Same old or something different?

The staff at CSJ can make both of the arguments for the 2023 Cyclone football season:

-Too many personnel losses and too many changes to staff and scheme keep the offense as the worst in the Big 12, and the team finish 4-8 again;

-The defense keeps the team in every game, and the offense improves just enough to find 6 or 7 wins to earn a trip to Memphis or similar.

We have our fingers crossed the latter is the tale that will be told. But given CMC's propensity to play game close, we will keep a big jar of Tums in arms reach every Saturday. 

Against UNI- the Purple Hawks will keep it close, but miss a 55 yard FG try at the gun and lose 14-13.

No style points- Just win, baby. 

Now We Know

Given the news of the week, we now know much of the path that lies before the football team.

Continue to be stout on defense.

Improve to merely average on special teams.

Run the ball with enough consistency that the QB doesn't have to carry the offense.

We have a large enough data set with seven seasons under CMC to know that while the team will find itself in more close games than the average program, the solid defense means they seldom have to put 40 on the board to win. Simply moving the offensive conference scoring average from 20 to 24 points per game would have resulted in a winning season. 27 points would have been smashing in the win column.

Here's hoping the new offensive staff can put more points on the board, and team team has better success in the margins.

With seven (!) coin flips on the schedule, the difference between 8-4 and 4-8 will be really small.

Farewell to the Old Guard

The CSJ staff sheds no tears when news breaks of coaches at all levels being dismissed for verbal abuse, hazing, or general jerkiness.

This style of coaching is a dinosaur in modern life. It is being weeded out of the workplace, yet we expect our kids to endure it as it "builds character". 

No, it doesn't. It only encourages a fear of failure, hesitancy, and caution.

Exposure of these behaviors is becoming more common as players are growing more courageous in documenting and reporting the abuse. The fact that athletes can now transfer if the coaches are inappropriate has also shifted the balance of power on teams- and coaches who are used to domineering behavior are quick to complain about how 'soft' athletes have become. But its obvious that the most abusive wouldn't take what they dish out if it was coming from anyone else in the life.

In the new world of athletics, player management is as important as recruiting and tactics. We will quickly learn who is better at each phase, but bad player management may get a coach fired the quickest.