Florida should send coach Strong message
MIAMI -- The questions about his race and his marriage and their intersection had loomed for years.
Florida defensive coordinator Charlie Strong answered them out loud earlier this week, for the first time in seven years.
And his words made him what he dreads -- the center of attention, a poster child for a cause over which he has little control.
Strong, a black man with a white wife, wants to be a major college football head coach. He added a second national championship Thursday to an already loaded resume -- the titles, master's degrees, three decades of experience, fantastic recruiting reputation, and respect in the business. Forget a playoff system: Congress should investigate how this man has remained a lieutenant for so long.
Problem is, there are no head coaching spots left to grab. So Strong will spend next year as an assistant at Florida, which makes the Gators administrators the only ones left to reward him. And they should, in a powerful way. They should make Charlie Strong a millionaire in 2009.
Such a contract would trump almost all his assistant-coaching peers. It would blow away Jimbo Fisher's deal at Florida State and Will Muschamp's salary at Texas.
And the money would make him better compensated than the head coaches at all those schools that should have called this offseason.
Strong's value to the Gators is no secret. Coach Urban Meyer points to strength coach Mickey Marotti and former defensive line coach Greg Mattison has his most crucial Florida hires. But keeping Strong prevented what would have been an exodus out of the program in 2005, one led by players that turned out to be the core of the 2006 BCS National Championship team.
This year, he turned a group without a senior into the best defense in the SEC. And on the season's biggest day, he held the Heisman Trophy winner and a 700-point offense to two touchdowns.
"He's a coach that puts you in a winning situation," safety Major Wright said.
But there's a flip side: the status quo in college football has deemed Strong's career a loser. Despite the accolades, he received no overtures about head coaching positions during the recent rash of changes.
Not even calls and a pitch from Meyer, the country's coach du jour and a friend of Strong's since their time as assistants together at Notre Dame, have helped.
"I trust him with my family," Meyer said. "I trust him with everything." Yet neither Auburn nor Washington, Syracuse nor Mississippi State, even Eastern Michigan or Army wanted to trust him with their position.
Florida's got a head coach, but they can show Strong they trust him at the level, regardless of his interracial marriage. They can give him a million-dollar deal, and leave one question left unanswered.
When, and where, will Strong finally get a chance?
(c)2008 SportingNews.com
TCU Finishes With Best Statistical Defense
Going into the Rose Bowl, media members across the country gushed about how USC , version 2008, boasted one of the best, if not the best, defenses in the history of college football. In 12 games, the Trojans yielded virtually nothing this season, giving up an average of 7.8 points per game while allowing opponents to only gain 206 yards per contest.
Many people thought Penn State would have a difficult time matching the speed and athleticism of Southern California and they were right. The Trojans came out of the gate much more hyped, dancing with coaches on the sidelines after every score on their way to a 31-7 halftime lead. The game was essentially over. But the Nittany Lions didn't quit, making the final score look respectable at 38-24.
One team that has to be happy about Penn State's refusal to stop fighting is TCU. Media members such as Brent Musburger and Kirk Herbstreit can label the Trojans the best defense of all time, but they didn't even finish with the highest ranking this season. USC gave up 410 yards on New Years' Day and the Horned Frogs, ranked a close second nationally in total defense going into yesterday, can claim that their little team from Fort Worth, Texas finished with the best defense in 2008.
TCU ended the season by holding a potent Boise State offense to 275 total yards in the Frogs' 17-16 Poinsettia Bowl victory. By holding the Broncos almost 200 yards below their average, TCU gave itself a fighting chance to pass the Trojans in total defense. TCU finished the season giving up a mere 217 ypg, 11 yards behind USC.
USC supporters can point to the fact that Penn State gathered most of their yards and points in garbage time and there may be some weight to that argument. But while the Trojans can claim that they had the best defense by reputation, the stats don't bear it out in terms of total yardage given up. The previously mentioned 410 yards gained by Penn State added 15 yards to USC's average on the season, ending it at 221 ypg.
That statistic may not be important to the Trojans, as they became the only team in history to win three straight Rose Bowls. But for TCU, a non-BCS school which continues to fight an uphill battle for national respect, finishing with the highest ranked defense in the country is huge. First of all, it makes recruiting easier for Gary Patterson and his coaching staff. It also serves notice to the rest of the teams in FBS. Most of all, having the no. 1 defense provides validation for a group of players who never took it easy on opponents.
