Mutiny Is In The Air

Insubordination has never been something Mike Nolan has looked upon with mercy. He's had a history of "disappearing" players (Barlow, Winborn, Jennings) in order to maintain his authority and aura of command. This year the facade of team unity was cracked when he threw Alex Smith under the bus at midseason and the dam burst several weeks later.

Looks like the captain has lost control of his ship and Alex isn't the only one that's fed up. Today's Chronicle has an article where two unnamed defensive starters are strongly critical of this administration...errr, staff.

Both players said they wanted a coaching change, citing numerous issues with Nolan they said have been setbacks for what they consider to be a strong defense: questionable personnel schemes, such as abandoning the base 3-4 scheme too often in favor of nickel and dime sub packages that left the edges and middle of the field exposed; favoritism that determines playing time; poor game and clock management; poor communication that extends beyond the Nolan-Alex Smith injury flap.

It's good to know that this team isn't full of mindless automatons of the type that Coach Nolan prefers. Hopefully this also catches the attention of the Youngstown ownership group and these meaningless wins at the end of a meaningless season don't cover up the fact that this entire year has been an unmitigated disaster.