Saturday, November 26, 2011

1990 part deux?

Riley has lost all credibility with his team and the fans. His kids play like idiots who haven't been coached before. 

Oregon wiped up the field with Oregon St today. It wasn't a game after the first embarrassing offensive series of the game. Final score was 49-21. Oregon racked up 670 yards on offense. 

There were so many mistakes by OSU coaches and players it's hard to analyze the game. 

One thing I can say was that the game today was an example of a "system coach" versus a "player's coach".  It was a fundamental battle. The players coach looked like a tool.

A system coached based football program puts the system above the player. If a player fails they are replaced until a competent replacement is found. In a players system, there is favoritism, undisciplined actions, and waves of success- if the program gets good players they win. 

Chip Kelly has a system, the players respond to the fact that they will be replaced if they don't execute. 

This is not the case with Oregon St. Sean Mannion should have been benched repeatedly this season and wasn't because "he is the future".  Sean wasn't the only inept player, and yes OSU had a lot of young players. But coaches know this, and they should scheme to manage this. OSU's coaches did nothing. They bungled the Katz to Mannion transition miserably.

Favorites in a program suck. Especially if they are freshman. This doesn't resonate with Seniors who have to live with a noob's mistakes and a team's poor record. 

Riley is flawed, and so is the program.  Riley tried to be a "players coach" in the NFL and failed miserably. He is failing now too.

I don't think the "players coach" model works in college. The system is tied to the program. The system is more important than the individuals who participate in the program. If the player is smart they will commit themselves to the system and succeed. This typically results in the team winning too.

OSU looked like buffoons on national TV today. If Ed Ray is not paying attention- he should. 

The next question is not about the players or the coordinators that should be fired, it's about who the next major OSU donor, who will step up like Al Reser and get rid of the current incompetent coaching staff.  Cash is the only carrot that works these days. It will take a lot of $$ to get rid of Riley- I think it's necessary. He could wipe out all of the success he helped create with continued failure.

* The 1990 reference in the title had to do with Dave Kragthorpe's last year when the OSU team was hopeless. I may post stuff on that season and the similarities to this year. 

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