How to Fix Catawba Football

[catualum]

So which comes first, the chicken or the egg? A raucous crowd or a kick-a$$ team?

[IndianHuddle.com]

Nov 12, 2009 8:07:08 GMT -5 catualum said:

So which comes first, the chicken or the egg? A raucous crowd or a kick-a$$ team?

Student support at the games is sorely lacking. I bet there use to be 400 or 500 students at every football game back in the 1999, 2000, 2001 era. We are probably more at 200 or 300 now.

It's like we discourage loud cheering and celebrating. Another note, could we "shrink" the size of the Chief's Club reserved section? I know they essentially run the show in terms of finances, but it is always 1/3 full.

I like the fact that we used helmet stickers this season. I'd like for us to give them out at a more frequent rate though. Like a tackle for loss gets you two stickers, a sack gives you three stickers, and a defensive TD is four stickers for example.

If an OL gives up no sacks during a game, he gets 3 stickers. If he gives up only one, he gets only one. If the team throws for 300 yards, each OL gets 4 stickers. If we rush for 200 yards as a team, each gets 4 stickers.

That way by the end of the season, teams that play us are saying, "Wow, this guy I am lining up infront of has a helmet chalked full of stickers...he is probably more talented than I thought!"

[elephant]

I dont think it takes a rocket scientist to diagnose Catawbas problem this year.We have the same O-line,the same D-front as '08.The only missing component is the dynamic "playmaking" running back that we had last year. Jamelle Cuthbertson is probably the best back to ever put on Catawba uniform,even though he was under utilized.Find another back of that caliber that can pump life into the team and we will be" back in the hunt"

[catblue]

Bottom line, we don't have enough good FB players.All seem to come from North Carolina, so maybe we need to cast a wider net.Working harder is part of the issue, but lack of talent is the bigger one.We're being out recruited.The gap between us and Wingate,Newberry and CN is huge and growing and Mars Hill may be better and LR looks to be closing fast.Still have a hard time forgetting how we averaged over 10 yards per play against LR last year and then watching Saturday.Amazing.

[whitebread]

I think the kick-a$$ team comes first but you have to have someone take the lead and strike while the iron was hot, which we did not do. When I was there in the early '00's me and several other students took the lead to get the students involved. Making t-shirts, doing tailgates, etc..is that still being done? If not, then the SGA could get involved to possibly help that out.
The problem is, as Tommy stated, I think that a lot of times the administration has given the "perception" that they don't want loud, cheering fans. And now, because we didn't capitalize on setting some traditions, etc while we were dominating in the early '00's I think people will be reluctant to come back until we win again.
How many times have we commented and brought to the forefront how lame the music played over the PA is? We really are the only sports team left in America that plays "Who Let the Dogs Out." A simple change in the music makes SUCH a big difference!
The bottom line is a football crowd is split between people that are there because they are loyal and the people that are there for the entertainment value. And let's be honest, for most, Shuford is just not an entertaining place to be on Saturdays. This has to be addressed or it will remain the same. With that being said, this is probably the easiest to fix...much easier than addressing the needs we have on the football team.
I hope for the best for Catawba but as Catualum has stated, I think we've got a looooong road ahead since we appear to be going in the complete opposite direction than EVERYONE else in the league.

[ou812]

well said

[sport79]

Here is an article from a local newspaper on coaching, I think it says it all!
After South Carolina's loss to Arkansas last week, a few questions popped up from a few guys I felt were wanna-be coaches. Questions such as, "Why can't Spurrier run the ball better? You gotta run it tough to win!"

The Gamecocks ran 25 times for 53 yards.

I also heard, "I woulda, and he shoulda."

It tickles me when people think they can out-coach the Ol' Ball Coach or any other coach.

These people are convinced they know a great deal about college football, but most never played in college. I guess by listening intently to TV analysts, like Lou Holtz and many others, they believe they have all the knowledge needed to be a winning coach.

Wanna-bes only see college football from a seat in the stadium or on a couch in front of the TV. They have no perspectives of the challenges coaches face day after day off the field -- challenges created in the locker room, weight room, training room, dining hall, on campus, occasionally in a court-room, in the media and over the Internet.

I'm sure wanna-bes never have thoughts about the most important and critical challenges essential to developing a winning team. A very important challenge is hiring a staff comprised with coaches who are excellent teachers dedicated to kids, and are 100 percent committed to the head coach's philosophy, and are willing to remain loyal regardless of wins and losses. The staff has to be willing to work 16-18 hours a day, seven days a week from mid-July to mid-December, and then spend another four to six weeks on the road recruiting prior to signing date.

Oh, I almost forgot the willingness to get up at 5 a.m. three or four times a week to run the off-season conditioning program to prepare for spring practice.

