"You have got to let your quarterback be your quarterback,” a source said. “There wasn’t autonomy to read the defense on a run-option. He would tell the quarterback whether he should hand it off or run. You can't manage every piece of it.”

Cornelsen would also dictate where his quarterbacks needed to throw on passing plays before the snap and criticize them for passing elsewhere even if the intended target was covered. A source ran through multiple instances for The Roanoke Times of when Burmeister was “ripped” this fall for making a positive play only because the ball went to a different receiver than Cornelsen wanted.