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

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

True enough. I never said he wasn't credible. Just that he has no conviction. He rips a guy for being a drone, rips a guy for being over the top, and now rips a guy for being old school. None of which really means anything. It just gets a quick reaction.

Certainly, Mason didn't lose games because he was unenthused, and Brewster didn't lose games because he was over-enthused, and Kill isn't losing games because he's a tough guy. There are layers upon layers deeper, but Pat won't dig. Much easier to stir the pot and get a cheap reaction.
 

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.

+1
 

He has kept the team on the field b4 halftime to chew out.
If you were actually paying attention you'd not only know that this has happened every game (as Maximus noted) but that Phil Miller already explained the purpose of the move after the USC game. Per Kill, he has done this for years to allow his staff the time they need to get from the press box to the locker room and put their notes/adjustments/etc up. That way, when the team gets into the locker room the coaches go right into teaching/game planning. Less wasted time this way in Kill's mind.

Or ya know, you could just freak out and assume the worst.
 

Kill has said on numerous occasions that while these kids are under his watch, he's their "father". Any father worth his salt disciplines thier kids when they do something wrong.

I don't know if similar stuff goes on at other schools, but when I was in high school our final practice for the week ended with something we called "Entertainment". If you got detention, if you were on the academic watch list, if a coach heard you swear, if you lost your mouthguard, etc., etc., at the end of Thursday's practice, you and anyone else that got in trouble had to do extra "drills" while the rest of the team sat and laughed at you.
 

There is no right way to motivate kids. You have to do it your way and it will catch on with some and push others away. This day and age so many kids grow up hearing how great they are and getting handouts they lack proper discipline, etc.

Hell look at the trouble the Gopher basketball program has had with players and they have a HOF coach.
 


Everyone can have an opinion of Kill and his style. I give him the benefit of having done this everywhere he has been. He cleans house of the kids that don't want to do it his way. He said in his press conference last week that he is providing every opportunity for these players to be successful on and off the field. He also said some won't take him up on the offer. I don't know how flexible Kill is on his policies and demands, but I think the people in the program know that answer. I will support Kill every day as he cleans house.
 

Everyone can have an opinion of Kill and his style. I give him the benefit of having done this everywhere he has been. He cleans house of the kids that don't want to do it his way.

How do you know that the third sentence is true? Has Jerry Kill had a higher defection rate than most new coaches? I mean that as a real question, I have not seen much evidence either way.

Based on his public statements, I do not think the performance of the team the last several weeks was what he expected. In fact, I think he expected to see improvement, not a series of epic meltdowns, even if he was executing a plan to drive players out of the program

We really won't know what we have with Jerry Kill for another couple of years. I remain hopeful for the long run. But getting the best out of the athletes he inherited does not seem like one of his best talents.
 

How do you know that the third sentence is true? Has Jerry Kill had a higher defection rate than most new coaches? I mean that as a real question, I have not seen much evidence either way.

By cleaning house, I don't necessarily mean defections or running kids out. I mean new rules and expectations. Kill basically said he will give the kids every opportunity to buy in and succeed. Most kids will change, but some will leave.
 

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.

Reusse is an incredible writer. At his best, he blows away anything written by any other columnist from Minneapolis or St. Paul and he has been that way for at least a decade. But with the Gophers, his shtick can get predictable. I don't expect him to be a cheerleader for a program -- I don't want him to be that -- but there are times when he's too quick to put a tag around a subject's foot. (That Kevin Love example above, from the preseason of his rookie year, comes to mind.) Sometimes it seems as though he's developed a strong case of schadenfreude toward the Gophs.

There are a million things to blast with this program; making a player hold a football on the sidelines after twice fumbling isn't one of them.

If I'm Reusse, I'd blast the intelligence of this team. They make more stupid penalties in tight situations than any recent Gophs team I can recall off hand and that's saying something.

Anyway, I honestly compare overhauling this program to improving a failing inner city school. It's going to take more than five games to improve several years of ineptitude.
 



It's easy for us to sit here and say "man all he does is chew the players out all the time". I'll say three things about that:
1. We have no idea what he's actually saying. If he's saying "what the hell were you thinking?" or something like that all the time, then it probably doesn't do much good. If he's telling them what they did wrong or what they need to correct, that's different. I've had coaches before that just yell for the sake of yelling. It's ok to yell, but you should be coaching at the same time. He's an intense guy at practice and during the game. That's just who he is.
2. I believe that the best time to coach someone when a mistake is made is right after it happened, especially when dealing with young and inexperienced players.
3. I know it's an overused cliche, but the minute he stops "yelling" at them, that means he's given up or believes the team is this bad. He thinks they can play better than they have.
 




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