The Horned Frogs held 12 of its 13 opponents under 17 points and limited Oklahoma to 35 points in Norman on Sept. 27, the Sooners' lowest output of the season. The Frogs lost that game 35-10, but the defensive performance was not the reason for the loss. TCU gave up up 436 total yards of offense against the Sooners, the only game in which the Frogs allowed an opponent to even gain 300 yards or more.
The USC Trojans have three straight Rose Bowl wins and several 2009 first round draft picks under their belt, but for this season, the TCU Horned Frogs were the top dog in defense.
At least statistically.
Copyright (c) 2009 TheRedMenace.com and Scout.com
2nd-timers enjoying BCS return
When the Utah Utes arrive in New Orleans today for the Sugar Bowl, they'll have 13 second-timers with them.
Friday's game against Alabama will be their second Bowl Championship Series contest in five seasons.
"I know they're excited to go because obviously they've lived it and know what's in store as far as the activities and the way they're treated at a bowl game like that," said Utah coach Kyle Whittingham.
"So I'm sure they're all looking forward to it."
Nine players are returning to college football's big stage.
Senior quarterback Brian Johnson, who was the only one to actually see action in the 2005 Fiesta Bowl win over Pittsburgh, headlines a cast that included eight redshirts that season. All, however, were on the bowl roster and went along for the ride.
"It's just a fun deal to say you were able to be a part of that - just experience the kind of hype and big-time kind of game that it is," said defensive end Paul Kruger, who was a freshman the first time around.
Kruger, linebacker Afa Garrigan and tight end Brad Clifford each served LDS Church missions shortly thereafter and are now sophomores.
The other Fiesta Bowl redshirts are all seniors. The veterans include wide receiver Brent Casteel, offensive lineman Robert Conley, wide receiver John Peel, tight end Colt Sampson, running back Ray Stowers and Johnson.
On the coaching staff, there are three second-timers besides Whittingham. Defensive coordinator Gary Andersen, special teams coordinator Jay Hill and safeties coach Morgan Scalley are making the journey once again. Scalley, in fact, has a unique vantage point. He was a prominent player on the Fiesta Bowl team.
"I love it because I'm a fan. I'm no longer a player, I'm a fan and I've got the best seat in the house on the sideline," said Scalley, who noted what a "special deal" it is for the Utes to have gone unbeaten and reach the BCS for the second time. "They're in good company and they've got a great attitude."
Repeating the 2004 team's success, he acknowledged, is a bit weird. It's not, however, surprising.
"It was expected by these guys," Scalley said. "They've busted their butt. They've done things the right way. They deserve it."
It's especially meaningful for Johnson. He backed up Alex Smith as a true freshman in the Fiesta Bowl and will conclude his Utah career in the Sugar Bowl.
"It'll be special. It's a special time, a way for my career to come full circle," said Johnson, who is eager to get more playing time in his second BCS game. "It's better when you get a chance to play in it for more than a couple of snaps. From that aspect it's better. To be the first team from a non-BCS school to do it twice makes it extra special."
Kruger has similar thoughts about Utah's historic second trip to the BCS.
"It's 100 percent better this time because I'm actually a contributor now and I can really be a part of the game. It's a special thing," Kruger said. "So I'm really excited about it. It's something that not very many people ever get to experience, and I fortunately get to be one of those guys."
EXTRA POINTS: Utah's charter flight is scheduled to arrive in New Orleans at 11 a.m. (CT). The Utes are scheduled to practice at Tulane in the afternoon. ... Whittingham, Johnson, Kruger, Louie Sakoda, Bradon Godfrey, and Stevenson Sylvester are scheduled to appear at an evening press conference at the team hotel. ... The Utes will not practice on Sunday. They will, however, attend Sunday's NFL game in the Superdome between the New Orleans Saints and Carolina Panthers. The latter features Utah alums Steve Smith, Jordan Gross and Ma'ake Kemoeatu.
deseretnews.com
Trip to Charlotte a reminder for WVU staff
Six years ago, a retooled West Virginia football coaching staff was preparing for its first bowl game together, in Charlotte, N.C., over the Christmas holiday.
"It's not all that different a situation now," WVU defensive coordinator and linebackers coach Jeff Casteel said last week from Morgantown.
The Mountaineers head to Charlotte today for Saturday's sold-out Meineke Car Care Bowl against North Carolina. In 2002, WVU played Virginia in the city's first bowl matching Big East and Atlantic Coast Conference teams, a sold-out Continental Tire Bowl.
