Coaching

“I just think there’s a faction creating a negative type of environment that wants to create drama and wants to see people pointing fingers,” Rodriguez said. “There’s nobody in that locker room that’s going to point any fingers. Everybody in that locker room is all in.”

Senior punter and team captain Zoltan Mesko was not as diplomatic. “There are people out there who don’t want us to succeed or the coaching staff to succeed,” Mesko said. “I could write a book about it. There are a lot of guys that don’t see what goes on inside the program of how much love there is for the players. It’s a shame they don’t see how close we are to being one of the best programs in the nation.”

Seems to me this team has come together, and if they have an US against the world mentality, who can blame them given the past 2 years?

I would love to see Gruden in the college game, I think he would be great. IF (I still think he will succeed here) RichRod doesn't last past next year, Gruden should get some consideration, provided he isn't already taken.

I would imagine that Superbowl Ring would play pretty good in living rooms, during recruiting trips.

Very informative thread title. I like your style.

If the team needs a retreat then we are in deeper troubles than we all realize right now. They seemed pretty together in that OSU game sans the loss. They played together and put out one of their better all around performances of the year. I think they will be just fine and if anything all the turmoil those remaining have been through will only make them a tighter team.

Let's send them all to camp wynnachokababyy as featured on Disney Channel's hit show "Bug Juice". There they can climb ropes, make fires, sing camping songs and participate in many team building exercises!

To the OP - you can't just create a thread around here about whatever you are thinking about. And you cannot just throw in another topic because you feel like talking about that also.

So you think the team needs a positive experience, but a retreat is not possible. What is your suggestion? Do you want other suggestions? What are you looking for here?

And thanks for sharing your thoughts on Gruden. What do you want from us?

I dislike Gruden's style. Every week, he discussed how he coached a certain player, or knows a certain coach, and then descends into cursory analysis of how "this player loves playing football," or, "this is just a great player," or, "this is one of the top five players," or, "look at this play!"

He really does not contribute that much to the game. I much prefer the radio broadcasts of Monday Night Football when Dan Reeves or Jim Fassel would do analyst work. They provide information about the plays, much like Matt Millen used to do.

As for the team, they'll be fine.

I actually heard Mt. Wannahockaloogie or the isle of mookalockaheekycomeonyawannalayme are better for team-building retreats.

I'm a huge fan of camp comeoncchristianpleasecommittoday. Once you get there the sun starts to peek out and everybody is a little happier from the loooooong drive it took to get there.

Tim Brown was on the radio in LA yesterday and got asked about the ND job. He said he wanted a pro guy with high stature to take over because in his mind the ND job is on a "whole other level" than schools like Cincinnati, Boise State, and (wait for it, wait for it) the University of Florida.

Then he mentioned talking to Gruden (one of his best friends, in his words) about the gig. Apparently Gruden's reaction was along the lines of, "Are you kidding me?" Brown said he definitely didn't want the headache and immediately signed an extension with ESPN to quell the rumors.

So no, I don't think Gruden is getting back into coaching any time soon. If he does it most likely won't be in college and it almost certainly won't be at Notre Dame.

...for the college level. As was pointed out in an article at smartfootball.com, to run a multiple-formation, pro-style offense doesn't work at the college or HS level b/c it takes too much study time that these players don't have. NFL players are professionals and can spend as many hours as they want or are able to in order to learn the playbook. As we here know all too well, there are limits to the time that NCAA or HS athletes have to spend learning the playbook.

Regardless, I think Gruden's an NFL guy anyway.

And all the ND faithful need to put their pipes down and realize their best bet is to get an up-and-comer like Patterson, Pederson, Kelly, or Harbaugh.

I'd be fine with Gruden coming to the college game. Gruden's a bit of a different breed, but "pro coaches" don't always translate well to the college game, and vice versa.

He could probably recruit the pants off of most coaches, but that doesn't mean he could take his Super Bowl ring and win a national championship...

...wait a minute, that sounds familiar...

trust me, being tortured together by barwis and his assistants in the weight room is bonding experience enough.

gruden would probably be similar to lane kiffin as college head coach...he'd hire a lot of ex-nfl assistants and build a sound program.

This title is supremely uninformative.

He took Tony Dungy's players and got to the Super Bowl, where he was able to dismantle Oakland because they were still running the same schemes they were when he was there.

After that, he pretty much helped dismantle not only the vaunted Tampa Bay defense, but the rest of the team, too. His handling of players, especially QB's, is terrible. Notice how there were absolutely no complaints or players standing up for him when he was fired. I guarantee you that there are some future hall of fame players who wouldn't think of hitting the brake if Gruden walked in front of them on the road.

The bright side of this is that players only stay four or five years, so many could tolerate him. The downside is that he is socially like Bobby Knight behind the scenes, but without nearly Knight's talent for coaching.

Gruden is in his perfect place now. Everyone suddenly percieves his feces as odorless. He should stay in the booth forever, ala Dick Vitale. If he ever came to UM, it would be even worse than Charlie Weis' tenure at ND.

I still hope he ends up at ND if he decides to coach again. The five year circus would be a lot more entertaining if it happened at a rival school.

it is called COLLEGE