RE: Stop the Madness
I dont know anyone who thought we would have another season like last year, and frankly I didn't know what to expect, as Lester wasn't who I would have hired (and I said so at the time). I do think though that having as many tremendous players coming back on a defense which was outstanding under our old coaching staff, as well as a tremendous group of offensive linemen, and fantastic quality and depth in the offensive backfield, on top of talented (albeit inexperienced) receivers and QBs (not to mention inheriting a fantastic D-lineman who has played outstanding), we would easily handle the lousy teams on our conference schedule, and contend favorably against the best teams like Toledo and NIU. We beat a few of our weak opponents only by the grace of God, and lost to two very below average MAC teams in Akron and CMU, not because we didn't have the players to win, but because of how we played. I'm not sure if there is anyone on the planet who believes we have a legitimate chance to beat Toledo or NIU; and that probably includes our players. What has happened to a football program which had made incredible grounds over the last three years, and was loaded with talent, experience, confidence and good attitude is beyond pathetic.
There is nothing wrong with calling out this coaching staff for what it is. Unfortunately, most on this board (who have watched WMU football with passion for many years) agreed when it happened that KB was too quick to hire Lester, and that other options would have been better (if available), and most of us also questioned Lester's choices of assistants. Our reason for concern has been manifesting itself throughout the season, and certainly it came to a head last night, if it hadn't after the Akron loss.
Nobody wants to say it, because he has become a pariah in Kalamazoo after how he departed (and too many on this forum hated him even when they had no reason to), based on his "new-school", and over-the-top style alone, but Fleck did truly change the culture of our program, in so many ways, all of which were calculated to result in wins, and players responded because they believed in what he was doing, and knew that Fleck would do whatever he needed to, without hesitation, and wasnt afraid to do things that conventional wisdom might consider too risky. He played to win. I am not sure why this staff came in and decided to reinvent the wheel. Frankly they should have continued every single philosophy Fleck had, including RTB, as those were all things our players understood. Lester should have also done whatever he could to keep our old D-Coordinator. No reason not to, other than wanting to hire your buddies based on "old times" when they all talked about how cool it would be if they could all end up coaching together and having a program to kill....er... i mean run themselves.
Madness is watching your alma mater crap the bed by blowing a game they should have won by three touchdowns against your arch rival, when that arch rival is a lousy team who also played terribly in the game, but won it because the decision makers on the sideline decided to play not to lose instead of playing to win. So, in that sense we should (and should have) stop the madness.
(This post was last modified: 11-02-2017 02:34 PM by brovol.)
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