A new era begins...with a lesson from history

[Tony3487]

Seriously? If you put beans in Chili it is no longer chili. I personally like to add beans to chili, but it is no longer chili. It is chili with beans.

Just die commie.

 

[hornrush]

I'm not saying you are moving goalposts. I am saying that if you compare Coach Strong to DKR, you need to take note that DKR's actions resulted in early success that was quickly built upon. If the comparison of valid, we reasonably should expect the same early and repeated success from Coach Strong. I'm not ready to start drawing comparisons between Coach Royal and Coach Strong. I'd much rather let Coach Strong stand on his own and see where things go.
As for drawing parallels between Lee/Grant and others, the comparisons are absurd. Yes, Lincoln had McClellan, but he also had Burnside, Hooker and Meade before eventually turning to Grant. Lincoln also had Henry Halleck running much of the show and handling logistics. Patterson may have inherited Brown, just as Lincoln inherited McClellan, but if you want to draw Civil War comparisons, Strong is just as likely to be Patterson's Burnside as he is to be Patterson's Grant. Time will tell.

Yes, time WILL tell.

Hook'em!

 

[Tulsahorn]

I have never complained about the hiring of Coach Strong. In fact, I repeatedly said we have to let the man do his job. I stand by those comments. Objectively discussing the coaching staff he has assembled in no way interferes with his ability to do his job and isn't complaining. Its being objective and realistic.
If I have one complaint, it would be that the process of introducing both Steve Patterson and Coach Strong to the fans and to the alumni. I feel an opportunity was lost to have both the AD and HC set forth their intended direction for the program and to establish a set of metrics they intended to be held accountable for. Without these metrics in place, each of has has had to establish our own individual expectations. The failure to manage expectations falls directly on the media relations group and directly on Nick Voinis. I have been relentless in my complaining about his ineptitude and incompetence.

In my mind, Coach Strong should have come out and said as his first priority, he intended to instill what he believes is a culture and a set of values that puts the athletes in the best position to succeed in life. That benefiting from their time on the campus of the University of Texas meant spending time in the classroom and obtaining a degree. That he was going o hold them to a standard of personal behavior that would instill personal responsibility and be the basis of their earning personal respect, during their time in school and for long after. That he was going to instill a work ethic that those who he has coached in the past can explain. And that after that, he was going to let the results on the field be the measure of his success and that credit for on-field success would start with the athletes who we willing to put in the work and accountability for failure will start with him for not getting the team ready. Maybe this was done. If so, it must have been televised on LHN and not broadcast to most of the alumni.

Had this been done, everyone would have had a clear metric to gauge the progress of the team. What I have seen so far is Coach Strong not finding it a priority to connect with the fans or alumni and instead choosing to move ahead in his own direction and being content with allowing each of us to wonder what that direction is. We have to assume and infer. Not one of us has much of a clue as to the direction of the team other than that seems largely one dimensional, based on defense, and that we were repeatedly turned down by proven OC candidates such that Coach Strong had to cobble together a makeshift team to build some sort of offense based on whoever we get to sign as offensive recruits.

The lack of a clearly defined direction and the lack of an established connection with the fans make it difficult to give unconditional support. It's that simple. Until Coach Strong gives clarity to the direction of the team, people such as myself will be concerned until we see the results on the field and if positive results don't happen early, the doubts as to the direction he is moving will naturally intensify. It's a simple matter of establishing expectations and Steve Patterson/Coach Strong have decided to remain silent. At the end of the day, expectations were established as to the resumes of those hired as Coach Strong's staff. Those expectations were created by statements made by Steve Patterson. There is no argument that can reasonably be made that the offensive team Coach Strong assembled doesn't have a consistent record of success.

The weakness of the Patterson/Strong era appears to be that neither of them is effective at communicating through the media and managing expectations. The media team inside Bellmont is worse than inept. The humiliating comments yesterday of how the program loves the "Stronghorn" monicker is just the latest example. Neither Patterson nor Strong seem to care about managing expectations. They both seem happy to allow expectations to run wild and to let the results on the field to justify their decision. I'm fine with that, but in the mean time, no one should be surprised if some of us are scratching our heads wondering about some of the decisions that are being made. At the end of the day, wondering what the direction of the program is isn't the same as complaining, just as blindly applauding every decision that is being made isn't the same as objectively supporting the team.

Good God. If your posts about the staff isn't complaining, then you and I have different opinions of what complaining is.... Your claim of objectivity is debased on the absence of meaningful information on the staff. For some reason, you believe it's enough to judge a staff solely on what you glean form the internet. That is incredibly short sighted. To form an objective, realistic opinion, you need all the facts, not just a bio and stats from wikipedia.

I say your claim that there is no direction is incorrect. If you listen to the press conference, he gives indication of the toughness he wants to instill. The type of offense he wants (not some BS 10-7 win somebody posted), the type of character he wants, the type of recruits he wants. You need to listen to the press conference. http://www.texassports.com/news/2014/1/6/FB_0106144123.aspx He talks at length about his vision, his offensive philosophy, the type of recruits he wants, about how he wants to continue to build on the tradition that has been laid, the mentality of the program he wants. Preparation is the key to success. What the hell do you want?

