Toughness

[C N Red]

This is the absolute number one thing our program has been missing for 15-20 years. Our teams, especially current one, are so damn soft. We have to find some guys that can bring the toughness back. Guys who will hold everyone accountable. Guys who will get in others faces and they will be respected. We need some tough SOB leaders. Its embarrassing how soft we have been. Pertaining to football, i'd rather be feared/hated and good than well liked and crappy. Thats what all good teams have in common. They have tough guys on the team that dont give a s#!t, and that team morphs into that. They want to be feared. We are far from being feared at this point. 

 

[neepster]

This is the absolute number one thing our program has been missing for 15-20 years. Our teams, especially current one, are so damn soft. We have to find some guys that can bring the toughness back. Guys who will hold everyone accountable. Guys who will get in others faces and they will be respected. We need some tough SOB leaders. Its embarrassing how soft we have been. Pertaining to football, i'd rather be feared/hated and good than well liked and crappy. Thats what all good teams have in common. They have tough guys on the team that dont give a s#!t, and that team morphs into that. They want to be feared. We are far from being feared at this point. 

I agree but to do this you first have to find a set of coaches who will be held accountable and hold others accountable.   Coaches who will push the players to be more than they think they can be.  MR is not that coach.

 

[84HuskerLaw]

The toughness and being feared comes from the team playing with heart, fire and determination.   The attitudes about winning and the need and desire to do so have changed in our society in general. I suppose there are many reasons but  you see this in so many ways.  We are seeing the rules of football 'softened' in areas such as the spearing and head but rules to the obvious officiating calls for 'unnecessary roughness' and so in many cases where the hit is nothing more than a near perfect football tackle.   I would suggest the fact that so many our young people today have literally grown up 'playing' video games involving sports and or violence of all sorts.  I am not a game player but I have seen enough of them played by many kids that it is clear that the consequences of 'losing' in these games is nothing more than pressing the reset or restart button or even just using another of one's 'lives' over and over again.  In other words, 'losing' has no significance in the course of playing the game and one can play all day and lose repeatedly literally hundreds of time and it effectively means nothing.

This mentality pervades our society across so many areas from sports to politics to work to crime and punishment, etc.  Young people are given pretrial diversion in criminal courts where the end result is nothing more than listening to a short lecture from the judge and attendance at a couple meetings or doing a few hours of community service which amounts to frankly about nothing.   Many young people graduate from high school without ever having had to hold down a job and develop a real work ethic of some kind.  Parents coddle their kids and we see medals and trophies and awards 'for participation' and so on.   This has the effect of de-emphasizing the win or lose aspects of competition.   

It is not surprising that a loss bothers the fans more than the players.  And for coaching staffs and even administrators, winning may be a nice thing but it is not nearly as important as perhaps it once was to most people.  One could make a case that coaches contracts should be on a pay per win basis where the loss really costs them something.  We see coaches getting paid on guaranty salaries for years after they have left for poor performance.  Instead of paying millions, win or lose, maybe the salary should be rather modest and additonal comp for a job well done.   There are important aspects beyond the wins and losses and those ought to be rewarded as well.   Teams that produce wins, avoid troubles on or off the field, excel in school, etc. are what is expected.  Let's pay for that.     

 

[C N Red]

On top of no toughness or nastiness an absolutely huge issue is the fact there seems to be no consequences.

If a player is consistently using the wrong technique or not being sharp on assignments he needs to be sat the F down for at least a little while. Put someone else in, bring player to sideline and tell him what he's doing wrong and teach him. I literally hardly ever see this. I barely see any teaching going on during games. That's the best time to teach and for players to learn what you expect from them. There has to be consequences for poor play.

 

[lo country]

It's called accountability.  And is lacking.  From coaches to players and players to peers.....Not just under Riley.  As noted, it's been going on for years.  A captain cuts class and won't graduate.......guys smoking weed, guys missing blocks, penalties etc......Once the guys are held to a higher standard, they will perform at a higher standard.  Knowing if they screw up, they can ride the pine....

Toughness.....remember this little kick in the crotch?  We've been lacking in this for years......And many posters took offense to these comments...

The most interesting interview after the game was with Corey Raymond. The secondary coach wasn’t convinced Nebraska had enough talent to beat South Carolina, especially in the secondary.

“Just be honest,” Raymond said. “Look at them, look at us. It’s pretty obvious.”

What did Raymond mean? He didn’t spell it out, but he made veiled criticisms of Nebraska’s personnel. For instance, what did he take from this game going into the offseason?

“Hopefully it helps recruiting. Get athletes.”

Was he encouraged by how NU matched up man-for-man? “Not necessarily.”

Raymond went on to compare the mentality of Southern players versus Nebraska’s players. His guys needed to learn how to punch back once they got “hit in the mouth.”

“You can’t live on what other guys have done in the past around here,” Raymond said. “You have to live on yourself…We’re not Prince. We’re not Eric Hagg. We’re not those guys. We have to do much different things. We have to work harder. We’re not the same athletes as those guys.”

We talked about this in 2012.......

HERE: