One thing that I hold as the most important thing in this situation is the players' personal accountability. (In life too, not just sports).
People love to blame everybody for everything. Has there been problems with recruiting, coaching, strategy? Of course there has. But people overlook the players' role in all of this in wins/losses/program.
4-8 last year to me was preseason guns & drugs. Players arguing with fans on Twitter. Players more worried about draft status than W/L. Players getting butt hurt because they were "blah blah blah in HS" but lost out in a position battle so they are taking their ball and going home. That's 4-8 behavior. These same players went 10-2 the year before with a billion injuries because they had the correct attitude, which was us (a team) against the world.
Look at Teo. He was all world coming out of HS. The defense was ignored under Weis, then he butted heads with Kelly at first. He could have packed it up & ND would have suffered for years. Instead he kept his mouth shut, worked hard, took the criticism, & LEAD an average team to #1 ranking & title game appearance. And hugged Kelly & told him he loved him in the Coliseum tunnel after the USC game. That is winner behavior.
I want a team of accountable players who look at what they can do better, not point the finger at everybody else. If that is the case & we still lose a lot, then it's a talent concern. But we have talent, they just need to show it.
People love to blame everybody for everything. Has there been problems with recruiting, coaching, strategy? Of course there has. But people overlook the players' role in all of this in wins/losses/program.
4-8 last year to me was preseason guns & drugs. Players arguing with fans on Twitter. Players more worried about draft status than W/L. Players getting butt hurt because they were "blah blah blah in HS" but lost out in a position battle so they are taking their ball and going home. That's 4-8 behavior. These same players went 10-2 the year before with a billion injuries because they had the correct attitude, which was us (a team) against the world.
Look at Teo. He was all world coming out of HS. The defense was ignored under Weis, then he butted heads with Kelly at first. He could have packed it up & ND would have suffered for years. Instead he kept his mouth shut, worked hard, took the criticism, & LEAD an average team to #1 ranking & title game appearance. And hugged Kelly & told him he loved him in the Coliseum tunnel after the USC game. That is winner behavior.
I want a team of accountable players who look at what they can do better, not point the finger at everybody else. If that is the case & we still lose a lot, then it's a talent concern. But we have talent, they just need to show it.
