COACHES HOT SEAT BLOG

How proud Tennessee AD Mike Hamilton must be today that he has a head coach in Lane Kiffin that has been included in a new Lil Wayne rap song, Banned From TV.  Maybe in our late 30s and early 40s we are just out of touch with the young folks or maybe we just don’t “get it” anymore, but as we look over the below lyrics by Lil Wayne we see things that tear down and demean the black/African-American community and especially women and certainly we believe type of music is trash and not appropriate for kids of any age.  Yes, Tennessee AD, the Tennessee president, the Tennessee trustees and everyone else there in Knoxville should be mighty proud that Lil Wayne “Smoke weed talk sh-t like Lane Kiffin.” 

If there are any folks in the black/African-American community that believe using the words “niggas, n-gga” is appropriate then we would love to hear from you because we just don’t get it.  We teach our children that such words are not only inappropriate but not to be used under any circumstances, but then here we have a black man so blatantly using the “n-word” as if the history of that work in the history our country means nothing.  Sorry, we cannot imagine that anyone would listen to such trash music nor that any parent would allow their children to listen to such garbage, but then Tennessee has a head football coach that is right in the middle of the trash.  Somehow that seems appropriate and again congratulations Mike Hamilton, hearty congratulations to you for hiring “Smoke weed talk sh-t like Lane Kiffin.” 

Lil Wayne, Banned From TV Lyrics

Ayo, it’s Weezy muthaf-cking, easy with the hating
B-tch I’m in the building you just decorating
I’m just detonating
Then I get blatant
More things worse than internet dating
Scoob got the cameras on so I got to show off
I put your sister on, I knock your bro off
We just spit snowballs catch it in your face b-tch
Good game Wayne mayne I deserve a naysmith,
Cook game gain flow dope in the vein flow
I’ll only be smoking the purple out the rainbow
Stronger than Draino, your boyfriend a lame-o
And if you stay wit em then y’all in the same boat
Deep water Carter fishin for a dollar
You can join the sail and I’m splitting your tomato
Ball cuz i gotta
You’ll love me in the mornin
I told her Imma king, them other niggas Prince Charming
She love to rock the mic she say thats nothing like performin
Man Im in love with her grill George Foreman
Forewarning Young Money’s on
And we can shoot it out, I got the money drawn
yeah, take that to the bank with ya
lyrics courtesy of killerhiphop.com
I rock my hat to the side like I paint pictures
Smoke weed talk sh-t like Lane Kiffin
Whole country in recession but Wayne different
huh, and I’m a Maybach rider, haven’t drove it one time I got a cool black driver
Cant walk around with guns i got a do that got em
Don’t worry if Im shootin as long as you get shot
Imma beast, Imma pitbull
I get my ass kissed, I get my d-ck pulled
Imma beast
Imma big wolf
I got my money right, I got my clip full
haha, it’s like 7 in the mornin n-gga
I’m up for whoever the opponent n-gga
Stop the track, let me relish in a moment n-gga
Now bring that mutha f-cker back cuz I’m zonin n-gga
I go hard like Rafael Nadal
And if the b-tches were havin it, I bet we have them all
And man Im so high its like an ever-lasting fall
And I’m chargin these hoes like women basketball
Uh, i bet that chopper get his mind right
Leave a hole in his chest like a line bite
Super hero call like a crime fight
I see big cheese, you n-ggas blind mice
T-Streets still roll with me
Still stickin to the script like Nicole Kidman
Need the man hit? We are those hitmen
He stopped runnin, the bullet holes didn’t
uh, Basically, I’m still a monster
Till the fat lady sings I come to kill the Opera
Yall too plane, Imma helicopter
My words keep goin like a teleprompter
I’m a asshole, wipe me down b-tch
I get big checks, Nike Town b-tch
Yeah, mean mug, Bobby Brown sh-t
And the flag red like clown lips,
uh, TI can’t stop goin
Dropped my best sh-t like the Cowboys dropped Owens
I’m the best to ever do it mutha f-cker I know it
No Ceilings Got Dammit now the f-ckin Sky’s showin uhh!

Wow!  Now if that is actually music then we no longer know what music is. Around 30 years ago Steely Dan included a tribute to Paul “Bear” Bryant and Alabama in their Deacon Blues song with the line:

“They got a name for the winners in the world
I want a name when I lose
They call Alabama the Crimson Tide
Call me Deacon Blues”

Now Lil Wayne has written his tribute to Lane Kiffin with:

“Smoke weed talk sh-t like Lane Kiffin”

Yes, you’re right Mike Hamilton, the hiring of Lane Kiffin made a LOT OF SENSE for the University of Tennessee.  Please, when this Kiffin/Vol train begins to run into the ditch just drop us an email here at Coaches Hot Seat and we will tell you how this all will end because we have seen this play before!  Yes, it ended very ugly here with “fruitcake” Al Davis calling Lane Kiffin a liar and we wouldn’t be surprised if Mike Hamilton, or his replacement at Tennessee is saying the same exact thing in a year or two. 

One can never go wrong with Steely Dan

Deacon Blues

 

We don’t listen to rap here at Coaches Hot Seat but here is a link to Lil Wayne’s newest song Banned From TV spotlighting Lane Kiffn.  Don’t click that link unless you really like rap.

Who knows, maybe we are just like the parents in the 1950s that were shocked by Elvis’ music….  Still we much prefer the Great Nat King Cole’s…

I Love You for Sentimental Reasons

Now don’t tell us that Nat King Cole isn’t one of the all time greats!

Nat King Cole or Lil Wayne?  Please Nat King Cole made music, Lil Wayne…..seems to really like Lane Kiffin!

 

Week 9 MUST WIN Games for Coaches and Teams

With all these weekday games being played these days we have already had two coaches that have played MUST WIN Games:

Tommy West, Memphis – With the loss to East Carolina on Tuesday night Tommy West is now 2-6 on the year and we believe he will need to win out to get to 6-6 on the year to return in 2010.  West’s overall record at Memphis is 49 – 57 (.462) and we cannot imagine that kind of record can be acceptable to West’s bosses at UM and that is why getting to a .500 record this year is so important to Tommy’s future.  With at Tennessee, UAB , at Houston and at Tulsa left for Memphis this season it is going to be a very tough and probably impossible road for West and his Tigers to get to that .500 mark and that is why Tommy is on one of the Hottest Seats in college football.

