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In his fourth annual Media Day address, Mike MacIntyre’s tone didn’t feel altogether different from years passed. The head football coach at Colorado still brings his brand of coach speak, with enough football acumen to keep the writer’s in the room engaged.
If anything, MacIntyre may have seemed more straight forward than ever. Throughout his press conference, there were the usual nods towards hope and the idea that this year, finally, things might be different.
“You’ve got to turn words into action,” he said. “That’s what they want to do.”
The “they,” of course, refers to MacIntyre’s most veteran roster thus far in Boulder. His quarterback, Sefo Liufau, appears to be completely recovered and comfortable in his role as a fourth year starter. Liufau was also selected as a team captain for the third time, only the second time in school history that has happened, the importance of which MacIntyre isn’t ready to undervalue.
Littered throughout the rest of the roster is the kind of experience and veteran leadership that coach’s everywhere covet. In fact, Colorado’s junior and senior classes are the largest since 2001, with the 412 returning starts being the most ever for a Buffaloes team. With that comes, according to MacIntyre, an intensity and focus that eludes younger teams. Expectations, too, come with such an experienced roster.
“We always want the expectations high,” he said.
Around Boulder, those expectations are for a bowl game. Year four of the MacIntyre era is the most pressure-filled yet, though the coach doesn’t seem to be, at least publicly, ready to pound such an idea into his players head, specifically. As for why this year might be different from the previous three, MacIntyre offered up his most optimistic take of the day.
“It’s all a process and it builds on top of everything,” he said. “I’d like to go out and run a marathon tomorrow but once I start running I’d break down on the eighth or ninth mile. Now (players) are at the point where they believe it. When your words turn into actions, that’s where results happen more.
“(Upperclassmen) do a lot of the talking that I don’t have to do anymore. They do have a chip on their shoulder. You always hear that but they really do. They stuck with this program.”
One of the things MacIntyre noted was how much attrition the program had endured through the mid-to-late 2000s and early 2010s. While experiencing plenty of attrition of his own, through coaches leaving or a mutual parting of ways, MacIntyre has seen his need for self improvement become as important as anything else to the success of his program.
“You’ve never arrived,” he said. “The thing that happens is, every team is a little bit different. i think that one of the things that I’ve tried to improve on consistently is making sure I listen to the staff, hear all the input. Then, trying to rationalize and figure it out what’s best for the program and team.”
McIntyre has changed the way he talks to his players, challenging them towards tougher goals and demanding even more from his team. That’s what can happen in year four—what needs to happen, perhaps even earlier. He’s seen the team respond, so far, through the development of an edge he hadn’t seen before.
Like so much, though, fans have heard similar rhetoric. So has MacIntyre.
“We need to see it on Saturdays when we show up,” he noted.
William Whelan
Continue reading...
If anything, MacIntyre may have seemed more straight forward than ever. Throughout his press conference, there were the usual nods towards hope and the idea that this year, finally, things might be different.
“You’ve got to turn words into action,” he said. “That’s what they want to do.”
The “they,” of course, refers to MacIntyre’s most veteran roster thus far in Boulder. His quarterback, Sefo Liufau, appears to be completely recovered and comfortable in his role as a fourth year starter. Liufau was also selected as a team captain for the third time, only the second time in school history that has happened, the importance of which MacIntyre isn’t ready to undervalue.
Littered throughout the rest of the roster is the kind of experience and veteran leadership that coach’s everywhere covet. In fact, Colorado’s junior and senior classes are the largest since 2001, with the 412 returning starts being the most ever for a Buffaloes team. With that comes, according to MacIntyre, an intensity and focus that eludes younger teams. Expectations, too, come with such an experienced roster.
“We always want the expectations high,” he said.
Around Boulder, those expectations are for a bowl game. Year four of the MacIntyre era is the most pressure-filled yet, though the coach doesn’t seem to be, at least publicly, ready to pound such an idea into his players head, specifically. As for why this year might be different from the previous three, MacIntyre offered up his most optimistic take of the day.
“It’s all a process and it builds on top of everything,” he said. “I’d like to go out and run a marathon tomorrow but once I start running I’d break down on the eighth or ninth mile. Now (players) are at the point where they believe it. When your words turn into actions, that’s where results happen more.
“(Upperclassmen) do a lot of the talking that I don’t have to do anymore. They do have a chip on their shoulder. You always hear that but they really do. They stuck with this program.”
One of the things MacIntyre noted was how much attrition the program had endured through the mid-to-late 2000s and early 2010s. While experiencing plenty of attrition of his own, through coaches leaving or a mutual parting of ways, MacIntyre has seen his need for self improvement become as important as anything else to the success of his program.
“You’ve never arrived,” he said. “The thing that happens is, every team is a little bit different. i think that one of the things that I’ve tried to improve on consistently is making sure I listen to the staff, hear all the input. Then, trying to rationalize and figure it out what’s best for the program and team.”
McIntyre has changed the way he talks to his players, challenging them towards tougher goals and demanding even more from his team. That’s what can happen in year four—what needs to happen, perhaps even earlier. He’s seen the team respond, so far, through the development of an edge he hadn’t seen before.
Like so much, though, fans have heard similar rhetoric. So has MacIntyre.
“We need to see it on Saturdays when we show up,” he noted.
William Whelan
Continue reading...