BY SCOTT MORGANROTH
Will these NCAA football coaches ever learn?
I doubt it. In recent weeks there have been three major coaches that have lost their jobs due to allegations of player abuse.
I’ll never forget when former Ohio State Buckeyes Coach Woody Hayes was fired on my birthday, Dec 29, 1978 for punching Clemson Tigers nose guard Charlie Bauman on the sidelines during a 17-15 loss at the Gator Bowl. The Buckeyes finished the season with a 7-4-1 mark while Clemson ended its season 10-1.
But more importantly, this turned out to be the end of an era. Can you imagine how much publicity this Hayes incident would have gained in today’s Mass Media Internet Market?
Hayes would have been crucified in the press and would have lost millions of dollars.
So instead of the public remembering that Hayes guided the Buckeyes from 1961-78 to three National Titles, 13 Big-Ten Championships, is ninth all-time in FBS coaching victories with a 238-72-10 record in 28 years as a head coach, he’ll be remembered for "The Punch."
Former Kansas Jayhawks Coach Mark Mangino departed Lawrence after reaching a $3 Million settlement for insensitive comments made to his players.
Mangino was hired as coach in December of 2001 and led the Jayhawks to a 50-48 record, 3-1 in Bowl Games. He has the second most victories in school history. Mangino guided Kansas to a 12-1 record in 2007 as the school went to their first BCS Bowl defeating Virginia Tech 24-21 in the Orange Bowl.
In this day and age, tough love isn’t something student athletes respond to. Coaches have to deal with parents, lawyers, nervous administrators, boosters and alumni as they become conscious of a schools image, yet know there is a high demand to field a winning program on the field as well a high revenue producer.
The lawyers are looking for a piece of the pie and administrators are quick to take swifter action to remove the coach.
Time will tell if Mangino ever gets another college job again. If not, he’ll find work in the NFL as an assistant coach and will be taking orders from a head coach who can keep his temper under control.
Fortunately for Kansas, the Jayhawks made a great hire by landing former Nebraska QB & Buffalo Coach Turner Gill.
When Gill was named head coach at Buffalo on Dec 16, 2005, the 23rd coach in Bulls history, previous coach Jim Hofher led the school to an 8-49 mark and this was one of the four worst FBS programs. By 2008, Buffalo finished with an 8-6 record, landed in the International Bowl marking the first bowl game since joining the FBS in 1999.
This transformation enabled Gill to get consideration for the Auburn Tigers head coaching position. He was bypassed in favor of Gene Chizik, who was 5-19 with the Iowa State Cyclones. On December 15, 2008, former NBA Superstar & Auburn player Charles Barkley cited race as the No.1 factor as to why Chizik was hired comparing the records of the two candidates.
Gill concluded this season with a 20-30 record in four seasons at Buffalo. Now Gill’s annual salary at Kansas is $2 million per-season and at age 47, has his big coaching job because he demonstrated enough class to keep his mouth shut therefore his patience enabled him to return to the Big 12.
I don’t know if former Texas Tech Coach Mike Leach knew anything about Hayes but the timing of his departure does link these two individuals together near my birthday.
The Red Raiders were the last stop for legendary Basketball Coach Bobby Knight who recorded his 902 victory for the Lubbock based university. They handled Knight’s fiery personality well and then hired his son Pat to continue leading the program.
In February of 2009, Leach signed a 5-year $12.7 Million contract and was due an $800,000 bonus if he remained head coach on December 31, 2009. Leach was fired on Dec 30, 2009 pending allegations of inappropriate treatment of Adam James, son of former SMU and New England Patriots running back and current ESPN College Football Analyst Craig James.
I’m sure Leach’s comments about "Fat Little Girlfriends" didn’t score any points with his bosses. Yet, he did compile an 84-43 record and was 5-4 in bowl games. In 2008, Leach guided the Red Raiders to an 11-2 record and had them contending for a national championship.
Perhaps Leach’s biggest mistake was he didn’t come out publicly and try to square up his problems with James as well as his bosses. But as we have found out in this case, no matter how good your record is, you can’t think that you can say and do whatever you want because there are enough quality coaches available that would relish the opportunity to build on what you’ve created. It also didn’t help that he was looking at other jobs at Auburn & Washington while employed by Texas Tech and his contentious contract negotiations became a public spectacle.
