POLL - Correct College Coach Post Game Response

What's the right thing for the coach to say post-game if there were player issues?


  • Total voters
    49

Dano564

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What's the right thing for the coach to say post-game if there were player issues?
 

"Geezo Beezo, that was a fun game."
 

What do you mean by player issues? That they weren't talented enough? That they made mistakes? Or why was so-and-so held out of the game?
 

Please provide other comments on what a coach should say post game.
 

What do you mean by player issues? That they weren't talented enough? That they made mistakes? Or why was so-and-so held out of the game?

If they made a mistake or didn't execute.

Player missed an assignment, didn't cover a gap, didn't make a tackle. Threw a bad interception he shouldn't have attempted. Continually missed blocks on O-line. Played lazy on D-line.

Where it's obvious to the coach it's a player issue, should he say so, or should he take the blame?


I am offering the best four options I could come up with in this scenario to slice and dice it. Maybe there are some better options I didn't list.
 


What do you mean by player issues? That they weren't talented enough? That they made mistakes? Or why was so-and-so held out of the game?

Yeah I'm a bit lost here.

There's so much more to this question than the poll implies.
 

Yeah I'm a bit lost here.

There's so much more to this question than the poll implies.

How so?

Are you saying the answer varies depending on issue?

Like if you had to play your last DB because of injury and he was over-matched
vs
He's your #1 prized recruit and you kept playing him versus taking him out to put in the Senior who broke team rules?
 

I sense you are asking about something specific but I can't figure out what it is
 

Whatever Fleck says in post-game shows in mostly irrelevant. What's relevant are the decisions made on the field (including personnel decisions).
 





Doesn’t matter. People get annoyed no matter what. So say what the players need to hear not what the fans need to hear. And that probably depends on the player and the situation.
 




I would be very generic and not name names ("execution was an issue") when identifying the sorts of in-the-course-of-the-game failures that happen for every athlete, ever.

I would have no issue calling out by name avoidable mistakes like taunting calls, unsportsmanlike conduct, or penalties of discipline 30 yards from the play.
 

Let's say a WR is wide-open and drops a pass that could have been a game-winning or game-changing play.

My ideal coach would say "You saw the play. Player X feels worse about that than anyone else. He knows what happened. He's a good player. he's going to help us win games. We will work with him to make that happen."

Acknowledge the play without dwelling on it or throwing a player under the bus. But don't pretend it didn't happen, or be defensive about it. At the same time, be sure to point out players who made good plays, so you're not just focusing on mistakes.
 

"Sid: Opponent scored two TD's on blocked punt and bad pass. ever been in that situation?

PJ: they made a good play. we have to be better. blocked FG is unacceptable. lack of technique. lack of split. have to get better at fundamentals. we will go back to day one. work on multiple things. Missed on 4th down, had a FG blocked, strip-sack for a TD. those are non-defensive issues. our defense played lights out. held an option team to under 200 yds total offense. our offense at times was exceptional but at times we made catastrophic mistakes. the FG block is unacceptable. we are finding ways to win games while making catastrophic mistakes. everybody watched what happened yesterday. numerous B1G teams lost. we were not one of them. we have faced three very good non-conference opponents. we didn't have Rodney, Mo, Cam Wiley, Kamal Martin. Still found way to win with all the things that went wrong. we need to clean up the little things."

The last three games have shown how resilient and resourceful this team is, not how "bad" they are.
 

"Sid: Opponent scored two TD's on blocked punt and bad pass. ever been in that situation?

PJ: they made a good play. we have to be better. blocked FG is unacceptable. lack of technique. lack of split. have to get better at fundamentals. we will go back to day one. work on multiple things. Missed on 4th down, had a FG blocked, strip-sack for a TD. those are non-defensive issues. our defense played lights out. held an option team to under 200 yds total offense. our offense at times was exceptional but at times we made catastrophic mistakes. the FG block is unacceptable. we are finding ways to win games while making catastrophic mistakes. everybody watched what happened yesterday. numerous B1G teams lost. we were not one of them. we have faced three very good non-conference opponents. we didn't have Rodney, Mo, Cam Wiley, Kamal Martin. Still found way to win with all the things that went wrong. we need to clean up the little things."

The last three games have shown how resilient and resourceful this team is, not how "bad" they are.

Decent response to me. What else do you want Fleck to say? Trash the players by name? These are college students for crying out loud. They're learning.
 

Depends on who the player is. I am guessing that some players use criticism as motivation to be better, others may lose confidence and get discouraged by it.
 


Decent response to me. What else do you want Fleck to say? Trash the players by name? These are college students for crying out loud. They're learning.

Fleck or any coach. If you lose its a little trickier. Joe Morrison, when at South Carolina, would always say, "We'll have to look at the film and see what we need to work on." Calling out players by name or making excuses it to be avoided....obviously.
 

There are about 140 plays in the average game. A single game or a single player has never won or lost a game. Any coach who looks at things that way is missing the big picture. If they call it out in the press conference that's even worse.

The ideal answer would mention key mistakes that are bad and contributed to the loss but at the same time take some responsibility for not coaching better and also give credit to your opponent for making those plays. The goals are to show the team that you have their back but also show the fans that you're not okay with what happened so they don't lose faith in you. Plus it's not really a lie - in almost every game you could identify mistakes coaches made and mistakes every starter made. Fleck's answer was good and it seems like whatever he is doing on the PR side is working. It seems like there aren't many morale issues or players openly disliking the way he does things and although it is a small sample size, average home attendance so far this season is the highest it's been since they increased season ticket prices.
 




Depends on who the player is. I am guessing that some players use criticism as motivation to be better, others may lose confidence and get discouraged by it.

Well, tough part is fans don't know which players can use the criticism well and which will lose confidence. So if a coach call out the player, we might assume he's the type that can't handle the challenge. Then fans will argue about it for a while and waste time.
 

Fleck or any coach. If you lose its a little trickier. Joe Morrison, when at South Carolina, would always say, "We'll have to look at the film and see what we need to work on." Calling out players by name or making excuses it to be avoided....obviously.

Bud Grant would always say this too about film. Then after reviewing film more times than not he would praise his team and state we just need to do a couple things after we all thought the team needed an overhaul.
 

Bud Grant would always say this too about film. Then after reviewing film more times than not he would praise his team and state we just need to do a couple things after we all thought the team needed an overhaul.

 

Bud Grant would always say this too about film. Then after reviewing film more times than not he would praise his team and state we just need to do a couple things after we all thought the team needed an overhaul.

But I also remember Bud's response when a reporter asked after a player (I believe it was Bobby Bryant) messed up terribly if it's "just a mistake." Bud's response was something to the effect, "Well, if every player gets to make a mistake, that's 22 mistakes and we'll never win a game if that's the case."
 

Fleck or any coach. If you lose its a little trickier. Joe Morrison, when at South Carolina, would always say, "We'll have to look at the film and see what we need to work on." Calling out players by name or making excuses it to be avoided....obviously.

I think this or saying as little as possible is best. You need some time to collect yourself...save your comments for the weekly press conference when you have had a chance to watch film, talk to players and coaches, put things in perspective etc.

We’ll get better, kids work hard, change our best, things to clean up, things to improve upon, excited to get back to practice etc etc great kids

I don’t think you ever criticize players in public. Like SON said, no one feels worse than so and so ... he makes that play 9 outta 10 times .. wouldn’t trade him for anybody etc...it happened...we’ll fix it.

PJ is mostly good at it. The stuff they did we we hadn’t seen before comments creates doubt in too many people that you aren’t preparing your team properly.
 





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