COACHES HOT SEAT BLOG

Sly Croom and the Mississippi State Bulldogs surprised everyone, perhaps except themselves, with an 8-5 record in ’07 which included a Liberty Bowl win over UCF.  After three straight 3 win seasons in Coach Croom’s first three seasons at Mississippi State, everything came together in ’07, and Mississippi State now looks like a team that is going to have to be reckoned with for the foreseeable future.  Mississippi State has a very difficult schedule in ’08, with road trips to La. Tech, Georgia Tech, LSU, Tennessee, Alabama, and the Egg Bowl against Ole Miss in Oxford this year.  If Croom and the Bulldogs can pull off another .500 or better record with that schedule it will be quite an accomplishment, but Sly Croom has never been shy about taking on very difficult challenges.  The SEC has never been tougher, the SEC West has got to be one of the toughest divisions in football, and Sly Croom has the Bulldogs poised for another season of very competitive football.  Here is how we see the ’08 season playing out:

 

Sylvester Croom and the Mississippi State in 2008

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Gene Chizik was involved in winning a lot of football games in his three years at Auburn and two years at Texas (53-12 in 5 seasons), so the 3-9 record his new Iowa State team put up in ’07 must have been quite a come down.  The biggest surprise to us was the amount of points that Iowa State gave up on defense in ’07, almost 32 points per game, especially after watching the aggressive defenses that Chizik coached at Auburn and Texas.  The difference in talent between Iowa State and Auburn/Texas is a big part of story here, but Chizik and the Cyclones must begin to play better defense or this train is never going to get out of the station.  There is just no way to win football games on a regular basis in the Big 12, when you give up an average of 32 points per game, and toughening up the Iowa State defense in ’08 must be job one for Chizik and his defensive assistants if they hope to turn the Cyclone football program around.  2008 can either be a step back or a step forward for Iowa State and how the defense plays will go a long ways in determining which direction this football program is moving.  Here is how we see the upcoming season playing out: 

 

Gene Chizik and Iowa State in 2008

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It is hard to imagine how Rich Rodriguez could have handled his departure from West Virginia in a worse way, and the entire “buyout debacle” will stick to Rodriguez until his new Michigan football team does something on the field that forces people to think of something else when they hear the name Rich Rodriguez.  Luckily for Rodriguez, he landed at Michigan which has one of the richest football traditions in the history of college football, and there are great opportunities ahead for Rodriguez to put his name along side the other legends that have coached in Ann Arbor.  Rodriguez has a tremendous challenge facing him in 2008, with the Michigan players both adapting to a new coaching style and a new offense in the Rodriguez spread.  Michigan does not have the players on hand to run the spread the way Rodriguez would like to see it run, and therefore there will be plenty of work-arounds with the Wolverine offense in ’08 to try and get some wins up on the board.  The Rodriguez era at Michigan is about to get underway and here is how we see the 2008 season playing out:

 

Rich Rodriguez and Michigan in 2008

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Below are 25 Coaching Match-Ups that Coaches Hot Seat Will Pay to See in 2008:

1.  Charlie Weis vs. Tyrone Willingham

Notre Dame at Washington

October 25, 2008 – Seattle, Washington

This game has it all, a coach in Willingham fired by the opposing school, a coach in Weis trying to prove he is better than his predecessor, questions of proper management of the athletic department at Notre Dame, two coaches on the Hot Seat, and even that old American bugaboo that is always hovering somewhere, most of the time out of sight, race.  Weis and the Irish beat Willingham and the Huskies in ’05 by a wide margin, but we think this game is going to be a lot more competitive and a lot closer in score.  This should be a high intensity game with both coaches, both teams, and both sets of fans wanting a win very badly.  What a setting at Husky Stadium, what irony that these two coaches meet again, and we wouldn’t miss it for all the beer at the Red Hook Brewery!  Let’s play football!

CHS Winner:  Ty Willingham and the Washington Huskies

 

2.  Bobby Petrino vs. Tommy Tuberville

Arkansas at Auburn

October 11, 2008 – Auburn, Alabama

No, it’s no big deal that Petrino, who had worked for Tuberville, secretly interviewed for Tuberville’s job only a few years back.  Nah, that sordid event will not be a part of this game…  Get real!  This game is all about payback for Tuberville and Auburn against Bobby Petrino, and don’t let anyone tell you any different.  This game is circled, maybe in invisible ink, but it is circled on Tuberville’s calendar, and it should be the first of many entertaining games between Bobby and Tubby.  Let’s kick this one off…

CHS Winner:  Tommy Tuberville and the Auburn Tigers

 

3.  Nick Saban vs. Les Miles

Alabama at LSU

November 8, 2008 – Baton Rouge, Louisiana

Miles vs. Saban I was a thriller in Tuscaloosa, and this time the LSU fans get to get in on the act at Tiger Stadium in Baton Rouge.  Nick Saban must have admitted to himself by now that leaving LSU for the Miami Dolphins was one of the stupidest decisions in the history of coaching, and that decision will gnaw at him for the rest of his life.  There is only one way that Saban can put his time at LSU behind him, and that is by beating the Tigers and winning big at Bama.  Not this year though.

CHS Winner:  Les Miles and the LSU Tigers

 

4.  Pete Carroll vs. Rick Neuheisel (Norm Chow & DeWayne Walker)

USC at UCLA

December 6, 2008 – Pasadena, California

Pete Carroll must have been licking his chops thinking about this game since Rick Neuheisel was hired in Westwood.  Technically a home game for UCLA at the Rose Bowl, no matter what the records this first Carroll-Neuheisel contest will bring everyone out to Pasadena for what promises to be great theater.  Let us not forget the subplot in this game, which is the Carroll-Norm Chow battle, which matches Carroll’s mighty Trojan defense against the scheming of Chow’s newly trained Bruins.  No, we are not going to miss this one….

