Everyone has been thinking about it for quite some time. It's long been the elephant in the room. And now, with the current BCS contract expiring in 2014, it's the hot topic of conversation on the college football landscape. Anyone who follows the sport, from beat writers to casual fans, is filled with ideas regarding this topic. Spring practice is already underway for some teams but no one wants to talk about that. All the focus is on one thing...
Conference expansion and realignment.
It's only a matter of time before the NCAA realigns its Division 1-A (I still refuse to call it Division 1 Bowl Subdivision.) football conferences. Commissioners in both the Big Ten and the Pac-10 have recently followed through with studies exploring the possibility of expanding their conferences to 12 teams, allowing them access to that exclusive conference title game club, generating millions of dollars in extra revenue.
The Big East has been a popular place for those seeking expansion. Syracuse, Rutgers, and Pitt have all been linked to the Big Ten in various rumors and studies. Let's not forget the ACC raid in 2004 that took Boston College, Miami (FL), and Virginia Tech to the Atlantic Coast Conference. Naturally, that move had its own ripples as Louisville, South Florida, and Cincinnati relocated to the Big East from Conference USA (DePaul & Marquette also defected but those schools do not play football.). C-USA then put its hand into the MAC to replace those teams wtih Central Florida and Marshall.
Shockingly, the Big XII has also been subject to poaching rumors. The Pac-10 is rumored to be interested in Colorado...again. The Big Ten is rumored to be interested in both Texas and Missouri. It's hard to believe that Texas would leave the Big XII but it actually stands to make significantly more money in the Big Ten, exposing its product to a whole new media market. Plus, it would give the Big Ten a new media market to put its television network in, adding to the large revenue stream the conference already has. However, Texas makes more money than any other Big XII team based on the fact they have made the most national television appearances in the conference in recent years and the Big XII revenue sharing contract calls for those teams that make more national TV appearances to get a larger chunk of the pie.
The Pac-10 is also looking at Utah in the Mountain West and I could spend hours (or even days) talking about the pros and cons of all the rumored teams moving versus staying put, especially my alma mater, Syracuse. But there is something else that bears examination and it's something I never thought I would admit...
The Division 1-A conference structure as it stands needs to be torn down and remodeled.
We have to admit that there is a very good chance that the conference structure in 2014 will look nothing like it does now. In the late '80s the SEC decided to flex its muscles and wanted to expand into America's first superconference. So the SEC poached Arkansas from the old Southwest Conference, setting off a chain reaction. The end result was the demise of both the SWC and the Big 8, along with the creation of the Big XII.
It is very possible that we are in store for a similarly seismic shift in the college football landscape. Conferences such as the Mountain West and the WAC could cease to exist. Even the Big East, an established BCS conference, could be on the chopping block. Another part of the problem (in addition to those conferences looking for a seat at the conference title game table) is the inherent bloating in Division 1-A football. There are a number of programs that just don't belong at this level. Some of the 1-A independents and some schools in the Sun Belt and the MAC could drop down to the 1-AA level and the college football world would go on without experiencing even a blip on the mishap radar.
College football is not college basketball. There is the occasional fairy tale (Utah, TCU, Boise State) but for the most part the so-called "mid-majors" can't line up with the big boys on a regular basis. Cinderella is an integral part of the fabric of college basketball. That regular opportunity doesn't exist in college football. Now, don't get me wrong. I'm not saying that those schools can't play with the big boys. Boise State and Utah have already proved that as have some 1-AA schools (Appalachian State over Michigan; New Hampshire over Rutgers) but it's funny how everyone forgets about how overmatched Hawaii was against Georgia in the Sugar Bowl a few years back. Division 1-A college football needs Boise State, Utah, and TCU among others but it can most certainly exist without Western Kentucky, North Texas, and Arkansas State to name a few.
We need to think outside the box: 16-team superconferences, non-traditional geographic setups (i.e. I read a column proposing a merger between the Big East and Mountain West, playing in an East vs. West conference title game while maintaining their current league formats.), more daunting crossover and/or non-conference games. Everyone under the sun has a plan for realignment and I'm no different but I will wait until my next post to officially unveil that plan.
Some news and notes:
- The first uncapped NFL off-season in nearly two decades is well underway with a flurry of activity. In an unexpected development, many of these moves have been on the trade market. Trade deadlines in other major sports get big-time media coverage but the NFL trade deadline goes by with nary a whisper. Now all of a sudden trades are happening in a fast and furious manner. Brady Quinn to the Broncos. Seneca Wallace to the Browns. Antonio Cromartie to the Jets. Kerry Rhodes to the Cardinals. Anquan Boldin to the Ravens. And don't worry as there's been plenty of activity on the free agent scene as well. Jake Delhomme to the Browns. Derek Anderson to the Cardinals. LaDainian Tomlinson to the Jets. Antrel Rolle to the Giants. Julius Peppers to the Bears. Can't wait to see how this off-season continues to unfold with the free agency, the trades, and of course the draft.