Butch Davis, North Carolina – On Thursday night Butch Davis and his Tar Heels needed a win against Virginia Tech and they got that win in one of the toughest places to play in the game, Blacksburg, VA.  With the win North Carolina’s record rises to 5 – 3, but the Tar Heels will have to continue to play hard to make sure they get to a postseason bowl game in 2009.  With Duke, Miami, at Boston College and at NC State left all of those games could go either way and that reality should get and keep the Tar Heels attention for the rest of the season.

Upcoming MUST WIN Games:

Bobby Bowden, Florida State – As bad as FSU has played in 2009 they still have a chance to finish with 6 or more wins and we believe that Bobby Bowden will need at least 6 wins this season to have a good argument that he should return in 2010.  This week it is a home game against NC State which is struggling itself under Tom O’Brien who is himself facing a MUST WIN game this week.  With a win over NC State, FSU’s record would rise to 4-4 and they have at Clemson, at Wake Forest, Maryland and at Florida left.  From where we sit, FSU and Bobby Bowden should be able to beat every team left on its schedule except for Florida in Gainesville, but the way that the Seminoles have played in recent years we wouldn’t give them much of a chance to end up with more than 6 wins.  Does Bobby Bowden return in 2010 if the Seminoles go 6-6 this season?  We would say…probably not, because that would mean that FSU would have lost to Florida again, which would be the SIXTH straight loss to the Gators by Bowden/FSU and we cannot imagine losing six straight to Florida is going to make many people happy around Tallahassee.  Yes, NC State is MUST WIN for Bobby Bowden and FSU.

Tom O’Brien, NC State – As successful as Tom O’Brien was at Boston College (75 – 45 in 10 seasons) he has almost been as bad so far at NC State, 14 -18 (.438).  O’Brien is only in his third year at NC State, but there are some people around Raleigh that are starting to get a little concerned that his team is not only losing games but the team is also playing very inconsistently.  Now at 3 – 4 on the year it is not going to be easy to get to .500 and the rest of the season starts with a game at Florida State on Saturday night.  After FSU, the Wolfpack have Maryland, Clemson, at Virginia Tech and North Carolina and if NC State loses to the Seminoles getting to a .500 record will be next to impossible.  At this point we project NC State to finish with a record around 5-7 and that means that FSU is a MUST WIN Game for Tom O’Brien and the Wolfpack.

Gene Chizik, Auburn – Gene Chizik got off to a great start at Auburn by winning his first 5 games but there have been some big chinks in the armor over the past few weeks after losses to Arkansas, Kentucky and LSU.  There is no shame in losing at Arkansas and at LSU, but that home loss to Kentucky when Auburn played like they really didn’t know what they were doing had to be a big disappointment to Auburn fans.  Now at 5-3, Chizik’s goal has to be to somehow split the remaining 4 games against Mississippi, Furman, at Georgia and Alabama.  Furman should be a sure win so that makes the Saturday game against the Rebels a big one indeed.  A win against Ole Miss and Auburn will roll into Athens to play Georgia on November at 7-3 with a lot of momentum, but with a loss to the Rebels the entire Auburn nation will sink a little deeper into their chairs.  Yes, Mississippi is a MUST WIN Game for Gene Chizik and his Tigers!

Dan Hawkins, Colorado – Dan Hawkins made an impassioned plea for himself and his Colorado football program this week which shouldn’t be a surprise to anyone that knows the history of Hawk.  We here at Coaches Hot Seat have been visiting Boise, Idaho for over 10 years now for business reasons and we always tried to work in a Boise State football game on those trips.  We were following Hawkins when he was the OC at Boise under Dirk Koetter and when he took over as the head coach at Boise and we got to take in many Broncos games.  Hawkins put up a record of 53 – 11 at Boise State in 5 seasons and we can still remember the very happy and optimistic press conference that Hawkins held when he was hired at Colorado before the 2006 season.  We also remember Hawkins’ first game at Colorado when the Buffs lost at home to I-AA Montana State and really from that first game forward things have just not gone right for the Hawk in Boulder.  Dan Hawkins is now 15 – 29 (.341) in his fifth season at Colorado and the Buffs are 2-5 on the year and if they want to salvage anything out of this season then they will need to beat Missouri at home on Saturday.  After Missouri, Hawkins and the Buffs have Texas A&M, at Iowa State, at Oklahoma State and Nebraska at home to finish the year and we are having a very hard time finding many more wins on that schedule, so that makes this home game against the Mizzou Tigers a big game indeed.  We haven’t a clue if Dan Hawkins will be back for the 2010 season, whatever the final record is for the Buffs in 2009, but we do know that the Colorado football program has been performing at a subpar level for years now and we cannot imagine that the people running CU athletics will allow or can afford for that to continue.  Yes, Missouri is a MUST WIN Game for Dan Hawkins and the Buffs!

Steve Kragthorpe, Louisville – Steve Kragthorpe is now 13 – 18 in his third season at Louisville and the Cardinals are 2-5 on the season with Sun Belt conference team Arkansas State coming to town on Saturday.  To say that Arkansas State is a MUST WIN Game is a massive understatement because even with a win Louisville will only have 3 wins and they still have to play at West Virginia, Syracuse, at South Florida and Rutgers this season.  If you assume that beating WVU in Morgantown will be very difficult, then that makes the Arkansas State, Syracuse, USF and finale against Rutgers MUST WIN Games to get to 6 wins on the year and although we don’t think that would be an easy thing to do, it is doable.  First up is Arkansas State and this is a MUST WIN Game for Kragthorpe and his Cards.

Al Groh, Virginia – The task ahead for Al Groh and the Cavaliers is very straightforward.  Virginia is now at 3 – 4 on the ’09 season and if Al Groh has any home of returning for the 2010 season he will have to find 3 wins in the remaining 5 games and those games are against:  Duke, at Miami, Boston College, at Clemson and Virginia Tech at home.  With those games a 3 – 2 finish is possible by Groh and his Cavs but they MUST BEAT Duke on Saturday at home or it will make getting to six wins next to impossible and thus Duke is a MUST, MUST, MUST WIN Game for Al Groh and UVA.

