Remember the bone head penalties, turnovers and missed assignments that plagued our football team the last several years? Remember the overall lack of discipline? No reply required, I know we all do. My gut feeling is that this coming season, those things will still be just memories, because they will not be a regular occurrence any more. ( Don't confuse bone head penalties with penalties of aggression. Bronco's teams are taught to play hard and physical, "just within the rules, not dirty", and he understands that playing aggressively close to the line means more chance of crossing it. Penalties of aggression can be tolerated, dumb ones cannot. BYU has been heavily penalized the last few years)
Consider the new culture of "Earned, Not Given" that Bronco is building and how the team is responding:
1) As of Monday only 80% of the team has met the conditioning requirements to start spring practice next Monday. Bronco says no one will practice until they meet the requirements. Something tells me, if you haven't met those requirements and have to start practicing late, there is a special feature on the dog house you enter: a door that is really hard to open.
2)If you are going to an open practice this year, don't expect to identify players very easily. They have not been issued numbers yet. No, not jerseys with numbers, but all numbers are unassigned. Matt Johns must earn his 15. Smoke? Number 4 is up for grabs. Competition will determine the sequential order in which players will get to choose their number. Based on the body of work put together during this past winter workouts, spring practice, the summer and fall camp, the players will earn the right to choose their number first. The team will vote and the guy with the most votes gets to pick any number he wants. Second will pick and so on. A lot of work will go into earning the right to get the number a kid wants.
3) Coach is very pleasantly surprised he has not had to close the locker room down yet. It has to be perfect, absolutely nothing on the floor, each piece of equipment must be hanging on the appropriate hanger and shoes have to be at perfect 90 degree angles!!! If not, he will close the locker room, players have to take their gear home and must wash it themselves and will not have lockers. He says they have cared for the facilities at a really high level, I guess higher than he expected.
The accountability and discipline he is bringing can only make us better, and I think we may be really surprised at how much improved we are year one. One thing for sure, these guys know what to expect, realize that nothing is given in the real world and hard work will precede, not just success, but the chance to be successful.
Guess I could have just linked this.
http://www.newsadvance.com/sports/c...cle_d88aad42-a1c5-51b8-a438-debc096db748.html
Consider the new culture of "Earned, Not Given" that Bronco is building and how the team is responding:
1) As of Monday only 80% of the team has met the conditioning requirements to start spring practice next Monday. Bronco says no one will practice until they meet the requirements. Something tells me, if you haven't met those requirements and have to start practicing late, there is a special feature on the dog house you enter: a door that is really hard to open.
2)If you are going to an open practice this year, don't expect to identify players very easily. They have not been issued numbers yet. No, not jerseys with numbers, but all numbers are unassigned. Matt Johns must earn his 15. Smoke? Number 4 is up for grabs. Competition will determine the sequential order in which players will get to choose their number. Based on the body of work put together during this past winter workouts, spring practice, the summer and fall camp, the players will earn the right to choose their number first. The team will vote and the guy with the most votes gets to pick any number he wants. Second will pick and so on. A lot of work will go into earning the right to get the number a kid wants.
3) Coach is very pleasantly surprised he has not had to close the locker room down yet. It has to be perfect, absolutely nothing on the floor, each piece of equipment must be hanging on the appropriate hanger and shoes have to be at perfect 90 degree angles!!! If not, he will close the locker room, players have to take their gear home and must wash it themselves and will not have lockers. He says they have cared for the facilities at a really high level, I guess higher than he expected.
The accountability and discipline he is bringing can only make us better, and I think we may be really surprised at how much improved we are year one. One thing for sure, these guys know what to expect, realize that nothing is given in the real world and hard work will precede, not just success, but the chance to be successful.
Guess I could have just linked this.
http://www.newsadvance.com/sports/c...cle_d88aad42-a1c5-51b8-a438-debc096db748.html
