A disturbing quote

[Stallion]

Bottom Line-a failure to motivate players falls at the feet of the Head Coach and his Coaching Staff

[Blunt Pony]

Bottom Line-a failure to motivate players falls at the feet of the Head Coach and his Coaching Staff

You may be right, but there are special players out there like Michael Irvin, Ray Lewis, Michael Jordan etc. that did not wait around for their coaches to fire them up. SMU has very few player leaders and it seems to have been that way for a while. Coach speeches are great, but the players are the ones that need some fire.

[George S. Patton]

Bottom Line-a failure to motivate players falls at the feet of the Head Coach and his Coaching Staff

You may be right, but there are special players out there like Michael Irvin, Ray Lewis, Michael Jordan etc. that did not wait around for their coaches to fire them up. SMU has very few player leaders and it seems to have been that way for a while. Coach speeches are great, but the players are the ones that need some fire.

I watched that at Minnesota. Tim Brewster is a rah-rah guy and he does get his players jacked up. It worked for 2 months and they got off to a 7-1 start.

And then the Gophers fell apart in November at 0-4 and finished 7-5.

As you have said in the past, coaching them up is not going to get it done. You need players.

Edit: And in Brewster's first year there, the Gophers went 1-11.

[PoconoPony]

attributed to BLM in Saturday's DMN:

When asked how the Mustangs, who trailed, 7-6, at the half, let another winnable game slip away, freshman quarterback Bo Levi Mitchell gave a blunt assessment of the team – and a remedy for the future.

"I think there's too many people that are OK with losing, and we have to get rid of that," Mitchell said. "That's what the off-season is for; to weed those types of people out, and the people that are here to win are here to stay. A lot of people just really honestly need to step up and say, 'Let's go win a ball game.'"

I say disturbing because it is disturbing to me that there are people on a football team that are "OK with losing." It is disturbing that more than one person ("too many people") apparently have this mentality.

Who are these people? What can JJ do to weed them off the team?
I'm glad this mentality does not affect PonyFans.

Here's the link to the story: http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent ... b2c64.html

I am delighted to see this quote from BLM. It shows us exactly where he is coming from and maybe he is starting to step up as the leader so badly needed.

[kent dorfman]

Jones selected Bo Levi as the "leader" of this team for a reason and you expect a guy in that position to step up after such a miserable year.

Obviously Jones, and everyone associated with SMU athletics, knows there is a cancer here. Does it surprise anyone that the athletes take on the mentality of the student body they are surrounded by? Plenty of kids cruising thru SMU "on easy street" with plans to join the family business when play time is over...

...I truly believe things will change under this head coach, but it will take him until year 4 to have his roster out on the field.

RE: BLM - He's not a freshman anymore. Time to add action to talk.

RE: Cancer & "Easy Street" - I have never agreed more wholeheartedly with any statement on this board. Accurate and one of the roots of SMU's issues.
RE: Year 4 - I hope not. We need wins. We need a breakout year w/ 7 or 8 wins and a minor bowl. That'll get recruiting going the right way significantly. Without it, SMU is shooting itself in the foot each successive year, and it won't matter if Jones is coach.

So just how does JJ take care of this "cancer" that is rampant? Not disagreeing with you about it but what the heck can he do about it? Go down Fraternity row and start taking people's trust funds away from people?

I know that Hawaii wanted to make him governor and all that but the fact is that here he is just another high paid, high priced coach who is under the microscope.

Even if JJ does bring us to respectability, would SMU kids be able to fully appreciate how great it is to have a good team to root for?