This Is the Week We Find Out What We Hired in Joe Moorhead

[ShotgunDawg]

Was thinking this morning about how rare it is to really be able to find out what you hired so soon.

Normally, coaches have talent defeciencies or cultural problems that prevent them from really being able to compete early in their tenures, but MSU will get a fairly clear, insightful look at what we hired this week.

Great coaches lose bad games like Moorhead lost to Kentucky. Mullen lost terrible games, Fuente lost to Old Dominion, Saban lost to Louisiana Monroe, & I could go on & on. However, what those coaches have the ability to do is rally the troops, get everyone on the same, streamline things, & make adjustments.

Games like Kentucky happen to everyone, but what separates guys that thrive at schools from guys that get fired is the ability to make adjustments & find a way to figure out how to get the most out their team.

This week is huge for Moorhead:

- Does he choose to be the Mr. Congeniality & the smart guy at coaching conventions or does he choose to be a bad ass football coach that finds a way to win games?

- Does he choose to be the player’s buddy or does he take control like a general & straighten things out?

- Does he choose to play to his team’s strengths or is he a Croom that insists that the players perfect his offense regardless of their skill?

By 9:00 Saturday night, I believe we’ll have a good idea of what we have in Joe Moorhead. How does he face adversity? Does he back in a corner or does he exert himself & come out swinging?

Reminds me of this old boxing quote:

“The hero & the coward both feel the same thing, but the hero uses his fear, projects it onto his opponent, while the coward runs. It?s the same thing, fear, but it’s what you do with it that matters”

Are Joe Moorhead & these players cowards or heroes? We’ll find out Saturday night

[Captain Falcon]

We’re not at the point of no return for this team yet, but a loss Saturday pretty much puts us there. Win the next two games and I can be convinced that what happened in Lexington was a fluke, or a perfect storm. But you can’t let Florida come into your house in a transitional year for them and beat you. This is as big of a must-win game as I can remember for a coach in Year 1.

[Dawg61]

Everyone has a plan till they get punched in the mouth - Mike Tyson

Kentucky punched Moorhead in the mouth

[ShotgunDawg]

Everyone has a plan till they get punched in the mouth - Mike Tyson

Kentucky punched Moorhead in the mouth

Yup and it happens to EVERY coach. It's what they do next that matters.

[bluelightstar]

Mullen's first SEC road game was a total come-apart against Gene Chizik and Auburn. I am hopeful that this is a blip.

[Dawg61]

Yup and it happens to EVERY coach. It's what they do next that matters.

This is Stoops 6th year. He wasn't blowing gaskets and getting all over his players in year 1. SEC is a big boy league. You better learn to get mad during games as a coach and take control of your team or you get fired. It's that simple. Moorhead can be a nice guy for 164 hours outta a 168 hour week. He just can't be a nice guy the other 4 hours during a game. Turn a switch Joe. We all want you to including your team.

[tcdog70]

i think JoMO rises to the level we expect. We will be at home-hopefully not raining. Stop the stupid ass penalties and don't get behind the chains. Our offense will get back on track. Our defense also needs to ditch the drive extending penalties. play smart and hope our linebackers come back from the ghost zone they were in Sat. You would think with our d-line causing turmoil the linebackers would have a field day. The spent Saturday getting caught up in the flow or just whiffing on tackles. How about put a spy on Snell that hits him on every play.

With all that said KY didn't have but like 300 yards of offense. our shitty offensive showing lost us the game. What does our O-line do best?? They run block, so seems like we should do what they do best. We should have ran the ball right at 41 and knocked hit dick in the dirt, instead of playing to His strength.

[Interpolation_Dawg_EX]

This is Stoops 6th year. He wasn't blowing gaskets and getting all over his players in year 1. SEC is a big boy league. You better learn to get mad during games as a coach and take control of your team or you get fired. It's that simple. Moorhead can be a nice guy for 164 hours outta a 168 hour week. He just can't be a nice guy the other 4 hours during a game. Turn a switch Joe. We all want you to including your team.

This! Moorhead has got to work the refs whether he likes it or not. Did he even talk to one the entire game?

[somebodyshotmypaw]

Excellent post ShotgunDawg

[Cowbell]

I bet todays press conference will be the most watched one of the year. If they choose to do a live feed on FB. It was interesting that they didn't air the post-game saturday night like usual. We have to spend more on our media team.

[TrapGame]

Good post Shotgun.

I'm looking at two games this Saturday. UF@MSU and USC@UK


If UK handles USC and wins by a couple of tds I'll be convinced they are a good team. We get our heads out of our asses and beat Florida then I'll think UK was just a perfect storm game.


However, if USC handles UK and beats them soundly then I'm gonna look at Joe at lot differently. Then if we do get beat by Florida and we don't look good at all, well, I'm off the Joe train.

[BuckyIsAB****]

If he has really let the culture slide as bad as it looked saturday night it is not fixable in 1 week. And if we look that bad again I'd say we only got a 1 year rental of Moorhead

[ckDOG]

Yep. I'm mainly concerned with trends from here on out. We got popped in the mouth and mind ****ed and we caved.