You need splash names, and that's short sighted. You believe Kingsbury is going to steal recruits from us (as you posted). We'll agree to disagree. You don't need a arena football style offense to get players. If you don't believe me, examine the recruits Bama gets.

You seem to think that you represent the fan base - you feel he somehow isn't connecting to the fans. I feel the exact opposite.

It's meaningless to listen to what coaches say at press conferences anyway - all use coach speak. It amazes me when fans get pissed at the comments. Get used to it folks, it's coach speak and they all do it.

The only metric that will be meaningful is W-L's. I frankly don't know what you are referring to with metrics to evaluate. The only thing fans give a hoot about is winning, and to some degree a clean program. The latter is important, but you have to win. Just ask Mack.

You seem to feel some entitlement to know every aspect of the program's decisions. You don't, If you feel that you don't have enough insight, then you should be happy as hell Saban didn't come here. We won't even discuss a Bill Snyder - you'd have a heart attack. He's been here less than 2 weeks, I'm not sure what you want. The direction was winning, and the things he said at his opening press conference. You proceed to say what YOU think Strong would have said. You don't speak for the fan base, you speak for you, and you only. I don't need or want Strong to hold my hand and coddle me and tell me all what he is going to do it and why.

I need him to assemble his staff (he did) to hit the ground running recruiting (he did). Focus on bringing winning and toughness to the program (he is and that's what he said).

Lastly, if you think ANYONE can manage fans expectations, sorry, you are gonna have a tough time. EVERY FAN BASE EVERYWHERE has insanely high expectations that will never be met by any coach.

 

[Randolph Duke]

Good God. If your posts about the staff isn't complaining, then you and I have different opinions of what complaining is.... Your claim of objectivity is debased on the absence of meaningful information on the staff. For some reason, you believe it's enough to judge a staff solely on what you glean form the internet. That is incredibly short sighted. To form an objective, realistic opinion, you need all the facts, not just a bio and stats from wikipedia.

Mentioning that the guy calling plays has no track record other than a short stint almost 30 years ago isn't complaining. It's fact. The mere fact no one has asked him to run an offense since is reason enough to question why he was asked to do so now. I'm sorry if everything I say doesn't come off as blindly supportive, but haven't we just come out of a time when blind support was unwarranted? And you want to jump right back into another such period?

I say your claim that there is no direction is incorrect.

I say I never made such a claim. I claimed there is no direction that can be easily articulated. If I am wrong and you can describe the offensive scheme in 10 words or less, you would be giving us more than we have been given so far. "Building on tradition" isn't an offensive scheme. Its a catch phrase right up there with "utilizing synergy."

You believe Kingsbury is going to steal recruits from us (as you posted). We'll agree to disagree.

Lol. Again, I guess it is easier to make up statements out of thin air rather than discuss the subject at hand. My statement was that Kingsbury had an offensive scheme that was proven at least to a degree. Recruits can easily look at where they might fit into such an offensive scheme and make a reasoned decision as to whether they believed they could do well if they committed to Tech. The same for OU, Okie Light, Baylor or TCU. Those are known schemes. Obviously some recruits agree with me because we have already seen commits at skill positions bail and flip to other schools. Who could blame them? What remains to be seen is which prospects commit to the scheme as it is being explained to them. Kids about to enter college have much more at risk than guys banging away on keyboards. Until the three headed monster that seems to be our offense starts showing results on the field, no one can truly be sure the scheme that can't be explained will work.

You seem to think that you represent the fan base - you feel he somehow isn't connecting to the fans. I feel the exact opposite.
You seem to feel some entitlement to know every aspect of the program's decisions. You don't, If you feel that you don't have enough insight, then you should be happy as hell Saban didn't come here. We won't even discuss a Bill Snyder - you'd have a heart attack. He's been here less than 2 weeks, I'm not sure what you want. The direction was winning, and the things he said at his opening press conference. You proceed to say what YOU think Strong would have said. You don't speak for the fan base, you speak for you, and you only. I don't need or want Strong to hold my hand and coddle me and tell me all what he is going to do it and why.

Again, making up statements and attributing them to others doesn't make for a rational discussion.I never said I thought I was entitled to anything. What I said was it is difficult (or was it impossible?) to support the direction Coach Strong is taking the program until some of us understand what that direction is. There will always be those who buy into anything and never wonder the basis of the decisions that are being made. Some of us have legitimate questions as to the direction the program is headed before we agree that direction is sound.

It's obvious that Coach Strong has no interest in using the media to connect with the fanbase. I understand that. People have said we should expect as much. That decision is Coach Strong's to make. I simply believe that making a connection with the fanbase and establishing a clear set of metrics he believes we should use to evaluate his effectiveness would be a wise thing to do to help manage expectations. What Coach Strong is doing is managing deliverable for a sports entertainment product. A lot of entities are quite adept at managing fan expectations. Two of the best are the Chicago Cubs and the Boston Red Sox. It's not that tough to do. We just aren't doing it.