Interesting stuff from Alex Golesh

[BigOrangeTrain]

Eric Cain does the locked on Vols podcast on YouTube. I enjoy listening to it. He had Golesh on recently and they were discussing the offense and development of some players.

 

[tobybeast]

Thanks for posting this. I don't get to listen to this kind of stuff often. It is informative.

 

[mitzustu]

Summary?

 

[VolFaninFla]

Summary?

Everyone is working hard and everyone is getting better.

 

[volfanhill]

Everyone is working hard and everyone is getting better.

So useless nonsense propaganda

 

[PlanetVolunteer]

So useless nonsense propaganda

No he was specific.

Last year was about teaching them the nee system.

This year they are mastering it. Several individual players are expected to step up as they have put in the necessary work in the offseason to put them in a position to be better.

 

[unfrozencvmanvol]

So useless nonsense propaganda

Well, maybe more like prototypical off-season happy talk, propaganda implies an intent to deceive. They probably believe it, but since it happens virtually every year with nearly every team in America, as you state, it's not exactly a reliable indicator of anything, one way or another.

 

[VOLINVONORE]

Well, maybe more like prototypical off-season happy talk, propaganda implies an intent to deceive. They probably believe it, but since it happens virtually every year with nearly every team in America, as you state, it's not exactly a reliable indicator of anything, one way or another.

Or maybe it is accurate belief of the coaches who are in charge of our offense. We will find out by the end of September.

 

[Volnatic]

Well, maybe more like prototypical off-season happy talk, propaganda implies an intent to deceive. They probably believe it, but since it happens virtually every year with nearly every team in America, as you state, it's not exactly a reliable indicator of anything, one way or another.

no coach ever says “we haven’t improved a damn bit this whole summer. We’re probably going to lose a lot of games. Don’t shoot the messenger.”

 

[unfrozencvmanvol]

Or maybe it is accurate belief of the coaches who are in charge of our offense. We will find out by the end of September.

I said "they probably believe it". Sometimes this kind of happy talk is true, sometimes it isn't, it's just not a good predictor of anything because you hear variants of it every year from every team. We could hear it this year and go 6-6, then some more will come out next summer and we'd go 11-1, then more the next summer and 9-3, etc. The team that ends up going 0-8 in the conference will have had off-season happy talk as will the one who goes 8-0, it's a constant, regardless of what team you follow. At some point we'll get the standard fair happy talk that the defense is playing faster and more aggressive, it may be true or it may not, but it's coming and if you read other teams boards this summer you'll see the same kind of thing there. I'm not being negative on our team, I'm just saying happy talk generally is not predictive of much, having seen the cycle repeat each summer for the 35+ years I have followed the game.

 

[VOLINVONORE]

I said "they probably believe it". Sometimes this kind of happy talk is true, sometimes it isn't, it's just not a good predictor of anything because you hear variants of it every year from every team. We could hear it this year and go 6-6, then some more will come out next summer and we'd go 11-1, then more the next summer and 9-3, etc. The team that ends up going 0-8 in the conference will have had off-season happy talk as will the one who goes 8-0, it's a constant, regardless of what team you follow. At some point we'll get the standard fair happy talk that the defense is playing faster and more aggressive, it may be true or it may not, but it's coming and if you read other teams boards this summer you'll see the same kind of thing there. I'm not being negative on our team, I'm just saying happy talk generally is not predictive of much, having seen the cycle repeat each summer for the 35+ years I have followed the game.

Happy talk is much more productive than unhappy talk. The cup of coffee ever morning taste so much better when you have a positive start each day.

 

[unfrozencvmanvol]

Happy talk is much more productive than unhappy talk. The cup of coffee ever morning taste so much better when you have a positive start each day.

I'm talking about from teams, you don't ever hear a defensive coordinator say "boy, I think we're going to suck this year, won't be able to stop anybody". You hear the same kind of happy off-season buzz from virtually every team in CFB, every year. That's what I am saying is not PREDICTIVE of anything.

 

[K-town Vol Fan]

I'm talking about from teams, you don't ever hear a defensive coordinator say "boy, I think we're going to suck this year, won't be able to stop anybody". You hear the same kind of happy off-season buzz from virtually every team in CFB, every year. That's what I am saying is not PREDICTIVE of anything.

Thats because its their job as a coach to improve. If a coach came out and said "we're going to suck and won't stop anyone" hes basically admitting he sucks at his job and would be fired on the spot.

 

[unfrozencvmanvol]

Thats because its their job as a coach to improve. If a coach came out and said "we're going to suck and won't stop anyone" hes basically admitting he sucks at his job and would be fired on the spot.

That's my point, happy talk from a coach in the off-season is not predictive of anything, it may be true, it may not, but you are always going to hear it in the off-season.

 

[VFL-82-JP]

Thats because its their job as a coach to improve. If a coach came out and said "we're going to suck and won't stop anyone" hes basically admitting he sucks at his job and would be fired on the spot.

That's my point, happy talk from a coach in the off-season is not predictive of anything, it may be true, it may not, but you are always going to hear it in the off-season.