In this 8-4 season, Casteel is one of only two WVU coaches remaining on the staff from that 2002 loss to the Cavaliers that capped a 9-4 season and began the Mountaineers' run of seven straight bowl appearances.
Casteel was a new coordinator then, sharing the defensive job with Todd Graham (now the head coach at Conference USA runner-up Tulsa). The other is the new WVU boss, Bill Stewart, the quarterbacks and special teams coach in '02 who succeeded Rich Rodriguez in the top job a year ago.
"We hadn't been to a bowl as a staff back then," said Casteel, a Paden City native and former Shepherd assistant who had only one season of major college coaching experience (UTEP, 2000) when he was brought "home" by Rodriguez in 2001. "It's a lot the same, but it's different.
"We've got great coaches on the staff, like Kirlav (Bill Kirelawich), Steve Dunlap, David Lockwood, Doc (Holliday) who have been to many, many bowls, but we hadn't been there together. It's a situation where they've spent a good amount of time becoming familiar with the players that had been here.
"Back in 2002, we had some players who had been to the (2000) Music City Bowl with Coach (Don) Nehlen (in his last game at WVU). The guys we have now, some of them were bowl babies back at the Sugar Bowl in 2005. Now, they've been through it."
The work by Casteel and his defensive staff this season has been noteworthy. After an underrated WVU defense ranked seventh in total defense in major college football last season, the Mountaineers lost most of their starters, and then endured a coaching staff upheaval.
Then, WVU lost defensive bellcow and middle linebacker Reed Williams early when the former Moorefield High star couldn't make it back after two shoulder surgeries. The defense played most of the season with eight new starters. Against the Tar Heels (8-4), WVU is expected to start six sophomores and a freshman.
With West Virginia's offense stuttering and trying to find an elusive consistency, Casteel, 46, has molded a young unit that also has used 21 players as starters. The Mountaineers have a group ranked 35th nationally (325.5 yards per game) in total defense and ninth in scoring defense (15.9 points per game).
"I don't think we're doing a whole lot different than we did with the veteran group last year," Casteel said. "What we asked was that these kids go back and watch the ones before them, how they prepared, how they played well in big games, big bowls.
"What we struggled with early was the ability to take what we did Sunday through Friday, so to speak, and translated it to Saturday. And that's what you have to do to have success."
Last season, even with an experienced bunch, Casteel saw a transformation in Week 3 when the Mountaineers "really gained confidence when we played well (in a 31-14) win at Maryland," he said. "The light came on. Until then, we played three or four series well, and then would play a series like we'd never played one before."
The seventh-year WVU coordinator saw something similar from his defense even in defeat (17-14 in overtime) at Colorado, following WVU's opening win over Villanova and loss at East Carolina.
"This group hasn't panicked, even though we're very young," Casteel said. "I saw it at Colorado. We're down 14-0 in the first five minutes, and I'm looking at these guys on the sidelines and you'd have thought we were up 14-0.
"Their ability to stay focused and not panic has been -- I don't want to say a surprise but -- a good trait of this team. I think it really bodes well going into the future.
"These guys had nothing to go on. It's remarkable to be able to hang in there the way them have, learning every week, getting better, when you consider we didn't play very well at all at East Carolina and got it handed to us.
"Our kids were not used to that, and they didn't let it happen again."
Casteel said the increased attention to defensive success, with an offense that hasn't put up the eye-popping numbers of recent seasons, hasn't changed the approach.
"Whether we've won 60-59 or we're winning 10-9, it hasn't made a difference," he said. "What we've got here is a program that's won and kids addicted to winning. They've played in big ballgames, and they've won. That's what this is about.
"What we've been through, like not really being settled until the fourth or fifth week of the season when Anthony Leonard stepped up at (middle) linebacker -- and then he got hurt -- is only as positive.
"We had a lot of guys who have gotten the chance to gain experience with live bullets that they needed, and we needed, and now we don't have to go through those growing pains down the road.
'That's got to help us."
(c) Copyright 2006 Charleston Daily Mail
Playoffs cure everything, right?
Are you angry about college football's lack of a playoff system? Are you tired of voters and computers determining the championship game participants? Are you hungry for change?
I'm not.
I know...
I know the current system isn't ideal. I know there are too many silly bowl games. I know a playoff would be entertaining.
I know.
I just can't get that worked up about it.
The talking heads and columnists and bloggers who are ready to bust a gut (and really, some of them should go ahead and bust) over college football's imperfection just amuse me. It's college football, right?
