Home Athletics Final Word on Ryan Leaf & Riley

Final Word on Ryan Leaf & Riley

44

At the risk of beating a dead horse, I'll keep this brief. I just wanted to clarify something, which I did in the comment area yesterday, but some might not have read it:

Obviously Leaf isn’t an authoritative source. Still, he was a major talent and NFL player who called Riley an idiot.

The guys you mention love Riley for their own reasons. Many times it’s because he’s a nice guy (or in Harbaugh’s case, gave him a chance to QB). When Harbaugh coached Stanford, I doubt he stayed up all night scheming against Riley. You know?

You have to separate the opponents’ reverence for Riley due to him being a nice guy and playing by the rules (which is rare in this day) versus their respect for him as a scheming football mind. I’d wager quite a bit of money it’s more the former. Everyone around here respects him on that front.

And:

For the record, I think Leaf is an idiot, and I think Riley is undisciplined with no attention to detail (amongst other flaws, though I am not sure “idiot” is one of them, but maybe it is given Riley’s misuse of timeouts, challenges, etc?). If Leaf didn’t mention Riley’s lack of discipline this wouldn’t be a story because he, Leaf, is an idiot. Even a blind squirrel finds an acorn once and a while, though, and I think Leaf’s take on Riley’s discipline is spot on.

And finally:

I think Riley assumes the role of the players’ dad. He’s more interested in carving men out of them than he is winning games. That’s fine and all if you’re a priest but not as a D1 coach. Not that it’s not important at all, but it should be way down on the ladder.

I'd also like fans who say, "Riley got us to within one game of a Rose Bowl!" to realize several things:

  • The Rodgers brothers had a lot to do with that. This was further proven when James got hurt and the 2010 season went kaput. Then, when Quizz got drafted the 2011 run game collapsed. When both were healthy, the Beavs made two Rose Bowl runs (I'd argue in spite of Riley).
  • James was pretty much a coach in the huddle–he motivated teammates more than Riley. Being fair, give Riley credit for offering the scholarship…
  • "Almost" only counts in horseshoes and hand grenades!
  • The conference was down in 2008 and 2009.

The conference should be stronger than ever in the next few years. Recruiting has really picked up. Everyone is being aggressive. Let's see how Riley does moving forward without the benefit of two legendary brothers.

Alright, end rant. Enjoy the Super Bowl. Should be a good one.

44 COMMENTS

  1. Based on the Trib story and what Jack posted, during this past week the gross pay of the folks in the OSU athletic department that I wonder about are as follows:

    Bobby D ~ $9,615.00 ($500K annual)
    Mike R ~$22,000.00 ($1,151,667. annual)
    Mark B ~ $6,933.00 ($360.5K annual)
    Craig R ~$18,269.00 ($950K annual)

    http://www.portlandtribune.com/sports/story.php?story_id=130212662027395500

    Are OSU and the fans getting their money’s worth?

    Does Dr. Ray care about OSU athletics?

  2. hard to disagree with your main point, i think the only issue some took was that there are a lot better examples to suggest riley is becoming an ineffective head coach than ryan leaf’s opinion.

    • Ditto. And, here’s to hoping every defensive Beav player watched that tackle by Ross at the end of the first quarter. If the LB coach (hmmm……Banker) doesn’t emphasize, demand, and practice that kind of open field tackling I’d like to know why!

  3. speaking of beating a dead horse, where’s our DB hire????

    What is he doing to get that position filled? It makes me think that his candidates don’t want the job, there are jobs getting filled in college and pro ranks on a daily basis, yet nothing from our program, errr!

  4. “For whom the bell tolls” blasting over the PA during the super bowl.

    My god how the world has changed since I bought that album in 1984.

      • Did that come out in ’85? That was a long time ago. I thought Master of Puppets came out in ’86.

        Sure as hell wasn’t on the radio,much less at the super bowl.

        And for the record I was in middle school in Corvallis.

        • Come to think of it I probably didn’t buy it either. I had a friend that made me tapes of records he would buy. Sucked when his older brother’s tankass girlfriend would stomp through the house and put skips on my tapes.

          Master of Puppets I did buy. Reign in Blood and Among the Living too. Don’t think I actually bought Kill em All or Ride the Ligtning til later.