Leach took his situation for granted and his replacement Tommy Tubberville will reap from the benefits.
It’s obvious that his lawsuit with Texas Tech will get ugly. Even when it gets resolved, will Leach ever get another high profile job let alone any college head coaching position?
I have a gut feeling that he will especially if he gets the right situation where the university knows what its buying as Tech did when it hired Knight. His worst case scenario is landing in the NFL or even with his wide open passing attack, Leach would be a good fit for the CFL.
I’ll guarantee you one thing that if Mangino or Leach ever demeaned an NFL player, these players would put them into the emergency room. I’d be curious to see how well Leach would work with San Francisco 49′ers Coach Mike Singletary, who does happen to be the man in charge of turning the former Red Raiders receiver Michael Crabtree into a productive player.
Singletary wouldn’t tolerate Leach’s off the wall behavior.
Finally, the incident which bothers me the most is what has transpired at my alma-mater the University of South Florida.
This is another major mess.
Leavitt just completed the second season of a seven year $12.6 Million contract and was the only coach in the program’s 13-year history. He finished with a 95-57 record and I truly thought he’d be there many more years and even have a building named after him.
When he was hired in 1995, USF operated out of trailers on campus and the Bulls made a swift progression from Div I AA to a BCS Conference Member. He turned down major offers to stay at USF and build his own tradition.
But the incident which finished off Leavitt was that he is alleged to have grabbed sophomore Joel Miller by the throat, slapped him in the face twice during halftime of the Louisville game. Leavitt’s departure was not only due to the physical incident but also interfered with the investigation by having direct contact with material witnesses during the review process.
Nevertheless, the coach who has had USF ranked as high as No. 2 in the polls in 2007, has played in a bowl game in every year since joining The Big East in 2005, finds himself out of work. His teams have started out 5-0 the past two seasons but have suffered collapses in conference play and slid out of the top 25. This season, USF finished 8-5.
Now the question remains, like Mangino, and Leach, where will Leavitt land when this is all settled? He could have more options than these other two since he built USF from scratch.
Of course there is the pros.
It would be amazing to see him continue his coaching career at Raymond James Stadium as a member of the Tampa Bay Bucs. He’s well liked and known in the community.
For those schools looking to build another program from scratch or looking to eventually reach FBS, he has a track record plus has put players in the NFL.
Ironically, when coaches leave the NCAA with their careers in shambles, they wind up in the pros.
Two-time probation Basketball Coach Kelvin Sampson wrecked programs at Oklahoma and Indiana but has landed as an assistant coach with the Milwaukee Bucks. All he has to focus on his motivating, strategy and dealing with men that concentrate on basketball not the external distractions "Outside The Lines."
But I do believe that the common bond between Mangino, Leach and Leavitt is they put three programs on the college football map. Now Gill, Tubberville and Holtz simply have to build on what they started. As for Leach and Leavitt, there newly appointed assistant coaches are now the lawyers and we haven’t heard the last of all three situations.
These guys will land again because they have proven that they can build and build winners. In the end, winning does mean something.
Yet the question remains, unlike Hayes, will they learn from their mistakes, so they can salvage their careers and their reputations?
Stay tuned, I’m very curious to see how all of this plays out in time.
Scott Morganroth can be reached at Scottsports33@aol.com and his blog can be seen at www.scottsports33.com
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BY SCOTT MORGANROTH
When talking about championships, there is nothing better than the term, "The Final Four."
The NCAA Basketball Tournaments both the Men’s & Women’s feed off of March Madness.
The NFL does a great job and this weekend will provide us with the Conference Championship Games.
Will the New York Jets relish their role as underdogs and leave Indiana with a victory over the Indianapolis Colts?
Will 40-year old Brett Favre return to his hometown region of Louisiana and end the feel good story of the New Orleans Saints with a Minnesota Vikings victory to become the first quarterback to win a Super Bowl with two different teams?
At least in both cases, these championship results and match-ups will be decided on the field.
