I don't question Hawks desire to win or his willingness to work hard to get there. The problem is that as he keeps losing Hawk falls deeper and deeper into a me against the world mentality.
Generally speaking guys who were great players make lousy coachs. The best coaches are guys who were able to stay in the game based on working harder, making fewer mistakes, and being better prepared than the guys who were more physically gifted. From all reports Hawk was the same as a player, a guy who overcame being small and slow by working harder and being smarter than the guys he was competing against.
The problem is that often when these coaches have a tough time they revert mentally to what they saw as their formula for success and begin to almost resent those who succeed based on better athletic ability and talent. As the criticism gets more intense they retreat further into their world of trying to prove that they can overcome anything if they just work harder and outsmart other people.
I see Hawk as falling headlong into this mentallity. He sees his critics, be they in the press, on the web, fans in general, or even his own players as the enemy. He has convinced himself that his best ally in this fight is his own son who has the same shortcomings as he did (small, lacking physical gifts, slow) but having the head of a coach. He has looked to those players who he thinks best represent this mentality thus we get Espy and Ebner playing in front of Simmons, Simas, and Wright. This is how we get Jeff Smart who is a good player but lacks the speed to stay with TEs and RBs crossing the middle in front of Mohler who may make more mistakes but has the athletic ability to make up for them plus some. It is how Manke stays in the starting line-up depite being identified by opposing OCs as the guy to go after when they need a big play with an athletically gifted reciever. I could go on.
This same mentallity is how you take athletically gifted guys and justify sitting them. How many people think that Adrian Petterson was the hardest working back on the Sooners or had the best grasp of the playbook. It didn't matter they figured out what he could do and took advantage of the fact that he could do those things very well and took advantage of them. I could say the same thing about Crabtree at TT, Linus Sweed at Texas, about a thousand other guys over the years.
The coaches job is not to figure out who are the hardest working guys and fit them into his system. Instead it is the coaches job to figure out how to get the most talented players into a position where they can make plays and motivate them to do so.
Hawk may have a great concept of what he wants to do on offense and defense, he may know as much about the technical aspects of the game as any coach in the Big XII. The problem is that all the knowledge and hard work in the world does not make up for what sheer talent can do on a football field. We may have had a better scheme than WVU but it all went out the window when Noel Devine left our hard workers in the dust, when WVU's WR's ran past our hard working defenders. I seriously doubt that Noel Devine has a better grasp on the playbook than Demitrious Sumler but I guarantee that Devine will make a lot more plays, even if he runs to the wrong hole.
I fully agree that Hawk is handicapped by the lack of quality upperclassmen on this roster. A look at the roster will tell you that when Barnett left he didn't leave much behind in the classes that should now be our Jrs and Srs. I also have no question that ouside of a few key positions (QB as the key one) Hawk has recruited Big XII quality athletes and players.
The problem is that Hawk does not have the luxury of not playing these young athletes to serve his own vain ideas of hustle winning out. Scotty McKnight has earned a place on the field but their is no excuse for not getting Simmons or Wright onto the field and into a position where they can make plays (other than Cody can't hit the broad side of a barn more than 20 yards downfield under a rush) just as their is no excuse for not figuring out how to get production out of a RB who was wanted by every major program in the country. I can't believe that the coaches at Florida, Texas, USC, etc were all wrong about Darrell Scott or is Hawk wrong in how he uses or doesn't use him. And by the way plenty of teams have had combinations where they have made use of a player like Speedy complimenting a feature back like Scott should be (Devine last year for example.)
I watch the best teams in the country, Florida, Texas, LSU, Oklahoma, USC, etc. and one constant is that they have players on the field making plays. Yes they have solid schemes and teach technique but they also have a large measure of great athletes doing what great athletes do. They have recievers and runningbacks who break a tackle and outrun everyone else, they have QBs who make athletic plays and get the ball to those guys who can may the plays, they have defensive players who use speed, explosiveness, power, to change games on individual plays.
Hawk has choosen to ignore all of this and think that winning is all about him, not his players. I am not presently connected to the team directly but I see clear signs that the players see this as well. They are not stupid, they know who on the team is capable of making good things happen and wonder why those guys are not on the field as we continue to lose. My fear now is that even if Hawk were to come to a realization it may be to late. I see a lot of those difference makers and the guys whose support them as losing confidence in Hawk's ability to make judgements in the best interest of the team.
It is already a long year and only getting longer. Not only have we already lost game we have no business losing but I don't have much confidence that things will change much. Our recruiting reflects that the quality HS players can see what is going on as well.
I hope that Bohn comes to see the situation for what it is and makes a change as soon as is practically posible. The advantage we have is that the new coach coming in won't have the lack of talent in the Fr. and Soph classes that Hawk did. If he can rescue this years class with even a reasonable number of Big XII quality players the program can have a bright future.