CHS Winner:  Pete Carroll and the USC Trojans

 

5.  Houston Nutt vs. Bobby Petrino

Ole Miss at Arkansas

October 25, 2008 – Fayetteville, Arkansas

One can only imagine what will be running through Houston Nutt’s mind when runs into Donald W. Reynolds Razorback Stadium with his Ole Miss football team.  Houston Nutt and Ole Miss?  Yes, it even sounds strange 7 months later, and this will be a game that Nutt would love to win to show the Razorback fans that they shouldn’t have let him get away.  Petrino will also want to show that he can vanquish Nutt, and those two powerful “wants” add up to a great football game.

CHS Winner:  Bobby Petrino and the Arkansas Razorbacks

 

6.  Rick Neuheisel vs. Ty Willingham

UCLA at Washington

November 15, 2008 – Seattle, Washington

Rick Neuheisel returns to the scene of…, well not a crime, but certainly lots of pain and anguish between Neuheisel, the University of Washington, and the UW fans.  If you mention Neuheisel to a Washington fan you can get a vast arrange of emotions from hate, to disgust, to disdain, to sorrow, but all of those Husky fans will want to whip Neuheisel and the Bruins when they show up at Husky Stadium on November 15.  Rich Neuheisel will want this game very badly as well, and when two people want something badly, a Shakespearean play often breaks out, and this is going to be a tragedy however it turns out.  We wouldn’t miss this game for all the salmon at Pike Place Market.

CHS Winner:  Tyrone Willingham and the Washington Huskies

 

7.  Kyle Whittingham vs. Joe Glenn

Utah at Wyoming

October 11, 2008 – Laramie, Wyoming

In 2007 Kyle Whittingham and the Utes had a 43-0 lead in the second half and did an onside kickoff, which Joe Glenn responded to by giving Kyle Whittingham the one finger salute (Watch YouTube video of the flip-off:  www.youtube.com/watch?v=CZx5i7LMKu0.  Yes, Glenn shot Whittingham the bird, and with a final score of Utah 50 – Wyoming 0 in ’07, this makes this match-up one not to be missed in ‘08.  Glenn may be fighting for his coaching life when these two teams meet on October 11, and even if he is not, this is a game that Glenn will want to win badly. 

CHS Winner:  Kyle Whittingham and the Utah Utes

 

8.  Jeff Jagodzinski vs. Tom O’Brien

Boston College at NC State

October 4, 2008 – Raleigh, North Carolina

Tom O’Brien slipped out of Boston in 2007 for the greener fields of Raleigh, North Carolina, but in his first match-up against his old BC team, the Wolfpack got spanked 37-17.  O’Brien will want to prove that he is the one that built the football program at BC, and that he can build a better one at NC State, and that drive adds up to high drama.  Can Jagodzinski pull off another improbable win on the road?  Not this time.

CHS Winner:  Tom O’Brien and the NC State Wolfpack

 

9.  Chris Peterson vs. Mike Bellotti

Boise State at Oregon

September 20, 2008 – Eugene, Oregon

Before he was the offensive coordinator and head coach at Boise State, Chris Peterson spent six years as a coach on the Oregon staff under Mike Bellotti, and is there anything better than beating a guy you used to work for?  No, and if you throw into the mix the fact that if Bellotti and Oregon lose to Mountain West conference team Boise State and Chris Peterson (in Eugene), a lot of people around the Oregon football program are going to start asking:  “Why isn’t Chris Peterson our head coach?”  Mike Bellotti cannot afford to lose this game, and Chris Peterson will want to win this game badly.  That adds up to a pressure packed game and high drama, and the winner is…

CHS Winner:  Chris Peterson and the Boise State Broncos

 

10.  Steve Spurrier vs. Urban Meyer

South Carolina at Florida

November 15, 2008 – Gainesville, Florida

In the fourth edition of the Steve Spurrier-Urban Meyer throw down, the ole’ ball coach is starting to look vulnerable.  The South Carolina players are not listening to Spurrier like the Gator players did, and the losses that are piling up in Columbia must be killing Steve inside.  We never count Steve Spurrier out, but Urban Meyer has a boatload of talent in Gainesville, and it is always hard for visitors to win at The Swamp (Spurrier ought to know that since he named the stadium that!). 

CHS Winner:  Urban Meyer and the Florida Gators

 

11.  Rich Rodriguez vs. Joe Tiller

Michigan at Purdue

November 1, 2008 – West Lafayette, Indiana

After Purdue recruit Roy Roundree changed his commitment at the last minute to Rich Rodriguez and Michigan, Joe Tiller said: “If we had an early signing date, you wouldn’t have another outfit with a guy in a wizard hat selling snake oil get a guy at the last minute, but that’s what happened.”  So that makes the November 1 (The day after Halloween no less!) a match-up between Tiller and a “Guy in a wizard hat selling snake oil.”  After Rodriguez’s buyout debacle with West Virginia, Tiller may have been more on the mark than any of us knew in early February, but with Tiller’s comment this makes this Michigan at Purdue game suddenly a lot more interesting.  Who wins, Tiller or the “Guy in a wizard hat selling snake oil?”

CHS Winner:  Joe Tiller and the Purdue Boilermakers

 

12.  Les Miles vs. Tommy Tuberville

LSU at Auburn

September 20, 2008 – Auburn, Alabama

The first three games between Les Miles (LSU) and Tommy Tuberville (Auburn) have been barn burners, and either team could have won each game.  Les Miles has the upper-hand at 2-1, but each team has held serve at home, and this year’s game is at Auburn.  In ’07 Les Miles in the guise of Brett Maverick rolled the dice at home and got a stunning win over the Tigers.  The ’08 game should be another great one, and the winner is…

CHS Winner:  Tommy Tuberville and the Auburn Tigers

 

13.  Charlie Weis vs. Pete Carroll

Notre Dame at USC

November 29, 2008 – Los Angeles, California

Charlie Weis is 22-15 in three seasons at Notre Dame, and he is 0-3 against USC, including a 38-0 drubbing by the Trojans of the Irish in ’07.  Weis cannot continue to lose to USC and possibly keep his job, even if he is putting up winning records, and that is why this USC game will continue to gain in importance to Weis’ future as the years go by.  In ’08, Weis and the Irish get USC in their last game of the season, and we certainly hope they don’t need this game for a .500 or winning record.  This is a game that could get ugly in the Coliseum, but a win by the Irish would put them back on the college football map.  The Trojans and the Irish, in the Coliseum, does it get any better?  No, and the winner is…..

