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Closing spring practice a mistake?

Why do people question the coaches on closing practices? Do the UM coaches go into your business and tell you how to cook fries or change oil no they have every right to run program they want. If people are breaking the rules they should be punished or jailed because they are breaking some laws. If the coaches don't want video or tweeters posted on line then people should respect the wishes because they know what is best for the program not the fans.
 
Big G said:
Why do people question the coaches on closing practices? Do the UM coaches go into your business and tell you how to cook fries or change oil no they have every right to run program they want. If people are breaking the rules they should be punished or jailed because they are breaking some laws. If the coaches don't want video or tweeters posted on line then people should respect the wishes because they know what is best for the program not the fans.
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No one is saying "we" should be allowed to do it, just that since it's been blocked due to closed practices the level of excitement and information about the team's progression has really diminished.
 
I think closing practices has merit. After rewatching last year's Griz/Cat game last night, I am thinking one or two tweets, or a 10 second video clip could give away our entire playbook.

Ok, I jest. A little.
 
I don't ever question the coaches, but their offensive and defensive schemes are so vanilla, what does it matter if Ash taped every practice? Ash would think its too complex anyway. :shock:
 
I for one don't think the coaches go far enough to protect us from another school spying on us. I think they should ask the FAA for a No Fly Zone (NFZ) around Missoula during Griz practice times. I would also have the ROTC students randomly lay landmines up and down both Mt. Sentinel and Mt. Jumbo. And only blind students should be allowed to live in the top 4 floors of Aber Hall. We cannot be too careful.
 
Check that! I forgot about msu and their gay little satellite. We need our own satellite. This satellite gap is unacceptable. We need to immediately begin construction of an underground practice facility. Screw the weight room. Make the student athletes use pick and shovel to construct this site. That will serve to get them in shape.
 
If the coaches are so concerned about practice tweets from a real estate agent then we've got HUGE problems. It's going to be really hard to disguise blocking schemes during the first few games so the conference foes don't know what kind of ingenious trickery the coaches have up their sleeves.

Wow, just wow.
 
As a fan, I am disappointed in closing practices to the public. It would be easier if gogriz.com, missoulian, etc all had daily coverage with just general updates.That really is not asking much is it?

Professionally I understand and respect the decision. I would likely do the same in same position. Being it is closed, come regular season we better see some changes for the better in a couple of things. With closed practices, I will be expecting some changes, tweeks, and improvements. (1) More diverse passing game than relying on the damn long ball the majority of time. (2) Better utilization of personnel and creativity. Meaning more ways to get the ball in the hands of playmakers like Ellis Henderson, Van, and anyone else who emerges. That includes using Van, Canada, and Henderson frequently together. The more weapons on the field at one time the better.
(3) Further improvement in defensive back coverages, schemes, aggressiveness, and play calling.
(4) Better adjustments on each side of the ball to better match up against our opponents. IE. Granted our LB's last year were the best group ever at Montana, but relying them to cover slots in pass coverage as often as they did just did not make sense. We need to improve in Dime and quarter coverage situations, regardless if we are playing man or zone.

I am some posters can add to these things. I will be very disappointed and upset if I see the same old things hurt this team again next season. I will really question the purpose of closed practices if new things are not implemented and improvements are not seen in these things.
 
AllWeatherFan said:
UM would be smart to reach out to a select few individuals to report on practices and generate some enthusiasm. The details could be worked out, i.e., not posting about game strategies or specific plays. Also, no video, unless it's some guy scratching himself. That always generates a buzz on the board.
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THIS.

Seriously, Guff should actually reach out to Brint, have lunch about this issue, let him "cover" a couple of practices and let Todd G shoot a couple of pics and add it to the overall marketing of the team. No need to give away details, but let the fans know if "Player X and Player Y are in a tough battle for Position Z." That kind of thing. No harm in it, even if you're an understandably paranoid coach.
 
GrizGuy said:
AllWeatherFan said:
UM would be smart to reach out to a select few individuals to report on practices and generate some enthusiasm. The details could be worked out, i.e., not posting about game strategies or specific plays. Also, no video, unless it's some guy scratching himself. That always generates a buzz on the board.
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THIS.

Seriously, Guff should actually reach out to Brint, have lunch about this issue, let him "cover" a couple of practices and let Todd G shoot a couple of pics and add it to the overall marketing of the team. No need to give away details, but let the fans know if "Player X and Player Y are in a tough battle for Position Z." That kind of thing. No harm in it, even if you're an understandably paranoid coach.
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Mick........what a crock! This bs is beneath you. Butte guys don't close practices.
 
I understand closing practice last year, with App State early in the season and no one knowing what the conversion to a Pro Style offense would look like. This year is different. The conversion has been made. UM is probably not going to look much different in 2014 than it did in 2013.
The coaches need to realize that this new fangled social media smartphone deal is more than a passing fad.
 
grizd said:
If the coaches are so concerned about practice tweets from a real estate agent then we've got HUGE problems. It's going to be really hard to disguise blocking schemes during the first few games so the conference foes don't know what kind of ingenious trickery the coaches have up their sleeves.

