HCSF's constant talk about recruiting/talent has a downside for current players

[Huskerhunter]

As Sipple said in his LJS article today, "Lest you gloss over the talent issue at hand, Husker coach Scott Frost routinely tosses in reminders of its significance."

We can all see the obvious, but IMHO, HCSF would better served to not keep saying it so loudly and publicly because it DOES take a toll on the psyche of current players, especially Juniors and Seniors.

"Recruiting won't be that big of deal this coming year because we're currently really good"......said no college coach EVER. So why keep making your current players feel like chopped liver and reminding them they aren't very talented. How would you feel if you were a player on the current team and your coach is constantly throwing out that you just aren't very talented and it won't get better until the new guys get here?

We currently rank 104th in total defense among FBS schools. You can argue stars, regime/scheme changes and busts all day long but it's hard to argue our current players are as bad as they are performing.

Frost would be better served by keeping the "we don't have the jimmy's and joe's" comments/thoughts to himself and his fellow coaches. He can't fix it this year, it's so obvious it doesn't need repeating and it starts to sound like excuse-making. your job is to maximize the talent you've got and do your best to put them in a position to win.

End of rant.

 

[BigRedAvenger]

Motivation. Also honesty.

 

[AzHusker]

As Sipple said in his LJS article today, "Lest you gloss over the talent issue at hand, Husker coach Scott Frost routinely tosses in reminders of its significance."

We can all see the obvious, but IMHO, HCSF would better served to not keep saying it so loudly and publicly because it DOES take a toll on the psyche of current players, especially Juniors and Seniors.

"Recruiting won't be that big of deal this coming year because we're currently really good"......said no college coach EVER. So why keep making your current players feel like chopped liver and reminding them they aren't very talented. How would you feel if you were a player on the current team and your coach is constantly throwing out that you just aren't very talented and it won't get better until the new guys get here?

We currently rank 104th in total defense among FBS schools. You can argue stars, regime/scheme changes and busts all day long but it's hard to argue our current players are as bad as they are performing.

Frost would be better served by keeping the "we don't have the jimmy's and joe's" comments/thoughts to himself and his fellow coaches. He can't fix it this year, it's so obvious it doesn't need repeating and it starts to sound like excuse-making. your job is to maximize the talent you've got and do your best to put them in a position to win.

End of rant.

Early on, Scott and his coaches did say "this is not a 4-8 team" and "we have guys to win some football games" but you are right, it does seem that talking up recruiting too much now is a slam on current folks. I have not listened to Scott talking about recruiting recently - there is also the chance that he's made some comments that sound different without their original (and intended) context.

Here's a recent Derek Peterson article on the state of talent on this team: https://hailvarsity.com/s/5096/talent-isnt-whats-costing-nebraska-football-games-right-now

Others will disagree, but some of this and other issues could be partially fixed by Scott not feeling like he has to share every thought when he has a mike in front of him. I wouldn't mind seeing him borrow a page or two from the Bill Belichick handbook of media relations...

 

[alabamahusker]

My take is that it can be a fine line I guess.
But here is the deal, we need an upgrade in talent.
There is no question about this is there?
NO...……
With that said, besides just being SF (honest / straight forward), perhaps he is just letting folks know, regardless of whether that is current player,
fan base, and especially future recruits, that we know where we want to go and who we need to get in order to get there.
Do you want to be part of that? To have a chance to come in and play right away/shine etc.. if you want to work hard?
Personally, I have no issue with what he has been saying.
My only hope at this point is that we truly are able to get the folks he believes can get this program where it needs to be.
0-6 isn't helping that imo…

 

[huskernut]

Others will disagree, but some of this and other issues could be partially fixed by Scott not feeling like he has to share every thought when he has a mike in front of him. I wouldn't mind seeing him borrow a page or two from the Bill Belichick handbook of media relations...

I agree completely. My theory is his love and passion for Nebraska makes him feel like he wants to share everything and assure everybody it will get better and here's why. I love him for that, actually. But that isn't necessarily what's best overall. I can think of a guy who could tell him it's OK, you don't need to share everything. I'm hoping they go hunting together in the offseason.

We got your back, Scott. Just do. The results will make us happy. You don't owe us anything except your best effort. And I am a firm believer that will be enough.

