Playing for Nebraska vs Playing for Yourself

[sd'sker]

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.

Very true, lots of things wanted by lots of different people.

i have a hard time believing this board is representative of much else than the few regular posters' opinions.

 

[NUinID]

Winning cures everything

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.

This I agree with completely he needed to win and the buy in would have been there. I was expecting 6-2 at this point in the season at the worst. Looking back this team could definitely used 3 patsies to play in the non conference to get things rolling in the right direction. At this point they are really doubting what they are doing and their coaches

 

[BIG ERN]

How long will some of you blame Pelini? My goodness that excuse is getting old.

Frustration among all is because we are losing games. If we were 6-2, no one is talking about this stuff.

 

[NUinID]

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.

Very true, lots of things wanted by lots of different people.

i have a hard time believing this board is representative of much else than the few regular posters' opinions.

Don't kid yourself, I have 2 brothers who have 2 completely different ideas of what is wrong with this team than what I think. They never post on message boards. It is a sample of all things.

 

[SuperBigFan69]

How long will some of you blame Pelini? My goodness that excuse is getting old.

Frustration among all is because we are losing games. If we were 6-2, no one is talking about this stuff.

I do think that is true...I think if they are 6-2 or 7-1 right now that there is not a peep about Bo unless it was to make fun of him...

 

[sd'sker]

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.

Very true, lots of things wanted by lots of different people.

i have a hard time believing this board is representative of much else than the few regular posters' opinions.

Don't kid yourself, I have 2 brothers who have 2 completely different ideas of what is wrong with this team than what I think. They never post on message boards. It is a sample of all things.

wow. well if i had known that your two brothers were divided, i would never have posted that!

 

[lo country]

Tired of 'not buying in' BS. If you are a good coach, players buy in. Period.

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.

Read Gerry's comments about "some guys" not listening to him last year... Its the culture that has prevailed the past 7 years....

Is this something he put on Twitter or where? I'm not aware of this, but my interest is piqued.

I'll see if I can find it. It was an article/interview right after he was named a captain.

Here is one about communication:

http://www.omaha.com/huskers/nate-gerry-now-a-leader-hopes-to-boost-blackshirts-communication/article_967699b7-f78a-58e9-86e0-d824dcb604e5.html

Was on Sharp and Benning:

Nate Gerry on Sharp & Benning at B1G Media Days 07-31-2015, 03:03 PM


This is a bit of beating the dead horse, but it's explanatory for why some of the things happened in the past few years. This is a culture thing - if the staff allows it to happen, it'll happen, especially when people's egos get in the way of team play.
https://soundcloud.com/liquid-shane-...-from-nebraska

Sometimes Nate Gerry's voice "wasn't heard" last year. Quote from Gerry, "Last year we had some upperclassmen and underclassmen who had a different picture on things."




Knapp originally posted...

 

[84HuskerLaw]

How long will some of you blame Pelini? My goodness that excuse is getting old.

Frustration among all is because we are losing games. If we were 6-2, no one is talking about this stuff.

Personally, I would like to see the name Bo Pelini banned. That is history. I was a Bo guy for most of his time here. He is gone. He is NOT coming back thank goodness as he was a source of much difference, debate and downright argument. Huskers need to be united. We don't need to discuss the past any more. Nothing we can do to rewrite or change history. It is what it is. Please stop.

As for discussing the present coaching staff and HC, that is certainly very important, relevant and justified. Now, we need to focus on how we can help this team win a few more games this year if we can and certainly offer our positive suggestions on how to make the team better in the future. If someone has an idea for what the current coaches can do to improve our play, great. If someone feels we need a new coach or entire staff or somewhere in between, that's fine as well. Suggest a real honest to goodness coach by name and skills and why he would be better. Stop bashing and start offering real sincere, meaningful positive suggestions for who, what, when and why.

Just my opinions.

 

[NUinID]

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.

Very true, lots of things wanted by lots of different people.

i have a hard time believing this board is representative of much else than the few regular posters' opinions.

Don't kid yourself, I have 2 brothers who have 2 completely different ideas of what is wrong with this team than what I think. They never post on message boards. It is a sample of all things.

wow. well if i had known that your two brothers were divided, i would never have posted that!

I was talking about the board being a sampling. There are thousands of Nebraska fans all over the country that don't post on web sites and each has an opinion about things. My favorite is how some Nebraska fans worry about what fans of other teams think. Most die hard fans of other programs really aren't worried about Nebraska and it is not because we are not very good right now, it is because they are worried about their team.

 

[Scratchtown]

Tired of 'not buying in' BS. If you are a good coach, players buy in. Period.

Not if your previous coach is still in contact with you.

 

[EngineeringHusker]

Tired of 'not buying in' BS. If you are a good coach, players buy in. Period.

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.

Read Gerry's comments about "some guys" not listening to him last year... Its the culture that has prevailed the past 7 years....

Is this something he put on Twitter or where? I'm not aware of this, but my interest is piqued.

I'll see if I can find it. It was an article/interview right after he was named a captain.

Here is one about communication:

http://www.omaha.com/huskers/nate-gerry-now-a-leader-hopes-to-boost-blackshirts-communication/article_967699b7-f78a-58e9-86e0-d824dcb604e5.html

Was on Sharp and Benning:

Nate Gerry on Sharp & Benning at B1G Media Days07-31-2015, 03:03 PM


This is a bit of beating the dead horse, but it's explanatory for why some of the things happened in the past few years. This is a culture thing - if the staff allows it to happen, it'll happen, especially when people's egos get in the way of team play.
https://soundcloud.com/liquid-shane-...-from-nebraska

Sometimes Nate Gerry's voice "wasn't heard" last year. Quote from Gerry, "Last year we had some upperclassmen and underclassmen who had a different picture on things."




Knapp originally posted...

Thanks for the links. I'll have to take a look and a listen.

 

[huskers15]

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?

IMO this should be a sticky! Spot on!

And to take it a step further, I don't care how talented any player is on this team. If some can't have a good attitude and buy into the new staff, doesn't matter how many snaps they have played, they are a cancer, bench them. The single most thing that has pissed me off this year was the Lewis situation. He should have been made an example out of, not sure why Riley didn't take the opportunity.

At this point I could care less if we win another game this season so long as we lose doing the right things regarding attitude and effort!

Lead, follow, or get the hell out of here.