- The first weekend of March Madness is officially history and what a weekend it was. After recent tournaments where practically all the top seeds advanced, upset order was finally restored to the tourney this year. Three double-digit seeds and a #9 seed all advanced to the Sweet 16. Saint Mary's (a 10 seed), Cornell (a 12 seed), Northern Iowa (a 9 seed), and Baylor (a 3 seed) will all be making their first-ever Sweet 16 appearances. Butler and Xavier (perenially tough mid-majors) will also be at the Sweet 16 party. Saint Mary's defated Big East heavyweight Villanova. Much-maligned Washington (an 11 seed) took down Marquette. Cornell took down Temple & Wisconsin. Purdue is marching on without injured star Robbie Hummel. Northern Iowa took down UNLV and overall #1 seed Kansas with a pair of last second threes by Ali Farokhmanesh. And the most important thing, the 'Cuse is still alive, dancing into the Sweet 16 after manhandling Vermont & Gonzaga in the first two rounds.
And don't forget all of the first round madness. Old Dominion upset Notre Dame. Ohio slayed mighty Georgetown. Murray State made Vanderbilt a repeat upset victim. And how about Texas? In January, the Longhorns were ranked #1 in the country and riding high. Then it was just an absolute free fall. Losses to unranked teams, losses at home, a poor Big XII Tournament showing, forced to play in an #8/#9 game in the tourney, and finally the loss to Wake Forest in the first round of the tournament. Still hard to believe what happened to Rick Barnes's squad.
- The NHL playoff push is in full swing. Detroit is Detroit again. With all the injuries and poor play behind them, the Wings are 9-2-1 in their last 12. The Washington Capitals continue to streak towards the Presidents' Trophy as they have already clinched the Southeast Division. The Caps made some fortifying moves at the deadline, picking up tough defenceman Joe Corvo and rugged forwards Scott Walker & Eric Belanger. The Blackhawks and the Coyotes, yes you read that right, the Phoenix Coyotes, are battling (along with the San Jose Sharks) for the top spot in the West. The Desert Dogs recently jumped the Sharks for first place in the Pacific Division. Phoenix made some solid deadline moves in picking up Wojtek Wolski, Lee Stempniak, and reacquiring Derek Morris. Goalie Ilya Bryzgalov has been lights out in net with a 2.28 GAA and 8 shutouts. And don't sleep on the defending Stanley Cup Champion Pittsburgh Penguins. GM Ray Shero made a few solid deadline moves in acquiring Alexei Ponikarovsky and Jordan Leopold. Add those moves to the pickups he's made in recent years (Bill Guerin, Chris Kunitz, & Marian Hossa among them) and Shero is gaining quite the reputation as the trade deadline magician. But don't forget that the Devils (my team, always playing consistently tough hockey) have taken all six meetings from the defending Cup champs this year.
- Spring Training is in full swing now. So glad to see that Joe Mauer is practically a Minnesota Twin for life after signing that 8-year, $184 million dollar extension. Baseball finally got something right. The ESPN report last week that Cardinals and the Phillies were discussing an Albert Pujols for Ryan Howard trade was exciting. You just don't see old-time player for player trades anymore. Everything has payroll ramifications or players to be named later or something else that waters down the blockbuster deal. Although the Cards trading Pujols is highly unlikely, just the mere mention of a straight-up blockbuster deal is enough to whet the appetite. And after a succesful 2009 in which I did not once mention PEDs, I'm making that pledge once again in 2010, no mention of PEDs in any of my baseball posts.
- There will also be no Tiger Woods stories here.
- Somebody wake me up when the Nets matter again, Lebron picks a team for the forseeable future, and the NBA regular season is over.
- And let me tell you, I miss Olympic hockey so much right now. The two-week, 42-game international hockey bonanza was absolutely fantastic. The global reach of the game has never been more apparent and it's possible that the 2010 Olympic Tournament in Vancouver may have been the single greatest assembly of hockey talent ever. A few notes from the tourney: Congrats to Finnish winger Teemu Selanne. The Finnish Flash set the career Olympic scoring record in Vancouver. Selanne now has 38 career points (20g-18a) in his five Olympic appearances for the Suomi ('92, '98, '02, '06, '10). This was, in all likelihood the final Olympic go-round for the 39-year old Selanne. He also holds NHL records for most goals and points in a single season by a rookie when he netted 76 goals and scored 132 points for the Winnipeg Jets in the '92-'93 season. Selanne has always been nothing but a class act and will be greatly missed by both Finland and the NHL when he finally decides to hang up the skates for good.
