What Is Happening Here?

Smitty · September 28, 2008

Is this team's talent this far below that of K-State, Tulsa, and Rice? Is this a dreadful team getting crushed by better opponents or is this a team that is imploding due to problems from within? I have no idea if those problems are preparation, schemes, lockerroom problems, game-day tactics, or what. Are the players not responding to what the coaches are trying to do, or are the coaches' strategies this inadequate? I don't know, but when a team gets embarrased in its first two games, then comes off a better performance and has an extra to prepare only to get humiliated like this, it speaks to a deeper, team-wide problem.

Just wondering about an incident that Tasty has been talking about since it happened: could this team's confidence - their belief in themselves - have been badly damaged when Coach Dodge went conservative against K-State so early in the opener because "I didn’t want the game to get crazy out of hand," as he said afterward. I can't blame the players if they took Dodge's actions and comments to mean that their coach stopped believing they could win or even compete in the first quarter of the first game of the year. How must that have made the players feel? If your leader publicly suggests that you are dangerously vulnerable to getting blown out, can anyone blame you for believing him?

However, I do believe that it's too early to be making coaching changes. It's too early to call the Dodge experiment a failure - although the fact that the lab just blew up doesn't bode well.

Green Dozer · September 28, 2008

I think you are overthinking the KSTATE deal just a little. That said, it is hard for me to believe, like you, that our talent level lags so far behind our opponents. I do agree with your point that this team does not like its coach and I think this is showing on the field. Have no way of knowing, just a gut feeling. Never here quotes from players that the coach works so hard in getting us prepared, then we go out and don't perform. Dodge is more emotional than Dickey was, but not much.

Smitty · September 28, 2008

I think you are overthinking the KSTATE deal just a little. That said, it is hard for me to believe, like you, that our talent level lags so far behind our opponents. I do agree with your point that this team does not like its coach and I think this is showing on the field. Have no way of knowing, just a gut feeling. Never here quotes from players that the coach works so hard in getting us prepared, then we go out and don't perform. Dodge is more emotional than Dickey was, but not much.

Just a correction, I do not think that this team does not like its coach. I do not know that, and I did not mean to suggest that.

Maybe I'm overthinking the K-State episode. But I wonder if a parallel can be drawn between that event and the Dallas Mavericks, when their coach made fundamental changes in his team's gameplan in their opening round series against Golden State, despite the Mavs being the No. 1 seed and the Warriors being the No. 8 seed. It has been suggested that Avery's coaching decisions against Golden State planted seeds of doubt in the minds of his players who already had shaky psyches coming off their collapse in the finals the previous year. I can see a basic parallel between the Mavs' loss in the finals and the very rough first year that UNT endured last season. In the Mean Green's case, that situation could be amplified by how very young this team is.

I don't know. I'm guess all I'm saying is there is something deeply wrong which I do not believe is due to UNT having this much less talent than the first four opponents.

All of this does make me understand why Bill Snyder, when he started turning around K-State, scheduled as many games as he could against opponents at or below his team's level to get some early wins and build confidence that his team did not otherwise possess.

Green Dozer · September 28, 2008

Just a correction, I do not think that this team does not like its coach. I do not know that, and I did not mean to suggest that.
Maybe I'm overthinking the K-State episode. But I wonder if a parallel can be drawn between that event and the Dallas Mavericks, when their coach made fundamental changes in his team's gameplan in their opening round series against Golden State, despite the Mavs being the No. 1 seed and the Warriors being the No. 8 seed. It has been suggested that Avery's coaching decisions against Golden State planted seeds of doubt in the minds of his players who already had shaky psyches coming off their collapse in the finals the previous year. I can see a basic parallel between the Mavs' loss in the finals and the very rough first year that UNT endured last season. In the Mean Green's case, that situation could be amplified by how very young this team is.
I don't know. I'm guess all I'm saying is there is something deeply wrong which I do not believe is due to UNT having this much less talent than the first four opponents.
All of this does make me understand why Bill Snyder, when he started turning around K-State, scheduled as many games as he could against opponents at or below his team's level to get some early wins and build confidence that his team did not otherwise possess.

Sorry, I stand corrected. Excellent thoughts and post. Also, have ever noticed head coaches who are offensive gurus tend to forget about defense. It is like that in both football and basketball (Rams, Oilers (run & shoot), mavericks, wizards, etc.). Again, just my thoughts. On your part, excellent insight!