CHS Winner:  Pete Carroll and the USC Trojans

 

14.  Mark Richt vs. Urban Meyer

Georgia vs. Florida

November 1, 2008 – Jacksonville, Florida

Urban Meyer got off to a nice 2-0 start against Mark Richt, but when the entire Georgia team ran onto field at this game in ’07, the tables began to turn in this great series.  Yes, Georgia got an unsportsmanlike penalty, but the Bulldogs got the win, and Urban Meyer looked very sick after the game.  This game might be for the SEC East, a trip to the SEC Championship Game, and a possible spot in the National Championship Game, so the stakes could not be higher.  Who will win the Meyer-Richt IV battle?

CHS Winner:  Mark Richt and the Georgia Bulldogs

 

15.  Jim Tressel vs. Mark Dantonio

Ohio State at Michigan State

October 18, 2008 – East Lansing, Michigan

Mark Dantonio coached for 8 years on Jim Tressel’s staff (5 years at Youngstown State and 3 years at Ohio State including the ’02 National Title team) and these two old friends could develop quite a rivalry in the coming years.  Tressel has built a gargantuan program at Ohio State and it will be hard for Michigan State to catch-up, but the Spartans should be able to win a game against the Buckeyes from time to time, and at home in East Lansing is the ideal place to pull that upset.  In a close one we see the following coach/team winning…

CHS Winner:  Jim Tressel and the Ohio State Buckeyes

 

16.  Bronco Mendenhall vs. Kyle Whittingham

BYU at Utah

November 22, 2008 – Salt Lake City, Utah

Both Mendenhall and Whittingham have been at their schools for three years, and the series is about as even as it can get, with Utah winning in the first year and BYU winning the last two by the slimmest of margins.  It looks like the winner of the next half-a-dozen or so Utah-BYU games will have an upper-hand in the Mountain West Conference and that means this year’s November 22 game in Salt Lake City will almost certainly be BIG.  This should be another great game in ’08 and we give the win to….

CHS Winner:  Kyle Whittingham and the Utah Utes

 

17.  Paul Johnson vs. Mark Richt

Georgia Tech at Georgia

November 29, 2008 – Athens, Georgia

That loud sigh you heard from Athens, Georgia last December was Mark Richt when he heard that Paul Johnson had been hired at Georgia Tech.  It’s not that Richt doesn’t think that Georgia can go toe-to-toe with Johnson’s teams in the coming years at Tech, but that Johnson is just going make Tech into almost another SEC-like team on Georgia’s schedule every year.  With Florida, South Carolina, and Tennessee already on the docket every year for the Dawgs, having to play a version of the triple-option at the end of every season cannot be a welcome change.  Chan Gailey could not beat his main rival in Georgia, and that is just not acceptable at a place like Tech, and he ended up losing his job for it.  Paul Johnson’s has two tasks before him, make Georgia Tech a perennial ACC contender and beat Georgia.  What you just heard, was another sigh from Mark Richt, because he knows Paul Johnson is working very hard on those two tasks at this very moment.

CHS Winner:  Mark Richt and the Georgia Bulldogs

 

18.  Mack Brown vs. Mike Leach

Texas at Texas Tech

November 1, 2008 – Lubbock, Texas

After the Texas-Texas Tech game in ’07 a frustrated Mike Leach got off several great lines when talking about some shaky calls from the video booth and the officiating in the game:  Watch the video:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hdKEWZP7nrE.   Don’t think for a second that Leach want remember that ’07 game against Texas when the Longhorns come calling in Lubbock on November 1.  Let’s just hope those Big 12 officials don’t miss any calls in this year’s game…..  The winner is…..

CHS Winner:  Mike Leach and the Texas Tech Red Raiders

 

19.  Tommy Tuberville vs. Nick Saban

Auburn at Alabama

November 29, 2008 – Tuscaloosa, Alabama

The Tuberville-Saban record stands at 4-2 with the advantage to Tubby, but each head coach has held serve at home so far.  The biggest game of this series rolls around on November 29, in a game that Saban cannot lose, and one that Tubby could win and send the Alabama nation into a tailspin.  There is just no getting around the fact that Saban cannot afford to drop to 0-2 against Auburn, with a road trip to the Plains to the play the Tigers in ’09.  Saban was 4-3 in Tuscaloosa in ’07, including the devastating loss to La. Monroe in front of 92,000+ Bama fans, and that just cannot continue at a place like Alabama.  If Tuberville finds a way to win this Iron Bowl and run the streak against Alabama to 7 straight and 8-2 overall, there is not enough Jack Daniels in the state of Alabama to heal the wounds that another loss to Auburn would inflict on the Tide nation.  With that in mind, the pressure on Saban and Alabama will be immense in this game, but a must win is a must win….

CHS Winner:  Nick Saban and the Alabama Crimson Tide

 

20.  Ron Zook vs. Gary Pinkel

Illinois vs. Missouri

August 30, 2008 – St. Louis, Missouri

In one of the best games of the ’07 season, Illinois and Missouri battled it out in St. Louis to open the season, and Pinkel and the Tigers got a very close win that sent them on to a big season.  In the second match-up of the series, both coaches and teams are looking for big years in ’08, and a win over the other would get the ball rolling for which ever team wins this game.  These border teams are very evenly matched, they run inventive offenses that can score points, and in a barn burner we see the winner as…

CHS Winner:  Gary Pinkel and the Missouri Tigers

 

21.  Bo Pelini vs. Bob Stoops

Nebraska at Oklahoma

November 1, 2008 – Norman, Oklahoma

This game pits two ole’ Youngstown, Ohio boys, longtime friends, and former staff members against each other, which by the way matches up two of the legendary teams in the history of college football in Nebraska and Oklahoma.  This is not really Obi Wan Kanobi (Bob Stoops) vs. Luke Skywalker (Bo Pelini), but it’s damn close, and usually in those type of match-ups the teacher usually wins.  Stoops will have the Sooners up for this game, because he knows he will never live down a loss, especially with two Pelini’s on the Nebraska sideline.  Experience over newness in this one…

