Quick Hale Interview with Coale

[atlantasooner]

Won't cut and paste.
Suffice it to say the seniors from last year, tossed under a bus flying at Mach 1.

 

[SoonerNorm]

Won't cut and paste.
Suffice it to say the seniors from last year, tossed under a bus flying at Mach 1.

That's pathetic. The coaches were driving the bus.

 

[SoonerSpock]

http://oklahoma.247sports.com/Article/Oklahoma-Sooners-fell-short-of-goals-29912517

 

[j2d2]

She said that the team underachieved and that the seniors didnt exhibit the passionate leadership needed to succeed. All too true to to deny, but not quite throwing people under the bus. Old attorney adage,"Always admit what you cannot deny".

 

[atlantasooner]

j2d2,
to me that comment has track marks all over it.

 

[SoonerNorm]

To me, the appropriate comment would have been, "We as coaches didn't do a very good job of coaching this team and we are already working hard and making plans to make sure we have a great year beginning this fall."

 

[MsProudSooner]

To me, the appropriate comment would have been, "We as coaches didn't do a very good job of coaching this team and we are already working hard and making plans to make sure we have a great year beginning this fall."

Sometimes that's true. Sometimes it's not. But it's ultimately 'coach speak' and everyone knows that. I usually don't have a problem with a coach, any coach, calling it like it is - with the exception of Mack Brown's constant alibis. We've often commented on the exceptional senior leadership we've had over the years. It was painfully obvious that we didn't have that last year.

 

[Mac]

OU has "underachieved" a few times in the past 18 years... 05-06 comes to mind immediately.

 

[sybarite]

I think that everyone on this board and in the media has made the same statements. The only difference is that some people just flat want Sherri to be at fault. I guess that she ultimately is, but she is also the reason that we have a program that has expectations. The fact is that Sherri's teams tend to overachieve. Last year, they didn't. As much as we wanted Aaryn, Morgan, and Nicole to take the lead, they just didn't. We were pitiful at crunch time, and that is usually one of our strengths. What was the difference?

It is interesting that the team fell so far with the loss of really only one person, Jo. With Jo, we had the leadership to perform better than expected. Without Jo, we performed less than expected. You step back and look at Jo, and it just isn't obvious. What did she do that was so critical? She was there at crunch time with a key rebound or putback. She came to play when the pressure was on.

We lost three pretty good seniors who had started three and four years each. Yet, somehow, I wouldn't be at all surprised if we weren't a tougher team. Will someone emerge to take the role of Jo?

 

[SoonerNorm]

Sometimes that's true. Sometimes it's not. But it's ultimately 'coach speak' and everyone knows that. I usually don't have a problem with a coach, any coach, calling it like it is - with the exception of Mack Brown's constant alibis. We've often commented on the exceptional senior leadership we've had over the years. It was painfully obvious that we didn't have that last year.

The coaches should take responsibility for last year. After-all, they recruited who they wanted, they ran the practices, implemented the game plans, and they played who they wanted. If someone wasn't doing what the coaches wanted them to do, they should not have been on the court. I find it pretty weak when coaches take the approach to blame the players while taking no responsibility themselves.

 

[sybarite]

i.e., you want it all to be Sherri's fault.

 

[soonerstar]

Nowhere in that article does Coale take any responsibility for last years record. It is a lot more classy to take the high road and not blame your players, especially 3 veteran seniors.

 

[sdcloud9]

Players are ultimately responsible for what happens on the court, but coaches have the responsibility of pushing the right buttons and placing players in a position to succeed.

If coaches want to be honest, I'm all for it but they have to be honest about their own performance on the sideline and last year was pretty lacking.

 

[SoonerTraveler]

Reading that article, I thought Coach Coale was being truthful, i.e., she was stating what she thought and believed.

Maybe it is more "politically correct" for the coach to take the blame upon herself, but somehow I find her truthful response about her own feelings to be more revealing. I am so worn out by PC-BS.

The fact that some of us disagree with the coach's opinion is another matter.

 

[sybarite]

The reaction to that article is somewhat predictable. Those who have been critical of Sherri regard it as Sherri throwing her seniors under the bus. Those who are more supportive of Sherri see it as a rather accurate statement that we have all made. I find the remark that implies a lack of class to be a little under the top.

