Merry Christmas...

Thanks Coach.

NCAA football is one shifty, big business. Yet again this year we have no playoff in place (for the BCS), and yet again head coaches seem to treat jobs like they're junior-high relationships. Here's a run-down of some the recent changes we have seen:

• Rich Rodriguez. Leaves West Virginia for Michigan. Good choice for him. Look for West Virginia players like Pat White and Steve Slaton to take a much more serious look at the NFL now. One rumor on a West Virginia website ponders current Alabama head coach Nick Saban as a possible replacement for Rodriguez. Shocked? Not really. Should Saban seriously consider the offer, it would be his fourth team in the past four years (LSU, Miami Dolphins, Alabama).

• Bobby Petrino. Leaves the Atlanta Falcons for Arkansas. Petrino was hired after the Arkansas faithful ran Houston Nutt out of town (now at Mississippi). This one has gotten much play in the press, mostly for the ridiculous way in which it was handled by Petrino. Petrino left Louisville after last season to coach the Falcons for 13 games this year before bolting to Fayetteville. That's three teams, two years. Don't unpack Bobby.

• Urban Meyer left Utah for Florida. This means Ron Zook, who was canned at Florida after having the unenviable job of replacing Steve Spurrier, moved to Illinois. The Ole Ball Coach, by the way, left Florida for the Washington Redskins where he had his head handed to him and promptly returned to the SEC in South Carolina. Weeee!
  

• Mark Dantonio leaves Cincinnati for Michigan State (in one of those "Right before the bowl game" moves last year, ala Rodriguez this year), prompting Brian Kelly to leave Central Michigan for Cincinnati. This scenario plays itself out every year in what I like to call Food Chain Coaching - Big Guy eats Mid-Major Guy's coach who in turn eats Even Smaller Guy's coach.

You get the idea. There are a couple of interesting points that appear when one looks at patterns in head coaching at the college ranks. Of course, I will discus those here...

1. Contract? What contract? Maybe you heard this from your favorite head coach recently, "I have no intentions of leaving. I am committed to bringing a winner to (insert school)." Or, "I have not been contacted by (insert higher Food Chain school)." Do not believe a word of it. Did your favorite school's head coach just sign a long-term deal? For lots o' cash? Be worried, as that acts as blood in the water for the Big Guys circling the head coach feeding pool.
2. The Players? Ha! How coaches like Saban and Petrino expect to recruit after strapping everyone in for a carnival ride I have no idea. What I find most disturbing about football coaches flipping teams like this is how the players are expected, no compelled, to ride it out. Not only has Mr. Changing-My-Mind-Tomorrow recruited these kids to play at their university with some obviously specious arguments, the players were, and are, expected to live up to their commitment to play at said university unless they would like to accept some rather extreme penalties. The message? Graduate, get a job, and feel free to blatantly lie to any and everyone to get what you want.
3. The NFL? Don't do it. Unless you're going to Dallas. Like NCAA basketball and the NBA (Rick Pitino anyone?), NCAA football is not a breeding ground for future NFL coaches. Don't believe me? Ask Lou Holtz. Or Steve Spurrier, Nick Saban, Rich Brooks, Pete Carroll...and mentioning Pete Carroll...
4. It's the program, not the coach. Maybe, but I highly doubt it. Success breeds more success in NCAA football and, as recent history would suggest, just being Notre Dame does not give you the right to actually win football games. I heard Beano Cook this morning on ESPN radio running down the top college football programs and was struck by how wrong I think he is. It's the coach, not the program, which seems to bring success. Should Florida trade Urban Meyer for Dave Shula, I doubt they are in for many winning seasons. Anyone think if Pete Carroll leaves USC for, let's say, Texas, he wouldn't take all USC's success with him? If you still think some schools have a god-given right to victory, remember that as of the third weekend in November this year we had Missouri and Kansas playing a game with National Championship implications. Where were they ranked in the preseason? Ha! Instead of ranking the top programs in college football, we should rank the top coaches.
   

Enjoy your coach while you have him folks, he may be on the next train to, well, somewhere else.

