https://mobile.twitter.com/UHCougarFB/status/1007661260438147073
I’ll be here at the office grinding. I will have to catch up later.
So, does anyone have a report on CMA’s radio gig today?
Dane Roy at 29:17
CMA starts at 40:08
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https://twitter.com/Joseph_Duarte/status/1009148978783453184
https://twitter.com/Joseph_Duarte/status/1009149430312947714
https://twitter.com/CarsonJoachim/status/1009149996405526528
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Highlights:
Dane Roy (only on for about 5 minutes):
- Matt tells him to get his punting average up to 44, his IN20 to 30, and to win 12 games. Dane says no problem.
- Doesn’t comment on Matt saying that all losses are because of the officials.
- Talks about Australia in the World Cup for a little bit and where the Aussies meet in Houston to watch.
- Dane will have a great career in broadcasting when he’s done.
(Note: There’s a couple of non-UH calls and a commercial break in between Dane and Coach)
CMA:
- Matt tries to talk about what bowl game UH is going to this year and CMA says that they have Rice on the schedule 1st
- Says that he has to take time off when he gets home and spend time with the kids. Wednesday evenings they get home a little earlier and Thursday nights they basically take off. Social media doesn’t keep them all tied to their desks anymore.
- Says that as the season goes along, everyone starts falling into a routine with what they need to do.
- Says that Monday is an off-day for practice and is a good day to touch base with other coaches around the country.
- Very happy with the new red-shirt rules that allow players to play 4 games and still be redshirted. Says that it should keep guys healthier as they can get guys in during those blowouts. Thinks it will also help cut down on transfers because they get an opportunity to play instead of not being engaged when redshirting. Also thinks that academics will be better with guys being engaged with the team more instead of getting in a funk or going on cruise control.
- Never really thought about the fact that they might have a more traditional start to the season. Think the kids and coaches were ready to go when they got to Arizona.
- High-water mark of the season: the comeback against USF and finishing the season with a win against Navy
- Low-point of the season: The loss against Memphis where they played 58 minutes of football and didn’t finish
- No complaints about being in Hawaii for the bowl. Opportunity that a lot of people don’t get to have in their life, have everything paid for, and get to play a game. Should have won the game though.
- Two-sides to the trip: Great experience for the team and the kids; other 99% of it was that they were a better team and should have won the game…too many mistakes.
- Favorite bowl game as a player: 1st one as a redshirt freshman/Ricky Williams’ last game and last one against Washington in the Holiday Bowl.
- Doesn’t talk to Ricky Williams anymore. Different worlds. Goes on to say that he’s an interesting guy that speaks about a number of issues, but there was an age difference there. Says Ricky wasn’t an entitled athlete and never took advantage of his star status. Said it was great to be able to sit back and watch one of the greatest RB’s in CFB history go.
(Commercial Break) - Has to wait until a potential transfer gets their release before they can talk to them
- No spreadsheet for transfers. However, the NCAA did just put the rule into effect that they all have to be entered into a database going forward.
- Anybody brought into the program is what kind of ballplayer is he, academics, and what’s his character. Same for anybody brought in whether they’re a freshman or a transfer.
- Transfers create competition on the roster. Got to understand that there’s going to be great players brought in all the time so if you get offended that good players are coming in and may take your spot, the program will go on without you.
- King has competition at QB. There’s always competition.
- Major relates how they fill out a sheet about what they do well and what they can improve on and everyone fills it out on everybody. Coaches sit down and take those sheets and figure out how to go forward with each player.
- Says that most of the time the players are really hard on themselves and the coaches have to bring them up a bit and let them know they’re doing a good job. Says about 10% of the time, there are guys that think they’re better than they are and they have to put them in their place a bit.
(Commercial break) - Joke around about Dane Roy a bit. Says that they better not punt enough for Dane to get 30 inside the 20. Major gets (jokingly) mad a bit that Matt wants Dane to throw a pass this year. Major says he’s setting it up.
