Clyde Tester
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How do you define progress? How do you evaluate the state of a football program?
Over the course of this season, I’ve read many posts on this board stating that Brewster “has the program going in the right direction” or that posters “see progress” with the football program. For a GopherHole poster to say that he/she is happy with the way the program is headed is certainly a defensible position to take.
There are also those who say that progress is not being made….that they don’t see any forward movement at all. That is also a defensible position to take. In other words, both position have evidence to back them up.
But the crux of either argument is based on how you define progress.
prog.gress
-noun
1 – A movement toward a goal or to further or higher the stage
2 – Advancement in general
3 – Growth or development; continuous improvement
4 – The development of an individual or society in a direction considered more beneficial than and superior to the previous level
The textbook definitions certainly make sense when looking at a university football program….but it fails to quantify in any way what “forward movement” might look like for the Gophers….how “advancement in general” can be objectively judged….would we know it when we see it? Can we trick ourselves into seeing it when it really isn’t happening?
When we consider whether progress is being made in a football program, there are many criterion that must be considered. In my opinion many of the criterion are OBJECTIVE in nature – measurable. There are some more subjective ways to evaluate progress as well - but can they be quantified? Can we be sure that subjective progress is legit? Is subjective evaluation as accurate or valid as objective evaluation?
The problem as fans, of course, is that we WANT to believe that things are good – we are fans after all. But I’d think that because of the inherent bias of fandom, that objective measures will be far more valid than subjective ones. (I will denote subjective measurements where applicable.) Is it possible for fans or Maturi to look past their “fan” bias to be fair about subjective measurements?
So let’s try something here at GopherHole – let’s try to put together a list of measurements for the Gopher Football Program/Brewster. Consider it a performance evaluation or a program litmus test or whatever you want (I know there is a performance evaluation thread that was started this week as well – that seemed to have more of a goal-setting vibe to it – this is geared solely on looking back at the past season(s).
Here’s a list I came up with that might include the perspective of the A.D. and U Prez, coaches, players and fans:
On-Field Performance:
- Is the overall record and conference record improving? Has the team finished in the top 3 of the conference along the way? Is the team getting better within the conference?
- Is the team beating teams they should beat? Are they pulling off any upsets? Are they winning any trophy games?
- Is the team improving statistically (both nationally and in the Big Ten)?
- Is there discipline on the field (as measured by penalties or on-field confusion/mental mistakes)?
- Is the team bowl eligible? How good is the bowl game? Do the Gophers match up well with their bowl opponent?
- If the team loses, how do they lose? Are they competitive (subjective)? Are games close in score/stats? Are the Gophers over-matched?
- If the team wins, how do they win? Do they blow teams out? Do they overpower teams statistically? Are the games close? Closer than they should be (subjective)?
- Are the players faster on the field than previous Gopher teams (subjective)? Do they appear to be more athletic (subjective)? Have on-field weaknesses been addressed with talent/coaching (subjective)?
- Can the team be considered “in the hunt” for a Rose Bowl bid?
- Do the players appear to “buy-in” to the coaching philosophy (subjective)? Do they remain competitive when losing (subjective)? Does it ever appear that players “give up” (subjective)?
- # of players on the All-Conference team?
Coaching Measurements
- How is recruiting going (highly subjective)? Is the team landing blue-chip recruits? Are the players highly rated? Are the players being recruited by other schools?
- Are positional needs being met by recruiting? Are juco athletes recruited to fill positional needs? What is the success rate of juco transfers?
- What is the retention rate of the recruited players? How many contribute each year vs. how many transfer out?
- Are the coaches improving their in-game performance (subjective)? Better clock management? Better use of timeouts/challenges? Better in-game adjustments?
- Are the coaches maximizing or making the best use of their talent (subjective)?
- Does the team improve as the season goes on? Does the team plateau or even regress?
School President/Athletic Director/Business measurements:
- How much money is the program making? Are they maximizing revenue opportunities?
- Are the coaches being mindful of program costs?
- Are all game tickets sold out? Are fans attending games (realizing that empty seats = lost concession/apparel revenue)? Are season ticket holders renewing their seats year over year? How much turnover?
- Are football related monetary donations up? Down? Are the big-time donors “happy” (subjective)?
- Are the fans engaged and supportive (subjective)? Are the fans supportive of the on-the-field product (subjective)? Are fans disappointed/angry about the team’s performance but yet they remain engaged (subjective)? Or are they disappointed/angry and are checking out (subjective)?
- Do fans buy tickets and travel to the bowl game (if there is one)?
- Are students involved/engaged with the program (subjective)? Are they attending games?
- Have academic standards/rankings improved? How do the academic rankings compare to our peers in the Big Ten? Nationally? # of Academic All-Americans? # of players on Big Ten All-Academic team?
- Have there been any negative off-the-field incidents? How many? How severe (subjective)? How much time/energy or even money have been devoted to those issues? Do the incidents involve players, coaches or both?
- Is the team’s publicity/PR positive (subjective)? Neutral? Negative?
- Is the coach a good ambassador of the University and state?
Please understand – my intent here was not to try and answer any of the above questions (that will come later) but instead to try and make a list of the things that Maturi or Bruniks might take a look at when evaluating the state of the Gopher football program (or things that Brewster himself should be evaluating in an ongoing improvement effort). What things have I missed? What needs to be added, taken out or changed?
This was just a brainstorming exercise for me so I’m certain I’ve missed some things (maybe even some very obvious things). What other items might be evaluated? Are they objective or subjective? Is it possible for us to collectively come up with a list of items that can/should be used when judging this program?
I’ll monitor this thread and add things to the list above as they come up (as long as they make sense or have general support I guess). It would be fun to compile an inclusive list so that we can then dive in and actually try to evaluate the program against it.