CHS Winner:  Bob Stoops and the Oklahoma Sooners

 

22.  Mack Brown vs. Bob Stoops

Texas vs. Oklahoma

October 11, 2008 – Dallas, Texas

For all that Mack Brown has accomplished at Texas, and it is considerable, his 3-6 record against Bob Stoops must really get in his craw.  Texas and Oklahoma have very similar programs and facilities, and there really is no good explanation for Brown to have a .333 record against Stoops, but there it is, and damn it’s not going away anytime soon.  What would really be bad if Brown and the Longhorns dropped to 3-7 against Stoops and the Sooners…..Yes, that would damn awful…..  We hate to say it Mack, but…

CHS Winner:  Bob Stoops and the Oklahoma Sooners 

 

23.  Steve Spurrier vs. Tommy Bowden

South Carolina at Clemson

November 29, 2008 – Clemson, South Carolina

For all of the great numbers that Spurrier put up as the head football coach at Florida, the one record that must gnaw at him is the one he had against Bobby Bowden and Florida State.  In 12 games Spurrier was 4-7-1 against Bowden and the Seminoles, and Spurrier is not off to the greatest of starts against Tommy Bowden, with a 1-2 record after three games.  Spurrier’s Gamecock team collapsed in ’07 down the stretch, with bad QB play of all things, and that has got to have Coach Spurrier concerned about the ’08 season.  Either the USC quarterbacks are not listening, they aren’t any good, or Steve has quit coaching them right, but something has to give under center in Columbia or this thing whole thing could end very badly. Clemson is loaded in ’08, and that means…

CHS Winner:  Tommy Bowden and the Clemson Tigers

 

24.  Jim Leavitt vs. George O’Leary

USF at UCF

September 6, 2008 – Orlando, Florida

Jim Leavitt has the USF Bulls on a roll, and has beaten George O’Leary and UCF in their first three match-ups.  O’Leary has done a very good job of bringing toughness and stability to the UCF football program, and a win over USF in ’08 would be big.  In an early season game at UCF’s new football stadium, the Black Knights have an opportunity to make a statement against Big East conference member USF.  In a close one we see….

CHS Winner:  George O’Leary and the UCF Black Knights

 

25.  Sylvester Croom vs. Houston Nutt

Mississippi State at Ole Miss

November 28, 2008 – Oxford, Mississippi

Sly Croom is 0-4 against Houston Nutt, but that was when Nutt was at Arkansas, and Croom knows he must break that streak with Houston now setting up shop just up the road in Oxford, Mississippi.  This series between Nutt and Croom – Ole Miss and Mississippi State is going to tell the tale of which program emerges dominant in the state of Mississippi in the coming years.  There is only so much talent to go around in the South, and Croom certainly must take advantage of Nutt’s takeover of the Ole Miss program from Orgeron, to expand Miss. State’s advantage.  This game is in Oxford, and in a very close game the winner is….

CHS Winner:  Houston Nutt and the Ole Miss Rebels 

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Tom O’Brien surprised a lot of people with his move to NC State from Boston College in 2007, but the opportunity to coach at a large state school in the South that would give O’Brien the opportunity to win championships was probably just too good of an opportunity to pass up.  No doubt, the NC State players were not ready for style of coaching that O’Brien brought to Raleigh after the Chuck Amato years, but at midseason last year it looked like the Wolfpack players were starting to buy into their new head coach.  A 4-2 record in the last six games was only marred by a blowout in the last game at home against Maryland, so it looked as if progress was being made.  The challenges are great for NC State in 2008, but with the ACC in a state of flux with 6 head coaches in their first or second year in the conference, ’08 could be a break out year for the Wolfpack.  If NC State can win most, if not all of their home games they can produce a big improvement over ’07, but they are going to need much more consistent play throughout the year.  Here is how we see the 2008 season playing out:

 Tom O’Brien and NC State in 2008

 

 

 

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The Rich Rodriguez buyout saga with West Virginia ended today, in the exact spot we said it would finish in January, with Rodriguez/Michigan paying the entire $4 million that was called for in the contract Rodriguez signed with WVU.  Why Rich Rodriguez ever thought he could get away with not paying WVU, especially with the way he left Morgantown, does call into question Rodriguez’s personal judgment on what was one of the key moments in his life.  Okay, we get it now that Rodriguez was not happy at West Virginia, and that according to depositions in this case Rodriguez’s agent Mike Brown was out shopping Rodriguez (or “Project Rodriguez” as Brown called him) to numerous other schools in the past couple of years.  There is nothing wrong with a coach being dissatisfied with his current situation and having his agent out looking at other opportunities, but when you do take a new job it is classless to sue your former school over a contract and buyout that you agreed to and signed.  Maybe Rodriguez didn’t want to sign the contract with West Virginia with that $4 million buyout in it, but if that was the case he should have not signed the contract.  Hello!  Earth to Rich Rodriguez, you don’t have to sign anything you don’t want to sign.  The problem is Rodriguez did sign the contract, and someone with class would have thanked the West Virginia fans and alumni (the people that have been behind Rodriguez from the moment he returned to WVU), and then moved onto his new job at Michigan.  Probably the most outrageous thing that came out of this buyout saga is that while Rodriguez was saying that the $4 million buyout he signed with West Virginia was inappropriate, he actually agreed to a deal with Michigan that had, guess what?  A $4 MILLION DOLLAR BUYOUT!  If that isn’t the most unmitigated gall and outright arrogance by a head football coach that we have seen in our lifetimes, we wish someone would point out something worse.  Just outrageous, but this entire debacle of Rodriguez to Michigan has been a terrible embarrassment to Rich Rodriguez, which brings us to the most important question going forward.    