Wow, just wow.
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You pretty much hit the nail on the head with that one. I hope to shit there are more important things on the coaches plate than a few tweets from a real estate agent! :clap:
 
NorthEndZoneDan said:
grizd said:
If the coaches are so concerned about practice tweets from a real estate agent then we've got HUGE problems. It's going to be really hard to disguise blocking schemes during the first few games so the conference foes don't know what kind of ingenious trickery the coaches have up their sleeves.

Wow, just wow.
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You pretty much hit the nail on the head with that one. I hope to shit there are more important things on the coaches plate than a few tweets from a real estate agent! :clap:
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To be fair it was A LOT of tweets, not just a few. :lol:
 
BWahlberg said:
Big G said:
Why do people question the coaches on closing practices? Do the UM coaches go into your business and tell you how to cook fries or change oil no they have every right to run program they want. If people are breaking the rules they should be punished or jailed because they are breaking some laws. If the coaches don't want video or tweeters posted on line then people should respect the wishes because they know what is best for the program not the fans.
Click to expand...

No one is saying "we" should be allowed to do it, just that since it's been blocked due to closed practices the level of excitement and information about the team's progression has really diminished.
Click to expand...

If you are a dominant winner, fans won't question a coach's tactics closed practices or otherwise. If you're marginal, fans will question everything that a coach does. It's that simple.
 
BWahlberg said:
This coaching staff was really upset with practice videos being posted on youtube, they also didn't like my tweets and posts feeling it gave away too much information to opponents. I've heard stories that they were even upset over videos posted of plays during the season from live games (seriously). It sounds to me that certain angles or videos of newly designed plays give away blocking schemes or use of certain players.

As for me, I respect their decision while I don't necessarily agree with it. I can understand rolling videos of practice but tweets, updates, posts, and video from live games seems a little overly paranoid.

However if you look at if from their side, it's a highly competitive business and opponents are looking for any shred of information and help they can get. Having a continual flow on information and updates from every practice really could help opponents scout players on the surface and know who to look for when film study starts.

I believe that the coaches think most updates and info are probably harmless but they want to be safe about what is shared.

Side note I also kind of suspect there was a collaborative decision to close practices so all practice info comes out via GoGriz.com and sends traffic there instead of here to egriz.
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It would be bad if opponents were to learn the handful or two of Griz offensive plays this early rather than let them figure out that the co-offensive coordinators only have around 4 running plays. It is best to keep them guessing and not give away plays by formation or personnel. This way the Griz will never be predictable on offense. :roll: :lol:
 
I can see why many are disappointed that Griz practices are closed. For someone like Brint, who enjoys attending Griz practices, even if he wasn't tweeting or writing reports on Egriz, I understand this is frustrating. On the other hand, for me, living in Havre, it does not affect me. I enjoyed reading the practice reports, but it doesn't bother me not to have them either, and it does NOT quell my excitement for the upcoming season one bit. Someone brought up a good point. There was a time when Egriz, or any of the other social media outlets existed, and I don't think excitement from the fan base was any less. But that's just me. I'm super pumped for the 2014 season, especially knowing I'll be in Laramie for the opener. I don't need to know what drills are run over the next few weeks to get me excited. BTW, I don't know about spring drills, but ALL regular season Alabama practices are closed to the general public, as was USC under Pete Carroll. In fact, USC has a HUGE maroon wall around its practice complex that Shaquille O'Neil couldn't see over. Those are two pretty big program's with HUGE fan bases, and I don't see too many people dumping their season tix, or sales on Crimson Tide and Trojan gear dropping off.
 
Why is protecting your scheme assets a mistake? There is a lot to be gained from controlling what the public sees or has access to. I made a comment a couple years ago that the footage online of Griz practices was NOT a good practice.

NO ONE with any intelligence experience & competitive blood wants their footage pushed out to the public just to please their fan base. Closed practices as an on going approach is VERY smart by this staff.

I am hopeful that the offensive coaches are spending lots of sleepless hours dreaming of ways to get all the talent on the field at one time so that we can take advantage of teams by formation & utilize our talent more effectively in 2014.
 
Go ahead and believe blocking schemes are some kind of magical mystery. There aren't a whole lot of amazing ways to block a play. You line up and push your opponent around. Look at NDSU, you pretty much could guess what they were gonna do many or maybe even most plays and they still couldn't be stopped. You knew that under Read, the Griz were going to pass and once DD was at the helm they pretty much did what they wanted most of the time. Blocking schemes were the least of your worries. As for play mix, if you can't out muscle the opponent and can't disguise what you are doing at least to some degree, you aren't going to win anyway. Closing practices is the domain of the desperate, at least in the preseason. Perhaps once the season starts and you are preparing for a specific opponent then some secrecy may be warranted.
 
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