Coach Leach's comment about the kickers.....
- Thread starter thekimmer
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That's verbatim what a kicker who was 20-36 in his career would say.
That's right. Nearly missed as many as he made. I'm sure any coach would beg for this kind of talent to not transfer.
That's right. Nearly missed as many as he made. I'm sure any coach would beg for this kind of talent to not transfer.
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Lot of message board meatheads in this thread. Not surprised though. They probably all thought they were on the cusp of being all-state, just didn’t get a fair shake. Now they’re the ones berating their 8 year old travel ball teams after little Johnny didn’t make that backhand play at SS.
And for reference, it has less to do about the players’ feelings, as I’m sure they can handle it just fine, but more to do with your leader being under control and not throwing temper tantrums. He’s the one who recruited them, practiced for 2 years with them, and put them out there. He should know beforehand what he’s got.
And for reference, it has less to do about the players’ feelings, as I’m sure they can handle it just fine, but more to do with your leader being under control and not throwing temper tantrums. He’s the one who recruited them, practiced for 2 years with them, and put them out there. He should know beforehand what he’s got.
Yeah... Coach woulda put me in fourth quarter, we would've been state champions. No doubt. No doubt in my mind.
there is too much being made of this.
Ruiz has been a decent kicker this year. Not the best. But it could absolutely be worse.
Leach lost his cool by sending in the backup. The backup has shown to be not very good at all to this point. The truth is… as bad of a game that Ruiz was having.. he was our best shot to send it to OT.
Then when the FG was a wounded duck, he boiled over. Hell, I rather have a coach do that then run out and smile and shrug his shoulders.
Yes this is indeed the point. By making such a statement he is ultimately throwing himself under the bus because he is ultimately responsible for the product on the field for which he is paid $5M a year. Nobody on that field just wandered onto it and did their thing. The presence of every player on that field and their performance is ultimately a reflection on Mike Leach's performance. Not saying coach leach is a bad coach but such a statement is in bad taste.
One thing that needs to be pointed out here - unless I missed it, Leach never criticized our kickers. He simply said we'll hold open tryouts for anyone who wants to walk on.
We are 9-17 on FG this season. That 53% puts us at 124th in the nation.
Our punters are averaging 40.8 yards with a net of 31.5 yards. That average is good for 98th in the nation, and the net is 129... out of 130. We are 0.9 yards better than Western Michigan.
I would suggest we need all the help we can get and have no problem at all with Leach announcing open tryouts. Maybe he'll find a punter too. At least he's trying to do something different. Whatever we're doing so far isn't working.
We are 9-17 on FG this season. That 53% puts us at 124th in the nation.
Our punters are averaging 40.8 yards with a net of 31.5 yards. That average is good for 98th in the nation, and the net is 129... out of 130. We are 0.9 yards better than Western Michigan.
I would suggest we need all the help we can get and have no problem at all with Leach announcing open tryouts. Maybe he'll find a punter too. At least he's trying to do something different. Whatever we're doing so far isn't working.
I'd hate for any of ya'll to had spent a single minute with our icon, Jack Cristil. I'm sure some of you raised the same hell when he talked about Blake McAdams showing off his powerful leg. Remind me. What sport did Jack letter in? Does that mean his opinion isn't just as good as anyone else's? Can a reasonable person who's watched more State games than any of us ever imagined not critique ****** play when they see it? Or do they need to carry a card everywhere with them to verify they were All-State?
Why? Did he not kick important field goals in every level he played in previously. I often hear people yelling about a freshman should be able to play if he's any good at all and other positions what makes field-goal kicker any different?
once again-you have swung and missed--do you ever get anything right? "it is better to have everyone think you are an idiot, than open your mouth and remove all doubt"
Who would you be referring to? Ruiz is 5-9 on the season, McCord is 4-8 for 52% combined? We don't seem to have a "successful kicker" or we would have won Saturday
Ruiz can kick. His injury may be an issue.
I would have the tryouts and set them up from 55 yards and see if anyone not on scholly can 2 out of 3 then go back to working with my regular guys
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Here is what offensive genius's have; Kickers
[h=1]NFL History - Points Leaders[/h]Leaders: Touchdowns | Scoring | Rush | Rush TDs | Receiving | Pass Yards | Pass Comp | Pass TDs | Interceptions | Sacks
| Points Leaders | ||
| RK | PLAYER | PTS |
| 1 | Adam Vinatieri | 2,673 |
| 2 | Morten Andersen | 2,544 |
| 3 | Gary Anderson | 2,434 |
| 4 | Jason Hanson | 2,150 |
| 5 | John Carney | 2,062 |
| 6 | Matt Stover | 2,004 |
| 7 | George Blanda | 2,002 |
| 8 | Jason Elam | 1,983 |
| 9 | John Kasay | 1,970 |
| 10 | Sebastian Janikowski | 1,913 |
| 11 | Stephen Gostkowski | 1,875 |
| 12 | Phil Dawson | 1,847 |
| 13 | Matt Bryant | 1,758 |
| 14 | ROBBIE GOULD | 1,756 |
| 15 | MASON CROSBY | 1,743 |
| 16 | Norm Johnson | 1,736 |
| 17 | David Akers | 1,721 |
| 18 | Nick Lowery | 1,711 |
| 19 | Jan Stenerud | 1,699 |
| 20 | Ryan Longwell | 1,687 |
<tbody style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background: transparent;">
</tbody>
Coach gets paid 5 million a year to win games. He’s gotta say and do what he has to win games.