  

What does this entire buyout saga with West Virginia mean for Rich Rodriguez as he enters year one at Michigan?  Well, almost everyone that now follows college football  looks at Rich Rodriguez in a completely a different way, and as someone who’s word may not be good, even when it is on a signed contract.  We have said from the start that Rich Rodriguez is one of the best football coaches in the game, and his spread offense has changed the very nature of offense in college football, but every time that we now see or hear Rich Rodriguez, the way he left West Virginia will come to mind.  Rich Rodriguez can remove the memory of what happened in the past 8 months between him and his alma mater, by fielding a football team at Michigan that wins on the field and acts with class off of it, but if that does not happen Rodriguez may find that his recent actions could come back to bite him in a very significant way.  The Michigan fans will give Rodriguez the benefit of the doubt, if he can put a winning product on the field, but if he stumbles the whispers will begin about the way he arrived at Michigan, and if he is really a “Michigan Man.”  It is hard for anyone here at Coaches Hot Seat to imagine Bo Schembechler dragging Michigan, and his alma mater for that matter, through what Rodriguez has inflicted upon the fans of both schools over a buyout in a contract, THAT HE AGREED TO AND SIGNED.  No, Schembechler had too much class to drag his new school through this public relations debacle, but Schembechler (and Lloyd Carr for that matter) were cut from a much different cloth than what we have seen in Rodriguez over the past several months. 

  

We are under no illusion that Rich Rodriguez gives two rips about what Coaches Hot Seat thinks about anything, but our recommendation is that he take a good look at the people that are representing him.  As we mentioned earlier, West Virginia President Mike Garrison testified under oath in this Rodriguez buyout case that: (Bob Hertzel, Times West Virginian, July 2, 2008, “Brown had “Project Rodriguez for sale”)

 

 

What?  Let’s get this straight.  Rich Rodriguez’s agent is going to the president of the university that Rodriguez works for (remember Rich Rodriguez worked for West Virginia not the other way around), and threatened to keep shopping around what agent Mike Brown called, “Project Rodriguez” to other schools, because Rodriguez was not satisfied with things at WVU.  Now if anyone from Coaches Hot Seat had been the president of West Virginia during that meeting we would have tossed Mike Brown out the door, and then called Rodriguez over for a heart to heart talk on whether he really wanted to be the head football coach at WVU.  As far as Mike Brown goes, there is not a chance in hell that we would have ever allowed someone representing any of us to threaten our bosses, much less refer to us as “Project X.”  If Rich Rodriguez believes that the way Mike Brown has reported to have been representing him is appropriate for the world of business (and college football is a business, a very big business) then we would even think less of Rodriguez than we have up to this point.

Let’s hope that Rich Rodriguez can put this buyout saga with West Virginia behind him and focus on his new job at Michigan.  Close your eyes and imagine for a moment a parallel universe where Rich Rodriguez and his agent had negotiated a deal with Michigan, Rodriguez then had gone to his bosses at WVU and thanked them for the chance to be the head football coach at West Virginia and also told them that he could just not pass up the opportunity to be the head coach at Michigan.  Rodriguez could have then released a statement thanking the West Virginia fans for their support over the years, and left Morgantown with lots of goodwill and nothing to distract him at his new job in Ann Arbor.  That is what someone with class would have done, but Rodriguez chose another path, and his behavior during this entire buyout debacle will stay with Rodriguez for some time to come.  

 

 

Let’s just hope that Michigan is not under any illusion that Rodriguez’s agent is not at this very moment out shopping “Project Rodriguez” to other schools, and as for that $4 million dollar buyout that Michigan has with Rodriguez…..expect Rodriguez to claim that he was pressured into signing the contract with Michigan when/if he heads off to another school.  Maybe the question Rodriguez should be asking himself:  What is Mike Brown doing at this very moment?  Yes, that would be a damn good question for Rich Rodriguez, and the people at Michigan to be asking themselves, what is Mike Brown doing at this very moment?  We do know one thing; Mike Brown is going to find it very difficult to threaten the people at Michigan if things do not go Rich Rodriguez’s way in the coming years.  Of course, the nature of having an agent is that an agent speaks for his client, and if Rich Rodriguez wants to know why he has egg on his face today, he should find a big mirror, stand himself and Mike Brown in front of that mirror and there Rich will find the two people that are most responsible for what has been nothing less than a terrible embarrassment and disaster for Rich Rodriguez.

 

 

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For those people that were up early enough on Tuesday morning to watch T. Boone Pickens on CNBC’s Squawk Box present his plan to move the United States towards energy independence, got to see a virtuoso performance and some damn good ideas.  T. Boone Pickensis the world famous oilman, founder and seller of Mesa Petroleum, found of a multi-billion dollar energy hedge fund, who also has donated a pot full of money to his alma mater, Oklahoma State University.  Now we haven’t agreed with Mr. Pickens in the past over his deep, and some would say inappropriate involvement in OSU athletics, but without a doubt Mr. Pickens is one of the great investors in American history, and he also has an appetite for big ideas.  This morning on CNBC’s Squawk Box (3AM to 6AM for us West Coast folks, and yes some of us are up that early for our real day jobs due to the nature of competition in the world today) T. Boone Pickens presented his plan to help move the United States away from its dependence on imported oil from the Middle East.  Mr. Pickens pointed out that we are exporting $700 BILLION DOLLARS annually into the bank accounts of Middle Eastern countries in exchange for their oil, and that this unprecedented wealth transfer puts our country at risk.  In addition to the money that we might as well be tossing into the sea that is going to the Middle East, Mr. Pickens has actually shown up with a very legitimate plan that can help move us away from all of this imported oil.  The Pickens Plan (www.pickensplan.com) relies on the implementation of large wind farms in the heart of the United States, large solar installations in the American Southwest, and a greater use of natural gas, especially in our vehicles.  We can only say BRAVO! to T. Boone Pickens for him coming forward with such a common sense approach to both move the U.S. away from imported oil, but also a way to generate clean, relatively cheap, and available energy right here in the good ole’ USA.  Mr. Pickens also talked about the importance of drilling for more oil and natural gas, wherever we can pull it out of the ground or sea without damaging our environment, including drilling in ANWAR and off the US coasts on the outer continental shelf.  Mr. Pickens also said we should move ahead on nuclear power, biofuels, and anything else that can generate energy here in this country.  We fully realize that Mr. Pickens companies, the large wind farms that he is building in Texas and his natural gas ventures (both drilling and natural gas for autos/trucks), would benefit from the plan that he is proposing, but that is the great thing about America that people can both come up with capitalistic ideas and make money from them, and benefit the country at the same time. 

