Sentinel on Dino Babers, Film Buff

The contrast is interesting to me.  With Dave Clawson, we had the most buttoned-down, normal personally conservative coach in college football.

With Dino Babers, we have something very different.  He is brash.  First thing he tells the players is to "loosen up a little bit."  Talk about "leaving the cake in the oven a little longer."

Everybody has their style.  It is just different.

The Sentinel was back last week with an interesting story on Babers.  Here is a quote that illustrates how Babers is a different kind of guy:

You guys are just going to see the colors, you are not going to see the lines in the Matrix.

OK, then.  The thrust of the story is that Babers is a movie buff.  He selects films for the team to watch on the bus rides and then he quizzes the team about the relevance of the film to the upcoming game.  Which is an interesting way to engage your team.

This isn't terribly new.  Woody Hayes used to take his team to a movie on Friday night before road games and considered the choice of the movie an important part of his strategy.  He wanted something manly, not sappy.

A couple football things.  Coach says that he does not expect to have his offense fully up and running until the middle of 2015.  He says we will be all "giddy" but it won't really be the way he wants it until the middle of the second season.

Do not despair, however.  This is not a guy who is writing a year off.  Remember, first, that he won his conference at EIU his first year, and the team he took over had been in last place.  Second, he talks about meshing what BG did well and what he has done well, not throwing everything out:

It doesn’t mean we are going to do it the old BGSU way, and it doesn’t mean we’re going to do it the old place I came from way.  There are obviously some things that were good here, and there were obviously some things we did good at the other place. What we want to do is mesh it together, and come out with a composite that is stronger than both of the other ways.

Anyway, he is an interesting guy in the best sense of the word, and I'm looking forward to seeing BG what meshes as BG defends the MAC Title.