Now the true season can begin
Posted: Tue Sep 23, 2008 4:11 pmI've been saying all along that I am not making any statements on the team until week five. This is it. I wanted to give JJ and the staff 4 games to get things into place, and even though we have already played one conference game, I looked at the first four games as preseason.
I don't have any bold predictions for the game, or the rest of the season, but I will after Thursday night's game. Clearly the gears have been spinning and not catching thus far but if they are going to catch we should see it Thursday.
The Tulane game will be the last game that I go into with no expectations.
Regardless, though, of what happens Thursday night, there's one thing I am going to keep at the forefront of my mind, and I urge you all to do the same...
I really don't understand the complete downturn of the fans, we won one game last year. Yes, I felt we could have won five or six if we didn't have the loser mentality. Yes, I am surprised that we have not been competitive. However, I am not surprised by a 1-3 start, and I am not ready to throw in the towel on the season. Maybe I will be after Tulane, but that doesn't mean I will lose any confidence that we will turn this thing around. There is absolutely no way June Jones doesn't win here.
He will win here.
And if we don't beat Tulane on Thursday...
Let me point you towards Gary Stinkel.... that's what the Mizzou fans were calling Pinkel when he lead them to consecutive 4-7 and 5-7 seasons in his first two years at the helm. He has had only one losing season since.
If you want to point to Mike Leach as an example of another offensive mind like Pinkel and Jones, I don't think it's a fair comparison. Especially when you say that Leach has never had a losing season in his nine years as head coach (Pinkel was hired at Mizzou the same year Leach took over at Tech). Missouri is a much more fair comparison to our situation.
Preceding Leach at Tech was Spike Dykes. Tech had only three losing seasons, under Dykes in his 13 seasons, before Leach came in with his high octane offense. In fact Tech hasn't had a losing season since 1992. Pinkel, on the other hand, inherited a team that had only had 2 winning seasons, in 7, under former coach (and onetime USC head man) Larry Smith, in 1997 and 1998.
June Jones pulled the single greatest one year turnaround in college football history in his first year at Hawaii. Though exciting, it is/was foolhardy to imagine the same thing happening here. It was lightning in a bottle. I point to the next season when the Warriors went 3-9 in 2000. He only had one losing season thereafter.
If we win on Thursday, maybe there's hope for the season. Should we lose, it's way too early to abandon ship. We've endured plenty of losing, I know, and we want to see some hope. Maybe we won't see it in the record column, this year. For hope, I point to June Jones and allow for a little patience. He didn't forget how to win on the flight to the mainland.
I don't have any bold predictions for the game, or the rest of the season, but I will after Thursday night's game. Clearly the gears have been spinning and not catching thus far but if they are going to catch we should see it Thursday.
The Tulane game will be the last game that I go into with no expectations.
Regardless, though, of what happens Thursday night, there's one thing I am going to keep at the forefront of my mind, and I urge you all to do the same...
I really don't understand the complete downturn of the fans, we won one game last year. Yes, I felt we could have won five or six if we didn't have the loser mentality. Yes, I am surprised that we have not been competitive. However, I am not surprised by a 1-3 start, and I am not ready to throw in the towel on the season. Maybe I will be after Tulane, but that doesn't mean I will lose any confidence that we will turn this thing around. There is absolutely no way June Jones doesn't win here.
He will win here.
And if we don't beat Tulane on Thursday...
Let me point you towards Gary Stinkel.... that's what the Mizzou fans were calling Pinkel when he lead them to consecutive 4-7 and 5-7 seasons in his first two years at the helm. He has had only one losing season since.
If you want to point to Mike Leach as an example of another offensive mind like Pinkel and Jones, I don't think it's a fair comparison. Especially when you say that Leach has never had a losing season in his nine years as head coach (Pinkel was hired at Mizzou the same year Leach took over at Tech). Missouri is a much more fair comparison to our situation.
Preceding Leach at Tech was Spike Dykes. Tech had only three losing seasons, under Dykes in his 13 seasons, before Leach came in with his high octane offense. In fact Tech hasn't had a losing season since 1992. Pinkel, on the other hand, inherited a team that had only had 2 winning seasons, in 7, under former coach (and onetime USC head man) Larry Smith, in 1997 and 1998.
June Jones pulled the single greatest one year turnaround in college football history in his first year at Hawaii. Though exciting, it is/was foolhardy to imagine the same thing happening here. It was lightning in a bottle. I point to the next season when the Warriors went 3-9 in 2000. He only had one losing season thereafter.
If we win on Thursday, maybe there's hope for the season. Should we lose, it's way too early to abandon ship. We've endured plenty of losing, I know, and we want to see some hope. Maybe we won't see it in the record column, this year. For hope, I point to June Jones and allow for a little patience. He didn't forget how to win on the flight to the mainland.
