Johns Hopkins' Pietramala not worried about team morale

Coach says team -- in midst of 1-3 skid -- must "keep fighting"

With No. 13 Johns Hopkins mired in a 1-3 skid, perhaps it’s natural to wonder if the losses are having an adverse effect on the players. If so, that’s not a concern for coach Dave Pietramala.

“Most people don’t like to lose,” he said Monday. “Certainly, we don’t like to lose around here. When you win and you beat No. 1, you’re the greatest thing since sliced bread. If you lose a game you shouldn’t lose, you’re the worst thing. That’s the nature of it, and that’s OK. We have to embrace that. This group has to just keep fighting. Obviously, we have to make adjustments, and we’ll do that. But the attitude of these guys has been positive. We’ve talked about what we think the problems are, what we have to do better. We’ve talked about those things, and we’ll try to practice those things in a stressful setting during the practice week. But this is a great group of young men. I really like them, and they’re passionate about what we want to do.”

That doesn’t mean that all is well around Homewood Field in Baltimore. There is a sense of anxiousness to correct the mistakes and execute on the field.

“Right now, we’re a little frustrated,” Pietramala said. “Like anything, you’re measured not by how you are when you’re successful. A true measure of a man is how you are when you have some bumps in the road. We’ve got to do what a man should do, which is go back to work. We look ourselves in the mirror, we evaluate the mistakes that we’re making, we look at personnel, we make decisions and we move forward in a positive and excited manner.”