The push by Slovakia to a 4th-place finish (the best in the country's history) was great to watch as the whole country got behind its team. The Slovaks beat Russia and Sweden before falling to Canada in the semifinals and then falling to Finland in the bronze medal game. However, this may have been the last chance for a while for the Slovaks as the eight players that make up their core are all over 30 years old: Zdeno Chara, Lubomir Visnovsky, Pavol Demitra, Marian Hossa, Ziggy Palffy, Miroslav Satan, Jozef Stumpel, & Richard Zednik.
The gold medal game was a phenomenal back-and-forth contest watched by 27.6 million viewers in the United States, the most Americans to watch a hockey game since the 1980 US-Finland gold medal game. Zach Parise tied it up for the Americans after they pulled their goalie for the extra attacker at 19:35 of the third period. A fast-paced 4-on-4 overtime ended when Sidney Crosby further cemented his status as a Canadian national hero, netting the gold medal winner 7:40 into the overtime. Ryan Miller and Roberto Luongo were both stellar in net and with the young cores of both teams hopefully remaining intact, the US-Canada rivalry will continue to heat up.
American goaltender Ryan Miller was named the MVP of the tournament, ending up with a .946 save percentage and 1.35 GAA, allowing just eight goals in 355:07. Zach Parise and Brian Rafalski paced the Americans in scoring with eight points each. There had been some talk of the Summit Series (Canada-Russia) returning on the road to the 2014 Games in Russia but let's get real here. The hottest rivalry in international hockey right now is US-Canada so why not let them have a Summit Series of their own and allow the emotions to continue to boil over.
And don't forget about the last night of the preliminary round where we were treated to the exact matchups from the previous three gold medal games: Czech Republic-Russia (1998), US-Canada (2002), and Sweden-Finland (2006).
Let's just hope NHL commissioner Gary Bettman realizes the NHL should send its players to Sochi in 2014 so we can have a chance at seeing another incredible two weeks of hockey.
- Finally, some WrestleMania XXVI predictions: Edge over Chris Jericho for the World Heavyweight Championship; John Cena over Batista for the WWE Championship; Triple H over Sheamus; Undertaker over Shawn Michaels, ending HBK's career; Bret Hart over Mr. McMahon; CM Punk over Rey Mysterio; Ted DiBiase over Randy Orton and Cody Rhodes in a Triple Threat Match; Big Show & The Miz retain the Unified Tag Titles over R-Truth & John Morrison; MVP beats nine other superstars to win Money in the Bank.
Until next time.
-Meech
Tuesday, March 23, 2010
Sunday, January 17, 2010
Just when you thought it was over... - 1/17/10
First of all, happy new year!
Now, let's talk ball.
When Brian Kelly took the head coaching job at Notre Dame, abandoning his Cincinnati Bearcats in the midst of their Sugar Bowl preparation (They should really either move the national signing date back or mandate a longer dead recruiting period to prevent coaches from jumping ship during the bowl season like this.), we all thought that was the last big move on this year's college football coaching carousel.
Then the wheels came off the bus.
Mark Mangino gets bought out at Kansas. Mike Leach gets canned at Texas Tech. Jim Leavitt finds himself unemployed after being let go by South Florida. Mangino and Leach were the winningest coaches in school history. Leavitt was the only coach South Florida EVER had.
Urban Meyer resigns, comes back, and takes a leave of absence. Pete Carroll, amid the oncoming NCAA investigation, leaves USC and takes his "California Cool" to the Seattle Seahawks. Lane Kiffin, after one mediocre (7-6) year at Tennessee, packs up and takes over for his former boss at USC.
And don't even get me started on the whole Bobby Bowden fiasco at Florida State!
I'm sure by now you've read all the commentary on these departures. So I'm going to look at it from the other side rather than bore you with more analysis, except for some shots on Lane Kiffin, who I still don't like. Let's take a look at the coaches that will be stepping into all these jobs.