A playoff system would be fun to watch, add some order to the end of the season. But it wouldn't settle the debate about which college football team is best. It would tell us which college football team won a tournament at the end of the season.
And then, instead of talking about how the computers and voters cheated the best team out of a shot at the title, we can talk about how the best team was robbed by a referee in the semifinals, or was done in when its quarterback hurt his knee in the quarterfinals.
I think too many playoff proponents make the wrong argument. Don't try to convince us that a playoff will definitively isolate the best team. It doesn't always work that way. Take the NFL, for example. Remember last year's playoffs? The Giants won the Super Bowl. Does anyone really think the Giants had a better team than the Patriots last year?
Yes, some people do. But a whole bunch of other people don't.
No matter what system is in place, there will always be room for us to debate what we've watched -- and really, isn't that half the fun?
I.O.U. --The New York Yankees gave CC Sabathia $161 million over seven years. They gave A.J. Burnett $82.5 million over five years.
We really should've ditched the first names and gone with initials, ya know?
It's crazy money, especially when most of us are cutting back and worrying about job security and 401k meltdowns. But hey, they are the Yankees, and we expect them to do crazy things. Besides, they tried being sensible last season and they missed the playoffs. So they've gone back to doing what they do best: Buy.
For me, the best part was the Sabathia courtship. The Yankees offered him $140 million for six years. The Brewers offered $100 million. Nobody else offered him anything, really, but Sabathia sat around... and the Yankees added another year and another $21 million.
Nice negotiating.
The other side of the tracks -- The Kansas City Royals remain active in their own non-Sabathia way. The latest acquisitions are relievers Horacio Ramirez, who they traded last year; Doug Waechter, a year removed from a torn labrum; and Kyle Farnsworth, who cost $9.25 million for two years.
Farnsworth is a Yankees reject. There's something to be said for having a gazillions dollars.
But Royals general manager Dayton Moore and pitching coach Bob McClure have had a lot of success building good bullpens out of other people's rejects, so we'll at least give them the benefit of the doubt.
The Royals have made a flurry of moves, bumping their payroll up over $70 million (go ahead Yankee fans, scoff). The moves are confusing as much as they're encouraging -- they traded two middle relievers for two everyday players, which seems like a good thing, right? But Mike Jacobs (32 homers, .299 OBP) and Coco Crisp (good centerfielder, shaky leadoff hitter) are awkward pieces to fit into a team that has trouble scoring runs because it doesn't get enough guys on base.
The guys who analyze with statistics don't think the additions make much sense. The anti-stat segment of the population is more enthused.
I lean toward the stat crowd, but I'm willing to wait and watch.
kansas.com
Ties and tiebreakers lead to football chaos
Nobody likes ties.
They're boring.
Nobody wins, nobody loses, everyone goes home no better or worse than they were before.
Take the Cincinnati Bengals and the Philadelphia Eagles.
They tied this year. 13-13. Neither team won. Eagles' quarterback Donovan McNabb wasn't even aware a tie could happen.
That's sad. Not that McNabb didn't know about ties, but that a tie actually happened. In a football game.
Ties happen all the time in futbol, but that's a different thing entirely.
In football, ties shouldn't happen. At least in college football. And they don't happen in games. But ties find a way to cast their shadow of neutrality in the standings.
Enter the Big 12.
Oklahoma, Texas and Texas Tech ended the regular season tied atop the Big 12 South Division standings with identical 11-1 records.
It's usually rather simple to break such a tie.
The first Big 12 tiebreaker states that the records of the tied teams will be compared against each other.
Oklahoma beat Texas Tech, who beat Texas, who beat Oklahoma.
Oops. That doesn't work.
The next tiebreaker says that the records of the tied teams will be compared within the teams' division.
Well, since each team only lost to each other, their divisional records are the same.
The third tiebreaker states that the records of the teams will be compared against the next highest placed teams in their division in order of finish.
Each of the three teams is undefeated against everyone else.
The fourth tiebreaker says that the records of the teams will be compared against all common conference opponents.
All three teams played Kansas, and all three teams beat Kansas.
Uh-oh.
The fifth tiebreaker is where things get dicey. It states that the highest ranked team in the first Bowl Championship Series poll following the completion of Big 12 regular season conference play shall be the representative in the championship game.
The BCS poll ranked Oklahoma second, Texas third and Texas Tech seventh.
And just like that, the Sooners will play Missouri for the Big 12 Championship.
Obviously, this tiebreaking scenario has caused an uproar, just as anything involving the BCS does.