Do we cut the shit this weekend, clean up penalties, and focus on what we are built to do? Or do we continue what we saw Saturday night?

Bottom line is we hired a green coach with upside. He's essentially a true freshman when it comes to head coaching at a high level. There are going to be WTF moments like the UK game and probably some more. I'm not suggesting we take 3 seasons of Saturday and "trust the hire" but I do think many folks went into this thinking things would go a lot smoother than the reality of a coordinator hire would present.

[bluelightstar]

Yep. I'm mainly concerned with trends from here on out. We got popped in the mouth and mind ****ed and we caved.

Do we cut the shit this weekend, clean up penalties, and focus on what we are built to do? Or do we continue what we saw Saturday night?

Bottom line is we hired a green coach with upside. He's essentially a true freshman when it comes to head coaching at a high level. There are going to be WTF moments like the UK game and probably some more. I'm not suggesting we take 3 seasons of Saturday and "trust the hire" but I do think many folks went into this thinking things would go a lot smoother than the reality of a coordinator hire would present.

I'm just trying to figure out how the same team has *doubled* its penalties per game in one offseason. That's a coaching issue.

[ckDOG]

I'm just trying to figure out how the same team has *doubled* its penalties per game in one offseason. That's a coaching issue.

Of course it is. It's also correctable. We will see how it plays out.

[BrunswickDawg]

I'm just trying to figure out how the same team has *doubled* its penalties per game in one offseason. That's a coaching issue.

That's a small sample average blown up by 1 horrendous game. In the 3 wins we averaged 7 penalties a game. Last year we averaged 6.2 a game. We had 16 Saturday night. That kind of blows the average real quick.
Not excusing it, it was bad, but it's early enough that the trend can reverse.

[Pollodawg]

Mullen's first SEC road game was a total come-apart against Gene Chizik and Auburn. I am hopeful that this is a blip.
The thing about this is that that Auburn team was infinitely more talented than that MSU team was. UK is not infinitely
more talented than we are.

Moorhead went from benefit-of-the-doubt to just the doubt with me. We looked like we had done nothing in practice all week. Nothing. We looked that way verses K State too. We were just so much more than they could handle that it didn?t matter.

[msstate7]

That's a small sample average blown up by 1 horrendous game. In the 3 wins we averaged 7 penalties a game. Last year we averaged 6.2 a game. We had 16 Saturday night. That kind of blows the average real quick.
Not excusing it, it was bad, but it's early enough that the trend can reverse.

Not just the number of penalties, it's the yardage. We broke 80 yards 2 times last year. We've broke 80 3 times this year. Want a really concerning trend? The 2 times last year were the last 2 games. The egg bowl I kinda excuse bc of the dirty OM play. Wonder if Mullen's exit led to some undisciplined practices during bowl practice that have stuck with us. In our last 6 games, we've had the following penalty yards: 88, 100, 80, 84, 15, and 139; this is an avg of 84 penalty yds/game. That would be good for 128th in the country last season and dead last in 2016 if that number was over a whole season

[Homedawg]

This is Stoops 6th year. He wasn't blowing gaskets and getting all over his players in year 1. SEC is a big boy league. You better learn to get mad during games as a coach and take control of your team or you get fired. It's that simple. Moorhead can be a nice guy for 164 hours outta a 168 hour week. He just can't be a nice guy the other 4 hours during a game. Turn a switch Joe. We all want you to including your team.
JM is not going to turn into a screamer. It's just not him. If that's what you want, you aren't going to get it.

[Homedawg]

Of course it is. It's also correctable. We will see how it plays out.

Same thing we heard after Kansas st.

[bluelightstar]

That's a small sample average blown up by 1 horrendous game. In the 3 wins we averaged 7 penalties a game. Last year we averaged 6.2 a game. We had 16 Saturday night. That kind of blows the average real quick.
Not excusing it, it was bad, but it's early enough that the trend can reverse.

That's true -- but we've also had double digit penalties in both road games against P5 competition. Suggests that this team full of returning starters and a number of seniors is incredibly immature on the road.

[bluelightstar]

Good, glad that we are benching guys as soon as they get unsportsmanlike conducts from now on.

ETA: Moorhead is visibly pissed. I can dig it.

[ckDOG]

Same thing we heard after Kansas st.

Ok

[Dawg61]

JM is not going to turn into a screamer. It's just not him. If that's what you want, you aren't going to get it.

Don't need a screamer but even Gus Malzahn can get fired up during a game and take control of his team. It's not an option for Moorhead. Either come ready for a fight each and every game or go back to being a coordinator. Sometimes you gotta drive the Ferrari faster than 35 mph.

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[robert]

Yep, this speaks volumes, without saying a word.

[Coach 57]

One thing people need to realize is that it’s hard to get up for consecutive games, so if UK falls this week it doesn’t mean they’re a dud. They won that game up front on both ends. Did the refs have some missed calls? Yes. But it happens from time to time.