It seems you're both falling victim to the light switch over-simplification.

Coach speak in the off-season is not limited to "on" or "off." "We suck" or "happy talk." You can hear, and we have heard, coaches give nuanced and balanced assessments.

Golesh, in specific, tends to provide details. He gets specific. For instance, in this interview, he said:

• The progress is more directed than a year ago
• Last year was about teaching and learning; this year is more about perfecting
• Hendon's leadership this off-season is proving valuable, helping greatly with the whole team
• Mixon is first guy to correct Hendon's errors and is first guy to laud when he does something great; we have great chemistry in the QB room; Mixon to his credit has not accepted the backup role, he still strives to make himself the best QB he can be
• Lot of public pressure on Tillman this year, like never before, as a result of his breakout season last fall. We're coaching him through it. He seems to thrive on it.
• The receiver room in general is guys who are hugely different from each other. Together, they're awesome. Webb, Nimrod, Squirrel, maybe the three hardest-working guys on our offense. Watching them grow has been awesome. The first thing we'll look for is have them see success, so there's not a confidence issue going forward.

...and so on through the rest of the interview.

So give Golesh credit. He's providing the details and not just waving his hand with some "happy talk" pablum.

 

[unfrozencvmanvol]

It seems you're both falling victim to the light switch over-simplification.

Coach speak in the off-season is not limited to "on" or "off." "We suck" or "happy talk." You can hear, and we have heard, coaches give nuanced and balanced assessments.

Golesh, in specific, tends to provide details. He gets specific. For instance, in this interview, he said:

• The progress is more directed than a year ago
• Last year was about teaching and learning; this year is more about perfecting
• Hendon's leadership this off-season is proving valuable, helping greatly with the whole team
• Mixon is first guy to correct Hendon's errors and is first guy to laud when he does something great; we have great chemistry in the QB room; Mixon to his credit has not accepted the backup role, he still strives to make himself the best QB he can be
• Lot of public pressure on Tillman this year, like never before, as a result of his breakout season last fall. We're coaching him through it. He seems to thrive on it.
• The receiver room in general is guys who are hugely different from each other. Together, they're awesome. Webb, Nimrod, Squirrel, maybe the three hardest-working guys on our offense. Watching them grow has been awesome. The first thing we'll look for is have them see success, so there's not a confidence issue going forward.

...and so on through the rest of the interview.

So give Golesh credit. He's providing the details and not just waving his hand with some "happy talk" pablum.

And he may very well be right about every bit of it, however it's still not atypical off-season spin you here from pretty much every team. We'll see come the Fall. I think we have a reasonable chance to win every game but 2, and will be happy with 8 regular season wins or obviously anything north of that.

 

[Woke]

Some interesting nuggets

Year 2 emphasis more on deficiencies less on teaching and setting expectations
“I spend most of my time trying to find answers to things we weren’t good at last year or in the Spring”
Bottom-line: instilling winning mindset on and off field
Player buy-in happening
We’re building our different position rooms the right way ie TE, OL, QB, WR
“We now know what we have” and who to target on the recruit board

Hendo’s team now at QB
But w Milton it’s more of a collaborative / competitive “NFL QB room” mindset
Jackson “well ahead” of where we thought he’d be coming in

WR Cedric was “not a confident guy” when we got here
He needs to handle the pressure and continue to improve every day
2 spots open is “the elephant in the WR room” so who’s gonna grab them
Webb, Nimrod, Squirrel are the “3 hardest working guys” on O

TE’s got to get better in critical game situations
Fant has “got his body right” now 246 but has to learn to fall forward
Warren was lost and going thru the motions last year
Now he looks and preps like a 5th yr senior

HC Heup looks at the world thru a QB lens
How can we score more points?
Golesh says he sees things “dramatically different” thru more of a D lens, how can teams attack us
It’s NO DOUBT a winning synergy
Both agree we’re either winning or we’re losing

 

[VolFaninFla]

Some interesting nuggets

Year 2 emphasis more on deficiencies less on teaching and setting expectations
“I spend most of my time trying to find answers to things we weren’t good at last year or in the Spring”
Bottom-line: instilling winning mindset on and off field
Player buy-in happening
We’re building our different position rooms the right way ie TE, OL, QB, WR
“We now know what we have” and who to target on the recruit board

Hendo’s team now at QB
But w Milton it’s more of a collaborative / competitive “NFL QB room” mindset
Jackson “well ahead” of where we thought he’d be coming in

WR Cedric was “not a confident guy” when we got here
He needs to handle the pressure and continue to improve every day
2 spots open is “the elephant in the WR room” so who’s gonna grab them
Webb, Nimrod, Squirrel are the “3 hardest working guys” on O

TE’s got to get better in critical game situations
Fant has “got his body right” now 246 but has to learn to fall forward
Warren was lost and going thru the motions last year
Now he looks and preps like a 5th yr senior

HC Heup looks at the world thru a QB lens
How can we score more points?
Golesh says he sees things “dramatically different” thru more of a D lens, how can teams attack us
It’s NO DOUBT a winning synergy
Both agree we’re either winning or we’re losing

Great summary. Well done!