(among other things...)
At his Tuesday news conference, Ferentz made this comment:
“I think we’re practicing hard. I think we’re doing that. Last week, the effort was there and the guys were trying. It’s not that they weren’t trying. We just have to practice a little bit cleaner and then hopefully our execution will show up a little better on Saturdays.â€
The bolded words are soft words -- "I think..." (twice), "...trying," "...a little bit cleaner...," "...hopefully our execution will show up a little better..."
Hopefully?
Seriously, coach?
A coach who knows who he is, what his program is doing, who has passion for the game, doesn't use namby-pamby phrases like that. If Ferentz uses those or similar words in the locker room and in practice, it is no wonder the team plays soft, loses focus, can't close out opponents, either loses close games or comes out with wins that are not representative of the effort for most of the game.
A coach who is ready to get after it would say something like "Our guys are practicing hard. Last week we showed the results of that work for three and a half quarters and then we slipped in some areas. We're working to clean things up this week. We expect our execution will be stronger this week."