"it's my fault"

Rightupinthere · Post by **Rightupinthere** » Thu Dec 14, 2006 7:17 am

Sounds like GB has been on the computer.

Fault at this stage is immaterial. Let's just get to the spring game and on to next season (which begins in 261 Days, 4 hours and 43 minutes from this posting.)

orangeandbrown · Post by **orangeandbrown** » Thu Dec 14, 2006 7:25 am

You can't hide from results. Here's hoping we see some and turn the program around.

JimmyZ11381 · Post by **JimmyZ11381** » Thu Dec 14, 2006 8:00 am

I'm probably being overly optimistic, but I'm willing to give Coach the benefit of the doubt here. In some respects....as someone mentioned earlier, he's still learning about being a head coach. Next season, is going to be big in moving my opinion of him one direction or another. I sincerely hope that we get things turned around. Until Coach Brandon is no longer the coach at this University, I have no choice but to be behind him and this team 100%

~JimmyZ

Flipper · Post by **Flipper** » Thu Dec 14, 2006 8:06 am

I think he should reprise the "Ned Beatty" scene from Deliverance with Snakeman playing the part of the perverted hillbilly (I know...it's typecasting).

Then I'll know that he's reaaaaaaalllllyyyy sorry and ready to move forward. Even if he is limping a bit for awhile.

1987alum · Post by **1987alum** » Thu Dec 14, 2006 8:30 am

Rightupinthere wrote:Fault at this stage is immaterial. Let's just get to the spring game and on to next season (which begins in 261 Days, 4 hours and 43 minutes from this posting.)

RUIT - well put.

It's a journey, not a destination. Let's move!

orangeandbrown · Post by **orangeandbrown** » Thu Dec 14, 2006 10:10 am

1987alum wrote:
Rightupinthere wrote:Fault at this stage is immaterial. Let's just get to the spring game and on to next season (which begins in 261 Days, 4 hours and 43 minutes from this posting.)
RUIT - well put.

It's a journey, not a destination. Let's move!

I more or less agree that fault is immaterial. Furthermore, I'd love to see Coach Brandon turn this around. However, on our little journey, if the coach's attitude is "hey, I didn't miss the field goal. I don't know what you want out of me" than its going to be an unpleasant journey. I think people took his statements to indicate that he is at least willing to pay lip service to this idea.[/i]

hammb · Post by **hammb** » Thu Dec 14, 2006 11:30 am

JimmyZ11381 wrote:....as someone mentioned earlier, he's still learning about being a head coach.

People have been saying this for 4 years now. At what point should he have already learned these things?

Urban jumped from WR coach to HC and it took him 4 minutes to learn how to do the job, not 4 years.

How long did it take Bob Stoops to learn how to HC? How long did it take Tressel to adapt to 1A? How long did it take Amstutz? Etc, etc.

I'm of the belief that being a head coach is 90% leadership skills, and those are something you're born with or you're not. It should not take 4+ years to adapt to the position of HC. VERY few HCs would even get 4 years to prove they're still leraning.

I really think it's asking too much to expect Gregg Brandon to change dramatically as a coach at this point.

Rightupinthere · Post by **Rightupinthere** » Thu Dec 14, 2006 11:38 am

261 days and 21 minutes*!

*allowing for daylight saving time

1987alum · Post by **1987alum** » Thu Dec 14, 2006 12:12 pm

hammb wrote:
JimmyZ11381 wrote:....as someone mentioned earlier, he's still learning about being a head coach.
People have been saying this for 4 years now. At what point should he have already learned these things?

Urban jumped from WR coach to HC and it took him 4 minutes to learn how to do the job, not 4 years.

How long did it take Bob Stoops to learn how to HC? How long did it take Tressel to adapt to 1A? How long did it take Amstutz? Etc, etc.

I'm of the belief that being a head coach is 90% leadership skills, and those are something you're born with or you're not. It should not take 4+ years to adapt to the position of HC. VERY few HCs would even get 4 years to prove they're still leraning.

I really think it's asking too much to expect Gregg Brandon to change dramatically as a coach at this point.

Well, I think Bill Belichick is the perfect example of someone who grew into the position. Oddly enough, his transformation sort of supports your position. The guy was horrible, absolutely freakin' horrible as HC in Cleveland. Now he's a genius in New England.

What happened?

It's simple. The guy realized he had some significant shortcomings in regard to communication and leadership. And he did something about it. Specifically, he immersed himself in an intense Dale Carnegie leadership course. Yes, that Dale Carnegie. He embraced those prinicples and the result is the Super Bowl-winning coach that you see today.

Here's where we may have divergent opinions - leadership is not, IMO, a trait you are born with, that some people simply "have." It can be developed, sometimes to dramatic effect (see above). That is a core principle of Dale Carnegie and I absolutely believe it to be true.

I know it's hokey - and I know that I am an absolute management geek - but I think a full-blown Dale Carnegie regiment for our football staff (and our other athletic staffs, for that matter) would be a great investment for the Atheltic Department. Fully embraced, it's incredibly transformative stuff.

hammb · Post by **hammb** » Thu Dec 14, 2006 12:25 pm

Whether it was a result of the leadership course, or a simple transformation the biggest thing that made Belicheck a better coach was that he learned to not take total control. In Cleveland he had control of EVERYTHING, and made sure that he kept that control. Oddly enough if you look at his staff from those Cleveland Days he had a lot of talented men on board. Guys like Kirk Ferentz, Phil Savage, and I know some others that I'm forgetting. Still, he didn't let them do their jobs.

The man cut Bernie freaking Kosar for audibling (the result fo the play was, I believe, a TD)...he wanted that control.

He also controlled all personnel matters. He drafted Tommy Vardell in the first round! Our drafts in his time were putrid.

When he took the New England job he welcomed help, and managed them, as was his job. He let Pioli have a fare shake in the personnel side of things, and you can tell where their drafts have gone. He still had an eye for coaching talent, but now he let them do their jobs. Crennel & Weiss worked under Bill and together Pioli, Belicheck, Weiss, and Crennel built one heckuva team. Bill got all the credit, but that group is what made the team strong.

Perhaps it was the aforementioned leadership class that made him realize that he was trying to do too much, I don't know. For coaches to make the transformation that Belicheck made is pretty rare, however. It seems pretty rare, as far as I can remember, for a coach to fail miserably, and then become great elsewhere. Either way, if a leadership class will help our team then I'm all for it. I'm just tired of watching us suck, and since we're stuck with Brandon for at least one more (likely 2) year, let's do what we can to make the best of it.

factman · Post by **factman** » Thu Dec 14, 2006 3:16 pm

How about Joe Novak? That program came along rather slow.

Jacobs4Heisman · Post by **Jacobs4Heisman** » Thu Dec 14, 2006 3:29 pm

factman wrote:How about Joe Novak? That program came along rather slow.

Not sure you can compare one coach's beginning to another based on the level both programs were at.

I would absolutely love it if Brandon would magically turn the proverbial corner and become a leader that knows how to pilot a winning football team, and be the coach here for the next 20 years. Based on my observations and personal experience with leadership in general, I have almost 0 faith in this happening. I would be thrilled to be wrong, but I'm pretty certain I'm not.

redskins4ever · Post by **redskins4ever** » Thu Dec 14, 2006 10:45 pm

maybe I am more of the type of person who doesn't wait until someone tells me that I should say its my fault thing. Doing it at the press conference following the game might have been a better move as opposed to throwing your players under a bus... but maybe thats just me?