Comments from Ash holdovers

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John K
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Comments from Ash holdovers

Post by John K » Wed Oct 16, 2019 9:07 am

I'm curious to hear people's thoughts about the comments relayed by the sideline reporter, that came from the few remaining players who were holdovers from the Ash era. They were obviously very complimentary and positive about Choate, and the changes he has made in the program. But it was also pretty hard not to interpret those comments as sort of a knock on Ash. So far, Choate hasn't achieved nearly as much success as Ash did, although he's only in his 4th season, and it took Ash until his 4th season, before he made the playoffs and won a BSC title. But I think those comments really confirmed what most Bobcat fans suspected...that a change was needed in the culture of the program, and it seems like Choate has accomplished that.

I was very disheartened by our performance all the way around last Saturday, by the coaches and players. You can't expect to win very many games, when you get into the red zone 3 times, and come away with 0 points. I mean, you can't necessarily expect to get 21 points from that, but you should get at least 14 or 17, and that would have been the difference in the game. As poorly as we played, we actually had slightly more total yards than Sac.

At 2-0 / 5-1, it seemed like we were almost a lock for the playoffs, but 3 of the 5 remaining games are going to be very difficult, UND and UC-D on the road, and UM. We may do well to win even 1 of those 3, but that' may be all we need. 5-3/8-4 should be good enough to get into the postseason. I saw this debacle coming though. We had sorta been living on the edge the last 2 weeks against NAU and Cal Poly, and I was fully expecting a loss against Sac, which obviously is much better than either of those teams, although I didn't suspect that it would be a rout.

Sac-UM this Saturday could decide the BSC title, although WSU is still in the mix too. I think those 3 are clearly a cut above everyone else this season. I think UM will probably beat Sac, but it should be very close. As much as I hate Hauck, and I really do despise him, you have to admit the guy knows how to coach. He's brought that team a long ways in just 2 years, and stopped the downward spiral of the Stitt era.



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MTCowpoke22
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Re: Comments from Ash holdovers

Post by MTCowpoke22 » Wed Oct 16, 2019 10:05 am

Couple of things, Can anyone get her to shut the hell up when play starts??? Every week they get her started talking and she doesn't ****** stop until 3 or 4 plays have gone by. I don't give two ****** about some documentary on Butte's history while there is football going on behind you!!!

I don't think their comments on Choate are necessarily a knock on Ash. These two coaches have two very different approaches to how they handled the team and job, in general. To say that something is 180 degrees different doesn't always mean it was bad before. It was just different. What everyone could see is that Ash was not a "rah-rah" kind of coach. He was more serious and less fiery. Not really a "Players Coach". Obviously he made that work here for many years. But it seems at though his approach got a little stale at the end. So we bring in Choate, who's more of a motivating, fired up kind of coach. To me it seems like Choate is a great middle ground between Kramer and Ash, who were about as different as it could get.


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Re: Comments from Ash holdovers

Post by catatac » Wed Oct 16, 2019 10:23 am

John K wrote:
Wed Oct 16, 2019 9:07 am
I'm curious to hear people's thoughts about the comments relayed by the sideline reporter, that came from the few remaining players who were holdovers from the Ash era. They were obviously very complimentary and positive about Choate, and the changes he has made in the program. But it was also pretty hard not to interpret those comments as sort of a knock on Ash. So far, Choate hasn't achieved nearly as much success as Ash did, although he's only in his 4th season, and it took Ash until his 4th season, before he made the playoffs and won a BSC title. But I think those comments really confirmed what most Bobcat fans suspected...that a change was needed in the culture of the program, and it seems like Choate has accomplished that.

I was very disheartened by our performance all the way around last Saturday, by the coaches and players. You can't expect to win very many games, when you get into the red zone 3 times, and come away with 0 points. I mean, you can't necessarily expect to get 21 points from that, but you should get at least 14 or 17, and that would have been the difference in the game. As poorly as we played, we actually had slightly more total yards than Sac.

At 2-0 / 5-1, it seemed like we were almost a lock for the playoffs, but 3 of the 5 remaining games are going to be very difficult, UND and UC-D on the road, and UM. We may do well to win even 1 of those 3, but that' may be all we need. 5-3/8-4 should be good enough to get into the postseason. I saw this debacle coming though. We had sorta been living on the edge the last 2 weeks against NAU and Cal Poly, and I was fully expecting a loss against Sac, which obviously is much better than either of those teams, although I didn't suspect that it would be a rout.

