jjmc85 wrote: Mon Oct 20, 2025 11:23 pm
umassbaseball wrote: Mon Oct 20, 2025 2:08 pm
If you listened to his press conference from today, he called you stupid.
I went back and listened to the press conference. I did not hear Coach H call anyone stupid. Can someone please provide the time stamp? I will withhold comment until I hear it.
Addressing my earlier post, I said there were two strategies. When addressing the offensive series before the punt, Coach H laid out the same two strategies. My interpretation of watching live was they switch strategies after second down. Coach H said this was not the case. They were trying to get the first down to win the game from first down. I’ll believe him and retract my criticism of switch strategies.
I might go back and watch the two run plays before the pass. Coach H went into a lot of detail about why each was called in the press conference. It may be interesting to watch the plays through the lens of attempting to get a first down.
I just had a chance to watch the press conference. A couple of things. First, regarding the "stupid" comments, I agree that I didn't hear Coach H call anyone "stupid." In the video below, at roughly the 3-minute mark, then again at about 5:30, he talks about the analytics book UMass pays for that gives him feedback about situations, including broadcaster commentary. In this case, the book said to "completely ignore" the negative commentary about the approach to that that last series. Coach clearly says that people are entitled to their opinions, but that is the metric he uses to gauge his success and is what he uses with the team to put the comments of broadcasters and fans into proper perspective. In this case the metric was to get the first down, not burn Buffalo's timeouts. I happen to agree with that, and I'm glad to hear that the coaches understood the situation properly.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wv0fFr8S0G0
Second, like you, I came away from his explanation about that last series with a different interpretation, especially regarding those first two plays. Unlike many here, I never criticized the decision to throw on third down, but it looked to me like they were trying to just take a knee on those first two plays. Apparently not. Turns, out that the first was a sort of "busted" play and on the second, the running back cramped up and collapsed. That sucks, but at least I know now that they understood they needed the first down and were actually trying to get it. It didn't look like it at the time, but I now believe that they were. So, I also retract my criticism.
It's still frustrating, and I'm still miffed about the unsportsmanlike penalty that put them in such a bad position, but I appreciate Coach's explanation and that he took the time to, in my opinion, respectfully address fan's concerns.
