Louisville's Walz Blasts His Team's Recent Play

[Charliebball]

Sounds a bit like a coach we know......per Raul

LACETT | Walz blasts team after 2nd straight loss

 

[CocoHusky]

The man does have a point:
“We just live in a generation where everyone wins a trophy,” said Walz. “We’re losers and we got beat. There is no trophy for us.”

 

[bags27]

The man does have a point:
“We just live in a generation where everyone wins a trophy,” said Walz. “We’re losers and we got beat. There is no trophy for us.”

 

[wallman]

Well when you recruit the type of players that need billboards and promises, whats a player gonna do

 

[Fairfield Fan]

Well when you recruit the type of players that need billboards and promises, whats a player gonna do

But that is exactly what Coach Geno said after his team's relatively lackluster performance against Chattanooga. He went on a rant against "kids these days"! Maybe Walz was mimicking Geno!

 

[wallman]

Maybe Walz can try to mimic but gotta say he really falls short

 

[RockyMTblue2]

The man does have a point:
“We just live in a generation where everyone wins a trophy,” said Walz. “We’re losers and we got beat. There is no trophy for us.”

Pretty much says it. And, by the by, if you look at the beginning of that short clip all the signature shaking in the intro may be a clue for Jeff. What you celebrating. It's the beginning. Do you have a losing, I'm sorry rassamatazz? Ain't we cool? Not!

Geno essentially said the same thing after the Chat game. Only he was sly dog chill about it.

 

[Charliebball]

Here is a longer transcript with more of his thoughts on AAU basketball etc.

Salty women’s basketball coach has had it with participation trophies

 

[Orangutan]

The man does have a point:
“We just live in a generation where everyone wins a trophy,” said Walz. “We’re losers and we got beat. There is no trophy for us.”

I that his best point was this - he recruited all these players. So if he thinks his kids are "losers" and don't have the will to win and don't want to work hard, he has no one to blame but himself.

The participation trophy thing is such a tired trope, too. Just the latest example of older people complaining that the younger generation is ruining the world, a fine tradition goes back at least as far as Socrates. It's a neat trick, too, that the older generation decided to give their children participation trophies and then later use them as a rhetorical club to beat them with later in life.

 

[DaddyChoc]

I that his best point was this - he recruited all these players. So if he thinks his kids are "losers" and don't have the will to win and don't want to work hard, he has no one to blame but himself.

The participation trophy thing is such a tired trope, too. Just the latest example of older people complaining that the younger generation is ruining the world, a fine tradition goes back at least as far as Socrates. It's a neat trick, too, that the older generation decided to give their children participation trophies and then later use them as a rhetorical club to beat them with later in life.

 

[Hoopz]

He recruits hype instead of players with substance(selfless hard workers, team players, etc.,). It's no wonder it's come back to bite him in the rear.

 

[Teacherdeb]

I have always liked Walz and thought he was a good coach, but this rant lowers him in my eyes. He fails to take responsibility for his team losing. Sure Geno makes references to "kids today" but he does it with humorous, loving sarcasm. It doesn't feel like he's throwing his team under the bus as Walz is doing here. A major part of a coach's job is to motivate his players- to pull from them effort and abilities the players don't even know they have. Is the job tougher today? Yeah, our society is different than it was 10, 20, 30 years ago. Bemoaning the fact gets you nowhere. Well, it does get a lot of people to nod their heads and agree. (See above). Oh, and BTW, elite program coaches like Walz are getting paid a heck of a lot more today than they were back in the day. So Walz, take responsibility for failing to prepare your kids- show a united front, and behind closed doors, fix it, or quit coaching. I'm trying to imagine what Jen Rizzotti could do with that talent....

 

[SCGamecock]

It's funny how much his rant is backfiring on him. A lot of people are calling him out for his recruiting and saying it's "self-inflicted" in his case.. like a previous poster already said, I even saw several AAU coaches of big time programs accusing him of recruiting hype over heart and not being selective enough.

Raoul himself even had an interesting take on Walz's recruiting habits.

 

[ThisJustIn]

It's bull crap whine from the coach. "Back in my day" - he lives in a new day. "In the real world you'd get fired?" SUCH bull. We all can point to people at our workplace who "should be fired." Heck, maybe WE'RE one of those people.