Over the course of this season, I’ve read many posts on this board stating that Brewster “has the program going in the right direction” or that posters “see progress” with the football program. For a GopherHole poster to say that he/she is happy with the way the program is headed is certainly a defensible position to take.
There are also those who say that progress is not being made….that they don’t see any forward movement at all. That is also a defensible position to take. In other words, both position have evidence to back them up.
But the crux of either argument is based on how you define progress.
prog.gress
-noun
1 – A movement toward a goal or to further or higher the stage
2 – Advancement in general
3 – Growth or development; continuous improvement
4 – The development of an individual or society in a direction considered more beneficial than and superior to the previous level
The textbook definitions certainly make sense when looking at a university football program….but it fails to quantify in any way what “forward movement” might look like for the Gophers….how “advancement in general” can be objectively judged….would we know it when we see it? Can we trick ourselves into seeing it when it really isn’t happening?
When we consider whether progress is being made in a football program, there are many criterion that must be considered. In my opinion many of the criterion are OBJECTIVE in nature – measurable. There are some more subjective ways to evaluate progress as well - but can they be quantified? Can we be sure that subjective progress is legit? Is subjective evaluation as accurate or valid as objective evaluation?
The problem as fans, of course, is that we WANT to believe that things are good – we are fans after all. But I’d think that because of the inherent bias of fandom, that objective measures will be far more valid than subjective ones. (I will denote subjective measurements where applicable.) Is it possible for fans or Maturi to look past their “fan” bias to be fair about subjective measurements?
So let’s try something here at GopherHole – let’s try to put together a list of measurements for the Gopher Football Program/Brewster. Consider it a performance evaluation or a program litmus test or whatever you want (I know there is a performance evaluation thread that was started this week as well – that seemed to have more of a goal-setting vibe to it – this is geared solely on looking back at the past season(s).
Here’s a list I came up with that might include the perspective of the A.D. and U Prez, coaches, players and fans:
On-Field Performance:
- Is the overall record and conference record improving? Has the team finished in the top 3 of the conference along the way? Is the team getting better within the conference?
- Is the team beating teams they should beat? Are they pulling off any upsets? Are they winning any trophy games?
- Is the team improving statistically (both nationally and in the Big Ten)?
- Is there discipline on the field (as measured by penalties or on-field confusion/mental mistakes)?
- Is the team bowl eligible? How good is the bowl game? Do the Gophers match up well with their bowl opponent?
- If the team loses, how do they lose? Are they competitive (subjective)? Are games close in score/stats? Are the Gophers over-matched?
- If the team wins, how do they win? Do they blow teams out? Do they overpower teams statistically? Are the games close? Closer than they should be (subjective)?
- Are the players faster on the field than previous Gopher teams (subjective)? Do they appear to be more athletic (subjective)? Have on-field weaknesses been addressed with talent/coaching (subjective)?
- Can the team be considered “in the hunt” for a Rose Bowl bid?
- Do the players appear to “buy-in” to the coaching philosophy (subjective)? Do they remain competitive when losing (subjective)? Does it ever appear that players “give up” (subjective)?
- # of players on the All-Conference team?
Coaching Measurements
- How is recruiting going (highly subjective)? Is the team landing blue-chip recruits? Are the players highly rated? Are the players being recruited by other schools?
- Are positional needs being met by recruiting? Are juco athletes recruited to fill positional needs? What is the success rate of juco transfers?
- What is the retention rate of the recruited players? How many contribute each year vs. how many transfer out?
- Are the coaches improving their in-game performance (subjective)? Better clock management? Better use of timeouts/challenges? Better in-game adjustments?
- Are the coaches maximizing or making the best use of their talent (subjective)?
- Does the team improve as the season goes on? Does the team plateau or even regress?
School President/Athletic Director/Business measurements:
- How much money is the program making? Are they maximizing revenue opportunities?
- Are the coaches being mindful of program costs?
- Are all game tickets sold out? Are fans attending games (realizing that empty seats = lost concession/apparel revenue)? Are season ticket holders renewing their seats year over year? How much turnover?
- Are football related monetary donations up? Down? Are the big-time donors “happy” (subjective)?
- Are the fans engaged and supportive (subjective)? Are the fans supportive of the on-the-field product (subjective)? Are fans disappointed/angry about the team’s performance but yet they remain engaged (subjective)? Or are they disappointed/angry and are checking out (subjective)?
- Do fans buy tickets and travel to the bowl game (if there is one)?
- Are students involved/engaged with the program (subjective)? Are they attending games?
- Have academic standards/rankings improved? How do the academic rankings compare to our peers in the Big Ten? Nationally? # of Academic All-Americans? # of players on Big Ten All-Academic team?
- Have there been any negative off-the-field incidents? How many? How severe (subjective)? How much time/energy or even money have been devoted to those issues? Do the incidents involve players, coaches or both?
- Is the team’s publicity/PR positive (subjective)? Neutral? Negative?
- Is the coach a good ambassador of the University and state?
Please understand – my intent here was not to try and answer any of the above questions (that will come later) but instead to try and make a list of the things that Maturi or Bruniks might take a look at when evaluating the state of the Gopher football program (or things that Brewster himself should be evaluating in an ongoing improvement effort). What things have I missed? What needs to be added, taken out or changed?
This was just a brainstorming exercise for me so I’m certain I’ve missed some things (maybe even some very obvious things). What other items might be evaluated? Are they objective or subjective? Is it possible for us to collectively come up with a list of items that can/should be used when judging this program?
I’ll monitor this thread and add things to the list above as they come up (as long as they make sense or have general support I guess). It would be fun to compile an inclusive list so that we can then dive in and actually try to evaluate the program against it.