 

[bilsker]

I agree it can be a dicey thing to continually mention. Everyone who knows anything about college football knows that recruiting is the lifeblood. Fans, players, coaches, media, etc...we all KNOW this.

Repeating it publicly does start to come off as throwing players under the bus. And it is TRUE that Nebraska has the players on the field TODAY to win some of these games. NU didn't lose to colorado because they outclassed NU man for man. Same with Troy, purdue and Northwestern. Implying that "we'd win those games if we had better players"...even if he REALLY means "if we had more depth"...carries a risk. I'd rather see more coach speak/falling on the sword publicly. What he says in the locker room is a total different story IMO. The "honesty"...i.e. you guys need to quit screwing up!" is best left "in house" IMO.

Would you respect your boss more/run through a wall for him/her if he threw you under the bus in a meeting and or said "I need to do a better job of x, y and z" and then pulled you aside later and said "I need more out of you"?

 

[wcbsas]

Early on, Scott and his coaches did say "this is not a 4-8 team" and "we have guys to win some football games" but you are right, it does seem that talking up recruiting too much now is a slam on current folks. I have not listened to Scott talking about recruiting recently - there is also the chance that he's made some comments that sound different without their original (and intended) context.

Here's a recent Derek Peterson article on the state of talent on this team: https://hailvarsity.com/s/5096/talent-isnt-whats-costing-nebraska-football-games-right-now

Others will disagree, but some of this and other issues could be partially fixed by Scott not feeling like he has to share every thought when he has a mike in front of him. I wouldn't mind seeing him borrow a page or two from the Bill Belichick handbook of media relations...

I agree with the article's premise. We definitely have talent in spots. There are other spots where talent is lacking.

I also agree that SF needs to quiet down the rhetoric. To me, the talent we have are making way too many mistakes which demonstrates issues with the mental part of the game. Where's the coaching ownership of that?

Coaching and development this year seems to have its moments as well.

 

[CrabHusker]

I agree with the article's premise. We definitely have talent in spots. There are other spots where talent is lacking.

I also agree that SF needs to quiet down the rhetoric. To me, the talent we have are making way too many mistakes which demonstrates issues with the mental part of the game. Where's the coaching ownership of that?

Coaching and development this year seems to have its moments as well.

The bolded is where I'm at.

Talk talent all you want, but you better get your talent on hand ready to play. If these kids were playing technically sound football with fewer mistakes they're not 0-6. That's not on the talent, that's coaching.

 

[Colfax]

I have noticed, following college football as I have, the really great football coaches take responsibility for their teams performance. Two I recall best exemplify that trait were Hayden Fry of Iowa and John Robinson when he tryed to make something happened at UNLV. As well as following Nebraska my entire life, I lived around those teams during their tenure. They had tough times as coaches at times and in fact Robinson never made it happen. The one thing they did/said was, "we need to coach better." I do not recall them every saying they "did not have talented players" , "the player don't make plays", "we need recruit more talent" ,etc. They always just said, "we need to coach better!" All of it is coaching. recruiting more talent, developing that talent, developing player character, game planning, game management, is just "coaching better." No need to imply your current players are not talented by approaching the issue to the press/public any other way. These two coaches did not, in any way, imply blame for losses or in Robinson' case a string of losses on their players they just said, "we need to coach better."

I am a big Scott Frost fan. When summering in Oregon, while he was at U of Oregon, would joke with my Oregon friends thanking them for help training Nebraska's future head coach. Their response at that time was if things work out for us he will be Oregon's future head coach and Nebraska will never get him. As talented as I think he is I just think he still needs to learn to divert team adversity from the players and put that load on the coaching staff where it belongs, whatever the issue be.

 

[ColoREDo]

Its every coaches job to get the best player they can at every position. Even if you have an all-American, you want to recruit a guy thats even better than him if possible. No player should ever feel comfortable with their starting position. Not on an 0-6 team and not even on a 6-0 team.

 

[Bleed Red]

As Sipple said in his LJS article today, "Lest you gloss over the talent issue at hand, Husker coach Scott Frost routinely tosses in reminders of its significance."

We can all see the obvious, but IMHO, HCSF would better served to not keep saying it so loudly and publicly because it DOES take a toll on the psyche of current players, especially Juniors and Seniors.

"Recruiting won't be that big of deal this coming year because we're currently really good"......said no college coach EVER. So why keep making your current players feel like chopped liver and reminding them they aren't very talented. How would you feel if you were a player on the current team and your coach is constantly throwing out that you just aren't very talented and it won't get better until the new guys get here?