I will start with an individual who is slightly detached from all this nonsense: Charlie Strong. Louisville hired one of the most respected defensive minds in the game, in the process making Strong just the fifth African-American head coach at a BCS school. Randy Shannon (Miami), Joker Phillips (Kentucky), Turner Gill (Kansas), and Mike London (Virginia) are the others. Gill and London were just hired this off-season. Strong had been the defensive coordinator at Florida since 2003 with stops at Notre Dame and South Carolina (among others) before that. The 49-year-old Strong is a great hire for Louisville who I believe will clean up the mess left behind by the failed Steve Kragthorpe regime. The Cardinals certainly have the players and the facilities to compete in the Big East and they aren't too far removed from a Big East title and an Orange Bowl appearance in 2007. Strong is also helping his cause by hiring good coaches Mike Sanford (formerly the head coach at UNLV) and Vance Bedford (a Florida colleague) as his coordinators. Strong also took several other Florida assistants with him, taking some of the continuity out Gainesville in the wake of Meyer's leave of absence.
Then there's Kansas, where Turner Gill will step in for Mangino. Gill has spent the last four seasons as the head coach at Buffalo. There, he turned a perennial MAC doormat into a league champion and brought the school its first-ever bowl appearance. While Gill's 20-30 career record is not all that impressive, his work in turning Buffalo into a respectable program is incredible. In the seven seasons before he arrived, the Bulls had won more than two games in a season just once. Gill's second year on the job brought them a share of the MAC Eastern Division title followed the next year by the outright MAC title and a bowl game. Gill brings considerable knowledge of the Big XII to the job, having spent four years as a player at Nebraska and another twelve in Lincoln as an assistant coach. I get the feeling that with some better players in place, Gill can only continue to climb up the ladder. And a little tidbit, Gill is the first African-American coach in Big XII history.
Texas Tech decided to go the established route, hiring former Auburn head coach Tommy Tuberville as the 14th coach in program history. If you remember, I wrote a column last year defending Tuberville and severely chastising Auburn for dismissing him (Check out that column for more details on Tuberville's resume.). I think this is a dynamite hire for Tech; although, I still believe Tuberville will have a difficult time leaping Texas, Oklahoma, and, perhaps, Oklahoma State. Plus, I think Tuberville would've had more success in South Florida.
Then, there's Skip Holtz at South Florida. Holtz becomes just the second head coach in USF history. Holtz comes in fresh off his second consecutive Conference USA championship at East Carolina. He restored some mid-major luster to an East Carolina program that was 3-22 in its last 25 games before his arrival. It was this stint that has solidified his credibility independent of that of his father Lou. Skip worked under his father at both Notre Dame and South Carolina. I believe Holtz is charismatic enough to take advantage of the vast Florida recruiting pool and with the turmoil at Cincinnati, he easily has a chance to take over the Big East. His biggest challenge will be getting the Bulls to play a full season of ball. This is a team that is notorious for hot starts and meteoric rises in the polls before fizzling out and playing in a second-tier bowl game. I'm not sure if Holtz is the right guy to pull this team out of the doldrums. He has shown great poise at the mid-major level (Remember that UConn was still playing 1-AA ball when he was in charge in Storrs.) but there has been a fair share of bigger jobs his name was in consideration for but never called upon. We shall see how this one develops.
I will sum up the next few moves before moving on to Tennessee. Urban Meyer is a great case study for the dangers that come with this profession. There was a great column in Sports Illustrated about this last week. Brian Kelly has won everywhere he has been but the deck is stacked against him at Notre Dame. They don't have one defensive player who did not look overmatched against bigger foes and their two best offensive players have vanished courtesy of the NFL. The Irish played their softest schedule in years and still couldn't muster a better than .500 finish. Throw in the usually stringent academic requirements along with the lost luster of the ND mystique and Kelly has his work cut out for him. Pete Carroll is an ultra-competitive guy and I have always felt that it was only a matter of time before he went back to the NFL to wash out the sour taste of his previous NFL head-coaching stints in New York and New England.
Then there's Lane Kiffin. I don't know what Kiffin has done to deserve the USC job but he's got it and the fat contract and publicity that go along with it. The Trojan players seem happy for reasons that can't really be denied. Kiffin is a Carroll disciple so there will be a measure of continuity in both the on-field schemes and off-field demeanor. Kiffin is also regarded as an excellent recruiter so bringing in top-flight talent shouldn't be a problem. But this is a guy who won only five games in a season and a half with the Oakland Raiders and then went 7-6 in his one season in Knoxville. His signature "wins" were close losses to Alabama and Florida. Sure, he blew out Georgia and South Carolina but UGA was very down this year and Spurrier's troops in Columbia have never been more than average during his tenure. His top assistants (Ed Orgeron and father Monte) have far more impressive resumes.