Coaches have gotten what they want - more money, more things, nice arena. They fawn over players because THEY are afraid of losing their job. They make compromises all the time, let folks get away with stuff because they don't have the spin to go "BOO!"

Fingerpoint into the mirror, Jeff.

And there are times I feel similarly about Geno - and times when his motivation makes sense.

Be the adult you want your young people to be, dude.

 

[Charliebball]

It's funny how much his rant is backfiring on him. A lot of people are calling him out for his recruiting and saying it's "self-inflicted" in his case.. like a previous poster already said, I even saw several AAU coaches of big time programs accusing him of recruiting hype over heart and not being selective enough.

Raoul himself even had an interesting take on Walz's recruiting habits.

Are you referring to this reply?

Raoul ‏@Raoul_000 14h14 hours ago
Raoul Retweeted Matt Jones

Interesting point. Maybe Maryland is simply better at recruiting the "right" players; they're certainly more selective with their offers.

Raoul added,

Matt Jones @KySportsRadio

 

[SCGamecock]

Are you referring to this reply?

Raoul ‏@Raoul_000 14h14 hours ago
Raoul Retweeted Matt Jones

Interesting point. Maybe Maryland is simply better at recruiting the "right" players; they're certainly more selective with their offers.

Raoul added,

Matt Jones @KySportsRadio

yep!

 

[Charliebball]

Team chemistry is often difficult to achieve and is constantly evolving.......UConn and Notre Dame seem to place a premium on quality over quantity and that quality includes mental fortitude in addition to basketball skill..........not easy to recreate that as we see every year........perhaps Walz will adjust his recruiting process in the future........on the other hand, his team may turn it around and this rant will be all but forgotten..............

 

[Dillon77]

I that his best point was this - he recruited all these players. So if he thinks his kids are "losers" and don't have the will to win and don't want to work hard, he has no one to blame but himself.

The participation trophy thing is such a tired trope, too. Just the latest example of older people complaining that the younger generation is ruining the world, a fine tradition goes back at least as far as Socrates. It's a neat trick, too, that the older generation decided to give their children participation trophies and then later use them as a rhetorical club to beat them with later in life.

He recruits hype instead of players with substance(selfless hard workers, team players, etc.,). It's no wonder it's come back to bite him in the rear.

Over the years, many on this board -- myself included -- have noted (even with some tongue-in-cheek humor) about how Coach Jeff Walz has spread his recruiting net far and wide & early in his pursuit of players. Some have noted that he needed to do this/needs to do this to get to the top of the WBB pyramid. To catch up the top. Others have noted that once you get to certain stage, a coach might want to think about making sure he or she is adding the right players to the mix.

Well, Walz keeps procuring HS All-Americans and getting early signees and look at the results: in 2015-16, a great regular season but flame-outs in the ACC and NCAA tournaments, both against TEAMS (capitalization intended) that didn't have the individual talent that the Cardinals did (the NCAA tournament loss against DePaul was at home.)

I looked at the highlights and boxscore of the Terp-Cardinal game and noted that Walz played his top five players, most of whom have one thing in common: they need the ball to be at their best. And three McDonald All-Americans barely got off the bench (the two frosh, Shook and Johnson and sophomore Fuehring, who played good minutes for them last year).

This rant of his -- most of which should've been delivered inside a locker room -- underscores two things to me:
- Walz does not realize that the mixes and mindsets he puts on the floor right now is hitting a ceiling.
- And that mix is his own doing. So, rather than pull the trigger on a proverbial recruting shotgun, he might be taking out his rifle for his team-building needs and realize a Molly Bent-type can add value to a UConn treasure trove and a Hannah Huffman (past) and Abby Prohaska can solidify the recipe Muffet McGraw mixes in South Bend.

Until then, Jeff can expect to beat up on inferior talent, lose to teams that have the right mix and get beat by his former boss.

(Don't even get me going on the rant on participation.....)

p.s. If he's not going to let Fuehring see the floor, I'd love to see her in a Princeton-style offense in South Bend, Indiana.

--

 

[UcMiami]

I that his best point was this - he recruited all these players. So if he thinks his kids are "losers" and don't have the will to win and don't want to work hard, he has no one to blame but himself.

