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.
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.