...few years back, I was listening to a podcast featuring Michael Irvin - he was talking about how when Jimmy Johnson was coaching him at UM. He said Johnson (especially after a "huge win"), the following week of practice (especially going against a "cupcake") was brutal....Johnson's practices were even more physical than the week before and that he would be maniacal getting in peoples' faces going on about all of the mistakes they made the previous week, telling everybody that they're not as good as the media is making them out to be. etc....Irvin said at the time, him and teammates, couldn't understand why he was like that. Irvin said he later came to realize, that what young players with such god-given talent, need in order to keep their focus....note, believe it or not, Jimmy Johnson has a degree in psychology! Maybe MF should reach out to JJ???
Holtz said you are never as good as you think you are when you win, and you are never as bad as you think you are when you lose. Every week and every team is different and you have to be focused on who you are playing next and not the next week or two. You don’t have to get in players faces but you do have to challenge them. You can tell if guys are a little too aloof.
(no message)
This place has been a cesspool of whining, finger pointing and utter ignorance.
Gotta love ND "fans" on this board, pure comedy gold.
Stewing on them accomplishes nothing.
I'm already enjoying the prospect of this week's game and the possibility of redemption.
(no message)
(no message)
(no message)
(no message)
(no message)
It's Freeman's job to motivate and generate focus after a good win. Yeah, the players were part of the let down, but that should be dealt with offline away from the cameras.
(no message)
Good win but hardly a place to hang your hat.
If this is true that sets a pretty low bar for success. Just win and like u have done it before
(no message)
He mailed in the prep. He failed to recognize the team's cockiness and his own arrogance.
He disrespected NIU by saying after the TAMU game that he didn't know who we were playing the next game.
(no message)
(no message)
(no message)
I don't think accountability is really his issue though. He just hasn't developed into a good HC yet, three years into ever doing it.
We'll have to decide at some point, how long we're willing to wait to find out if the shot in the dark hire develops or not.
I really don't blame Freeman, he was offered a great opportunity and bet on himself in accepting it. I blame the fans, students, and players who clamored for an Inexperienced fledgling DC to be our HC because they 'liked' him and the incompetence of the ND Admin/AD to buy into this hype and hire a completely Inexperienced guy as the Notre Dame HC....AGAIN!
(no message)
There are similar stories about Lou Holtz acting in this way after a big win with a cupcake on the schedule. The players hated Navy week (back when we were beating the daylights out of them every year) because nothing they did in practice would be good enough.