Tennessee just latest team to use sideline gimmick
Tennessee decided to motivate its defense by having an assistant coach hoist a large garbage can over his head during the Volunteers’ win at Georgia Tech on Monday.
When the team forced a turnover, the players took the ball to the sideline and dunked it into the decorated trash can with a “Hide The Ball” acronym written on it. The trash can took social media by storm — not necessarily in a good way — and now has a Twitter account (@TrashCanTeam121).
Think that’s weird? Tennessee isn’t the first team to pull something like this. Football Championship Subdivision program Austin Peay has been using the good old trash can motivational tactic since second-year coach Will Healy took over. (The Governors call theirs “Dunk City.”)
And sports psychologists have long used metaphorical props to help boost athletes’ psyches. Consider renowned sports psychologist Ken Ravizza, who would put a toilet on the field during practices for Cal State-Fullerton athletics teams to flush away their mistakes and move toward positive thoughts on the future.
There are plenty of other gimmicks on the college football gridiron that are similarly funny and bizarre, whether they are planned by coaches or improved by players. A look at some of the others.
TEXAS A&M
Before UCLA’s remarkable comeback Saturday, Aggies running back Trayveon Williams celebrated by strutting on the sideline with a drum major’s scepter after scoring a 61-yard touchdown. The band member’s baton cane is called a mace.
MIAMI (FLA.)
The Hurricanes hand out giant gold chains for forcing turnovers.
ALABAMA, MISSISSIPPI AND COLORADO
The Crimson Tide, Rebels and Rams are a few of the programs that give away WWE wrestling-style title belts to defenders who record takeaways.
VIRGINIA TECH
A battered lunch pail has long been the trademark of Virginia Tech’s blue-collar, rough-and-tough defense.
Virginia Tech associate head coach Bud Foster, who started the lunch pail tradition after he was named the Hokies defensive coordinator in 1995, said a few years ago: “What the lunch pail is about is going out and earning success and deserving victory, whatever it is, whether it’s on the field or off the field.”
BOISE STATE
Broncos coaches over the years have awarded the players who showed the most effort and played with the most passion a hammer that represented them “throwing the hammer down.” Previous coach Chris Petersen (now at Washington) used it as a way to signify the importance of special-teams play. It’s often carried out by a player at the beginning of a game as somewhat of a torch to lead the rest of the team onto the field. Texas-El Paso uses a pickax in similar fashion.
MINNESOTA
P.J. Fleck brought his “row the boat” mantra to Minnesota from Western Michigan, and in the beginning of the season opener against Buffalo, the team brought an oar onto the field as fans chanted “row the boat.”