It is true that the coach does recruit, train, and prepare the players. Then, you kind of have to look at the overall performance. When the history of a program tends to suggest overperformance, when it does underperform, why? OU has had a history of peaking at tournament time, and we tend to get further than we thought we would. When we don't, what happened?

I have intended all summer to do a project in which I intended to look back at the last two minutes and the overtimes of the games that we won or lost narrowly and see how the seniors performed. I've been distracted a bit and haven't done it. But, I wanted to do it because I don't remember our three seniors doing anything to win a big game in the last minute or two. I remember missing five straight free throws prior to OT, with our best shooters missing four straight. Why is that? Why didn't our seniors step up? That is what usually defines the late season charge of OU. Frankly, I wasn't surprised at Vegas or Nicole. They have never been that big at the end of key games. But, Morgan surprised me. She seemed to lose it at the end of key games this year. There were times late in the year where I wanted Gioya, T'Ona, or Kornet with the ball, having lost faith that Vegas would look for a shot. T'Ona seemed better at handling the ball late, and that was shocking.

We won two straight with Vegas out!! None of it made sense, and I don't think it made any sense to Sherri either. There are times you just sit back at a loss because there seems to be nothing that you can do. You play people who have started probably 300 games between them, and they act like rookies. Do you think the three seniors didn't notice this? I suspect that they were at a loss as well.

Sometimes, you scored nine runs against Koufax.

 

[gosooner2]

Besides Jo maybe the best "coach" left also!

 

[Sooner Cal]

The ones who are critical of Sherri never coached 16 - 18 year olds. I can guarantee that when leadership is missing, a team under performs. Someone like AD is a natural leader because he always worked harder than everyone else despite his abilities. Others like Josh Heuple, lead because the team has utmost confidence in them. Others like Tim Tebow lead by making a promise that the team must live up to and the team responds to that pledge.

Last year's team had no one filling any of those roles.

Coaches can keep a team relaxed, but they have little ability to lift a flat team. It's a coach's nightmare when a team is flat. Imagine how Switzer felt when he lost his first game in 1975 to an inferior Kansas. There was nothing he could do. Imagine how Stoops felt against USC when momentum swung completely to USC.

So those who complain, keep showing your inexperience.

I'm pretty sure Sherri has relived the season more than all of us. She knows that we had the talent. She knew we'd demonstrated the ability to perform at a high level. But we were extremely inconsistent. The team never had the confidence, they seemed to be continually searching for "their game" as they struggled, they tried harder resulting in more mistakes.

 

[SoonerNorm]

There is a big difference between football and basketball.

 

[sybarite]

Both are a part of life, and Sooner Cal's post applies to life.

 

[SoonerinNC]

In basketball a single player can have a major impact on the team. They can make everybody a better player or also a poorer player.

As a former high school coach I experienced both extremes.

I had a very talented player who was always on the edge but was detrimental to his teammates. we went something like 8-17. The next year he was gone and with virtually the same team we went 18-6 and was ranked 4th in the state and won games with #2 and #3. The guy was so disruptive that it was a constant struggle to keep things working.

You keep trying to get the player to be better and when you were on the verge of kicking him out he gets better until he senses the pressure is off. With hindsight I would have gotten rid of him at least by midseason.

Sherri expressed frustration with her team and the lack of leadership many times during the year even with apparently good kids. The year before with Jo she had the player who would make the big play when needed. Last year when we really needed a bucket she usually went with Morgan who really tried but usually was forced into a wild shot. Kudos to Morgan who played out of position most of her career at OU.

I think she is a very honest person and I would have been disappointed if she had not pointed out the lack of leadership on the team. Coaches can only do so much.

As a coach I doubt that Sherri is much different than when she had final four teams. It is possible that the game has passed her by a bit but she seems to stay in contact with people like Gino who seem eager to help her.

If anything she may be trying to win with finesse when the game has gone toward more athletic players. And then there is my usual complaint about her not using the available depth which is important in the style she likes to play. Unless she changes that she is going to have a lot of unhappy players in 14-15. How do you utilize 15 scholarship players. Talented freshmen come on board these days expecting to play. Sherri likes to go with experience.

Who will be the leader we need in 14-15 if anyone? It may have to be one of the new players.