When this season is over, I hope the UTSID makes a video of all of Butch's megaphone quips during the course of the season. They're great. And the players respond positively to that tough love, too. Contrast Butch's approach with Dooley's penchant for snarkey putdowns of his players like needing to teach them how to bathe.
Maybe I was reading something that wasn't there, but I think that Butch's whole "Team 117" thing was a direct response to Dooley calling his first team "Year Zero"- as if it was just a throwaway season. At the time, I agreed with that. But now that I think about it- How does that play with the team? Especially the seniors? Those guys had been working their asses off for 4-5 years, and then along comes this new coach, who declares publicly that their final season in Orange doesn't count? That's a slap in the face.
This year, Butch is in the same boat. And we all know that this team isn't going to peak for another 2-3 seasons. But Butch can't allow the players to think that they're just marking time until the cavalry arrives. I think that what "Team 117" is all about- each year's team is every bit as important as the one that came before it, and the one that will follow.
