TNinOR
Blood = Orange HEX F77F00
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Today, Mike Griffith posted an article for SEC Country titled, "Butch Jones has proven he can win titles, but Tennessee players have not." (https://www.seccountry.com/tennesse...can-win-titles-but-tennessee-players-have-not).
I suspect it was in response to a CBS sports artcile by Jon Solomon (Best and worst college football coaches in close games entering 2016 - CBSSports.com), also from today, listing Coach Jones as among the worst in the SEC at managing close games.
That latter article includes a video of Coach Jones in which someone asks him about the perception that he is not very good in those situations. He basically reiterates what he said last year after the Florida game, paraphrasing, that it was up to the players to execute.
I am rarely critical of Coach Jones. I think he has brought Tennessee back to national prominence and has pushed all the right buttons in doing so. I am thankful. I am excited. It's great to be a Vol! I mean to say, however, he has pushed all the right buttons, except for three things, imo:
1) He has failed to make timely in-game adjustments on several occasions, 2) He has been mediocre, at best, in making in game decisions, especially in the fourth quarter, that would have maximized our chances of winning. And 3), and most important of all, he seems to have failed - at least so-far - to have learned from these.
Do our players need to execute much better this year if the Vols are finally going to return to championship form? No doubt about it. But I must say, I disagree with the overall premise of Griffith's article in agreeing with Coach Jones that it is down to the players only. No, that is not always the case, and I will include a single example here, though other's could be cited, and this one no doubt has been cited ad nauseum:
The failure to go for two late against Florida last year when we had just scored and were up twelve.
It's all well and good to say that if your players had only executed, everything would have been fine . But that is missing the point regarding that particular situation. You have to take responsibility and own up to the fact that settling for the extra point WAS a TERRIBLE call. Just atrocious. That's not Monday-morning quarterbacking, that's not "hind-sight 20/20". That's a FACT. If you score a TD late to take a twelve point lead, you MUST go for two, PERIOD. That's not on the players, that's on the coach.
Now, coaches are going to make mistakes (and fail to execute) just like players do, but the main thing is to take responsibility for them and learn from them. And I haven't seen any willingness on the part of Coach Jones to subject himself to the same qaulity control prossess that he uses for the players.
Also, every coach is not going to excel at that part of the game (like Myers and Swinney) but if you are a coach, you should certainly be willing to evaluate yourself, honestly and critically, and thus improve, just like players improve when they learn from thier mistakes. And that's not to say that Coach Jones isn't doing that, it's just that it isn't apparent from his comments or in his game management thus far. Sorry if that sounds too negative
Another thought in this regard: in addition to having "a chart", I think I would consider having a hot-shot, cool-headed assistant in the booth or at my side on the sidelines whose sole job it was to advise on possible adjustments/ late-game strategy calls. There is so much going on for a head coach, it's surely not always possible to think of every possibility, permutation, in the heat of the moment.
I suspect it was in response to a CBS sports artcile by Jon Solomon (Best and worst college football coaches in close games entering 2016 - CBSSports.com), also from today, listing Coach Jones as among the worst in the SEC at managing close games.
That latter article includes a video of Coach Jones in which someone asks him about the perception that he is not very good in those situations. He basically reiterates what he said last year after the Florida game, paraphrasing, that it was up to the players to execute.
I am rarely critical of Coach Jones. I think he has brought Tennessee back to national prominence and has pushed all the right buttons in doing so. I am thankful. I am excited. It's great to be a Vol! I mean to say, however, he has pushed all the right buttons, except for three things, imo:
1) He has failed to make timely in-game adjustments on several occasions, 2) He has been mediocre, at best, in making in game decisions, especially in the fourth quarter, that would have maximized our chances of winning. And 3), and most important of all, he seems to have failed - at least so-far - to have learned from these.
Do our players need to execute much better this year if the Vols are finally going to return to championship form? No doubt about it. But I must say, I disagree with the overall premise of Griffith's article in agreeing with Coach Jones that it is down to the players only. No, that is not always the case, and I will include a single example here, though other's could be cited, and this one no doubt has been cited ad nauseum:
The failure to go for two late against Florida last year when we had just scored and were up twelve.
It's all well and good to say that if your players had only executed, everything would have been fine . But that is missing the point regarding that particular situation. You have to take responsibility and own up to the fact that settling for the extra point WAS a TERRIBLE call. Just atrocious. That's not Monday-morning quarterbacking, that's not "hind-sight 20/20". That's a FACT. If you score a TD late to take a twelve point lead, you MUST go for two, PERIOD. That's not on the players, that's on the coach.
Now, coaches are going to make mistakes (and fail to execute) just like players do, but the main thing is to take responsibility for them and learn from them. And I haven't seen any willingness on the part of Coach Jones to subject himself to the same qaulity control prossess that he uses for the players.
Also, every coach is not going to excel at that part of the game (like Myers and Swinney) but if you are a coach, you should certainly be willing to evaluate yourself, honestly and critically, and thus improve, just like players improve when they learn from thier mistakes. And that's not to say that Coach Jones isn't doing that, it's just that it isn't apparent from his comments or in his game management thus far. Sorry if that sounds too negative
Another thought in this regard: in addition to having "a chart", I think I would consider having a hot-shot, cool-headed assistant in the booth or at my side on the sidelines whose sole job it was to advise on possible adjustments/ late-game strategy calls. There is so much going on for a head coach, it's surely not always possible to think of every possibility, permutation, in the heat of the moment.