Mike Sherman, Texas A&M – After getting whipped by Kansas State and then whipping Texas Tech, Mike Sherman’s Aggies now get to show just what the Hell this football team is about with a home game against Iowa State.  The Cyclones are playing some good football under new head coach Paul Rhoads and this game presents a real danger to Mike Sherman’s rep, because if a first year Iowa State coach can beat a second year Texas A&M coach in College Station then that is a comparison that Sherman does not want to be on the wrong end of.  Now at 4-3 on the season, Sherman needs 2 wins out of the last 5 games against…Iowa State, at Colorado, at Oklahoma, Baylor and Texas because anything less than 6 wins and Mike Sherman and many others in College Station will be in a world of hurt come December.  Yes, Iowa State is a MUST WIN for Mike Sherman and A&M.

Dennis Erickson, Arizona State – After starting out 10-3 in his first year at Arizona State, Dennis Erickson is now 9 – 10 in his last 19 games and people in the Phoenix area are starting to wonder what exactly is the difference between previous ASU coach Dirk Koetter and the current head coach.  In 6 seasons at ASU Dirk Koetter put up a record of 40 – 34 (.541) and put up 4 winning seasons in 6 years, including 4 trips to bowl games.  Erickson is now 19 – 13 and with Cal, USC, at Oregon, at UCLA and Arizona left on the ’09 schedule, the Sun Devils might be looking at their second straight losing season under Erickson.  With USC up next, Cal is indeed a MUST WIN Game for Dennis Erickson because a 6-6 record with that schedule left will most definitely be a trick!

Mark Richt, Georgia – Two weeks ago we claimed that Mark Richt’s game against Vandy in Nashville was MUST WIN Game and from talking to our Bulldog friends in Georgia it looks like this huge matchup against the Gators in Jacksonville is a MUST WIN as well.  Georgia played Vandy like a cornered animal and they had better damn play that way against Florida or the Georgia fans are going to really be up in arms, because the one thing that has been missing in recent years by this UGA coaching staff is a passion to fight against the opposing teams to the last second on the clock.  Georgia did play LSU tough and really should have beaten the Bengal Tigers so they know they can beat Florida, but we really wonder if this group of Bulldogs has it in them to step up and beat the Gators on this huge stage.  Yes, what we want to see from the Georgia football team is a team that plays like it is not going to leave Jacksonville, Florida with another loss to the Gators.  Now, is that really asking too much?  Yes, Florida is a MUST WIN Game for Mark Richt and the Bulldogs.

Rick Neuheisel, UCLA – In his second season with the Bruins Rick Neuheisel is now 7 – 12 (.368) and the folks in Westwood are starting to get a little nervous after UCLA has lost their first four Pac-10 games of the ’09 season.  Now at 3 – 4 on the ’09 season, Neuheisel and the Bruins have a big game this Saturday at Oregon State, because a loss in this spot will make it very difficult for the UCLA to get to 6 wins on the season with Washington, at Washington State, Arizona State and at USC left on the schedule.  Neuheisel really needs something to go right so that he can climb the wall that is their cross-city rival USC Trojans and a second-straight losing season would not be a good omen as the Trojans keep rolling along under the vilified one Pete Carroll.  Beating Oregon State in Corvallis is never easy, but beating the Beavers is doubly difficult when it is a MUST WIN Game and that is exactly what is facing Rick Neuheisel and UCLA this Saturday.  The one thing we would like to see from the UCLA players is some passion, the kind of passion that comes from the determination that says we are not leaving the OSU football stadium without a win.  If the Bruins get behind early and then lay down and quit, Rick Neuheisel will be on the Hot Seat come Monday.

Greg McMackin – We hate to just keep stating the raw numbers that define Greg McMackin, but now in his second year at Hawaii, Greg McMackin is now 9 – 12 (.429) overall and that is after taking over for a coach in June Jones that won 23 of his last 27 games with the Warriors.  This week Hawaii has a suddenly surging Nevada team and if the Warriors cannot get a win in this spot they will drop to 2 – 6 on the year and they have Utah State, New Mexico State, at San Jose State, Navy and Wisconsin left.  Under June Jones the Warriors would have been favorites in most of those games and would have won no fewer than 4 of them.  With 13 games overall on Hawaii’s ’09 schedule somehow McMackin probably needs to find 5 wins out of the remaining 6 games counting the Nevada matchup.  Yes, Nevada is a MUST WIN Game for Greg McMackin and the Warriors.

Charlie Weis, Notre Dame – If Notre Dame is playing a football game under Charlie Weis it is playing a MUST WIN Game and that is again the case this week against Washington State.  To us Washington State looks like a very good Division II football team and it looks like the Boys in Vegas agree with that sentiment since the Irish are around 28 point favorites over the Cougs.  Very simply, if Weis and Notre Dame lose to Washington State, Charlie Weis should be fired immediately fired after the game.  Since we don’t expect that to happen, the Irish’s record should be 6-2 heading into their matchup with Navy in South Bend next week.

Lane Kiffin, Tennessee – Lane Kiffin has it all, a million dollar contract, plenty of arrogance, a Daddy that will pull his ass out of the fire, a rapper that sings his praises, but he doesn’t have a whole lot of wins yet.  Now at 3-4 on the season, Steve Spurrier brings his Gamecock team to Knoxville on Saturday and this is a MUST WIN Game because the Vols really can’t afford to drop to 3-5 with Memphis, Mississippi, Vanderbilt and at Kentucky left on the schedule.  If Steve Spurrier had a QB he would have a really good team in ’09, but the Gamecocks are still playing some very good football and this should be a very interesting game to measure if Tennessee is really playing good football or if some of the top teams in the SEC have just been playing like scared rabbits against the Vols.  No, Spurrier, unlike some other coaches in the SEC, will not play like a scared rabbit and that should make this UT – USC matchup a very entertaining one indeed.  Yes, South Carolina is a MUST WIN Game for Lane Kiffin and the Vols.