Generally speaking guys who were great players make lousy coachs. The best coaches are guys who were able to stay in the game based on working harder, making fewer mistakes, and being better prepared than the guys who were more physically gifted. From all reports Hawk was the same as a player, a guy who overcame being small and slow by working harder and being smarter than the guys he was competing against.
The problem is that often when these coaches have a tough time they revert mentally to what they saw as their formula for success and begin to almost resent those who succeed based on better athletic ability and talent. As the criticism gets more intense they retreat further into their world of trying to prove that they can overcome anything if they just work harder and outsmart other people.
I see Hawk as falling headlong into this mentallity. He sees his critics, be they in the press, on the web, fans in general, or even his own players as the enemy. He has convinced himself that his best ally in this fight is his own son who has the same shortcomings as he did (small, lacking physical gifts, slow) but having the head of a coach. He has looked to those players who he thinks best represent this mentality thus we get Espy and Ebner playing in front of Simmons, Simas, and Wright. This is how we get Jeff Smart who is a good player but lacks the speed to stay with TEs and RBs crossing the middle in front of Mohler who may make more mistakes but has the athletic ability to make up for them plus some. It is how Manke stays in the starting line-up depite being identified by opposing OCs as the guy to go after when they need a big play with an athletically gifted reciever. I could go on.
This same mentallity is how you take athletically gifted guys and justify sitting them. How many people think that Adrian Petterson was the hardest working back on the Sooners or had the best grasp of the playbook. It didn't matter they figured out what he could do and took advantage of the fact that he could do those things very well and took advantage of them. I could say the same thing about Crabtree at TT, Linus Sweed at Texas, about a thousand other guys over the years.
The coaches job is not to figure out who are the hardest working guys and fit them into his system. Instead it is the coaches job to figure out how to get the most talented players into a position where they can make plays and motivate them to do so.
Hawk may have a great concept of what he wants to do on offense and defense, he may know as much about the technical aspects of the game as any coach in the Big XII. The problem is that all the knowledge and hard work in the world does not make up for what sheer talent can do on a football field. We may have had a better scheme than WVU but it all went out the window when Noel Devine left our hard workers in the dust, when WVU's WR's ran past our hard working defenders. I seriously doubt that Noel Devine has a better grasp on the playbook than Demitrious Sumler but I guarantee that Devine will make a lot more plays, even if he runs to the wrong hole.
I fully agree that Hawk is handicapped by the lack of quality upperclassmen on this roster. A look at the roster will tell you that when Barnett left he didn't leave much behind in the classes that should now be our Jrs and Srs. I also have no question that ouside of a few key positions (QB as the key one) Hawk has recruited Big XII quality athletes and players.
The problem is that Hawk does not have the luxury of not playing these young athletes to serve his own vain ideas of hustle winning out. Scotty McKnight has earned a place on the field but their is no excuse for not getting Simmons or Wright onto the field and into a position where they can make plays (other than Cody can't hit the broad side of a barn more than 20 yards downfield under a rush) just as their is no excuse for not figuring out how to get production out of a RB who was wanted by every major program in the country. I can't believe that the coaches at Florida, Texas, USC, etc were all wrong about Darrell Scott or is Hawk wrong in how he uses or doesn't use him. And by the way plenty of teams have had combinations where they have made use of a player like Speedy complimenting a feature back like Scott should be (Devine last year for example.)
I watch the best teams in the country, Florida, Texas, LSU, Oklahoma, USC, etc. and one constant is that they have players on the field making plays. Yes they have solid schemes and teach technique but they also have a large measure of great athletes doing what great athletes do. They have recievers and runningbacks who break a tackle and outrun everyone else, they have QBs who make athletic plays and get the ball to those guys who can may the plays, they have defensive players who use speed, explosiveness, power, to change games on individual plays.
Hawk has choosen to ignore all of this and think that winning is all about him, not his players. I am not presently connected to the team directly but I see clear signs that the players see this as well. They are not stupid, they know who on the team is capable of making good things happen and wonder why those guys are not on the field as we continue to lose. My fear now is that even if Hawk were to come to a realization it may be to late. I see a lot of those difference makers and the guys whose support them as losing confidence in Hawk's ability to make judgements in the best interest of the team.
It is already a long year and only getting longer. Not only have we already lost game we have no business losing but I don't have much confidence that things will change much. Our recruiting reflects that the quality HS players can see what is going on as well.
I hope that Bohn comes to see the situation for what it is and makes a change as soon as is practically posible. The advantage we have is that the new coach coming in won't have the lack of talent in the Fr. and Soph classes that Hawk did. If he can rescue this years class with even a reasonable number of Big XII quality players the program can have a bright future.
:finger2::haha::rock:
