N.C. A&T Approves Athletics Policy

[truthseeker]

Dec 28, 2008 0:33:43 GMT -5 hollywoodswagga said:

Because with this last coaching staff they did not establish a competitive environment and did not teach the players how to win. Again that starts at the top with the coaches. You can not rely on freshman to know how to win at this level on any level of football. You can have the best recruiting class and if you are not taught proper techniques you will fall short of expectations every year. Why has the University of Notre Dame struggled the past few years? Is it the players? Or are the players not being taught how to win? Maybe because as soon as they set foot on campus they were given starting jobs without earning them?(That also was the case here) Because on paper they have one of the best recruiting classes the past few years. Now I understand we do not have the budget as some of the major Universities but if you are going to tell me that Northern Iowa, Wofford, James Madison, Montana and Elon have more athletes then what we have here at N.C. A&T then you are sadly mistaken and can appreciate the talent we have here. And in my humble opinion this is the problem with some of our coaches now "Its not us its yall" these coaches need to take a look in the mirror and reevaluate themselves. I know some might feel that are the worlds best coach and part of the best coaching staff however there are many flaws with football teams at HBCU's which is not ALL ON THE STUDENT ATHLETES. Do your JOB and coach without excuses because excuses are tools of incompetence. Teach players proper techniques and fundamentals, establish a competitive environment, and show how to win. "Football is not chess, its checkers."

it doesn't always boil down to money... but the n.iowas & james madisons of the world are given the resources to finish at the top...

even though fobbs was paid like a coach from a top program... his budget was still for 7th place...

so... no it doesn't always boil down to money... just that if you spend for the top... it gives your coach a fair chance to finish near the top...

[jaffejoffa]

Boy oh Boy oh Boy ... If in 2006 when you came in you only had 3 seniors, why didnt you play them . ANd why were so many decent players kicked off the team before your inaguaral season ? I may not be the smartest cookie on the shelf, but I know that you play talent and dont cater to politics and alterior motives, especially when youre trying to build a winning program. THis job wasnt a proving ground situation, and obviously those brought in paid for it with a dispicable blemish on their record. Tell me one coach on our initial roster who was even qualified on paper to come in and coach at A&T ? Lavigne ?

And as you can seee, the D1 transfers that transfer down are generally not that much superior when compared with the players that we already have. The difference is superior coaching, technique and being taught by people who truly understand the game..

[wart]

I'm back and may I say, The more you're away the more things stay the same. How can anyone be proud of being hired quickly after A&T, with Two (0-11) seasons and a (3-8)? I suppose it shows that there is a place for everyone. Fobbs was so insecure he let Lavigne, 'Ski', Wilson(his best recruiter), and the HS coach he retained and never let recruit go!! 205, some of what you say makes incredible sense but sometimes you' re speaking straight from your rear end. Please tell me how failure is a benefit?

[wart]

Also, AFC, how true it was that the players returning were always down graded and put in a situation of complete hopelessness. From day one of the Fobbs era, most players here were never going to be good enough to be accepted and allowed to improve. Unless you were liked immediately by the then new staff, you were on the way out. The in fighting and back stabbing among the players ansd staff had to be obvious to everyone.

[jaffejoffa]

PREACH !!

[wart]

205, I'm not into bashing a staff or degrading anyone. My point was the whole siuation with Fobbs never made any sense to me. He had experienced coaches and youthful coaches and after one year most of the experienced coaches were gone. I would enjoy you inlighting us on what really went on behind the seens. In my "opinion" there was some jealousy and self serving loyalty among the staff and the players aren't stupid and they picked up on it . It's fine to disagree but when you leave the room, you leave your EGO inside and you all work for the same result. I witnessed to much self satisfaction in others failures. Congrats on getting Ferguson over 1000 yds. But how many sacks did you give up in your 3 yrs. Football is a team game and with you patting yourself on the back my above statement is only made that much more true. Still I do hope you success in your future coaching, just remember your misgivings and don't do it again.

[aggiejazz]

At this point it is not useful to continue blaming or blasting the last staff like this. I don't think no one took the job to sabotage this program. Things happen, issues weren't resolved and now Battle's administration is trying to get a fresh start, albeit late again.

When a group of us first met the last coaching staff in the summer of 2006, I told Fobbs that I am telling everyone to be patient, it is going to take awhile to get back to winning. Fobbs didn't quite agree. I will say it again, to all who reads this, it is going to take awhile, so relax and let this new staff do their job to the best of their ability. Panicking only make matters worse.

[Maxell]

Dec 28, 2008 23:18:54 GMT -5 coach205 said:

You know Wart I hope I never experience anything like this again. This has been the worse 3 years of my life. Hell I hope noone experience anything like this. Because you are right I've never been apart of so much back stabbing, lying, lazy, finger pointing, and a lot of other stuff I will not say. Half the stuff we went through yall don't have a clue. So yeah to have a job to continue to support my family after this shyt I'm overjoyed.

So Wart have fun bashing the next staff and telling them what they should do. I hope A&T soon is back to it's winning ways. Sorry I couldn't do more to help! I know this we got Ferg 1100 yards in 7 games in 2007. So I got something to hang my hat on.

Listen, we appreciate what you tried to accomplish. The HEAD COACH is the one responsible for creating the right environment to coach in and if that wasn't done then it's not your fault. It sounds like a pretty bad experience.

