Manuel Tears into Football Team | Page 3 | The Boneyard

Manuel Tears into Football Team

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upstater said:
These are still 20 year old kids. You don't put it on them to win "despite" the coach. This is a university. Manuel is an administrator. If any other administrator took that attitude, he'd be embarrassed. These kids are essentially the clients.
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Good grief.
 
I think Warde stepped out of line. It's up to Warde to put pressure on the head coach and the head coach put pressure on the team. To me just just shows the great amount of pressure or the urgency in this man job. Think about it, the football program has taken three steps back (yes!!! I was there for the Notre Dame game) and look where we are today. I've had football season tickets since 1998 and I will tell you this is the lowest I felt about UConn football, but I will never give up my tickets because I know what we can become. We are a great state, we are winner's, we like to win, we win championships, we will keep winning championships, it's who we are and that's UCONN.

Now I'm all fired up, Good Night.
 
UConn990411 said:
He talks, people are concerned. He doesn't saying anything, and people make "donuts" and "monitoring" jokes.

This board is certainly in over his head...with duck*ing idiots.
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Opinions are like A hole's...everyone has one.
 
upstater said:
These are still 20 year old kids. You don't put it on them to win "despite" the coach. This is a university. Manuel is an administrator. If any other administrator took that attitude, he'd be embarrassed. These kids are essentially the clients.
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They're not kids. Please lose this mentality. They're adults playing division 1 football in front of thousands, receiving thousands of dollars in scholarships for a program that generates millions. If getting a talking to about your effort and what expectations are is too much to handle then leave. Give these student-athletes more credit than this. I'm sure they're tough enough to take it.
 
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Bootsthemonkey said:
They're not kids. Please lose this mentality. They're adults playing division 1 football in front of thousands, receiving thousands of dollars in scholarships for a program that generates millions. If getting a talking to about your effort and what expectations are is too much to handle then leave. Give these student-athletes more credit than this. I'm sure they're tough enough to take it.
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You're wrong on this. These are schools. You don't put the coach's and administrator's responsibilities on the players. It's the players' responsibilities to play their best and play their hearts out. What Manuel was talking about was something quite different. He's concerned with the program.

This is the new mentality in this country. People need constant assessment and passing the buck. Need to evaluate teachers? OK, have the kids tested. But what's in it for the kids? Nothing. They simply have to concentrate on their studies and on playing. That's it. Not on the circus pressuring Manuel.
 
I will chime in that I think Warde is out of line addressing the team. He is the AD, not a coach. He has no business interacting with a team in particular, nor do I think he is really in the know. He can "speak to" coaches all he wants, but he is not one of them. To me, it is like the architect yelling at the electrician. That is the General Contractor's job. If the GC isn't doing his job, fire him.

ETA: Yes, his addressing the players directly does suggest to me that he may be in over his head.
 
How do we know ? The OP labeled it as "tears" into football team, WM called it a discussion and the article said it was a unplanned full throated monologue. Was this a mandatory meeting, a full team meeting, or an impromptu gathering?

I"m reserving judgement on appropriateness - to many unanswered questions on context. Couldn't have been that much of a deal since nobody else has reported in detail on it.
 
huskymedic said:
How do we know ? The OP labeled it as "tears" into football team, WM called it a discussion and the article said it was a unplanned full throated monologue. Was this a mandatory meeting, a full team meeting, or an impromptu gathering?

I"m reserving judgement on appropriateness - to many unanswered questions on context. Couldn't have been that much of a deal since nobody else has reported in detail on it.
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So I guess this statement is the thing that is giving me pause in typing my following comment. I'm just not sure how or to what level all of this went down.

Having said that, IF it was truly a tongue-lashing rather than a "yay, rah, rah," then it was completely out of line. If the AD believes that he has the right head coach, then let the head coach and the assistant coaches handle moments like this. If the AD believes that he does NOT have the right coach, then fire the coach and get someone who you believe is the right guy. But don't pretend to BE the coach...
 
Butch said:
Manuel was a football player coached by a legend. You think the players are not going to listen? Give me a break. Why the heck would people get paranoid about him talking to the football team? What hypersensitive fans we have.
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One has nothing to do with the other. Yes, we have hypersensitive fans. Yes, Warde was a football player coached by a legend. Perhaps, players will listen to him.