Pete Carroll, USC – For the second time in 2009 we here at Coaches Hot Seat have written the words MUST WIN and Pete Carroll next to each other and this time it is the Oregon Ducks that is a MUST WIN Game for the USC Trojans.  Pete Carroll has built a dominant football program at USC over the past 9 seasons but he has not lost more than 1 Pac-10 game since his first year on the job and if for some reason the Ducks are able to knock off the Trojans in this spot a lot of people will start to say a little louder what many have been saying in whispers this season….”Carroll and the Trojans are slipping…..”  Say it again quietly so Pete doesn’t hear it…”Carroll and USC are slipping…..”  Yes, it is true there are a lot of people on the west coast of the United States that believe that the 2009 USC team is very woeful compared to Carroll’s USC teams of past and it might just be the Oregon Ducks that confirm and drive home that point on Halloween Night!  As we watch USC play, especially on defense, we see some holes in the Trojans that good coaches should be able to exploit, but only if they have a team that can both run and throw the ball well.  Chip Kelly’s Ducks can throw the ball against mediocre teams, but USC has the speed to keep up with Kelly’s receivers and backs and we are going to be fascinated to see if Pete Carroll makes a couple of adjustments on defense to shut down the Oregon run game and make the Ducks throw the ball to win.  USC has the talent to throw enough people at the line of scrimmage to blow up the misdirection and option running attack that Oregon runs and still cover the wide receivers, but only if the Duck QB is not accurate in his passing.  If Oregon is able to throw the ball successfully, the game in Eugene is already over and the Trojans will be headed back to LA with their second Pac-10 loss on the season and a lot of questions to answers.  Yes, beating Oregon is a MUST WIN Game for Pete Carroll and the Trojans.

Tim Brewster, Minnesota – Tim Brewster is now 12 – 21 (.364) in his third year at Minnesota and his overall record pales in comparison to what Glen Mason put up in 10 seasons with the Gophers, 64-57  (.528).  Glen Mason took Minnesota to 7 bowl games in his 10 seasons and since Mason was fired to hire Brewster, Tim will have to at least do a better job than his predecessor or his hiring will look very stupid indeed.  At 4-4 on the ’09 season and with Michigan State coming to town, the Gophers cannot afford a loss in this spot because after the Spartans they have at Illinois, South Dakota State and Iowa.  Brewster really needs 6 wins in 2009 so that it at least looks like the Minnesota program is moving forward and that makes this home game in that beautiful new stadium a MUST WIN Game for Brewster and the Gophers.  Lose to MSU and the Gophers are 4-5 and will need 2 wins out of their last 3 to avoid disaster.  Also, lose to Michigan State and Tim Brewster will be on a VERY HOT SEAT come Monday!

George O’Leary, UCF – George O’Leary has done a nice job of rallying his Knights team after a tough loss to Miami but UCF is facing a MUST WIN Game against Marshall at home because with the Knights now at 4 – 3 on the season and really needing 6 wins to call ’09 a success a loss in this spot would be devastating.  A loss to Marshall in this spot would be devastating because UCF has a couple of very tough games left on their schedule which includes, at Texas, Houston, Tulane and at UAB.  A loss to Marshall would probably lead to two more losses to the Longhorns and the Cougars and that would put a lot of pressure on O’Leary and UCF to win their last two games just to get to 6-6 on the year.  Yes, Marshall is MUST WIN Game for George O’Leary and UCF.

Wishing a Happy and Safe Halloween to All!   Let’s have a great Saturday of College Football!

How about a couple more songs from the Great Nat King Cole!

Unforgettable

 

When I Fall in Love

Tags: Uncategorized by Joe
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There is so much going on in college football these days that national writers and even local beat writers and columnist must be salivating at all of the stories that are out there to report on in this crazy game.  It is ironic that there is so much to report on in college football and in general, but this week it was reported that newspapers had their biggest drop in circulation (average 22 percent down) in years.  Maybe we are just in one of those painful periods in journalism history that is necessary to move all the folks that still read the hard copy newspaper to digital formats but that doesn’t change isn’t helping newspapers that are bleeding revenues everywhere they look.  None of us here at CHS receive a newspaper at our homes anymore and we still all read our local newspapers and visit dozens of different news websites each day for personal and business reasons and that doesn’t even count the sites we visit via Coaches Hot Seat involving college football.  What the newspaper business needs are enterprising new leaders that can turn their digital news websites into revenue generators and the best way to do that is build a business model that allows for local, regional and national advertising that is delivered to the reader based upon where they are reading the newspaper website from.  Lots more we could write here, but one of the most pitiful things that we get to experience up close is that the flagship newspaper in the Bay area the San Francisco Chronicle has been one of the slowest to adapt to new digital formats and they are paying the price for that as they continue to lose more than $500K a week (http://www.sfgate.com/).  Wouldn’t it be nice to be running a company where you could operate a business that lost more than $500K a week?  Such is the lunacy of the Hearst Corporation!

Bob Griese suspended for “taco” remark?  Crazy!

First, we have to say it seems a little ridiculous that Bob Griese was suspended for 1 game by ESPN for saying that NASCAR driver Juan Montoya was “out having a taco.”  We know that ESPN/ABC is a very politically-correct place to work but this seems a little over the top to us.  (The token lawyer here at Coaches Hot Seat has observed that it looks like ESPN/ABC has conducted the first “castration by paycheck” with all of the people that cover football at ESPN/ABC that used to say that the BCS was bogus and say that a playoff was the only way to crown a legitimate national champion.  OK, we understand the need for a paycheck which makes this apparent war on free speech by the ESPN/ABC suits sitting in corner offices in Manhattan and at the Mouse House in Burbank look really stupid, but when the Politburo that is the BCS says shut your mouth it looks like the ESPN/ABC Boys have shut their mouths!  Yes, Bob Iger is doing a nice job running Disney in replacing Michael Eisner but the great thing about Michael Eisner is that no one was going to tell Michael, especially someone like these lame Candy Ass BCS Boys, to shut his mouth!)  Of course, we recognize that Coaches Hot Seat is one of the least politically-correct places on the planet and if you happen to wonder into our presence then you might just get the Don Rickles treatment (see below)!  Who knows, Juan Montoya may have been out having a taco instead of racing, but because Montoya is Columbian/South American it offends the ears of the PC folks that a white guy might make fun of a Latino?  Is that what America has come to that no one can be made fun of anymore?  Not at Coaches Hot Seat where anything and everything about you is up for ridicule, all in fun of course!