Sac-UM this Saturday could decide the BSC title, although WSU is still in the mix too. I think those 3 are clearly a cut above everyone else this season. I think UM will probably beat Sac, but it should be very close. As much as I hate Hauck, and I really do despise him, you have to admit the guy knows how to coach. He's brought that team a long ways in just 2 years, and stopped the downward spiral of the Stitt era.
Lots of games left. There are so many hypotheticals out there it makes your head spin. The next month will be very telling about the character of this team. Will they rebound from this loss and use it for motivation for the rest of the season and finish strong? I think they will, and Choate's teams usually get better as the season goes on. Obviously the damage is done with Sac State and the only thing the Cats control now is to win out. I don't think it's unreasonable we win our next four and head into Cat\Griz with the title on the line. I think Sac State beats the Griz Saturday night but if they don't, pretty sure someone else (Weber or EWU likely) will before the brawl.


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Re: Comments from Ash holdovers

Post by GoldstoneCat » Wed Oct 16, 2019 10:27 am

MTCowpoke22 wrote:
Wed Oct 16, 2019 10:05 am
Couple of things, Can anyone get her to shut the hell up when play starts??? Every week they get her started talking and she doesn't ****** stop until 3 or 4 plays have gone by. I don't give two ****** about some documentary on Butte's history while there is football going on behind you!!!

I don't think their comments on Choate are necessarily a knock on Ash. These two coaches have two very different approaches to how they handled the team and job, in general. To say that something is 180 degrees different doesn't always mean it was bad before. It was just different. What everyone could see is that Ash was not a "rah-rah" kind of coach. He was more serious and less fiery. Not really a "Players Coach". Obviously he made that work here for many years. But it seems at though his approach got a little stale at the end. So we bring in Choate, who's more of a motivating, fired up kind of coach. To me it seems like Choate is a great middle ground between Kramer and Ash, who were about as different as it could get.
I agree with most of this. I was a big Ash supporter, and think he deserves commendation for his work here. But choate has changed this program in a positive fashion from where we were. That's undeniable. Do I live everything? No. I think our offense is more bad than good. But the biggest thing i think he gets is what it takes to build the entire program, and how that fits within the larger athletic department and even larger, the university community. You can tell he spent a ton of time thinking about that angle before he ever took a job, and i think that thoughtfulness will continue to benefit the entire university as long as he's here.



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Re: Comments from Ash holdovers

Post by iaafan » Wed Oct 16, 2019 10:30 am

Still talking about Ash? That was four years ago.

MSU will come back healthy and fired up. When they play to their ability they will beat anyone in the league. A healthy Cat team is the best team in the Big Sky. I think the schedule sets up perfectly I expect to win out.



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Re: Comments from Ash holdovers

Post by ilovethecats » Wed Oct 16, 2019 10:41 am

iaafan wrote:
Wed Oct 16, 2019 10:30 am
Still talking about Ash? That was four years ago.

MSU will come back healthy and fired up. When they play to their ability they will beat anyone in the league. A healthy Cat team is the best team in the Big Sky. I think the schedule sets up perfectly I expect to win out.
God I love this post!

Though I don't mind people talking about Ash. He was great for our program.



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Re: Comments from Ash holdovers

Post by Woodenshoe » Wed Oct 16, 2019 10:43 am

Sitting here thinking about the types of coaches that Kramer and Ash were. Boy if you could have the Kramer defense plus the Ash offense.....that would be a hell of a football team. But yes I would agree Choate does sit between those two men in coaching style. And that is why I think Choate is so close to putting together an amazing football team. Just tighten the screws a bit more on defense and find that Lulay, McGee, Prukop style quarterback and I think this team is a championship team.



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Re: Comments from Ash holdovers

Post by AFCAT » Wed Oct 16, 2019 11:19 am

2-7


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Re: Comments from Ash holdovers

Post by WalkOn79 » Wed Oct 16, 2019 11:24 am

MTCowpoke22 wrote:
Wed Oct 16, 2019 10:05 am
Couple of things, Can anyone get her to shut the hell up when play starts??? Every week they get her started talking and she doesn't ****** stop until 3 or 4 plays have gone by. I don't give two ****** about some documentary on Butte's history while there is football going on behind you!!!
God I feel the same way. Does she even know there's a game going on!!! :x


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John K
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Re: Comments from Ash holdovers

Post by John K » Wed Oct 16, 2019 11:39 am

WalkOn79 wrote:
Wed Oct 16, 2019 11:24 am
MTCowpoke22 wrote:
Wed Oct 16, 2019 10:05 am
Couple of things, Can anyone get her to shut the hell up when play starts??? Every week they get her started talking and she doesn't ****** stop until 3 or 4 plays have gone by. I don't give two ****** about some documentary on Butte's history while there is football going on behind you!!!
God I feel the same way. Does she even know there's a game going on!!! :x
I agree with both of you 100% about that. That makes me frickin' nuts too. She either needs to learn to be much more concise with her comments, or else just get rid of the sideline reports completely.



