Grobe Doubles Down on Truth
To pick a most frustrating season during Jim Caldwell’s days as head coach at Wake would be like asking `Which brand of razors is chewiest?’‘
My own personal selection would be 1997, the season a really tough, experienced and talented team somehow managed to lose six games and miss playing in a bowl for the fifth straight season. To do so, the Deacons had to blow highly winnable games against East Carolina (25-24), Georgia Tech (28-26) and Virginia (21-13).
The loss in Charlottesville was a real kick in the teeth, given the Deacons led 13-7 midway through the fourth quarter at a place Wake hadn’t won since 1981. Then quarterback Aaron Brooks dropped back to pass, looked upfield to see nothing between himself and the goal line but green grass, and bolted 25 yards for the game-winning touchdown.
Dustin Lyman was not only the middle linebacker for that team, he was my go-to guy in the locker room after games. I went straight to him to find what had broken down on Brooks’ touchdown.
The defense, Lyman said, never got the play in from the sidelines. A receiver had crossed in front and Lyman, not knowing what to do, followed him toward the sidelines, opening up for Brooks an avenue as wide as an eight-lane freeway.
Such snafus have been fewer and further between since Jim Grobe replaced Caldwell to start the 2001 season. But they still happen from time to time, as I was reminded Saturday night.
Like me, I’m sure you saw tight end Tyler Eifert rumbling past the Wake Forest secondary to haul in a pass for Notre Dame’s only touchdown of the first half. At 6-6, 249-pounds he was hard to miss.
After the game senior linebacker Kyle Wilber confirmed our suspicions. The Fighting Irish had snapped the ball before the defense was ready, and no one picked up Eifert.
Caldwell, for the most part, was as much a gentleman as most football coaches I’ve covered, but he could be vindictive toward those players who told me and my fellow scribes more than he wanted to read in the paper. I can’t remember if Lyman was disciplined for his transgression of telling the truth. I doubt it, as good a player as he was. But a year later defensive back Adrian Duncan told me he was the 12th man on the field during a Florida State punt in the second half of a remarkably close game in Winston-Salem, providing the Seminoles with a first down they used to score the clinching touchdown. Duncan said he was running off the field, when told to get back out there by an assistant coach.
The next week Wake traveled to Georgia Tech where Duncan stood in uniform the whole game without ever getting in the Yellow Jackets’ 63-35 bloodletting. It was a sad finale to a sad, sad 3-8 season.
So how did Grobe react to Wilber’s honesty when we gathered Tuesday to eat chicken and talk football. Grobe, being who he is, doubled down on the truth.
“Totally in that situation that was our fault for not having a defense in – or getting a defense in too late,’’ Grobe said. “One of the things that you want to have defensively is you want to have kids that have plenty of time to get lined up and feel comfortable about what we’re playing.
“There’s a fine line there because they’re trying to steal our signals, and we’re trying to figure out what personnel group they’re going to be in. And we don’t want to give a defensive signal until we know they’ve called the offensive play. So you’re in a cat-and-mouse game.
“And every once in awhile you’re going to get a defensive call really, really late. If we get it to them too late, that’s our fault. In that situation we just didn’t get the call to them quick enough.
“Of course we’ve had that happen before and we’d come up with a big defensive play because it messes them up more than it messes us up. We don’t know where to go and they don’t know what we’re doing.
“But in that case we know the tight end was a great player and we just turned him loose. But that’s coaching and that’s not the kids fault. And I don’t think anybody panicked over there, because we had absolutely no problem telling our kids when it’s our fault – because we don’t have any problem telling them when it’s their fault either.
“So they come off and they know we’re OK with it. Just settle down and start playing again.’‘
Back to the main page.
By Dan Collins on 11/09/2011 (1:05 pm)
Comments
Wake needs a kick off player that can get it at least to the opponents 10 yard line and 1 more solid running back. I don’t think that’s too much to ask for from an ACC team. Why not try it-it might make a big difference.
jack mac donald on 11/10/2011 (11:49 pm)
Dan I hope we don’t get the defensive play in too late at Clemson, It cost us a TD in the ND game. Jim Grobe is the best. He won’t let it happen again, Good Blog.
cal on 11/10/2011 (2:43 pm)
I am as frustrated as any Wake fan over the last few weeks, and the bad execution/coaching in the Notre Dame game. But, this blog entry reminds me why kids want to play for Grobe, and what an asset he has been to Wake Forest.
But coach, please ditch the fake option, and let’s PLAY LIKE OUR HAIR IS ON FIRE - down in Death Valley.
RonnieFranchise on 11/10/2011 (12:06 pm)
After watching and listening to all that occurred yesterday at Penn State….and knowing that it will probably only get uglier, I have to admit that sports fans (myself included) all need to get a little firmer grip on reality and what is really important.
The acts alleged in the Penn State situation are sickening beyond belief and the lack of any apparent sense of moral responsibility (doing just what the law requires is not enough) on the part of supposedly responsible adults, including the President and Football Coach are totally reprehensible. Maybe the scariest part from a broader cultural perspective has been the viseral/ violant/ ugly reaction to the firing of a football coach when the ONLY victims and the only people that matter are those that were abused. One might also ask whether the same lack of perspective and over the top passion may have produced the kind of culture where turning a blind eye is viewed as “acceptable” if it is done to protect
a more important institution….the football progam.
In the case of this discussion regarding Wake Forest I think it is important to recognize that in the grander scheme of things integrity and honesty are more improtant than anything that happens on Saturday. Coaches including Coach Grobe shouldn’t be put on a pedestal nor should they be personally eviserated for every mistake they or one of their assistants might make on Saturday (no matter how infuriating). Disagree with them, complain about running that stupid pitch play over and over….absolutely….but it is important that we maintain perspective as to the overridding mission of Wake Forest which is education, the realistic limitations that places on any Coach and that at the end of the day values count….they count for a lot.
Deacon23 on 11/10/2011 (11:31 am)
Dan , I know this doesn’t match this article but at next weeks ” gathering to eat chicken and talk football” will you please ask Coach Grobe why we only have one running back in our 2012 recruit list. Two scholarship players were just recently asked to leave the team. One a running back. In 50 states you cannot find a recruit that can run a football?
Jan on 11/10/2011 (7:31 am)
Hard to believe it has been 14 years since that East Carolina game. And I still got the 9 “Yahoo’s” over in Rocky Mount that bring that up. Thanks Coach Grobe we got em back couple times since.
Doug on 11/09/2011 (4:51 pm)
I’m surprised Caldwell is still the coach of the Colts. He won’t be next year.
Charles on 11/09/2011 (4:26 pm)
People can quibble all they want about when to call a pass here or a run there. That’s fine, and I like to do it too. And I even like it when the coaches engage in the discussion because it can be educational.
But there is no one I would rather have in charge of this football program than Jim Grobe. And as far as I’m concerned, he can have whoever he wants as an assistant too. I felt that way even before watching several football programs get shamed for one reason or another this year. But all those unfortunate cases (UNC, Ohio State, and now Penn State) occurred because the man in charge lost his way or never knew it to begin with.
Honesty about where a single mistake was made during the course of a long and intense football game is probably something that a number of coaches would not care to show. But it does give us a glimpse of Coach Grobe’s character and the character that he expects out of his players.
Thanks again for the post, Dan.
DC on 11/09/2011 (2:59 pm)
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