But here are a few questions. Does Warde believe that nobody on the coaching staff has conveyed the message that 5-7 isn't a good record? Does he believe that his saying it is somehow more effective than guys like Don Brown (past tense) or like Hank Hughes or Foley or any of the other assistant coaches? Does he believe that the Athletic Director should be the one to mix it up with the student-athletes instead of the guys that he's paying combined millions of dollars to?

I know that only Warde can truly answer those questions, so I'm not looking for you to do so...
 
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I expect a news conference on this matter from Susan Herbst in about 20 minutes.

The theme will be...."Stop all the hate"
 
Maybe this action is a product of a lack of confidence in PP's ability to motivate his own players.
 
Nobody knows what Warde said or didn't say in this 'speech'.

To sit here and make critical and declarative statements about his words to the team is pretty foolish.

If it was a motivational type thing, I am all for it, I guess.

If he really did 'chew' the team out, I'm sure it went in 1 ear and out the other. If I'm a 3 - 4 year player in this program, I don't give a what some 'Michigan Man' has to say to me about my commitment to UCONN Football.

Remember, the only investment Warde has in UConn is financial. It's not a life long commitment like we have as alumni and fans. He's only a UConn fan until the day they stop signing his checks. That's just a fact.
 
sportsart said:
Maybe when the coaching staff has shown they don't have the ability to get the players attention someone needs to show them how to do it.
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If a coaching staff doesn't have the ability to get the players attention why would they still have jobs?
 
I thought Manuel was out of line here. It is not his job to lecture the team.
 
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uconnfan68 said:
Maybe he was trying to help them. It's not like he's not allowed to do that.
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It kinda is. They don't know him, and when he walks in and hits the team hard, it undermines the HC. As long as Pasqualoni is the HC, his word is final on all matters related to the football team, at least as far as the players are concerned.
 
Waquoit said:
If a coaching staff doesn't have the ability to get the players attention why would they still have jobs?
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Haven't you been paying attention? You don't fire a coach after just 2 years, especially if the buy out is a whopping $1,000,000.

By the way. Technically GDL lost his job and he seemed to be the center of the dicontent so I guess assistant coaches can get fired after 2 years, just not HC's.
 
I went back and read the story again. I think this line is telling.

"......what happened this season is never, ever going to happen again."

It's not like they went 1-11 and looked like they didn't care.

I think it was his way of saying, like the coaches or not, you gave away some games by not giving your best effort because you were mad at the coaches.

Then he went to the coaches and gave them the same message and relieved GDL of his OC duties (players now know Warde gets it) and let the coaches know they need to do things differently or other changes will be made.

In essence his "tirade" was in support of PP at the same time supporting the players.
 
This isn't the military.

There is zero confusion as to who the head coach of the program is.

This was an end of season wrap up, not WM standing over PPs shoulder overriding him on plays. Entirely, entirely reasonable for WM to give his input after the season.

The idea that the AD should be locked in his office, talking only to head coaches, is just crazy to me. Football is arguably the most critical program we have - the AD isn't allowed to take a direct interest? He can only be interested from afar, through some made up chain of command protocol? Then he gets killed for being "asleep" and "not showing people anything".

Reiterating to the team and the coaches the importance of being 100% focused for next season is in no way a bad thing. It's just not.

Time to step away from this thread.
 
WM is a former player too who played at a high level program not just an administrative suit. He can probably relate better to them than most AD.
I don't think talking to them was a negative.
 
UConn990411 said:
He talks, people are concerned. He doesn't saying anything, and people make "donuts" and "monitoring" jokes.

This board is certainly in over his head...with duck*ing idiots.
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I heard that the Manual's talk was due to a , um logistical issue, involving a courtesy table that had been set up prior to the game.