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Re: Comments from Ash holdovers

Post by iaafan » Wed Oct 16, 2019 11:45 am

ilovethecats wrote:
Wed Oct 16, 2019 10:41 am
iaafan wrote:
Wed Oct 16, 2019 10:30 am
Still talking about Ash? That was four years ago.

MSU will come back healthy and fired up. When they play to their ability they will beat anyone in the league. A healthy Cat team is the best team in the Big Sky. I think the schedule sets up perfectly I expect to win out.
God I love this post!

Though I don't mind people talking about Ash. He was great for our program.
It’s also looking like the weather will be good for practicing. Every day up into the 40s. 60s today and tomorrow. Last week Bozeman had two days in the low 20s for practice. Need a IPF in Bozeman. No two ways about it.



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Re: Comments from Ash holdovers

Post by GoldstoneCat » Wed Oct 16, 2019 12:26 pm

iaafan wrote:
Wed Oct 16, 2019 11:45 am
ilovethecats wrote:
Wed Oct 16, 2019 10:41 am
iaafan wrote:
Wed Oct 16, 2019 10:30 am
Still talking about Ash? That was four years ago.

MSU will come back healthy and fired up. When they play to their ability they will beat anyone in the league. A healthy Cat team is the best team in the Big Sky. I think the schedule sets up perfectly I expect to win out.
God I love this post!

Though I don't mind people talking about Ash. He was great for our program.
It’s also looking like the weather will be good for practicing. Every day up into the 40s. 60s today and tomorrow. Last week Bozeman had two days in the low 20s for practice. Need a IPF in Bozeman. No two ways about it.
Yes. Choate's been adamant about that, and he's not wrong. In addition to just the improvement in logistics, to my eye an indoor is maybe the most tangible thing you can show a recruit and their family at this level that says, "we're as committed as anyone at this level, our fans and donors are too, come here and you'll have all the support you need." It's a big shiny thing to show people, and i hope we can get it done.



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Re: Comments from Ash holdovers

Post by codecat » Sat Oct 19, 2019 1:17 pm

MTCowpoke22 wrote:
Wed Oct 16, 2019 10:05 am
Couple of things, Can anyone get her to shut the hell up when play starts??? Every week they get her started talking and she doesn't ****** stop until 3 or 4 plays have gone by. I don't give two ****** about some documentary on Butte's history while there is football going on behind you!!!

I don't think their comments on Choate are necessarily a knock on Ash. These two coaches have two very different approaches to how they handled the team and job, in general. To say that something is 180 degrees different doesn't always mean it was bad before. It was just different. What everyone could see is that Ash was not a "rah-rah" kind of coach. He was more serious and less fiery. Not really a "Players Coach". Obviously he made that work here for many years. But it seems at though his approach got a little stale at the end. So we bring in Choate, who's more of a motivating, fired up kind of coach. To me it seems like Choate is a great middle ground between Kramer and Ash, who were about as different as it could get.
Great post: How they handle the sideline reporter while there are plays going on drives me nuts - its the say way when occasionally a color commentator goes off on a bunny trail and continues into the next play or two even!

I agree about the change in culture not necessarily being a bad thing - Ash has a decent culture going until his it all fell apart on him on defense: feeling the pressure of needing to the program to the next level he overshot on the recruiting board and his defense fell apart. I can't forget the 3 years of leading the conference on defense and another 2-3 in the top 3 or 4 before his defense fell apart (but nobody remembers him for that). I get that, but an established "culture" of a program can fall apart on any coach.
All is fine and there is "new hope" in a program when a coach is new, but what happens when the program is 3+ years old and begins to lose games that that the boosters and fans believe they should win - that is when the rubber meets the road as to if the coach really has control of his program! Choate does seem to be a decent middle ground between the two style differences between Kramer and Ash.


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