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This is hardly the way Stan Parrish saw it going down, with a zero in the win column and all these e-mails comparing him to Oscar the Grouch. What happened to the love, doggone it? What happened to the, you know, joy?
“I got more e-mails last week about how long the press conference was,” Parrish groused Monday, after the latest beatdown (Auburn 54, Ball State 30). “Quote, I was grumpy. Big deal. You’d be grumpy, too. Let’s get real about it.”
OK. Let’s.
Real Fact No. 1: Parrish turning snappish because he got a few carping e-mails is not really in character for him, nor is it particularly smart. The more he gripes about it, after all, the thinner his skin looks. Same goes for clamping down on player availability – only two players were made available in the weekly news conference Monday, a move that’s almost always perceived, usually unfairly, as a sign that things are not going well.
Real Fact No. 2: Things are not going well.
Our story so far: Four weeks into the season, the Cardinals are 0-4, having lost to North Texas (1-11 last year) and Football Championship Division New Hampshire at home and Army and Auburn on the road. Kelly Page, the new quarterback, is averaging an interception a game and completing less than 50 percent of his passes. MiQuale Lewis, who ran for more than 1,700 yards and 22 touchdowns last year, has only 185 yards and two scores.
The offensive line he runs behind, already inexperienced, lost tight end Madaris Grant the first week. Its most experienced member, Michael Switzer, is playing on a gimpy ankle. Wide receiver Jeremy Hill, Parrish’s best deep threat, nicked a hamstring against Auburn … Sean Baker, the outstanding defensive back, is just now coming back off an injury … on and on it goes.
And Parrish?
He likes his kicking game. He likes the way Page is “starting to get it.” He liked the way his backs ran against Auburn and thinks the line is blocking better and thinks his team is a lot better now than it was four weeks ago.
On the other hand, they are still winless, and that is not what he or anyone else expected.
“I thought obviously our record would be better and it’s not,” Parrish says, with Toledo coming in Saturday to begin the conference schedule. “And that makes that albatross that hangs around your neck a little tougher.”
The problem, see, is everyone expected more, including Parrish himself. You go 12-2 with some significant pieces coming back, you can at least reasonably assume some carryover. And then you lose to North Texas out of the gate, and some guys get hurt, and you lose again and then again ...
And, poof. There goes the air out of the balloon.
There goes Genial Stan and here comes Grumpy Stan, griping about e-mails and, the Monday after the Army game, bailing on his weekly news conference after just six minutes. He was better this week, more upbeat, seeing some sunlight amid the gloom. The opening of conference play, it occurs, might be just the tonic everyone needs, from the coaching staff on down.
“We can’t do anything about the past except learn from it,” Parrish said Monday. “Oh-and-four … there isn’t much to draw from that other than we’ve gotten significantly better. And we haven’t given in.
“These guys have played hard, and they want to win. And if we win Saturday, we’ll be in first place in the conference. That’s really my rallying cry this week.”
It’s a start.
