''Player leadership'', it's a coach's cop out..

[HeulenHund2]

Every time this program underperforms the old ''we need leaders among the players'' is trotted out. I don't know if coaches are behind the talk, but it sure is convenient.
Do Saban and Meyer recruit better leaders ? hell no, THEY ARE THE LEADERS.
Any coaching staff that goes through these cycles over and over again needs to evaluate the men in the mirror. I'm not saying you don't need strong players, I'm saying strong coaches instill those qualities into their players.
I've been reading yet again how this group has lost so much leadership from last year's team. How many cycles of poor leaders does this make in The Richt era ? I'm guessing 6 or 7, it seems more than every other year to Me.

 

[dieharddawg62]

You know it really doesn't matter what it is. Whatever it is, it's fully ingrained in the program. The whole AD department needs to be cleaned out to change "it" from continuing.

 

[HeulenHund2]

You know it really doesn't matter what it is. Whatever it is, it's fully ingrained in the program. The whole AD department needs to be cleaned out to change "it" from continuing.

I'm still prepared to ride it out through the 2017 season with Richt, unless things get really ugly. There are some very positive changes that will take time to know whether it all works. That said, of course I'm frustrated by these same issues surfacing time after time. History shows things can change though.
IF the day comes though, it won't take a wrecking ball to the whole program, just the coaching staff. We see the right coaching hire turn programs around all the time.

 

[AubreyTXDawg]

As a coach of a different sport, you do have to have leaders on the field, but that comes from the coach. Ohio State this year shows they don't have any, when some of these guys were last year. My on field team leaders know that is their job. Its a different coaching job, but I have one on offense and one on defense that know "this is your team." You pick the right kid/player that has the ability to do it and you make it happen. That said, in any loss, I never blame the team leader on the field. Wins and losses are my job.

 

[Boost Assendahm]

There's no doubting who's accountable for a team's success, when considered as a body of work. Who defines "body of work" is another consideration. The HC is supposedly where the buck stops when assessing the chemistry of coaches and players among and with each other. But, as in most organizations (not including dictatorships), the employees, the citizens, the players have to buy in to "the system" or "the way" to make any process work as effectively and as seamlessly as possible. So, yes, team leaders can be a good thing IF they exist and IF they are effective. Team leaders can be encouraged or discouraged. Whatever we're doing doesn't seem to be working very well. However, from a hind sight perspective, it has become painfully clear that it was foolish for any or us to have truly believed that this was to be our year with 80% of our offense set to be generated by a run game. And that one dimensional reality is due primarily to a severely thin depth chart at WR and NO (not one dependable) SEC quality QB on our roster. Add a thin (literally and figuratively) front 7 on "D" with a too young, too inexperienced depth chart at DB, and we have what we have, an average to below average SEC starting/rotating 40-50 players. Not sure we have ever seen this many changes to the staff and management of our program to include new UGA President, DC, OC, along with new AC's plus added staff to improve recruiting coverage and player evaluations and screening over a period of 2-3 years in our history, much less during the Richt years. Pretty sure our DL and DB depth and quality will be markedly improved next season over this one. Also confident that our WR corps and OL ranks will be improved as well through more effective and efficient recruiting methods and effort. No answer at QB unless we get another, better transfer. Cannot imagine Eason starting AND excelling early in the schedule next season. But, who knows? Lots of changes deserve a season or two to sink in and to make a difference.

 

[dieharddawg62]

It's always something. These are just more excuses. Good coaches come in and figure out how to get it done with what they have.

It's the coaching and the culture. It's not the talent.

 

[HeulenHund2]

It's always something. These are just more excuses. Good coaches come in and figure out how to get it done with what they have.

It's the coaching and the culture. It's not the talent.

If your last sentence is meant to be specific to our lack of fundamentals, I agree. Of course in a broad sense talent always matters.

I got uneasy in fall practice when our coaches were saying they could live with mistakes as long defensive players were going hard on every play. To me it came across as limited coaching, nothing you'd hear from the great defensive staffs.
Of course without what we're seeing now I would have forgotten those words. It sure looks like we might be seeing the results of that kind of approach though. A bunch of guys flying around wildly won't get the job done.