The great thing about living in California is that we do happen to have a strong Latino community and we have many Latino friends and even a few that own restaurants.  Guess what kind of restaurants these Latinos friends of ours own?  Chinese?  No.  Thai?  No.  Deli?  No.  Italian?  No.  In fact, can you believe it, our Latino friends own restaurants that serve Mexican food and can you believe it, one of their specialties is TACOS! (Like Joe’s Taco Lounge & Salsa in Mill Valley, California!  Yes, Joe makes some great Tacos!  Thanks Joe, and unlike Montoya we are eating tacos and loving it!)  Yes, Tacos are served at the Mexican restaurants which are owned by Latino friends of ours!  Shocking?  Well, maybe to the folks at ESPN but not to us, which makes this entire brouhaha with Bob Griese look very stupid.  Bob Griese said that Juan Montoya was “out having a taco” and Montoya said he didn’t care and that he didn’t even know who Bob Griese was.  Yes, this is all very stupid but we don’t expect anyone at ESPN or ABC to admit that this is all stupid because PC still rules and it will continue to rule until people quit taking themselves so seriously and worrying about someone else making fun of them.  Please, get a life folks!  Juan Montoya could care less about what Bob Griese said so why Hell should anyone else?  What the Hell has happened to America that people cannot make a joke anymore?  Answer:  The PC-idiots are driving this train and all they do all day long is sit around worry about what people are saying about them.  Meanwhile the American Empire is going in the ditch….  Idiots!

The Great Don Rickles

 

 

 

 

Lane Kiffin = The child, the bully, the idiot, but not a chance Hell the SEC will suspend him no matter what he does!

Really, what can one say about Lane Kiffin?  First he basically accuses the SEC Conference of being little more than a rigged parlor game that has referees that favor a few chosen teams over others and then he says that the reprimand that SEC commish Mike Slive gave him was…

“I’m sure we’ll get one of those letters that really means nothing as Bobby got last week, but Florida and Alabama live on.”

The letter that Mike Slive sent to Lane Kiffin on the reprimand it said:

“This is the second reprimand for Coach Kiffin in this calendar year. Coach Kiffin is on notice that for any further violations of SEC policies will subject him to additional penalties including suspension.”

Hah!  Fat Chance of that!  Lane Kiffin has basically said that the SEC is rigged for a couple of chosen teams and he laughs in the face of Mike Slive and when you get right down to it we believe that Kiffin could piss onto the sidewalk in from of the SEC’s headquarters in Birmingham, Alabama the sentence that “The SEC is rigged and Mike Slive and Rogers Redding can go take a leap into Lake Bullshit” in front of Mike Slive and the entire SEC staff and not only would the SEC not suspend Kiffin the SEC staff would run inside and type up another meaningless letter that Kiffin would laugh at again.

Please, everyone knows that Mike Slive is not going to suspend Lane Kiffin no matter what he does, but should Mike Slive really even have to deal with such a piece of shit like Lane Kiffin?  The same bullshit that Lane Kiffin is pulling in the SEC is what he did in Oakland for two years and the most amazing thing to us is that Tennessee AD Mike Hamilton and the other folks at the University of Tennessee from the president on down would allow such a piece of trash to coach their football team.  Lane Kiffin is a magnificent example of lots of kids running around the US today that were raised by parents that let their children run wild and taunt whoever and whomever that dared enter their field of view.  On top of being everything that a human should not be, arrogant, condescending to the people he works for, disrespectful of people that have actually accomplished something in their lives, and disdainful of all the people that have come before and built this country, Lane Kiffin is someone that has done nothing in his life to even remotely qualify him to call out people that have achieved something with their lives.

Maybe Tennessee AD Mike Hamilton thinks it is OK for the Tennessee head football coach to claim that the SEC is rigged and that letters of reprimand from the SEC are “meaningless,” but if Mike Hamilton does believe that then go ahead and toss Hamilton into the hole that Lane Kiffin is digging Tennessee into.  Far from building a football program the right way, as Pete Carroll, Urban Meyer, Jim Tressel, Mack Brown, Frank Beamer, Joe Paterno, Bobby Bowden and many other great head football coaches have done in this great game, Kiffin is building Tennessee football upon taunting, unsportsmanlike behavior, arrogance, ignorance, lying, deceit and about a dozen other things that come to mind when we think of Kiffin.  You see, unlike the folks in east Tennessee we saw both the opening and the closing of the “Kiffin play” in Oakland and we know exactly how Kiffin acts when he doesn’t get his way.  Like a child…no, more like a child that was raised by wolves and judging by the way Lane Kiffin acted when he was at Oakland and the way he has behaved since arriving at Tennessee, we don’t give a damn what Monte Kiffin has done in his lifetime, in our opinion he failed miserably in raising his punk son and if you don’t believe that just look at the way Kiffin treats and talks about other human beings that have never said a word or done a thing to him.  What has emboldened Kiffin is that two of the top coaches in the SEC, Urban Meyer and Nick Saban, coached their teams like scared little girls fearful of the ramifications of losing to idiot Kiffin instead of playing to win the games.  More on Nick Saban in a minute.

Lastly on Lane Kiffin, his longest coaching stop before taking the Oakland Raiders job was the 6 years he spent on Pete Carroll’s USC coaching staff and we can say without a doubt that in public and private we have never seen Pete Carroll display the kind of arrogant and disrespectful behavior that are the dominant personality traits of Lane Kiffin.  In fact, Pete Carroll in private away from the TV cameras and media is the exact same person he is on the football field and in fact he is probably a better person when he is not engrossed in the competitive spirit that so many of us have when involved in sporting events.  Pete Carroll cannot be blamed for Lane Kiffin’s personal deficiencies, because it is obvious that long before Kiffin arrived at USC he had become a person that valued bluster and bullshit over achievement and respect.  What Lane Kiffin really needed in his life instead of having his Daddy’s name getting him jobs all along the way would have been a few years in the US military so that he might gain some understanding of the price that has been paid for him to be able to so freely take advantage of what is available to all Americans that chase their happiness.  No, that was not the path for Lane Kiffin, but rather Kiffin was elevated by one person after another and all along the way Kiffin struck out at people that have actually accomplished something in their lives instead of recognizing both the advantages he had over other coaches (because of his Daddy who Lane now needs to be on his coaching staff because all us know that Kiffin would be able to cut it without Daddy nearby) and that there are people with real accomplishments in the world that should not be demeaned just because fools like Mike Hamilton have put you into a position of power.  By the way Mike Hamilton, congratulations with your hire and we certainly hope that your children grow up to be just like Lane Kiffin, arrogant asses with no respect for anyone.  We only wish that someone in Tennessee would explain to us when raising arrogant asses was the norm, because the exact opposite has been our experience from Tennessee fans when visiting Neyland. 

