Players and coaches alike around here get instant celebrity status without ever actually doing anything. This gives everyone a false sense of security which then takes away any necessary edge or work ethic that it takes to win.
When the games actually start the pressure and expectations of this place cause everyone to meltdown because no one is truly prepared to compete because they’ve already become soft throughout all of the off-season National Championships. It’s rinse and repeat every singe fucking year because the culture is so engrained in every part of the program.
Rhule needed to rebuild this like Prime because he kept waaaaaayyy too many players that are unfixavble and by the time the current rot gets cut out it’s too late and will have already latched onto the new crop of coaches and players alike.
Therre is a big chunk of truth in this. Like Urban Meyer said, to fix a poor program you have to blow it up. Prime got rid of the bad culture by literally getting rid of it. Rhule is trying to change it by giving more people a chance to change.
There is an argument Rhule's approach is riskier. We are already seeing why - not only is the old choke culture lingering, the media and the fanbase are already in Rush to Judgement mode and are starting to conclude on whether or not Rhule was a good hire - after one fucking game. Rhule took a big risk that might sabotage his shot at succeeding. It won't be because the players won't buy in - it will be because they are already ingrained with the choke reflex.
For all the chaos in Boulder in the off-season, CU didn't fold yesterday like they would have last year. They came charging back. There isn't anyone there who remembers last year.