A Letter to NFL GM's

[Psycho Jim]

By Shaquem Griffin

https://www.theplayerstribune.com/shaquem-griffin-ucf-nfl-draft-letter-to-general-managers/

A good read.

This guy has been the heart of UCF Football and will be the hardest to replace.

 

[lawknight]

This whole article screams why the statue needs to come down. People can say all GOL did for the program, I think of all the program should have been if not for him.

 

[UCFProud]

*speechless*

*slow-claps*

 

[Dwooderson]

Awesome read!!!

 

[mattropolis]

This whole article screams why the statue needs to come down. People can say all GOL did for the program, I think of all the program should have been if not for him.

Great coaches find ways to motivate players....GOL seems to have done just that. See, you can spin it any way you'd like.

 

[BlakNGoldAllDay]

Great coaches find ways to motivate players....GOL seems to have done just that. See, you can spin it any way you'd like.

Frost and Chinander did the motivating.

 

[Poolside Knight]

big time leadership gap that will need to be replaced, just rewatch Knight Flicks & his leadership is everywhere

So happy for him, he slept in the Football building during camp. Hard work & passion pay off.

 

[SCKnight]

This whole article screams why the statue needs to come down. People can say all GOL did for the program, I think of all the program should have been if not for him.

Ok....because GOL missed on a single player all of the other accomplishments are meaningless. I wonder how many players a year fall into this category at every program every year. People can say all he did for the program because of all he did for the program. How would like to have USF's accomplishments over the same time period? That will give you some real reference.

 

[lawknight]

Ok....because GOL missed on a single player all of the other accomplishments are meaningless. I wonder how many players a year fall into this category at every program every year. People can say all he did for the program because of all he did for the program. How would like to have USF's accomplishments over the same time period? That will give you some real reference.

Missed on a player....lol or missed on a few because of his personal grudges (Tay, Hodges, griffin) Two winless seasons, got the program sanctioned twice, killed a player. Yeah but had two good seasons in 11. Even a blind squirrel finds a nut.

 

[SCKnight]

Missed on a player....lol or missed on a few because of his personal grudges (Tay, Hodges, griffin) Two winless seasons, got the program sanctioned twice, killed a player. Yeah but had two good seasons in 11. Even a blind squirrel finds a nut.

I am sure he missed on more than those. I am sure every coach misses on multiple players a class. That you equate them to grudges tells me that you are listening to internet gossip again.
I am guessing you did not become a fan until 2008 or so, that would explain you thinking that winning championships and going to bowl games does not equate to a good season. Even if you were right two good seasons equates to more than most every G-5 team has had in the last 15 years or so. How many nuts have they found over in Tampa in those 11 seasons? Or in Greenville NC? Or any other college in similar circumstances to UCF? Boise found a couple maybe? They had one in Houston. But if want to overlook taking the program to multiple bowl games and championships to suit your unsubstantiated view of GOL it is fine.

 

[lawknight]

I am sure he missed on more than those. I am sure every coach misses on multiple players a class. That you equate them to grudges tells me that you are listening to internet gossip again.
I am guessing you did not become a fan until 2008 or so, that would explain you thinking that winning championships and going to bowl games does not equate to a good season. Even if you were right two good seasons equates to more than most every G-5 team has had in the last 15 years or so. How many nuts have they found over in Tampa in those 11 seasons? Or in Greenville NC? Or any other college in similar circumstances to UCF? Boise found a couple maybe? They had one in Houston. But if want to overlook taking the program to multiple bowl games and championships to suit your unsubstantiated view of GOL it is fine.

Actually I’ve probably been following UCF just as long if not longer than you. Long enough to know that if anyone deserves a statue it’s McDowell (the man who can’t be inducted into UCF HOF, even though he should be)

I’d say you haven’t been following if you don’t remember the Beatings UCF took from USF and ECU under GOL. The bad play calling that costs us games at K-State, USC, FIU (twice), Tulsa, etc. Or if you can’t remember three yards and a cloud of dust, Brandon Davis, or Troy green.

And yes coaches miss on players but few overlook or bench good players (such as Tay and Hodges) when they are clearly heads above the competition. (Calabrese over Hodges [well he was very good at running the wildcat]) Read the articles on how happy the players were when GOL left and Frost came in. Look how Frosts players react to him versus GOL’s old players.

 

[Knightshift]

Missed on a player....lol or missed on a few because of his personal grudges (Tay, Hodges, griffin) Two winless seasons, got the program sanctioned twice, killed a player. Yeah but had two good seasons in 11. Even a blind squirrel finds a nut.

You're a despicable asshole.

 

[lawknight]

Anthony Davis said that UCF coach George O'Leary ordered all water and trainers out of the indoor fieldhouse during the practice on March 18, 2008. He also testified during the wrongful death trial in Orlando that the coach was yelling obscenities at Plancher as he told him to get up after falling during an obstacle course drill.