The Volunteers will certainly be better off in the long run without Kiffin; however, in the short term, this is a devastating loss. The recruiting period goes live again on Sunday and it's possible the Vols may have lost several of their top commits by then. Jon Gruden preferred to stay with ESPN. Will Muschamp decided he would rather stay at Texas and wait for Mack Brown (who just got a fat new contract) to retire. David Cutcliffe took himself out of the running, saying he would rather finish what he started at Duke. Cutcliffe has done a great job in Durham (and did a good job while at Ole Miss before that and as the offensive coordinator at Tennessee before that). The Blue Devils are 9-15 in his two seasons after winning just 10 games in the previous eight seasons before his hiring. His words may be hollow and well-timed in light of Kiffin's departure but knowing Cutcliffe, I believe these words to be sincere:
"You follow your heart in big decisions. I have a lot of ties and a lot of people that I'm very close to, and a lot of respect for the University of Tennessee, but my heart is here. We've worked very hard these two years to change the culture, to change the team physically. You feel like the job's not done, and in this era, it bothers me, what we do as coaches, moving here and there. This is mid-January. Nothing about that felt right to me as a person."
Former Louisiana Tech head coach Derek Dooley (son of legendary Georgia head coach Vince Dooley) was hired to fill the void in Knoxville. While this may be a good hire and Dooley may be a good football coach, I still find it hard to believe that this is the man Tennessee wanted to fill its head coaching job, a coach who had a sub-.500 record in the WAC. Then again, they rushed into Kiffin last year after a disgraceful dismissal of Phillip Fulmer and then spent the last 14 months defending his absolute idiocy. Only time will tell just how far back the Vols, who have been borderline irrelevant the last few years anyway, have been set back in the ultra-competitive SEC. I don't think it's much of a stretch at this point to say that even the Kentucky Wildcats have leaped over the Vols in the SEC Eastern Division.
See what I mean, just when you thought the coaching carousel was going to be a smooth ride, everything goes topsy-turvy on you.
Some news and notes:
-The New York Mets continue to embarrass themselves as it turns out they had no clue about Carlos Beltran's knee surgery. The back-and-forth between the Mets and Beltran (mostly through agent Scott Boras) is ridiculous. The Mets should just blow up the entire infrastructure of the organization and start over again. We all know manager Jerry Manuel is on borrowed time and general manager Omar Minaya should be too. I don't care how great of a guy he is or how talented of a scout he was. This is still the same guy who traded Grady Sizemore, Brandon Phillips, and Cliff Lee away for Bartolo Colon. Somebody get Bobby Valentine on the phone!
- No comment on the Gilbert Arenas situation.
- Big shoutout to the #5 Syracuse men's basketball team! The Orange moved to 17-1 this weekend with a big win over #9 West Virginia down in Morgantown. Jimmy B's got to be pretty fired up about this squad led by Iowa State transfer and All-America candidate Wes Johnson.
- How loud is the Louisiana Superdome going to be next week??? The New Orleans Saints dispatched the Arizona Cardinals, 45-14, in their NFC Divisional Playoff matchup. Drew Brees and company shook off the rust after Tim Hightower's 70-yard TD run on the first play of the game for Arizona to run roughshod over the Cardinals' defense. And how about Reggie Bush's impressive showing from the 46-yard TD run to the 82-yard punt return TD. He was running with a sense of purpose that I haven't seen since his Heisman Trophy campaign at USC. Bottom line, I don't think there is any city that needs and identifies with its professional sports team more than New Orleans, especially after the Katrina disaster. This will be the Saints' second appearance in the NFC Championship Game in the last four years (and in franchise history). Plus, it will be the first time ever that the Saints have hosted the NFC Title Game. Open up those umbrellas and start dancing, New Orleans, as Brett Favre and the Minnesota Vikings make their way into town next week.
- And how about Rex Ryan and the New York Jets. The Jets were the only road team to win on Divisional Playoff weekend, sending Norv Turner and the San Diego Chargers home, 17-14. The Jets picked off Philip Rivers twice and scored all their points in the second half. Rookie QB Mark Sanchez minimized his mistakes again and threw a key TD pass to TE Dustin Keller in the fourth quarter to seal the deal. The Jets, with the #1 rushing offense and the #1 overall defense in the league, will be going to Indianapolis to take on the Colts in the AFC Championship Game. Everyone thought Ryan was crazy when he declared the Jets the odds-on favorite and now they are just one win away from the Super Bowl.
- Is anybody besides me really enjoying these "Too Light/Too Heavy" Bud Light commercials?
- Lots of attention has been given to the Chicago Blackhawks as they and their dynamic young core currently sport the NHL's best record. The San Jose Sharks are playing their usually-dominant regular season hockey. But don't overlook the Buffalo Sabres. The Sabres lead the Northeast Division and trail the Washington Capitals by just two points for the top spot in the Eastern Conference. Goaltender Ryan Miller (the goaltending hope for the Americans in the upcoming Olympics) has been playing lights out with 26 wins (2nd in the league), 2.01 goals against average (2nd), and a .936 save percentage (1st). Keep an eye on this club as the season charges out of the oncoming Olympic break.
