Whether coming off a great season or a challenging one a vision of where you are going as a program is a must. There was a battle cry coming out of the Rose Bowl victory over Penn State that Iron Sharpens Iron. The physicality starts now mantra. Let the good times roll. Problem with a Vision is you have to have buy-in from all levels of the program. It’s not just the coaches or the players but the whole enchilada.
As Rose Bowls go that was a doozy. We won and exciting game that had everything you could hope for. Two good teams battling and lead changes happening at the will of the other teams offense. Pretty special. Winning games like this create great leaps in to your recruiting and future momentum in the locker room to the field. The Trojans had a vision. Their coaching staff was touting Iron Sharpens Iron and the team needed to stay focused on a physicality on the practice field to gameday. No shortcuts for this team. It was a fun time and an exciting anticipation heading in to next season but then we ran in to Ohio State at our least favorite venue, Arlington, Texas. Jerrys world. The Trojans were in a heap of trouble and they actually stood pretty tall outside of a couple breaks they were in this game unlike the Alabama game.
Unlike the big Rose Bowl victory the Cotton Bowl loss to tOSU created a 180 degree shift in attitude. Questions arose and doubt set in. The vision that was building post RB was gone. Gone in the click of your fingers. Like it was never there. The team was listing and didnt know it at the time. It got worse.
Heading in to the 2018 season on the heels of a RB victory and PAC-12 Championship year this team looked like the underdogs in their own division. Boy was that an understatement. They went 5-7 that year. Attitude was well bad. If you were a true believer you would say, well the talent is still there. The skill sets and depth is good so what’s the problem. Where is that Vision? Why are the coaches hiding in plain sight? Can’t find Clay Helton anywhere. This was a guy that was a YouTube phenom for two years prior to the 2018 season. Guy fell right in to this and started to talk Vision and Physciality with a purpose. Until that Fall season and the 2018 season. The Vision was shattered and chaos reined supreme. This team had no where to turn. Their AD was clueless and had his head in the sand and Helton was being blamed for everything but how do you blame someone who fell in to a dream job and took it? He didnt hire Clay Helton. Swann didnt hire Helton but he owns the challenge.
So here we are 2019 and the roster is shaky but still deep enough to where if they get the right Vision and attitude going in spring this team can turn around the 2018 disaster and build on a new vision for the Trojans because that is what is needed here. Something to grab and hang on to and believe in. Helton isnt going anywhere. We all know this so its time to support the Team and that means the entire team. Opinions matter and analyzing each game is something we should be able to debate. But firing a coach in the media is hard and typically creates a snow ball that grows fast and runs hard down stream taking innocent victims who once dreamed of playing in the Coliseum and lacing up the old black cleats while looking up that blue sky and great sunsets that the Coliseum is famous for.
Time to be Trojans and a time to unite.
Fight On!
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