It’s hard to believe that two weeks ago Alabama defeated Texas to win the National Championship at the Rose Bowl.
But as the debate over the years has lingered that the highest level of NCAA Football still doesn’t have a playoff system to determine it’s true champion and the politics of university presidents, conference commissioners, etc… prevent such a reasonable conclusion, I do hope at some time the public gets to see a true champion decided the right way.
I have a feeling that one day, Congress will step in and there will be legislation to force a change in how the NCAA does business. They’ve intervened with steroids, the concussion debate in the NFL so why not here.
While there is no easy solution to create a playoff system, there is a means to minimize the debate as to who gets to the championship game. I’d like to think there is a degree of common sense which can factor into the equation.
I’m sure that there isn’t a person who doesn’t enjoy the great different rivalries on Saturdays during the fall. But what makes me ill is that when the season ends, we can see 2-5 undefeated teams going into the bowl season.
While the BCS does its best to match the top two teams in the country to minimize the debate, I understand why the college football hierarchy doesn’t want to make major changes in their system.
Being an NFL writer, I enjoy the bowl system. It gives NFL scouts the opportunity to attend 34 games to find prospects with the 68 teams participating. We shouldn’t forget that that NFL does have the other divisions to find players and do have their playoff systems to determine their national championships. Regardless of the level, there is nothing better than hard hitting, adverse game conditions and the ability to see which players talent’s emerge under high pressure circumstances.
Not all of the best players have ever played in NCAA Division I. Former Chicago Bears running back Walter Payton (Jackson St.) and current Baltimore Ravens QB Joe Flacco (Delaware) are prime examples that you can find talent anywhere. You’ll find talent in the Mid American, Sun Belt, Big East, Conference USA, etc… and the hidden gems are usually found in rounds 3-7 as well as undrafted free agents. This determines whether an NFL team becomes a constant post-season participant and wins Super Bowls.
The post-season college All-Star Games are a great way to interview potential pro prospects, determine strength and watching players perform against the best of all levels. But the coaches have to substitute so much to look at all players and not key in on specific ones.
At long last, again, it’s time for common sense to take over!
I’d be happy to just reduce the debate and give an underdog a chance to compete for a national championship.
It’s time to finally add just one more bowl game and create the "Plus One" so we can see the 1-4, 2-3 scenario!
This won’t effect final exams.
In fact, it will bring more money into the NCAA and I doubt that even with a slow economy that there would be much difficulty finding advertising. It would have been great to see a Boise State (12-0) versus TCU (12-0) contest in a semifinal setting instead of just a BCS game with no meaning for the right to have played for a national title.
We’ve all heard that saying that on any given day, a team can beat another.
Nobody expected Boise State to upset Oklahoma 43-42 in overtime in the 2007 the Fiesta Bowl. Utah defeated Alabama 31-17 in the Sugar Bowl in 2009 much to the delight of the Nick Saban haters in South Florida. The list can go on and on. I doubt that the collegiate football powers complained about these upsets.
Boise State, TCU and Cincinnati were worthy of getting their opportunities to compete this year but the system prevented that. Would former Cincinnati Coach Brian Kelly have left early for Notre Dame with a chance to win a national championship? I doubt it because if Notre Dame wanted him that bad, they would have waited to get their man.
But the NCAA does need to add a "Plus One" format. We’re only talking about one football game!
As I mentioned before, I enjoy the bowl system because not only is it a great scouting base, but it gives smaller conferences a chance to promote their schools academics, bolster their athletic department revenues, plus it’s nice to see different college campuses.
One of the things I enjoy doing when I travel around the country by car is touring different universities. I enjoy the sports venues, museums, scenery and talking with the people in the area. With all of the different bowl games, it’s great for the tourism industry plus does give the smaller schools a chance to add revenue to their athletic programs.
To me, college football is two things:
1) Great Fall Entertainment in 49 States. I’m not sure how much Alaska is involved except for watching the games.
2) A Feeder System to Pro Football, whether it’s the NFL or CFL. Period!
