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Coach Babers’s Show will be at the new Marriott Syracuse, (the former Hotel Syracuse). The first show will be Wednesday night at 7PM because the game is Friday, (the show will normally be two days before the next game). They will be in Shaughnessy’s Irish Pub, which can be accessed from the street.
This article contains the schedule:
Dino Babers Radio Show Debuts Wednesday
You can also listen to the show live each week on the Syracuse IMG Sports Network and Cuse.com. Wednesday's show will be on 99.1 FM and 97.7 FM, as well. The show will regularly air on 99.5FM (Syracuse) 99.1 FM (Utica) and 1200 AM.”
You can also get it on: WGVA
There hasn’t been any change in the phone numbers, which last year were 315-424-8599 (local) or 1-888-746-2873. You can call to ask questions or submit them via Twitter at: #AskDino hashtag on Twitter
Or through Cuse.com, (the SU Athletic website):
Submit a Question!
You can listen to a podcast of the show, probably the next day, at: Search results for babers
I’ve been asked to continue doing the summaries, even by people who listen to the podcasts. I may focus on the major points, rather than trying to record everything.
My Question(s)
“Coach, earlier in the season you stated that you preferred not to have a running quarterback because they tend to get hurt too much. On your first team at Eastern Illinois in 2012, your quarterbacks had 20% of your team’s rushing attempts. The next year it was 13%. At Bowling Green it was 12% the first year and 21% the second year. Last year under Coach Shafer, the quarterbacks ran the ball 30% of the time. So far this year our quarterbacks have 38% of our rushing attempts. Why is our quarterback running the ball more this year than any of your prior quarterbacks and even more than last year here?”
The Show
(I sometimes re-arrange the comments so that statements made on the same subject are reported together, even if they came at different points of the show.)
(They were still in the Cavalier Room. They will move to Shaughnessy’s when it is finished. )
Program note: Last week Matt said that “the following week” after this week Coach Boeheim’s show would “piggyback” with the Babers show. That sounds like it will be next week, perhaps from 8-9PM. In past years the Boeheim Show has started on Wednesdays and moved to Thursdays when the football show ended. And we will have already played two non-exhibitions games by two weeks from tonight, so I’m not sure I’ve got this right. I’ll play it by ear.
Brian Higgins sat in for Matt Park, who is the Master of Ceremonies at the Lettermen of Distinction tonight. He got right to the point: What is the status of Eric Dungey? He first noted that Dungey was listed as “questionable” on the injury report. Coach said “We’re still waiting to see if we can get clearance from the doctors.” Can he play if he hasn’t practice? Coach told the story of UCLA’s John Schiarra who, back in the 70’s was ill the week before the USC game,. His fever broke on Friday and he played and had a great game and they won. “But that doesn’t happen very often.“ Which of the back-ups are likely to play? “Both can play- we haven’t decided yet. They are both in great shape, working hard and helping each other out.”
North Carolina State “is a very fine team with no weaknesses. They have a physical line, an excellent quarterback and receivers, a great defensive line, active linebackers and their back end is long and athletic.”
About what happened at Clemson: “They have a program that has had 8-9 years to develop depth. They have a roster of players who know the system and what is expected of them.” Brian noted that Clemson honored four players who won’t be seniors because, per Coach Sweeny, they won’t be on next year’s team, either because they will be going to the NFL: quarterback Deshaun Watson, tailback Wayne Gallman and receivers Mike Williams and Artavis Scott. DB: “They release guys early so they can bring in more recruits. Hopefully I’ll be here 8-9 years and we can do that.”
