Saturday, June 07, 2014

Babers: "Toilet seat up or toilet seat down house"

So, out in Wyoming they hired Craig Bohl, the wildly successful coach at North Dakota State to coach the Cowboys.  The local paper, the Casper Star-Tribune decided to interview some other coaches make the transition from FCS to FBS.  They landed on Dino Babers, and I am sure they are glad they did.  This guy just has a different kind of mind.  We've already remarked on some of his stuff, including his love of the Matrix movies, the challenge of "knowing without knowing," etc.

In this interview, he says:

I told the guys when I came in, it’s kind of like the first three years of marriage. You’re trying to figure out if it’s going to be a toilet seat up or toilet seat down house
(Personal note:  I was unaware that there were any houses where women lived that were toilet seat up.  Perhaps that is just my experience).
The players and the athletes pick a different coaching staff for the same university, and then here comes this new coaching staff selected by the athletic director or the powers that be. You’re trying to make an arranged marriage work.
Beyond just the colorful metaphors, Babers has some interesting things to say.  I have written here before about the virtues of getting an FCS Coach--someone who is used to making do with less instead of someone who came from a larger program and is used to have a jet to fly in.  In the interview, (which you should check out in full) Babers says more or less the same thing.
Some people look at things and they talk about what they don’t have. Going from an FCS to a MAC situation, we’re giddy. We’re excited like little kids. We’re talking not about the things we don’t have, but everything we do have. If we were able to find wins against FBS opponents at the place we left, we surely should be able to find good enough student-athletes and prospects that we can find wins against FBS opponents at a MAC level. The facilities we have here at Bowling Green are exciting. They are first class facilities.
(I feel compelled to send a wink out from that last sentence to you Greg Christopher haters.)

One other interesting note.  He talks about us having an instant gratification society.  He knows that coaches are increasingly expected to win right away, and that might be tilting the game toward FCS coaches with head coaching experience and away from coordinators.  I think the same thing is in play with MAC Coaches getting higher-level jobs.

He also talks a lot about bringing his own staff to BG.  He wants to succeed right away, and the way to do that was with coaches he didn't have to teach.

Anyway, this is a special time for BG football.  Coming off the championship and then replacing Clawson with a guy who has the Babers charisma--it is heady.  Whether it is successful, that remains to be seen.  But it is a heady brew.

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