The reason these students play college football is to fulfill their lifelong desires to play on Sundays and earn a paycheck. I get sick and tired of student athletes having a full ride to get to school, earn $30 a weekend for meals and then end up robbing others to buy shoes etc… while universities make millions of dollars off their efforts.
To not allow athletes to gain some extra income means they’ll resort to find another way to get it.
But no matter how you look at the glamour of college football, it’s still very corrupt, filled with greed and plenty of controversies.
Now the question is to find a happy medium to crown a champion with lesser discussion about "What If" and compromise the best way possible to make everyone happy with as less inconveniences as possible.
It’s not that much trouble to climb from 35 games to 36. Just add another week.
The sport gets more cash, publicity, the term "Final Four" becomes relevant, an underdog could emerge as a champion and the exposure is priceless.
Even though the NCAA knows it can’t duplicate it’s Basketball Tournament model to the gridiron enabling the public to pick upsets in their office pools, enough is enough with the excuses by not being able to add that final game.
By not having a sensible way to create some sense of sanity, these executives are looking like a bunch of clowns in a circus!
The NFL makes billions of dollars doing things the right way, after all of these years, it’s about time The NCAA will at least alter a "Severely Broken System."
The NFL Conference Championship Games are more interesting than the BCS Bowl Games. At least they decide something, the right to earn who has a chance to be the "Best."
As for the "Super Bowl," that speaks for itself. The NCAA’s system is a "Super Farce."
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BY SCOTT MORGANROTH
The Minnesota Vikings and QB Brett Favre finally erased some of their bad memories of the Dallas Cowboys by blasting them 34-3 in the Metrodome Sunday.
Here is what we have to look forward to in the next few weeks leading up to the Super Bowl on February 7, 2010.
The Vikings (13-4) travel to the Superdome and face the New Orleans Saints (14-3) in the first ever NFC Championship to ever be held in this historical venue. It’s only fitting that we have a matchup featuring the top two seeds.
The 40-year old Favre returns to the building where he won his lone Vince Lombardi Trophy on January 26, 1997 with a 34-21 victory over the New England Patriots. Favre, who played his collegiate career at Southern Mississippi and was born in Gulfport, Mississippi, is 363-531, 4,202 yards for 33 TD’s and just seven interceptions in 2009.
In Sunday’s win over Dallas, Favre was 15-24, 234 yards, four touchdowns and zero interceptions. Favre’s four touchdowns was the most in his post-season career and he earned his first playoff win over the Cowboys.
Including the post-season, Favre has played in 307 consecutive games. During his 19-year career as of week 17, 2009, Favre has thrown for 69,392 yards, 497 TD’s, 317 interceptions, 9,811 attempts and 6,083 completions.
Here are some more interesting numbers.
Thirteen years ago when he won his Super Bowl in New Orleans, the cost of a 30 second commercial was $1.2 million. The Neilson Ratings were 43.3 and the market share was 65.
Pat Summerall and John Madden were the broadcasters for his historical win on Fox. Joe Buck and former Cowboys QB and Hall of Famer Troy Aikman will be televising this contest for FOX.
In Miami, the No. 13 jersey of Dan Marino is retired at Joe Robbie Stadium. Marino’s 61, 361 yards in 16 seasons used to be the all-time NFL mark before Favre broke the Super Bowl Titleless performer’s record.
My first Super Bowl was XXXIII in Miami on Jan 31, 1999. The Denver Broncos, who defeated Favre a year earlier to win their first championship, knocked off the Atlanta Falcons 34-19 as Hall of Fame QB John Elway retired a two-time champion. Now Favre, like Elway, has a chance to win his second title on Marino’s old playground.
Going into Sunday’s NFC Championship Game, Saints QB Drew Brees, at the age of 31, who played at the same university as Miami Dolphins legend Bob Griese, Purdue, has put together an excellent career of his own.
In 2009, Brees is 363-514, 4,388 yards, 34 TD’s and 11 interceptions. During his nine-year career, he’s 2,697-4,164, 202 TD’s and 110 interceptions for 30,646 yards.
Brees turned down the opportunity to sign with the Miami Dolphins and play for Coach Nick Saban and chose to accept the challenge of playing for first time Head Coach Sean Payton in 2006.
