Cowboy76
06-16-2009, 01:15 PM
I drove all the way to Enid just to hear what he had to say. I had never met the man before last night. He is not a dynamic speaker. He is all business. He is not afraid to speak his mind. As cactus said in an earlier post, he thought we would have a great defense. He did not say good, or better, he said great. He did qualify that by saying that we would be facing some great offenses and QB's but he expected our kids to meet the challenge.
Similar to Travis Ford's talk, he said the main difficulty in getting these kids to play at a higher level was mental, not physical. They have been a poor defense for so long that they have started to accept it. And because our offense is so prolific, anything they do is overshadowed. Not any more. He did say(as many have already heard) that our defense has more talent than the Kansas team he was coaching a few years ago that went to the Orange Bowl.
Individually, when ask about Richetti, he thought he had a great future but he was playing behind one of the top 4 or 5 DE's in the country. He thinks Ugo will play on Sundays. He thinks Burton will have a great year. One of his very subtle but very telling comments was that there was a lot of competition at every position and that the second stringers KNOW they are going to get lot's of snaps and that will keep every body fresh. He said we would be the stronger team in the fourth quarter.
You all will like this statement. It brought a good laugh and a round of applause. He said that he expected teams on our schedule to be looking forward to the team they would be playing the following week because they were going to take a butt whipping the week they played us.
Now back to my opening statement. Most coaches that just made the comments I posted would have the crowd on their feet and the hair standing on the back of your neck but Bill Young said it all in such a monotone, business like way that you couls almost go to sleep listening to him but you could tell he believes every word.
I talked to Robert Matthews in person after the meeting. he said Bill has just taken over the defense. He is so confident in what he does(and he should be with that many years of being successful) that the kids just naturally elevate their play. He said he seldom raises his voice in practice but usually talks to th kids in the same way he talked to the audience last night. Folks, I knew we had a good one but I am not only impressed, I am now convinced. We will see a good defense on the field this fall. We have all talked about what a great team we could have if we could just field a top 50 defense. Bill did not make a prediction on where we would finish defensively(he probably did not want to put a limitation on it) but I have to think we will be in the top 3 or 4 in the conference.
Tonight I am going to go hear what Joe Wickline has to say.
Similar to Travis Ford's talk, he said the main difficulty in getting these kids to play at a higher level was mental, not physical. They have been a poor defense for so long that they have started to accept it. And because our offense is so prolific, anything they do is overshadowed. Not any more. He did say(as many have already heard) that our defense has more talent than the Kansas team he was coaching a few years ago that went to the Orange Bowl.
Individually, when ask about Richetti, he thought he had a great future but he was playing behind one of the top 4 or 5 DE's in the country. He thinks Ugo will play on Sundays. He thinks Burton will have a great year. One of his very subtle but very telling comments was that there was a lot of competition at every position and that the second stringers KNOW they are going to get lot's of snaps and that will keep every body fresh. He said we would be the stronger team in the fourth quarter.
You all will like this statement. It brought a good laugh and a round of applause. He said that he expected teams on our schedule to be looking forward to the team they would be playing the following week because they were going to take a butt whipping the week they played us.
Now back to my opening statement. Most coaches that just made the comments I posted would have the crowd on their feet and the hair standing on the back of your neck but Bill Young said it all in such a monotone, business like way that you couls almost go to sleep listening to him but you could tell he believes every word.
I talked to Robert Matthews in person after the meeting. he said Bill has just taken over the defense. He is so confident in what he does(and he should be with that many years of being successful) that the kids just naturally elevate their play. He said he seldom raises his voice in practice but usually talks to th kids in the same way he talked to the audience last night. Folks, I knew we had a good one but I am not only impressed, I am now convinced. We will see a good defense on the field this fall. We have all talked about what a great team we could have if we could just field a top 50 defense. Bill did not make a prediction on where we would finish defensively(he probably did not want to put a limitation on it) but I have to think we will be in the top 3 or 4 in the conference.
Tonight I am going to go hear what Joe Wickline has to say.