The crazy thing is that at the end of year two it looked like the thing had some potential to turn the corner but then for whatever reason this year the offense just shut down after the the first few games. We just couldn't score any points. Again, thanks for sharing coach.

[hollywoodswagga]

I agree with Maxell last statement and that was the point I wanted to get across. I know coach you were consider one of the good guys on the staff. I know decisions were made that whole coaching did not agree with. I know hands were tied tight because there is only one chief. I know you are not the one to answer these questions, but I guess some of us would like to know why some decisions were made. Like I stated earlier you were not the head coach however, you were on a staff that dismissed players who played in previous yrs, you were on staff that tried to take scholarships from the remaining seniors, you were on a staff which said they were going to out coach every team in the MEAC so you did not need the upperclassmen that you were going to start with the incoming freshmen, you were on a staff that fired the s&c coach during the spring and did not replace him until the last three weeks of the season, you were on a staff that kicked off the team captain(5th yr sr) a day before senior day, and you were on the staff that then did not allow the 5th year seniors to participate at their own pro day but jr day and to add insult to injury told the scouts they had no talent. So if you do not know were it wrong at look back to the first yr to see the same mistakes that happen continued to take place the next two years.

A lot of those freshman that year at first the loved the fact that they were able to play right away. However, they also wanted to know why some players were not giving the opportunity to play and would have taken a red shirt b/c they knew at the time they were not ready to play. (And no you did not have to play some players but had to because players were kicked off after the spring).

Finally, to touch back on why “hasn't any HBCU beat a white university in the playoff?” That question is easy to answer.
1. Grambling had some excellent teams but play in their conference championship game.
2. Fundamentals and Techniques why these two and not schemes and talent well
2003 NC A&T had three players to make it to NFL playing that yr had a few D 1-A transfers yet still lost to a out coached un athletic Wofford team
2006 Hampton University had 9 NFL prospects and I am not sure how many actually made a NFL roster yet lost in the first round to William & Mary.
2008 A loaded SC State team and if you watched the game had more athletes than App State lost which they could have easily won. Also a very young App State team that will only lose I believe 9 or 10 seniors for the next year.

[DOOMS]

Slight correction: SC State shut Furman out in the playoffs back in 1982 or so. Furman increased their budget due to embarassment, SC State decreased theirs because they were satisfied, the rest is history.

FAMU beat Troy State two years in a row and beat App State in 1999. They had about 200 NCAA violations stemming from those teams. Some want to blame the coach but the real culprit was the (lack of a) compliance office.

Albany State has beaten several pwcs in the d-2 playoffs. I think Fort Valley's done it before too.

No SWAC team would ever win a playoff. game. Grambling went once somehow and lost like 59-56 to some team. When you spend all year playing underfunded, overmatched teams you will play like an underfunded, overmatched team, unless you are beating them by 50 points a game.

[wart]

How do you correct the problem? We all seem to be able to identify problems, but I do not see anyone with solutions. Someone wrote about excuses and that's all I'm hearing. Maybe it's time to put our money whrer our mouths are and try to fix this situation. By the way Holly, all the coaches have a say in who gets their scholarship taken, who gets released, and who is allowed to try out or not. The head man does have the final say but the assistants have tremendous imput.

[Maxell]

Dec 29, 2008 10:59:38 GMT -5 wart said:

How do you correct the problem? We all seem to be able to identify problems, but I do not see anyone with solutions.

I think in today's environment, you attract the best coaches if you have a good operating budget and the best players with superior facilities. So for football we need to essentially double the budget. that means an additional $2.1 million to be competitive in FCS.

1) Hire a proven coach - this puts an above .500 product on the field immediately. Revenue Gain $200,000 A winning coach pays for himself.

2) Develop a 3-yr plan to increase attendance to average 20,000 a game. Revenue Gain $400,000
Implementing #1 will get attendance back to 14,000 level or so. . Homecoming and the WSSU or NCCU home games will be over 20,000. An aggressive marketing campaign must be developed for 3-4 remaining home games doing things like:
a)We will have one cold weather home game each year in mid/late November. I would move the NCCU game to rivalry week at the end of the season to open up the warm weather slot to a team that may not draw as well as NCCU.
b) Hampton/Norfolk home game - capitalize on the band rivalries by co-marketing the Band Brawl for Norfolk and planning an extended 5th quarter for Hampton and marketing that as well
c) Elon/App St/Big South - Re-establish the home and home with Elon. In addition, institutionalize a home and home with App St or a Big South team like Coastal. Creatively market it as our home game against a PWC each year.

3) The Aggie Club, the Victory Club and the Athletic Dept should jointly create a monthly automatic deduction campaign to get 5,000 supporters to contribute as little as $10-$50 per month automatically each month from their credit card/bank account. Primary method: Direct solicitation at Media Day, Homecoming and at the Four Seasons Hotel ("Mr. Jones while we're making your reservation, we can also conveniently arrange for you to easily support Aggie Athletics each month..."). Secondary methods: The internet; Direct mail just prior to homecoming. Target average $20. Revenue Gain $1,200,000

4) Increase student fees $15 per semester for five years. At the end of five years fees would be reduced. In five years the program would be able to produce the difference. Sell the benefits to the Student Government Assn. Revenue Gain: $300,000

As aways Plan B: drop to DII