One of the more disturbing trends of the Koetter era at ASU has been a penchant for losing “big” games, especially against ranked PAC-10 teams—and particularly against California and USC. Now, those two schools have had some great teams recently—hell, USC hasn’t lost a home conference game for what, 5 years now—but we’ve also dropped some games that we definitely shouldn’t have. See Stanford, circa 2005.
In these losses, the team has often not seemed “up” for the game, or unable to respond when adversity strikes. Fans usually attribute the responsibility for this to the head coach. It’s his job, they say, to get the players fired up and ready to play.
I respectfully disagree.
Don’t get me wrong, I think that a coach’s responsibility includes getting his players ready to play. But that mostly means being sure they have a solid game plan and the skills to execute that plan. And while the coach should motivate his players to the best of his ability, I believe that the final responsibility lands firmly on the players themselves, particularly the team leaders.
The coach can set the standards, but the players are the only ones that can really truly enforce those standards. The coach can give all the speeches he wants, and can even bench players, but it’s the peer pressure from your teammates that keeps you going and makes you give your best. When you ask soldiers in a battlezone why they fight, they don’t tell you they fought because of the rousing speech the general gave. No, they tell you that they fought hard because they didn’t want to let their fellow soldiers down, the guys that sit and sleep next to them. The same goes, I believe, on the football field.
We all know what game was played a decade ago this month, and the heart that was shown in that game. In its recent retrospective on the ‘96 team, and its program-defining win over Nebraska, the East Valley Tribune recounted a special moment the day before the big game:
On Friday night at a team meeting, the players asked the coaches to leave. Various leaders including quarterback Jake Plummer, linebacker Pat Tillman and Poole spoke.Then Derek Smith, an intense though quiet linebacker, got up.
“I got something to say,” Smith said.
Smith, according to numerous accounts, gave such an impassioned, us-against-the-world, nobody-gives-us-a-chance pep talk that his face turned red. “By the end of it, I had chill bumps,” Courtney Jackson said.
Smith, now a linebacker for the San Francisco 49ers, recalled having “choice words . . . to the effect that ‘nobody believes in us.’ ”
“In college, sometimes people get scared of a team and its tradition,” he said. “I didn’t want us to be swayed by that.”
After Smith’s talk, various accounts have tables being knocked over, at least one chair flying at the chalkboard and players singing the fight song.
“It was pretty wild in there,” Lenzie Jackson said.
After they got back to their rooms at their Scottsdale hotel, “I didn’t sleep well,” Courtney Jackson said. “I don’t think anybody did.”
I’m not sure why the team hasn’t consistently demonstrated this kind of motivation in the last few years. It doesn’t seem like we’ve been lacking in team leaders, or pride for that matter. Koetter’s a competitive guy who doesn’t like to lose, and I’m sure that he hates his record against ranked opponents with far more passion than any of us do. But, boy, it sure seems to be an issue the last few years.
Here’s hoping the team can figure it out this year.
September 29th, 2006 at 8:37 am
As to not getting up for “big games”,and losing…I think it’s because ASU Athletics, not just the Football team, do not know how to handle success and attention. (one exception being The Lady Sun Devil Basketball Team).
I mentally cringe whenever the Sun Devils start getting too much favorable mention in the media. Especially the national media. They seem to choke on the national stage. Some sort of stage fright? I don’t know.
One reason for this might be because ASU doesn’t get a lot of 4 or 5 star recruits that are already used to a lot of attention, (idolization). When our athletes are presented the opportunity to shine in a way bigger stage and be the star, they forget their lines. Another far fetched possibility is that our beautiful co-eds pay too much attention to the athletes when they are doing well. That can be very distracting to a young man in his teens or just out of his teens.
If the above is correct, it might be a good idea to require the athletes in the major sports to take a course on how to handle success and sudden attention.
The present Lady Sun Devil Basketball Team doesn’t seem to suffer from stage fright as much. Perhaps we could study Charli Taylor Thorne’s methods.
Just my 2 cents. Fire away with your comments. The least they can do is inspire discussion.
WWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW
and more ASU wins!!
September 29th, 2006 at 12:27 pm
It really comes down to team leadership. I feel that this is something this team is searching for. I really can’t identify one individual who this team rallies around. I initally thought Carpenter, would take upon himself, but he’s soph., is playing poorly, and doesn’t appear to have the personality to challenge other players.