In their first year together, they advanced to the NFC Championship but lost to the Chicago Bears 39-14 at Soldier Field as the Saints amassed four turnovers. On that Sunday, January 21, 2006 afternoon, the Saints had to deal with a cloudy, snowy day with the temperature 28 degrees. Despite the loss, the Saints would be greeted warmly by a grateful region that had appreciated their efforts on the field and in their ravaged community due to the devastation of Hurricane Katrina.
The weather at the Superdome in Saturday’s 45-14 rout of the Arizona Cardinals will be the same against the Vikings. Against the Cardinals, Brees was 23-32, 247 yards, three TD’s and zero touchdowns as he out performed Arizona legend Kurt Warner.
Regardless of whether it’s Favre or Brees, if the Indianapolis Colts (15-2) are able to defeat the surging New York Jets (11-7) Sunday, this could be a historic Super Bowl.
Manning won his first Super Bowl against the Chicago Bears on February 4, 2007 at Joe Robbie Stadium as history was made in the first game ever coached by African Americans featuring Tony Dungy and Lovie Smith.
Another African American is at the helm for the Colts as Jim Caldwell is under pressure to win this Super Bowl when he chose to not make a run at a 16-0 season as the Colts lost their final two games to the Jets and Buffalo Bills in an effort to rest their players, plus avoid injuries while getting others healthy.
Nonetheless, Manning, who is an 11-year veteran has compiled 50,128 yards as of week 17, 2009. He’ll either face his hometown team New Orleans, whom his father Archie played for when the franchise was known as the Aints otherwise, it will be a match-up against another NFC North team in the Minnesota Vikings.
At the rate Manning is going, he should pass Marino’s yardage mark in 2.5 seasons. But having won a Super Bowl in Marino’s playground, now he has a chance to win a second one at Joe Robbie Stadium at the age of 33, the same Super Bowl as Elway’s second. If Favre wins his second, it will come in a regular season where he threw for 33 touchdowns.
If Favre doesn’t reach the Super Bowl and the Saints make it for the first time it will be a great story for the region which was battered by Hurricane Katrina but more importantly, the list of teams to have never reached the Super Bowl will be down to four.
How ironic will it be that as was the case in Super Bowl XXXIII, that an NFC South team could be making it’s first trip to the Super Bowl in South Beach.
No matter what scenario plays out, history is destined to be made in South Florida. If an NFC team wins the Super Bowl, the Saints will either be 1-0 or the Vikings will be 1-4.
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BY SCOTT MORGANROTH
How important are the Detroit Red Wings to NBC?
All of their announcers made sure the fans knew that the Red Wings were robbed in their 3-2 loss to the Dallas Stars on Saturday afternoon regarding a disputed goal that shouldn’t have counted.
Sunday, the Red Wings put on a good show in their 4-3 shootout loss to Original Six rival, the Chicago Black Hawks at the Joe Louis Arena. NBC knows that the best thing that can happen to the Red Wings is despite the fact that they have several key players participating in the upcoming Vancouver Olympics, that it’s vital the Red Wings get healthy during the break and make a strong second half run to get into the playoffs.
The network has scheduled a Stanley Cup Finals rematch between the Red Wings and defending champions Pittsburgh Penguins in Pennsylvania on January 31, which happens to be the same day as the NFL Pro Bowl.
Sidney Crosby against the trio of Pavel Datsyuk, Henrik Zetterberg and Nicklas Lidstrom will still give the game plenty of star power. Will it matter what the records of these two franchises will be? I doubt it but as the Red Wings get more players back from injuries, this contest figures to be a dandy.
How Red Wings Coach Mike Babcock and General Manager Ken Holland are holding up is anyone’s guess. In my opinion, they’re both geniuses because the team is still contending for a playoff spot despite the off-season losses of Marian Hossa, Mikael Samuelson, Ty Conklin and Chris Chelios.
By letting Conklin depart, this forced Holland to find out what he has with rookie Jimmy Howard and the young goaltender has responded by being the workhorse and turning veteran goalkeeper Chris Osgood into a backup role. What happens should the Red Wings return to the post-season remains to be seen.
