SWC75
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The show this year will be broadcast from the Canyons at Destiny USA in front of Cantina Laredo. I don’t know if they will take questions from the audience there but they say you can watch the show whereas when it was at a restaurant, their table tended to be in a secluded location. You can call in questions at 1-888-7-Go Cuse (746-2873) or, locally 424-8599. You can also send them in advance at this site:
http://cuse.com/sb_output.aspx?form=4
(I do both so they can be prepared to give me an informed, reasoned answer.) You can also contact them via Twitter (@SUSportsNetwork) using #AskShafe. The football show is an hour in duration, (Coach Boeheim’s basketball show is usually 2 hours).
They’ve actually been kind enough to post a schedule in advance:
The show will air at 7 pm on the following dates:
Wednesday, Aug. 27
Thursday, Sept. 11
Thursday, Sept. 18
Thursday, Sept. 25
Wednesday, Oct. 1
Thursday, Oct. 9
Thursday, Oct. 16
Thursday, Oct. 23
Thursday, Oct. 30
Thursday, Nov. 6
Thursday, Nov. 13
Wednesday, Nov. 26
The show can be heard in Syracuse on FM 99.5. It’s sometime simulcast on AM 1200 or FM 97.7. You can also get it on: http://tunein.com/radio/WGVA-1240-s29191/
My Question(s)
Coach, words get thrown around these days like they were confetti. A word I hear a lot of is “meaningless”. In basketball, you hear that the regular season is meaningless- it’s what you do in the NCAA tournament that matters. In football you hear that an extended playoff will make the regular season meaningless. And you hear that when a team can’t play in a bowl game, the rest of their season is meaningless. Colleges were playing football and basketball long before there were bowl games and championship playoffs. They must have thought their games had meaning. Have you ever played or coached in a game that had no meaning? What does the Boston College game mean to your coaching staff and players and what should it mean to the fans?
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.)
Matt Park said they were “playing second or third fiddle to the Big Fella”, the big fella being Santa Claus, who was visiting Destiny. Also there were the coach’s wife, Missy and his son Wolfgang, who plays for Ithaca. Matt said there would be no mention of the Cortica Jug game, beyond saying that it was quite a game. Coach said that Missy had prepare for Thanksgiving by putting the cabbage outside to cool it. He asked her if she had made sure to cover it so the deer couldn’t get at it. Matt noted that someone had spotted a buffalo running through Madison County. Coach said that his Uncle Shorty used to have his own buffalo he’d gotten from a traveling carnival. (Uncle Shorty?)
Coach explained that German Red Cabbage is a delicacy in his wife’s family – and a litmus test for boyfriends. “She invited me for Thanksgiving Dinner and they put a plate of this red cabbage in front of me. The whole room fell silent. I ate some of it, looked up and said “This is good!” I was then accepted into the family.” Matt: “The red cabbage test!” Coach said that there was a member of the family who worked for the FBI and any boyfriends got complete background checks. He wondered if he should start checking up on Wolfgang’s girlfriends.
Matt asked how the coach liked his turkey. He likes it “late at night. Make a turkey sandwich with some mayo on it. The dog gets some, too.” Matt concurred but advised him to add a thin layer of cranberry sauce, too. What would the dog think?
They talked about this being the last game, even the last practice for the kids. Coach: “You get a knot in your stomach and a lump in your throat.” (That’s better than the other way around.) “The last real practice is an emotional time. It was for me, thinking about what’s next. These kids will do extremely well in life after football.”
That was a good lead-in for my question, which the coach said was a “great question. Why do we play football and sports in general? There are two perspectives- the players and the fans. I’ve never been to a game that wasn’t important. Growing up in Champion, Ohio, on Elder Drive, it was the annual Turkey Bowl between the kids form across the street. We were 5-6-7 years old and the game often ended in a fist fight. But we caught the fever of competition vs. the other guy. All these other things are what don’t really matter. This game means a lot to those 26-27 seniors. They play for the spirit and love of the game and for their teammates. It’s about playing for something bigger than yourself. There’s no more games after this. That part gets lost looking at the ratings and worrying about who should be here or there. Football can be blown out of proportion. It has a fanatical side but we mustn’t lose sight of what the kids get out of the game. Development of young men is what it’s all about.“
Matt remarked on the coach being born in a place called “Champion”. “It’s a small Ohio town just outside of Warren. My Dad was head coach there at Warren-Champion High School. Randy Gradishar went there before he went on to Ohio State and the Denver Broncos. They were the Golden Flashes.
