I turned the page months ago,I’ve been doing this for over 50 yrs.It sucked after having such high expectations but that’s IU football.
LEO is still a binding fiber. As long as they're effective teaching less emotional things like tackling, blocking, and catching the ball...while they're instilling the warm fuzzy stuff that LEO markets itself as, we'll be fine. If they aren't...last year will be mentioned quite a lot as the season wears on.
That 'warm fuzzy stuff' you seem to deride sells well in the front room of a recruits mother or grandparent.
I might add it's the very foundation of every high functioning military outfit on the planet... If you aren't looking out for the guy on your left and on your right and he's not looking out for you, you've lost before you ever take the field...
For sure...and its probably not actually getting in the way of the team executing solid football elements on Saturdays...but when you market it as much as Allen and IU have, it sure leaves you open for criticism when your team doesn't play well. Its an easy thing to focus negative thoughts on, because they've made it so central to the identity of their program. LEO is IU, IU is LEO, and IU sucked last year...thus LEO sucked last year. When IU is good (2018-2020)...LEO is good.
Good military units also demand very meticulous attention to detail. Absolutely looking out for the guy next to you...but its ALWAYS framed by doing your job, exactly the right way, every single time.
Absolutely! ...and I honestly believe it gives IUFB a small but distinct recruiting advantage over competition that doesn't display something similar openly to recruits and fans...also if Allen's tenure manifests positively LEO will become a tradition many of us complain IUFB has never had...
I've yet to see any facts substantiating LEO is the cause of L's.
Me neither...but I'm a Cubs fan...and I've only got room for 1 "Loveable Loser" team in my fandom. So the LEO stuff annoys me when they can't catch routine balls and blow coverages like a bad HS team. But as I said in the post you responded to, it probably isn't LEO that caused the poor play last year. But IU is LEO right now, and they were really, really bad in a lot of areas last year.
This is one area that, to me, proves that the LEO culture is a very real, and potentially positive thing. They made some very difficult decisions, that I'm sure weren't very comfortable, because people weren't living up to whatever they think IU football/LEO is.
With all due respect, you probably should have stopped with your first post in the thread and not added these comments. They're way over the top, particularly the sentence that begins with "It's become obvious during Allen's tenure..."
They did regularly rotate on the DL, which is the only place they did it within the defensive scheme year over year. Nothing changed. Any other “rotations” were actually based on defensive packages that were down, distance and field position determined. The D was very much Coach Allen’s, and rotating players wasn’t why anyone left.
If I had been Coach Tom Allen, on the first day of spring practice, I would have handed out a sheet of paper with last years schedule and final scores along with a match to each Player, and told them to light each page and burn it. Now We are through with 2021 and starting fresh with a confident outlook and clean slate. A bit corn-pone, Hokey? Maybe. But it provides the Players with a Symbolic visual rather than just a verbal image.
Do Fitzgerald's regular trips into 3-win territory deep into his tenure mean he can't sustain Northwestern's program? Or does the fact that he can bounce back from those sharp downturns time after time show that he can? Indiana is much more like Northwestern than an Ohio State or Michigan. We can't be good all the time, there are going to be down years and times when true rebuilds are necessary. It is unavoidable.
I have to admit - I'm going into this year with the lowest expectations I've had in a long, long time. There's just nothing to hang my hat on, other than Allen taking over the Defense again. Maybe a revitalized running game, but I'm in the 'show me' mood.
Even Meatchicken was shit just a couple years ago.
I agree with You on Penix. I don't know if You call it a poor coaching or medical staff decision, but it appeared they limited his practice reps to such an extent that He wasn't prepared for the speed and aggressiveness of the Game. And of course even with the precautions We took to protect Him, He still ended up with a Year ending injury.
Cinci Offense was rejuvenated when Micah got screwed. Never seen anything like it, in football anyway.
Fitz has had two 3-win seasons, and one 4-win season in his 16 as head coach. Not exactly regular and, yes, he has demonstrated the ability to sustain the program.
2019 is the year I look at when I get bummed out about IU football, to remind me of what Allen and LEO have done and are capable of. 2020 felt good, great actually...but that year shouldn't be used to evaluate much of anything. Half the teams on our schedule were either ravaged with Covid, or for whatever reason, weren't "all in" that year. Allen and his team capitalized on that, the lack of crowds, etc... They were still very sloppy, overall, however...And going all the way back to 2-10, in the first year after Covid, with fans in the stands, etc... is a huge red flag.
True. Exception rather than the rule. Will be interesting to see how the next couple go.
No one said that. What is being said is the lack of playing good football caused the losses and that LEO looks silly when you only win 2 games.
Injuries also compounded the issues.
...rocks in the road = injuries...
Agreed. It is just an easy target for any hater wanting to put the program down.
I love the philosophy and it LEO serves as a common team goal or objective to achieve.
Something like LEO was a part of every team I ever played on. The concepts of togetherness and accountability are ubiquitous in team sports and a common aspect of them. What’s unique is the public / marketing nature of LEO. Most teams use something like this as an internal credo, which is what makes it such a big deal to the team. Making it a public thing, with hats and t shirts and videos, invites some cynicism and ridicule because it makes some people question the true motives.
Agree with you that, for Allen, it’s as much a selling tool as it is a team first philosophy. That’s the difference between how he approaches it and many other coaches do, and it’s why some people view it with cynicism. There are some other coaches with catchphrases like LEO and they get skewered, too.
