Culture Change
by John Berkowitz on Feb 18, 2009 9:34 AM PST
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PrintWe talked a little about culture change after Steve Sarkisian was hired. We talked about what Don James and Jim Owens did to take control of their teams. We spoke of Owens famous "Death March" and the "James Tower" above the practice field.
Two assistant coaches that are really going to help change the tone are Nick Holt and Dan Cozzetto.
I think the offensive line will be pivotal in determining any success the 2009 squad will be able to muster. I think we have the skill players to get by but the offense won't move unless we can rush the ball and protect the passer.
The consensus we heard on Cozzetto was that he was too hard on the kids the last time he was here. Those comments came from players and parents. He got in peoples faces like a Marine drill instructor. He called Stanley Daniels at 6:00 AM one morning and told him today would be the day he would quit football. Cozzetto is intense and Steve Emtman says his hire is worth two more victories next season.
Cozzetto only stayed one year at Washington and the OL improved a bit during his stay. It is just as tough to rate an OL coach after one year as it is a player. History does show that in a 29 year career spent coaching mostly for Dennis Erickson that the he is one of the best in the conference. Cozzetto is an unyielding task master that will work the current guys into the ground until they can get it right.
AAndy who writes Meanderings over on Dawgman had this comment earlier this month.
With all the goodwill extended to Sark & his excellent staff...How have returning players taken to the abrupt change?...For some...the new regime is not very comfortable at all...Then again Sark & Co. are looking for football players committed to winning...Wait until they raise the tempo another notch!
AAndy didn't know this at the time he wrote it but hiring Cozzetto is a huge change in tempo if you are an offensive lineman.
How about this one I picked up in the chat room over at Dawgman in the chat room a couple of weeks ago. Coaches showing emotion? What is that all about?
Apparently at a recent team meeting Sark blew up at the team as he was talking the kids were listening to their ipods and texting. F bombs were flying and Holt was banging his head against the wall. Apparently it went on for awhile and they were pissed.
Can you imagine Holt banging his head against the wall?
Sarkisian impresses me as a very smart guy that isn't going to take any crap. He is going to set the proper boundaries from the get go with his young team. Most will buy in at least part way and some won't as you will see when the spring roster is announced.
How about Holt pounding his head against the wall? You have to love that! Can you imagine Willingham pounding his head against the wall and dropping F-Bombs?
Changing the attitude on defense is a huge part of the recovery of this team. I think Holt will be able to fire these kids up and get a maximum effort out of them each week. I think we have the talent to play much better.
There needs to be a lot of urgency on everyone's part because the Huskies play LSU and USC in two of their first three games. Nobody in their right mind expects Washington to win these two games. What we do expect is to be competitive and make a game out of it.
Good football feeds on emotion. Good football and emotion were two things that have been missing for four years at Washington. The culture change that the coaching staff is bringing to the team will bring back emotion and great football to Washington.
It may not mean wins against LSU and USC next season but the Tigers and the Trojans will be sore the next day.
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We can only hope that F bombs are being dropped and kids are being held to a higher standard at ALL TIMES.
Texting and listening to ipods while an authority figure is talking is common practice amongst undergrads in class nowadays. But these players don’t have the luxury to waste a single minute of time outside of the classroom. It should be 100% football. No texting. No ipods. No facebook. This was a WINLESS team last year. Truly pathetic. A complete culture change, with screaming and heads/hands smashing walls is the only way are going to turn this around.
I like what I’m hearing.
Holt
I love Sark and Co and the intensity they bring to the table. These players better be hitting the weight room hard and training hard because practice will be a test. You should always practice harder than you play.
Team Meetings?
Was the culture there really so bad that the student-athletes thought nothing of listening to iPods and texting during a team meeting? That’s the biggest indictment of the Willingham era I’ve yet to hear. Allowing that to happen just shows that he really didn’t know how to instill a desire to win into his players. Of all the craziness I’ve heard from Jim Moore over the years, you can’t argue with the Paint-Dry Ty moniker.
Ditto
Any behavior by the coaches pales in my mind compared to the image of football players pulling that crap in a team meeting. I may be a dinosaur, but I can’t believe that that sort of thing would go on with the University of Washington Huskies. And I’m flabbergasted in trying to imagine that Willingham would have condoned that sort of thing. If a player can’t give of himself and concentrate on the matter at hand for an hour, he might as well turn in his scholarship. And if I were a coach, I’d point them to the AD office with my foot in their butt.
Very interesting stuff
We will keep reporting on culture change throughout the year.
by John Berkowitz on Feb 18, 2009 10:11 AM PST reply actions
My guess is that Willingham was clueless as to what the players were doing in the first place.
A young coach is savvy to what young people are in to. I mean, Sark has his own Twitter page. I’d be surprised if Willingham had his own laptop or home computer, let alone a blackberry that he uses to recruit, update his twitter, and keep his day in order (like Sark).
Sark has been described by many people who have known him over the years as “very smart” and a “quick learner”. This is EXACTLY what UW needs.
(Sort of) Beg to Differ
JB, you said that the program has been without emotion over the four years. I’d argue it goes a whole lot further than that. Try going as far back as the preparations for the 2002 Sun Bowl, when a bunch of Dawgs who thought they were better than they truly were lost to a 5th place(?) Big Ten Purdue squad, complete with Reggie Williams flexing for the Purdue players at the pre-game banquet. Follow that up with a lackluster 6-6 2003 season (lost 27-22 to a truly pathetic Arizona team, as well as crapping their pants 54-7 at Cal), and a 1-10 2004 season.
