has Kill mentioned specifically? Nobody, really (as in, "I wish we could get rid of this kid."). However, I can name 10 guys myself that haven't improved in any way, sulk every time something goes wrong, and in one case in particular, gained a ton of weight and seemingly appreciate college football Saturdays for two reasons - playing catch in front of a lot of people, and the music played during timeouts (to which he really enjoys dancing).
 

Seems like he makes a show of disciplining kids...

Quite a bit. He seems to like to run on to the field and chew guys out. He ripped Devon wright five yards from the sideline. What wright did was dumb, but he was also injured on the play pulled a hammie. He has kept the team on the field b4 halftime to chew out. He rips the defense or offense as they are coming off. Sometimes it seems like he just wants to show the world he is the coach.
 


3399 said:
Quite a bit. He seems to like to run on to the field and chew guys out. He ripped Devon wright five yards from the sideline. What wright did was dumb, but he was also injured on the play pulled a hammie. He has kept the team on the field b4 halftime to chew out. He rips the defense or offense as they are coming off. Sometimes it seems like he just wants to show the world he is the coach.
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It sucks Wright got hurt on that play, but Kill had every right to yell at him. That was a bonehead move and it cost us getting the ball.
 

Could someone address Reusse's point about Kirkwood carrying the ball on the sidelines? Was that really shaming as Reusse wrote, or do you think Kill had a different intention?

I admit I missed it. Must have happened during one of the times I had my face buried in hands.
 

Of course it wasn't shaming, I think almost every kid who was a RB growing up had to hold the ball on the sideline after fumbling it. If that is too demeaning for a player then I think he might be a bit too sensitive.

The alternative theory is a couple things. First, our current group of older players are used to losing and that is a really tough habit to break. I can't remember who the coach was (maybe Tom Osbourne), but he wouldn't recruit kids who were on bad HS football teams because he thought those kids got USED to losing. When things start going bad...they think "here we go again" which is about the worst thing for a football player to be thinking. That's why with bad teams, it is almost essential for them to start strong (in a game or season) because when things aren't going their way, they are used to crumbling.

Second, we don't have much depth. As the season goes on, depth is more and more important and we don't have it.

Third, we are playing a lot of young guys now that didn't see much PT earlier (goes with the depth thing).

Fourth, we really aren't playing much worse. We had a nice half of football at USC where they shot themselves in the foot a bit. However, I don't think the Purdue game or even the Michigan game is that much different than getting beat by NMSU at home.
 

I don't think he has shamed players by name, but honestly, how can you be positive after this team has displayed absolutely no heart and has gotten outworked every time they have stepped on the field? I don't like to rag on college athletes either, but is Kill supposed to say he's pleased with the team's effort after a 58-0 blowout? Come on. This is Division I football. If you're scared of being told that you are playing like sh-t, go play intramurals, brother. (c) Dan Hawkins.

The fact is, NO ONE is going to be happy after losses like the Gophers have had this year. What could Kill come out and say that would make anyone say, "Well, OK, now everything makes sense?" Nothing. There isn't one thing he could say that wouldn't get criticized. If he says he liked the way kids competed at the end, he's soft and Pollyanna. If he says, "We're the worst team in the country," he's blasting kids.

He didn't personally attack any of these players in the press. People need to have thicker skins.
 

emann said:
I don't think he has shamed players by name, but honestly, how can you be positive after this team has displayed absolutely no heart and has gotten outworked every time they have stepped on the field? I don't like to rag on college athletes either, but is Kill supposed to say he's pleased with the team's effort after a 58-0 blowout? Come on. This is Division I football. If you're scared of being told that you are playing like sh-t, go play intramurals, brother. (c) Dan Hawkins.

The fact is, NO ONE is going to be happy after losses like the Gophers have had this year. What could Kill come out and say that would make anyone say, "Well, OK, now everything makes sense?" Nothing. There isn't one thing he could say that wouldn't get criticized. If he says he liked the way kids competed at the end, he's soft and Pollyanna. If he says, "We're the worst team in the country," he's blasting kids.

He didn't personally attack any of these players in the press. People need to have thicker skins.
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+100
1. Wright deserved the chewing. It isn't like that was his first time on the punt team.
2. What did AP do after his season of NFL leading fumbles? Serious question. That was not the first time I've seen someone do that on the sidelines btw.
3. Kill did the huddle before the locker room thing at NIU. I'm pretty sure it wasn't to chew them out when they were running all over the Gophers last year.
4. He rips the defense or offense as they are coming off. I honestly didn't see that on the telecast so you may be right. However he has also sat his starting offense down on the sidelines and talked to them as a group and didn't look like he was all over them.
 

emann said:
I don't think he has shamed players by name, but honestly, how can you be positive after this team has displayed absolutely no heart and has gotten outworked every time they have stepped on the field? I don't like to rag on college athletes either, but is Kill supposed to say he's pleased with the team's effort after a 58-0 blowout? Come on.
Click to expand...

Exactly, and let's say for the sake of discussion, that Kill had done just that...been positive. What would Reusse's reaction have been? I think we know the answer.

It is easy to see Reusse is yet again taking the easy, lazy way to a elicit a reaction.

Mason droned on about how hard it is to win here and Reusse said he lacked zest and couldn't excite the fanbase anymore.

Brewster exuded confidence, enthusiasm, and would never publicly decry his players. Reusse called him a fraud and a phony who couldn't be believed.

Kill tells it like it is, that his players aren't that good, and has a kid hold a football after a fumble. Reusse says Kill is a high school coach.

Basically, it appears there is nothing a Gopher coach can do that would meet Pat's approval.

Again, whatever he can to to get a quick, cheap reaction from the Gopher folks, he will do. How many times does he have to admit it on his show that he enjoys mocking us? He's been doing it for three decades and we all take the bait every time.
 

tjgopher said:
Mason droned on about how hard it is to win here and Reusse said he lacked zest and couldn't excite the fanbase anymore.

Brewster exuded confidence, enthusiasm, and would never publicly decry his players. Reusse called him a fraud and a phony who couldn't be believed.
Click to expand...

No offense, but I kind of think you are making a strong argument for Reusse's credibility with those two statements.
 

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