Grey – I hope you are correct. You’ve definitely pushed your chips all in.
Honestly, Chop, I had rather push them in and be wrong, than be a half-assed supporter and be right. I value loyalty and I like to think I give it. I know I’m wrong to be this way but it bothers me to be on a State fan site and read put-downs, jokes at my team’s expense and lack of support in general. Expressions of like, dislike, etc., I’m Okay with. I’m fine with criticism of our coaches and teams as long as it’s respectful. I think it’s being from another era and not being part of the internet culture.
But the key to coaching is to maximize the results. If you look like a genius 3 games, look like an idiot 3 games, and split the rest…you’re no different than your last 3 predecessors.
Agree over the long haul but not while DD is installing both new offenses and defenses — with a boat load of freshmen in key positions.
Allow me an analogy. I know of an American figure skater some years ago who was ranked 5th in the world. This skater went to a cutting edge coach for help. That coach asked what the skater wanted. He said, ‘I want to be a better skater.’ Where are you ranked now? ‘5th’ was the reply. Oh I see, you want to be ranked 4th. Our skater friend screwed up his courage and said for the first time in his life, ‘I want to be Number One.’ It takes courage to say you want to be Numero Uno. Doeren has said he is coming here and intends to be National Champion. I don’t believe I have EVER heard one of our football coaches say that.
This is long but there’s more to the story. The skater started working with the coach and immediately started falling as he pressed the envelope trying the what-ever-you-call-them skater tricks. He had to be willing to fail before he could extend himself to do the championship stuff. Maybe the analogy is not right on but it’s close enough.
Canada started putting in offense that is of the stuff that with the right personnel will produce championship results — or at least he and DD think it will. Doesn’t matter yeah or nay. They are willing to risk it. The one time Canada was turned loose, when the Wisconsin coach left for Arkansas, his offense rolled up 70 verses Nebraska. It isn’t just the X’s and O’s, you have to have the horses to run and the big uglies to block. But the results are beyond whatever else is being run. Wisconsin got passing game results running the football. I think West Virginia did the same thing to Clemson.
On the other side of the ball we changed a little more slowly. We started putting in the “stop the spread’ defense. I don’t expect many if any of the recruits ran this in high school so there is a big learning curve. Like the skater we started failing almost immediately. I’d like to think we are now doing some of those championship “maneuvers.” It looked like it at times on Saturday. I also believe it is easier to teach the freshmen than it is the upperclassmen. Not as much to ‘unlearn.’
I had a little back and forth with foose about Doeren calling the timeout on defense and calling another when the D wasn’t set like he wanted it. foose rightly said that the punt block should have been handled by the special teams coaches at the half or between punts or some such valid observation. Distinct from that what I appreciated was Doeren’s willingness to burn a timeout to make a coaching point that likely will impact the defense down the road.
Doeren fools me with his looks. He doesn’t look like the sharpest knife in the drawer but I really believe he may be one of the brightest bulbs on the coaching tree. I suspect that the coaches are all going through a learning experience. Some say we should have hired a coach who has already gone through that learning curve. I ask is what they have learned or experienced sufficient to achieve Doeren’s stated goal of winning a NC? I’d say ‘not likely.’
I give Debbie Yow a lot of credit here. She believes in Doeren and is backing him apparently 100% as she strives to have NCSU have a top rated Athletics Program over all sports. Our chancellor, Randy Woodson, appears to be playing full out to have North Carolina State University be at the top as well. None of these goals are short term and it takes guts to be willing to fail in an effort to achieve them. I call it a game worth failing. IOW worth going for even if you don’t make it. I hope the fans, alumni and supporters don’t flinch along the way.
Chop, I expect you’ve fallen asleep or just quit reading this long-winded babble. I mostly wrote it for myself hoping to understand what I believe Doeren is doing. If you stayed with it, thanks. If not… I can’t fault you there.
