These guys get it

[Eagle1]

Guys, I understand and respect everyones opinions. However, do you think once, even once, the players yell profanities at Bo? Do they get on message boards and call for his head? No, they believe in him no matter what, and try their butts off for him, even when things don't go well!

Oh I knew someone would drag that up! Fair enough. Buuuuuut, everyone has those moments, and nothing is 100%! That isn't the norm. Guarantee, those two met after emotions relaxed and hashed that out as men. Guarantee Bo apologized for his wrong and so did the player. I've had moments like that with my own players before. Fortunately, I don't have all those cameras around!

 

[Danny Bateman]

If Bo makes it a priority to stop turning the ball over , and to force more turnovers, this team can be really good. IMO opinion, Bo needs to seek outside help for this. Look how long he held on to the stupid passive defensive scheme that allowed teams to run at will on us.

I agree that it is a priority to stop turning the ball over, and I think it would be a great idea to get outside help.

I don't think he changed his scheme that much, or not as much as some think he did (because that was "their idea"). We just have guys that are starting to "get it," and guys that are good enough players to make the play. There isn't much difference in scheme when Cameron Meredith and Randy Gregory are playing "patty-cake," as many like to call it, but Randy is able to get to the edge and make the play. There isn't much difference in defending the Jet Sweep but Leroy Alexander can make the tackle, while Stafford couldn't. At some point, kids have to make plays.

Fully agree Bo needs outside help. Especially on offense. I like the system Beck has implemented on the whole... It has generally led to pretty damn effective rushing offenses in regards to total yardage. We're ranked 19th right now and finished the season 8th last year in rushing.

Now, on the other hand, we actually finished 26th in the nation last year in scoring offense, which surprised me. This year, we are ranked 47th in the nation in scoring offense. That speaks directly to the problems giving the ball away on O. And I do not know that Beck has the wherewithal to fix that problem. Now, we've had Taylor Martinez starting at QB the last handful of years and AA toting the rock this year. Both of those guys styles have lent themselves to poor ball security. Perhaps it's just the player and the problem will never resolve itself. I'd like to think not. And besides, TA came in this year and hasn't done any better at holding onto the football. That leads me to believe it is a systemic issue that Beck isn't fixing and won't be able to fix as long as he is here.

Between that and the headscratching play calls in series that seem to come up every single game, I'm of the mind we need a new OC. I wouldn't mind seeing someone who runs a pro-style attack and less spread, but that would probably require a QB who actually is proficient as a passer, and I don't know if we have one. We'll have to see what Stanton brings to the table next year, but I'm skeptical-- he was likened to Tebow in his Scout profile as a recruit and was more of a runner. TA has a long way to go in the passing department in the offseason.

As far as defense and turnovers go, I have more hope. It's curious that it took Bo this long to get his defense up to snuff as far as fundamentals go. But we're now able to do the basic things pretty well-- tackle, fill gaps, pursue, gang-tackle, etc. We have some lapses even there though. Weisman ran through about 5 Huskers on his way to the endzone last Friday on one score. It's mystifying that run defense has been such an issue for his defenses and it took him so long to adjust. But we have fundamentals down. Now he needs to get them making plays on the ball.

I knew this was a problem even this year when I caught myself knowing that in order to get the ball back, 90% of the time, the D was going to have to force a punt. Takeaways were a rarity with this defense the last half of the year. That needs worked on big time. We have to create our own opportunities.

Now, I'm not actually very hopeful Bo will change OC's and that bums me out. For all the talk we had this offseason of spending so much time working on ball security, the same dang issues showed up and absolutely killed us in the MSU and Iowa games. Straight up lost us the MSU game and Iowa games. And if Beck stays, I think the turnovers stay.

But I will support the team nonetheless. I just feel like a lot of us our stuck in a holding pattern with an OC we don't want. Personally it kind of makes me sick to my stomach. I don't want to give away any more games we should win just because we don't take care of the ball. But if Bo thinks it's best, it's his call and we're all just along for the ride.

IF he fixes those problems-- turnovers, takeaways, and gives special teams and the injury thing a long, hard look as well-- we could be a pretty damn salty team come 2014. GBR!!

 

[sd'sker]

is anyone concerned about stockholm syndrome?

that was a joke, but if the players do not like the coach, the problems are bigger than we could ever imagine. players only turn on their coach when problems become so extreme and irreparable. although i respect bo's loyalty to his players and that it is reciprocated, i do not see this as much of a defense for bo. rarely do you see a coach on the hot seat and not see his players not defending him.