I tried to call in, (using both numbers 6-7 times but all I got was four rings and then a cut-off. During that time, Liam from Pompey and John in Baltimore, (who may have called earlier), were able to get in. Liam said that “Nobody thought we could win at Clemson”. He felt hat the hit on Dungey was targeting as the helmets hit. Coach said it was not: “Targeting requires something to strike the head directly, a helmet or forearm. The player hit with his shoulder pad and it slide- or the other player’s did- to the helmet. Targeting is about the initial contact. “
John in Baltimore congratulated him on his daughter getting married and said that he’d voted for the coach for some award. He asked about “gamers: players who don’t practice well but play well on game day. He cited Marcus Sales who had that reputation. He hardly played until our bowl game against Kansas State where he got his chance and had a huge game and went on to a fine career. He wondered if Jordan Fredericks could be that kind of player. Baber’s answer was quite interesting. “This is my 31st year in coaching. One thing coaches can’t stand is someone suggesting that a player would practice poorly but play well in games.” But he did admit that he has seen certain players for whom “something about the speed of the game or the bright lights causes them to elevate their game to an acceptable level. But there’s not a lot of people like that. The problem is getting them into a game. It’s usually a Wally Pipp situation. If they don’t get their motor going in practice, they normally don’t get a chance because the guy who does it in practice gets into the game.”
Jeff in Liverpool got through to ask how many scholarship players can be on a roster, how many can be recruited in one year and how many players, including walk-ons, can be dressed for the game. The answers were 85 scholarship players on the roster, 25 recruits, unless they have fewer available under the 85 player limit, (although they can sometimes reclassify recruits an get a little more) , and no limit on how many players you can dress. The conference does have a limit on how many players can travel. He recalled that the MAC had a 72 player limit and he thinks with the ACC it’s 74. “But we are down so many players we don’t get to those limits.”
I finally got through. I noted that my brother is a history professor at Coach Babers’ alma Mater, Hawaii and that we had commiserated over SU losing 0-54 while Hawaii lost 0-55. I also noted that some of the top ranked teams won similar blow-outs so a lot of teams are licking their wounds. Scott Shafer, in his first year, lost a 0-56 game and won the next two, then lost a 3-59 game, lost another by a point, won the next to get into a bowl game and then won the bowl game. So it is possible to get over games like the Clemson game and get back on track.
As to my question about running quarterbacks, the number of carries is influenced by “our trouble running into a heavy box. We need outstanding running backs like that fellow with the Cowboys -Ezekiel Elliott. Also, if a quarterback likes to take off and run on his own, he’s going to get more carries. I’d rather not have my quarterback run at all- just pass and hand off. Eric is good at running the ball and he knows he’s good at it. That takes courage but it’s also dangerous. He needs to get better at sliding and protecting himself. ” (But he was injured on a designed running play.)
Brian asked about the military tribute associated with this game. DB: “My father was in the service. We lived on military bases in the east, west, north and south. You come to understand that the whole family is in the military, not just the parent. It’s like being in a coach’s family. My father is buried in the national cemetery in Houston.” What was the Fort Drum experience like? (This was another interesting response). “I was a special experience to link arms with our service men and to try their obstacle course and shooting range and for them to come down here and try some of our drills. I hope we can extend the relationship and do more but every day we take away from practice is a day lost. As we get better we can do more with them.”
Brian asked about the uniforms the team will be wearing for the game. DB: “This is my third football team with multiple jerseys. I’ve had no involvement with choosing which one. The coaches and team captains do that. I actually don’t know what we’ll be wearing until I got to the game. I deal with the football part of it. I’m traditional: I like orange, blue and white. But young people between the ages of 18 and 22 like the grays. If it can get us the players we need to compete with Clemson, Louisville and Florida State, I’ll go with using it once or twice a year.
Stanley in Oswego wanted to know who we were recruiting at running back and which recruit Dino likes best. It was explained to Stanley that if the coach mentions a recruits name before they sign their letter of intent, he’s not allowed to recruit that player. In lieu of that question, Stanley asked how recruiting was going. DB: “It’s going well. We’ve got 5-7 scholarships left and are getting started on the 2018 class.
Stanley then thought of something else: Do we have a “full house” package we could use so we could have some misdirection, (in the running attack)? DB: “I have done it before. I like to have a big back, a smaller fullback and a tailback. I enjoy that formation.”
They discussed Amba Etta Tawo, who will play in the Senior Bowl. “We played Maryland last year and they were favored by 21 and we beat them by 17. Or they were favored by 17 and we beat them by 21.” (it was the latter, 48-27.) “He contacted me after that and said he wanted to play for me in that offense.