To the media that cover Tennessee football:  Be on alert for we see when we watch Kiffin’s press conferences at Tennessee are the same things that happened here in Oakland and it is almost like a bad case of déjà vu as the Tennessee media now kisses Kiffin’s ass but in the end turns against a petty and pitiful man who’s ego is so fragile that he can only function in the world when he is tearing other people down.  We are in Act I, with Acts II and III to come of the play Prince Lane and when Act III arrives, and it will arrive, the enablers of Lane Kiffin at Tennessee and in the media will look around and wonder how they could have been so stupid to have fallen for Kiffin’s bullshit.  The sad reality is that in our opinion there are people at Tennessee that would hire the Devil himself if only the Devil would taunt the other teams and make the Vols look tough, but as is the case everytime you sell your soul to the Devil there will be a price to pay as even “fruitcake” Al Davis learned firsthand.

As for Mike Slive and the SEC, if Lane Kiffin can say the SEC is rigged and that a reprimand from conference is meaningless, we wonder what Kiffin would have to do to get suspended.  Please, Mike Slive does not have the guts to suspend Lane Kiffin or any other head football coach in the SEC and believe that Lane Kiffin should keep that in mind over the remainder of the football season because you can do or say anything and NOTHING will happen.

One thing for sure if our children grew up and acted like the way Kiffin acted when has with the Oakland Raiders and the way he has behaved since arriving at Tennessee then we would all feel that we failed miserably in the raising of our children.  Evidently Monte Kiffin can raise an arrogant ass that not only calls out other people but also has never accomplished a thing in his life and Monte could care less.  That should tell you all you need to know about Monte Kiffin, no matter how good of a football coach he is, in our opinion he failed miserably in raising Lane.

 

Nick Saban (and Urban Meyer) coaching like a little girl

After the Alabama offense has struggled in recent games Nick Saban says he wants the Tide offense to “go down the field more.”  What?  If Nick Saban wants the Alabama offense to go down the field more then he needs to say so during the game because he is listening in on (and influencing?) every offensive play.  Maybe though it is Nick Saban that has his hands in the Alabama offensive playcalling, because the Jim McElwain (Alabama OC) that we know from Fresno State was the Jim McElwain that was calling plays for Alabama in 2008 and certainly not some of the offensive plays being run by Bama in ’09.  It is very clear to us that Alabama QB Greg McElroy is afraid that he might get his precious face hit and that anytime a defender gets with 3 yards of him he is firing the ball downfield to anyone that remotely looks like an Alabama receiver, so maybe it is Saban watching all of this play and it is he that is not allowing his OC to give plays to McElroy to throw the ball “over the middle” as Saban wants.  Alabama had a lot of opportunities to put Tennessee away on Saturday but the Tide played tentative, just as Florida did against Tennessee, and we believe that Alabama and Florida played so tentative because Saban and Meyer feared the repercussions of losing to the Vols under Kiffin.  Both head coaches were tight going into their games with Tennessee and both teams played tight as shown by the 23 points that the Gators scored and the pitiful 12 points that Alabama scored on the Vols.  With UCLA putting up 19 points, Ohio 23 points, Auburn 26 points, and Georgia 19 points on Tennessee one has to wonder how the mighty Crimson Tide that is celebrated by the national media as one of the top teams in the country can only score 12?  We know why, and is that Nick Saban, his staff and Alabama played scared and when you play scared you can come within a couple of blocked field-goals of finding your ass on the Hot Seat.

The general consensus here at Coaches Hot Seat was that if Alabama lost to Kiffin and the Vols at home in Bryant-Denny Stadium then Saban would have made the largest jump in the Coaches Hot Seat Rankings in the history of Coaches Hot Seat.  From his Week 8 spot of #115 to a Top 10 spot would have been Nick Saban’s fate if he and his Alabama team had choked against Tennessee, and it would have been one of the biggest chokes in college football history.  Houston Nutt when he was still at Arkansas holds the current record of an 80+ spot jump into the Top 10 Coaches Hot Seat Rankings in 2007 when his Hog football program went into chaos in the spring of that year.  No, after that big jump by Houston Nutt in 2007 it did not end well for Nutt as he left Arkansas for Ole Miss and we can only imagine what the reaction of the Alabama fan base would have been to Nick Saban and the Tide throwing up all over themselves in Bryant-Denny Stadium.

 

The Knight Commission’s latest report on college athletics

The Knight Commission was out this week with a report titled: “Most University Presidents Agree Current Athletics Spending is Unsustainable” (Knight Commission Link) and we have to say that we have seen this coming for quite awhile.  Yes, spending on collegiate sports is very high and at many schools not proportionate to the amount of revenue that is brought in by the big-ticket sports, but there are significant benefits to fielding football and basketball teams that appear on TV even if those teams are not winning championships.  A few years back a couple of us here at Coaches Hot Seat were talking with some folks in the golf equipment industry and they were telling us about how they kept track of how many times their logo and brand appeared on TV down to the second.  We have all seen golf tournaments where professional golfers have logos displayed all over themselves and their golf bags and the equipment/consumer companies pay a lot of money for that TV exposure.  What is often not considered when calculating the revenues and costs of running a I-A athletic department is the large amount of free advertising that a school gets when it plays on TV with is football, basketball and other sports programs and how that TV exposure helps to build the school’s brand in the minds of future students, alumni and potential boosters. 