 

[alexhortdog95]

If you think we're a bad or difficult fan base to deal with...

Take a look at this article. Keep in mind:

Saban has gone 74-14 in seven seasons at Alabama.

Saban has won three Crystal Waterford Footballs at Alabama.

Saban has lost eight games in SIX YEARS at Alabama.

Alabama’s Iron Bowl defeat was Nick Saban’s fault, but instead of taking the blame, he threw his players under the bus. They deserve a coach who’ll stand behind them after a loss.

Fans will remember Saturday’s Iron Bowl as one of the great college games ever played. But for the 28 seniors on the two teams, it will forever be remembered as their last regular season college game.

This is a game played by kids not long out of high school, and while some suit up for the chance to get rich, most play for sheer love of the sport. Because they dazzle us with acts of extraordinary athleticism and, yes, courage, we tend to forget that under their helmets and pads, these players are just as vulnerable and needing of support as any other college kids. Indeed, given the pressures placed upon them and the intensity of the spotlight, these young athletes need more support.

It’s understandable that all this may be lost on fans given the excitement of the moment. But for a coach to forget how much his players need his support in moments of defeat is just unforgivable.

For the Alabama players, Saturday’s game was a searing experience. It was so bad, their senior kicker received death threats. This was the time for an icon like Alabama coach Nick Saban to focus his postgame remarks on helping the players he supposedly loves. Saban should have had one goal in mind: Protect his players.

Instead, he gave passing reference to “taking responsibility” then piled on, reeling off a litany of mistakes that could have won the game. Saban’s mealy-mouthed mutterings were all the more regrettable as he had done more to lose the game than any player.

In one of the biggest games of his career, Saban made one of the greatest blunders in big time college football history. With one second left on the clock, he had three choices: Run it out and go into overtime; let his incredible quarterback have a shot at a Hail Mary pass; or attempt a 57-yard field goal, a distance only made twice in Alabama football history.

Saban went for the third option, bringing in a freshman who had never made a game kick longer than 40 yards. He left on the bench his starting kicker who had been having a terrible day, missing three earlier field goals.

The decision was utter folly. In college, a 57-yard field goal is basically giving the other side a chance to return a kickoff. Worse yet, it’s a kickoff without putting a kickoff team on the field to defend. Instead you have nine players selected for their ability to block, not run or tackle. Generally, when your kicker is the best athlete on your side, you best hope the play doesn’t require a lot of running.

The kick was predictably short, and Auburn unpredictably returned it for a touchdown. Lighting in a bottle, but it was Saban’s disastrous decision that put the lighting in the bottle.

Saban wins a lot of football games. He’s a great football coach. But he’s a college coach who seems to have forgotten he’s not coaching in the pros. He’s reduced the joy of sport to what he famously calls “the process,” which seems as apt an indictment as any critic could muster.

It doesn’t have to be this way. Coaches like Auburn’s Gus Malzahn, Ole Miss’s Hugh Freeze, Vanderbilt’s James Franklin, and LSU’s Les Miles make you want to love the sport because they love the sport. They are open and visible about their love for their players. In October, after heavily favored LSU lost to Ole Miss and his star quarterback had one of the worst nights of his career, Les Miles took all the blame, saying in classic Miles style, “I did a piss poor job preparing this football team to play in this game.”

That’s what Saban should have done. He should have shifted the blame from his field goal kicker to himself. Saban’s paid millions of dollars to take the heat. Instead he offered no comfort to a broken-hearted kid who was receiving death threats. That’s shameful and a moment that should give pause to every athlete thinking of playing for Alabama and every parent who expects a coach to look out for their son.

Alabama’s not one of those problem programs that always seems to be in trouble. It has a graduation rate of 71 percent, and while that’s a tad below Notre Dame’s 94 percent, it’s still about average for Division 1 programs. A lot of good coaches and support staff at Alabama work hard to play by the rules. Their fan base is the envy of the nation.

Alabama shouldn’t believe it needs Nick Saban more than Saban needs Alabama. Alabama knew greatness before Saban and will after. The players and the university deserve a coach who will stand behind the players when they lose, even when it’s their fault. And this one was Saban’s fault.

 

[QMany]

I have no problem with Bo's relationship with myself as a fan. Others seem to expect more out of him and his treatment towards them, and that is fine, but I don't. Obviously, he isn't a warm, cuddly guy. He doesn't need put on a facade that he is and butter me up. I take him for what he is, and that is OK by me.