WM: Yeah, where are the donuts?​
Player 1: Um, I'm not sure, Mr Manual.​

​
WM: Not sure? You are not sure, is that it? Well why do you powdered sugar on your mouth, Mr. Not Sure?​
​
Player 2: I think there are some left on the table, Mr. Manual.​
​
WM: Oh you do, do you?​
​
Player 2: Yes, sir.​
​
WM: Don't you think I am aware of what's happening at the table. I am monitoring the table and there ARE NO DONUTS!​
​
Player 1: Mr Manual? I guess Coach DeLeone might have have eaten the last donut.​
​
WM: Oh, no. We're not blaming this on the coaches. It is unacceptable at this university not to have pre-game donuts available. Each one of you needs to look in the mirror and ask yourself where the choclate sprinkles came from! [Storms off.]​
​
Player 2: [sotto voce]Fat ass.​
 
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nelsonmuntz said:
I thought Manuel was out of line here. It is not his job to lecture the team.
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Have you ever talked to someone other than your direct superior at your place of business? Is the CEO of a Company not entitled to talk to the day-to-day workers? All communication should come from one's direct superior? I don't think that fosters a positive work enironment.

These guys may be kids in age and experience, but they know what wanted coming in and know what they've signed up for. Do you think they've never been yelled at before? That they've never been presented with a challenge? The reason that some of them are as good as they are, is due to the constant pressure, regardless of the person applying it!! As I said before, I think Manuel's actions mean more (demoting Coach Deleone, forcing a change in the offense, etc.) than his words, but time will tell.

You can't want to be considered big-time on one side and then shelter these young men from its harsh realities on the other. They will never mature either as football players or young adults that way.
 
Agree fully with CTMike here. People are acting like its a bad thing that these young kids hear the same thing from multiple people. It only reinforces the urgency of playing well and committing to excellence. They are still kids and they need to be taught and motivated. The more people that they respect and believe in telling them that they need to do better and that their product is unacceptable, the more they will believe that they need to change.
 
kcc1442 said:
Agree fully with CTMike here. People are acting like its a bad thing that these young kids hear the same thing from multiple people. It only reinforces the urgency of playing well and committing to excellence. They are still kids and they need to be taught and motivated. The more people that they respect and believe in telling them that they need to do better and that their product is unacceptable, the more they will believe that they need to change.
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Actually people here, to the extent that they are using a work analogy at all, are arguing that if your boss is ineffective, getting dress down by your boss' boss is not going to improve moral. But the work analogy is flawed. An effective team needs to have a collective, us against them mentality. Having AD say that the team performance isn't up to par and calling for an improvement is squarely part of his job. That conversation needs to happen with the coach, however. My expectation is that Manual undercut P's authority and lowered moral if he called out players. On the other hand, cheerleadery platitudes are normal for ADs, in my experience.
 
CL82 said:
Actually people here, to the extent that they are using a work analogy at all, are arguing that if your boss is ineffective, getting dress down by your boss' boss is not going to improve moral. But the work analogy is flawed. An effective team needs to have a collective, us against them mentality. Having AD say that the team performance isn't up to par and calling for an improvement is squarely part of his job. That conversation needs to happen with the coach, however. My expectation is that Manual undercut P's authority and lowered moral if he called out players. On the other hand, cheerleadery platitudes are normal for ADs, in my experience.
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I'm not sure I understand what you are saying. Do you think that the players are going to try less hard to spite Manuel? I don't think that is the case at all.

Reality: The team is not winning.
Reality: The players and coaches have the most direct impact on the teams results.
Perception: The program is not considered big time by outside observers because the team is not winning.
Perception: The program does not deserve a seat at the big boy table because it is not big time.

Outside perception = team's reality.

The head coach was not changed this year, so the responsibility of changing perception falls to the players. A s**tty deal to be sure, but as I've said before its what they signed up for and knew it going in.
 
Calhoun's Court said:
WM is a former player too who played at a high level program not just an administrative suit. He can probably relate better to them than most AD.
I don't think talking to them was a negative.
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I agree with that as well. He played under Bo Schembechler and I'm sure that Bo ripped a few football players while he as AD as well.
 
Some of you people are so soft. Warde is like the GM or the CEO here.

Plus, the players aren't clients. They are students, and the coaches and the administrators are developing their student athletes into MEN.

So Nelson and Upstater can pretend that the players ought to live in some protective cocoon where their are rainbows and unicorns everywhere.

Or our Michigan Football alum AD can dish out some well timed tough love to let them know that they can do better and hopefully redirect their success and happiness and not become Indiana Football.
 
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