Matt Weiner (@mattweiner20) – Football Beat Reporter
Welcome to “Coach’s Corner,” a safe space for three ridiculous observations made by beat reporter Matt Weiner from SJSU head coach Brent Brennan’s weekly press conference.
Handling the truth
Film study is a duty that’s singular to sports. Few occupations involve watching oneself fail repeatedly in order to improve.
SJSU head coach Brent Brennan was buried up to his head in ‘adjustments and corrections’ with the Spartans 43-27 loss last Saturday night to SDSU. A defeat that featured 38 unanswered points.
“When you are looking at the film you have to fight to be objective,” said Brennan, “and you have to fight to be patient.”
For Brennan it comes down to “Can we fix that or can we not?”
If a chef saw a replay of himself undercooking a lobster, leaving it with the texture of a stress ball I couldn’t imagine the raucous that would take place.
Most likely, pots and pans would be flung about so that someone passing by would have their ear drums being beaten to a pulp.
There’s also no guarantee that watching film can be done dispassionately. Each member of SJSU football is confronting an embarrassing loss head on and is face-to-face with their mistakes.
“I don’t know if it happens that way because it’s an emotional game and it was an emotional moment and the frustration and the disappointment was far reaching,” said Brennan.
Flush it and move on
Even with the ugly defeat, there’s still a chance to play for a Mountain West championship and a much higher probability to finish with nine wins, SJSU most since 2006.
“The main thing is if you dwell on that too much then you’re missing the necessary preparation time for this next one,” said Brenan. “You really have to flush it and move on and that’s what we’ve been trying to do.”
Wind was taken out of the Spartans’ sails, but for Brennan there’s no decision of whether or not to keep fighting until the last whistle of the season.
“You have no choice, right? You have no choice, but you have to get ready for the next one,” said Brennan.
According to Brennan, what happened on Saturda is just another example of the “ups and downs” a season provides.
“We’ve had some hard stuff this year when Camdan passed away we had to get ready for the next week. We don’t get to stop the season,” said Brennan. “Like there are all of these different things that happen so you do try to take an honest look at every part of it starting with me as a head coach.”
Accountability sprints
SJSU football ends every Monday practice with sets of 50-yard sprints.
This past Monday, a new Spartans joined in: head coach Brent Brennan himself.
“I was just up there cheering the guys on and Jaime Navarro was like, ‘Coach B get in here’ and I was like, ‘Alright’ so I ran the last four with them,” said Brennan.
Father Time, unfortunately has hamstrung the head coach, quite literally.
“I felt it this morning. I woke up for my morning run and I was like, ‘What the hell is wrong with me.’ Both of my hamstrings were a little tight,” said Brennan.
Does a head coach sprinting with his team make any sort of difference? Not sure. This is where the fun, fickle-minded moronic fan comes into play.
If the Spartans win it’s, ‘Brent Brennan knows how to take accountability, build culture and lead the troops.’
But if the Spartans lose it’s, ‘The guy is just putting on a show and leading with empty calorie tactics.’
And that’s what the games are for. To decide nonsensical binary debates like this one.
Check out this week’s Water Cooler Talk if you need to refresh your memory of the loss SJSU football sustained last Saturday.