When things are going bad, some coaches shake things up, hoping shock will have an effect. Weber State's Dave Arslanian is almost the opposite.
"I've always been a fundamentalist, not one to start changing things," he says, indicating he's more inclined "to go back to the basics."So with the 1-6 Wildcats on a five-game winless streak in Big Sky Conference play as they meet 3-5, 1-4 Montana State in Bozeman at noon today, Arslanian said he had few changes.
There have been rumblings that Weber ought to start freshman Jamie Martin over Ryan Schmidt (12 interceptions) at quarterback. Arslanian does plan to play Martin more, but changing starters doesn't seem to be his plan.
"We need to play them both," he says. "Jamie needs to play more time; he's earned it, and it might take the pressure off Ryan," he says.
But on the other hand, Arslanian says, "I don't want either to think I'm looking over their shoulder, and the first mistake they make, they'll come out."
That calm, do-it-till-it's-right approach seems to have helped the Wildcat offensive line get its act in order the last two games. Despite Weber's 47-15 loss at Reno last week, Arslanian says, "Our offensive line played its best game, and some of those Reno players are as good as we've seen." The O-line blocked well against Southern Utah two games ago and then improved on that, Arslanian says.
The problem remains turnovers and penalties at the worst times. That's from frustration - over-eagerness, trying too hard - and Arslanian looks to those tough first five games for creating that atmosphere.
There does seem to be a little change in attitude as Weber goes into its last four games. Placekicker Greg Patterson says he and fellow seniors know now they can't go out with a winning record, but they realize they'll be alumni soon, and they're ready to help Weber build for the future by providing leadership for younger players now.
Patterson won his job back two weeks ago and made all of his kicks last week at Reno. "Patterson was our salvation," Arslanian says.
The coach also talked of building for the future, recalling the 3-8 club three years ago that turned into Weber's first-ever 10-win playoff team the next year.
That's another reason he resists impulsive moves. "We want to build the program back up with no false pretenses," he says. "When we have players as good as the teams we're playing, we'll beat them. Eventually, we'll be OK," he says.
Besides, Montana State may be one of those teams, although Arslanian's wary because he thought Weber was close to Reno, too. "They're a team we can beat, and we should match up very well, even better than Reno from the standpoint of record," he says.