I'm old enough to have seen IU football from it's best days to well, much of the last 30. I'm not Bill Walsh, Vince Lombardi, or even Lee Corso. I don't play one on TV, and I try to avoid Holiday Inn's as much as possible.
But I've talked football concepts and strategies with college coaches and a pro football hall of famer. I have an understanding of group dynamics and I've read a lot of coaching books and articles. I pay attention to what's said by people who know. That said, I'm just like every other dope with a keyboard and a dream.
I have long maintained that there is little at IU that suggests success in football. There's never been a football culture there. Kids don't grow up watching great IU teams. Most of us have sat in the stands watching debacle after debacle for decades. They were often nice kids masquerading in Big Ten uniforms and getting throttled as a prelim to picking up coeds outside Nicks. They looked good in t-shirts but not at tackling.
There's not been anyone at the school with a successful football background. They know marketing. They know PR. They know how to extract the maximum dollar amount from you and I in an specified time frame on saturday. They can install a state of the art video board. They can slap paint with the best. But building a winning football culture and program has eluded them for...... Oh... 100 yrs. The fans, long suffering and also with little or no background in football, look at a 19 yr old freshman and assume he's Rod Woodson and Jerry Rice combined. They want to win. They tend to be "self absorbed" in their own wishes. Even Rod Woodson and Jerry Rice had to BECOME Rod Woodson and Jerry Rice. But not at IU. When the 19 yr old who wasn't recruited by OSU and Bama, plays more like the guy IU beat out Iowa State for, they don't take it well.
Bill Mallory won 38% of his Big Ten games and was considered a God. Until ***((&^%$$##'s fired him.
In the past 20 yrs IU has had president after president. (bad ones), AD after AD... Bad ones.. Football coach after football coach. (it's where coaches have gone to die) and look what they did to basketball, soccer and swimming. At least the Cubs show the ability to turn it around after 100 yrs.
IU remains a terrific school. As gorgeous a campus atmosphere as you will find. A loyal and loving fan base.
Coach Wilson came to town with a great pedigree, but had never been a head coach in his life. He had a lot to learn. If pressed, he might say he'd have done some things differently. He's taken a laughing stock and turned it into a team that will fight you tooth and nail with lessor talent. I don't see Joey Bosa, Shillique Calhoun, or Peppers on IU's defense. The intellectuals in the IU fan base scream for new coaches. And whomever the intellectuals at the IU athletic admin choose and spoon feed to the fans are "great". Till they aren't. Somewhere Doug Mallory is laughing.
IU seems poised to be a pretty good program. I don't know what the ceiling is. I know that for them to make it into the Big Ten championship game, teams with great pedigrees, resources, and talent have to fall off the face of the earth.
I believe IU can be an 8 win a season program. 7 reg season and a bowl game. I believe IU can dominate in state recruiting. I like Coach Wilson. He's a breath of fresh air. He's not a carnival huckster. He's not selling pipe dreams. I've never heard "help is on the way". I like his staff too. I like the fight in his teams. He's brought them from a program that routinely got destroyed by OSU, MSU, Michigan, etc to one that's one play away from an improbable win. He's upgraded the talent and roster from guys who couldn't play at all to several with bright futures. And people well... Never mind.
IU is going to have to play very well these last two games. A good portion of the posters who haven't jumped ship have one foot over the side and are clutching their keyboards in anticipation of their next "iconic post".
It's a game. I wish most people were as passionate about fighting ISIS as they are about Brian Knorr trying to fit 4/3 personnel into a cohesive 3/4 with kindergarteners in the secondary.
I'm anxious to see how this plays out. I hope well for the team and staff. Either way, I don't have much confidence in either the athletic or admin branches to do the right things.
But I've talked football concepts and strategies with college coaches and a pro football hall of famer. I have an understanding of group dynamics and I've read a lot of coaching books and articles. I pay attention to what's said by people who know. That said, I'm just like every other dope with a keyboard and a dream.
I have long maintained that there is little at IU that suggests success in football. There's never been a football culture there. Kids don't grow up watching great IU teams. Most of us have sat in the stands watching debacle after debacle for decades. They were often nice kids masquerading in Big Ten uniforms and getting throttled as a prelim to picking up coeds outside Nicks. They looked good in t-shirts but not at tackling.
There's not been anyone at the school with a successful football background. They know marketing. They know PR. They know how to extract the maximum dollar amount from you and I in an specified time frame on saturday. They can install a state of the art video board. They can slap paint with the best. But building a winning football culture and program has eluded them for...... Oh... 100 yrs. The fans, long suffering and also with little or no background in football, look at a 19 yr old freshman and assume he's Rod Woodson and Jerry Rice combined. They want to win. They tend to be "self absorbed" in their own wishes. Even Rod Woodson and Jerry Rice had to BECOME Rod Woodson and Jerry Rice. But not at IU. When the 19 yr old who wasn't recruited by OSU and Bama, plays more like the guy IU beat out Iowa State for, they don't take it well.
Bill Mallory won 38% of his Big Ten games and was considered a God. Until ***((&^%$$##'s fired him.
In the past 20 yrs IU has had president after president. (bad ones), AD after AD... Bad ones.. Football coach after football coach. (it's where coaches have gone to die) and look what they did to basketball, soccer and swimming. At least the Cubs show the ability to turn it around after 100 yrs.
IU remains a terrific school. As gorgeous a campus atmosphere as you will find. A loyal and loving fan base.
Coach Wilson came to town with a great pedigree, but had never been a head coach in his life. He had a lot to learn. If pressed, he might say he'd have done some things differently. He's taken a laughing stock and turned it into a team that will fight you tooth and nail with lessor talent. I don't see Joey Bosa, Shillique Calhoun, or Peppers on IU's defense. The intellectuals in the IU fan base scream for new coaches. And whomever the intellectuals at the IU athletic admin choose and spoon feed to the fans are "great". Till they aren't. Somewhere Doug Mallory is laughing.
IU seems poised to be a pretty good program. I don't know what the ceiling is. I know that for them to make it into the Big Ten championship game, teams with great pedigrees, resources, and talent have to fall off the face of the earth.
I believe IU can be an 8 win a season program. 7 reg season and a bowl game. I believe IU can dominate in state recruiting. I like Coach Wilson. He's a breath of fresh air. He's not a carnival huckster. He's not selling pipe dreams. I've never heard "help is on the way". I like his staff too. I like the fight in his teams. He's brought them from a program that routinely got destroyed by OSU, MSU, Michigan, etc to one that's one play away from an improbable win. He's upgraded the talent and roster from guys who couldn't play at all to several with bright futures. And people well... Never mind.
IU is going to have to play very well these last two games. A good portion of the posters who haven't jumped ship have one foot over the side and are clutching their keyboards in anticipation of their next "iconic post".
It's a game. I wish most people were as passionate about fighting ISIS as they are about Brian Knorr trying to fit 4/3 personnel into a cohesive 3/4 with kindergarteners in the secondary.
I'm anxious to see how this plays out. I hope well for the team and staff. Either way, I don't have much confidence in either the athletic or admin branches to do the right things.
