By William Bowman
The Daily Item
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Joe Susan has been so busy preparing for Saturday he actually hasn’t thought about what Saturday will be like for him.
But it is that single-minded focus, not worrying about what happened 10 seconds ago or what will happen 10 seconds from now, that makes you think this guy is going to turn things around at Bucknell and sooner rather than later.
You see with Susan a second must not be wasted.
As he prepares for his first season as the new Bucknell football coach, Susan has been totally focused on bringing the Bison back to prominence. He admits he and his wife are still living out of boxes in their new home in Lewisburg. Football takes precedence.
A head coach for just one season in his more than 30 years as a college coach, Susan wants to nail this one.
It seems like he is off to a pretty good start and that is before his squad is on the field for one meaningful play in a game.
You see success is measured in different ways. In college winning is the largest measuring stick, but that might not be the best way to the judge the Bison this season. Susan and his new coaching staff have some very good players who have worked their tails off to prepare for 2010. But some of them, especially on offense, are maybe not quite the kinds of players that will fit into the system.
That isn’t to say they are.
ot good players. It’s just that a player whose skill set fits Bucknell’s option-based attack of the previous regime might not have the skill set to fit into Susan’s more prostyle attack. So it might take a little bit to get the current players adjusted to the system or even to get some recruits in that better fit the new style, which means measurable improvement in the winloss column may not be seen this year.
But I wouldn’t bet against them.
While the most obvious changes at Bucknell are schematic, there is no question the biggest change in Lewisburg is in philosophy. And those philosophical changes have little to do with football and all to do with attitude.
Tim Landis and Joe Susan are about as opposite as two coaches can be. Landis always seemed to be happy-golucky when you ran into him and that seemed to carry over to his team. There is certainly.
othing wrong with that style of coaching, it works for a lot people, most notably Pete Carroll, who created a dynasty at Southern Cal before bolting for the NFL.
But maybe it wasn’t what was needed at Bucknell.
Maybe things got a little stale.
Spend a brief moment with Susan and you quickly realize he is all football coach — thus the boxes littering his house — and anything that deviates from his immediate goal is wasted movement. It is actually very difficult to see how Susan, an assistant for 32 of his 33 years as a college coach, was ever an assistant coach at all because he commands so much attention and respect at practice and seemingly wherever he is.
He seems like he was born to be a head coach. No nonsense, all business and right.
ow the perfect man for the job.
At the Bucknell football luncheon on Tuesday, Susan relayed a couple of stories about how things have changed. First he told a brief story about one of his freshman quarterbacks throwing an interception and instead of running after the defender with the ball, he stood and watched. Five assistant coaches immediately got on the player for not finishing the play. You know that won’t ever happen again.
The other story involved a player Susan called over to him during practice. The player was not getting there quickly enough for Susan’s taste, so the new head coach corrected him in a manner that probably hasn’t been seen in Lewisburg in a while.
Again, it probably won’t happen again.
As for Susan’s singleminded focus, he is trying to transfer it to his players.
At the exit to the locker room at Christy Mathewson- Memorial Stadium, Susan has placed what he calls a “thought box.” It is there so players can take all the garbage out of their heads as they enter the field, either for practice or a game, and drop it in the box.
It is a reminder that when you are on the football field, you are part of something greater and the minutia going on in your head doesn’t matter.
If you are having any trouble with that, I am sure Joe Susan can help you with your issues.
-- Sports editor Bill Bowman covers college sports for The Daily Item. E-mail comments to bbowman@ dailyitem.com
