College football 2020 offseason thread

If he did that now he'd be fired. There wouldn't be any doubt about it.

He might be now, frankly.

 

Kirk Ferentz responds to allegations of racial discrimination at Iowa

 

None of these guys are getting fired, who are we kidding. And most of these coaches don't give a shit. Like I said earlier Dabo Swinney basically decided he wasn't going to comment or do anything about his assistant and no one is going to make him. I'd be shocked if firing Doyle is even a consideration for Ferentz. The Utah DC might be fucked, he's got a few skeletons.

 

It might depend on the internal review that the head coach promised. I'll say this: It's gonna be hard to whack the conditioning guy just as teams are starting to reassemble after weeks of relative inactivity.. The job has never been more important than it is now.

 

You think so? I think these guys are in perfectly fine shape. Probably better than they would have been.

I think a good strength coach offers more of mental edge of some kind. They're becoming increasingly quirky, too. I think the position is wildly overrated and overpaid.

 

There isn't a coaching position in college football that isn't grossly overpaid.

 

Head coaches generally are.

Some of those assistants? Larry Johnson at Ohio State is probably underpaid based on the recruiting he does.

I don't know. Maybe I lack a proper respect for strength coaches. I also think most athletes - most football players - could stand to play with less weight.

 

Quirky?

 

How did they play NFL games there for so long without having the same issues? Did they add seats somewhere along the way that cut down on the available space?

 

Strength coaches are to football teams what drill sergeants are to the Army or Marines. Their job is not just to build guys up physically, but also push their mental boundaries. Push young players past their limits, and to do things that they didn't think they were capable of. Weed out the ones that can't hack it or refuse to put in the work to achieve a goal. Part of that process sometimes involves tearing people down to build them back up, which isn't always a pleasant experience.
If they're successful, then the player comes out the other side better for it. They have more confidence in themselves to tackle any obstacle. If they're not successful, then it can often leave the player with a lot of hatred and bitterness for being treated like crap.

That said, a lot of these guys are meatheads. I don't necessarily think they're evil, racist, or ill-intentioned, for the most part. They're more ham-fisted and overly intense in how they go about their business. A large part of coaching is subtly finding the right buttons to push with each player, and strength coaches seem a lot more apt to mash the keyboard.

 

Perfect example.

 

Don't know. My guess -- in watching old films from old venues -- is that authorities now care about safety more than they used to. There's more space beyond the end lines and sidelines in recent venues than multi-purpose locales of the 1970s and earlier. As a result, maybe there were more stringent examinations of Wrigley's specs this time than in years gone by. Today's collegians are bigger and faster than most NFL players of the 1950s.