Former UCF QB: Motivation far different than intimidation

....where is that whiny little biatch known asKnolife who bragged about how much of a "father figure" O'Liar is to all his players. GOL is a piece of crap...who would send their sons to play for him now if they had any other good options? LOL!

Former UCF QB: Motivation far different than intimidation

Shannon J. Owens | Sentinel columnist

10:14 PM EDT, April 12, 2008

For a coach, there is a fine line between motivation and intimidation. One pushes you into excellence. The other crushes you into despair.

Former UCF quarterback Steven Moffett says Coach George O'Leary crossed the line with him.

O'Leary has been under scrutiny in recent weeks since one of his players, Ereck Plancher, died after a workout.

There have been conflicting details about that day between players and the administration.

Moffett led the Knights to their first bowl game in 2005 under the direction of O'Leary and was rewarded the next season with some bonding time with the bench. O'Leary wanted to make room for his future in Kyle Israel -- but that's another story.

Moffett is grateful for every moment he had on the field.

"[O'Leary] said I wasn't worth [expletive] and I'd never play here," said Moffett, who was recruited by former coach Mike Kruczek.

Some call that incentive. I call that abuse. And that is the kind of environment Moffett said he and his teammates practiced in daily.

Moffett, 23, turned down offers from Florida, Georgia, South Carolina and Southern Mississippi for the opportunity to blossom under a Kruczek spread offense that would allow the athletic 6-foot-2 quarterback to throw the ball.

He considered transferring to Southern Miss when O'Leary arrived at UCF, but decided to stay so he could prove his worth to the new football coach.

But he would not get that affirmation. Instead, he says he was barraged with curses -- the nicest one, he says, was "you stupid [expletive] idiot." When the team lost, he said O'Leary would single him out as the reason for the loss.

Isn't football supposed to be a team sport? "It doesn't make you feel good at all," he said. "I think he wanted me to snap on him, but I never did."

I must have missed that in the coaching manual. Maybe berating a quarterback's intelligence works in the professional ranks but it has no place in amateur and collegiate sports.

Sadly, Moffett said it's the norm for UCF football.

"He's a good coach, but he's a disrespectful person," Moffett said.

So much so that Moffett said he has even discouraged athletes from going to his alma mater. One local high school football coach called Moffett to share his experiences with a player who was considering UCF. After that conversation the player went to Cincinnati.

"I have mixed feelings about [my time at UCF]," he said. "I had problems with some of the coaches and the way they treated people. It was organized, but I didn't agree with the way they treated people out there sometimes."

I wonder how comments like that make Ereck Plancher's family and friends feel. Their precious son's life was left to the care of a man who some say verbally abuse his players.

If you agree with Moffett's view of things, how can you doubt four players who risked scholarships to talk?

How can you believe O'Leary did not curse a player some say was in distress?

And let's be clear here: there is a major difference between cursing in general out of anger versus cursing a person to cut him or her down.

Plancher did not die from cursing. But if Moffett's experience is wide spread it does give insight into the culture O'Leary has created at UCF. He drives players with fear instead of faith. Attempts to reach O'Leary to respond to Moffett's comments were unsuccessful Saturday. Moffett is a little bitter. I guess it's the same way any of us would feel if we were called a "stupid [expletive] idiot" almost every day for three years. He battles regret in his mind daily. He wonders if his life would be different if went to Georgia, where he originally committed, instead of staying home.

But he is finally enjoying football. He plays for the AFL 2 Daytona Thunderbirds and is an assistant coach at Winter Park.

The NFL seems out of the picture.

"That would be nice, but I'm not putting all my eggs in that basket," he said. "I'm just playing ball because it's fun. I'm going to live my life."

Thankfully, he still has one to live. But Ereck left us too soon.

OrlandoSentinel.com

Former UCF QB Moffett: O'Leary 'probably going to punish the team until those players (who talked) come out'

Shannon J. Owens

Sentinel Staff Writer

April 12, 2008

Former UCF quarterback Steven Moffett spoke exclusively to Orlando Sentinel reporter Shannon Owens on Saturday about his days playing for Coach George O'Leary at UCF. Here is a transcript of part of Owens' interview with Moffett. See Sunday's Orlando Sentinel and visit orlandosentinel.com tomorrow for Owens' column on Moffett, the latest on the investigation into the death of Ereck Plancher and UCF's spring football game Saturday.

Sentinel: Why did you decide to stay at UCF after O'Leary came (to be coach)?

Moffett: "If I would have transferred, it would have been like giving up. He would win. At first when I got there, he told me that I wasn't going to play. He's not really a big fan of me. I don't know why, but I felt like I could prove him wrong."

What do you remember most about playing at UCF?

Moffett: "I have mixed feelings about it. I had problems with some of the coaches and the way they treated people. It was organized, but I didn't agree with the way they treated people out there sometimes."

You wanted to run a (Mike) Kruczek spread (offense) but got a different offense with O'Leary. How much did that affect you?

Moffett: "It wasn't that hard to adapt to because I did that in high school. I could have went to Georgia, and I would have been doing the same thing [as O'Leary's run-first offense]."

Were you surprised those players decided to speak to the newspaper?

Moffett: "I was surprised. It seems like he knows everything out there, and he'll find out who it is. It surprised me that those people took that chance. . . . He doesn't treat people the right way at all. . . . (The entire UCF administration) are afraid of him. He probably called a team meeting. He's probably going to punish the team until those players (who talked) come out."