- Some big credit to the Florida Marlins for actually spending some money to keep ace Josh Johnson. The 26-year-old right-hander was given a 4-year, $39 million deal. The 6'7" righty went 15-5 with a 3.23 ERA while anchoring the Florida staff last year. Despite the lowest payroll in the league, the Marlins won 87 games and finished just seven games back of the Philadelphia Phillies in the NL East and five games out of the wild card. Naturally, the contract doesn't have a no-trade clause but you still have to be impressed with Florida spending some money to keep its young core intact for once rather than trading them all away.
- We all know that Kurt Warner is contemplating retirement but how about the news that Ed Reed is doing the same. The 31-year-old Baltimore Ravens safety went through an injury-plagued 2009 and that, coupled with a disappointing 20-3 loss to the Indianapolis Colts in the AFC Divisional Playoffs, has him wondering what's next. Reed has been battling a damaged nerve in his neck among other maladies and says he will seriously re-evalute things in the coming days. Reed possesses the Baltimore franchise record for career interceptions with 46. He is a six-time Pro Bowler and a former NFL Defensive Player of the Year. Reed is also the only player in NFL history to score a TD by blocking a punt, returning a punt, returning an interception, and returning a fumble.
Until next time.
-Meech
Now, let's talk ball.
When Brian Kelly took the head coaching job at Notre Dame, abandoning his Cincinnati Bearcats in the midst of their Sugar Bowl preparation (They should really either move the national signing date back or mandate a longer dead recruiting period to prevent coaches from jumping ship during the bowl season like this.), we all thought that was the last big move on this year's college football coaching carousel.
Then the wheels came off the bus.
Mark Mangino gets bought out at Kansas. Mike Leach gets canned at Texas Tech. Jim Leavitt finds himself unemployed after being let go by South Florida. Mangino and Leach were the winningest coaches in school history. Leavitt was the only coach South Florida EVER had.
Urban Meyer resigns, comes back, and takes a leave of absence. Pete Carroll, amid the oncoming NCAA investigation, leaves USC and takes his "California Cool" to the Seattle Seahawks. Lane Kiffin, after one mediocre (7-6) year at Tennessee, packs up and takes over for his former boss at USC.
And don't even get me started on the whole Bobby Bowden fiasco at Florida State!
I'm sure by now you've read all the commentary on these departures. So I'm going to look at it from the other side rather than bore you with more analysis, except for some shots on Lane Kiffin, who I still don't like. Let's take a look at the coaches that will be stepping into all these jobs.
I will start with an individual who is slightly detached from all this nonsense: Charlie Strong. Louisville hired one of the most respected defensive minds in the game, in the process making Strong just the fifth African-American head coach at a BCS school. Randy Shannon (Miami), Joker Phillips (Kentucky), Turner Gill (Kansas), and Mike London (Virginia) are the others. Gill and London were just hired this off-season. Strong had been the defensive coordinator at Florida since 2003 with stops at Notre Dame and South Carolina (among others) before that. The 49-year-old Strong is a great hire for Louisville who I believe will clean up the mess left behind by the failed Steve Kragthorpe regime. The Cardinals certainly have the players and the facilities to compete in the Big East and they aren't too far removed from a Big East title and an Orange Bowl appearance in 2007. Strong is also helping his cause by hiring good coaches Mike Sanford (formerly the head coach at UNLV) and Vance Bedford (a Florida colleague) as his coordinators. Strong also took several other Florida assistants with him, taking some of the continuity out Gainesville in the wake of Meyer's leave of absence.
Then there's Kansas, where Turner Gill will step in for Mangino. Gill has spent the last four seasons as the head coach at Buffalo. There, he turned a perennial MAC doormat into a league champion and brought the school its first-ever bowl appearance. While Gill's 20-30 career record is not all that impressive, his work in turning Buffalo into a respectable program is incredible. In the seven seasons before he arrived, the Bulls had won more than two games in a season just once. Gill's second year on the job brought them a share of the MAC Eastern Division title followed the next year by the outright MAC title and a bowl game. Gill brings considerable knowledge of the Big XII to the job, having spent four years as a player at Nebraska and another twelve in Lincoln as an assistant coach. I get the feeling that with some better players in place, Gill can only continue to climb up the ladder. And a little tidbit, Gill is the first African-American coach in Big XII history.
