Losing Mentality

[WarthogRebel]

Every year we think "this" will be the year. We have better recruits, or a better QB, or a new Coach, or a new OC etc. etc. But this program is a loser and has been for so many years that it will be nearly impossible to make it a winner. When you get down to it, every recruit knows - deep down in his psyche - that he is in a losing program. And he's O.K. with that because he knew when he came to the program it was a loser and he most likely would lose nearly every game he played in. But he's getting a scholie, he's in a cool town and NOBODY really expects him to win. Least of all himself. But like I said, deep down that's O.K. Yeah, he'll say all the right things, he'll get all fired up, he'll show up to workouts and do all that's expected. But he'll just keep on losing. A new practice facility won't help, a new stadium won't help. IMO, it will take a player (almost has to be a QB) who takes the team on his shoulders and wins. The only way around this losing culture is to win and win a lot.

Quote form a full article on losing below.

"But when a team is used to losing, the mentality is just as powerful. The players may be compliant, and willing to do what they are told, but they aren’t willing to invest and take the emotional risks as easily."

Fighting A Losing Mentality | COACH BOB WALSH

coachbobwalsh.com

 

[rebel5280]

It goes way beyond the players in the program. There is something sinister going on behind the scenes that is unclear on The Who and the why but there is losing at an administrative level at UNLV and that goes back even before Robert Maxson! It ain’t just the kids, there are a lot of loser adults holding this program back!

 

[willlevi]

Like the Sanford prior to that hire, Arroyo spent most of his assistant career coaching losing programs. Both gained notoriety after joining systems that were going to be successful regardless of their input.
The question going forward is can Arroyo develop the intangibles & ingenuity to win games minus having significantly better talent than opposing teams.
Arroyo has a long contract ahead & another poor record makes it unlikely the program will rise on the basis of recruiting alone.

 

[unlove]

Agreed, changing the losing mentality/culture is a critical piece to turning around UNLV and a monumentally difficult task, layered on top of recruiting, coaching and actually winning. Incredibly challenging situation for any coach and when we step back and assess the entirety of the program and what is required to turn it around, anyone with half a brain recognizes this is going to take time. Calls for firing the coach (regardless of who it is) at this point is FANatical and would only setback UNLV further and make the task yet more challenging (as if that’s even possible).

 

[j. spilotro]

It goes way beyond the players in the program. There is something sinister going on behind the scenes that is unclear on The Who and the why but there is losing at an administrative level at UNLV and that goes back even before Robert Maxson! It ain’t just the kids, there are a lot of loser adults holding this program back! Stadf

I’ll agree with this. It took me too long to realize and admit because it’s a shitty thing to face.

Tark overcame so many obstacles, we took it for granted and thought it could be done because Tark did it. He was special.

But you don’t get to this level of failure without a weak foundation. Sure, over the past 30 years we’ve had a couple of positive blips in football and basketball but that can boil down to the law of averages.

There are and have been severe cracks in the foundation. The culture isn’t conducive to producing any sort of consistency. Pride is faux.

I read in a thread where somebody stated we need a QB that busts out and can carry a team to have a chance. I agree in a sense, but I think it needs to be from the top of athletics. I’m talking AD and the AD’s staff. The entire department. Sorry, but we need no nonsense alpha in our departments. People that don’t make excuses, people with heavy goals, people who are non stop workers, and people that don’t have a lot of flexibility when it comes to their vision. And they need to make the hires that fit with their vision. That’s how you have a chance.

I’m not excusing coaches or players from the past at all. But quality people can fail when there are so many interwoven dependencies and those dependencies are tattered. Look at our AD’s. I think Loven good had a shot, but he was hamstring by so much until he was essentially forced to leave. The rest? Clueless and learning on the job, wholly incompetent. The presidents, who if they are hands off, that’s fine, but we’ve had some mega-morons. Maybe the new guy is athletics friendly and knowledgeable. The others were awful when it came to athletics.

Fan support maybe crappy. But the athletic department as a whole hasn’t lived up to their end of the bargain since I’ve been watching either. It’s not fair to expect fans to remain when this quality is rolled out decade after decade.

 

[drmontehorne_a_yahoo.com]

Back to normal:

WEST​	CONF	W-L	HOME	AWAY	PF	PA	STRK
1	San Diego State	0-0	1-0	1-0	0-0	28	10	W1
2	Nevada	0-0	1-0	0-0	1-0	22	17	W1
3	Fresno State	0-0	1-1	1-0	0-1	69	31	L1
4	Hawaii	0-0	1-1	1-0	0-1	59	79	W1
5	San Jose State	0-0	1-1	1-0	0-1	52	44	L1
6	UNLV	0-0	0-1	0-1	0-0	33	35	L1

 

[220reb]

I’ll agree with this. It took me too long to realize and admit because it’s a shitty thing to face.

Tark overcame so many obstacles, we took it for granted and thought it could be done because Tark did it. He was special.

But you don’t get to this level of failure without a weak foundation. Sure, over the past 30 years we’ve had a couple of positive blips in football and basketball but that can boil down to the law of averages.

There are and have been severe cracks in the foundation. The culture isn’t conducive to producing any sort of consistency. Pride is faux.

I read in a thread where somebody stated we need a QB that busts out and can carry a team to have a chance. I agree in a sense, but I think it needs to be from the top of athletics. I’m talking AD and the AD’s staff. The entire department. Sorry, but we need no nonsense alpha in our departments. People that don’t make excuses, people with heavy goals, people who are non stop workers, and people that don’t have a lot of flexibility when it comes to their vision. And they need to make the hires that fit with their vision. That’s how you have a chance.

I’m not excusing coaches or players from the past at all. But quality people can fail when there are so many interwoven dependencies and those dependencies are tattered. Look at our AD’s. I think Loven good had a shot, but he was hamstring by so much until he was essentially forced to leave. The rest? Clueless and learning on the job, wholly incompetent. The presidents, who if they are hands off, that’s fine, but we’ve had some mega-morons. Maybe the new guy is athletics friendly and knowledgeable. The others were awful when it came to athletics.

Fan support maybe crappy. But the athletic department as a whole hasn’t lived up to their end of the bargain since I’ve been watching either. It’s not fair to expect fans to remain when this quality is rolled out decade after decade.

My question is how long do you let this losing streak go. We're currently at 7 there's no way we're winning the next three ball games. That means we'll be 0-10. For a coach that makes 1.5 million a year this is not a good look

 

[lvrebalum2012]

My question is how long do you let this losing streak go. We're currently at 7 there's no way we're winning the next three ball games. That means we'll be 0-10. For a coach that makes 1.5 million a year this is not a good look

What do you mean “how long do you let this losing streak go”? Are you insinuating he might need to be fired in-season, this year? Really?