Pat Haden And Chris Petersen Follow Their Gut

Posted on by

New Washington coach Chris Petersen said taking the job was “a gut decision.” Last week, USC A.D. Pat Haden said he made a “gut” decision when he hired Steve Sarkisian.

14 thoughts on “Pat Haden And Chris Petersen Follow Their Gut”

  1. Hmm well I’d say Coach O had a ‘gut ache’ last Sunday and Mora had a ‘gut check’ mulling over whether to book for WA or stay with UCLA.

    I don’t know what ever sends you on the right path so be it just don’t do what Coach O did – always always leave emotion behind!

  2. …..and the players will play with their guts too. The players got rid of a coach they didn’t want to play for and lost a bowl game hoping he would have been fired, but he wasn’t until this year. What makes USC think that the same players are going to play their guts out for Sarkisian? Sarkisian assumes they will. But will they?

    In World War II, the military hired a social psychologist name Jacob Moreno to do leadership studies in combat units. Not surprisingly the person who was the ranking and appointed leader was not always the real group leader.

    Sarkisian has to gain the confidence of the team leaders that he will sacrifice for them, defend them, and consider them as a family, as did Coach O. In the military, soldiers need to see that the commander is the first to lead the charge over the hill, then they will follow. Ever see the movie “Platoon” about how the tropps fragged their commanders? You can’t lead a football team with a clipboard or a playboard or appoint yourself as the offensive coordinator and think that puts you in charge.

    Kiffen and Sarkisian remind me of the combat leaders I saw in the Vietnam War. They would stay in their helicopters overhead with clipboards shouting orders over the radio and taking body counts while the troops fought the war.

    I’m not leaving these comments to take pot shots but hopefully so someone listens and consider what the players are saying without speaking words. Just as that USC fight song drum beat goes on and on, the drumbeat of the players will be heard and seen on the playing field. Fight on!

    • Ignore the TL;DR comments. This was one of the more brilliant and well-thought out comments on this blog.

      I’ve been saying essentially the same thing – emotions matter, especially when dealing with young men that are far away from home (or are so busy that they cannot see their families often). People often ignore the intangibles and fluff in recruiting and college football: these are individuals with personalities and feelings and that does matter. This is why the military and big corporations hire psychologists: people are always the most basic element in making a team or a company work.

      Anyways, I was chastised for being too touchy-feely on this, however, I thank you for your lucidity.

  5. Duuuh, well tell me, genuises, was it the new coach at Florida State or the new quarterback at Florida St that placed them in the national championship game

    Give me the greatest coach in the world, and have him presented with me and the SUCLA vermin on this blog, and
    I guarantee you we will lose,and lose big.

    P.S. Although I can still play…a little

  6. Any “gut” decision is always followed by a handful of TUMS and the thought “man I hope I was right”.

  7. Id say they followed Wolf’s gut, but anything that big is impossible NOT to follow

  8. I’m willing to bet 90% of SUC fans would have preferred to gut it out with CP instead of the UDub football staff.

Comments are closed.