…elsewhere on the board there is a seven page and climbing thread arguing over whether Pulley and Curl should have been punished. The dumbness of that argument (against punishing them) has only been exceeded by the few “legends in their own minds” who still believe “if we had never fired Petrino everything would be just fine.” Do you really think Nick Saban would put up with that kind of attitude at Alabama? No way and that blows out of the water any argument that nothing would have been done if we were 8-2 at the time.
One reason CCM benched two starters and kicked them out of the building for this week is their “me first and who cares about the team” stunt is just the tip of the iceberg of the “making a fundamental change in the program” that is going on. You don’t make an omelette without breaking eggs and you don’t “fix” thinks wrong in a football program without bumps along the way. Some players have not bought in to the new regime. They need to go. Some players are now focused on “going pro” and that can be a cancer in the clubhouse and they need to be met head on when their attitude is harmful. That is probably most of the problem with Pulley right now. There also needs to be a tough standard set and sometimes it is a blessing to have a good “teaching moment” to pass on to the rest of the team. That is what this suspension is, just a teaching moment. Pulley might learn something, but I doubt it. The rest of the team may learn to get with the program or get out which would be a good thing in the long run.
Pretending like any good coach would just ignore this and not punish them (whether 0-10 or 10-0) is just bizarre thinking. JMVVVVHO
If they were winning, I would bet they wouldn’t have been suspended like they are now. They probably would’ve sat a half or something along those lines.
Richard - BUT THEY ARE NOT WINNING AND THIS IS JUST ONE SMALL EXAMPLE OF WHY!!!
You don’t gag in the 4th Q against A&M year after year if you have a strong, winning culture
You don’t allow Ole Miss to drive 97 yards like a knife through hot butter if you have a strong, winning culture.
You don’t gag away a 24-7 lead over a bad Missouri team if you have a strong, winning culture.
You don’t gag away a 24-0 lead over Va Tech if you have a strong, winning culture.
Morris inherited a dearth if talent and just as importantly a team lacking a tough minded, confident demeanor. Lots of things lead to a losing culture - lots of little things - and I’m confident Pulley and Curl’s stunt is a symptom of a much larger culture problem that’s been festering for years under the previous regieme.
Kudos to Morris for making statements. He needs to make a lot more starting with a few more pink slips.
I agree. If CCM’s punishment were a bit less severe, I wouldn’t have criticized it, but I think this is entirely appropriate. The fact that we’re not winning is an important factor to consider when deciding punishment. The coach is faced with the difficult task of rebuilding this program from its lowest point in history. We need players with talent, desire, & self-discipline. I hope both Pulley & Curl learn from this & dedicate themselves to becoming great players on the team next year–and they show it by doing that in the off-season. However, if they don’t, we’re better off replacing them with players who want to win.
I don’t know what Petrino has anything to do with this. But it is plain wrong to suspend players talking to cheerleaders of the opposing team before the warmups. This is a good message for a group of fans that are always looking for feel good discipline, but won’t sell well with recruits who may be on the fence.
If you want to discipline them, do it internally without public announcements. That is what a coach who has control of his program would do.
BTW, would DJ Williams report this if they were caught talking to Arkansas cheerleaders?
What is right or “just plain wrong” is ultimately to be decided by the guy in charge, the one whose job and career are ultimately on the line. The Head Coach. Doesn’t matter one whit what any of us think about it. We are sitting behind computers and televisions. We are not in the locker room. We are not dealing with these guys’ attitudes every day.
My personal opinion is that it was absolutely the right thing to do. If this does not “sell well” with recruits, then so be it. I would say those are recruits we don’t need.
I doubt this is going to affect recruits. Recruits have played HS football & perhaps other sports. They expect a coach to mete out discipline–and lord knows this team needs some discipline. This isn’t like he kicked them off the team. He suspended them. It’s for one game. It might be the last game, but it’s still only one game.
There is no perfect answer but it is obvious right now the University of Arkansas football program is in shambles.
Turning around begins with the head coach and frankly there is no simple formula ro get it righted. But I do think a good first step is to establish rules and acceptable conduct from the top down. Any player who does not like the rules is free to leave. Those who choose to come or stay will know those rules and there will be no disagreement on them. Then, all concerned can concentrate on getting improvement on the field. Good luck Hogs.
We need some to leave and they will - and I predict some will cause people to go “oh no” and will be a surprise. I say this because an insider on another board said some of the supposed leaders on this team - public leaders - have fooled folks and have been some of the biggest problems this new staff has had to deal with.
Jackson, I disagree with this. I believe you’re letting your hatred of Bret, get in your way of seeing clearly.
EIU - no rush because our line spent all game pass blocking, even on run plays. Bret didn’t teach them that, he even said he didn’t like to teach pass blocking because it was more difficult.
During the Colorado St game, players quit. You blame that on Bret, but after the CSU game I pointed out, when that happened with Bret, he called a timeout and addressed the team, and they responded. Morris didn’t call the timeout, or address the team, until the rest quit after N Texas. (I do agree I think Bret quit on the team during 2016)
The team quit on Morris again @ Starkville. Morris points fingers at two kids, who may have done it in pregame warmups, when they are allowed to sign autographs for fans and other things. But what those two kids did, pales in comparison to the effort our guys brought on Saturday, and that has nothing to do with Bret and everything to do with Chad
I think you let a coach run the program however he/she sees fit, especially when it comes to discipline.
Something we don’t know is what goes on behind the scenes in a situation like this. Were there disciplinary problems with either or both of the players beforehand? How did they react when confronted about the situation? Were there moments during the game when their focus was called into question?
Whether it’s this situation or Nate Dalton slapping a guy in the head, Morris has shown that he is not afraid to take action against conduct he deems unacceptable. I think that’s what you want in a leader.
Winning is the objective and when you are achieving that objective you’re going to overlook a lot of things that are wrong, especially of that nature…But when you’re losing and losing at the clip Arkansas is everyone who cares is looking to find reasons why… and Pulley’s and Curl’s deeds where magnified because of the losing. It was wrong either way in my eyes, win or lose, but in the public eye the sentiment is: you can’t ask the people to look the other way when you’re not giving the people what they asked for, and that’s winning
Matt, I disagree with behind the scenes, these kids put a lot of info in social media, it’s not hard to figure out where their heads are. That is something I gave Bielema credit for his first year, he would monitor the kids on social media and address it. Morris hasn’t don’t that, or if he has the kids are ignoring him, and just not these two.
This bunch of players has been weak for years, gagged for years, been the architects of historically bad collapses (biggest since the 70s) for years, lost several games that were seemingly in hand, etc
11-29 in SEC under Bielema… consistent losing.
This bunch learned to lose under Bielema. They have wrapped their big arms around losing and embraced it.
Bret recruited them, he “developed” them, he molded them to be just like him… undisciplined, big talking, underperforming, underachievers.
A major purge is about to happen and a significant roster flip will happen.
I start keeping score next year after Morris has a chance to coach a team comprised with almost half of his kids and thankfully a lot less of these kids that have embraced a culture of losing.
I’ll point out HDN, 1 meeting turned around the culture. Morris hasn’t had that meeting, yet. If he has, no one should be allowed to return next year, and that includes the coaching staff