 

Mr. Pickens plan is particularly important to several member of Coaches Hot Seat who spent considerable amounts of time in the Persian Gulf region of the world while serving in the U.S. military, before, during, and after the first Gulf War/Desert Storm in the winter/spring of 1991.  For those of you old enough to remember, the first Gulf War was caused by Saddam Hussein’s invasion of Kuwait in the summer of 1990, and it was U.S. and other allied forces that removed the Iraqi army from Kuwait in late February 1991.  The Gulf War in 1991was not the beginning of the United States military’s involvement in the Persian Gulf region, because all the way the back to the end of World War II, the U.S. considered the oil routes into and out of the Persian Gulf to be of a “critical interest” to the country.  A number of us here at Coaches Hot Seat participated in US military operations in the Persian Gulf in the years leading up the Gulf War in 1991, which mainly centered around keeping the sea lanes open from the Gulf into the Indian Ocean, and acting as a counterbalance to the Soviet Union in the region.  With the fall of the Berlin Wall and the Soviet Union in 1989, U.S. operations shifted to ensuring stability in the Persian Gulf region, which climaxed with the eviction of Saddam’s forces from Kuwait in 1991.  Several of us at Coaches Hot Seat participated in the first Gulf War/Operation Desert Storm, and we thought then and we think today that operation was a noble cause and an important statement to make to Saddam and others like him that would so easily invade neighboring countries.  Iraq’s move into Kuwait was something that could not be allowed to stand, and the U.S. and its allies not only removed Saddam, our military forces have stayed in the Persian Gulf region since then to insure the flow of oil and the general stability of the region.  Generally though the men here at Coaches Hot Seat that spent time in the Persian Gulf believe that not even one American life is worth giving up for the countries in that region of the world, save Israel, and if there is any way we can reduce our dependence on oil from that area, we must move quickly to it.  T. Boone Pickens made a very good point this morning on CNBC, that if the U.S. is going to spend upwards of $500 BILLION DOLLARS on the current Iraqi conflict, then we had better damn make sure that the Iraqis are going to sell us their oil at a market prices, before they offer it to anyone else.  Our country has expended a vast amount of money in Iraq, and even more importantly, we have lost over 4,000 men and women and another 40,000 are seriously wounded from this war, and we deserve at least the first right of refusal for all that we have done for the Iraqis.  As for the Iraqi conflict, it is unanimous among everyone here at Coaches Hot Seat that served in the U.S. military and spent time in the Middle East that the current Iraq War was unnecessary.  Yes, removing Saddam Hussein from power was something that made the world a better place, but if the Iraqis had wanted freedom, especially the Shia and Kurds, who were so tortured under Saddam, then they should have removed him from power.  Saddam was a Sunni, and the Sunni’s were and are still a minority in Iraq, and the Shia along with the Kurds could have removed Saddam if they had really wanted to, but they did not won’t freedom as bad as our forefathers did 232 years ago.  As the civil rights activist James Baldwin has said, “Freedom is not something that anybody can be given.  Freedom is something people take, and people are as free as they want to be.”  We agree completely with that sentiment and we find it quite silly that anyone in a position power could seriously believe that freedom can be anything but earned by the blood and sweat of the people that want that freedom.  It is our belief that Saddam was inside a very tight box in Iraq after the ’91 Gulf War, and that he knew full well the price that would paid if he tried to attack us or our allies in the region.  Saddam also was a counter-weight to Iran, which is run by Shia, which is the same tribe/nationality that is now running the post-Saddam Iraq.  Little wonder in the press in recent days that the Iraqi Shia leaders want to set-up a firm timetable for the U.S. to withdraw.  Iraq is now moving closer and closer to the Iranians, and let’s just hope that by overthrowing Saddam Hussein, the U.S. did not create another monster in the Middle East that will be even worse.  As for U.S. foreign policy in the past two administrations, it is our firm conviction that in the first Bush Administration, which included the downfall of the Soviet Union and the first Gulf War, was the last time that adults were in charge of US foreign policy.  Most of the Clinton folks had very little real world experience, thus them allowing the terrorist problem to fester in the 1990s, and the Bush II boys were either only interested in getting elected or wide-eyed idealists that thought they could export an American-style democracy/capitalist system to a section of the world that was still living in the eleventh century.  What cannot be denied about the current Iraqi conflict is the brave performance by our fine young men and women wearing the military uniform of the United States who have done a magnificent job under very trying circumstances in Iraq and Afghanistan.  Bravery, courage, selflessness, duty, honor, call it what you want, but not enough can be said about the members of the U.S. military that are on the frontlines for all of us.  Bravo! to T. Boone Pickens, but Double, no make that Triple Bravo! to the members of the United States armed forces.  The sacrifices that all of you have made are great, and they will not be forgotten.  Thanks so much for your service.

 

What is done is done, and it is time for U.S. politicians and policy makers to embrace plans like the one that T. Boone Pickens is offering that can move the U.S. towards energy independence.  The lunatics on the left that believe we can block off huge sections of our country to drilling for oil and natural gas, and the capitalists on the right that are afraid of new energy technologies that might cut into their profit margins, both need to stop the foolishness and start thinking about what is best for their country.  Our economy cannot sustain these high energy prices forever, and we cannot continue to ship BILLIONS OF DOLLARS to countries of the Middle East.  It is time for everyone to wake-up and for Americans to start demanding from their elected representatives that they realize what great danger our country and economy is in right now, and that it is vital that we start to move to a sane energy policy that will be about what is best for America and the future of our Republic, rather than what is best for people that are usually not working in our best interest.

 

Bravo! to T. Boone Pickens for his proposal.  Now it is time for all of us to get to work.  We as Americans working together can solve our energy problems and end our dependence on Middle East oil, we just need to get to work on addressing these problems in a very aggressive way.