SEC is big boy football with a magnifying glass over it with more attention than any other league. The players knew what they signed up for.
Also if the players want NIL deals and to be treated as employees earning money for this sport/business then they can take the heat when they don’t perform well.
He gets paid to win games and turn these boys into men not coddle them and tell them it’s ok when they don’t do their job. Real world doesn’t work that way. Their peers and family can sympathize with them and encourage them.
SEC is big boy football with a magnifying glass over it with more attention than any other league. The players knew what they signed up for.
Also if the players want NIL deals and to be treated as employees earning money for this sport/business then they can take the heat when they don’t perform well.
He gets paid to win games and turn these boys into men not coddle them and tell them it’s ok when they don’t do their job. Real world doesn’t work that way. Their peers and family can sympathize with them and encourage them.
JUST like this board's opinion, the opinions of players will be the same. Some will get their feelings hurt, other will say "hell yeah, I busted my *** blocking 300 lb mad men for an hour. find a nerd that can kick." I promise you there isn't a right answer.
Watching the replay it was not his fault. The snap was bad and it didn't look like the ball was placed good. So I stand corrected.
I have no problem with him holding everybody on that team accountable. I fully expect him to do that. It is the public comment that I don't like. To me its best summed up by a philosophy that has served me well in 35 years of managing people and that is, "Praise in public, correct in private."
Theo DeRosa just tweeted out this stat:
We are 9 for 17 on field goals this season ranking 124th out of 130 teams…
When 3 of our 4 losses are by a total of 8 combined points this stat (+officiating) has been the major reason we are 5-4 and not 8-1.
When a position is causing that many losses I feel like a coach has every right to say whatever he wants when it’s his job on the line. He’s kept quiet for most of the season but I imagine after being screwed by a position group this many times it’s kinda boiled over to a public statement. We cannot have that poor of a performance from a position group in the SEC and be competitive
We are 9 for 17 on field goals this season ranking 124th out of 130 teams…
When 3 of our 4 losses are by a total of 8 combined points this stat (+officiating) has been the major reason we are 5-4 and not 8-1.
When a position is causing that many losses I feel like a coach has every right to say whatever he wants when it’s his job on the line. He’s kept quiet for most of the season but I imagine after being screwed by a position group this many times it’s kinda boiled over to a public statement. We cannot have that poor of a performance from a position group in the SEC and be competitive
Why was Ruiz laughing on the sideline before the final kick? Was he glad it wasn’t him? Did he think it would be funny if we missed the kick? Not sure why he would think anything was funny at that moment.
Ruiz has not been good this season coming off an injury, but yes, going 28 for 34 the prior two years and not missing a PAT since 2017 counts as being successful.
But if he had already been pulled for the PAT when he hasn't missed a PAT since 2017, that makes me think he probably did pull himself out because his leg was bothering him.
You ever heard of the old saying "you can't make chicken salad out of chicken do-do". You can all the coaching in the world but you have to have something to work with.
I disagree totally. The entire locker room is about winning. If you do nothing when one part of the team is not producing, then you're telling the rest of the team you're ok with that and don't care enough to try to fix it. Unfortunately, the team doesn't have the number of kickers as say offensive or defensive linemen or D-backs. He's doing what he has to do to give the team the best chance of winning. I have no problem with it; it's been done before.
Has Leach held open tryouts for the Oline, Dline, secondary, QB, etc when those positions didnt perform?
Giving the team the best chance of winning would be placing an emphasis on recruiting and landing kickers who are elite. Do that before the season instead of towards the end of it.
Really though, the public comment is just ******. Sit the players down along with the holder and long snapper and have a come to Jesus talk. Do that in private. The rest of the team will know it happened and will know the coach is working to fix it.
Instead, we have a poorly done Tyler Hoffmeister situation. <---shout out to Leach's old school.
Leach never criticized the kickers, he just said open tryouts will be held to see if any random student is better.
Good point in clarifying he never criticized the kickers.***
The rest of your post is a perfect reason for why recruiting talented kickers needs to be a higher priority BEFORE the season.
1) If our WR were dropping balls at a high rate and Leach said the same thing about open tryouts, I'm pretty sure the no one would really care--but for some reason a kicker is different.
2) If today's college players want to treat college ball as a "business decision", then by all means Leach has the right to fire away. After all, their success or failure becomes his success or failure. College ball is quickly becoming a free agent game anyway.
3) If it is my missed kick(s), dropped pass(es), missed block(s), missed tackles(s) etc., that are a direct reason for a loss, maybe a little call out should light a fire under me to do a little better. But nay, everyone today wants to be offended and transfer after coach gets a little testy about their inability to perform. We'll see how these two guys respond.
2) If today's college players want to treat college ball as a "business decision", then by all means Leach has the right to fire away. After all, their success or failure becomes his success or failure. College ball is quickly becoming a free agent game anyway.
3) If it is my missed kick(s), dropped pass(es), missed block(s), missed tackles(s) etc., that are a direct reason for a loss, maybe a little call out should light a fire under me to do a little better. But nay, everyone today wants to be offended and transfer after coach gets a little testy about their inability to perform. We'll see how these two guys respond.
All Leach did is save us all from having to read it in a report from one of the beat writers. He gave his feelings about his team. He did nothing wrong. It’s as if some people want The head coach in Starkville to recruit like Saban, coach like him too, show emotion but act like the pope or some minister. Facts are facts. A 75% kicker over what has played is likely the difference in 1-2 wins so far this season.
For those of you who say he shouldn't be saying these things publicly, how do we get students to try out unless we publicly announce it?