And I’m the despicable ass... pot meet kettle

 

[lawknight]

Five days after naming George O'Leary its new head football coach, the University of Notre Dame announced today that O'Leary had resigned suddenly after admitting to falsifying parts of his academic and athletic background.

For two decades, O'Leary, 55, formerly the coach at Georgia Tech, exaggerated his accomplishments as a football player at the University of New Hampshire and falsely claimed to have earned a master's degree in education from New York University..

And

"[O'Leary] said I wasn't worth [expletive] and I'd never play here," said Moffett, who was recruited by former coach Mike Kruczek.



Some call that incentive. I call that abuse. And that is the kind of environment Moffett said he and his teammates practiced in daily.

And

The lowest of the lows was probably the summer before my third season, when the coaches had most of the guys stay in Orlando to work out while other guys went home for the summer.

They kept Shaquill at UCF for the summer.

They sent me home to St. Petersburg.

Would you like me to keep going...

I’m the despicable ass cause I don’t think we should have a statue to a man the physically abused his players... hey but your the type that probably thinks Harvey Weinstein should have a statue overseeing Hollywood.

 

[lawknight]

Answer me this anyone how many division 1 programs have had two winless seasons in the last 50 years?

How many have had two winless seasons under the same coach ?

 

[SCKnight]

Actually I’ve probably been following UCF just as long if not longer than you. Long enough to know that if anyone deserves a statue it’s McDowell (the man who can’t be inducted into UCF HOF, even though he should be)

I’d say you haven’t been following if you don’t remember the Beatings UCF took from USF and ECU under GOL. The bad play calling that costs us games at K-State, USC, FIU (twice), Tulsa, etc. Or if you can’t remember three yards and a cloud of dust, Brandon Davis, or Troy green.

And yes coaches miss on players but few overlook or bench good players (such as Tay and Hodges) when they are clearly heads above the competition. (Calabrese over Hodges [well he was very good at running the wildcat]) Read the articles on how happy the players were when GOL left and Frost came in. Look how Frosts players react to him versus GOL’s old players.

You reverse engineer whatever argument you want to fit your narrative. You go back and pick the trees you know are dead rather than look at the forest. Monday morning Quarterbacking at its best. Results are results. How you get there is irrelevant. You have no idea how any of those choices would have ultimately turned out. We can go back in time and pick out the worst of everyone and every choice ever made and end up in the same place. Like him or not, respect him or not, GOL took a lost and foundering program, gave it stability, credibility, identity and a solid foundation upon which could be built. Were there hiccups along the way? Yes. But the results are the results. From a program that was not even an afterthought (the best 0-3 team in the nation LOL) to a program that expected progress and success (bowl wins, championships top 25 finishes). He did it his way which was the old school way. That rubbed some people the wrong way well too bad. He stayed two years too long; bad on the administration. But to dream some unknown dream that "might have been" if some other coach was here is just idiotic. I would not trade 0-12 (x2) for anything if it meant that we had nothing except mediocrity like most every other program in our position.

I forget nothing. I remember that those same USF and ECU teams that crushed us also suffered at our hands. I also remember that those teams accomplished exactly zero in the same time period we were winning championships. Would you rather trade places with those teams? I remember GOL recruiting Kevin Smith as a running-back when everyone else wanted him as DB..blah blah blah...we can go on forever with examples of good and bad.

I remember as a student watching Lou Saben run our football program $1,000,000 in debt while going 2-9 and the Gene McDowel (who I respect greatly) making strides but being shortsighted in snubbing CUSA's overtures to UCF (McDowell had expectations of an SEC or ACC invite). I watched while Kruz made the offense interesting, but had a team that was not disciplined enough to work hard to finish (or to go to class). I saw poor Allan Gooch take over a team with no leadership, spirit or discipline and have an 8 game losing streak that was the leader to GOL's first 0-12 season (people tend to forget that UCF had lost 8 in a row before that season). All during this time UCF accomplished exactly nothing other than a few close games against some big name teams and one last second victory against a hapless 3-8 Alabama (don't get me wrong I was excited at the time)

I saw GOL clean house of the dead weight and those unwilling to work hard. I saw him slowly build the program and host the CUSA championship in his second year (sound familiar?) and UCF's first bowl game. I saw in year 4 GOL win the CUSA championship thus beginning the up and down of the GOL era. But at least there was good AND bad, not just "almost". You can't have it both ways. There is good and bad. If Frost had stayed at UCF for 12 years there would have been good and bad too. You just can't look at the negative and ignore the steps forward that UCF took in the GOL years. If nothing else know that President Hitt is a very smart man. He made UCF what it is today. He was a GOL man. He understood the value of what we had, and unfortunately pushed it past its useful time period.

 

[SCKnight]

"[O'Leary] said I wasn't worth [expletive] and I'd never play here," said Moffett, who was recruited by former coach Mike Kruczek.



Some call that incentive. I call that abuse. And that is the kind of environment Moffett said he and his teammates practiced in daily.

Boo Hoo... a football coach can be a mean guy... shocker.

