Urban Meyer gave a brilliant two-minute coaching class during a segment on FOX while discussing several of the elite college football programs that are struggling in 2020.
Penn State dropped to 0-4 with a loss to Nebraska on Saturday, defending national champion LSU is 2-3 in the SEC, and Michigan is in danger of starting 1-3 after falling behind early to Wisconsin at home. Unsurprisingly, fans have been dunking on coaches James Franklin and Jim Harbaugh all season long.
According to Meyer, though, those rough starts to the year aren’t the result of bad coaching, or because the teams have “bad players” compared to glorious years past. There are more complex issues in Ann Arbor and Happy Valley.
Must listen from Urban Meyer pic.twitter.com/1OmNFfv0DB
— Geoff Schwartz (@geoffschwartz) November 14, 2020
“So many of us are excuse makers. That’s part of who we are, and it shouldn’t be that way. When you see a team struggle, the first thing the fans and the media blame are the players, or they blame the coaches…. Now maybe they’re not coaching well, or maybe the players are not playing well, but that’s why I always say ‘lift under the hood.’ Never make excuses.
When I was a coach, I would never let one of my coaches say ‘he’s a bad player.’ I’d warn them, ‘say that again and you’ll probably have to leave,’ because you’re making excuses. Dig deep and find out why.”
Meyer says that in his experience, a struggling team is generally suffering from trust issues, a dysfunctional environment, and/or selfishness.
“When you hear LSU, Penn State, the Wolverines are struggling, stop with the ‘bad players.’ I get sick of hearing that. It’s not the players. I don’t think it’s the coaches. But there’s something wrong. Lift the hood and find out.”
[vertical-gallery id=959280]