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No Sugar from a Sugar Coater

George Ferguson

Well-known member
I'm a proud sugar coater, and I readily admit that. And, as I see Egriz has gone off the rails, I figured, why the hell not? I'll pile on. THE EXCEPTION being I'm going to point out what it means to actually be honest with yourself and objective.

OK first thing's first. The Griz should have won the game. They know it, Stitt knows it, everybody knows it. You don't blow a 24-6 lead in your house against the team that WILL now go on and win the Big Sky. Yes, EWU will beat MSU in Cheney, and they will win the conference this year, though, from what I'm seeing, I'm not really sure that's saying much.

Now, let's talk coaches, since everybody else is. Stitt is the head coach. It's ALWAYS on him. He knows it, he's said. The buck stops with him tonight, and every night. No excuses. He's the head coach. His team collapsed.

Semore: Enough said. His defense clearly has no identity. Lack of adjustments aside, it appears he wants this team to be an exotic NFL defense. Multiple looks, multiple packages, ect, ect. It isn't working. It's a mess. No denying it.

Assistants. This is where I completely seperate from most of the Egrizzers. Most posting here are just scared to be brutally honest, and this Montana vs out-of-state coaching thing makes even some of the smartest posters look really not very smart.

Bottom line, position to position, THE former Griz coaches aren't even close to exempt from what happened tonight, and what's happened over the last year. And guess what? They know it too.

Here's two examples, and I guess I'm the only one that's not scared to point them out, but anyone who knows anything about football flat out can't deny it.

1. For all of the praise heaped on Josh Sandry in preseason, he's developing some awfully bad habits. Namely, becoming an ankle biter. He's too damn good of a football player to be doing nothing but diving at ankles, and then laying on his chest and watching players go by. His position coach, the coach who spends more time with him than anyone else is Shann. Shann was, in my opionion, one of the most fundamentally sound defensive players I've ever seen play for the Griz. He literally never screwed up. He didn't blow coverages, he made plays in coverage, and he tackled really well, ALL THE TIME. He sure as hell didn't bite ankles. So in my humble opinion, it's on Shann to make Josh a much more fundamentally sound football player. I'm sorry for the blasphemy, but that's the bottom line. You guys want to bitch and moan about the secondary, and I'm not disagreeing with much of the critcism, Shann is every bit a part of that criticim, from a teaching and fundamentals standpoint. Not just Semore and not just Hall because they didn't play for the Griz. That's just really dumb on some of you guys' part to look at it that way.

Second example. You guys rip and rip and rip on the drops. Tonight, we saw a HUGGGGGEEE drop from Taylor, that, in my opinion, would have won that game. I felt bad for him. That's an embarassing moment. But he surely wasn't alone. I was on the field for both of the bombs to Sammy, and I honestly though both balls should have been caught. Now, honestly, I'm more of the school that receivers, even the great ones, drop balls. But since you guys want to rip these kids, and the coaches, well, there's only ONE WR coach on this staff presently. And he played his guts out for the Griz, and I know him a little personally. I love the guy, but guess what, those receivers are HIS GUYS. He runs the position drills in practice. He runs the WR meeting room, he runs the WR film study. He's the one that's teaching them fundamentals. He spends more time with the WR's on a daily basis than any other coach. So, why should he then be exempt from criticism? Because he was a really good WR for the Griz? Come on guys. That's just weak. If you're gonna go hard, and rip and tear this program apart, at least be honest all the way about it.

So here's honesty and objectivity. If I had to grade the coaching staff on an individual basis right now, the only two I'd give a passing grade to are indeed Montana dudes, but I wouldn't care where they played, they've done a great job. And that's Germer and Selle. I don't care what happened tonight, this OL is wayyyyyyyyy better than last year, and that was the goal. I also think Andrew Selle has been a godsent to Griz football. To have Gresch as ready as he did tonight is flatout remarkable.

If any ONE of the posters who wants coaches fired has a shred of honesty inside them, than they know what I'm saying is dead on.

There's also the players themselves. What I truly love about this team, and actually, most college football teams is, the players hold themselves accountable. They know they made mistakes tonight. Some were catastrophic. Defensively, I thought the only guys who should grade out high tonight were Scheye, Strahm and McKinley. Everybody else made some pretty important mistakes at one time or another. But the thing is, those guys will take responsibility for it. I respect the hell out of that. Offensively, I thought Gresch did great. He played his heart out in a tough ass game that two weeks ago he probably never thought he'd even see a meangingful snap in. I thought Alijah Lee was a horse too and I thought the OL battled their asses off.

