Month: January 2008 (Page 19 of 25)

ANOTHER COACH TAKES A LEAVE

January 10, 2008 / Coach Z

Southern Mississippi head coach Larry Eustachy became the fourth Division I coach to take a leave of absence during the season. Never before can I recall anything like this happening. Albeit the four situations are different, but is does show just how much pressure coaches are putting on themselves. Not that I am saying other people don’t have pressure and that they are not compensated rather well. However, with the passing of Wake Forest coach Skip Prosser this summer there has been much more talk and reflection about how the job has changed.

Larry Eustachy— left due to his mother’s fight against cancer
Lute Olsen– personal problems stemming from his potential divorce
Perry Watson– health concerns
Jessie Evans– personal reasons (forced out by his athletic director)

I hate to be callous, but the reality was that all four teams had underperformed this year. Could be a lack of concentration by the head coach or just a coincidence. You decide.

College Basketball

ATLANTIC 10 SHOWDOWN

January 9, 2008 / Coach Z

Nationally ranked Dayton squared off with nationally ranked Rhode Island and came away with a 92-83. Rhode Island made a furious charge in the second half, but Brian Roberts and the Flyers were too much for the Rams. Roberts scored 23 points and made big plays down the stretch. He made a solid pitch for A-10 player of the year tonight…

Meanwhile Charlotte came up with a big win over Clemson. Their first win over a ranked team in three years. (Could this be the Clemson fade we are seeing?)

Down Interstate 75 Xavier continued to be the hottest team in the Atlantic -10. The Muskateers beat St. Bonaventure for their fifth straight win…

College Basketball

Mallett walks on Michigan

January 9, 2008 / Anthony Stalter

In the wake of Michigan hiring former West Virginia head coach Rich Rodriguez (and his spread offense), quarterback Ryan Mallett has decided to leave the school after only his first year.

“He’s on his way home,” Jim Mallett told The Associated Press on Wednesday. “We don’t know where he’s going to go yet, but we need to do something quick. We’re going to visit three, four or five schools.”
The former Texas Class 4A offensive player of the year may end up at Tennessee, which is considering hiring former Michigan offensive coordinator Mike DeBord and quarterbacks coach Scott Loeffler.

Losing Mallett is big for Rodriguez and Michigan. Mallett is a prototypical drop back passer with an NFL arm and a huge ceiling. Rodriguez is currently trying to recruit hotshot high school quarterback prospect, Terrelle Pryor, to run his spread option attack, but if he can’t land him, the Wolverines might have a huge setback. Changing offensive schemes – especially when it’s going from a pro-style to a spread – isn’t like turning a light switch on and off.

College Football

Falcons pursuing Carroll? Why?

January 9, 2008 / Anthony Stalter

ESPN.com’s NFL columnist Len Pasquarelli is reporting that the Atlanta Falcons want to interview USC’s Pete Carroll.

Conventional wisdom is that Carroll would only consider an NFL job if he had full control over the football operation. That likely would not be the case in Atlanta, where Blank is seeking a new general manager as well as a head coach.
But sources said the Falcons might be willing to grant Carroll far-reaching responsibilities and that the USC coach, who could assemble a very strong staff, could be intrigued by the challenge of resurrecting a franchise that has been through a turbulent year and has become all but irrelevant on the Atlanta sports scene.

Forget the bad experience with Bobby Petrino for a second – why would the Falcons give Carroll “far-reaching responsibilities” after the Browns did it with Butch Davis and failed, and the Redskins did it with Steve Spurrier, and failed.

Yes, Carroll is a good coach and hiring him would be a little different than Petrino just based on the fact that Pistol Pete has significant NFL coaching experience (15 years). However, giving even a quarter control to a college coach would be a huge mistake after Petrino was given a lot of say last year and bailed because he didn’t know how to communicate with NFL players. College coaches are used to dealing with college players. Even though he has NFL experience, Carroll is now a college coach and the fact that Falcons owner Arthur Blank is even considering this means that he hasn’t fully learned from the Petrino fiasco. It would be a splashily hire (which Blank seems to want), but not necessarily the right hire.

NFL

BCS “exploring” modified playoff

January 8, 2008 / John Paulsen

An article in the LA Times sheds some light on the BCS’ short-term postseason plans.

Despite continued resistance from two conferences and a major bowl, incoming Bowl Championship Series coordinator John Swofford says college football leaders will continue to explore a modified playoff.
“I think the subject deserves that,” Swofford, commissioner of the Atlantic Coast Conference, said Monday at a Football Writers Assn. of America meeting.

Really? You “think” that 90%+ of college football fans might be right about a playoff being the best thing for the sport?

College football officials have ruled out an expanded “NFL-style” playoff.

Great.

Four conferences — ACC, Big East, Southeastern and Big 12 — are interested in pursuing a Plus One model that would add an additional game to the current five-game BCS arrangement.
The Pacific 10 and Big Ten Conferences, and the Rose Bowl, are opposed to Plus One.

Get with the program, Pac-10 and Big Ten. What is this “Plus One” that you speak of?

Plus One would potentially seed the top four teams in the final BCS standings. No. 1 would play No. 4 and No. 2 would play No. 3 in two of the major BCS bowls, and the winners would then play for the BCS title.

Wait, isn’t that just a four-team playoff? Why are we calling this “Plus One”?

Swofford admitted Plus One would not solve the controversies that have often plagued the BCS since its inception in 1998.
If Plus One was used this year, Georgia and USC, two of the hottest teams in the country, would not have made the cut. Georgia finished No. 5 in the BCS standings; USC was No. 7.

Right, and an “NFL-style,” six-, eight- or even sixteen-team playoff would solve those controversies.

ARGH!