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Our practices are a disaster

Dal Ward Buff

Dal Ward Buff

Club Member
I heard months ago about the culture, nature, and substance of our practices and resisted posting anything about them because it was from one person and I didnt know if he had an axe to gridnd or not. This week though I heard the same thing from what is the 4th different person. To say what they are saying about the coaches, the way our practices are run and the product on the field makes complete and total sense.

We hear from players how great they look in practice all week, we hear that they dont understand why they are getting smoked week-in-and-week-out. Well based on what I have heard from: donors, employees, students who live near by and my own ears - I can tell you they have no idea what practice is.

The report i had heard early in the season was:
- loud music playing at practice
- only the starters doing any thing
- general lack of dicipline
- no attention to detail

I heard similar things between then and last week when I rolled by, but generally they consisted of: low intensity, low attention to detail, large groups of people standing around.

So last week i took the time to roll by he general area when I was in boulder for the day. Obviously practices are still closed to the media as well as random dudes walking by. What i can tell you from the other side of the fence was that practice sounded more like a party than a football practice. It was later confirmed to my by another donor that indeed that is the feel of practice, his recount was:

- Music so loud you could barely speak (and not the crowd noise trying to understand signals type)
- Lots of people standing around not doing anything
- Coaches letting mistakes slide with out a word (weird since they yell so much on game day)
- Lazy/uninterested/Lackadaisical body language by large portions of the players
- General lack of discipline
- Drills for the sake of drills
 
Doesn't surprise me in the least. I have heard the same.

When a team plays soft and still has difficulty with assignments in week 9, there has to be a reason.

Everyone: this is the reason. Our coaches are incompetent. First, they went overboard with the hard ass routine and almost lost the team. Now, they've gone overboard the other direction to try to keep it fun and prevent guys from defecting. Beyond that, non-starters (especially redshirts and walk-ons) are not getting coached up and made to feel invested in the program.

This is a hot mess. We have no leadership from the coaching staff. Embree and his coordinators have absolutely no idea what they're doing.

The experiment is over. It was a nice idea to restore Buff pride and traditions with former players at the helm. It has failed. It will not turn around. We are now about to dig a deep hole. The program absolutely must clean house and move in another direction.

The last time CU football was in this situation, we imported the Michigan culture and way of doing things through Mac (along with Miles and some others). We need the same infusion of new culture now.

Bohn once tried this with the "Boise Way". That was the right idea but the wrong model. The Boise Way didn't work at ASU, Arkansas or Ole Miss either. We need to target another model program. Maybe a guy like Charlie Partridge from Wisconsin since CU is always talking about the Badgers as the AD and football program they'd like to emulate. Maybe a guy like Derek Mason from Stanford. Maybe it's Bob Diaco from Notre Dame. My point is, use the model that has worked before and import a winning culture through a top assistant at a program we believe that CU can successfully emulate because we share similar values.

Notice I listed all Defensive Coordinators? That also fits with the model we had with Coach Mac. Just make sure that this DC from a model program hires an innovative OC (the problem that Mac fixed after his disasterous first couple seasons). Give a guy like Bob Stitt control over the offense with one of these DCs and we will actually be doing what has worked before at CU.

The idea the Buffs4Life crowd had was the correct one. They just focused on the wrong aspects of the idea. We don't need former Buffs. We need an infusion of new ideas and winning culture that also respects the traditions of CU.
 
These accounts above mesh with what i have heard from 2 contacts I have, one who was credible enough in May to tell me there was no way Connor Wood would start this year.
 
I've been hearing the same rumors. Thanks for swinging down and confirming.

This stuff is crazy to me
 
you become better football players in practice not in games. I know a former buff that played for a while and he told me when he decided to to put his all in to practice and conditioning things got better for his playing time. If these coaches do not understand that then yes they need to go now.

It's why I suggested Chris Wilson for my choice he knows what culture it takes to win in Boulder.
 
So we literally have no hope of improvement unless our administration overcomes 20 years of evidence to the contrary and somehow finds the intelligence and balls to pull the trigger this year...good to know that I can remain checked out.
 
Good thing we have an AD, Chancellor and President who are equally incompetent. Perfect storm.
 
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So, according to Bohn, he has brought in "football consultants." Are these "consultants" attending practices to observe this? Is Bohn attending practices to observe this?
 
DBT said:
So, according to Bohn, he has brought in "football consultants." Are these "consultants" attending practices to observe this? Is Bohn attending practices to observe this?
Click to expand...

Dick Tomey, I believe, came in as a consultant. That was to evaluate the football operations in terms of support structure and AD administration. Some of the changes we have heard about such as the recruiting support staff are coming out of that. It's a positive continuation of a process that Hawkins started (credit where it's due, even though I am not a Hawkins fan).
 
Buffnik said:
Dick Tomey, I believe, came in as a consultant. That was to evaluate the football operations in terms of support structure and AD administration. Some of the changes we have heard about such as the recruiting support staff are coming out of that. It's a positive continuation of a process that Hawkins started (credit where it's due, even though I am not a Hawkins fan).
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Thanks
 
Maybe non-secretive threads like this will start to pop up in the main forums, so any school administration plants can have easy access to this pathetic info.

You'd think that the results on the field would be enough of a clue, but I think the CU admin need to get hit on the side of the head before they notice anything athletics related.
 
Still, where is Bohn? If he's seeing practices being run so poorly, that should be enough to justify making a decision. What you guys are describing is a fairly correctable flaw in the program that the AD could address.
 
lawdogg said:
Still, where is Bohn? If he's seeing practices being run so poorly, that should be enough to justify making a decision. What you guys are describing is a fairly correctable flaw in the program that the AD could address.
Click to expand...

I agree. I think some of us are assuming that Bonn isn't allowed to make critical decisions without approval from the CU admin.
 
lawdogg said:
Still, where is Bohn? If he's seeing practices being run so poorly, that should be enough to justify making a decision. What you guys are describing is a fairly correctable flaw in the program that the AD could address.
Click to expand...

You want an AD to be micromanaging to the point where he's directing a coach on how to conduct his/her practices?

That's simply not Bohn's role and I'd want him fired immediately if I learned he was doing those types of things.

We don't need Bohn trying to be our football coach even though our coach is incompetent. We need a football coach that Bohn can trust to effectively do his job while Bohn focuses on his own.
 
Buffnik said:
You want an AD to be micromanaging to the point where he's directing a coach on how to conduct his/her practices?

That's simply not Bohn's role and I'd want him fired immediately if I learned he was doing those types of things.

We don't need Bohn trying to be our football coach even though our coach is incompetent. We need a football coach that Bohn can trust to effectively do his job while Bohn focuses on his own.
Click to expand...

Bohn is not stupid as much as he drives us nuts. He has to know these issues. I think that he has these things in his back pocket for letting Embree go when it is time. The question is when that will be...
 
Buffnik said:
You want an AD to be micromanaging to the point where he's directing a coach on how to conduct his/her practices?

That's simply not Bohn's role and I'd want him fired immediately if I learned he was doing those types of things.

We don't need Bohn trying to be our football coach even though our coach is incompetent. We need a football coach that Bohn can trust to effectively do his job while Bohn focuses on his own.
Click to expand...

Well then this is just another reason why I'd never be an AD, I guess. Because if I was, and if one of my teams was performing as poorly as our football team currently is, at some point I'd probably stroll down the hill to see what's happening at practice. Then, if the practices were as woefully disorganized and poorly run as has been portrayed here, I might start to connect the dots between how poorly organized my coaching staff was, and how poorly the team plays. That would also be information that I would use to determine whether or not that staff should be retained. What has been described is not a simple stylistic difference of opinion, but rather a practice routine that in no shape, form or fashion prepares the team to compete on gamedays. I'd submit that if the AD realizes the level of incompetence of the coaching staff across the board, and then does nothing for weeks and months, that AD has not fulfilled his/her duties.
 
lawdogg said:
Well then this is just another reason why I'd never be an AD, I guess. Because if I was, and if one of my teams was performing as poorly as our football team currently is, at some point I'd probably stroll down the hill to see what's happening at practice. Then, if the practices were as woefully disorganized and poorly run as has been portrayed here, I might start to connect the dots between how poorly organized my coaching staff was, and how poorly the team plays. That would also be information that I would use to determine whether or not that staff should be retained. What has been described is not a simple stylistic difference of opinion, but rather a practice routine that in no shape, form or fashion prepares the team to compete on gamedays. I'd submit that if the AD realizes the level of incompetence of the coaching staff across the board, and then does nothing for weeks and months, that AD has not fulfilled his/her duties.
Click to expand...

I agree. But the AD move is to fire that coach. Not allowed to do that, so Bohn's bringing in consultants to advise while pushing staff changes and hiring more AD support staff for football. Once again, this is our AD running around putting his finger in the holes in the dam because he's not authorized to fix the dam nor is he given the money.
 
Pretty difficult to defend. We need accountability at all levels at CU. There is no reason to think that it will happen. Athletics and football in particular is just not a priority. They seem to be going in the direction of the University of Chicago. If CU were a business they would have spun off the football program by now.
 
Wyo Buff said:
Pretty difficult to defend. We need accountability at all levels at CU. There is no reason to think that it will happen. Athletics and football in particular is just not a priority. They seem to be going in the direction of the University of Chicago. If CU were a business they would have spun off the football program by now.
Click to expand...

Not that I think this would really happen, but the whole premise is still scary as hell:

The Maroons compete in the NCAA's Division III as members of the University Athletic Association (UAA). The University was a founding member of the Big Ten Conference and participated in the NCAA Division I Men's Basketball and Football and was a regular participant in the Men's Basketball tournament. In 1935 the University of Chicago reached the Sweet Sixteen.[SUP][108][/SUP] However, the University chose to withdraw from the conference in 1946 after University President Robert Maynard Hutchins de-emphasized varsity athletics in 1939 and dropped football.[SUP][109][/SUP] (In 1969, Chicago reinstated football as a Division III team, resuming playing its home games at the new Stagg Field.)
Click to expand...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/University_of_Chicago#Athletics
 
Buffnik said:
You want an AD to be micromanaging to the point where he's directing a coach on how to conduct his/her practices?

That's simply not Bohn's role and I'd want him fired immediately if I learned he was doing those types of things.

We don't need Bohn trying to be our football coach even though our coach is incompetent. We need a football coach that Bohn can trust to effectively do his job while Bohn focuses on his own.
Click to expand...

Yep. He has other things to do like find the $50 donor. He sure as hell better have guys that can run a practice, if not let the axe fall.
 
Buffnik said:
I agree. But the AD move is to fire that coach. Not allowed to do that, so Bohn's bringing in consultants to advise while pushing staff changes and hiring more AD support staff for football. Once again, this is our AD running around putting his finger in the holes in the dam because he's not authorized to fix the dam nor is he given the money.
Click to expand...

Well, we're talking the same language it sounds like. My impression up to this point, and I admit I haven't read all of the "Fire 'Em All" threads that have popped up this season, was that the coaching staff was more or less just incompetent. Too inexperienced, not savvy enough in terms of offensive/defensive philosophies, maybe just not the right mixture of personalities for us to see the results on the field. Until recently though, I'd been under the impression that these were very earnest guys who were at least throwing their all into trying to turn this ship around.

From that perspective, I could understand, and even defend the university administrators for their stance on remaining patient. As of late though, we're hearing about more and more things that make the staff less defensible (poorly run practices, locker room division, player defections, dropping recruits). I guess I could understand if the effort was there but the results on the field hadn't shown up yet, but I would think/hope that even our admin would be ready to pull the trigger of some of these reports are true. So I have not viewed Bohn as the tragic victim of circumstance trying to plug the holes. Maybe you're right about that, though.
 
Lt.Col.FrankSlade said:
Dal Ward Buff - I encourage you to communicate your findings to the athletic director.
Click to expand...
You might as well tell Yertle the Turtle. Mike Bohn is a lackey yes man who isn't allowed/doesn't have balls enough to decide anything other than how far to lower the ticket prices to get fans in the stadium to watch the loser FB program he has for a legacy. MB is joke and has about as much say in the AD as an English Lit. Prof.
 
CUBuffs12 said:
Not that surprised Embree and company seemed determined to do it the NFL way
Click to expand...

This is one of the huge differences between college coaching and pro coaching. Most college kids don't know how to work hard. They were physically superior enough in HS that they didn't have to work, they don't have a clue how to get the most out of their talent. Great college coaches tend to be motivators first who can get players to step up to the competition.

The guys who learn how to step up are the ones who get to the pros with limited exceptions, the guys who are just freaks.

Embree and Co have not shown me an ability to get the players they have to step up to the plate, at least in games. I know nothing about how they practice other than what I see second or more hand but based on what I see in games I doubt that the practices are significantly better.

Football is the same game but the differences in coaching between pro and college are huge, not a lot of guys are able to succeed at both levels.
 
GoonieBuff said:
Maybe non-secretive threads like this will start to pop up in the main forums, so any school administration plants can have easy access to this pathetic info.

You'd think that the results on the field would be enough of a clue, but I think the CU admin need to get hit on the side of the head before they notice anything athletics related.
Click to expand...

I didn't want to get singled out or get the guys in know in trouble, with multiple confirmations I'd be fine if we move this to the football forum.
 
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