It sucks that 41 points wasn't enough to win. It should be, and the way the D played in the first half, it easily should have been. But, on the flip side of that coin, I give credit where credit where credit is due as well. Eastern made the adjustments, took exactly what Semore gave them and ripped it apart. It was painful to watch. It disappointed me, and it makes me made. And I'm not sugarcoating it in the least bit.

In other words, no sugar from a sugar coater.But at the same time, there's no exemptions either.
 
Agreed, on all points. But it's the head coaches job to separate the wheat from the chaff. And those coaching changes required to improve should have been made during the offseason. That's the bottom line


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Good coaches learn, improve and adjust. Next week will be the test. Will we learn from this game, make changes and improve? If they do, fantastic, or will we continue at the same level of mediocrity?

We should be 3—1 right now, frustrating, very frustrating. I don't want heads to roll I just want improvement.
 
Good post. No one on the current staff gets a pass in my book. This team is under led across the board.

The new HC can sort out who can stay and who can go. Seems Selle and Germer might have good chances to stay.
 
George Ferguson said:
I'm a proud sugar coater, and I readily admit that. And, as I see Egriz has gone off the rails, I figured, why the hell not? I'll pile on. THE EXCEPTION being I'm going to point out what it means to actually be honest with yourself and objective.

OK first thing's first. The Griz should have won the game. They know it, Stitt knows it, everybody knows it. You don't blow a 24-6 lead in your house against the team that WILL now go on and win the Big Sky. Yes, EWU will beat MSU in Cheney, and they will win the conference this year, though, from what I'm seeing, I'm not really sure that's saying much.

Now, let's talk coaches, since everybody else is. Stitt is the head coach. It's ALWAYS on him. He knows it, he's said. The buck stops with him tonight, and every night. No excuses. He's the head coach. His team collapsed.

Semore: Enough said. His defense clearly has no identity. Lack of adjustments aside, it appears he wants this team to be an exotic NFL defense. Multiple looks, multiple packages, ect, ect. It isn't working. It's a mess. No denying it.

Assistants. This is where I completely seperate from most of the Egrizzers. Most posting here are just scared to be brutally honest, and this Montana vs out-of-state coaching thing makes even some of the smartest posters look really not very smart.

Bottom line, position to position, THE former Griz coaches aren't even close to exempt from what happened tonight, and what's happened over the last year. And guess what? They know it too.

Here's two examples, and I guess I'm the only one that's not scared to point them out, but anyone who knows anything about football flat out can't deny it.

1. For all of the praise heaped on Josh Sandry in preseason, he's developing some awfully bad habits. Namely, becoming an ankle biter. He's too damn good of a football player to be doing nothing but diving at ankles, and then laying on his chest and watching players go by. His position coach, the coach who spends more time with him than anyone else is Shann. Shann was, in my opionion, one of the most fundamentally sound defensive players I've ever seen play for the Griz. He literally never screwed up. He didn't blow coverages, he made plays in coverage, and he tackled really well, ALL THE TIME. He sure as hell didn't bite ankles. So in my humble opinion, it's on Shann to make Josh a much more fundamentally sound football player. I'm sorry for the blasphemy, but that's the bottom line. You guys want to bitch and moan about the secondary, and I'm not disagreeing with much of the critcism, Shann is every bit a part of that criticim, from a teaching and fundamentals standpoint. Not just Semore and not just Hall because they didn't play for the Griz. That's just really dumb on some of you guys' part to look at it that way.

Second example. You guys rip and rip and rip on the drops. Tonight, we saw a HUGGGGGEEE drop from Taylor, that, in my opinion, would have won that game. I felt bad for him. That's an embarassing moment. But he surely wasn't alone. I was on the field for both of the bombs to Sammy, and I honestly though both balls should have been caught. Now, honestly, I'm more of the school that receivers, even the great ones, drop balls. But since you guys want to rip these kids, and the coaches, well, there's only ONE WR coach on this staff presently. And he played his guts out for the Griz, and I know him a little personally. I love the guy, but guess what, those receivers are HIS GUYS. He runs the position drills in practice. He runs the WR meeting room, he runs the WR film study. He's the one that's teaching them fundamentals. He spends more time with the WR's on a daily basis than any other coach. So, why should he then be exempt from criticism? Because he was a really good WR for the Griz? Come on guys. That's just weak. If you're gonna go hard, and rip and tear this program apart, at least be honest all the way about it.