I told him that you don’t know me. He said that he’d heard enough about me and seen enough of my offense to know he wanted to play for me. He’s a fabulous team player, very unselfish and humble. You love watching him play but you’d enjoy meeting the guy, too.”
Tom in Syracuse wondered why, when the other team faces third and long,, don’t we “bring the house”. He felt we too often rush only three linemen and don’t get enough pressure on the quarterback. DB: “We went after Clemson a lot- probably too much. Watson had to leave the game. But the guy who replaced him was completing passes, too. That’s why I want to get to having a program for 8-9 years like Dabo Sweeney. You depth chart is ‘correct’, with a two year gap between the players. A is a great player, B is a good player and C is a developing player. “
They brought on Nick Monroe, the secondary coach, who was on the staff at Bowling Green when Babers took over there, (he’d come there from Colgate). Baber’s described Monroe has having an “outstanding relationship with his players and knows how to get them to play hard. He’s also a top recruiter. Once we got him to break his shell we found out he’s a really cool guy.”
Nick’s son was born two days before the Colgate game, “sort of a bottom of the 9th thing”. His wife is from Hamilton NY so “it was great to get back home.” He was “a alter addition to the group, (of coaches under Babers). I’d been accustomed to one way of doing things. It was a different atmosphere and took some adjustment. Now I have a legitimate passion for going to work- it’s fun. That mentality rubs off on our players.” Brian asked him about losing two of his starters, Antwan Cordy and Juwan Dowells “within minutes” early in the season. “Cordy was our vocal leader, an energizer bunny. Everybody responded to him.” What should we expect on Saturday? “Crazy effort and great enthusiasm.”
Brian, in honor of the election, asked Coach for the movie with the best President in it. Dino said that he had to stay with the Orange and pick Jim brown in “Mars Attacks!”. (The problem with that is that Jim Brown didn’t play the President in Mars Attacks!: Mars Attacks - Wikipedia! )
He then said that his all-time favorite President is Bill Pullman in “Independence Day”, who got in a plane to fight the aliens himself.
“This is our house….”
This article contains the schedule:
Dino Babers Radio Show Debuts Wednesday
You can also listen to the show live each week on the Syracuse IMG Sports Network and Cuse.com. Wednesday's show will be on 99.1 FM and 97.7 FM, as well. The show will regularly air on 99.5FM (Syracuse) 99.1 FM (Utica) and 1200 AM.”
You can also get it on: WGVA
There hasn’t been any change in the phone numbers, which last year were 315-424-8599 (local) or 1-888-746-2873. You can call to ask questions or submit them via Twitter at: #AskDino hashtag on Twitter
Or through Cuse.com, (the SU Athletic website):
Submit a Question!
You can listen to a podcast of the show, probably the next day, at: Search results for babers
I’ve been asked to continue doing the summaries, even by people who listen to the podcasts. I may focus on the major points, rather than trying to record everything.
My Question(s)
“Coach, earlier in the season you stated that you preferred not to have a running quarterback because they tend to get hurt too much. On your first team at Eastern Illinois in 2012, your quarterbacks had 20% of your team’s rushing attempts. The next year it was 13%. At Bowling Green it was 12% the first year and 21% the second year. Last year under Coach Shafer, the quarterbacks ran the ball 30% of the time. So far this year our quarterbacks have 38% of our rushing attempts. Why is our quarterback running the ball more this year than any of your prior quarterbacks and even more than last year here?”
The Show
(I sometimes re-arrange the comments so that statements made on the same subject are reported together, even if they came at different points of the show.)
(They were still in the Cavalier Room. They will move to Shaughnessy’s when it is finished. )
Program note: Last week Matt said that “the following week” after this week Coach Boeheim’s show would “piggyback” with the Babers show. That sounds like it will be next week, perhaps from 8-9PM. In past years the Boeheim Show has started on Wednesdays and moved to Thursdays when the football show ended. And we will have already played two non-exhibitions games by two weeks from tonight, so I’m not sure I’ve got this right. I’ll play it by ear.
