This article will be mainly conceptual – not anecdotal. I wrote a book with dozens of stories to illustrate the concepts I’m going to talk about here. But this isn’t the place to cite a lot of those anecdotes. Mike Morris (Grizzled Ol’ Coach) My concept is stated in my title. It’s based on 30 years of being a high …
Ever have one of those moments when you highly praise someone or something to a lot of people – and then when they see that someone or something, it’s, admittedly, pretty awful? As a highly opinionated [about most everything] old man, it’s happened lots of times to me. My most recent humbling experience came Dec. 29 in the Alamo Bowl [What …
My friends….the Grizzled Ol’ Coach, Mike Morris, and I were pondering this point at a recent Skull Session in the FishDuck ManCave, as it gets to the root of many concerns Oregon fans have had–especially with all the seasons spoiled in the past by injured QBs at Oregon. This article lays the foundation for upcoming articles by the GOC and …
In the past I’ve frequently criticized peoples’ attaching far too much importance to the defensive front used by a team — and several other schematic suggestions. “It’s not important WHAT you do, but HOW well you do it” has been my standard axiom. Well … that’s not always true. An offense could run nothing but “perfect” QB Sneaks for the …
WARNINGS: 1. Most of this article involves “speculation” – some coaches named might eventually have nothing to do with Oregon football. 2. All of the speculated coaches’ names were stolen from the incredible research of Justin Hopkins at 24/7, Duck Territory. 3. This article is being written Wednesday morning, December 21. By the time it’s printed and/or you read it, …
It just hit me from out of the blue, and this revelation would significantly impact Oregon football. You see I was pondering about how the press conference is over and everybody’s had a chance to express their feelings about the new head coach for the Ducks. Coach Willie Taggart is on the road recruiting without any assistant coaches until today, …
Mr. FishDuck asked me to have some fun and have a speculative look at whom Willie Taggart’s new Oregon coaching staff might include from his current staff at the University of South Florida. This is definitely going to be fun for me as the naming of each new assistant – whether I saw it coming or whether it’s a big surprise …
Charles Fischer asked me to share my thoughts about what to expect from teams coached by P.J. Fleck and Willie Taggart. While obviously what follows is almost pure speculation, there “could” be some interesting differences. Willie Taggart already has in place at South Florida what I would consider an “All-Star” offensive staff. Their resumes are far too lengthy for me …
He can be salty … he is highly opinionated, he knows his football, as he is the Grizzled Ol’ Coach (GOC) Mike Morris. He is a writer, a coaching consultant to FishDuck.com, a football mentor and personal friend. He is an amazing individual who has this massive curiosity to learn as I do. So when he sends me an email about a coaching candidate, …
A couple of weeks ago I wrote an article advocating for the hiring of Osia Lewis as the next Oregon defensive coordinator. Last night, I was dreaming – while awake – and had a “What if … ?” moment. Even in the reality of the next day, I have a better candidate and plan. Are you willing to come along on my …
Ordinarily I wouldn’t do this: write about a specific new defensive coordinator when there are still several important games left in the season – games in which the Ducks could significantly improve, or the new DC’s team could get blasted. But I really don’t think either of those things is going to happen. I believe I have enough evidence to present …
The Grizzled Ol’ Coach, Mike Morris (a frequent contributor to FishDuck.com), has educated Oregon fans and me enormously with his wisdom and brutal honesty. He is suggesting a major change for the Ducks, but do remember that we have many guest coaches as writing contributors and their opinions could be different than the GOC as do the other writers and editors. Please …