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The greatest influences on Danny White's coaching career have been his two former coaches: Frank Kush from his college days at Arizona State and Tom Landry from his professional career with the Dallas Cowboys.
"Their philosophy was to just work harder," said the Utah Blaze coach. "Keep doing the right things, just work harder."
To get his 0-5 team turned around this season, however, White says he is going to go against what has worked in the past for him and his mentors and try to relieve some of the pressure that has players "stressed out" and afraid to make mistakes.
"Some of my old-school beliefs are going to be flushed down the toilet, for now, at least, and we will see how that works," he said after Wednesday's practice at Eccles Fieldhouse as the Blaze prepared to take on the league's best team, Philadelphia (5-0), on Saturday at Wachovia Center. "The new Utah Blaze are one day into a new season. We are taking a fresh approach with a lot of things."
For instance, White called off practice on Tuesday and took the entire team bowling "as kind of a team-bonding thing."
Suffice it to say, Tom Landry never did that.
Heart-to-heart talks with some veteran players and the coaches still on his staff - defensive backs coach Hunkie Cooper was released Tuesday morning - convinced White that philosophical changes on how he deals with this particular group of players were necessary to get the season turned around.
"We will keep the same structure in place, but give the players a lot more flexibility within the structure, and [expect] a lot more accountability, as far as conditioning, as far as weights, as far as practices," he said. "We are still going to expect certain things from them, but this is going to be their team. And they will take it as far as they want to take it."
In other words, the coaching staff is going to be a lot less heavy-handed.
Veteran defensive back Reggie Doster believes it will work.
"Based on what transpired this week, and the fact that we are taking another approach, I think guys are starting to buy back into it," he said. "We are changing up a lot of things, and I think it is going to be good for us because we have a veteran team with a lot of guys who have played a lot of years. We are taking the approach that everybody is in it together."
White said he emphasized the Kush/Landry approach last week, and worked the players hard prior to Saturday's game against the Force at EnergySolutions Arena.
"I think we saw Saturday night that it didn't work," he said. "So, we are changing, for the sake of change, and hopefully it will be a good change. One of the problems last Saturday night was that we were tired.
"We played like a tired, beat-up football team at the end of the season, and it was only our fifth game."
The coach said the changes will include more focus on the mental aspects of the game and less on live drills and contact in practice.
Blaze at Philadelphia Soul
When: Saturday, 5 p.m.
Radio: 1320 AM
Records: Utah 0-5, Philadelphia 5-0
2006: 2-3
2007: 4-1
2008: 0-5