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Message: [QUOTE="SWC75, post: 334235, member: 289"] The quote by McPherson was in response to my question. Here is the full question and response for context: Q: In 1986, following a bowl season, the Orange started out 0-4, beart a bad Missouri team and then got crushed by Penn State. From that point, SU won four of it's last five games and then went 11-0-1 in 1987. Last year, following a bowl season, the Orange started 5-2, blowing out West Virginia along the way, and then SU went 0-5. How does that happen? How do apparently bad teams get good and apparently good teams go bad? A: I think what happens is chemistry. I think the first half of the season is coaches setting the tone; the second half of the season is the player setting the tone because they start to control the locker room. The starting unit spends more time together. they learn how to communicate better. When you look at the teams that get better during the year, it's because you have good personnel that communicates well. Coach Mac said years ago that when you're a young coach, you think it's 80% coaching and 20% players. Then you get a little bit more mature and you think it's a 50-50 thing. Then, when you get older and you really know what you're doing, you realize it's 90% players and 10% coaching. And it's true. When you do your job well as a coach and the players buy into what you're talking about, they start to set the tone. With the Syracuse team last year, there were some disruptions in the coaching staff and personnel. Sometimes you can make that one wrong move in one of those areas and you can lose the team. And I think that's what happened with SU. I don't know what it was internally but I believe last eyar's team stopped communicating with each other. it was very evident in the games I covered for SNY that you didn't see that positve non-verbal communciaiton happening. You saw a lot of hands in the air after players, which meant they weren't communicaitng during plays." His reference to coaching changes would have to be for coaching changes before last season, not since. But he's basically putting the blame on the players for poor chemistry and not communciating. [/QUOTE]

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