Putting his finger on the problem

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BrentVU
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Putting his finger on the problem

Post by BrentVU »

In response to a question about jersey numbers (I think it was during his interview with Laura Rutledge and Gene Chizik-- they all run together), Coach Lea said he came up with the idea after talking with the players about "what was needed". He said there was a real need to make a clean break with the past and start everything new; everything would be earned, and nothing would be taken for granted. Lea's whole focus would be about putting TEAM goals above personal goals and sacrificing for TEAM.

OK, I'm reading between the lines, but I would guess that in talking to returning players, there had been a lot of behavior by players in the last couple of years that was not all that team-oriented. Last year, under a slate of what was almost all new assistant coaches, you saw a rash of players entering the transfer portal in the middle of the season. On the field, and this goes back several years, you've seen plenty of showboating and selfish behavior, drawing momentum-killing unsportsmanlike conduct penalties, etc. You sometimes got the idea that certain players were more focused on their possible pro careers than sacrificing for team.

Now, it's one thing to not let yourself be pushed around-- James Franklin instilled that kind of mentality in his team, and Derek Mason certainly kept that going. Yes, every game in the SEC is an all-out war. But you can take that too far the other way... becoming a bunch of over-aggressive street-fighters doesn't earn you respect, particularly if you don't have the wins to back it up. This was my biggest gripe with Mason... not all of this was his fault, but as CEO he allowed it to go on. On top of that, there has been very poor senior leadership on his last couple of teams; the "Big Three" in 2019 didn't turn out to be very good team leaders; and in 2020 several of the guys who should have been senior leaders were abandoning ship, opting out, entering the portal mid-season. Without good senior leadership, you will never be able to build a program.

So Coach Lea is addressing what he perceives to be the problem, and is addressing it. Nothing is taken for granted; everything has to be earned with hard work: the number on your jersey, your right to enter the locker room, etc. Ken Seals, you started all nine games last year, so you're the obvious QB starter, right? Sorry, you start out at square one with this staff, and you've got to earn your position back by diligence and attitude towards team.

Side note: in many ways it's a throwback to Bobby Johnson, who was saying the same kinds of things when he took the reins in 2002. Dan Stricker was the one All-SEC returning star on that team; but Johnson forced every player, even Stricker, to start from square one and earn back his right to start and play. That, of course, was also the year that an undersized fullback named Clark Lea walked on to the team after two years of playing college baseball.


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Re: Putting his finger on the problem

Post by DS2001 »

For the past seven years, the players have been emulating their head coach. Hopefully, with the coaching change there will be some different emulatin' goin' on.
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Re: Putting his finger on the problem

Post by BILTMORE »

Let me just say this.
Around the time, CDM took over, I had the opportunity to get to know 3 members of the team (one was a starter, one was a part time starter, and the third was a perennial back up).

All three hated Franklin and were glad to see him go.
Their biggest gripe? how he (and I'm quoting) "coddled the star players and his pet recruits and didn't hold them accountable." They were quick to add that thing they most liked about new coach Derek Mason was that he "doesn't play favorites and doesn't reward half assed effort." Noting that he sent a couple of prima donna's back to their dorm room after they loafed during work outs and told them "get your head right and do the work or don't come back"

Sound familiar? Yeah because it is. Every team has to buy in to their new coach's philosophy and you hear the same versions of the same schtick from every locker room going through a transition.

I'm psyched for Lea and agree that it was time to let Mason go. I'm sure year seven during COVID surrounded by new coaches didn't exactly elicit his best work. But I do question the lazy insinuation that the Mason era can be dismissed as 7 years of sloppy, undisciplined coaching.

In Knoxville, they're blaming Jeremy Pruitt for everything, from starting the Chicago Fire to producing the film "Family Stone" It's part of the necessary catharsis that every team and fan base needs to go through. Take it with a grain of salt.
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Re: Putting his finger on the problem

Post by charlestonalum »

It is noteworthy that Lea praised Bobby Johnson in his turning the hapless VU football team into a bowl worthy program. It is also noteworthy that Johnson got zero support from Kirkland Hall.
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Re: Putting his finger on the problem

Post by alathIN »

I think there is such a thing as coaching regime momentum.
If there is a sense that things are getting better and the program is on the upswing - and better yet adding actual wins - the coach has more credibility and the players will buy in more.
The 2019 season was in retrospect the death knell for Mason. 2018 was 6-6 regular season and went to a bowl. If he had been able to build on that - maybe just 7 wins - there would have been a sense that he was building the program.
Instead the bottom fell out resulting in a 3 win season and we were all left with the sense that 6-7 was Mason's ceiling.
Some of that was his own flaws and weaknesses coming home to roost - but it can also be a self fulfilling prophesy effect.

To Lea's advantage, he is starting from the bottom of a pit. Winning 3 games and looking coherent in half of the losses will feel like progress.
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