Another important challenge that probably doesn't cross their minds is the effort and wisdom it takes to convince 110 young men from a variety of educational, socio-economic, cultural, and competitive backgrounds to be ideal teammates. I doubt if they see problems controlling players with inflated egos who think they are God's gift to football and think the team can't win without them being a star.

Do they see the effort it takes to convince young men to do what's right academically and socially?

I doubt wanna-bes realize the importance of eligibility and what it takes to help a player maintain eligibility. And do they see the challenge of convincing players to attend class, especially the kids who are in college for a shot to play on Sunday or players who are not truly dedicated to earning a degree?

I'm sure the wanna-bes have no idea what an intense challenge it is to motivate players to give 110 percent effort every down in order to have a chance to win a game against a 20-point favorite. For example, how does a coach motivate Coastal Carolina's players to beat Clemson? Coastal lost 49-3. Another challenge wanna-bes probably don't realize is how difficult and stressful it is make halftime Xs and Os adjustments and revitalize the hearts and minds of players when the team is down 20 points. No doubt, they feel it's easy to make 70 or so perfect offensive and 70 defensive calls in a game and decisions to go for a first down on 4th-and-2 instead of punting.

I wonder how wanna-bes would handle wealthy booster's demands on who to hire, who to fire and which players to play. How would they handle being bastardized by the media and fans as their team fell apart?

No doubt, they would provide an ESPN sideline reporter withpre-game, halftime, and post game sound bites to make themselves perfect coaches.

After Beaufort High's loss to Goose Creek last Friday a wanna-be said, "I'd use the spread offense, (Coach Mark) Clifford needs to use it!"

I guess he thinks he'd win the state championship coaching the Eagles with the spread offense. That's like me thinking I could be like Tiger Woods just by using his swing

[IndianHuddle.com]

Sport79,

It doesn't even take a wanna-be to see how poor Catawba's run defense was this season.

Mars Hill = 273 rush yards
Newberry = 329 rush yards
C-N = 359 rush yards
Wingate = 274 rush yards
Lenoir-Rhyne = 394 rush yards

Totals = 1,629 rush yards in 5 games.

Could we have put 5 DL on the field and take chances with one less LB or DB...sure, but that isn't the underlying problem. Same with moving to a 4 - 4 defense, it wouldn't have helped.

[catualum]

Most "wanna-be"s could be referred to by another synonym: fans. Without them, there is no program.

If a TV program or movie is bad, the audience doesn't think about how much work the directors, producers, actors, etc. put into it. The bottom line is the quality of the finished product. If the quality isn't there, the audience won't invest its time and money. And, the venue is there primarily for the audience.

See any parallels?

[alum49]

home games will never be loud while we have the athletic director that we have. if you even yell at the other team you will get thrown out. he has pretty much made it as simple and boring as you can make it to go watch them play. as far as music whitebread you and I both no that they will never understand how to update the cd selection. its been like this for years

[IndianHuddle.com]

Timmy and I did the pregame music this season and it was awesome. Heard that via the players.

[9802alum]

I to played in the playoff years... as someone who had a key part in getting people excited about Catawba Football, getting those facilities built and putting this program on the map it is hard to see a program struggle after you put everything you had into making it great!

Maybe we should get David Bennett and his entire staff back! Nothing against Coach Hester but Catawba made the biggest mistake in not keeping Bennett. Then to add insult to all his players, you don't even acknowledge him at the football reunion two years ago.... Anyone noticed a decline in old players coming back!!!!

[catuindians]

as for david bennett, he had his time here, he built the program up to a remarkable standard. it was his time to move on to bigger and better things in which he did. lets talk about what a great coach he was that surrounded himself with even better coaches that were very loyal to him. the problem coach hester has is keeping the program at that level which has proven to be very difficult. lets wait until next year to see how he and his staff rebounds from this dissapointing season.....

[tomahawk]

I agree, Coach bennett had his day, he also recruited my son, but we need to focus on the present. I also don't like hearing about us not being able to retain players that we have recruited and are already here. We also try to stay too much in North Carolina in our recruiting when everybody knows that South Carolina is a hotbed for ball players, lets go get some of them. I talked to a young player the other day and he was telling me that he was expecting more emotion from the fans but that has to come from fans wanting to win. We need to turn all this around and get back to kicking butts in football.

[IndianHuddle.com]

I was looking through old newspapers from 2000 to 2001.

Guys, we had SWAGGER. Nick Means was a gamer. The offensive line was a unit that knocked you around for four quarters. Mitch Ellis would have played in a wheel-chair if need be.

The coaches were wearing those crisp gray shirts and khaki pants. Every coach also wore a white Catawba football hat with the NCAA logo imprinted on the side.

On game day, fans gathered near the gates to watch the team storm through. The coaches came in first once security guards "opened sesame", and they all had scowls on their faces...they knew they were going to war.

Scores of footsteps were heard moments later, footsteps that alerted even the most casual fan that the Indians have arrived.