The participation trophy thing is such a tired trope, too. Just the latest example of older people complaining that the younger generation is ruining the world, a fine tradition goes back at least as far as Socrates. It's a neat trick, too, that the older generation decided to give their children participation trophies and then later use them as a rhetorical club to beat them with later in life.

Yes and no. I think pretty much everyone who has played serious competitive sports has not been aligned on the side of 'keep everyone happy and give them all a trophy', nor are the people running companies, or managing a staff, or teaching. At some point in the development of children, they need to learn the distinction between participation and excellence, between effort and success. They need to understand there is such a thing as failure, and how to respond to it. And that every day doesn't end with a present. The extension of the everyone gets a trophy theory is that everyone gets an A in math, and everyone gets a raise and promotion each year - and we all know that isn't happening. In education we have experimented with Pass/Fail grading and it hasn't worked really well, and various places and countries have experimented with everyone gets a job and that hasn't worked very well either. We are like rats in a maze, we need the piece of cheese at the end to motivate us to learn and succeed.

We can argue about the age at which distinctions get made and we seem as a society to be pushing the point further up in age. And part of it may have to do with a societal issue that is putting more of the 'nurturing' of children onto extra-familial groups because we recognize that a lot of the children are not getting the nurturing they need within the familial group. (Some will argue that it is an increasing failure of the 'family', but I think it was always an issue, just never recognized.) Family isn't providing the 'its OK, here's what we do now' support so schools and athletics and _____ are being tasked with that job.

And I don't have a problem with Jeff's rant, and I don't have a problem with his recruits nor does he really. He is frustrated just like Geno was a few days ago, and countless other coaches have been in the past. And they all recognize that the recruits they are getting today have a different mental make-up than they did ten and twenty years ago. They may attribute it to slightly different things - Jeff to participation trophies, Geno to AAU expansion, ____ to HS coaching, _____ to parents, _____ to too many individual trainers - but they are all getting at something fundamentally different in preparation, expectations, and development of college age athletes. To ignore the fairly universally expressed opinions because one person does it with humor and another with anger or frustration is probably not a good idea. And it isn't just athletes and their coaches, but listen to job recruiters, and college professors, and a host of others who deal with people entering a new phase of their lives - almost all complain about similar changes. And the statisticians get involved as well - math scores, writing scores, literacy rates tell similar kinds of stories at a national level of statistics.

We all avidly follow every 'scandals' with athletic programs where coaches are accused of improprieties in the way they treat their athletes, and every off-season there seem to be more long term successful coaches being caught up in them - some are obviously serious, but many of them come down to some team members being unhappy and some being fiercely supportive with most of the alum of the program coming down on the coach's side. And my feeling is that this is another symptom of the above issue - good athletes can get to college without ever having failed, and they don't know how to deal with being told by a college coach that they are failing, so they blame the coach and they convince a few of their teammates that is why they aren't starring as well. (I am definitely not talking about a Tyler Summitt or Mike Rice at Rutgers situation, but more the Bill Gibbons kind of thing at Holly Cross.)

FYI We can argue about the quality of coaches like JPM or Mitchell at KY and the way them seem to drive off talent or their public persona, but their players leave because of basic coaching issues and not it appears for some impropriety and I think their situations are different.

 

[UcMiami]

Team chemistry is often difficult to achieve and is constantly evolving..UConn and Notre Dame seem to place a premium on quality over quantity and that quality includes mental fortitude in addition to basketball skill.....not easy to recreate that as we see every year...perhaps Walz will adjust his recruiting process in the future...on the other hand, his team may turn it around and this rant will be all but forgotten....

Or praised - like Geno's from a few days ago!

 

[UcMiami]

Over the years, many on this board -- myself included -- have noted (even with some tongue-in-cheek humor) about how Coach Jeff Walz has spread his recruiting net far and wide & early in his pursuit of players. Some have noted that he needed to do this/needs to do this to get to the top of the WBB pyramid. To catch up the top. Others have noted that once you get to certain stage, a coach might want to think about making sure he or she is adding the right players to the mix.

Well, Walz keeps procuring HS All-Americans and getting early signees and look at the results: in 2015-16, a great regular season but flame-outs in the ACC and NCAA tournaments, both against TEAMS (capitalization intended) that didn't have the individual talent that the Cardinals did (the NCAA tournament loss against DePaul was at home.)

