You're right, Les seemed almost unengaged in the early stages of the first half. I didn't get a particularly good feeling about that though since he was obviously shaking up the line up and his body language looked like he was just barely tolerating what he was seeing. He got more animated as WJU built the lead.

I was observing the the body language of the players too. To me it looked like some players like Schneider and Mooney were visibly frustrated and Fuller seemed to be confused about what Les was upset about with him and, at times, looked tentative on the floor from it all. Other players more or less just walked by the coach without eye contact after Les had pulled them from the game. Les had a quick hook in the second half if a player got beat on defense also.

I think Les is an excellent tactician of the game and makes really good, strategic decisions in the heat of the moment during the game. I also think he needs to practice some self-control with his anger and find more positive ways to communicate with his players and to motivate his team.

It sets off red flags for me too. I don't think it can be good for recruiting either. Potential recruits watch these games and some may not like what they see from the coach.

Not sure what you meant by, "We don’t have the talent level to be able to half-blank it." ??

I remember Chima also saying that it was tough for him when he got here because he wasn't used to being told what he was doing wrong so much. The thing is I don't think Les is going to change. He's passionate and intense...that's who he is as a coach. Those can be useful qualities but, like just about anything, they can be abused also.

I hesitate to write things like this since I realize that this is my subjective observation. I'm not in the team huddle or at the team practices; I only see how he is during our games. The statements he made in the Enterprise article though made me take pause. It was just too much...over the top, in my opinion, in directing his anger at the team. I'm sure he made those statements in the heat of the moment but we see his anger spill over in just about every game at some point.

Coaches need to adjust to the personality of the team chemistry. You make a good point that this year's team may not be as thick skinned as some of the previous team's and his anger is not working well with them. Regardless, there are much better ways to coach and motivate without directing rants towards the team and the players.

I was at that game...remember it well...he just went up about 3 rows into the stands behind the Aggie bench in Hickey Gym and sat there with the fans. I've never seen a coach that agonized as much as Ham did but his antics never seemed to be personally directed at the players in a detrimental way. Ham was a classic...

Great point.

I'd forgotten about the foot stomping. Of course, the King of Foot Stomping was Bob Hamilton along with towel chewing and tossing!

The thing that concerns me about Les' ire is that it is not a productive way to communicate and his message can get lost because it's not easy for anyone to pay attention and listen well when someone is shouting at you. It's a non-productive form of communication because so many negative things can result from it.

For one, it and can lead to players being hesitant and being too much into their heads when they are on the floor. It's hard to play with spontaneity when you are playing "not to make a mistake" and overthinking everything in order to avoid the coach's anger. It can also be demoralizing and suck the joy out of playing the game. It's hard to be motivated when you are not having fun. A few of the players were hanging their heads in the WJU game as Les continued his barking throughout the game and often looked perplexed about what he was shouting about.

Les says he's frustrated because he's having to "coach effort" and he shouldn't have to do that. If that's the case, I think the first thing he needs to be exploring is what it is that he may be doing as a coach that could be adding to his perceived lack of effort by the team. If he wants his players to play with more intensity and effort and listen to what he wants them to do, then he needs to tone down his anger because trying to communicate with anger causes more problems than it solves. I don't think this is just a player problem; I think it's a coaching problem as well.

Beautifully executed play. That was not an easy shot by Morgan but nothing but net! Karley Eaton curled around to the top of the 3 point line and was open for Morgan to kick the ball out too. The team made the coaches look good on that play! :grin:

:up: :up: :up:

:up: I think the height and weight listing is ok since size is often important factor in athletics. It tells you something about the athlete like a 6'5 WR vs a 5'11 WR or a 6'7 320 pound OL etc. I agree 100% about listing their majors too and, if they have excelled academically, list that as well.

What a great shot by Bertsch! Thanks for all the timely posts, Russ. I wasn't able to watch this game and reading your posts made me feel like I was there in the final minute.

Let's get the vote going for Hawk. He's currently in 4th place in the early voting.

I don’t think so.

Ags trail 38-31 at the half. 15 fouls on the Ags already. Ugly basketball game.

Siler ejected for a flagrant 2. Second flagrant on the Ags.

That’s not good.

Thanks for all the posts. I missed this one. Glad we squeaked it out.

Jackson never really got going here. He's a very strong looking player but, the the few minutes he got early on, he never looked comfortable on the floor. I also think he battled and illness last season. I hope he finds a good fit for himself and reaches his full potential as a player.

The Bison look like an FBS team physically...

Quite a few people will crowd up against the press box area also until their seats go in the shade on the west side also.

:up: :up: :up: