After getting shutout by Mendota 35-0 last weekend, the Morris Redskins' season came to an end with a 6-5 record.Judging by what I've heard, and what I've read since then -- and, really, for a good chunk of the season -- the most vocal fans (and not necessarily a majority) want changes, and they want them yesterday.
Mostly it's calls for the head coach to be fired, or the play calls to be handled differently, or the lineup to be changed. From the sound of it, there may be a line waiting at the Route 47 river bridge. The attacks have gotten so bad that the Morris Redskins Football message board has been shut down temprorarily so that cooler heads can eventually prevail.
What I don't hear that much -- from this group of most vocal fans -- is that, simply, the talent wasn't there this year.
Plain and simple, that's the real reason for a subpar Redskins' season. The team just wasn't as good as they've been in the past. And that's okay. It's incredibly improbable that it hasn't happened more often.
Sometimes the kids on the field just aren't as good as the other team. Nothing wrong with that.
The head coach that some people want fired is the same one that in his five years as varsity coach has won a state championship -- the first one for the school in over 20 years -- got them to another state championship, losing on a last second field goal, and defeated then big bad rival Joliet Catholic in the playoffs, not once, but twice...something his predecessor failed to do.
Did the coaches suddenly forget how to coach? Were they not responsible at all for the title run in 2005? The title game appearance in 2007, with mostly different players?
The program at Morris isn't in shambles. The sophomore team went 8-1, the freshmen were undefeated. The cupboard isn't bare, and I have a feeling that the varsity team will be back to the level we're all accustomed to soon.
But, you can't expect to go 14-0 every year. There are ups, and occasional downs. Chalk the end to this season as a down.
Save the vitriol and nastiness for a team that deserves it, the Bears.
1 comment:
Amen Mike, well said.
Coaching can only do so much. We need to get behind the team and support them, rather than carp about how they could have done better.
This doesn't just go for the Redskins. Look at the Bears or the Illini - teams have off years. We need to be big enough to recognize that, and accept it.
(For that matter, when was the last time the 6 time World Champion Bulls have been anything but a footnote in the NBA?)
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