The Coach Vick Experience: homecoming & staff shakeups

This week’s episode of The Coach Vick Experience started with Michael Vick being a man of his word. He placed a wager with his wife, Kijafa Vick, that if Hampton were to win the “Battle of the Bay” over his Norfolk State Spartans, he would rock Hampton University gear. Vick paid his end of the bargain by addressing the media in a Hampton University hat. I thought that segment was really cool, especially how he played up the rivalry.

I also like how they are telling the story of HBCU football to viewers who possibly aren’t initiated into the culture. Explaining the different teams in the conference, as well as what the Celebration Bowl is, is certainly important to get non-sports fans immersed into the intricacies of what’s occurring. They can fall in love with the narrative and follow the story of a season that started with a lot of promise as Vick’s homecoming, but ultimately turned into a learning lesson.

The defense is falling apart & coaching conversations

It was interesting to see that Michael Vick saw what we were seeing on the defense. While the offense was fine after Vick made Otto Khuns the starting quarterback for the remainder of the season, the defense remained a problem heading into the North Carolina Central game in early November. They had good playmakers such as Kyree Moyston and a couple of standout defensive players, but as a unit, they didn’t seem able to make an impact or stop the proverbial bleeding when they went up against various teams.

It seemed as if Vick was quick to blame Defensive Coordinator Terence Garvin, which made me wonder whether he had spoken with him. What we’ve seen a lot in these first five episodes, especially in practice and on the sidelines, is Vick giving his commentary about what’s going on. While we see him talking to players at certain points, we haven’t seen him talking to coaches much, and we haven’t truly seen real development moments between him and the players.

Possibly that happened behind the scenes, and we weren’t privy to that footage, but I hope Vick was developing his players in a real way instead of just complaining about them or advising his coaches to be better—instead of just giving commentary about how he thinks they’re not performing up to par and ultimately planning to fire them.

There’s nothing wrong with him keeping it real about how he feels, but at certain points it seems he’s being passive-aggressive rather than just narrating his story for the documentary. Ultimately, that’s the dichotomy when it comes to these docuseries: Are we looking to make good TV and salvage personal narratives, or are we really showcasing the authentic experience? That’s something Vick should consider if the show goes to Season 2.

ClutchPoints on BET; the staff shakeup

ClutchPoints and HBCU Pulse saw their first feature on The Coach Vick Experience surrounding the coaching shakeup that happened after the Wofford game. Norfolk State was expected to win that matchup, as Wofford entered the game winless, including an opening-season 16-15 loss to South Carolina State. But they were able to emerge victorious over Norfolk State, 31-14, which caused Vick to openly muse about shaking up the staff and making a change.

We see that in the ClutchPoints article, “Rumors: Michael Vick has Norfolk State staff shakeup after 1-6 start,” from October 13. It was featured in the collage of articles covering the firing that he made during the bye week. At that point, the staffing shakeup was just a rumor, but it had legs, as Norfolk State ranked last in the conference in team defense, giving up 34.1 points per game, 229.4 passing yards, and 197.1 rushing yards.

The interesting part about watching the show and looking back at the coverage we did during the season is seeing how well we did and what was really going on behind the scenes. What we learned was that Vick did fire some defensive coaches, including Garvin. Vick spoke with Kijafa once he got back home to Florida about how hard it was to fire a friend.

We already see that Vick is very close to the people he has personal relationships with, and he’s already had to make key decisions about both Carter and Garvin, which were certainly emotional, but at the same time, he did what was right for the team in this instance.

The player spotlights shine once again

The storytelling segment about Kyree Moyston and his journey was very gripping, once again showing the strength of the series in telling backstories. While Vick is high on Moyston as a player, we saw that he has some issues with self-control and discipline. He also had some injury struggles that kept him out of the game against Wofford.

Again, I would like to see Vick having development moments with players outside of Israel Carter. We saw Vic have a lot of moments coaching up Carter, even having a film session with him. All we truly saw with him and Khuns was back-and-forth emotion about Khuns being relegated to backup. It would be great to see him devoting time to coaching players such as Kevon King and Moyston instead of just emoting to and about them.

South Carolina State didn’t play during Norfolk State’s Homecoming

Anyone who knows HBCU football knew that after starting 1-6, there was no way Norfolk State were going to beat South Carolina State, even during their homecoming. The issues were just too glaring, even as South Carolina State head coach Chennis Berry dealt with significant roster turnover.

Anyone who knows HBCU football knew that after starting 1-6, there was no way they were going to beat South Carolina State, even during their homecoming. The issues were just too glaring, even as South Carolina State head coach Chennis Berry dealt with significant roster turnover.

The episode made me feel bad for Steve Adams, who had to take on the assignment of coaching the defense against a high-powered South Carolina State team. We ultimately know the results: South Carolina State put up 51 points on Norfolk State, only 9 points less than FBS Rutgers did. That certainly was not the best showing for Coach Adams in his first game promoted to DC.

But what was great this episode was the different aspects of the team we got to see, including how Adams coached the defense and Vick addressing his team after the bye week. It shows the true behind-the-scenes elements that even the most in-tune HBCU reporters didn’t know about.

The Coach Vick Experience airs on BET on Wednesdays at 10 p.m. Eastern, 9 p.m. Central.

The post The Coach Vick Experience: homecoming & staff shakeups appeared first on ClutchPoints.