 

“People who work together will win, whether it be against complex football defenses, or the problems of modern society.”  Vince Lombardi

 

See T. Boone Pickens Energy Plan at: www.pickensplan.com

 

You can read an editorial by T. Boone Pickens in the Wall Street Journal: 
My plan to escape the grip of foreign oil

 

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Rich Brooks and Kentucky put up two very impressive seasons in ‘06 and ‘07 and the challenge will be to keep the momentum moving in Lexington.  The next head football coach at UK is set-up with Joker Phillips waiting in the wings, and Brooks has an agreement in place to coach through the 2011 season.  We still watch the ‘07 Kentucky - LSU game here at Coaches Hot Seat and marvel at how a severely undermanned UK team beat the eventual National Champions, and that leads directly back to preparation and coaching.  After a long and not all together winning tenure at Oregon, Brooks now has an opportunity to prove that he belongs among the upper tier of coaches of his generation, because if he can continue to put up winning football seasons at a school like Kentucky, then he will have proved many people, including us wrong.  The 2008 season presents the usual list of suspects in the SEC, and a manageable out-of-conference schedule, except for the opening game against cross-state rival Louisville, so there is a chance for Kentucky to make a third straight post-season trip.  Here is how we see the Kentucky 2008 season playing out:

Rich Brooks and Kentucky in 2008

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What is so outrageous and galling about the continuing arrests of college football players is that our country has had millions of men and women in its history, and now has hundreds of thousands of men and women that are putting their lives on the line everyday to protect this country around the world, and yet these pampered, arrogant, incredibly foolish, on athletic scholarships at some of the best colleges and universities on the planet, care so little about their own team and school, that they go out and get drunk, or get high, or do whatever damn they please, disregarding so easily the head coaches that they are supposed to be accountable to.  Yes, that is outrageous, and Americans everywhere have an absolute right to be outraged as the arrests continue to pile up.   What a damn pitiful and unacceptable position that college coaches have worked themselves into, where the players in many places are driving the train and coaches throw up their hands and call themselves “educators.”  That is bullshit.  A football player on an athletic scholarship should be held to a much higher standard than any student on a college campus, because the student-athlete represents the university in everything he does.  The next time a college coach wonders how he should be treating a football player in his charge, that has violated the trust that the coach has put in that player, can look no further than to sacrifices being made by our men and women in the armed forces.  You are going to tell us that allowing a football player to remain or return to a team when he has been caught with illegal drugs, or doing illegal drugs, or has been arrested for a serious offense is the right thing to do?  No dammit, it is the wrong thing to do, and college head football coaches that allow their players to wreak havoc on our society with their drug use, their DUIs, and one’s that commit other serious offenses are wreaking havoc, are coaches that only make our society worse, not better.

 

Very simply, a college football player that is lucky enough to be living in the United States of America, that is lucky enough to have gotten an athletic scholarship to one our great universities or colleges, that is lucky enough to have coaches that give a damn about him and want to see him succeed, shows his disdain for his country, his school, and most of all his coaches when he goes out and commits crimes, does drugs, or otherwise embarrasses himself and his family.  Football players that care so little about their school and their future, and that recklessly inflict damage on our communities by their actions, do not deserve to play the game of college football.  It doesn’t get any simpler than that.  Head football coaches that allow players 2^nd, 3^rd, 4^th, we have lost count on some of these players, chances, only disrespect their own team, and themselves, and most certainly are not putting what is best for their university first, and in plain fact what is best for the player committing the misdeeds.

 

It is not acceptable for college football players to be out committing crimes in our society.  The challenges our country faces in a world that is becoming more competitive everyday, and the very integrity of American sport is put at risk each time a college football player is allowed to get way with inflicting damage upon this nation.  It cannot be allowed to continue.  A student-athlete either wants to go to school, to play football, and to represent both his school and team in a respectful way, or he does not.  There is no middle ground, and college head coaches need to remove the middle ground that has been allowed to fester inside college athletic departments.  The next time a privileged student-athlete is in front of a head football coach giving excuses to why he was doing drugs, driving drunk, or another outrageous deed, the coach should remind that privileged student-athlete that he has no idea how lucky he is that he is not on the frontlines of Iraq or Afghanistan, or even worse living in a country that did not have the kind of freedom and opportunity that exists in America.  Maybe there are a lot of college football players that do not realize how good they have it, and they are probably not going to learn that just by going through football practices and conditioning.  How good all of us have it, but especially a young man or woman that is lucky enough to on an athletic scholarship at a great university or college needs to be reminded often how fortunate they are, and how easily they could lose all that they have worked for.  Student-athletes, football players, hell even the average student on any college campus in our country is luckier than 95% of the people on this planet, and that is what makes a student-athlete that gets in trouble that is on an athletic scholarship so particularly galling to people that have served this country and given that football player the ability to take advantage of the opportunities in this great country of ours.  Playing college football is a privilege, and when head football coaches make it anything other than a privilege, by allowing players that so openly break the law and the rules to remain on their teams, they demean the game they profess to love.

 

Very simply, the arrests in college football are outrageous, and the football players that do not want to act with respect towards their families, their schools, their coaches, and to our society, need to be removed from the game. 

 

Americans everywhere just celebrated the 232^nd birthday of our country and we believe the price that has been paid by millions of Americans that came before us should not be wasted on people that would so carelessly squander all of the gifts that our magnificent country has given to them.  It’s time to end the madness, and for ALL college football coaches to start asking, no demanding, that their student-athletes live the kind of life that is required of citizens in this great Republic.

