Quote from: D3fanboy on December 18, 2023, 01:55:08 PMQuote from: Kira & Jaxon's Dad on December 18, 2023, 01:18:50 PM
Watching the National Championship Game, I was thinking that Athletically Mount Union could play with those two teams. I think what is missing is teamwork and passion.
In the past, the team was very Self-Confident and showed it in their play. Now that Mount has come back to the field a bit, and others have improved, you can't just step on the field and hope the other teams piss down their legs.
Mount needs to get some swagger back, as well as the focus that LK/VK had instilled in the team. Coaches can give all the speeches they want, but the best "Culture" teams I have been around (as a Coach's son, a player and a Coach) have been player led.
Key Upperclassmen on Offense and Defense need to take the lead in the offseason and bring back the mojo of Raiders past.
I wish that "The Standard" would go the way of the "Welcome to the Machine" playoff banner. Neither is true any longer and like you said nobody is scared to play these Raiders. That could change back in the future seasons, but these kids need to earn it. The swagger needs to be there against the best competition, not just the Wilmingtons and Otterbeins of the D3 landscape.
I've joked with my buddies that covid might have killed the Mount program. We've had basically the same really talented team for 4 years, but I'm not sure that they ever got much better over that 4 year stretch. Kind of stagnant. Was is lack of player leadership? Lack of toughness? Coaching not up to the program's typical level? Lack of institutional help, i.e. Hire a Strength and Conditioning coach?
It has been a weird era with covid-years in D3FB, hopefully its almost over and we'll be back to four year players instead of 23/24 year olds on the field. But with the transfer portal, I don't know that we'll ever be back to true D3 football
Who has run the S&C program recently?