Monday, November 26, 2007

How Bill Lynch earned the job at IU

As Peegs, Decker, the Star, et al have revealed, Bill Lynch will have the intern label removed from his name and he will be the "official" head coach of the Indiana University football program. Now, let the fans cheer, foam at the mouth, boo, hiss, and argue until the bowl game, and then continue all that to fall practice. Each fan has an opinion on Lynch, as they have a right too. His past coaching gigs haven't really produced the greatest results, save his one year stint at DePauw University. So I thought I would give some the main criteria of why he was retained, what good he brings to the table, and what some of the goals are for this program.

First, Lynch was thrust into an extremely difficult situation, and I don't think anyone could muster a big arguement against that. First off, he had to right the sinking ship emotionally with the kids. When dealing with emotions, both long and short term, with 18, 19, 20, and 21 year old kids, you are in for a roller coaster ride on some of the simple things, let alone death. After dealing with the kids, he had to bring them together. Sure, some leaders on the team stepped up, but ultimately, you rise and fall with the coach, intern or not. Then the coaches had to come together and recruit. Losing a coach is bad enough, but in the off season, you have to keep the kids coming and still recruit for the future. Finally, Coach Lynch has to continue to somehow get the new "energy" to stay there, in other words, stoke the fire that Hep and built and continue to burn.

After Coach Hep pasted, Rick Greenspan, and then President, Adam Herbert met with Coach Hep and put together a strategic plan for this season and what it would take for Bill Lynch to be retained as the permenant head coach. Greenspan didn't want Coach Lynch wondering toward the end the season, so they set specific goals for the program to obtain. It was pretty simple, if all the goals were met, Lynch would be retained, but if one or all were not met, then a nation wide search would begin. So here where the Top 4 goals:

1. Continue to maintain the Grade Point Average that was set up as a team goal (don't know what that was exactly).

2. The program needed to stay clean, as in no kids getting in trouble and especially no NCAA violations. Obviously when we are talking about kids getting in trouble, we mean with the law. speeding and parking tickets are one thing, but alcohol violations, fighting, etc was not exceptable.

3. The program must obtain a winning record for the season.

4. The program was to reach bowl eligibility and go to a bowl game.

Those were the 4 main goals for Lynch. There were a couple of other minor goals, but they were personel so I won't share them. Obviously, Greenspan and Hep wanted to build the program by going the "Student-Athlete" route. That means you are students and citizens of bloomington first, and football players second. You must be a good student and citizen before you can be a winning football player. Coach Hep believed that you could achieve great things on the field, but if you failed as a student and a citizen, then it really didn't mean that much. I'm not sure to many coaches have that philosphy. They may "say" they do, but reality is most don't really. Coach Lynch is a lot like Hep in his regard to believing in the student athlete approach.

Now, what good things will come from Lynch being named HC. Well, the biggest thing is recruiting. Coach Lynch really has a rappaport with the coaches in the state of Indiana. I talked to one coach at the Class A state championship and his quote was pretty simple. To paraphrase his remarks, he said that with Coach Lynch heading the football program, IU will clean up in the state of Indiana year in, year out. We'll see if that holds true. While some will say IU isn't a "football state", it's quickly becoming a state that produces on average of 15 DI kids each year and that number is climbing. With the success of the Colts, and the downturn of the Pacers, I truly expect the football in this state to rise and rise. More athletes will want to pursue the gridiron over the hardwood due to the attention that the Colts have brought to this state.

Also, there are several kids on the fence so to speak with IU in terms of committing or decommitting from other programs to IU. They have waited for this to play out and it is believed that we will see new committments from a couple of big names in a couple of weeks. December 8th is looming as a pretty big weekend from what I've been told by a couple of sources. Regardless, I don't expect us to lose any of our 15 verbals and I fully expect us to get as many as 10 more kids on board by the signing period. Obviously, this means we will oversign a bit, but that shouldn't be that surprising.

Coach Lynch also brings stability to the program. Of course, some will feel he's not a big name, or his past record is a problem and those are valid points. However, I remember the message boards when Coach Hep was hired. Some liked it, some didn't, some said we'll see, and well, that's really all we can do here. There's no guarentee Coach Lynch will work out, just like there was no guarentee Coach Hep would work out. Heck, IU could have hired Coach Spurrier, and really no body could guarentee anything with him either. The difference in my mind between a "proven" coach and the ones like Coach Lynch or Coach Hep is HOPE! If IU was to go out and pay a ton of money to a proven or unproven guy, some would just have more HOPE than a guy that's willing to come in for a smaller deal. Hope is what drives message boards, it's what drives a lot of things, but after a year or two, hope dimishes and results take over. I'm not sure you can find a coach that has dealt with as much adversity as Coach Lynch has this season. He deserves coach of the year, but of course he won't get it. No coach in the country had a to endure the emotion roller coaster he did and still somehow, someway, produced a winning product and a group of kids that are on pace to shatter their GPA goal.

Also, Coach Lynch brings perserverence to this program. I don't think we will have to worry about him bailing out when times get tough. Coach Lynch and staff wasn't perfect this season, they made mistakes, the made the wrong calls, but in the end, they were 7 and 5 and have us firmly in the bowl game picture.

Finally, as far as goals go, I think what is set forth in the interm will be expected to continue throughout the contract. Off the field, the players need to stay relatively clean, graduate, and NCAA violations cannont rear their ugly heads. On the field, bowl eligibility must remain consistant as well as winning records.

To close, I personally want to say that I believe this will turn out for the best at IU. This university needs consistancy and stability. As I blogged a few weeks ago, changing coaches every 3 to 5 years doesn't work. Look at Nebraska, Ole Miss, et al, they are a joke of their pasts. I'm not saying the coaches they fired, should not have been, but you can't build a tradition in 3 years. A tradition takes time, patience, and yes, even a little bit of luck. Regardless, IU has built a foundation, they've committed to new facilities, to a "spread" offense and attacking defense. Now, let the floors of the institution be built upon that foundation!

Friday, November 23, 2007

The offer is on the table

Well, as several have reported Bill Lynch has been offered a 5 year deal to continue coaching the Football team. According to those I've talked to, this offer was talked about early this week, with the official offer extended Wednesday afternoon. Coach Lynch was then given the holiday weekend to make the decision with an official announcement from the Coach expected to be made Monday.

By all indications, he will except, but he will consult with his family before proceeding further. If for some reason he would decline the offer, then a national search will begin immediately. However, I think it's a pretty safe bet that he'll except. At the beginning of the season, Coach Lynch didn't want to talk about the future and instead wanted to concentrate on the season at hand. He made some comments that made some people think that he might not be interested in taking over the program full time, but in the end, it appears, he's ready to do so.

Coach Lynch will also be looking for one more assistant coach to fill in on the offensive side of the ball. The hope is the staff wants someone that is young, but a good recruiter in, and around, the southern part of the country. No names have surfaced at this point though.

Speaking of recruiting, it appears IU has 6 or 7 ships to fill and the rumors I've heard lately is that IU is looking to oversign as well. I expect Robert Martin to get an offer, but he's a ways away from qualifying from what I've been told. The same may hold true for Jamal Hampton, but he's also lacking the necessary test scores to qualify.

Of course the big guy that is still out there is Darius Willis. He of Franklin Central and IU's top target for sometime. He would have a chance to come in and start from Day one, or at least share the load with a healthy Demetris McCray. Bryan Payton will also be in the mix next season, but it appears that Thigpen will go back to WR, especially if Hardy goes pro, as is expected. It appears that IU is sitting in pretty good shape with Willis, but officials will start in the middle of December, so we probably won't know much until the middle of January at the earliest.

IU will concentrate on finding another QB, LBs, a DE, a WR, and DBs with the remaining ships. It appears IU wants to sign another athletic QB, with BJ Daniels of Tallahassee Florida being their top target. Also, IU is looking for an athletic DE and a big (6'2"+) WR, along with speed and size at DB and LB.

As for the Bowl Game, it appears as of today, IU will be going to the Champs Sports Bowl at Pro Player Stadium in Miami. The opponet would be an ACC team with what I've been told the most likely opponent being the University of Miami or Florida State. If I were choosing, I'd take Miami, but we'll see. Should be an excellent opportunity to recruit going down to southern Florida. This game will be played on December 28th and shown nation wide on ESPN. Last year, Purdue lost to Maryland in this bowl.

Hope everyone had a wonderful and restful Thanksgiving!

Friday, November 9, 2007

Avoiding Quicksand

Quicksand is defined as a shifting mass of very deep, soft, wet sand that yields easily to pressure and will not hold up a heavy object but slowly engulfs it.

Have you ever been stuck in the mud or in the snow. No matter what you did and the harder you tried, the deeper or more stuck you got. Basically in the end, you had to have help to get out but unless there was a good samaritian there, it cost you something to get out.

Over the past few games, not including the Ball State, the football team has found themselves one win away from being "bowl eligible". They just couldn't seem to get over the hump until last Saturday afternoon. The next day, I had a conversation with a couple of players and we talked about quicksand. You might wonder how on earth you could talk about this subject and football, but let me tell you, this is the demon that has chased this football, especially on the road, in Big Ten games for years.

Quicksand in football terms isn't anyting different than the real stuff that you can get yourself into. In football, you are playing, and everything is good. You could be tied or even way ahead and have all the "momentum" all the "mojo" on your side, but then something happens. Mentally you begin to worry, to press harder to block out the bad play, but the harder you try the more that goes wrong and before you know it, you are in over your head, like quicksand.

Now obviously announcers don't say that a team has fallen into quicksand. What you will usually hear is someone say that there has been a big swing in momentum. Well what has happened is mentally, the other team that was ahead and had things going for them has fallen into that mental quicksand, and though it seems that you have to work twice as hard to get back out, the real answer is just to relax and concentrate on the things you can control.

I've said all week that IU can win this game Saturday if we don't beat ourselves. Too often this season this team has went into a bad stretch or fallen into the beginning stages of quicksand. Before you know, someone starts to press or try and do more than they are capable and there's a fumble or an interception or an off sides or defensive hold. Instead of just concentrating on what they can control, they have given the other team more momentum, more positive energy to use against you. Other than the Wisconsin loss, all the losses that this team has suffered through this season has not been because they were "outmanned" or didn't have the talent to win. Every loss has been pretty close and has come at the hands of mental mistakes of some trying to do too much. It's hard as a 19, 20, or 21 year old kid to have the mental maturity to work through that stuff. Heck, it's hard for NFL players to do it. It took Peyton Manning until last season before I felt comfortable in him not trying to force things all the time and just let it all come to him.

This week in Evanston, we are going to see a relaxed team. They want to win, and they are going to put forth the effort to win. They will try as hard as they can. Russ Richardson posted on the free board a few weeks ago about preparing yourself to win each week. It's really a mental process and it starts with understanding that on the road, there will be pitfalls and quicksand to work through. Together, you can overcome the crowd, the noise, the students, maybe even the weather conditions. However, when you as an individual begin to try to hard to make things happen, the wheels usually begin to fall apart and before you know it, you are in quicksand.

Did you know that if you merely relax and be still you won't sink in quicksand. That's a proven fact. The goal this week for this team is to relax and have fun and do what they do as a team. Let the other team beat you, not beat yourself. Tony Dungy preaches this philosphy all the time. Before the Super Bowl he said we will do what we usually do. If we do what we do, then everything will be ok. Tomorrow, if the Hoosiers can work together as a whole team and do what they do and not try to do too much on their own, victory #7 will be a reality for this team!

Sunday, November 4, 2007

Let's just play football

There were tears in the locker room again Saturday. Not because the Senior's had played their last game, or because their Coach had passed away, nope, these tears were not sad tears, they were happy tears. Moments after defeating Ball State and becoming bowl eligible, a tearful Coach Lynch addressed the team and praised them for their efforts. Together they had overcome all types of doubters, they had overcome the demons of the past, yes, for the first time since most of these kids were in grade school, IU was bowl eligible. Coach Lynch's message was simple and concise, next week, let's just go play football and win!

None of the preseason magazines thought this would be possible, I would even be willing to bet that at 75% of the fan base really didn't believe either that this team could overcome the loss of their leader and become bowl eligible. No one, except the players and coaches will ever understand the kind of pressure this team has had on them. They are not just playing for their past leader, they are also playing for the Coach Lynch's future, the rest of the staff's future, the family of Coach Hep, and alumni and fans that had all but given up on them. Together, they did it and the Saturday afternoon, the tears fell.

Of course, you'd never hear this publically, not now, and maybe not ever. These kids have felt the pressure before. Last year they had 3 games to become bowl eligible and couldn't do it. This season, they lost the past 3 games mainly because they tried way too hard and made bad mental errors instead of just letting the game come to them. With the exception of Wisconsin, IU could have honestly won every game the played in. Of course, the fan base was frustrated, the players were frustrated, but what could they do.

The big problem with IU football is this, there's NOT been the consistancy to put the program where it needed to be in the administrations eyes and every 4 or 5 years the staff and coaches change. Now I'm going to say something that will be controvercial, but I think it needs to be said. There's a lot of "fans" that are calling for Coach Lynch's head, bowl or no bowl, but what this program needs more than ANYTHING ELSE is STABILITY! The administration has put rebuilding the fball program as it's number 1 priority, and they have invested their money and time into making this a reality. Now the big question: Why can't the fans realize stability is the biggest need and ride with who we have for awhile?

I think the answer to the above is 2 fold, and of course these are just my answers, my opinions, but IU is known as a basketball school, but most of the fans don't remember a time that IU basketball wasn't competitive. Sure, they might have had a bad season here or there, but if things went wrong 2 years in row, then the coach got the boot. And thus the main problem with IU football fans today. Not many have the patience to stick with someone through the losing to get to the winning. After a couple bad seasons, they want change. Well, for IU football to ever become anything, they have to build stability. Without stability, there will never be consistency!
Believe me, the adminstration and players have bought into it.

Secondly, no one has patience anymore. It's win now or bye-bye. Fair or not, that's the way most programs are, not just IU. However if you look at what Frank Beamer did at Virginia Tech or Mark Mangilo at Kansas or others just like them, their universities were justified to get rid of these guys after a year or two or more, yet they stuck with them, and now look at the rewards. Why can't IU fall into this category? The answer is they can, but as I referenced above, most Indiana University fans don't comprehend stability equals consistancy because of the success of IU basketball. They believe that change will automatically bring success. They believe that if we pay 3 million/year to some "big name guy" that IU fball will automatically be something. Yet, even the big names have to build stability to bring consistancy.

Which brings me to Coach Lynch. Is he our "best option"? If you believe that stability brings consistency, then yes, he is. Change might not be the best thing for this program. Also, I'm not sure too many coaches could have done what he's done with this team. The roller coaster ride of emotions would have defeated most teams, but not Coach Lynch and not these kids. They are already winners, whether they finish above .500 or not. They have performed and succeeded when very few thought they could or would. This arguement about who is the best coach for IU will continue long after this blog is written until Greenspan makes the final decision.

Until that time, IU can just go out and play football this weekend and next. Both Northwestern and Purdue are good teams, but are very beatable. The real question will be can these kids settle down and just play football, instead of trying to make something happen?

Congrats to the kids for yet another goal achieved of becoming bowl eligible! This fan is extremely proud of you.