Texas Tech decided to go the established route, hiring former Auburn head coach Tommy Tuberville as the 14th coach in program history. If you remember, I wrote a column last year defending Tuberville and severely chastising Auburn for dismissing him (Check out that column for more details on Tuberville's resume.). I think this is a dynamite hire for Tech; although, I still believe Tuberville will have a difficult time leaping Texas, Oklahoma, and, perhaps, Oklahoma State. Plus, I think Tuberville would've had more success in South Florida.
Then, there's Skip Holtz at South Florida. Holtz becomes just the second head coach in USF history. Holtz comes in fresh off his second consecutive Conference USA championship at East Carolina. He restored some mid-major luster to an East Carolina program that was 3-22 in its last 25 games before his arrival. It was this stint that has solidified his credibility independent of that of his father Lou. Skip worked under his father at both Notre Dame and South Carolina. I believe Holtz is charismatic enough to take advantage of the vast Florida recruiting pool and with the turmoil at Cincinnati, he easily has a chance to take over the Big East. His biggest challenge will be getting the Bulls to play a full season of ball. This is a team that is notorious for hot starts and meteoric rises in the polls before fizzling out and playing in a second-tier bowl game. I'm not sure if Holtz is the right guy to pull this team out of the doldrums. He has shown great poise at the mid-major level (Remember that UConn was still playing 1-AA ball when he was in charge in Storrs.) but there has been a fair share of bigger jobs his name was in consideration for but never called upon. We shall see how this one develops.
I will sum up the next few moves before moving on to Tennessee. Urban Meyer is a great case study for the dangers that come with this profession. There was a great column in Sports Illustrated about this last week. Brian Kelly has won everywhere he has been but the deck is stacked against him at Notre Dame. They don't have one defensive player who did not look overmatched against bigger foes and their two best offensive players have vanished courtesy of the NFL. The Irish played their softest schedule in years and still couldn't muster a better than .500 finish. Throw in the usually stringent academic requirements along with the lost luster of the ND mystique and Kelly has his work cut out for him. Pete Carroll is an ultra-competitive guy and I have always felt that it was only a matter of time before he went back to the NFL to wash out the sour taste of his previous NFL head-coaching stints in New York and New England.
Then there's Lane Kiffin. I don't know what Kiffin has done to deserve the USC job but he's got it and the fat contract and publicity that go along with it. The Trojan players seem happy for reasons that can't really be denied. Kiffin is a Carroll disciple so there will be a measure of continuity in both the on-field schemes and off-field demeanor. Kiffin is also regarded as an excellent recruiter so bringing in top-flight talent shouldn't be a problem. But this is a guy who won only five games in a season and a half with the Oakland Raiders and then went 7-6 in his one season in Knoxville. His signature "wins" were close losses to Alabama and Florida. Sure, he blew out Georgia and South Carolina but UGA was very down this year and Spurrier's troops in Columbia have never been more than average during his tenure. His top assistants (Ed Orgeron and father Monte) have far more impressive resumes.
The Volunteers will certainly be better off in the long run without Kiffin; however, in the short term, this is a devastating loss. The recruiting period goes live again on Sunday and it's possible the Vols may have lost several of their top commits by then. Jon Gruden preferred to stay with ESPN. Will Muschamp decided he would rather stay at Texas and wait for Mack Brown (who just got a fat new contract) to retire. David Cutcliffe took himself out of the running, saying he would rather finish what he started at Duke. Cutcliffe has done a great job in Durham (and did a good job while at Ole Miss before that and as the offensive coordinator at Tennessee before that). The Blue Devils are 9-15 in his two seasons after winning just 10 games in the previous eight seasons before his hiring. His words may be hollow and well-timed in light of Kiffin's departure but knowing Cutcliffe, I believe these words to be sincere:
"You follow your heart in big decisions. I have a lot of ties and a lot of people that I'm very close to, and a lot of respect for the University of Tennessee, but my heart is here. We've worked very hard these two years to change the culture, to change the team physically. You feel like the job's not done, and in this era, it bothers me, what we do as coaches, moving here and there. This is mid-January. Nothing about that felt right to me as a person."
Former Louisiana Tech head coach Derek Dooley (son of legendary Georgia head coach Vince Dooley) was hired to fill the void in Knoxville. While this may be a good hire and Dooley may be a good football coach, I still find it hard to believe that this is the man Tennessee wanted to fill its head coaching job, a coach who had a sub-.500 record in the WAC. Then again, they rushed into Kiffin last year after a disgraceful dismissal of Phillip Fulmer and then spent the last 14 months defending his absolute idiocy. Only time will tell just how far back the Vols, who have been borderline irrelevant the last few years anyway, have been set back in the ultra-competitive SEC. I don't think it's much of a stretch at this point to say that even the Kentucky Wildcats have leaped over the Vols in the SEC Eastern Division.