I looked at the highlights and boxscore of the Terp-Cardinal game and noted that Walz played his top five players, most of whom have one thing in common: they need the ball to be at their best. And three McDonald All-Americans barely got off the bench (the two frosh, Shook and Johnson and sophomore Fuehring, who played good minutes for them last year).

This rant of his -- most of which should've been delivered inside a locker room -- underscores two things to me:
- Walz does not realize that the mixes and mindsets he puts on the floor right now is hitting a ceiling.
- And that mix is his own doing. So, rather than pull the trigger on a proverbial recruting shotgun, he might be taking out his rifle for his team-building needs and realize a Molly Bent-type can add value to a UConn treasure trove and a Hannah Huffman (past) and Abby Prohaska can solidify the recipe Muffet McGraw mixes in South Bend.

Until then, Jeff can expect to beat up on inferior talent, lose to teams that have the right mix and get beat by his former boss.

(Don't even get me going on the rant on participation.....)

p.s. If he's not going to let Fuehring see the floor, I'd love to see her in a Princeton-style offense in South Bend, Indiana.

--

I think looking at Jeff's record as a whole, he has had incredible team success with less perceived talent than a whole lot of other coaches. Sure Jeff flamed out last year but so did: ND, SC, Baylor, MD, Ohio State, etc. and all of those teams were considered much more talented than Louisville. That stuff happens to everyone including in the distant past to Uconn.

I have been one of those posting about Jeff's changing world in terms of talent and recruiting success and suggesting he needs to alter his process now he is winning some of the top ten recruiting battles. So I agree with pretty much everything else you say. (My response on the participation trophies is above and lengthy! )

 

[Dillon77]

I think looking at Jeff's record as a whole, he has had incredible team success with less perceived talent than a whole lot of other coaches. Sure Jeff flamed out last year but so did: ND, SC, Baylor, MD, Ohio State, etc. and all of those teams were considered much more talented than Louisville. That stuff happens to everyone including in the distant past to Uconn.

I have been one of those posting about Jeff's changing world in terms of talent and recruiting success and suggesting he needs to alter his process now he is winning some of the top ten recruiting battles. So I agree with pretty much everything else you say. (My response on the participation trophies is above and lengthy! )

Distinctly remember you and I, among others, having the conversation on Jeff/Louisville's need to tweak/alter his recruiting approach. Not all of these players have a "glue player" sign and arrow over their heads and it's admittedly hard to figure out which recruits will sublimate their needs for those of the team (Huffman, for instance, was known as as a scorer in HS in northern CA and graduated from ND known as a stopper and floor burner.) But Jeff and his staff see enough games and have enough contacts to get the scoop.....

As for the flameouts, sure all teams have them and for a variety of reasons. For some reason, I saw a number of Louisville games last year and their losses (DePaul, Syracuse, ND, Dayton) all seemed to play out in a similar manner.

I did see your post and will take it in. Having been a travel soccer coach for nearly 10 years and the administrator of a huge soccer club (1500+), I've lived through all aspects of this....

 

[wallman]

I hear you UC and I agree with you 100% about the mentality of some players etc. BUT and it is a big but, I have also heard Walz recruiting techniques and he has brought this all on himself. Easy for him to point fingers as none of his players can call him out on what he promised them. And some coaches seem to still know which players will help their TEAM and not just pad their squad with awards on paper.

 

[xHunt3r]

Think this was a later video of Coach Watlz talking about the same topic...

Louisville coach rants about participation trophies

 

[UcMiami]

I hear you UC and I agree with you 100% about the mentality of some players etc. BUT and it is a big but, I have also heard Walz recruiting techniques and he has brought this all on himself. Easy for him to point fingers as none of his players can call him out on what he promised them. And some coaches seem to still know which players will help their TEAM and not just pad their squad with awards on paper.

OK, if you have really good information on recruiting techniques employed and not just anecdotal information I will accept your point - but there is a lot of innuendo tossed around about coaches recruiting that I distrust. I certainly have no inside information about any coach's recruiting and rely on their own statements as well as some observation of outcomes. Fans of various teams throw out all sorts of things about recruits and transfers, most of which is sour grapes after they lose a coveted player. Occasionally coaches join in!