(11-03-2017 11:51 AM)Motown Bronco Wrote: What concerns me most is not the grooming of new QBs or making sure the playcalling gels - the tangible stuff that can get polished up over time. The clash of styles between Lester & Co. and the Fleck-recruited players is the more difficult riddle to solve.
Indeed, every coaching change requires a corresponding culture change adjustment. But we can all agree that changing in/out of a Fleck regime can be a particular shock to the system. Part of the reason why we went 1-11 in 2013, with plenty of kids unable to adjust from the more gruff, old-school mannered Cubit, or leaving entirely (Zach Terrell himself was this close to bolting).
I still don't understand Lester's sideline demeanor, and how even a lower-key coaching staff can't keep players focused on a sideline during a nationally televised game against a hated rival. A 2 TD lead in the third quarter was by no means an empty-the-bench blowout. Regardless of how he is in private, not sure how effective calming grins and fist-pumps are in firing up a squad too used to a spastic man who oughta be the keynote speaker at motivational conventions. But hey, it could work on the Lester recruits.
So my greatest fear - especially if things continue to go south and we lose to NIU and Toledo - is a cultural disconnect between Lester and players. Is Spillane, and any others that Fleck might've texted a (*wink wink*) "Happy Birthday" to before KB sniffed it out, at full peace here? I have no insider aspect to the team, so maybe this is all nothing. But the armchair quarterbacks in us wonder.
This is a great point. And I think has a tremendous impact on what we are seeing. It's almost as if Lester is afraid to put his stamp on the program because as he has mentioned more than once, the cupboard was full when he came here, and a culture was in place. But I'm not sure that Lester even has a stamp to put on these guys. We just don't know. But I think there is a team in the future that can be successful with Tim Lester as coach.
We can see it in that Steven Clark's dad is a poster on here. They have a relationship with Lester and Daoust that goes back beyond just this season, so there is a tendency to defend the coaching staff. Plus, they on paper at least are going to provide the best recruiting class in 2018 that our program has ever seen. So there must be something to Lester and company that appeals to players.
My worry is, and will continue to be until I see different is that he doesn't have the ability to motivate and hold guys accountable.
The majority of our current players have no prior relationship with Lester or the most of the current staff. They are used to a high energy ball buster in PJ. That's who recruited them. That's who they practiced under. That's who would pull a running back out of the game and sit him on the bench for fumbling.
Lester has a different approach. One that it appears our current players recruited by PJ don't either seem to be completely on board with, or it just doesn't work for them. So maybe in 3 or 4 years as PJ's recruits and players leave, things will get better. I don't know.
All I do know is that what is going on isn't working. Jarvion Franklin's comments about chilling on the sideline were telling to me. Lester's style has not worked with a lot of the current players. Either way, no matter how upset we get as a fan base, he is going to be here for probably four years for sure.
At some point though, Tim Lester has got to be accountable for the product on the field. And we all need to stop making excuses for him.
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Good read from FOSat
