Hate To Break It To You

[Oklahawg]

I hate to break this to most of you, but a couple of things need to be pointed out. You can gnash your teeth, spit nails, etc., but it is how the world works these days.

1. The staff is giving 100%. That effort may not be optimized, but the staff is giving it 100%. Nothing reads more foolishly than the suggestion that coaches are just doing this for $$$. The $3M "golden parachute" by HDN was more a middle finger to UA than it was a payday.

2. The "powers that be" are not going to get all bunched up about game-to-game performances. There is no longer a booster crowd that has the ear of anyone that matters. There is no longer a booster crowd that cares to voice their feelings that aggressively. The money will be there, by and large, regardless of wins/losses. There is not longer a "choice replacement" who is supposedly in the hip pocket of a booster.

3. The buyout is not a factor, one way or the other. For CBB, for Long, for anyone wanting CBB. That can be negotiated into a non-factor.

Recalculate your concerns and frustrations without money being an issue. The optics from a stadium on Saturday will be a whloe lot more about the demeanor of coaches and players + the scoreboard and less about the number of actual butts in seats. Where this becomes worth chatting about is when the latter - butts in seats - begins to influence the coaches and players.

[DeltaBoy]

Then it time for empty seats , black shirts a flyover and a full page ad in the state paper!

It time for a return of the Darkside!

[theFlyingHog]

Let's all take a knee when the Hogs run through the A!

[LZH]

Yaaay team!

[hogcard1964]

If they're truly "giving their all" then that's even more disheartening because they're still coming up well short of common sense offensive play calling and defensive schemes.

Hell, Bielema quit coaching yesterday without about a minute and a half left in the first half.  That was embarrassing.

[DeltaBoy]

Clean house!

[chiefhawg]

Welp, what a revolting development this is.

[WilsonHog]

If they're truly "giving their all" then that's even more disheartening because they're still coming up well short of common sense offensive play calling and defensive schemes.

Hell, Bielema quit coaching yesterday without about a minute and a half left in the first half.  That was embarrassing.

Did he quit coaching, or make a coaching decision you didn't agree with?

[DeltaBoy]

He lost his passion!

[Dark Helmet Hog]

Did he quit coaching, or make a coaching decision you didn't agree with?

Who's idea was the pooch kick?

[chiefhawg]

I was hoping for Bob Stoops to come out retirement for one last rodeo ride with the Hogs. Oh well

[WilsonHog]

Who's idea was the pooch kick?

Well, not being on the sideline or in the booth, I don't know.

[blu]

I personally took many positives out of this game, I'm not going to enumerate them, others should have seen them as well. If you didn't, what I say won't matter. We'll probably win 6-7 regular season games (maybe one more) and we'll probably get a decent bowl game and that is just fine. It will probably require a DMac type talent at QB to take a major step forward, we may already have him, we'll see. BB is ok, (as a fanbase) we're a little unrealistic.

[hogcard1964]

Did he quit coaching, or make a coaching decision you didn't agree with?

I honestly don't know if he quit or he didn't realize how much time was left until it was too late.

It certainly couldn't have been deliberate.

[theFlyingHog]

Who's idea was the pooch kick?

I really like the guy but it's decisions like these that make me wish he was not our coach.

[WilsonHog]

I honestly don't know if he quit or he didn't realize how much time was left until it was too late.

It certainly couldn't have been deliberate.

I am sure it was deliberate.

[Hawgphish]

Let's all take a knee when the Hogs run through the A!

I just took a knee when the wife told me take out the trash.

[BigSexyHog]

Who's idea was the pooch kick?

and if he kicked off deep you would have been upset with that.  Don't deny it either. 

[hogcard1964]

I am sure it was deliberate.

if true, that's sad.

[Dark Helmet Hog]

Well, not being on the sideline or in the booth, I don't know.

Fair point, but I gotta believe a decision like that goes back to the head coach.

[dj shanon "Notshavin" smeya]

The staff might be giving 100%, but they are all over the place, and aren't motivating, planning or making the right in-game decisions to allow our players to succeed.  The reasons are irrelevant at this point, but BB hasn't been good enough at his job and cannot right this ship.  It's glaringly obvious that this has been going on from the beginning and is finally catching up to him.

There were several plays that, had any one of the elements of our team(coaching, players, etc) been effective OR not completely BLOWN IT, we could have won the game right then and there. 

The Aggies were just as inept as we were yesterday, we just happened to be a little more so.

[hogcard1964]

Fair point, but I gotta believe a decision like that goes back to the head coach.