It is our belief here at Coaches Hot Seat that one of the things that has driven the increase in college enrollment and the number of college degrees awarded since the end of World War II are athletic teams that have raised the awareness of colleges and universities that previous to the war were pretty much places that were reserved for the elite and upper classes.  It would be impossible to overestimate the positive impact that the increase in folks with college degrees has had on America and if it takes fielding sports teams to get people in interested in attending college then we believe that the upside of college athletic programs is immeasurable in its positive impact.  With that being said, colleges cannot spend money they do not have and we believe that all athletic departments should have as a goal to operate without help from the college, something that up to this point has only been achieved by about 20 percent of the I-A schools.  (Check out this story in the SF Chronicle on how much Cal gets from the university.  Cal athletics is getting around $6 million a year from the university which is outrageous in a community with so many wealthy alumni and wealth in general and in a time when the state is cutting billions from higher education.  If we were at Cal we would be getting on the phone to some of these wealthy folks and squeezing their asses for the money needed to run the athletic department in the black.  If the folks at Cal don’t have people that know how to squeeze rich folks then they need to go out and hire a few, and there are plenty out of work right now in the Bay area!).  If a college athletic department spends and has a budget of $50 million dollars then they better damn raise $50 million dollars to cover that spending thru ticket sales, TV revenues, donations etc., because once athletics is subsidized in any serious way by the college it opens itself up for criticism, rightful criticism in our opinion, and ridicule. 

College athletics provide a great benefit to a college or university but there is no way that athletic departments can continue to spend money on coaches salaries, athletic teams and administration when it is not raising in revenue the money to cover the cost of those items.  Beyond athletic departments not pulling their weight, there is a greater danger to our higher education system that we believe will confront all of us in the next decade, precisely because so much of a college education is the government and students having access to the debt markets and we are not altogether sure that 10 years from now that the U.S. and the financial institutions in this country will be able to borrow money at an interest rate that will make sense to country, the banks and thus the students to turn around and loan money to go to college.  Likewise, there will come a point that is not to far off in the future when the U.S. will only borrow money for the most important functions of government and we seriously doubt that the money train that has sent hundreds of billions of dollars to college and universities for the past 40 years will fall under “important functions.”  You see, with the current national debt, the current account deficits and the deficits that are predicted for the next 10 years (as far as anyone is willing to look, but past 10 years from now it is actually much worse, check out the Peterson Foundation for the ugly truth!) it is obvious to anyone that runs the numbers that national defense, health care and interest on all our debt will consume 100 percent of the federal budget sometime in the next 10 to 15 years, long before anyone in Washington DC is willing to admit on the record, but they know is true.  When all of the money is going to the above three items, college presidents can imagine the impact that will have on their campuses and that it will no longer be possible to subsidize thousands of students with cheap in-state tuition or more worrisome for college athletics, to allow student-athletes to get a free ride from the school. 

Yes, the problems that will face our country and colleges in the very near future are real and that makes it doubly-important for college athletic programs to move quickly to put themselves into at least revenue-neutral positions or where they are making money, because be assured that in the next 10 years in the United States there will be some college athletic programs that will shut down completely because the college will no longer be able to afford to divert money from the classroom to athletic fields.  Maybe some of those athletic programs that are faced with shut down will move to the Ivy League model with no athletic scholarships and a lot lower level of play for all of their sports teams, but for sure this will happen and it will have a dramatic impact up college athletics and the game of college football. 

In this blog several months ago we put the odds at around 10 percent that college football would not be played at the I-A level the way we play it today by the year 2020 and after looking at the numbers again the last few weeks and reading this latest report from the Knight Commission we now raise those odds to 20 percent. 

Yes indeed, we may be in the golden age of college football, but we also may be in the last age of college football, at least the way it has been played since World War II by the major colleges and universities in our country.     

 

Assume for a moment that a bunch of Candy Asses are not running the college football postseason….

…..What would the college football postseason look like then?  It would look like the postseason for every other sport in intercollegiate athletics, a multiple-team postseason playoff that crowned a legitimate national champion instead of bunch of Candy Asses holding parades, putting roses in their hair, holding hands and singing kumbaya, and treating one group of Americans as second-class citizens.  In other words we would play real college football games in the college football postseason instead of a bunch of meaningless exhibition games that MEAN NOTHING!

Let’s see what it would like if the Candy Asses did not rule college football!

Now let’s get to the Post-Week 8 Coaches Hot Seat Power Playoff Poll:

Coaches Hot Seat Power Playoff Poll, Post-Week 8

1. Texas*

2. Alabama*

3. Florida#

4. Boise State*

5. Cincinnati*

6. USC*

7. TCU#

8. Oregon#

9. LSU#

10. Georgia Tech*

11. Iowa*

12. Oklahoma State#

13. Virginia Tech#

14. Penn State#

15. Houston*

16. Pitt

17. South Carolina

18. Ohio State

19. Utah

20. West Virginia

*Conference Champs

#At-Large Teams

Other Conference Champs

MAC – Central Michigan*

We now use the above Power Playoff Poll to seed a 16-team college football postseason playoff tournament, although we would prefer that a committee similar to the committee for the NCAA basketball tournament be used to pick the 7 wild card teams and then seed the 9 conference champions and 7 wild card teams in the postseason tournament.  Below are the First Round Games if the season had ended after Week 8.

First Round Games – Friday/Saturday December 18-19, 2009

Texas – Big 12 Champion

Central Michigan – MAC Champion

 

LSU - #4 At-Large Team

Boise State – MWC/WAC Champion

 

Virginia Tech – #5 At-Large Team

Penn State – #6 At-Large Team

 

Oregon – #3 At-Large Team

Florida – #1 At-Large Team

 

Oklahoma State – #5 At-Large Team

USC – Pac-10 Champion

 

TCU – #2 At-Large Team

Georgia Tech – ACC Champion

 

Cincinnati – Big East Champion

Iowa – Big Ten Champion

 

Houston – CUSA/Sun Belt Champion

Alabama – SEC Champion

After watching Alabama wallow around vs. Tennessee we moved Texas back into the No. 1 after watching them destroy Missouri, but when you really get down to we think that any of the Top 20 or so teams in the country could beat any other team and that is what really makes the BCS so absurd.  Anyone that would choose a series of bogus exhibition games over the above 8 First Round games involving 9 conference champions and 7 wild card teams is beyond help.  Yes, the above 16 teams would produce a Hellava postseason college football tournament and a legitimate national champion, but we have this little problem…

WE HAVE CANDY ASSES RUNNING COLLEGE FOOTBALL!

Yes, you BCS folks and your minions/supporters in the media are Candy Asses and all of you Candy Asses might as well toss the greatest document in the history of man, The Declaration of Independence into the trash!

For the Candy Asses reading this blog, here is what Thomas Jefferson wrote in the Declaration of Independence says, which all you so callously toss in the garbage with your Bogus BCS:

“We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. — That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, — That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shewn that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security.”