See what I mean, just when you thought the coaching carousel was going to be a smooth ride, everything goes topsy-turvy on you.
Some news and notes:
-The New York Mets continue to embarrass themselves as it turns out they had no clue about Carlos Beltran's knee surgery. The back-and-forth between the Mets and Beltran (mostly through agent Scott Boras) is ridiculous. The Mets should just blow up the entire infrastructure of the organization and start over again. We all know manager Jerry Manuel is on borrowed time and general manager Omar Minaya should be too. I don't care how great of a guy he is or how talented of a scout he was. This is still the same guy who traded Grady Sizemore, Brandon Phillips, and Cliff Lee away for Bartolo Colon. Somebody get Bobby Valentine on the phone!
- No comment on the Gilbert Arenas situation.
- Big shoutout to the #5 Syracuse men's basketball team! The Orange moved to 17-1 this weekend with a big win over #9 West Virginia down in Morgantown. Jimmy B's got to be pretty fired up about this squad led by Iowa State transfer and All-America candidate Wes Johnson.
- How loud is the Louisiana Superdome going to be next week??? The New Orleans Saints dispatched the Arizona Cardinals, 45-14, in their NFC Divisional Playoff matchup. Drew Brees and company shook off the rust after Tim Hightower's 70-yard TD run on the first play of the game for Arizona to run roughshod over the Cardinals' defense. And how about Reggie Bush's impressive showing from the 46-yard TD run to the 82-yard punt return TD. He was running with a sense of purpose that I haven't seen since his Heisman Trophy campaign at USC. Bottom line, I don't think there is any city that needs and identifies with its professional sports team more than New Orleans, especially after the Katrina disaster. This will be the Saints' second appearance in the NFC Championship Game in the last four years (and in franchise history). Plus, it will be the first time ever that the Saints have hosted the NFC Title Game. Open up those umbrellas and start dancing, New Orleans, as Brett Favre and the Minnesota Vikings make their way into town next week.
- And how about Rex Ryan and the New York Jets. The Jets were the only road team to win on Divisional Playoff weekend, sending Norv Turner and the San Diego Chargers home, 17-14. The Jets picked off Philip Rivers twice and scored all their points in the second half. Rookie QB Mark Sanchez minimized his mistakes again and threw a key TD pass to TE Dustin Keller in the fourth quarter to seal the deal. The Jets, with the #1 rushing offense and the #1 overall defense in the league, will be going to Indianapolis to take on the Colts in the AFC Championship Game. Everyone thought Ryan was crazy when he declared the Jets the odds-on favorite and now they are just one win away from the Super Bowl.
- Is anybody besides me really enjoying these "Too Light/Too Heavy" Bud Light commercials?
- Lots of attention has been given to the Chicago Blackhawks as they and their dynamic young core currently sport the NHL's best record. The San Jose Sharks are playing their usually-dominant regular season hockey. But don't overlook the Buffalo Sabres. The Sabres lead the Northeast Division and trail the Washington Capitals by just two points for the top spot in the Eastern Conference. Goaltender Ryan Miller (the goaltending hope for the Americans in the upcoming Olympics) has been playing lights out with 26 wins (2nd in the league), 2.01 goals against average (2nd), and a .936 save percentage (1st). Keep an eye on this club as the season charges out of the oncoming Olympic break.
- Some big credit to the Florida Marlins for actually spending some money to keep ace Josh Johnson. The 26-year-old right-hander was given a 4-year, $39 million deal. The 6'7" righty went 15-5 with a 3.23 ERA while anchoring the Florida staff last year. Despite the lowest payroll in the league, the Marlins won 87 games and finished just seven games back of the Philadelphia Phillies in the NL East and five games out of the wild card. Naturally, the contract doesn't have a no-trade clause but you still have to be impressed with Florida spending some money to keep its young core intact for once rather than trading them all away.
- We all know that Kurt Warner is contemplating retirement but how about the news that Ed Reed is doing the same. The 31-year-old Baltimore Ravens safety went through an injury-plagued 2009 and that, coupled with a disappointing 20-3 loss to the Indianapolis Colts in the AFC Divisional Playoffs, has him wondering what's next. Reed has been battling a damaged nerve in his neck among other maladies and says he will seriously re-evalute things in the coming days. Reed possesses the Baltimore franchise record for career interceptions with 46. He is a six-time Pro Bowler and a former NFL Defensive Player of the Year. Reed is also the only player in NFL history to score a TD by blocking a punt, returning a punt, returning an interception, and returning a fumble.
Until next time.
-Meech
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