We currently rank 104th in total defense among FBS schools. You can argue stars, regime/scheme changes and busts all day long but it's hard to argue our current players are as bad as they are performing.

Frost would be better served by keeping the "we don't have the jimmy's and joe's" comments/thoughts to himself and his fellow coaches. He can't fix it this year, it's so obvious it doesn't need repeating and it starts to sound like excuse-making. your job is to maximize the talent you've got and do your best to put them in a position to win.

End of rant.

Every college athlete is faced with the fact that as soon as they are on campus, the coaches job is to recruit someone better to take their place. This has been said by many coaches and i think kids value the honesty. It is part of the "not making promises" to recruits as well.

 

[HuskerWeatherman]

As Sipple said in his LJS article today, "Lest you gloss over the talent issue at hand, Husker coach Scott Frost routinely tosses in reminders of its significance."

We can all see the obvious, but IMHO, HCSF would better served to not keep saying it so loudly and publicly because it DOES take a toll on the psyche of current players, especially Juniors and Seniors.

"Recruiting won't be that big of deal this coming year because we're currently really good"......said no college coach EVER. So why keep making your current players feel like chopped liver and reminding them they aren't very talented. How would you feel if you were a player on the current team and your coach is constantly throwing out that you just aren't very talented and it won't get better until the new guys get here?

We currently rank 104th in total defense among FBS schools. You can argue stars, regime/scheme changes and busts all day long but it's hard to argue our current players are as bad as they are performing.

Frost would be better served by keeping the "we don't have the jimmy's and joe's" comments/thoughts to himself and his fellow coaches. He can't fix it this year, it's so obvious it doesn't need repeating and it starts to sound like excuse-making. your job is to maximize the talent you've got and do your best to put them in a position to win.

End of rant.

Good post, hunter. And since I agree with it, it's actually an awesomely correct post.

This is a good point, though. It is the Riley holdovers that are routinely thrown under the bus by those who are so adamant on defending the staff, they'll pounce on anyone who questions them.

Countless times I've read, here and many other social media forums, "You can't blame Frost, these aren't his players. Frost inherited a dumpster fire! These players just aren't good enough." And on and on. Frost leads the way in encouraging these sentiments. And of course, proclaiming to the media that he's not the one calling (failed) defensive plays isn't a good look either.

Ultimately, we hired a very inexperienced coach. Frost has a lot to learn, and he's falling short in a lot of ways. But we will keep faith that he will continue to learn from his shortcomings and mature -- and one day bring the success we are all pulling for.

 

[HuskerFed]

I am sure they have been coached regarding fundamentals but the staff are not the ones that continues to commit penalties, use improper technique or be able to remember the snap count. Either a player is not concentrating or he does not have the physical ability or speed to get the job done. It is up to the staff to coach but the player has to get the most out of what they have. You cannot coach speed or athletic ability. You can improve strength. SF would be better not answering media questions but they feed on every word he says. Its a no win situation for him but as true fans we will continue to want the best for this team as well as its future.

 

[GIFRRO]

Good post, hunter. And since I agree with it, it's actually an awesomely correct post.

This is a good point, though. It is the Riley holdovers that are routinely thrown under the bus by those who are so adamant on defending the staff, they'll pounce on anyone who questions them.

Countless times I've read, here and many other social media forums, "You can't blame Frost, these aren't his players. Frost inherited a dumpster fire! These players just aren't good enough." And on and on. Frost leads the way in encouraging these sentiments. And of course, proclaiming to the media that he's not the one calling (failed) defensive plays isn't a good look either.

Ultimately, we hired a very inexperienced coach. Frost has a lot to learn, and he's falling short in a lot of ways. But we will keep faith that he will continue to learn from his shortcomings and mature -- and one day bring the success we are all pulling for.

Couldnt agree more Weatherman. I've started several posts trying to explain that Frost wants these kids to play hard for him but he leads the charge in creating a perception that they dont uderstand hard work and character etc, etc. Is it a wonder they dont play with confidence?
Hes in a tough spot, but hes not played his cards well and its backfiring on him. And In not sure he gets that yet..........
He has confidence but also is a little cocky, and IMO its biting him in the butt a little

 

[Red October]

The constant clamor for Husker news drives the beast.