Our Team's Mental Acuity and Resilience: Perhaps Look at improving the Sports Psychology staff?

[ndobney]

Its just not a good team

 

[VectorVictor]

Its just not a good team

A barely mediocre team should have been able to beat Illinois. But if we want to get to this point, we need to start looking at all of the pieces that need to be fixed. 

 

[knapplc]

Bumping this thread because it’s an aspect of our team and game that needs to be taken seriously—when we have kids that are not disciplined, making mental mistakes, committing penalties time and again, and generally have a poor attitude about playing, sports psychology needs to be included in the discussion. 
 

Is it a singular magic bullet? Hell to the No. But improvements here could help in all facets of the game. And that killer instinct we like to discuss from the 90s? A lot of that was honed by the staff we had (prior to their dismissal before Pelini’s regime). 

This would be a factor to consider if these guys displayed mental fragility in high school. Near as I can tell, that's never brought up in the recruiting forum. So why would they suddenly be in need of a psychologist in college?

One player, or a few, sure. That's why we have the program. But so many that the entire team looks bad? Coach after coach, decade after decade?

This seems unlikely to be the cause.

 

[VectorVictor]

This would be a factor to consider if these guys displayed mental fragility in high school. Near as I can tell, that's never brought up in the recruiting forum. So why would they suddenly be in need of a psychologist in college?

One player, or a few, sure. That's why we have the program. But so many that the entire team looks bad? Coach after coach, decade after decade?

This seems unlikely to be the cause.

Using your logic, then why did we have one during our run in the 90s? And why were they credited with helping create a successful culture within the program? 

 

[knapplc]

Using your logic, then why did we have one during our run in the 90s? And why were they credited with helping create a successful culture within the program? 

I'm not saying we don't need sports psychologists. We use the program to great effect in Volleyball, and the girls routinely credit them with their success.

What I feel like you're saying is our sports psychology program is insufficient for the football team, and I'm not seeing any evidence of that being the case. It would mean (as I was trying to say above) that the team became mentally more frail from High School to College, and that has happened basically since Osborne retired - because we've seen the kinds of breakdowns we saw yesterday every year since then.

I just don't think it's a psychology issue.

 

[VectorVictor]

I'm not saying we don't need sports psychologists. We use the program to great effect in Volleyball, and the girls routinely credit them with their success.

What I feel like you're saying is our sports psychology program is insufficient for the football team, and I'm not seeing any evidence of that being the case. It would mean (as I was trying to say above) that the team became mentally more frail from High School to College, and that has happened basically since Osborne retired - because we've seen the kinds of breakdowns we saw yesterday every year since then.

I just don't think it's a psychology issue.

I'm not saying it's just a psychology issue though--I'm saying it's a factor, one that goes hand-in-hand with other concerns.