JoMo isn’t a screamer or an intense guy. He’s even keeled & doesn’t get up or down. It doesn’t mean he isn’t or can’t be a good coach. Phil Jackson wasn’t a screamer w/ the Bulls & Lakers and he’s arguably the greatest coach in NBA history. JoMo’s like that mold, he’s more of an intellectual & player friendly coach. He’ll get it right, give him some time.

[Commercecomet24]

One thing people need to realize is that it?s hard to get up for consecutive games, so if UK falls this week it doesn?t mean they?re a dud. They won that game up front on both ends. Did the refs have some missed calls? Yes. But it happens from time to time.

JoMo isn?t a screamer or an intense guy. He?s even keeled & doesn?t get up or down. It doesn?t mean he isn?t or can?t be a good coach. Phil Jackson wasn?t a screamer w/ the Bulls & Lakers and he?s arguably the greatest coach in NBA history. JoMo?s like that mold, he?s more of an intellectual & player friendly coach. He?ll get it right, give him some time.

Thank you, Coach! Rep given!

ETA: I might add Doug Pederson who just win super bowl also not a screamer.

[Dawg61]

Thank you, Coach! Rep given!

ETA: I might add Doug Pederson who just win super bowl also not a screamer.

Neither is Belichick but those guys are coaching professional athletes that get paid salaries. No greater motivator than cutting a guy and taking away his money. Pro coaches don't yell at players. Almost none of them do and it's because they are paid professional athletes. College is different. It's why Saban left the Dolphins to go back to college. Saban made a pro OL cry on the practice field. Saban quit soon after that. He isn't nearly the same effective coach at the professional level because of this and because he can't recruit the #1 class every year in the pros. Nobody is asking for Moorhead to be a screamer but he also can't be a comatose corpse on the sidelines while his team is raking up 16 penalties and his QB isn't running any semblance of his offense whatsoever. Again it is not a choice.

Our direct competition is getting more out of their players because they don't let the indians run the village. Alabama sets an incredible level of attention to detail at every single aspect of the game. Saban would have cut 10 players after the Kentucky game. I'm not asking for Moorhead to be Saban but he just got his ass handed to him by the forgotten Stoops brother. It's only going to get much much harder from here vs Auburn, Bama, aTm, LSU and yes even Ole Miss with the way OM's players can get in our heads with shit talking.

[ShotgunDawg]

It's an intensity issue that people are questioning.

Sometimes intensity comes in the form of yelling and other times it's more internalized.

Belichick, Dabo, Gus, etc all are intense.

[HancockCountyDog]

Games like Saturday are why I stopped posting on message boards. I fully expect our team to get it together and win big on Saturday. Way too much talent to lose to Mullen this year.

[Commercecomet24]

Neither is Belichick but those guys are coaching professional athletes that get paid salaries. No greater motivator than cutting a guy and taking away his money. Pro coaches don't yell at players. Almost none of them do and it's because they are paid professional athletes. College is different. It's why Saban left the Dolphins to go back to college. Saban made a pro OL cry on the practice field. Saban quit soon after that. He isn't nearly the same effective coach at the professional level because of this and because he can't recruit the #1 class every year in the pros. Nobody is asking for Moorhead to be a screamer but he also can't be a comatose corpse on the sidelines while his team is raking up 16 penalties and his QB isn't running any semblance of his offense whatsoever. Again it is not a choice.

Our direct competition is getting more out of their players because they don't let the indians run the village. Alabama sets an incredible level of attention to detail at every single aspect of the game. Saban would have cut 10 players after the Kentucky game. I'm not asking for Moorhead to be Saban but he just got his ass handed to him by the forgotten Stoops brother. It's only going to get much much harder from here vs Auburn, Bama, aTm, LSU and yes even Ole Miss with the way OM's players can get in our heads with shit talking.

Naw there's college coaches that don't yell and scream either. It's the ability to handle the team and get the most out of them, regardless of your style. John Wooden didn't yell and scream, Lavelle Edwards, David Shaw, Bill Snyder, Chris Klieman, I could list a hundred or more. JoMo may turn out to be the greatest coach ever or he may not but being a yeller and screamer doesn't gurantee either.

[yjnkdawg]

This is Stoops 6th year. He wasn't blowing gaskets and getting all over his players in year 1. SEC is a big boy league. You better learn to get mad during games as a coach and take control of your team or you get fired. It's that simple. Moorhead can be a nice guy for 164 hours outta a 168 hour week. He just can't be a nice guy the other 4 hours during a game. Turn a switch Joe. We all want you to including your team.




So you want him cussing the players, like Mullen did? And you want him to be arrogant like Mullen was? JoeMo ain't like that. Cutting playing time for player stupidity on the field will get their attention.

[Dawg61]

So you want him cussing the players, like Mullen did? And you want him to be arrogant like Mullen was? JoeMo ain't like that. Cutting playing time for player stupidity on the field will get their attention.

I don't want him dog cussing players I want him taking control of his offense he was hired to run like there's a QB and team out there totally destroying it and our #14 record. Cause there was.