Nancy Clark Column

**CyForPresident** · 10-01-2006, 02:29 PM

Watch the replay Flynn was not reaching for the goal line he twisted around and came down on a UNI player trying to get the extra yard

I haven't seen the replay yet, but if that is the case then I can let that go. Can't fault a guy for trying to get an extra yard. But from my view it looked like he was reaching.

Still I can't understand the second Baum fumble. What the hell?

**PlymouthCy** · 10-01-2006, 10:39 PM

The fumbles and turnovers can't be hung on Mac. The team not being ready to play can be hung on him. With the size, and noise of the crowd, this team should have been fired up and ready to play. The team took a lax attitude into the game, which is the responsibility of the coaching staff. I'm not saying Mac is the total problem, but he needs to start blowing out the inferior teams, not letting them tag along to the final game.

**jdoggivjc** · 10-01-2006, 10:48 PM

Originally Posted by Skyh13

That's the thing, though. "If we can take better care of the ball"..."if we can eliminate the mistakes"... that isn't up to the fans to change. It's up the the coaches to do something about it. To properly prepare the players to perform consistently well on the field. If we were to lose to our Division I-AA neighbors, a huge red flag pops up as "why in the world did we just lose this game?" If our team really had nobody talented on it, well, then that's tough to deal with. But it does have talented players. And if a loss like that comes that never, ever should happen, then you have to look at what is going on behind the scenes and say something here is going wrong. That's where the stuff about the coach comes in.

Like I said in another thread, Baum isn't muffing punts in practice. Flynn's not fumbling on the goal line in practice. Meyer's not throwing pick-6s in practice. You can't diagnose problems in practice until they show up. It's something that has to be worked on after the fact. Now that it's after the fact, Mac had better stress it this week. We won't survive another game with those kind of mistakes.

However, I DO agree we need to turn to the next chapter or go back to the previous chapter in the playbook. I'd like some excitement. I'd like to see Blythe take on the Lane Danielson legacy by taking the receiver pitch reverse 80 yards to the house. We haven't run that play in years. It was successfuly 9 out of the10 times we ran it, and it's like Mac completely forgot about it after one defense figured outhowto defend it. I'd like to be torching Nebraska's secondary, forcing Nebraska to abandon the 8-in-the-box strategy and then tear their gut out with the running game and underneath passes when they finally do. I'd like to see the secondary play a stickier coverage - 5 yards or less padding. I'd like to see some new blitz packages thatactually get to the quarterback. THAT is where teh coaching really can impress us this week. Show us something new and/or something wehaven't seen in a coupleof years.

**arganbright2** · 10-02-2006, 12:40 AM

I hate to even ask this question because its totally off base but who would be contenders to replace McCarney anyways??? I would hate to come into a program that has expectations to go to the next level and a trigger happy AD that would fire his secretary if his coffee isn't hot enough. Just a thought but the way Pollard gets after things, I think he could take Iowa State to a New Year's bowl as the head coach and it didn't hurt that he was mentored by Barry Alvarez. Yeah I know he doesn't coach but he doesn't put up with imperfection.

**cyclonedcm** · 10-02-2006, 05:58 AM

Cotton is fine... and everyone will feel better when the Clones rule on Saturday

**cycloneworld** · 10-02-2006, 08:15 AM

Originally Posted by bld1942

Why not call a time out when the other teams offense is chewing up yards and try and slow their momentum plus light a fire under the defense and maybe make and adustment?? To me that falls under coaching.
Just one mans opinion.

We need to keep those timeouts for the ends of the half...especially with the new clock rules. How about some senior leadership (DJac, Curvey) calling these new guys out and challenging them to make a play? Maybe they are already doing that...

**bos** · 10-02-2006, 08:28 AM

I agree with most of the posts. But i have to bring up two fumbles by baum and one by flynn. That kind of stuff cant be coached.

**iccyfan** · 10-02-2006, 09:04 AM

<"They outcoached us, out-played us, and they were more physical than us in the first half," McCarney said.>

McCarney quote from the Randy Peterson article in the Sunday Register.

For all those wondering who ISU could get as a better coach, all you have to do is look to the northeast. By Mac's own admission, he got outcoached by Farley, a guy who's won conference championships and gone to National Title Games!

In another thread, somebody actually suggested Gary Barnett as a possible coach for the Cyclones should Mac stumble this season. NO WAY! Pollard would not go out and get a big name retread, especially not one with a dirty history! You'd go out and get a coach from a D1AA program (like OSU did when they hired Tressel from Youngstown State) or an assistant from a successful D1A (like Rutgers did with Schiano from Miami). I'm not saying Mac's a goner, but those who think we couldn't get a better coach for the $1.1M we're paying Mac are mistaken!

**avery_larry** · 10-03-2006, 12:59 PM

Originally Posted by Balls

Skyh13. Great post. Nice to see that others understand that coaches are responsible for their players actions on the field. Mistakes, penalities, and poor execution can be minimized by good coaching.

Key word: minimized. If you look at the season as a whole so far, I challenge you to find something consistent that we've done where coaching would be considered seriously lacking. I'll give you 2:

A) Poor tackling. The coaches know it, talk about it, and beat it into the players' heads. It still happens. Whose fault is that?
2) Bret seems to give away his intentions when passing. I don't know much about this, but I've heard that the defense can predict his throws at times.

But look at the UNI game. The interception was possibly because the coaches haven't yet broken Bret of his predictability . . ? The fumble by Flynn--when's the last time Flynn did ANYTHING bad? When he was QB 2 years ago? Now our coaches have to be prognosticators as well. How 'bout Baum? Deserving of special teams captain. Does he have a history of trouble that needs to be coached? Not to mention--back to back fumbles!