Brian Higgins sat in for Matt Park, who is the Master of Ceremonies at the Lettermen of Distinction tonight. He got right to the point: What is the status of Eric Dungey? He first noted that Dungey was listed as “questionable” on the injury report. Coach said “We’re still waiting to see if we can get clearance from the doctors.” Can he play if he hasn’t practice? Coach told the story of UCLA’s John Schiarra who, back in the 70’s was ill the week before the USC game,. His fever broke on Friday and he played and had a great game and they won. “But that doesn’t happen very often.“ Which of the back-ups are likely to play? “Both can play- we haven’t decided yet. They are both in great shape, working hard and helping each other out.”
North Carolina State “is a very fine team with no weaknesses. They have a physical line, an excellent quarterback and receivers, a great defensive line, active linebackers and their back end is long and athletic.”
About what happened at Clemson: “They have a program that has had 8-9 years to develop depth. They have a roster of players who know the system and what is expected of them.” Brian noted that Clemson honored four players who won’t be seniors because, per Coach Sweeny, they won’t be on next year’s team, either because they will be going to the NFL: quarterback Deshaun Watson, tailback Wayne Gallman and receivers Mike Williams and Artavis Scott. DB: “They release guys early so they can bring in more recruits. Hopefully I’ll be here 8-9 years and we can do that.”
I tried to call in, (using both numbers 6-7 times but all I got was four rings and then a cut-off. During that time, Liam from Pompey and John in Baltimore, (who may have called earlier), were able to get in. Liam said that “Nobody thought we could win at Clemson”. He felt hat the hit on Dungey was targeting as the helmets hit. Coach said it was not: “Targeting requires something to strike the head directly, a helmet or forearm. The player hit with his shoulder pad and it slide- or the other player’s did- to the helmet. Targeting is about the initial contact. “
John in Baltimore congratulated him on his daughter getting married and said that he’d voted for the coach for some award. He asked about “gamers: players who don’t practice well but play well on game day. He cited Marcus Sales who had that reputation. He hardly played until our bowl game against Kansas State where he got his chance and had a huge game and went on to a fine career. He wondered if Jordan Fredericks could be that kind of player. Baber’s answer was quite interesting. “This is my 31st year in coaching. One thing coaches can’t stand is someone suggesting that a player would practice poorly but play well in games.” But he did admit that he has seen certain players for whom “something about the speed of the game or the bright lights causes them to elevate their game to an acceptable level. But there’s not a lot of people like that. The problem is getting them into a game. It’s usually a Wally Pipp situation. If they don’t get their motor going in practice, they normally don’t get a chance because the guy who does it in practice gets into the game.”
Jeff in Liverpool got through to ask how many scholarship players can be on a roster, how many can be recruited in one year and how many players, including walk-ons, can be dressed for the game. The answers were 85 scholarship players on the roster, 25 recruits, unless they have fewer available under the 85 player limit, (although they can sometimes reclassify recruits an get a little more) , and no limit on how many players you can dress. The conference does have a limit on how many players can travel. He recalled that the MAC had a 72 player limit and he thinks with the ACC it’s 74. “But we are down so many players we don’t get to those limits.”
I finally got through. I noted that my brother is a history professor at Coach Babers’ alma Mater, Hawaii and that we had commiserated over SU losing 0-54 while Hawaii lost 0-55. I also noted that some of the top ranked teams won similar blow-outs so a lot of teams are licking their wounds. Scott Shafer, in his first year, lost a 0-56 game and won the next two, then lost a 3-59 game, lost another by a point, won the next to get into a bowl game and then won the bowl game. So it is possible to get over games like the Clemson game and get back on track.
As to my question about running quarterbacks, the number of carries is influenced by “our trouble running into a heavy box. We need outstanding running backs like that fellow with the Cowboys -Ezekiel Elliott. Also, if a quarterback likes to take off and run on his own, he’s going to get more carries. I’d rather not have my quarterback run at all- just pass and hand off. Eric is good at running the ball and he knows he’s good at it. That takes courage but it’s also dangerous. He needs to get better at sliding and protecting himself. ” (But he was injured on a designed running play.)