It came from the staff, but I'm sure Bert approved it.

[Dark Helmet Hog]

and if he kicked off deep you would have been upset with that.  Don't deny it either. 

I do deny it.

[PorkRinds]

Then it time for empty seats , black shirts a flyover and a full page ad in the state paper!

It time for a return of the Darkside!

You never attended games before so nothing changes  except your hogville posts.

[longpig]

I really like the guy but it's decisions like these that make me wish he was not our coach.

Pooched to keep it out of Kirk's hands, then kicked to Kirk. 

[porkrindjimmy]

The fact is, once again, the man is in over his head. Yeah, we still root for the kids, yes we still want success for the program  but I can see this week, it is circle the wagons for Bret and his staff. Man makes 4.4 mil a year to make decisions such as run out the clock at the end of the half. Decisions to kick to the most dangerous kick returner in the country. Then decides we can't do that and pooch kicks to the Damn 40 yard line. If it was one game, Ok, everybody has a bad day but these mind blowing decisions are made almost weekly. Confusion on the sidelines, he is lost for words in his pressers, stammers and stutters...confidence is shot...this is a staff that is minor league. Not cut out for the SEC. Spare me the Tenner, SC, Vandy, Auburn, Ole Miss, etc, etc are in the same boat.

There is no way any of you can, with a straight face, say this is our guy and just wait, we are fixing to turn the corner. It ain't gonna happen with this guy...

PRJ

[chiefhawg]

The staff might be giving 100%, but they are all over the place, and aren't motivating, planning or making the right in-game decisions to allow our players to succeed.  The reasons are irrelevant at this point, but BB hasn't been good enough at his job and cannot right this ship.  It's glaringly obvious that this has been going on from the beginning and is finally catching up to him.

There were several plays that, had any one of the elements of our team(coaching, players, etc) been effective OR not completely BLOWN IT, we could have won the game right then and there. 

The Aggies were just as inept as we were yesterday, we just happened to be a little more so.

The staff had two weeks to prepare for a "Freshman" quarterback who was not A&M's original starter at the beginning of the season. A&M is not known as Quarterback U. The Hogs should have had Mond's head spinning with disguised defenses. But oh well.

[porkrindjimmy]

These coaches that are trying so hard...they blitzed twice yesterday...Mond peed himself when we did it...no more blitz, dude looked like a Heisman contender. Once again, it's like, hey that worked twice, let's put it in our back pocket and save it for future opponents...

No.Sense.At.All...no rhyme, no reason. To me that ain't trying, that is just earning a check.

PRJ

[azhog10]

I hate to break this to most of you, but a couple of things need to be pointed out. You can gnash your teeth, spit nails, etc., but it is how the world works these days.

1. The staff is giving 100%.

Glad you pointed that out! Everyone it's okay we now know the staff is giving 100%.

[Dark Helmet Hog]

These coaches that are trying so hard...they blitzed twice yesterday...Monday peed himself when we did it...no more blitz, dude looked like a Heisman contender. Once again, it's like, hey that worked twice, let's put it in our back pocket and save it for future opponents...

No.Sense.At.All...no rhyme, no reason. To me that ain't trying, that is just earning a check.

PRJ

Yep. Defensively we play not to lose and lose anyway. Zero aggressiveness. I'd much rather bring the house every play and go down swinging if we're gonna screw the pooch regardless.   

[dj shanon "Notshavin" smeya]

The staff had two weeks to prepare for a "Freshman" quarterback who was not A&M's original starter at the beginning of the season. A&M is not known as Quarterback U. The Hogs should have had Mond's head spinning with disguised defenses. But oh well.

Right.  And no HC could or should survive losing to A&M every year at what is a Hog-friendly, neutral field.

The list could go on and on, but doesn't matter anymore because

I am going to love watching Kelley and some of the younger talent develop, I hope AA ends his career on a high note and if we upset 'Bama or at least pull off some lesser upsets, it will be fun to watch!  The rest of the time, we will probably continue to stink, but at least the "BB era" is over and we don't have to cling to false hope.

From now on when we go up 21-7, we don't have to keep expecting that big O-line smash-mouth football to finally kick in, we can just enjoy the ride...which is painfully slowly, but FINALLY, truly coming to an end.

[Oklahawg]

The fact is, once again, the man is in over his head. Yeah, we still root for the kids, yes we still want success for the program  but I can see this week, it is circle the wagons for Bret and his staff. Man makes 4.4 mil a year to make decisions such as run out the clock at the end of the half. Decisions to kick to the most dangerous kick returner in the country. Then decides we can't do that and pooch kicks to the Damn 40 yard line. If it was one game, Ok, everybody has a bad day but these mind blowing decisions are made almost weekly. Confusion on the sidelines, he is lost for words in his pressers, stammers and stutters...confidence is shot...this is a staff that is minor league. Not cut out for the SEC. Spare me the Tenner, SC, Vandy, Auburn, Ole Miss, etc, etc are in the same boat.

There is no way any of you can, with a straight face, say this is our guy and just wait, we are fixing to turn the corner. It ain't gonna happen with this guy...

PRJ

This is the irrational crap that gets in the way of good discussions.

[DeltaBoy]

You never attended games before so nothing changes  except your hogville posts.

I attended plenty when Hatfield was there an they played 3 games a year in Little Rock. I am an official Darksider how gave money to get rid of Nutt. I t time for a change!

[Oklahawg]

There is giving 100% doing things the right way to win games and  then there is 100 % the wrong way.  Which applies to this staff?

The staff is screwing the pooch and everyone knows it, don't pretend evrything is wonderful and will fix itself.   It won't

I feel bad for the players.

Well, you are one of the few who gets my point. That surprises me, a bit. (Not that you get it but that more do not.)

You don't go into coaching, and get to this level, without having an uncanny knack for going harder than the average person can conceive as possible.

What happens in the process of living, breathing, eating, and sleeping (a small bit) football is that you lose the capacity to critique yourself.  Professionally, my department always seems to benefit from being asked to "put the project away for a few days" and then return to it. Mid-season, really any time after August 1, and you do not have that time to find perspective.

Perspective in-season has to come from within, or from a hired consultant, or a close consultant who you trust and is close enough to the situation to be able to see all the moving parts (but with different eyes).

===

I suspect CBB's struggle is that his instincts and off-season advice and months of rather intensive staff discussions about all of this ... his instincts are now something he is having to question.

THAT is what is perplexing - how do the instincts of someone (who seems to have strong training and an impressive network of folks to turn to) not figure this out? Or, did his ego get in the way and a 6-7 year slow rebuild was "ego-ed up" to the point we think it should be done already.

[Oklahawg]

Pooched to keep it out of Kirk's hands, then kicked to Kirk. 

Didn't trust the kicker to kick it through the EZ so you try to scheme around giving up field position. When that failed, pooch and give up field position.

[thebignasty]

I want us to win every game. The kids who chose to come here deserve to enjoy success.

I'll never root against us.


Just done making excuses for or defending the coaching.  I no longer believe he can run the program to an acceptable standard. 

[Großer Kriegschwein]

I hate to break this to most of you, but a couple of things need to be pointed out. You can gnash your teeth, spit nails, etc., but it is how the world works these days.

1. The staff is giving 100%. That effort may not be optimized, but the staff is giving it 100%. Nothing reads more foolishly than the suggestion that coaches are just doing this for $$$. The $3M "golden parachute" by HDN was more a middle finger to UA than it was a payday.

2. The "powers that be" are not going to get all bunched up about game-to-game performances. There is no longer a booster crowd that has the ear of anyone that matters. There is no longer a booster crowd that cares to voice their feelings that aggressively. The money will be there, by and large, regardless of wins/losses. There is not longer a "choice replacement" who is supposedly in the hip pocket of a booster.

3. The buyout is not a factor, one way or the other. For CBB, for Long, for anyone wanting CBB. That can be negotiated into a non-factor.

Recalculate your concerns and frustrations without money being an issue. The optics from a stadium on Saturday will be a whloe lot more about the demeanor of coaches and players + the scoreboard and less about the number of actual butts in seats. Where this becomes worth chatting about is when the latter - butts in seats - begins to influence the coaches and players.

Meh.

When the bottom line suffers, changes will be made.

Bottom line of both the Razorback foundation and the Athletic Program.

When Long gets tired of the broken record, it's in everyone's best interest to move on.

[Ragnar Hogbrok]

Studies show that when people say "hate to break it to you," they're being facetious.

[porkrindjimmy]

This is the irrational crap that gets in the way of good discussions.

Irrational? Stupid coaching decisions are irrational and get in the way of good discussion?

Good discussion to you is circling the wagons around Bret because you are so far down the hole in investment with the guy that the only one who is irrational is you.

