Editor:
In the discipline of Sport Psychology, one consistent finding is that great coaches win everywhere they go. That is because the talents needed to be a successful head coach—skills in problem solving, organizing, and motivating players to do their best—are the same everywhere. Brian VanGorder’s only previous head coaching experience was at Wayne State, a Division II program, and he had a losing record there, 16-17, over three years. But he apparently thought it would be easy to win at GSU.
“If Brian VanGorder can’t win as a head coach here, he’s not a good head coach,” he said in an interview after accepting the GSU job. “That’s just the truth.”
And it is the truth. VanGorder may be somebody who is a great defensive coordinator but not a good head coach.
When the football season started, it became apparent that VanGorder was the “anti-Erk” in several respects. Most notably, he routinely blames players for everything that goes wrong.
As one (observer) said to me, “It’s really hard to listen to BVG continue to throw the kids under the bus – the classy coaches are the ones who take the blame.”
BVG says the GSU players are immature, too small, they aren’t ready, they are out of sync, they are inconsistent, they are still adjusting to the transition, and on and on. The one thing all these excuses have in common is that they say, “It’s not my fault.”
By contrast, Erk always took the blame for player deficiencies on himself, even when he did not have to. If players messed up, Erk would always say in a post-game interview that it was the coach’s fault for not getting them ready or teaching them better.
A key indicator of head coaching skill is the ability to make effective halftime adjustments. Under Erk, Georgia Southern often pulled away in the third quarter. Paul Johnson had the same talent, with the same results. But with VanGorder we have been outplayed in the second half all season long.
Tracy Ham noticed the lack of adjustments during the third quarter of the Wofford game and pointed it out on the air. “Wofford has adjusted, but Georgia Southern has not.”
The next week, against Furman, VanGorder actually told a radio interviewer that he planned no adjustments for the second half. That is astonishing, and it is a terrible omen, because a person who lacks a gift for strategic thinking will not suddenly change. If VanGorder stays for two more years, expect to see game after game lost in the second half, as the other team adjusts and GSU does not.
Erk earned the respect of his players and was good at improving technique. VanGorder yells and cusses and berates players in practice. That might be OK if he got results, but we did not see improvements all season long in the techniques of our quarterbacks, kickers and ends. Quite the contrary. Erk (like all great coaches) knew how to make players play above their potential. Under VanGorder this year, many players played below their potential.
Erk said after retiring his one unfulfilled wish was to bring the triple option attack to 1-A football, because he was quite certain it would succeed on that level. Paul Johnson has proved it at Navy.
Whether we stay in 1-AA to move to 1-A, the option attack is perfectly matched to GSU’s recruiting opportunities. While flagship universities pick off athletes who are both huge and fast, GSU can recruit smaller players who have speed and quickness. For 25 years this resulted in an offense that was really fun to watch, full of deception, surprise and big plays.
It is just bizarre that we are throwing away this recruiting edge along with over two decades worth of “institutional capital” in the form of accumulated knowledge, tradition, and coaching skills necessary to run the nation’s best triple option offense. Now I expect we will be asked to “stay the course” with VanGorder for two more years at least, while he recruits huge and inevitably slow linemen.
If VanGorder is given another two years to reshape GSU football, I fear the damage will be permanent. The GSU football program will suffer the same fate as the GSU football radio broadcasts, changing from a highly competent and distinctive product to a bland, generic, undistinguished one. It is really sad and it should not be allowed to happen.
Given their performance this season, the present group of football coaches should do the honorable thing and offer to resign, and we should reclaim our status as home of the nation’s best triple option offense while there is still a chance to do so.
Russ Dewey
Statesboro
In the discipline of Sport Psychology, one consistent finding is that great coaches win everywhere they go. That is because the talents needed to be a successful head coach—skills in problem solving, organizing, and motivating players to do their best—are the same everywhere. Brian VanGorder’s only previous head coaching experience was at Wayne State, a Division II program, and he had a losing record there, 16-17, over three years. But he apparently thought it would be easy to win at GSU.
“If Brian VanGorder can’t win as a head coach here, he’s not a good head coach,” he said in an interview after accepting the GSU job. “That’s just the truth.”
And it is the truth. VanGorder may be somebody who is a great defensive coordinator but not a good head coach.
When the football season started, it became apparent that VanGorder was the “anti-Erk” in several respects. Most notably, he routinely blames players for everything that goes wrong.
As one (observer) said to me, “It’s really hard to listen to BVG continue to throw the kids under the bus – the classy coaches are the ones who take the blame.”
BVG says the GSU players are immature, too small, they aren’t ready, they are out of sync, they are inconsistent, they are still adjusting to the transition, and on and on. The one thing all these excuses have in common is that they say, “It’s not my fault.”
By contrast, Erk always took the blame for player deficiencies on himself, even when he did not have to. If players messed up, Erk would always say in a post-game interview that it was the coach’s fault for not getting them ready or teaching them better.
A key indicator of head coaching skill is the ability to make effective halftime adjustments. Under Erk, Georgia Southern often pulled away in the third quarter. Paul Johnson had the same talent, with the same results. But with VanGorder we have been outplayed in the second half all season long.
Tracy Ham noticed the lack of adjustments during the third quarter of the Wofford game and pointed it out on the air. “Wofford has adjusted, but Georgia Southern has not.”
The next week, against Furman, VanGorder actually told a radio interviewer that he planned no adjustments for the second half. That is astonishing, and it is a terrible omen, because a person who lacks a gift for strategic thinking will not suddenly change. If VanGorder stays for two more years, expect to see game after game lost in the second half, as the other team adjusts and GSU does not.
Erk earned the respect of his players and was good at improving technique. VanGorder yells and cusses and berates players in practice. That might be OK if he got results, but we did not see improvements all season long in the techniques of our quarterbacks, kickers and ends. Quite the contrary. Erk (like all great coaches) knew how to make players play above their potential. Under VanGorder this year, many players played below their potential.
Erk said after retiring his one unfulfilled wish was to bring the triple option attack to 1-A football, because he was quite certain it would succeed on that level. Paul Johnson has proved it at Navy.
Whether we stay in 1-AA to move to 1-A, the option attack is perfectly matched to GSU’s recruiting opportunities. While flagship universities pick off athletes who are both huge and fast, GSU can recruit smaller players who have speed and quickness. For 25 years this resulted in an offense that was really fun to watch, full of deception, surprise and big plays.
It is just bizarre that we are throwing away this recruiting edge along with over two decades worth of “institutional capital” in the form of accumulated knowledge, tradition, and coaching skills necessary to run the nation’s best triple option offense. Now I expect we will be asked to “stay the course” with VanGorder for two more years at least, while he recruits huge and inevitably slow linemen.
If VanGorder is given another two years to reshape GSU football, I fear the damage will be permanent. The GSU football program will suffer the same fate as the GSU football radio broadcasts, changing from a highly competent and distinctive product to a bland, generic, undistinguished one. It is really sad and it should not be allowed to happen.
Given their performance this season, the present group of football coaches should do the honorable thing and offer to resign, and we should reclaim our status as home of the nation’s best triple option offense while there is still a chance to do so.
Russ Dewey
Statesboro