So here's honesty and objectivity. If I had to grade the coaching staff on an individual basis right now, the only two I'd give a passing grade to are indeed Montana dudes, but I wouldn't care where they played, they've done a great job. And that's Germer and Selle. I don't care what happened tonight, this OL is wayyyyyyyyy better than last year, and that was the goal. I also think Andrew Selle has been a godsent to Griz football. To have Gresch as ready as he did tonight is flatout remarkable.

If any ONE of the posters who wants coaches fired has a shred of honesty inside them, than they know what I'm saying is dead on.

There's also the players themselves. What I truly love about this team, and actually, most college football teams is, the players hold themselves accountable. They know they made mistakes tonight. Some were catastrophic. Defensively, I thought the only guys who should grade out high tonight were Scheye, Strahm and McKinley. Everybody else made some pretty important mistakes at one time or another. But the thing is, those guys will take responsibility for it. I respect the hell out of that. Offensively, I thought Gresch did great. He played his heart out in a tough ass game that two weeks ago he probably never thought he'd even see a meangingful snap in. I thought Alijah Lee was a horse too and I thought the OL battled their asses off.

It sucks that 41 points wasn't enough to win. It should be, and the way the D played in the first half, it easily should have been. But, on the flip side of that coin, I give credit where credit where credit is due as well. Eastern made the adjustments, took exactly what Semore gave them and ripped it apart. It was painful to watch. It disappointed me, and it makes me made. And I'm not sugarcoating it in the least bit.

In other words, no sugar from a sugar coater.But at the same time, there's no exemptions either.


Do you think that Haslam can talk Mick Delaney to come out of retirement again?
 
Team from a “mature” program defeated a program that is a little immature. The team will grow from this.
 
I think the d-line, backers and running backs are all playing fairly well, and certainly did in this game.
 
PlayerRep said:
If a new coach had to be hired, who should do it?


Maybe Engstom could do it from his classroom, it's obvious he knows how to fire people to get the program on the right track.
 
Last week Eastern was washed up. Their reign was over, They had no receivers all the good ones are in the NFL. Now I read that some one posted that the Eagles will will the Big Sky.
 
Ursus1 said:
Well said George. Sugar coaters are slowly seeing the real situation.

Call it like I see it. But I want to make a few things clear. I WILL and forever remain a sugar coater, as in my love of this program and every single person who wears Montana on the front of their chest won't waver. And that includes whoever is coaching the program at that time. I haven't bailed on anything in my life that I hold dear to me, including in sports and I sure as hell ain't gonna start now. I see people posting about "I might now go to this game now, or I might pull the plug on season tickets", ect. ect. I can honestly say that never even crosses my mind. Not last night, and not this morning,and it won't in the weeks leading up to the UND game. And no, that doesn't make me a better fan that anyone else. It just makes me me. And I don't aplogize for it.

Secondly, regardless of what transpired last night, I think the unless the Griz go 3-8 or some utter complete disaster like last year's slide, which I don't see because I believe they'll win every single home game remaining, I believe the firing of Stitt would be a disaster for this program, which is emerging from a very rough time. I've said since the day the NCAA stepped foot on our campus that I was goingto look at the bigger picture and not just the W-L column and I continue to do so. And no, that's not me saying I think Stitt is the greatest coach on the face of the earth either. I think I proved my frustrations and concerns in my OP. But, with what I've been told and what I've seen, he's made major, major strides a lot of areas that some fans don't give two s---ts about. But, I guess I'm not most fans because I do care about those things, right along with onfield performance.

So again, just because I was critical of last night, and have been critical of things that have transpired in Stitt's tenure, does not mean I've changed how I feel about the UM football program. Stitt is the coach, the players are the players, they wear Montana on their chest. They have my support. Period. They make me mad and frustrated, but they have my support.
 
George Ferguson said:
Ursus1 said:
Well said George. Sugar coaters are slowly seeing the real situation.

Call it like I see it. But I want to make a few things clear. I WILL and forever remain a sugar coater, as in my love of this program and every single person who wears Montana on the front of their chest won't waver. And that includes whoever is coaching the program at that time. I haven't bailed on anything in my life that I hold dear to me, including in sports and I sure as hell ain't gonna start now. I see people posting about "I might now go to this game now, or I might pull the plug on season tickets", ect. ect. I can honestly say that never even crosses my mind. Not last night, and not this morning,and it won't in the weeks leading up to the UND game. And no, that doesn't make me a better fan that anyone else. It just makes me me. And I don't aplogize for it.