 

[Huskerfan1985]

I have a couple of random thoughts to add. First, is it relevant what the players think? He recruited them, they better like the guy. does everyone love their boss? has anyone every had a coach they didn't necessarily love, but they pushed you past your boundaries? My point is, Bo's job is to build this program, wins games, and progressively get better. the players say they will run through a brick wall for the guy, but apparently holding on to the ball and catching passes are beneath them.

this is total speculation, but maybe it's a senior thing. Look at the list of Senior players that have underperformed or got hurt, etc. Martinez - hurt, Burkhead - hurt, Enunwa - good season but had the dropsies lately, Niles Paul - dropsies, B. Kinney - dropsies. I certainly know that there isn't anything you can do about injuries but our Senior leaders tend to be let downs imo. Hopefully, Bell and Abdullah can break the curse but every year its like clockwork, senior leader gets hurt or falls into a funk.

 

[Landlord]

I have no problem with Bo's relationship with myself as a fan. Others seem to expect more out of him and his treatment towards them, and that is fine, but I don't. Obviously, he isn't a warm, cuddly guy. He doesn't need put on a facade that he is and butter me up. I take him for what he is, and that is OK by me.

Right. And I should have added to my post that Bo has no obligation to go beyond what he is required to if he doesn't want, and it's unreasonable to ask him to be someone he's not. By all means, if he stays the same non-warm and cuddly guy and gets it done then all the more power to him.

But he would do himself so many favors by trying, I think. I want his relationship with the fanbase to be better just as much for his sake and the players' sake as I do for my own sake. Sometimes I worry about his health with the pressure and stress, and it seems like so much of it is self-inflicted.

 

[Eagle1]

However, do you think once, even once, the players yell profanities at Bo? Do they get on message boards and call for his head? No, they believe in him no matter what, and try their butts off for him, even when things don't go well! Therefore, he has a loyalty to them like no other, and truthfuly if fans gave him that support and quit questioning him, accept him for who he is, believe in him, he would be just as loyal to fans!

See my post above. I agree with you that Bo has the players' loyalty flatout, but he also treats his players differently than he treats us. He also gives them more of himself.

Don't compare the two because they aren't equivalent. If Bo maintained a relationship with joe schmo fan that he does with his team, then that fan would have the same loyalty.

I agree with you, and also agree at times the relationship with fans could be better. Seeing from his side a little, you get shot at enough times you quit looking around to see who did it and just duck every time you hear a shot! Right or wrong, you just get defensive period. I HAVE seen Bo be very kind and open to fans and I have seen him do things in a kind, caring, and helpful way that don't make public knowledge. Now, before speculation, I'm nowhere near close to Bo, if he saw me today he wouldn't know me, but I just have first hand knowledge through close friends of those things and I was shocked in a good way!

 

[knapplc]

Oh I knew someone would drag that up! Fair enough. Buuuuuut, everyone has those moments, and nothing is 100%! That isn't the norm. Guarantee, those two met after emotions relaxed and hashed that out as men. Guarantee Bo apologized for his wrong and so did the player. I've had moments like that with my own players before. Fortunately, I don't have all those cameras around!

We know they did - both Bo and Stafford mentioned something about it. I know that was a bit silly, but those kinds of things do happen.

The thing is, like you said, those players know Bo has their back, period, end of story, so even though things get heated, they support him.

The difference is, the fans don't have anything like that kind of faith in Bo. We don't need to remotely have that kind of relationship with him, but we really really don't need to have an openly antagonistic attitude directed at us by our head coach. More often than not, that's his demeanor toward the fans. This is based on what we all see on TV and based on more than one in person conversation I've had with Bo. The man is just walled up, and if you're not part of his inner circle, the interaction is, at best, strained. It's difficult to talk to him.

And this is the weird thing - not just the players, but I happen to know a guy ("insider" info alert! WHOOP! WHOOP! WHOOP!) who knows Bo outside football, in the non-sports world. Knows details about the guy, stuff that not everyone would know. And this guy, he says Bo is a good guy - a great family man, that's how he describes Bo. So I have reason to believe that the interactions I've had and I've seen on the TV aren't "the real" Bo.

But why can't "the real Bo" show up for the fans? The guy's personality doesn't lend itself to that, and we all know that/knew that when he was hired. But that's kinda part of the gig of being a major D1 coach. It's something he has to work on, whether he likes it or not.

I may not like everything about the guy, but I'm the guy in the stands every game making a hell of a lot of noise, whether we're up 20 or down 20. I'm doing my part. Let's see a bit of that from Bo.