But you can limit the checkbook of Red Wings Owner Mike Illitch due to a salary cap and stop the Red Wings from spending and being the NHL’s version of the New York Yankees, but 27 straight post-season appearances, four Stanley Cup Championships and six trips to the Finals are still what makes Detroit "America’s Team." All you have to do is travel to opposing stadiums and you’ll see plenty of red and white jersey’s and a huge following that says "Lets Go Red Wings" in these sold out stadiums.
While Crosby is expected to carry the superstar tag on him into the new decade, he’ll need help that his key rivals are playing well to help the NHL’s chance of staying on national television.
Even though the Chicago Black Hawks are building a good young team and are finally playing well, until they start to win Stanley Cups, it will be hard to take them completely serious. Yet, being an Original Six team, I’m always hoping to see the day where the Stanley Cup Finals does have an Original Six matchup.
A Detroit, Chicago series against the Boston Bruins or New York Rangers would be a dream for NBC.
But if Montreal or Toronto made it to the Stanley Cup Finals, against the Red Wings or Black Hawks, I’m sure the executives at NBC wouldn’t complain because of the traditions of the Canadiens or Maple Leafs.
They could play up the North American angle and a USA versus Canada match-up does feature an Us versus Them theme.
But for now, I’ll still be curious to see how many times the Red Wings appear on NBC’s Game of the Week on Sunday’s therefore, the entire country will know how important this marque franchise is to it’s weekly ratings.
Even though it’s a pipe dream right now, I doubt the USA audience would complain if the Red Wings and Penguins were to meet for the third straight year in the NHL Finals. I know NBC wouldn’t mind a rubber match series with the score currently tied 1-1.
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Posted By Scott Morganroth to Motor City Mad Mouth’s Insights at 1/17/2010 03:37:00 PM
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By Raymond Rolak
YPSILANTI, Mich. – The Chicago State men’s basketball team, which will again travel to the Detroit area next month, opened the New Year with a tough loss at Eastern Michigan University, 59-47. The Cougars jumped out to a 9-2, lead and went in at halftime, up 26-19.
It was a reunion for two Polish natives who finished their high school basketball in the Chicago area. Pawel Kielbasa, Chicago State’s 6-10, junior, center, (Kennedy) and Kamil Janton, Eastern Michigan’s 6-10, sophomore, center, (Bartlett), got to talk about the holidays and Wigilia, (Polish Christmas-Eve dinner), after the game. Kielbasa grew up in Opole, Poland.
“Kielbasa is having some quality minutes for us,” said third year Cougar coach, Benjy Taylor. Taylor added, “He defended well and protected the ball, and Montgomery had a good game for us.” Junior Carl Montgomery, (Shepard) had 10 points in the loss.
At Chicago Kennedy, Kielbasa was also an All-State volleyball player.
Janton, from Tarnow, Poland, also got to spend time for the holidays in Chicago. “It was great to get some home cooking, Bardza-Dobrze, (Polish for very-good),” said Janton. EMU coach Charles Ramsey added, “Kamil is an outstanding team player and gives everything he has. His efforts will get him more court time. Kamil is our next man in.” He got in 16 games as a true freshman, and has the best Grade Point Average on the team. In high school, he was on the honor roll all four years.
EMU junior, Brandon Bowdry, (Taylor Truman) led all scorers with 23 points and nine rebounds and Antonio Green, (Inkster Robichaud) finished with 11 points for the Eagles.
Both Polish natives agreed that NCAA basketball is another universe above high school competition. “Everything is so much faster,” said Kielbasa. Janton agreed with a big smile. “Everything starts with speed,” said the EMU center,
Chicago State (5-12), will host Utah Valley, January 28, in Great West Conference play at the Jones Convocation Center on campus. They lost their last home game to Northern Illinois, 99-93.
Eastern Michigan University (8-6), will travel to Northern Illinois in DeKalb, on January 16, for a Mid-American Conference game. They are home January 23, against Ball State at 2:00 PM.
CSU will again travel to the Detroit area for a non-conference game against the University of Detroit-Mercy on February 8, at 7:00 PM at Calihan Hall.
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