Ditch Day at practice.

by dokein on Apr 15, 2008 10:31 PM PDT

Today was ditch day, a tradition in which the football teams runs off the field after stretching.

According to B. Dohn,

The coaching staff, including head coach Rick Neuheisel, were clearly not pleased to be blind-sided by the senior-led effort to ditch practice.

What do you all think about the subject?

Personally, I am not so happy. On one hand, it is tradition. On the other hand, we only have 15 NCAA allowed spring practices and an extremely raw offensive line.

Although one practice may not seem like much, at this level football games are usually not won by much either--sometimes a split second can make the difference between whether your quarterback completes a successful pass, or whether he gets injured and throws an interception.

Secondly, at this point in the year when we are learning a new offense, it is important for the seniors to show leadership by working very hard. We CANNOT have any more "3 game seasons", and the football team should not foster an environment of being "OK" with a ~0.500 season.

The recruits and high school coaches that were there took the time to travel to practice. They also understand where UCLA was last season, and I don't think this type of attitude reflects well on our team.

It is tradition, and I understand this. However, when I was in middle school, I got a C because I didn't do the homework (back when homework was a large portion of ones grade). Therefore, my parents didn't give me a Christmas present.

For us, we had a bad year last year. We have a difficult schedule and a VERY raw team next year. I am probably being a too cynical, but I cannot help but feel that KD has fostered an environment of mediocrity. Ask yourself this--if our basketball team went ~0.500, would they ditch a day of practice?

This is a FanPost and does not necessarily reflect the views of BruinsNation's (BN) editors. It does reflect the views of this particular fan though, which is as important as the views of BN's editors.

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too bad

i was there with my notebook by 4:30 and nothing was going on...can't make it the rest of the week...why is work cutting into my real job??

matsumoto class of '05

by matsumoto720 on Apr 15, 2008 10:37 PM PDT reply actions

I'll bite

I understand the tradition and I guess they did show solidarity in carrying this out? Having said that, we are installing a new offense under a new coaching staff. I would have liked to see the Seniors step up and say although it is tradition, we need to "earn" the right to carry this tradition out by performing on the field first. We have yet to earn that right thus we need to continue to work. Seniors could have said that we'll do this later in the year when the time is right after we have put the work into it.

Not terribly disappointed but the timing is bad especially with all the questions we have at numerous positions and as a team.

by BlueReign on Apr 15, 2008 10:45 PM PDT reply actions

Mixed feelings

I coach high school football and get a mandated maximum 15 days. I schedule it to the minute to get my offense installed. I'd probably have a heart attack if this happened. On the other hand I understand the need for a mental break. Just think it might be better to find a way that doesn't cost practice time.

by kauwildman on Apr 15, 2008 10:46 PM PDT reply actions

Is there a way

that they could have let the coaches know in advance? So that, at the very least, they could hold a practice session at some other time instead of being forced to install the offense in only 14 practices.

This way, there would have been no individual training, just some stretching, which has a better chance of not being counted as one of the fifteen practices.

by dokein on Apr 15, 2008 10:50 PM PDT up reply actions

You're 100% right

the seniors should have thought about this before doing it especially when you know Neuheisal has explained that they have a short time to get a lot done. They'll probably end up adding more time on to remaining practices unless the NCAA has rules about how long the practices can be. I was thinking the same thing about KD and that these guys probably haven't seen the type of discipline Neu is ready for. I wonder if Walker or someone else had warned Neu of this if it's a tradition and it happened last year?

by bruin95 on Apr 15, 2008 10:50 PM PDT reply actions

never heard of ditch day in college football

thought that was more of a high school seniors phenomenon.

by jjreicher on Apr 15, 2008 10:50 PM PDT reply actions

This has been going on

for 30 years, including teams that Neuheisel himself was on.

Although I'll be the first to agree that Dorrell brought mediocrity to the program, this is one thing we can't blame him for.

While this is tradition and constitutes only one day in spring practice, I think there is something to say about bringing a committment and dedication to success to this program. Thus I think this is one tradition that has worn out its welcome and needs to be abolished.

"You don't make it to the Final Four three straight times for no reason..Obviously coaching has something to do with it." Darren Collison

by godblesstyus95 on Apr 15, 2008 10:56 PM PDT reply actions

Hmm...

I didn't mean that KD brought this tradition to the program. I meant that KD brought in the attitude of ditching being acceptable on one of only 15 practices alloted for the installation of a brand new offense.

At the LEAST, I would have liked to see Ben Olson step up and stop this, if he is going to complain about starting.

by dokein on Apr 15, 2008 11:03 PM PDT up reply actions

An Outsider's Perspective

I have been a die hard Bruin hoops and football fan since I was born and will be forever. However, I attended The University of Colorado from 03-07 and while the time I was there was probably the worst our program has ever been I can not imagine something like this going over well with Barnett and ESPECIALLY NOT WITH HAWKINS. I can appreciate tradition but like many have said these are precious hours our boys have to practice in the spring and while it's a stretch, if we lose a game by three at some point this year, is it not unreasonable to think we can look back on today as the reason why? Some traditions are meant to be broken and I would say this is one of them.

by dijonplease on Apr 15, 2008 11:51 PM PDT reply actions