Agree, the coaches can only do so much. But, I find it very troubling, that not once in what,11 tries, ASU has failed to make a W in Cal. Mentally, ASU under Koetter, is either weak or psyched out. There’s no other way to describe it. Even a blind squirrel gets lucky once. ASU, must be better prepared mentally to handle adversity. That only comes from within the group. It starts with the players.
September 29th, 2006 at 9:39 pm
I agree, BayDevil, this team still seems to be searching for those leaders. With how the team responded to the Keller-Carpenter controversy, it sure seemed like they had some strong team leaders. I hope the right guys step up, we really need a win tomorrow v Oregon.
October 1st, 2006 at 12:29 pm
It’s worse than that. We already have a Leadership Council.
The team is in some kind of Psychological Funk. They are not united. Both sides feel as if they were lied to.
To tell you the truth, I have never felt that Coach Koetter has lied to me.
“What you see is what you get”
October 3rd, 2006 at 3:09 pm
After observing the debacle last saturday, I’m have little words to describe what I saw. A lifeless, poorly prepared, slow, and defeated team all around.
I can’t understand what it takes to get these players to focus. Koetter, has stated that the team is not practing the way they should;and this is reflective on play game day. If this is the case, then something needs changing and ASAP. If it means heavy hitting during practices..then so be it. I don’t think Koetter has the luxury to ignore the fact that this team is weak mentally and just not ready to play on Sat.
October 4th, 2006 at 9:40 am
I am not sure if the leadership group really has leaders. Sometimes people are stronger in a group but do not really lead individually.
It bothered me when Koetter said this week would be spent on recruiting when this team is in the toilet. Those recruiting trips should have been canceled and time should be spent on trying to salvage this season.
Most teams are an extension of their coach and/or coaches. Other than Koetter and Oz, there have been many changes to the coaching staff. I have yet to see the promise of the defensive coordinator. He has been coaching at so many places it makes you wonder IF he can get the job done. He has coached at Texas Arlington, 1978; Oklahoma State, 1979-80; Drake, 1981-82; Nevada-Reno, 1983-85; Minnesota, 1986-88; Oklahoma State, 1989-94; Miami (Fla.), 1995-98; Michigan State, 1999-02; Florida, 2003-04; Arizona State, 2004-present.
Oklahoma State seems to be his longest stay with any university. This is his tenth job in 18 years. That is not a good record of accomplishment. Saturday was an example of poor defensive play. It seemed like tackling 101 was missing from their coaching.
Now that we lost Mark Helfrich to Colorado, our QB and offensive play has really suffered. Both Sam Keller and Rudy Carpenter said they missed him. It seems that Mark’s absence might be hurting Carpenter more than what might have been thought originally.
In any event, this team has to respond at USC. Based on their play against Wazzu, they can be beaten. The question is has ASU packed it in against teams they consider to be better than they are?
We will find that out on October 14.
October 4th, 2006 at 10:42 am
I’m not concerned that Koetter and staff are going recruiting. It’s not like we can simply decide to stop recruting—and I think it would look particularly bad if they cancelled in an attempt to “save” our season.
And, while it sounds like heresy these days, I’m not entirely convinced that the coaching staff is to blame for our troubles thus far. I think that if this season is to turn around (although, I have to say, our record is just where I thought it would be at this time), it’s gotta come from the players. The coaches can yell and scream, make them run laps until 3am, but its the players who have to suck it up, decide that they aren’t willing to fail, and to execute the way they did last year and this spring/summer.
I think that our offensive problems are due to a variety of factors all converging. First, it’s self-imposed pressure by Carpenter. Second, it’s the loss of assistants. Third, it’s a young and inconsistent wide receiver core. Fourth, it’s offensive line problems and having to keep ZM in to block instead of opening up the defense. Fifth, it’s Carpenter pressing to overcome those problems, and subsequently, making things worse. Finally, it’s been some bad luck.
Aside from the loss of some very key receivers, this still is basically the same offense that was the 2nd best in the nation, with some really nice running back depth. We still have some nice talent, and we should be able to right this ship soon. If we don’t, it’s going to be a crash-and-burn season.
October 4th, 2006 at 10:57 pm
I have to think the SC game is a L. SC plays UW before they play us, so if SC is to be had, it may come from the Huskies.
After the SC game the really next test for ASU are the two road games with OSU and UW. Playing both will not be easy. I remember the OSU game 3yrs ago in Corvallis, where ASU looked terrible.
It’s tough to say that the only unit that is playing half way decent ball is ST. I never thought I’d see the day when ST, would account for more points than ASU’s offense. But they did against UO.
I project a 6-6 yr. A very disappointing season if this hold up.