soonerboy_odanorth
12/4/2011, 02:56 PM
Faninama started a fire with the complacency thread. I'm adding a little kerosene.
It isn't just complacency... it's apathy.
The warning signs have been there all year long, from students leaving en masse late in third quarters, to empty rows of seats in the usually rabid and feared NEZ. I haven't seen apathy like this since the early 90's. I brought my then wife to Norman for the first time down from Minnesota to see big time college football. While she was amazed to see a crowd for college football number about 10,000 more than typically attended her beloved Vikings games, I was very disappointed to hear the crowd anounced as only about 70,000, with empty seats clearly showing in the corners of the press box side upper deck.
The opponent? U.S.C.
How in the world does a showdown of two all-time great college football powers result in a whole bunch of "meh"? Apathy.
So here we are again experiencing that same ol' same ol'. And I think it has spilled over to the offices and scholarship players. I think there are a great number of factors contributing to this, including tragic circumstances. But the bottom line is we have all seen this show before. Or, at least we had when the Mizzou game turned out the way it did. The thought was that was going to be a beat down of epic proportions. And it should have been. But the coaching and play simply was not there. It looked like a virtual repeat of the the previous couple of seasons with everyone having a cup of disappointment in multiple phases of the game... inability to punch the ball into the endzone from the red zone, utter slop on defense, special teams that are not special.
This has now been going on three straight years. Same show. Once is a coincidence. Twice is a pattern. Three times is a habit.
So this program has now developed some really bad habits. Which has led to serious apathy. OU needs an intervention... some really serious rehab.
I'm not calling for anyone's job... yet I am. Stoops needs to re-evaluate and conduct a big overhaul this off-season. If there isn't, then the clock is ticking on his era. And it has been a fabulous era. But we are kidding ourselves if we think the real money men in this game are going to put up with another season or two of apathy.
By the way, there is great precedence for this. I would remind everyone that after the DuPree debacle and what was then some very mediocre play by Switzer's teams for three straight years in '81, '82, and '83, he overhauled things following '83, which set up the '84 wide-scale improvement. And then the dominant three year stretch from '85 to '87.
I would hate to see Stoops go. If he does, the thing people need to realize is that things likely will get much worse before they get better. In fact, if he does a complete overhaul this year, no one better go in expecting an instant shake-n-bake national championship year. They should expect improvement, but it will be a process and there will be rough spots while they hit the re-set button.
But at this point something's got to give. Pray for the best.
It isn't just complacency... it's apathy.
The warning signs have been there all year long, from students leaving en masse late in third quarters, to empty rows of seats in the usually rabid and feared NEZ. I haven't seen apathy like this since the early 90's. I brought my then wife to Norman for the first time down from Minnesota to see big time college football. While she was amazed to see a crowd for college football number about 10,000 more than typically attended her beloved Vikings games, I was very disappointed to hear the crowd anounced as only about 70,000, with empty seats clearly showing in the corners of the press box side upper deck.
The opponent? U.S.C.
How in the world does a showdown of two all-time great college football powers result in a whole bunch of "meh"? Apathy.
So here we are again experiencing that same ol' same ol'. And I think it has spilled over to the offices and scholarship players. I think there are a great number of factors contributing to this, including tragic circumstances. But the bottom line is we have all seen this show before. Or, at least we had when the Mizzou game turned out the way it did. The thought was that was going to be a beat down of epic proportions. And it should have been. But the coaching and play simply was not there. It looked like a virtual repeat of the the previous couple of seasons with everyone having a cup of disappointment in multiple phases of the game... inability to punch the ball into the endzone from the red zone, utter slop on defense, special teams that are not special.
This has now been going on three straight years. Same show. Once is a coincidence. Twice is a pattern. Three times is a habit.
So this program has now developed some really bad habits. Which has led to serious apathy. OU needs an intervention... some really serious rehab.
I'm not calling for anyone's job... yet I am. Stoops needs to re-evaluate and conduct a big overhaul this off-season. If there isn't, then the clock is ticking on his era. And it has been a fabulous era. But we are kidding ourselves if we think the real money men in this game are going to put up with another season or two of apathy.
By the way, there is great precedence for this. I would remind everyone that after the DuPree debacle and what was then some very mediocre play by Switzer's teams for three straight years in '81, '82, and '83, he overhauled things following '83, which set up the '84 wide-scale improvement. And then the dominant three year stretch from '85 to '87.
I would hate to see Stoops go. If he does, the thing people need to realize is that things likely will get much worse before they get better. In fact, if he does a complete overhaul this year, no one better go in expecting an instant shake-n-bake national championship year. They should expect improvement, but it will be a process and there will be rough spots while they hit the re-set button.
But at this point something's got to give. Pray for the best.