- Talks about Kendal Briles a bit. Says guys got better on and off the field because of him. Says that he sees the confidence that Briles and Clements carry around and that he’s impressed by how he interacts with everybody on the field and in the office.
- He and Kendal were teammates at Texas for a year before CKB left to Houston.
- Had to recruit against him the last few years and saw how hard that he worked in recruiting.
- Says that CKB has free reign for the offense and that it’s his to make his own. Trusts them because they’ve done this at a number of levels.
- Has enjoyed being around them for 5-6 months and the players like them. Says the OL feels that they’re getting better and they can see the confidence in their coaching now.
- Mentioned that Brian Johnson wanted to bring in the original OL coach that was hired that ended up at Indiana (Basically infers that there were issues between Scelfo and Johnson, whether it was just getting on the same page or worse isn’t really hashed out). Said it was important that whoever he brought in as OC was going to get to pick the OL coach which is why Clements was brought in with Briles.
(Commercial Break) - CMA says he’s not going to open a Chik-Fil-A. Groans and tells Matt to keep it going.
- Says that Big Ed’s declaring for the draft wasn’t his idea. Ed just wanted to get that out of the way so that the reporters wouldn’t keep asking them all season.
- Says that Ed only has to prove whether he can stay on top. Ed is working hard and pushing himself. CMA says that he’s told Ed that he can’t just be the best DL at Houston, has to be the best in the nation.
- Says Ed does too much freelancing. Tries to teach him about some of the things he does and how it affects the entire defense.
- Looking forward to seeing what the WR and CB can do. Lost a ton of production at WR with Bonner and Dunbar leaving. Need to recruit more speed at WR. Getting better and it’s noticeable this season, but the guys lost were very dependable. They could run routes, create separation and catch the ball.
- Cornerbacks: says that I.Johnson and Myres looked much better this spring after being brand new last year. Also able to bring in Watkins and expect Kadarian and Javain to be better.
- Both Rice and Arizona will have a game before the game against the Coogs. Can watch the first game and get plenty of info from that first tape. They’ll go back and watch last year’s games to get an idea on some of the players, but they get most of their info from that 1st game tape.
- CMA says he likes to play in Lubbock, especially at night. Laments they won’t play there at night. Says he’s been hit by a tortilla there. Great place to go and get a win.
- As far as scheduling, says he just wants as good an opponent as he can get. Doesn’t want 9 option teams on the schedule. Just wants good opponents and good games in order to entertain the fans and give them a good time.
- Won’t answer the question about why he didn’t start the 2001 Big 12 Championship game from the producer.
- Matt Thomas congratulates him on being one of nine guys to make a free throw before the Rockets game. Major is amazed that the percentage is that low.
- They come back around to the producer’s question and Major said that Simms played well all season and deserved to start.
That’s it for Major
They then get requests from females to have Dane speak more so Matt mentions that he’ll read off the prize for a contest later on.
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Thanks pray10, that was a very well done synopsis and I really appreciate your effort.
These two items caught my attention:
Says that CKB has free reign for the offense and that it’s his to make his own. Trusts them because they’ve done this at a number of levels.
Has enjoyed being around them for 5-6 months and the players like them. Says the OL feels that they’re getting better and they can see the confidence in their coaching now.
I assume he gave his previous OC the same freedom and the comments about the last OC & OL coach were telling. I am very optimistic about our chances this fall. Time will tell.
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Very telling. I made note of it, but you could really tell by how he was talking that there was something going on between Scelfo and Johnson that maybe carried over to the players and to the team. There didn’t seem any animosity in CMA’s voice towards Johnson, but there were some telling comments about the OL that made it seem that CMA was not impressed at all with Scelfo. Hard when your first choice backs out like what happened, but he’ll learn to do more background to ensure that a replacement jives with what’s in place.
Makes me think that we’ll see a much improved OL this year.
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Thanks for the update!
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Thanks Pray, You do outstanding work and as a longtime follower i really appreciate it.
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