But is it really that bad?
There have been a lot of critics who say the Southeastern Conference's tiebreaker is better.
Really?
In the SEC, this situation would have been resolved like this: because Texas is ranked within five places of Oklahoma, the lowest ranked team, Texas Tech, would have been eliminated. A head-to-head matchup of Oklahoma and Texas would have determined the representative in the championship game, and the Longhorns would be playing Missouri.
Wait a second. How does that make sense? By using this tiebreaker, it would be acting as though Texas and Texas Tech never played. You can't arbitrarily act like a game never happened.
What if everything used this tiebreaker?
"The Godfather," "The Wizard of Oz" and "Star Wars" are all great movies, but "Star Wars" is the lowest ranked on the American Film Institute's list of the 100 greatest movies, so it was never made.
Mike Leach's offense might have been stellar this season, but Texas Tech is a part of this tie, and there's no way around that fact.
In reality, there's really no easy way to break a three-way tie.
Unless we use that "P" word again.
No, not a prognosticator.
College football doesn't need a seer.
It needs a playoff.
(c)2007 The Traveler
BGSU fires Brandon day after win over UT
BOWLING GREEN - As it turned out, Friday's football game at the University of Toledo's Glass Bowl was the last for two coaches.
Gregg Brandon was fired as coach of Bowling Green State University yesterday morning, just hours after the Falcons defeated rival Toledo 38-10 to end their year with a disappointing 6-6 record. It also was the final game for UT coach Tom Amstutz, who announced his resignation weeks ago.
BGSU Athletic Director Greg Christopher said "an accumulation of things" both on and off the field went into his decision to fire Brandon, who accepted a three-year contract extension in February.
"There have been some off-the-field things that I think ultimately have impacted what's happened on the field," Christopher said at a news conference last night at Anderson Arena.
In six seasons as head coach of the Falcons, Brandon went 44-30 overall and 31-17 in the Mid-American Conference. His winning percentage (64.6) in the MAC is the best of any league coach since 2003.
Under Brandon's watch, BGSU played in three bowl games and in the 2003 MAC championship. Despite having 17 seniors back from last season's 8-5 team, BGSU did not live up to preseason expectations of contending to win the MAC East. The Falcons finished 4-4 in the MAC despite holding fourth-quarter leads in each defeat. Losses at home to Eastern Michigan and Miami were "the tipping point" for Christopher as those teams finished the year a combined 5-19.
"The period of time where I really started having serious concerns that we were headed in this direction was probably in the window of the Eastern Michigan and Miami games," Christopher said.
Christopher said he was disappointed in, but did not base his decision on, Brandon's criticism of BGSU fans for poor attendance in the Falcons' 40-34 double-overtime loss to Buffalo on Nov. 21 at Perry Stadium.
"I'm obviously disappointed with the decision," Brandon told The Blade in a phone interview. "I want to wish the best to my players who always played their hearts out for us, particularly [Friday night] against Toledo."
Brandon's firing comes after he signed a three-year extension in February through the 2011 season. He was paid $250,000 this year, which was the final year on his previous deal that he signed after the 2004 campaign. Brandon was to receive a $5,000 increase in each of the three years of his new contract.
"It is a little unusual, it's not unheard of, but ultimately I was faced with what's going to be the best long-term for Bowling Green State," Christopher said of firing a coach who has yet to work under a new contract.
Brandon's buyout clause of $250,000 was paid for through fund-raising and marketing revenue, according to Christopher.
Junior receiver Chris Wright said he was surprised by the news but understands someone needs to be held accountable for the team's rough season.
"Our season obviously didn't go the way we would have wanted it to," Wright said. "There were key games that we should have won that we didn't win. Some people may think it was due to coaching, some may think it was due to players. Either way, we're a team and we're together."
Brandon spent two years as BGSU's offensive coordinator before replacing Urban Meyer as head coach to start the 2003 season. In his first two seasons at the helm, Brandon led the Falcons to marks of 11-3 and 9-3, ending each year with a bowl victory. But in the last four years , Brandon was just 24-24 and had one bowl appearance - a 63-7 loss to Tulsa in January's GMAC Bowl. It was the largest margin of defeat in the history of bowl games.
Eleven players have fallen into legal trouble since then, and two former players were arrested on drug trafficking charges, although one was acquitted. Christopher said nine scholarships have been revoked from the program by the NCAA because of inadequate scores on the Academic Progress Report that will be released this spring.
(c) 2008 The Blade.
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