Why do you think people are afraid of him?

Moffett: "I don't know."

Is the rumor about O'Leary making you apologize to the team for a loss true?

Moffett: "He would say to the whole team I'm the reason we lost the game."

Did it make your teammates lose confidence in you?

Moffett: "No, I don't think so. They would say that's messed up that he did that."

Coaches curse all the time. What makes this case so different?

Moffett: "If you say, you have to catch the (expletive) ball . . . but when it's just a straight bashing . . .but he does that to everyone."

Did you feel you got the most out of your experience as an athlete at UCF?

Moffett: "I would have liked to have won a bowl game. That would have made it a little bit better. But you can't live in the past, you have to live in the present."

Moffett, speaking off the cuff: "To this day, I could go to practice and he'll speak to every player, and he will not speak to me."

Do you ever think about, 'What if I would have left'?

Moffett: "All the time. I think about that every day. I think about that all the time. My junior year, I threw for almost 3,000 yards and led the team to a bowl game, and my senior game I'm on the bench. What the hell is this?"

Were you upset that you didn't play much of your last game at UCF?

Moffett: "At the end of the season, I didn't care. I just wanted to hurry up and get it over with."

What did you learn from this experience?

Moffett: "I learned I'm a strong person and it wasn't really that fun, but now, when things happen to me in the real world, it's easier to brush things off."

What happened the next year after you guys went to the bowl game?

Moffett: "I think it had to do with we didn't have the leadership we had before. We got the big head and got a little bit ahead of ourselves.

Could you have played better?

Moffett: "I could have been better and done more. You win some, you lose some. That's why you play sports."

Feeling about how he was treated?

Moffett: "[O'Leary] treated me like I ran over his favorite dog of 10 years."

Copyright © 2008, Orlando Sentinel

http://www.orlandosentinel.com/sports/or...8522.story

I guess the OS is gunning for O'Leary now.

Wow did Oleary sleep with the sports editors wife?

Moffett is definitely acting like a ***** here. Grow up. You sucked. We all saw that up close. And to make it worse he got benched for one of the worst QBs I have ever seen.

But hey good luck with that AFL2 thing. I'm sure that pays well.

Seriously UCF people how did your QB play get soooo bad? You had Culpepper and I remember Schnieder was good too then bam you have these guys. And Weatherford is going to be awful too.

wow

I am sure that gol's "motivational techniques" have been known for a long while.  The OS running this story now just appears to pile onto the Plancher incident.

Having said that, I could see why Moffett would be unhappy.  No one wants to be called an "effing idiot" everyday, and there is a thin line between pushing hard and tearing down.

Moffett needed to grow a pair and be a leader and he never did.

Cyber, go figure you would support any negative press.  I'm sure there are plenty of players who would speak different about O'Leary.  You're as pathetic as the Slantinel reporters who are just trying to destroy GOL at this point.  The smarter posters here see that.  The Slantinel is so desperate for business, they are resorting to tabloid journalism running stories with all anonymous quotes and an interview that was only realted because of the last sentence and that was forced in.

For the record, Moffett is sucking ass in AF2.

Cyber -

How does it feel to post something in an attempt to rally "your side" only to find common sense prevail, despite our fun little "rivalry."

The bottom line is that while you'd like to see O'Leary in scandal, and we love to see Leavitt find himself in hot water, this is a hatchet job.

Everything most of us hate about today's media is represented in this series of "news" articles.

In the first 2 - they were poorly done, but at least made some relevant points.

The Moffett article is trying to create a story instead of reporting on one. 

If the line at the bottom "at least he has a life to live" doesn't make your blood boil, I question how your interest in being anti-UCF can overrule your common sense and judgement of right and wrong.

Cyber -

How does it feel to post something in an attempt to rally "your side" only to find common sense prevail, despite our fun little "rivalry."

The bottom line is that while you'd like to see O'Leary in scandal, and we love to see Leavitt find himself in hot water, this is a hatchet job.

Everything most of us hate about today's media is represented in this series of "news" articles.

In the first 2 - they were poorly done, but at least made some relevant points.

The Moffett article is trying to create a story instead of reporting on one. 

If the line at the bottom "at least he has a life to live" doesn't make your blood boil, I question how your interest in being anti-UCF can overrule your common sense and judgement of right and wrong.

The only pleasure I get about this developling situation is b/c it will hopefully shut up the KnightLights of the world and show that "scandals' driven by the media can happen anywhere including UCF.

The point many UCF fans are missing about the Moffett article is that it lends credence to the idea that O"leary has created a hostile workplace where perhaps players, asst. Coaches and trainers are afraid of the man and make them afraid to speak out. I'm positive that he didn't want this to happen, but if he created an environement where players or trainers that speak out are berated personally and singled out the sequence of events that happened are ultimately his responsibilty. If you are asking to give UCF the benefit of the doubt, where was all this compassion and understanding from UCF fans during some of USf's highly publicized situations?

BTW....how do we know that more players don't feel this way? UCF chose not interview them during their light speed investigation. Are UCF fans afraid how their program savior might look if more players speak out? What if it comes out that more players corraborate these stories.....are you still going to feel the same about O'Leary?

Cyber -

How does it feel to post something in an attempt to rally "your side" only to find common sense prevail, despite our fun little "rivalry."

BTW....I think most USF fans are being 10X more objective about the situation than UCF would be doing if the tables were turned. We both know this is true....so it's not even worth debating.