When Cincinnati Reds legend Pete Rose visited Miami University on Monday, he said Miami football needs to win in order to gain respect as a college football program.
MU football head coach Chuck Martin said Rose doesn't understand.
"Because when he was coaching, he was betting on games as opposed to trying to be a coach," Martin said.
During an interview with Miami Television News, Rose offered his thoughts on Miami football and what it needs to do to gain traction.
"There's one thing that can change everything around at this university," Rose said. "You know what it's called? W-I-N. Win. Winning eliminates a lot of problems."
"Whether you are a football coach, a basketball coach, a baseball coach - why do you win at hockey and you don't win at football? … I'm not here so I can't answer that question, but you know you can win because the hockey team is very good."
But Martin said it's not that easy.
"There's a huge process in winning," Martin said. "When I got here, because everybody looked at my resume and they saw that I had never lost anywhere I had been in my life at any level, they just assumed that I could just walk out here and the wins would happen."
Prior to joining Miami, Martin spent four seasons at Notre Dame and went 20-5 during his two years as offensive coordinator. Before that, he was head coach and offensive coordinator for Grand Valley State University and compiled a 74-7 (.914) record, including a 16-4 record in the NCAA Division II Playoffs and back-to-back championships.
"People that don't understand football as a team sport, particularly because it takes so many guys - it's a sport where 40-something people play in the game - don't understand that there's a huge process involved in winning. And if you can control the process, and get kids to get the right habits, the wins will come. Now that's my theory, that's not Pete Rose's theory."
Earlier in the day at a private seminar, Rose talked about the importance of attitude in sports. He said there are two attitudes an athlete can have during a game: positive or negative, winning or losing.
"There's no 'I'm almost a winner,'" Rose said. "No you're not. You're either a winner or a loser."
This time, Martin agreed.
"Once you have the ability, and it becomes a fair fight, then the team that believes it's going to win wins, and the team that doesn't believe they're going to win doesn't," Martin said.
"The first thing [Pete] said changes the second one. When you win, you gain confidence. Then you get the attitude that you're going to win."