 

[Eagle1]

I have no problem with Bo's relationship with myself as a fan. Others seem to expect more out of him and his treatment towards them, and that is fine, but I don't. Obviously, he isn't a warm, cuddly guy. He doesn't need put on a facade that he is and butter me up. I take him for what he is, and that is OK by me.

Right. And I should have added to my post that Bo has no obligation to go beyond what he is required to if he doesn't want, and it's unreasonable to ask him to be someone he's not. By all means, if he stays the same non-warm and cuddly guy and gets it done then all the more power to him.

But he would do himself so many favors by trying, I think. I want his relationship with the fanbase to be better just as much for his sake and the players' sake as I do for my own sake. Sometimes I worry about his health with the pressure and stress, and it seems like so much of it is self-inflicted.

Well said, and I worry about his health too. Totally agree with everything you said!

 

[Eagle1]

Oh I knew someone would drag that up! Fair enough. Buuuuuut, everyone has those moments, and nothing is 100%! That isn't the norm. Guarantee, those two met after emotions relaxed and hashed that out as men. Guarantee Bo apologized for his wrong and so did the player. I've had moments like that with my own players before. Fortunately, I don't have all those cameras around!

We know they did - both Bo and Stafford mentioned something about it. I know that was a bit silly, but those kinds of things do happen.

The thing is, like you said, those players know Bo has their back, period, end of story, so even though things get heated, they support him.

The difference is, the fans don't have anything like that kind of faith in Bo. We don't need to remotely have that kind of relationship with him, but we really really don't need to have an openly antagonistic attitude directed at us by our head coach. More often than not, that's his demeanor toward the fans. This is based on what we all see on TV and based on more than one in person conversation I've had with Bo. The man is just walled up, and if you're not part of his inner circle, the interaction is, at best, strained. It's difficult to talk to him.

And this is the weird thing - not just the players, but I happen to know a guy ("insider" info alert! WHOOP! WHOOP! WHOOP!) who knows Bo outside football, in the non-sports world. Knows details about the guy, stuff that not everyone would know. And this guy, he says Bo is a good guy - a great family man, that's how he describes Bo. So I have reason to believe that the interactions I've had and I've seen on the TV aren't "the real" Bo.

But why can't "the real Bo" show up for the fans? The guy's personality doesn't lend itself to that, and we all know that/knew that when he was hired. But that's kinda part of the gig of being a major D1 coach. It's something he has to work on, whether he likes it or not.

I may not like everything about the guy, but I'm the guy in the stands every game making a hell of a lot of noise, whether we're up 20 or down 20. I'm doing my part. Let's see a bit of that from Bo.

Good post. I too have had and have heard of those conversations, however, maybe I caught him on good days, lol. I do feel with time, he will open up more. It isn't easy, I'm sure.

 

[junior4949]

I believe Eichorst is handling all of this correctly. Give Bo enough rope to either hang himself thus we're off the hook and should have no problem finding a viable replacement or enough rope to actually grow and improve. Between now and then, we will get the answer. If the situation is as toxic as some fear, recruiting will suffer to the point that a 2007 type implosion is very likely to occur. If the situation is as good as some hope, we're still playing in one of the worst automatically qualifying conferences thus giving us a great chance at an eventual BCS Bowl.

 

[HuskerinSunDiego]

We're a huge part of this equation. It's not just the players on the field and the coaches in their offices. "Us" includes the blokes in the bleachers. We are not "them," but many of us feel like Bo believes we are.

Perfectly put. Excellent point. Agree, I wish that Bo would embrace the fans. He needs to forgive and forget and accept us. He cannot shut off 100% of the fans simply because a small minority don't like him. That would be like if you had 6 kids and punished all 6 when only one of them made a mistake. Bo cannot continue on with this "us against the Nebraska fans" mentality. I'd like him to just candidly address this issue. Say something like, "Look, I got mad because a vocal minority wanted me fired. I'm human. It got under my skin. However, I realize that the vast majority of the fans are behind me. I'm putting any differences or bad feelings behind me. We are in this together." It would go a long way if he took this approach.

 

[QMany]

Other than the audio tape that was recorded two years ago, has Bo really ostracized the fan base that much? I guess don't see it as much as some.

 

[sd'sker]

Other than the audio tape that was recorded two years ago, has Bo really ostracized the fan base that much? I guess don't see it as much as some.

he is prickly, but as others have alluded to, he really does not have to embrace the fanbase, nor does he owe us anything. but because of the disappointing seasons and on-the-field product, gaining a relationship with the fans could go a long way in tempering some of the heat he gets.

hard to defend a guy whose team is under-performing and he seems to hate you.