Remember, this Husky team was a bunch of 11 and 12 year olds when the 2002 Sun Bowl was played…for as long as they’ve known it, UW has been this way. Thank the football gods that Sark, Holt, and Cozzetto are here to shake things up…someone apparently has to!
by Purple Reign 91 on Feb 18, 2009 2:09 PM PST reply actions
You can make a case for that
You can make a case for that but whatever emotion was left went out of the program when Willingham was hired.
Focus definitely started going out in 2002.
by John Berkowitz on Feb 18, 2009 2:43 PM PST up reply actions
I joined, PR91, just because of....
your post.
As I read those earlier replies to Berkawitz’s F-bomb piece, I was thinking the same thing about the crew that Gilby inherited (and Bab’s worked so hard to undermine his position with).
As an outsider, it struck me that Gilby’s gang was not on the same page with him (either); and Gilby sure was a fire-breather, for all the good it did.
Furthermore, I remember Ty Willingham yanking the 5th yr. on scholarships for guys who had been on campus for four years, but who weren’t competing as hard as he had repeatedly warned them they needed to be.
Has everyone “forgotten” how “underhanded” y’all thought THAT was for Ty to do???
Interesting selective memory, IMO, regarding how “hard-nosed” coaching equals results by not coddling prima donas on their rosters !
Drake
It is Berkowitz.
Other than that I dig what you are saying.
by John Berkowitz on Feb 19, 2009 9:26 PM PST up reply actions
Ty's last game with Stanford
was a bowl game in Seattle against an inferior GaTech that had just lost its coach (ND) and its interium coach. Stanford showed no emotion until after the butt kicking, then the band played obnoxious loud music during the awards ceremony for their opponent. When the ceremony was over, the band packed up and left. No class, no disipline.
Culture Shock for our Litl' Darlings
Remembering boot camp and having a Marine Corps drill sargent screeming in my face at 3:00am is something I’ll never forget. Coach Sark and Holt are sending a strong message with this rant. Their has to be a sense of urgency and it begins right now.
Championship football doesnt start in week 1 and beyond. It starts right now. What you do during the offseason will determine how good you are during the season- this isn’t some new philosophy. Bear Bryant knew good and well that what you do during the seaosn will be from the hard work you put in during the offseason.
Sark and Holt have got to use this time as a boot camp. They’ve got to find out who the real football players are and weed out the fluf. Guys at USC would seriously run thru a battle zone for Pete Carroll. And the school of hard knocks is where you find these guys. Once you find them you can plug them into starting positions on the team. Win a few games and begin recruiting in that direction. But make no mistake Husky football players, the Country Club atmosphere has packed up and left. ENTER: Boot camp. And I can tell you this my little darlings- YOU MESS UP ONE TIME, drop the football, miss a block, drop a pass, or don’t carry out your assignment, AND COACH SARK OR COACH HOLT WILL PUT THEIR BOOT IN YOUR ASS!
Football is about preperation. Sometimes you win, sometimes you lose, but make no mistake YOU will be prepared.
Go Dawgs! WOOF!!!
All I saw was purple
Culture Change
I couldn’t agree with you more John, this team in 2009 will live and die with the O-line. They were horrific last year. If Cozzetto can get this group upgraded to a C+, I think they have enough offensive weapons to make a run at 6-6 or 7-5. I look forward to the return of days when opposing teams feared coming into our stadium. As crazidawg sez….GoDawgs!!
Another thing about ramping up the intensity now
Is that once it’s established, when the freshmen and JUCO guys come in they’ll see what’s expected of them, and they’ll do things the right way from the moment they walk onto campus. They won’t know anything else.
Intensity
That is great they are getting after the players. It will be good to weed out the ones that don’t have what it takes to compete at a PAC 10 level intensity. Everything going on is good right now, us alumni just need some patience…but I am excited to watch next season.
I actually think it is idiotic for the reasons that we shared over and over yesterday through the two blogs.
I just don’t buy that it isn’t a Coug vs Husky thing.
I think hard core groups of Cougar are against anything that could help Washington athletics.
I think they fail to realize that whatever could help Washington athletics would end up being reciprocal for WSU athletics over time.
by John Berkowitz on Feb 21, 2009 12:50 PM PST up reply actions
Question:
Who flipped the bill for WSU’s basketball arena? By all accounts I thought their old gym was still viable, that makes about as much sense as their argument in regards to an aging Husky Stadium.
Regardless of how the Cougs feel, Husky Stadium is a state owned building, and the rennovation project should be paid for by tax dollars. If they choose to ingore the rennovations of this great cathedral- it will become a lost asset. Who wins then Cougs? You don’t. My guess is Oregon and Oregon State will win- they are putting money into their colleigate athletic departments and infrastructures- it’s all about revenue and where both Oregon and Oregon State sit on the Willamette Valley map, they are selling out their stadiums. We (UofW & WSU) are not. In oder to win on the football field you have to invest into the programs. That sets up winning, and what does winning do? It brings in revenue- out of state revenue.
This isn’t about the UofW vs. WSU. Like John indicated both universities must work together in order to use state tax dollars for projects such as this. Both Oregon and Oregon State are thriving because they have invested. Washington and Washington State are sitting on the can because a partnership w/ legislation is nonexistent and the simple-minded Cougs don’t see how this could impact their facilities in the future. We all need to work together. The Oregon schools are kicking our butts not only on the playing fields, but also in the state legislature offices. Quit bickering and let’s work together!
All I saw was purple
Cozzetto
The team has been way to soft for way to long. It is about time we got some kick a.. coaches in here to lite a fire and kick some rear ends.
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