7 for 07?

1. Michael Vick - Vick received a 23 month sentence after pleading guilty to two felonies stemming from housing a dog fighting kennel in his backyard. Literally. Vick and his homeys got time in the can after the cousin of Vick, who lived Vick's Surry County Virginia house, got busted for Hippie Lettuce. After serving the warrant at the house, the authorities discovered the aptly named operation "Bad Newz Kennels". Without funding from Vick, the entire operation would not have existed. After all his boys dropped the dime on him, he entered his plea. See him around October 2009.
2. Steroids - Of course, the Mitchell Report is fresh in our collective conscience, and while most people haven't read more than three paragraphs the popular sentiment is "OFF WITH THEIR HEADS!" Wait. Everyone just keep your powder dry. Jose Canseco went 10 for 10 in his book "Juiced". However, he is still trying to get his next book published, so there is an agenda with anything he says at this point. He stated in an interview on the FOX Business Network that the Mitchell Report was incomplete, and that he never saw Roger Clemens in the steroid crowd. That's funny. In 1998, when Clemens was with Boston, Canseco was traded to Boston and subsequently was part of the Toronto Blue Jays the next season. The Rocket and Canseco in Toronto together...and the Rocket is reborn. Sounds a little ironic that Roger is in the Mitchell Report and the Juice King didn't see him in that light. What bombshell will he be peddling now? Can you say A-Rod? I digress from that story to say that other sports have problems with Performance Enhancing Drugs, but baseball is the face of the story.
3. New England Patriots - Wow! What can you say but wow? After a first round draft pick and some 750,000 dollars in fines were taken from the Patriots for "Spygate," Belichick and the boys have run every team off the field, including a lingering effect that has their opponents with just one win after playing the Patriots the week before. Hopefully the New England Patriots will go 19 - 0, a feat that will forever cork the 1972 Dolphins' egos and never again will they gleefully pop the champagne. Tom Brady and company have scored early and often against what could be considered the best shot from every team they have played. We could be watching history in the making; that is, if you have the NFL Network. The beauty is that they get the 49ers' first round pick this year. Ironic? Lose a draft pick, win the Super Bowl, and still get one of the first picks in the coming draft. WOW!
4. Tim Tebow - The first underclassmen to win the Heisman Award. After backing up Chris Leak in the Florida Gators National Championship season his Freshman year, Tebow guided the Gators to a three loss record, with over 20 passing and running touchdowns accounting for 49 end zone trips. The SEC, known for their bruising schedule, has never had a 20 touchdown rusher. This in itself is a huge feat, seeeing that he is the quarterback. Percy Harvin (WR) is salivating at this point. He will be the front runner for the Heisman, considering Tebow has set the bar very high for the position of QB and the Gator's having the top incoming recruiting class in the country. Throw in Emmanuel Moody the RB transfer from USC and Urban could have a squad in '08.
5. Appalachian State - Doing the Maize and Blue in the Big House. The Mountaineers went 11-2 winning their third National Championship in a row. Somehow they had the time for a playoff. Seeded fifth, they beat Delaware for the title after dispatching James Madison University, the University of Richmond, and Eastern Washington University. A 16 team playoff at the collegiate level = Novel Idea.
6. O.J. Simpson - After being acquitted for the double murder of his former wife and a guy in the wrong place, O.J. and his cronies got all twisted up in a sting to retrieve "his" belongings. I thought all that was supposed to be property of the Goldman family, to ah.......settle that Civil Judgement. Some one needs to be printing t-shirts that say, "O.J. Stays in Vegas". There's a good chance you'd make a buck or two. His Keystone cop escapades in Sin City may ironically be snake eyes for the Juice.
7. Gambling - NBA Official Tim Donahey was caught fixing games for his buddies who - surprise! - happened to be small time bookies. There is no way of knowing whether or not this could be happening unless you watched him. People heard "whispers" but wouldn't dare accuse someone of such an act. You're looking at a quick trip to court for libel at that very second. You better have proof. The Feds did...and caught Tim in a pinch.
   

Mitchell Me This

How about my game back you weasels?