Post by elp525 on Oct 7, 2011 4:51:17 GMT -5
October 6, 2011
By Dave Hickman
The Charleston Gazette
MORGANTOWN -- Motivation can be a tricky thing sometimes. And as Dana Holgorsen makes his way through his first season as a college football head coach, he's finding that out.
Oh, it's not as if the West Virginia coach never had to address the issue before. He's been in charge of offenses at his various stops along the college coaching trail for six years now. And there were times when he had to motivate those groups.
It's a bit different, though, trying to get into the heads of 125 players at once. It can be a snap one week when LSU is in town and 62,000 are in the stands. It's not nearly as automatic a week later if the opponent is Bowling Green and the stadium is more like a morgue.
That's one of the reasons Holgorsen tries to treat every game exactly the same from a practice and preparation standpoint. Don't let 'em see the fear -- or the boredom -- in your eyes.
As West Virginia begins Big East Conference play Saturday at noon with a home game against Connecticut, however, there are added concerns. Like complacency.
Think about it. The Mountaineers are the only team in the Big East ranked among the Top 25 in the country. With an offense that appears to be headed toward breaking school records left and right, West Virginia is about to embark on four games over the next five weeks against what appear to be the four weakest links in the Big East -- UConn, Syracuse, Rutgers and Louisville.
Not until the final three weekends of the season -- when Cincinnati, Pitt and South Florida show up on the schedule -- will the Mountaineers be anything but overwhelming favorites.
So that's a month of trying to get players motivated each week.
"I'm not too worried. That's why we pay coaches to keep the team motivated,'' Holgorsen said this week. "That's our job and we'll handle that. Our job is to be the same every week and continue to improve.
"(Last week) we had to jump-start them earlier in the week just because of the emotional week we had before and coming off a loss. And the thing I was proud of more than anything else was that throughout the week they got more excited to play as the game got closer.''
Truth be told, for the next two games motivation should be made a bit easier thanks to history. In UConn and Syracuse, the Mountaineers face the two teams that beat West Virginia a year ago and kept them out of a BCS bowl.
WVU was favored to win both games. The Mountaineers, in fact, should have won both games, and would have but for enough turnovers (seven) to last a month.
"Without having to use a bunch of motivational tactics this week, our guys realize that the game last year against UConn didn't end up the way that they wanted it to,'' Holgorsen said. "I spent two hours on Sunday watching that game and how it went last year. It was a tight game; turnovers were the difference.
"They've got a whole bunch of people coming back that were in that game and were able to go on to a BCS game. Our guys wanted that to happen to them last year and it didn't, so I think that's going to provide a little motivation for us to get in a good week of work.''
When it comes to motivation and preparation, though, there is another point to consider. West Virginia's football season stretches over three months, from early September to early December. After that is at least another few weeks to a month before a bowl game.
In other words, there is something to be said for maintaining an even keel, not only from a motivational standpoint, but from one of improvement, as well.
"Just get better,'' Holgorsen said. "We don't want to hit our peak right now. In order to win a championship you have to get better every week. So you take the stuff you did well and build on it. It can be the same things from game to game, but you take what happened yesterday and try to build on it and change it and then refocus on the task at hand, which is Connecticut.''
By Dave Hickman
The Charleston Gazette
MORGANTOWN -- Motivation can be a tricky thing sometimes. And as Dana Holgorsen makes his way through his first season as a college football head coach, he's finding that out.
Oh, it's not as if the West Virginia coach never had to address the issue before. He's been in charge of offenses at his various stops along the college coaching trail for six years now. And there were times when he had to motivate those groups.
It's a bit different, though, trying to get into the heads of 125 players at once. It can be a snap one week when LSU is in town and 62,000 are in the stands. It's not nearly as automatic a week later if the opponent is Bowling Green and the stadium is more like a morgue.
That's one of the reasons Holgorsen tries to treat every game exactly the same from a practice and preparation standpoint. Don't let 'em see the fear -- or the boredom -- in your eyes.
As West Virginia begins Big East Conference play Saturday at noon with a home game against Connecticut, however, there are added concerns. Like complacency.
Think about it. The Mountaineers are the only team in the Big East ranked among the Top 25 in the country. With an offense that appears to be headed toward breaking school records left and right, West Virginia is about to embark on four games over the next five weeks against what appear to be the four weakest links in the Big East -- UConn, Syracuse, Rutgers and Louisville.
Not until the final three weekends of the season -- when Cincinnati, Pitt and South Florida show up on the schedule -- will the Mountaineers be anything but overwhelming favorites.
So that's a month of trying to get players motivated each week.
"I'm not too worried. That's why we pay coaches to keep the team motivated,'' Holgorsen said this week. "That's our job and we'll handle that. Our job is to be the same every week and continue to improve.
"(Last week) we had to jump-start them earlier in the week just because of the emotional week we had before and coming off a loss. And the thing I was proud of more than anything else was that throughout the week they got more excited to play as the game got closer.''
Truth be told, for the next two games motivation should be made a bit easier thanks to history. In UConn and Syracuse, the Mountaineers face the two teams that beat West Virginia a year ago and kept them out of a BCS bowl.
WVU was favored to win both games. The Mountaineers, in fact, should have won both games, and would have but for enough turnovers (seven) to last a month.
"Without having to use a bunch of motivational tactics this week, our guys realize that the game last year against UConn didn't end up the way that they wanted it to,'' Holgorsen said. "I spent two hours on Sunday watching that game and how it went last year. It was a tight game; turnovers were the difference.
"They've got a whole bunch of people coming back that were in that game and were able to go on to a BCS game. Our guys wanted that to happen to them last year and it didn't, so I think that's going to provide a little motivation for us to get in a good week of work.''
When it comes to motivation and preparation, though, there is another point to consider. West Virginia's football season stretches over three months, from early September to early December. After that is at least another few weeks to a month before a bowl game.
In other words, there is something to be said for maintaining an even keel, not only from a motivational standpoint, but from one of improvement, as well.
"Just get better,'' Holgorsen said. "We don't want to hit our peak right now. In order to win a championship you have to get better every week. So you take the stuff you did well and build on it. It can be the same things from game to game, but you take what happened yesterday and try to build on it and change it and then refocus on the task at hand, which is Connecticut.''
