A few weeks ago, Michigan State running back Sedrick Irvin made a major mistake in the treacherous world of college football.
He answered a reporter’s question honestly.
Sedrick, Sedrick. What are we going to do with you?
A few days before the Spartans were to take on Northwestern, a sportswriter on a teleconference call asked Irvin to talk about the Michigan-Michigan State rivalry. Irvin answered that it was huge, fun, exciting–all the things you might expect someone to say about one of the biggest rivalries in college football.
Translated, what he really said was, “Northwestern has a bunch of lightweight football players who get upset when the toilet seat’s up. Probably play soccer too.”
What, you don’t see it? You don’t see the outrageous connotations in Irvin’s comments? The questioning of the Wildcats’ manhood? The total disregard for Northwestern’s abilities? Then you’re not paying enough attention to college football, where motivating a team means scouring newspapers for insults–perceived, real or, if need be, made up.
In Northwestern’s view, Irvin showed disrespect for the Wildcats when he talked about Michigan-Michigan State. So Northwestern coach Gary Barnett and that wily staff of his spread the word that Michigan State was looking past the Wildcats.
“What do they think? That we don’t read the newspapers?” NU defensive end Casey Dailey said after the Wildcats’ victory.
If you’re reading it, Casey, you must be getting the Barnett Gazette. This abridged edition of the real news is a little like movie ads. It’s Gene Siskel calling a film “a new low in cinematic history” and the ads saying “Cinematic History!” It’s the same with locker-room bulletin-board material, only in reverse.
Take an incident that occurred in 1994. Then-Illinois coach Lou Tepper told a Big Ten media gathering that his team always was excited about playing Michigan. The Illini had tied and beaten the Wolverines the previous two seasons.
“Our kids get so up for Michigan, I wish we could play them twice a year,” Tepper said.
What he meant: I don’t have to motivate my players because they get pumped up playing one of the best programs in the country.
How Michigan’s coaches interpreted the quote for their players: Illinois thinks we’re such pushovers they would like to play us twice a year.
On a bulletin board in the hallway of Michigan’s football offices, the coaching staff put up Illini orange crepe paper and a cutout of Tepper with the quote coming out of a bubble over his head.
Let’s take a break from the war of words to consider two things:
– Is this what passes for motivational genius these days?
– Why do players believe their coaches when they are presented with the same, lame, doctored quotes?
Imagine if every boss worked this way. “Smithers over in accounts payable says you wouldn’t know a decimal point from a dollar sign. Are you going to stand for this? Let’s get out there, increase production and show him who wears the polyester pants in this company!”
Would that make you want to work harder? Probably not. And if you continued to receive those goofy messages, you, being the intelligent, discerning person you are, might say to yourself: “Every week there seems to be someone making an inflammatory statement about me. Why is that?”
Two possibilities. One, you play soccer. Two, the comments have been–that’s right–doctored by your boss!
The way Northwestern players jump on these quotes with abandon is particularly surprising. The Wildcats are generally considered among the brightest athletes in the nation, and yet they never question the veracity of what they are hearing. Perhaps they should take those hefty SAT scores and read Barnett’s book, “High Hopes.”
In it Barnett cites one of his best motivational moments. Tepper–that poor guy again–was paying homage to Wildcats offensive lineman Matt O’Dwyer. Tepper said Northwestern had one player who was really good, meaning, of course, that O’Dwyer was very talented.
“I took his statement out of context and made it appear that he said we only had one guy,” Barnett wrote. “I made up a handout and showed our kids. I could feel the electricity when they crumpled up the sheets. Then I gave them a T-shirt saying `More Than One,’ meaning (Northwestern had) more than one Big Ten-quality player.
“That was a little sneaky, especially since Lou and I are good friends. But I was creating a cause.”
Northwestern was down 26-6 in the fourth quarter and won 27-26. You would think that if the misinterpreted quote had fueled the Wildcats, it would have been early in the game. You would think that perhaps coaches might see this type of thing and start to believe there could be other ways to motivate players.
Nah.
Last week, after Michigan beat up on Michigan State, the Wolverines were frothing about a quote from a Spartan.
“Michigan is dead” was the quote that found its way into the Wolverines’ camp the week of the game.
Problem was, no Michigan player could say where the quote came from, and reporters who cover Michigan State insisted no such statement was made during the week.
No matter.
“Anybody tells you that you’re dead, you’re going to be fired up,” Michigan cornerback Charles Woodson said after the game. “Our word for the week was dead. D-e-a-d.”
Even if no one breathed the word.
Barnett should know that these things can turn on coaches. Here’s what he had to say last week about Purdue coach Joe Tiller and his surprisingly successful team:
“I felt like they were one play away last year from being a 7-4 team. So it wasn’t like Joe came in and developed those offensive linemen or Joe came in and developed a Billy Dicken. He had those guys when he got there. He just got those guys to believe in themselves.”
Take away the last sentence and I’m thinking Barnett is insulting Tiller, his players and, I don’t know, anyone who has ever passed through West Lafayette, Ind.
Gary, Gary. What are we going to do with you?
