re: The whole we weren’t supposed to be here excuse

quote:

---

The better team lost

---

Not last Saturday night.

Your simple-minded premise is flawed. LSU was not the better team. TAMU has far more depth of talent on its roster than LSU.

Going further, it is not the coach's job to "motivate" the players. If a player is not internally self-motivated to create value for himself by playing well, preparing to win a game, or bouncing back from in-game adversity, the coach cannot motivate him. The coach can and should replace players who clearly aren't self-motivated, but he can only do that if he has the depth of talent with whom to replace the player.

Furthermore, it's entirely possible that usually self-motivated players are below a dopamine baseline, and are essentially "out of gas" or seem "unmotivated." Quality depth would help this issue. Read Huberman's extensive work on this issue.

quote:

---

if the coaches couldn’t motivate the players with a playoff berth on the line that is a major Fail by the coaching staff. That’s their job

---

It is not always that simple. You are dealing with young players that still have emotions all over the place. Not to mention anytime you play a team that can only play to upset you, it makes it a tough game. Texas A&M was playing to avoid the embarrassment of their season. I may be disappointed in LSU but I am not going to call it a coaching fail.