“We played for a rock in college, between Baldwin Wallace and John Carroll.”
http://www.cleveland.com/sports/college/index.ssf/2014/09/john_carroll_can_earn_series_t.html
He also commented on last year’s basketball season. “25-0 doesn’t happen very often. Jim Boeheim and his staff and kids busted their tails to do that. I was kinda shaken and stirred by it.”
Coach talked about Boston College and said he’d been a big fan of Doug Flutie and was excited when Doug did the color for one of our games and he had a chance to meet him. He’ll “take pride in stopping Tyler Murphy”, the Eagle’s multi-threat QB, who transferred from Florida, where he wasn’t getting to play. “He’s a great story. He’s thrown for 1300 yards, rushed for another 1000.” Matt said he’s achieved the triple double of throwing for at least 10 TDs, running for at least 10 and throwing at least 10 interceptions. SS: “I’m sure he’s proud of two of those.” Murphy’s complete stats:
http://espn.go.com/college-football/player/_/id/503970/tyler-murphy
“He’s a great ball handler and can sprint away from defensive back. I saw him make several first downs with his feet against Clemson, one of the best defenses I’ve seen in recent years.” BC is averaging 261 yards per game rushing the ball. “We’re going to have to a great job on the line of scrimmage, play physical defense, knock Tyler Murphy around, get the ball back for our young offense and take advantage of our opportunities.”
What will Shafe be watching on Thanksgiving? He’s interested in the Cowboys because they have a player he once recruited- Doug Free:
http://espn.go.com/nfl/player/_/id/10565/doug-free
“He grew up on a farm in the middle of nowhere. His father n=knew nothing of football. He was a skinny kid, 6-6 but with big hands. Now he’s got enough money to buy a new tractor and a couple of barns. (At 325, he’s no longer skinny, either.)
Pete in Dewitt told the coach “I can see that the team plays hard every week and that he appreciated it. Coach: I appreciate you and I promise we will get this thing going again.” Matt said that “this team has been kicked in the teeth by injuries but has been close and played tough in games and maybe they can get close enough to win this one. Coach: “There’s no doubt in my kind. It’s easy to have enthusiasm when things are going well. This group has never separated- there are no cracks in the cup. The kids are playing hard. They just haven’t executed at the level we wanted. They play physical with a great attitude and that’s the most underrated part of what they do. I love seeing the older players bringing up the young ones. Cam Lynch has been mentoring Zaire Franklin once Luke Arciniega and Marqez Hodge went down. . Unfortunately, I’ve had too many opportunities to watch that this fall.” Matt noted that in the Pitt game our leading passer, our leading rusher, our leading receiver and our leading tackler were all freshman so there is hope for the future. Actually, our leading rusher was George Morris, who is a redshirt sophomore, so there’s still some hope for the future, there, too.
A caller who’s name, I think, was Jim asked what it takes to recruit good players and turn them into great players. Coach: “I point to Daryl Johnston as a great example. He got one scholarship offer. They had to change the all-pro voting to separate fullbacks from running backs for Daryl. Dwight Freeney had only scholarship offer- what were they looking at? Arthur and Chandler Jones were not 4-5 star players. Chandler was a long and gawky. We keep recruiting tapes and use them to compare new recruits to and we look for similarities. Every time I walk by Dick’s Sporting Goods I see their Underarmour display and look at the body of the mannequin and say “I wish we had players like that.” Then I learned that they modeled the body after Rob Moores’…. I always ask: Do they love the game? Those are the ones that make it.” Matt pointed out they are hardly going to say “no” to that question. Coach: “I’ll ask” “If you had no scholarship offer, would you still be playing the game, maybe at a small college lev el? If they walk out the door, we don’t want them.”
Also providing hope for the future is the new Indoor Practice facility, which Coach Shafer said is coming along rapidly. “I look at it every day and there are thirty people working on that thing.” It looks great, inside and out. Maybe we can have something in the spring where fans could get a look at it. It will help us in recruiting and on the developmental side. Kids can work there year around. In the south they can work the year around outside. Now we can do it too. I remember when I was in the MAC we got an indoor facility and it helped us immensely. You can start your spring work earlier and finish it earlier so you can go to work on spring recruiting. “
(This is apparently the last show of the season. Matt didn't mention about any kind of wrap-up show after the BC game. In the past they've done a pre-recorded show from the coach's office but they've always announced it ahead of time.)
http://cuse.com/sb_output.aspx?form=4
(I do both so they can be prepared to give me an informed, reasoned answer.) You can also contact them via Twitter (@SUSportsNetwork) using #AskShafe. The football show is an hour in duration, (Coach Boeheim’s basketball show is usually 2 hours).
