Playing for Nebraska vs Playing for Yourself

seaofred92

seaofred92

All-American
Honestly I think the biggest challenge that this staff faces is that while there is talent on the roster, a lot of it still has refused to fully buy in to what this staff wants to do. These players don't listen to the current staff with 100% certainty because they are for whatever reason still caught up on Bo being let go as an indictment on themselves rather than something that naturally happens in business. One of the most difficult things in coaching changes is getting older guys to buy in- and I think you're seeing a lot of that now. There will be turnover at the end of this season and not all of it will be from players who's eligibility is up. Grad transfers, regular transfers, will be a part of it. And that is okay. There are clearly a decent amount of players who are currently on this roster who have little interest in remaining on this roster- to which I say good riddance.

THIS above all other reasons, is why it was important for us to let Bo Pelini walk. There are few players that play for Nebraska (Gangwish bless his heart is one and he deserves all the credit in the world for what he is trying to do as a captain on this team) but there are far more players that are clearly just playing for themselves. Until there is acceptance with this new staff from 100% of the players moving forward, this team will be hampered by things like penalties and seemingly "giving up on routes and plays" because those are effort plays. And if you're not 100% bought in to the university and to the program, you do not make those effort plays. Football at its core comes down often times to who makes these effort plays on a more consistent basis throughout a game, and I believe that it is extremely important to give Riley time to get his guys in here who will fight for both him as a coach and the program as a whole to make every effort play they can and produce W's on a consistent basis.

 
Decked said:
Winning cures everything
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This. Had Riley come in and won say we 6-2 (which many thought be be accurate at this point) we would be looking at maybe 8-4/9-3 and a bowl. No blow out losses (yet) and the team buys in. We lose 3 (maybe 4?) games on the last play because of coaching issues with time management and the kids start to question the abilities of this staff. Throw in Bo's parting comments and it does open the area to doubt the abilities of the current staff.

IMO, it was imperative that Riley came in, win immediately and get a buy in from the team and fans. This hasn't happened and we are seeing the results. Again, many myself included, figured we'd split BYU or UM and then maybe drop Wisky.....6-2 Not 3-5....That hurts regardless who you play for.

 
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I went through a similar thing when I was in school. Sometimes, it's not necessarily that the "cancers" on the team are all that concerned about the last coaching staff and their firing as it is the culture that was cultivated. I was one of those "cancers". I didn't care about the last coach or really the new one for that matter. There were several of us that played for ourselves because that was the culture that had been cultivated by our previous coach. We didn't win many games. The next year after us "cancers" had graduated, the team had one of their best seasons in history.

There's not much accountability with this bunch. We have one captain who is trying, but the rest of the team is simply brushing him aside. There's a player or two that might just play on Sundays, but they need benched. We need to see a youth movement. Those that aren't playing for the team need to ride the pine.

 
BIG ERN said:
Tired of 'not buying in' BS. If you are a good coach, players buy in. Period.
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Right, but this isn't just a Riley issue, this is speaking more to the mentality that was developed before Riley even got here. Look at the recently graduated former players openly mocking the program on twitter during these games. Its ridiculous. Sure, these guys have every right to be disappointed that the coach that recruited them and took care of them while they were at Nebraska is no longer there, however if you were truly playing for the University of Nebraska and not for the coach/yourself then you would be cheering for the team to obtain success. The tweets from guys like Compton and the like are ridiculous and in my opinion relevant to why we're seeing some of the problems that we are seeing.

 
Why should these guys or any guys play for "X State"?

They should be playing for each other. That's where real motivation and accountability comes from.

As far as players "mocking" the program, I don't think they are mocking fans (which seems to be the really offensive thing to some around here). I think they are pointing out the ineptitude of our administration. That's a completely fair point to make.

I remember when players went to bat for Osborne and McBride and called people out for their stupidity when criticizing those two. Were those players wrongly playing for a coach rather than the peanut gallery who was calling out their coaches?

 
This issue isn't really very hard to understand. Just look at the people who post on this forum for an illustration. Some people support the old staff. Some support the new staff. Some support neither. Some support the program. Some post just to get their kicks. And everything in-between.