Secondly, regardless of what transpired last night, I think the unless the Griz go 3-8 or some utter complete disaster like last year's slide, which I don't see because I believe they'll win every single home game remaining, I believe the firing of Stitt would be a disaster for this program, which is emerging from a very rough time. I've said since the day the NCAA stepped foot on our campus that I was goingto look at the bigger picture and not just the W-L column and I continue to do so. And no, that's not me saying I think Stitt is the greatest coach on the face of the earth either. I think I proved my frustrations and concerns in my OP. But, with what I've been told and what I've seen, he's made major, major strides a lot of areas that some fans don't give two s---ts about. But, I guess I'm not most fans because I do care about those things, right along with onfield performance.

So again, just because I was critical of last night, and have been critical of things that have transpired in Stitt's tenure, does not mean I've changed how I feel about the UM football program. Stitt is the coach, the players are the players, they wear Montana on their chest. They have my support. Period. They make me mad and frustrated, but they have my support.

If they say end 6-5 and keep Stitt should Semore stay, or should Stitt be forced to make a change to keep his job? Curious on your take.
 
Ursus1 said:
George Ferguson said:
Ursus1 said:
Well said George. Sugar coaters are slowly seeing the real situation.

Call it like I see it. But I want to make a few things clear. I WILL and forever remain a sugar coater, as in my love of this program and every single person who wears Montana on the front of their chest won't waver. And that includes whoever is coaching the program at that time. I haven't bailed on anything in my life that I hold dear to me, including in sports and I sure as hell ain't gonna start now. I see people posting about "I might now go to this game now, or I might pull the plug on season tickets", ect. ect. I can honestly say that never even crosses my mind. Not last night, and not this morning,and it won't in the weeks leading up to the UND game. And no, that doesn't make me a better fan that anyone else. It just makes me me. And I don't aplogize for it.

Secondly, regardless of what transpired last night, I think the unless the Griz go 3-8 or some utter complete disaster like last year's slide, which I don't see because I believe they'll win every single home game remaining, I believe the firing of Stitt would be a disaster for this program, which is emerging from a very rough time. I've said since the day the NCAA stepped foot on our campus that I was goingto look at the bigger picture and not just the W-L column and I continue to do so. And no, that's not me saying I think Stitt is the greatest coach on the face of the earth either. I think I proved my frustrations and concerns in my OP. But, with what I've been told and what I've seen, he's made major, major strides a lot of areas that some fans don't give two s---ts about. But, I guess I'm not most fans because I do care about those things, right along with onfield performance.

So again, just because I was critical of last night, and have been critical of things that have transpired in Stitt's tenure, does not mean I've changed how I feel about the UM football program. Stitt is the coach, the players are the players, they wear Montana on their chest. They have my support. Period. They make me mad and frustrated, but they have my support.

If they say end 6-5 and keep Stitt should Semore stay, or should Stitt be forced to make a change to keep his job? Curious on your take.

I don't know Ursus. It's tough for me, because honestly, I'm just different. I just dont give a damn what fans want ro what fans think of the coaches. So, if you're asking me if I think Stitt should fire Semore at the end of the season because the fans are freaking out and attendance is dropping? I would say no. If you're asking me if, at the end of a 6-5 season, I actually still think the Griz go 7-4 but don't get in the playoffs, but whatever, if Stitt believes Semore can't cut it and that's what's best for the PROGRAM, and the players who play defense, then yes, I would say it's the right move, because I trust the guy to make that call because he's an actual paid college football coach.
 
This season is a reality check for Griz fans. We have had a great run the past 30 years, but now it is time to see what we as fans are made of. There is no question the program (not to mention the University) have been going through some tough times the past 7 years, but tough times (usually) pass. Tough times come and go because of dedication and optimistic belief. Yes this is a strange time for the team and fans. With dedicated, and intelligent support, we can get through this. Always support the Griz, but realize things will get worse before they get better (I'm talking about a regime change in the football dept). On to PSU; Go Griz!
 
Regarding Sandry he probably should not even playing right now for as bad as his ankle is but at this point I do not think any of our top three safeties are very healthy.
 
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