 

The courageous men that stood up for all of us 232 years ago deserve better as well: 

 

Declaration of Independence
John Adams HBO Series

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In 1955 the late William F. Buckley established National Review as the only US magazine that would “stand athwart history yelling Stop!”  As the arrests, DUIs, and otherwise unacceptable behavior by many college football players continues to pile up, we here at Coaches Hot Seat believe that it is time to yell “Stop!”  We believe that most head football coaches deliver the message to their players that inappropriate and illegal behavior is unacceptable, but still the arrests and headline making stories continue.  Why is that, we and many others ask?  If football players will so blatantly disregard what their head football coach is telling them, and asking of them, something else must be going on here.  We believe that over the past 20 years head football coaches have more and more turned their heads to inappropriate and illegal behavior, and that many players now know that they can get away with a lot more, especially if they are a star or in the starting line-up.  It is time for head football coaches to draw a line in the sand and lay out in a very precise way what is expected of their student-athletes.  If a football player crosses that line, then swift and just punishment should be administered.  Of course, there are plenty of coaches that run very clean programs and do a lot of punishment behind the scenes to players that the public is not aware of, and no doubt those programs have a lot less arrests and players getting into trouble.  It is time to return to the notion that playing on an athletic team at a college or university is a privilege, and that the privilege can be taken away for bad or unacceptable behavior.  Putting winning or anything else ahead of the absolute and what should be the very clear responsibilities of a student-athlete to act in an appropriate way is not only a very bad idea for a football team, but something that can dramatically effect a college or university in a very negative way.  Very simply, no player, group of players, or even the entire damn team is worth keeping around if they cannot act appropriately and represent their institution in a respectful way. 

 

Several of us here at Coaches Hot Seat played on athletic scholarships at colleges and universities and we would like to relate the message that was given to us by the coaches of the sports we played.  These messages were delivered to both entering freshmen and upper-classmen after a new coach was hired for a sport, and almost all of these messages were delivered in the 1980s when we were attending college.  Although the exact message below was not delivered by one coach, the overarching themes were prevalent in how our coaches expected us to behave, and sometimes the coach did not address a particular subject because he assumed we knew what constituted good and bad behavior. 

 

It is our general feeling at Coaches Hot Seat that many college head coaches are too lenient on their players for their illegal and inappropriate behavior, and that allowing players to get away with things only encourages additional bad behavior by other players.  What is most needed is a clear and concise message with very clear penalties for behavior that falls outside of what is acceptable, and a firm discipline policy that is consistent with all players, whether they are starters or on the scout team.

 

A summary of the messages delivered by head coaches to Coaches Hot Seat members on behavior:

 

“Hello.  It’s good to see that all of you made it here.  I would like to talk today about behavior and what is expected of you as student-athlete at this school.  First of all, it is a privilege to play on an athletic team at this institution and whether you are in uniform or not you are representing this institution in everything you do.  That means that in class, out of class, on campus, at sporting events, at bars, at parties, driving your car, representing your school in competitions, and anything else you can think of, you are representing this institution in everything you do.  I am going to assume that most of you know right from wrong, so I am going to focus on a few areas here today: illegal drugs, DUIs, underage drinking, getting arrested, inappropriate behavior, punishment, and lastly the real reason you are here at this institution, which is to earn a bachelor’s degree.

 

Illegal drugs.  Now I want to be very clear on this subject.  If you get caught with illegal drugs, and what I mean by illegal drugs is any drug that is illegal to use in this country, and that includes prescription drugs that are not prescribed to you, if you get caught with illegal drugs, if you test positive for illegal drugs and it is confirmed in a second test, or in any other way it is found out that you are doing or selling illegal drugs, you will lose your athletic scholarship, and I will recommend that you be suspended from this university.  There is no wiggle room on this policy.  If there is anyone in this room that believes doing or selling illegal drugs is more important than playing athletics at this institution, please get the hell out of here right now, and we will pull your scholarship.  There is no room for illegal drugs at this institution, and we will not tolerate anyone breaking the law that is representing this institution.  Now we are going to drug test you several times throughout the year, and I might even call you in during the summer to take a drug test as well, and if you test positive for illegal drugs, and it is confirmed with a second test, you will be off this athletic team and you will lose your athletic scholarship.  Is there anyone here that cannot live with our policy on illegal drugs?  Good.  In the orientation pack you will find a list of illegal drugs and our policy on those drugs and how our random drug testing policy will work.  Any questions?  Good.

 

DUIs.  We don’t look kindly on drinking and driving.  If you get arrested for a DUI you will be suspended immediately from this athletic team.  If you plead guilty or are convicted of a DUI, you will be suspended from this athletic team for one year.  This is a very simple policy to understand.  After one year of suspension, if you want to return to this athletic team, and you have not gotten into any other trouble, we will allow you back on the team with probationary status.  If you plead guilty or are convicted of a second DUI, we will pull your athletic scholarship and I will recommend that you be suspended from this institution.  We are not going to tolerate DUIs on this athletic team, and if I find out that you have been drinking and driving, even though you have not been stopped by the police and arrested, and I can prove it, I will suspend you for one year.  Are there any questions?  Good.

 

Underage Drinking.  I am not going to lie to you.  When I was in college, I drank alcohol when I was underage.  It is my belief that the drinking age should be 18.  It is outrageous that you can vote and serve your country in war, but you cannot drink a beer.  I am not naïve enough to think that you will not drink alcohol in college, so I am going to tell you something, and if someone asks me about this, I will deny it, but if you drink alcohol before you turn 21 I would highly recommend that you do it in private, at parties, and most certainly not in bars.  I am going to address breaking the law in a minute, and being in a bar underage is breaking the law.  If you get caught breaking the law, there will be a heavy price to pay, so you as a young adult are going to have to decide what is more important:  Playing on this athletic team and going to school, or drinking.  Let me say this again.  I would recommend everyone under 21 in this room to drink at home, if you drink at all.  Now, on drinking alcohol, you can never forget that playing on this team at your highest level is the most important thing you will do at this institution, besides going to class and earning your bachelor’s degree.  We are going to ask, and if necessary, make it a requirement that you not drink in the periods around our athletic events or during major parts of offseason training.  If you are 21 or over, you of course can drink whenever you like, but if it starts to effect your play on this team, it will become an issue and may effect both your playing status and your athletic scholarship.  Overall, I would recommend that you keep any drinking of alcohol to a minimum, and stay away from people that are only here at this institution to get drunk.   Any questions?  Good.

 

Getting arrested.  If you get arrested for anything, you will be suspended from this athletic team.  In a college town it is very easy to get arrested for things like rowdy behavior, not taking the orders of a policeman, or other non-serious things, but if you get arrested there will be a price to pay.  If you get arrested for things like using illegal drugs, drinking underage, or other serious matters, yo