I'd say the corollary for what most of us want from the players is players who play for the program. But just take a look at the forum and we can understand why that probably isn't the case.

 
seaofred92 said:
BIG ERN said:
Tired of 'not buying in' BS. If you are a good coach, players buy in. Period.
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Right, but this isn't just a Riley issue, this is speaking more to the mentality that was developed before Riley even got here. Look at the recently graduated former players openly mocking the program on twitter during these games. Its ridiculous. Sure, these guys have every right to be disappointed that the coach that recruited them and took care of them while they were at Nebraska is no longer there, however if you were truly playing for the University of Nebraska and not for the coach/yourself then you would be cheering for the team to obtain success. The tweets from guys like Compton and the like are ridiculous and in my opinion relevant to why we're seeing some of the problems that we are seeing.
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Read Gerry's comments about "some guys" not listening to him last year... Its the culture that has prevailed the past 7 years....

 
lo country said:
seaofred92 said:
BIG ERN said:
Tired of 'not buying in' BS. If you are a good coach, players buy in. Period.
Click to expand...

Right, but this isn't just a Riley issue, this is speaking more to the mentality that was developed before Riley even got here. Look at the recently graduated former players openly mocking the program on twitter during these games. Its ridiculous. Sure, these guys have every right to be disappointed that the coach that recruited them and took care of them while they were at Nebraska is no longer there, however if you were truly playing for the University of Nebraska and not for the coach/yourself then you would be cheering for the team to obtain success. The tweets from guys like Compton and the like are ridiculous and in my opinion relevant to why we're seeing some of the problems that we are seeing.
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Read Gerry's comments about "some guys" not listening to him last year... Its the culture that has prevailed the past 7 years....
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Is this something he put on Twitter or where? I'm not aware of this, but my interest is piqued.

 
I have said for a very long time that all of this is a cultural issue within the program.

What we are witnessing is the problems that have been festering for the last 5 years or longer finally rising to the top and showing on the field.

When TO left coaching, he didn't have to be in player's faces and yelling at coaches to get them to do what they are supposed to do on the field. The culture in the program was such that everyone policed the program and weeded out the players that weren't bought into excellence and playing for the program as a whole. If you came into the program as a Freshman and didn't want to work your azz off and have the right attitude to totally demolish the opponent on the other side of the field, then the upper classmen and other players in the program weeded them out.

Fast forward to Pelini, the only way he was holding the team together enough to win 9-10 games per year was to be a total jack a$$ running around on the side lines yelling and screaming at each other.....hey...they were scared enough that I guess they won 9 games. But, when they got into games where things started falling apart, there wasn't enough leadership within the program to lift them up.

SO....when TO left, the program sustained it's self enough to actually have some pretty dang good years for 4-5 years. That was based on the attitudes within the program throughout the players themselves. They held each other accountable to excellence.

NOW......when bo leaves, the guy running around being a jack a$$ isn't there anymore and we are seeing the true internal problems show themselves. The fact those internal problems are showing themselves now, aren't the fault of Riley's, they were here long before Riley showed up. Now, changing a culture within a program takes time. It's much more involved than demanding the players execute a certain way within the first season the coach is here.

We can sit here and whine and cry all we want about accepting mediocrity bla bla bla....However, it's up to the players to accept mediocrity. I firmly believe that we have a large portion of the coaches in place to teach players how to play the game and put them into positions to succeed. However, if the players aren't holding that high standard on each other, then we as fans are simply being whiny babies with no power.

Whoever the coaching staff is, they need to be given the time to build the culture in the program the way they see fit. IF, we are not going to give a staff the time to do that, then we will do nothing but circle the drain over and over again.

If a very talented player has a questionable attitude, why in the world should he buy into the coaching staff's attitude if he knows.....hey.....there's a chance he is going to be gone in a year or two anyway?

 
Kernal said:
This issue isn't really very hard to understand. Just look at the people who post on this forum for an illustration. Some people support the old staff. Some support the new staff. Some support neither. Some support the program. Some post just to get their kicks. And everything in-between.

I'd say the corollary for what most of us want from the players is players who play for the program. But just take a look at the forum and we can understand why that probably isn't the case.
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Very true, lots of things wanted by lots of different people.

 
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