Every week you tell us some hocus pocus about what good this staff is doing, how the culture and environment have been changed...yada, yada, yada. Staff is doing at best, a piss poor job. He is changing the culture alright, to a losers mentality and to celebrate each victory, which are few and far between, as a super bowl victory.

It isn't the players, it is the staff. They hamstring the players. I could go on about special teams but I won't. You trot out the staff is giving 100%. Yesterday we blitzed exactly twice...Mond wet himself. We didn't do it again. He looked like a Heisman contender. You tell me exactly how that is giving 100%? How that is putting the players in the position to make plays, to win a game? Your synopsis of staff and 100% is irrational.

Lol.

PRJ

[HouSwine]

Who's idea was the pooch kick?

Yep
Other than that call
Not a bad game

[porkrindjimmy]

Didn't trust the kicker to kick it through the EZ so you try to scheme around giving up field position. When that failed, pooch and give up field position.

He has told us that Limpert boots it out of the endzone...

So, you tell me, was he blowing smoke or in 3 weeks has his confidence in the kicker?

Wow.

PRJ

[ricepig]

not all of them

You got one of those meters that registers there effort? It could be that not all 100% are equal, wouldn't you agree?

[HouSwine]

Didn't trust the kicker to kick it through the EZ so you try to scheme around giving up field position. When that failed, pooch and give up field position.

Too much to lose this time. And other than the one TD, we did ok when kicked to the goal line. It just does not make sense.

[ricepig]

Studies show that when people say "hate to break it to you," they're being facetious.

I hate to break it to you, but that study was proven to be facetious.

[Bubba's Bruisers]

Didn't trust the kicker to kick it through the EZ so you try to scheme around giving up field position. When that failed, pooch and give up field position.

According to Erie, we were kicking to the GL on purpose all game until the pooch.  It sure looked that way to me too.  Playing the odds.  It worked out very well until Kirk got ahold of one.

[Bubba's Bruisers]

This is the irrational crap that gets in the way of good discussions.

Not agreeing with it all, but the post isn't irrational.  Probably lots of truth.  If you want to claim the poster is generally irrational, I get it, but the post not so much.

[ricepig]

He has told us that Limpert boots it out of the endzone...

So, you tell me, was he blowing smoke or in 3 weeks has his confidence in the kicker?

Wow.

PRJ

I've only seen Limpert kick them out of the end zone with a wind, has he done so without one? I didn't watch all of the KO's yesterday, I saw some good coverage on a couple of them.

[ballz2thewall]

you cannot convince a thinking person that the roster on the OL is receiving 100% effort from the coaches.

perhaps you're speaking from passion.

what we see on the field from season to season is a sign of subpar management; of ineffective leadership.

it is that simple.

moving from 8 consistent wins to 10+ might be personnel related.

but we're stuck in coaching quicksand.

[porkrindjimmy]

I've only seen Limpert kick them out of the end zone with a wind, has he done so without one? I didn't watch all of the KO's yesterday, I saw some good coverage on a couple of them.

IDK Rice. I am just going off what Bret said in the preseason. I think the guy has a good leg, for some reason, I think he isn't having him put it out of the endzone...my opinion. But then again, if he could have, wouldn't that be the move you make instead of the pooch?

PRJ

[Redhogs]

I hate to break this to most of you, but a couple of things need to be pointed out. You can gnash your teeth, spit nails, etc., but it is how the world works these days.

1. The staff is giving 100%. That effort may not be optimized, but the staff is giving it 100%. Nothing reads more foolishly than the suggestion that coaches are just doing this for $$$. The $3M "golden parachute" by HDN was more a middle finger to UA than it was a payday.

2. The "powers that be" are not going to get all bunched up about game-to-game performances. There is no longer a booster crowd that has the ear of anyone that matters. There is no longer a booster crowd that cares to voice their feelings that aggressively. The money will be there, by and large, regardless of wins/losses. There is not longer a "choice replacement" who is supposedly in the hip pocket of a booster.

3. The buyout is not a factor, one way or the other. For CBB, for Long, for anyone wanting CBB. That can be negotiated into a non-factor.

Recalculate your concerns and frustrations without money being an issue. The optics from a stadium on Saturday will be a whloe lot more about the demeanor of coaches and players + the scoreboard and less about the number of actual butts in seats. Where this becomes worth chatting about is when the latter - butts in seats - begins to influence the coaches and players.

Probably all true...enjoy. We are what we are as far as the eye can see apparently. Anybody looking for this coach to suddenly figure it out and restore pride in this program is fooling themselves. Apathy is and has become what is coming. Oh well......