They’ve actually been kind enough to post a schedule in advance:
The show will air at 7 pm on the following dates:
Wednesday, Aug. 27
Thursday, Sept. 11
Thursday, Sept. 18
Thursday, Sept. 25
Wednesday, Oct. 1
Thursday, Oct. 9
Thursday, Oct. 16
Thursday, Oct. 23
Thursday, Oct. 30
Thursday, Nov. 6
Thursday, Nov. 13
Wednesday, Nov. 26
The show can be heard in Syracuse on FM 99.5. It’s sometime simulcast on AM 1200 or FM 97.7. You can also get it on: http://tunein.com/radio/WGVA-1240-s29191/
My Question(s)
Coach, words get thrown around these days like they were confetti. A word I hear a lot of is “meaningless”. In basketball, you hear that the regular season is meaningless- it’s what you do in the NCAA tournament that matters. In football you hear that an extended playoff will make the regular season meaningless. And you hear that when a team can’t play in a bowl game, the rest of their season is meaningless. Colleges were playing football and basketball long before there were bowl games and championship playoffs. They must have thought their games had meaning. Have you ever played or coached in a game that had no meaning? What does the Boston College game mean to your coaching staff and players and what should it mean to the fans?
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.)
Matt Park said they were “playing second or third fiddle to the Big Fella”, the big fella being Santa Claus, who was visiting Destiny. Also there were the coach’s wife, Missy and his son Wolfgang, who plays for Ithaca. Matt said there would be no mention of the Cortica Jug game, beyond saying that it was quite a game. Coach said that Missy had prepare for Thanksgiving by putting the cabbage outside to cool it. He asked her if she had made sure to cover it so the deer couldn’t get at it. Matt noted that someone had spotted a buffalo running through Madison County. Coach said that his Uncle Shorty used to have his own buffalo he’d gotten from a traveling carnival. (Uncle Shorty?)
Coach explained that German Red Cabbage is a delicacy in his wife’s family – and a litmus test for boyfriends. “She invited me for Thanksgiving Dinner and they put a plate of this red cabbage in front of me. The whole room fell silent. I ate some of it, looked up and said “This is good!” I was then accepted into the family.” Matt: “The red cabbage test!” Coach said that there was a member of the family who worked for the FBI and any boyfriends got complete background checks. He wondered if he should start checking up on Wolfgang’s girlfriends.
Matt asked how the coach liked his turkey. He likes it “late at night. Make a turkey sandwich with some mayo on it. The dog gets some, too.” Matt concurred but advised him to add a thin layer of cranberry sauce, too. What would the dog think?
They talked about this being the last game, even the last practice for the kids. Coach: “You get a knot in your stomach and a lump in your throat.” (That’s better than the other way around.) “The last real practice is an emotional time. It was for me, thinking about what’s next. These kids will do extremely well in life after football.”
That was a good lead-in for my question, which the coach said was a “great question. Why do we play football and sports in general? There are two perspectives- the players and the fans. I’ve never been to a game that wasn’t important. Growing up in Champion, Ohio, on Elder Drive, it was the annual Turkey Bowl between the kids form across the street. We were 5-6-7 years old and the game often ended in a fist fight. But we caught the fever of competition vs. the other guy. All these other things are what don’t really matter. This game means a lot to those 26-27 seniors. They play for the spirit and love of the game and for their teammates. It’s about playing for something bigger than yourself. There’s no more games after this. That part gets lost looking at the ratings and worrying about who should be here or there. Football can be blown out of proportion. It has a fanatical side but we mustn’t lose sight of what the kids get out of the game. Development of young men is what it’s all about.“
Matt remarked on the coach being born in a place called “Champion”. “It’s a small Ohio town just outside of Warren. My Dad was head coach there at Warren-Champion High School. Randy Gradishar went there before he went on to Ohio State and the Denver Broncos. They were the Golden Flashes.
“We played for a rock in college, between Baldwin Wallace and John Carroll.”
http://www.cleveland.com/sports/college/index.ssf/2014/09/john_carroll_can_earn_series_t.html
He also commented on last year’s basketball season. “25-0 doesn’t happen very often. Jim Boeheim and his staff and kids busted their tails to do that. I was kinda shaken and stirred by it.”
Coach talked about Boston College and said he’d been a big fan of Doug Flutie and was excited when Doug did the color for one of our games and he had a chance to meet him. He’ll “take pride in stopping Tyler Murphy”, the Eagle’s multi-threat QB, who transferred from Florida, where he wasn’t getting to play. “He’s a great story. He’s thrown for 1300 yards, rushed for another 1000.” Matt said he’s achieved the triple double of throwing for at least 10 TDs, running for at least 10 and throwing at least 10 interceptions. SS: “I’m sure he’s proud of two of those.” Murphy’s complete stats:
http://espn.go.com/college-football/player/_/id/503970/tyler-murphy
“He’s a great ball handler and can sprint away from defensive back. I saw him make several first downs with his feet against Clemson, one of the best defenses I’ve seen in recent years.” BC is averaging 261 yards per game rushing the ball. “We’re going to have to a great job on the line of scrimmage, play physical defense, knock Tyler Murphy around, get the ball back for our young offense and take advantage of our opportunities.”
What will Shafe be watching on Thanksgiving? He’s interested in the Cowboys because they have a player he once recruited- Doug Free:
http://espn.go.com/nfl/player/_/id/10565/doug-free
“He grew up on a farm in the middle of nowhere. His father n=knew nothing of football. He was a skinny kid, 6-6 but with big hands. Now he’s got enough money to buy a new tractor and a couple of barns. (At 325, he’s no longer skinny, either.)
Pete in Dewitt told the coach “I can see that the team plays hard every week and that he appreciated it. Coach: I appreciate you and I promise we will get this thing going again.” Matt said that “this team has been kicked in the teeth by injuries but has been close and played tough in games and maybe they can get close enough to win this one. Coach: “There’s no doubt in my kind. It’s easy to have enthusiasm when things are going well. This group has never separated- there are no cracks in the cup. The kids are playing hard. They just haven’t executed at the level we wanted. They play physical with a great attitude and that’s the most underrated part of what they do. I love seeing the older players bringing up the young ones. Cam Lynch has been mentoring Zaire Franklin once Luke Arciniega and Marqez Hodge went down. . Unfortunately, I’ve had too many opportunities to watch that this fall.” Matt noted that in the Pitt game our leading passer, our leading rusher, our leading receiver and our leading tackler were all freshman so there is hope for the future. Actually, our leading rusher was George Morris, who is a redshirt sophomore, so there’s still some hope for the future, there, too.
A caller who’s name, I think, was Jim asked what it takes to recruit good players and turn them into great players. Coach: “I point to Daryl Johnston as a great example. He got one scholarship offer. They had to change the all-pro voting to separate fullbacks from running backs for Daryl. Dwight Freeney had only scholarship offer- what were they looking at? Arthur and Chandler Jones were not 4-5 star players. Chandler was a long and gawky. We keep recruiting tapes and use them to compare new recruits to and we look for similarities. Every time I walk by Dick’s Sporting Goods I see their Underarmour display and look at the body of the mannequin and say “I wish we had players like that.” Then I learned that they modeled the body after Rob Moores’…. I always ask: Do they love the game? Those are the ones that make it.” Matt pointed out they are hardly going to say “no” to that question. Coach: “I’ll ask” “If you had no scholarship offer, would you still be playing the game, maybe at a small college lev el? If they walk out the door, we don’t want them.”
Also providing hope for the future is the new Indoor Practice facility, which Coach Shafer said is coming along rapidly. “I look at it every day and there are thirty people working on that thing.” It looks great, inside and out. Maybe we can have something in the spring where fans could get a look at it. It will help us in recruiting and on the developmental side. Kids can work there year around. In the south they can work the year around outside. Now we can do it too. I remember when I was in the MAC we got an indoor facility and it helped us immensely. You can start your spring work earlier and finish it earlier so you can go to work on spring recruiting. “
(This is apparently the last show of the season. Matt didn't mention about any kind of wrap-up show after the BC game. In the past they've done a pre-recorded show from the coach's office but they've always announced it ahead of time.)
