He's only 39; we forget that.
That may sound pretty old to some of us, but in football head coaching terms, he's still an absolute baby. That's basically a teenager who's still learning how to properly treat his zits, much less change an entire football culture, restore hope to hundreds of thousands of disenchanted fans and alumni. and match wits with the most grizzled veterans of grid iron coaching.
So far, Lincoln Riley has been nothing short of a smashing success, yet you believe you can still find fault with how he calls plays or manages time-outs before the half (uggg, @Utah). Why does this dichotomy exist?
It's simple--Lincoln Riley is basically Doogie Howser, M.D.--a kid genius who succeeds because he's damn smarter than the rest of us (and smarter than the field). This doesn't mean that he's perfect. The kid will make his share of mistakes. Intelligence can sure help you solve many problems, but it's not a perfect substitute for experience. Lincoln Riley's intelligence has already taken him to the college football playoffs, yet he still hasn't "been here and done that." To get to that point, he really has to...well...be there and do that, and that will take time.
You have to be put into different situations, you have to make mistakes, and you have to learn from those mistakes. That’s how you go from average to good and from good to great. Now, it's still a big assumption that any individual will grow from his experiences and his missteps. Absence the requisite intelligence to truly recognize the error, understand the lesson, and update your standard behavior and procedures to systematically preclude the misstep in the future, you won't necessarily grow from those mistakes.
Some USC fans haven’t been convinced; they still want/need indications that this is THE coach whose trajectory will see him crowned as King of College Football one day. You can’t blame the sentiment. We all saw the coaching missteps against the Utah Utes, then there is the topic of his porous defenses while he was at Oklahoma. For Lincoln Riley to ascend to his throne as the Fresh Prince of Belaire, he will have to show he can build both a prolific offense and a stout defense. Can he do this? There has been doubt.
Well, it would appear that the doubters were in luck. No, the defense hasn’t improved (there hasn’t been time, and Doogie’s balls must drop first), but those doubters had to wait no longer than the very next game after Utah for yet another referee-related controversy. Interestingly--this was a controversy that was only made possible by the fact that Lincoln Riley had indeed learned and fixed his mistake from the prior game. Riley was calling for time-outs the way I call for drinks at a bar (one scotch, one bourbon, and one beer, or in other words, prolifically) in order to save time for one last offensive drive before the half.
Ultimately, it was all for not because the officials predictably proceeded to Mothershed the bed. So what did I do in response? I smiled, and I laughed. I laughed to stop myself from crying, but then I smiled because I realized how quickly Lincoln Riley had fixed his mistake and evolved as a coach. This, more than the win, was the biggest news of the weekend. Single victories will serve to light the path until the next contest, but Lincoln Riley’s actions before the half set off a flare that illuminated the future, and that future is a bright one . It’s bright because this is a coach who not only has a great head start with his superior intelligence but also the will and ability to evolve (and evolve quickly) into the coach we hope he will be.
Dr. Howser, you are being requested in surgery (and might I add that you are a welcome change from Doctor Howard, Doctor Fine, Doctor Howard).
That may sound pretty old to some of us, but in football head coaching terms, he's still an absolute baby. That's basically a teenager who's still learning how to properly treat his zits, much less change an entire football culture, restore hope to hundreds of thousands of disenchanted fans and alumni. and match wits with the most grizzled veterans of grid iron coaching.
So far, Lincoln Riley has been nothing short of a smashing success, yet you believe you can still find fault with how he calls plays or manages time-outs before the half (uggg, @Utah). Why does this dichotomy exist?
It's simple--Lincoln Riley is basically Doogie Howser, M.D.--a kid genius who succeeds because he's damn smarter than the rest of us (and smarter than the field). This doesn't mean that he's perfect. The kid will make his share of mistakes. Intelligence can sure help you solve many problems, but it's not a perfect substitute for experience. Lincoln Riley's intelligence has already taken him to the college football playoffs, yet he still hasn't "been here and done that." To get to that point, he really has to...well...be there and do that, and that will take time.
You have to be put into different situations, you have to make mistakes, and you have to learn from those mistakes. That’s how you go from average to good and from good to great. Now, it's still a big assumption that any individual will grow from his experiences and his missteps. Absence the requisite intelligence to truly recognize the error, understand the lesson, and update your standard behavior and procedures to systematically preclude the misstep in the future, you won't necessarily grow from those mistakes.
Some USC fans haven’t been convinced; they still want/need indications that this is THE coach whose trajectory will see him crowned as King of College Football one day. You can’t blame the sentiment. We all saw the coaching missteps against the Utah Utes, then there is the topic of his porous defenses while he was at Oklahoma. For Lincoln Riley to ascend to his throne as the Fresh Prince of Belaire, he will have to show he can build both a prolific offense and a stout defense. Can he do this? There has been doubt.
Well, it would appear that the doubters were in luck. No, the defense hasn’t improved (there hasn’t been time, and Doogie’s balls must drop first), but those doubters had to wait no longer than the very next game after Utah for yet another referee-related controversy. Interestingly--this was a controversy that was only made possible by the fact that Lincoln Riley had indeed learned and fixed his mistake from the prior game. Riley was calling for time-outs the way I call for drinks at a bar (one scotch, one bourbon, and one beer, or in other words, prolifically) in order to save time for one last offensive drive before the half.
Ultimately, it was all for not because the officials predictably proceeded to Mothershed the bed. So what did I do in response? I smiled, and I laughed. I laughed to stop myself from crying, but then I smiled because I realized how quickly Lincoln Riley had fixed his mistake and evolved as a coach. This, more than the win, was the biggest news of the weekend. Single victories will serve to light the path until the next contest, but Lincoln Riley’s actions before the half set off a flare that illuminated the future, and that future is a bright one . It’s bright because this is a coach who not only has a great head start with his superior intelligence but also the will and ability to evolve (and evolve quickly) into the coach we hope he will be.
Dr. Howser, you are being requested in surgery (and might I add that you are a welcome change from Doctor Howard, Doctor Fine, Doctor Howard).
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