Great story.
And yes, that fear element has left the building. There are many different styles of coaching, but at the end of the day, you need your coach to be the bully of the building, or at a minimal, someone you fear disappointing.
I believe it was two seasons ago where Mark Ingram said in an interview during the week after a game in which he fumbled that if SP was there, he wouldn’t have even made it back all the way to the sideline without hearing at least three or four f words from SP, and he imitated it: “You mutha…., you fumbled my F’ing football…..!”…but he wasn’t getting that anymore.
That doesn’t exist now. Guys come back to the sideline to no one talking to them and a HC just looking on like a spectator, especially if it’s an offensive player.
I can’t even think of one time I have seen DA scolding a player, which is unheard of period, much less for a team that has struggled and been mistake prone for years.
I doubt there will ever be a sound bite of DA telling someone to “Put on the F’ing cleats!”
And now it’s way too late for him to be this way, because everyone would know it’s fake.