Coach Tiffany retweeted the following from Craig Doty (Coach at Emporia State University in Kansas) which I found interesting. Why Athletes Fail 1-False sense of ability 2-Can't handle adversity 3-Poor academically 4-Inconsistent work ethic 5-Lack of toughness 6-Bad attitude 7-Not the right fit 8-Injuries 9-Lack skill and/or athleticism 10-No feel/low IQ 11-Listen to the wrong people 12-Bad decisions Have any to add?
Pretty comprehensive list in my opinion. I hope our current / remaining players and any future recruits keep this list in mind as they navigate the process and experience. Actually, coaches and recruiters would do well to keep this in mind, too. The trajectory of lives are on the line in making, and possibly changing, these decisions. IF I WERE A COACH, and I’m not to this level (though I did coach equestrian athletes for two decades), I would want someone on my staff with the ability and intuition to evaluate psychology and personality. Beyond recruiting and evaluating someone for their skill and athleticism, what does your gut tell you? I’ve also seen several tweets from Brianna Taylor that often make me wonder who she is addressing, such as this one:
And I think we’re seeing that in the 2018 class, especially in comparison to the previous class (duly noting DL’s hard work and improvement — a genuine turaround, IMO). Maybe the McNeese State game was imperfect by the standards of some, but I was quite inspired by the overall improvement from the first two games, and the freshmen were impressive last night. Don’t know much about our 2019 Aussie — though I sense grit and toughness in her — I see the same desire and work ethic in Celeste that we’re witnessing in the current class. Despite our recent loss of players, I remain very excited for the future of the program.
With the injuries to Holmes and Prince (and the transfers of Hosey, Boothe and Patterson), I've reset my expectations for this season and am now considering this year a rebuilding year. I expect Holmes to return but I'm not sure how quickly she'll transition physically and mentally to competitive game shape. There are likely to be bumps in the road this year but I think we'll see overall improvement by the end of the season. IMO, this year is laying the foundation for next year. As @GameOfHorns mentioned, our young players are showing lots of potential and with the addition of Celeste and Ashlee, the future is exciting. I believe we have the potential to be very, very good next year. @kurupt described recruiting players to your system. I agree with that philosophy and I think Karen has done that with the 2018 and 2019 classes. Our 2017 class may have taught us that just because you can get the 5 star recruits doesn't always mean they are the best fit for the program.