 

[SCKnight]

Answer me this anyone how many division 1 programs have had two winless seasons in the last 50 years?

How many have had two winless seasons under the same coach ?

Hmmm... One. You have not answer my question yet. Would you trade UCF's record for USF's record over the same time period? That would eliminate the 0-12s. Would that satisfy you?

 

[lawknight]

You realize over the same period there is only a 5 game difference. And we won one big bowl game that Bortles/Permian had to will us into with a miracle Hail Mary. And their bowl record over the same period was 4-3 while ours was 3-4. So not that much of a difference. I don’t see that as eliminating 2 winless seasons. So now why don’t you answer my question.

Now if you had bothered to read most of my posts here youd realize I don’t hate GOL. I am grateful for what he did. He rebuilt the academics of the program that were lacking under Kruz. He built\rebuilt relationships with donors. He is mostly responsible for the Wayne Densch Center and facilities. We won the liberty bowl and Fiesta bowl. He was a good (not great) coach. I don’t think he deserves a statue when you take the bad with the good.

 

[lawknight]

Boo Hoo... a football coach can be a mean guy... shocker.

Being mean is one thing.

Ordering water be withheld, rescue efforts to stop and yelling expletives while one of your players is dying is beyond boo hoo mean coach.

 

[SCKnight]

You realize over the same period there is only a 5 game difference. And we won one big bowl game that Bortles/Permian had to will us into with a miracle Hail Mary. And their bowl record over the same period was 4-3 while ours was 3-4. So not that much of a difference. I don’t see that as eliminating 2 winless seasons. So now why don’t you answer my question.

Now if you had bothered to read most of my posts here youd realize I don’t hate GOL. I am grateful for what he did. He rebuilt the academics of the program that were lacking under Kruz. He built\rebuilt relationships with donors. He is mostly responsible for the Wayne Densch Center and facilities. We won the liberty bowl and Fiesta bowl. He was a good (not great) coach. I don’t think he deserves a statue when you take the bad with the good.

So you don't see a big difference in the accomplishments of UCF and USF over the same period of time? Really? You look at our trophy case and then at theirs and say? Meh...? You think the two winless seasons mean more than even just a single BCS bowl victory and a top 10 finish? You would trade that out? By the way Hail Periman was in 2014 in the second consecutive year of AAC championships. I LOL at the notion that someone can "luck" their way to 13 wins and a two victories over top 10 teams in a season. That team had heart much like last year's team had.

Who cares how you win them; by 100 or by one; in the first quarter of the last second. It does not matter. Heck we were seconds away from winning against SC for a perfect season under GOL if you want to play that game. Seasons are judged in season not in averages over years. Championships are championships. We won big and lost big.

I only bother reading your posts in this thread and you come off as a real hater wanting to tear down the statue because GOL did not play Griffin. You bash him for the Planchard affair which I will guess probably haunts him and many others to this day. I could care less about the statue, but GOL is a huge reason for UCF being where it is. Some bigtime donors and people very close to the program realized that and did not want him to go out like he did. I think it is a nice honor for him. It might have been a bit premature, eventually he would have deserved one.

I am glad GOL is gone not because he was a meany or old school, but because he lost his drive and effectiveness. Without GOL accomplishing as much as he did Frost does not come here.

 

[SCKnight]

Being mean is one thing.

Ordering water be withheld, rescue efforts to stop and yelling expletives while one of your players is dying is beyond boo hoo mean coach.

Yeah I am sure that was just what was intended. We both know that it was a tragedy on so many levels. That the coach did what he did, that the trainers failed, that EP knowingly played football with a genetic disorder that placed him at risk of death; that everyone knew it but failed to take steps to recognize it and deal with. That there were many stopgaps in place but nobody recognized the symptoms in time. You can try to lay that all at the feet of GOL but that would be unfair. The jury got it right. The trainers, who are trained and knowledgeable about all of this failed to do their jobs and recognize the symptoms of the disorder. GOL was found to be without liability. But I am sure he still feels that loss.

Since 2000, more than 32 players have died at practice/game related injuries including collapse due to strenuous activities and sickle cell disorders. This is not a GOL related problem.

 

[SiberianKnightmare]

Frost and Chinander did the motivating.

No one did the motivating besides Shaq himself.

Those two just gave him an opportunity.

 

[Stormthecourt?]

Ok....because GOL missed on a single player all of the other accomplishments are meaningless. I wonder how many players a year fall into this category at every program every year. People can say all he did for the program because of all he did for the program. How would like to have USF's accomplishments over the same time period? That will give you some real reference.

Hitt isn’t Genshaft so your argument isn’t an either or.
And yes the end of the FIU game in 2015 and GOL’s quote about Matthew Wright, and why we lost the game, was terrible. Firm bizzle and I tried to warn everyone

 

[BlakNGoldAllDay]

No one did the motivating besides Shaq himself.

Those two just gave him an opportunity.

Someone had to convince him to not quit.