Brian asked about the military tribute associated with this game. DB: “My father was in the service. We lived on military bases in the east, west, north and south. You come to understand that the whole family is in the military, not just the parent. It’s like being in a coach’s family. My father is buried in the national cemetery in Houston.” What was the Fort Drum experience like? (This was another interesting response). “I was a special experience to link arms with our service men and to try their obstacle course and shooting range and for them to come down here and try some of our drills. I hope we can extend the relationship and do more but every day we take away from practice is a day lost. As we get better we can do more with them.”
Brian asked about the uniforms the team will be wearing for the game. DB: “This is my third football team with multiple jerseys. I’ve had no involvement with choosing which one. The coaches and team captains do that. I actually don’t know what we’ll be wearing until I got to the game. I deal with the football part of it. I’m traditional: I like orange, blue and white. But young people between the ages of 18 and 22 like the grays. If it can get us the players we need to compete with Clemson, Louisville and Florida State, I’ll go with using it once or twice a year.
Stanley in Oswego wanted to know who we were recruiting at running back and which recruit Dino likes best. It was explained to Stanley that if the coach mentions a recruits name before they sign their letter of intent, he’s not allowed to recruit that player. In lieu of that question, Stanley asked how recruiting was going. DB: “It’s going well. We’ve got 5-7 scholarships left and are getting started on the 2018 class.
Stanley then thought of something else: Do we have a “full house” package we could use so we could have some misdirection, (in the running attack)? DB: “I have done it before. I like to have a big back, a smaller fullback and a tailback. I enjoy that formation.”
They discussed Amba Etta Tawo, who will play in the Senior Bowl. “We played Maryland last year and they were favored by 21 and we beat them by 17. Or they were favored by 17 and we beat them by 21.” (it was the latter, 48-27.) “He contacted me after that and said he wanted to play for me in that offense.
I told him that you don’t know me. He said that he’d heard enough about me and seen enough of my offense to know he wanted to play for me. He’s a fabulous team player, very unselfish and humble. You love watching him play but you’d enjoy meeting the guy, too.”
Tom in Syracuse wondered why, when the other team faces third and long,, don’t we “bring the house”. He felt we too often rush only three linemen and don’t get enough pressure on the quarterback. DB: “We went after Clemson a lot- probably too much. Watson had to leave the game. But the guy who replaced him was completing passes, too. That’s why I want to get to having a program for 8-9 years like Dabo Sweeney. You depth chart is ‘correct’, with a two year gap between the players. A is a great player, B is a good player and C is a developing player. “
They brought on Nick Monroe, the secondary coach, who was on the staff at Bowling Green when Babers took over there, (he’d come there from Colgate). Baber’s described Monroe has having an “outstanding relationship with his players and knows how to get them to play hard. He’s also a top recruiter. Once we got him to break his shell we found out he’s a really cool guy.”
Nick’s son was born two days before the Colgate game, “sort of a bottom of the 9th thing”. His wife is from Hamilton NY so “it was great to get back home.” He was “a alter addition to the group, (of coaches under Babers). I’d been accustomed to one way of doing things. It was a different atmosphere and took some adjustment. Now I have a legitimate passion for going to work- it’s fun. That mentality rubs off on our players.” Brian asked him about losing two of his starters, Antwan Cordy and Juwan Dowells “within minutes” early in the season. “Cordy was our vocal leader, an energizer bunny. Everybody responded to him.” What should we expect on Saturday? “Crazy effort and great enthusiasm.”
Brian, in honor of the election, asked Coach for the movie with the best President in it. Dino said that he had to stay with the Orange and pick Jim brown in “Mars Attacks!”. (The problem with that is that Jim Brown didn’t play the President in Mars Attacks!: Mars Attacks - Wikipedia! )
He then said that his all-time favorite President is Bill Pullman in “Independence Day”, who got in a plane to fight the aliens himself.
“This is our house….”