      • It was made and released in Europe in ’84. It didn’t hit US shelves until late in ’85 for whatever reason. MoP did come out in ’86. By my book, that was the last good album they put out. I guess I’m in the crowd who really missed Burton. Newsted is fine, but I think they should have gone with Claypool. The world would have lost a couple iconic Primus albums, but Metallica wouldn’t have died in that crash.

    • Coughlin had the correct “counter-strategy”, but it was not quite executed, hard not to score a TD, but it worked out in the end.

  5. “James was pretty much a coach in the huddle–he motivated teammates more than Riley. Being fair, give Riley credit for offering the scholarship…
    The conference was down in 2008 and 2009.”

    don’t be stupid. Really, you are going to actually believe those statements? I can get behind the argument that the runs in 08 and 09 were mainly due to the rodgers brothers but even a big riley hater can’t strip him of everything. If there is one thing he isn’t it is a worthless coach.

    • I’m looking for “worthless” in those quotes.

      I don’t see them.

      Apparently some people do.

      I’m beginning to understand the psyche of the pollyanna. Anything realistic is hell bent for destruction against my team. Maybes and mights are as definitive as nevers and evers. Anything uplifting is happenstance.

  6. For the record, they should have allowed the NYG to score with about 3:30 left when they got the first down inside the 20. It would have been less obvious, and they would have had 3:30 left.

    The timekeeper was obviously a NYG fan… or had money on them. It’s pretty sad when a major sporting event can’t control the pieces of their own puzzle.

    I appreciated this game more for the strategy than I did the game itself. it was really a terrible game, but all the subplots kept me watching.

    How Manningham did not win the MVP for his one catch alone is beyond me. Without that super-human effort, the Pats win easy.

      • I like how they win a car that they not only probably own 3 of already, but own half a dozen that would be better (other than being the trophy for MVP). Uneccessary I think. I bit too much of in your face lavishness…they might as well tell us how much more he made in bonuses by wining the SB and the likely MVP bonus in his contract.

  7. For the record, I think angry gives too little credit to Moore, Moevao and Canfield on this one. And i think he would be the first to jump in and say, “yes, but….” I understand how the Rodgii ran the show for a while. But it also helped to have a competent and experienced QB.

    • Those QBs deserve a little credit. I just find it more than coincidence that they made two Rose Bowl runs the two years both Rodgers were (a) on the team and (b) healthy, and then they fell apart after those guys left. To me that says those guys were the reason. Sure, they needed some guys around them, but they were the difference makers.

      • They were also the only two players I recall talking about the goal of playing in January. They said every year, you want to be playing in January. A totally higher set of goals and expectations than the average “I’m happy to be here” beaver (and head coach), and they had a tremendously positive effect on the team because of they’re abilities and goals.

          • Unfortunately, I don’t think James’s NFL efforts are going to bear fruit because of the impact of his knee surgery on his speed. If not, they should pick him up in some capacity right away. Imagine how well he would recruit, particularly in Texas.

  8. Today, we have no difference makers that we can count on every game.
    USC has Barkley, Lee and Woods.
    Oregon has De Thomas, Barner, and Huff plus maybe Lyerla. Those guys replace LMJ, Thomas and David Paulson.
    MR needs to put a plan in place were he is prepared to have difference makers on the field every season!
    Also, Cal has Keenan Allen who can change a game at any given time.

    • I would disagree with that. Chricton and Wynn are going to be difference makers, they just don’t get enough help in Banker’s “Donut Scheme” (hole in the middle). Poyer is TRYING to be a difference maker, but again doesn’t get enough help.

      Mannion I think will be a difference maker next year, and Wheaton/Cooks will approach it, but probably more realistically be “high complimentary” players rather than difference makers – they won’t be the kind of guys that you simply cannot shut down, but they’ll be good. I think Chris Brown could end up being difference maker like Quizz was, question is, when? If he shows it early will he get PT? Probably not…..

      • I might agree on Poyer as a return man. But when looking for a “Boom” event that results in 6 points those mentioned above don’t compare to those I listed. Brown has potential but so does every other running back just recruited by our competition. I will venture a guess that Brown turns out to be more like Chris Polk than a LMJ. Instant offense that can turn a game around.

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