Take that Candy Asses for that is what America is about not some Bogus BCS that treats one group of Americans like second-class citizens!

Payne Stewart’s plane went down 10 years ago this past Sunday

This past Sunday, October 25 is a day of the year that always sticks out to us because it was on October 25, 1999 that Payne Stewart’s plane crashed in South Dakota killing everyone onboard.  Both golf and the country lost a lot when Payne Stewart was killed because there were very few people in sport like Payne that both lived life as if every day was his last but also someone who would always give you his opinion, with the bark on.  When we here at CHS think of Payne Stewart we think of him at Pebble Beach with that classic golf swing, that fashionable attire, that confident strut, and almost always with a smile on his face.  When someone that has died brings a smile to your face or makes you laugh, then you know that person did his part to make this world a better place for the rest of us to live.  Often forgotten about Payne Stewart’s death was that his agent, Robert Fraley, and several others were killed as well, and that Robert Fraley played QB at Alabama in the 1970s for Bear Bryant.  The Payne Stewart Golf Club opening this past June in Branson, Missouri and if you are every in southwest Missouri it would be worth your time to play this course and to take in a show or two on the Branson strip!

We miss you Payne Stewart.

 

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Another week of college football and another week of BCS lunacy!  Iowa barely beats a team with 3 losses and Boise State and Cincinnati blast their opponents and the latter teams drop in the polls and Iowa rises?  Yes, that makes a lot of sense, if you are a MORON!  This BCS is great entertainment and what makes it really fun are all of these people in the media that actually take this Bogus BCS serious, but then when you are a member of the elitist media and you never interact with any real fans or Americans for that matter then it is easier to understand how they can defend this BULLSHIT.  A great example of how out of touch the media is…

The Sporting News Matt Hayes in a column today that was headlined with:

Congress wouldn’t mind an Oregon win

In Hayes’ column he says:
“Somewhere in the hallowed halls of Congress they’re waiting for this. They want it—they need it: If Oregon beats USC this weekend, the Ducks, in all likelihood, will jump Boise State in the BCS poll. The same Boise State team that held Oregon without a first down into the third quarter of an ugly loss.

It’s just the juice the folks in Washington are looking for to ramp up the rhetoric against college football’s postseason. As if Boise State’s fall from No.4 to No.7 in this week’s BCS poll—after a 54-9 victory at Hawaii—isn’t enough.

One has to wonder what planet Matt Hayes lives in (the journalist world maybe?) where he would think that “Congress” wants Oregon to beat USC.”

Memo to Matt Hayes:  It’s not the Congress, but the vast majority of Americans and even a larger majority of college football fans think the BCS is BULLSHIT and they don’t look at one game and pick it out and say “If only Oregon would beat USC,” but rather they look at the entire BCS and rightly say that it takes a real CANDY ASS to defend this Bogus system and in fact “WE” all rather doubt if there is any male that actually has a pair of balls that could defend this HORSESHIT! 

Listen up Matt Hayes since we are one of rare fans that you will ever get an opinion from:  You have to be one of the few males on the North American continent that can actually defend the BCS with a straight face (we are not counting anyone at ESPN/ABC that seems to have been told to shut up about a playoff or don’t expect a paycheck in your future) because it is painfully obvious that anyone that could defend:

1.  Bogus polls comprised of coaches that never seen anyone play, Harris voters that made Howdy Doody look smart, and computer dweebs and their computers programs that they create between games of Dungeons and Dragons.

2.  Taking 30 or more days off from the last game of the season and then play in a Bogus bowl exhibition game.

3.  Playing Bogus and Meaningless bowl exhibition games

4.  Going to a bowl site a week early and visiting theme parks, going on shopping trips, kissing Shamu and eating pies and thinking all of this nonsense actually has something to do with playing football.

5.  Treating one group of American citizens as second-class citizens and actually putting into the BCS rules a clause that favors Catholics over Mormons, Christians and non-believers alike.

Yes, not only does it take a ball-less Candy Ass to defend the BCS it takes someone that hasn’t a clue to how championships should be earned and won. 

“ON THE FOOTBALL FIELD” is how championships in ever sport should be earned and won for the ball-less Candy Asses reading this blog!

One has to wonder where these folks were raised because there is not a chance in Hell that the ball-less Candy Asses that are defending the BCS are the descendents of the same folks that won the Revolutionary War, World Wars I and II and then made America into an empire before the politician bastards of the last 16 years ran the Good Ship America into the ditch! 

Maybe that’s the point, none of these folks, at least those that we have met, that are defending the Bogus BCS have even spent 1 minute of their lives serving their country, which tells you a lot about the folks on this BCS train which is not only destroying the regular season by encouraging patsy games it is making a mockery of the entire game of college football.  Anytime blowout wins causes you to drop in a poll behind a team that barely beats a 3 loss team then you know you are talking about a system that is not only built on BULLSHIT, not only run by IDIOTS and defended by ball-less Candy Asses, but a system that is about as Un-American as anything that has ever come down the pike.

Cheer on Candy Ass BCS defenders that Iowa moves ahead of Boise State and Cincinnati (and even TCU ahead of Boise State even though both teams won big.  How does that make any sense?), but sure the Hell don’t call yourself Americans because Americans would not put up with nor tolerate such BULLSHIT, which gets us back to the point here…

It’s not the Congress Matt Hayes that thinks the BCS is BULLSHIT, but the entire F _ _ _ KING country that has an ounce of IQ.

Frankly, we could care less if Oregon beats USC or if press boxes at college football games are filled with Candy Asses who’s hardest day in their lives was writing an essay for English Literature, but we do mind people that lie about the facts and the fact is Matt Hayes is that it is YOU that is in the vast minority on the BCS and the next time you and your “journalist” (that’s a rich term for people that will not speak truth to power, but then do they teach anything beyond grammar at “journalism” schools anymore?  What would H. L. Mencken think about today’s college football journalists?  He would just laugh, shake his head and then throw-up!) buddies are kissing the asses of the BCS Boys tell them to go to Hell from us and that they will not have the final say on the BCS.  The American people will have the final say on this matter because the Congress represents the American people and it is OUR money that is the billions of dollars in financial aid that goes to these “BCS” schools each year.  No, it will not be the Congress nor the BCS, but the American people that will decide this matter and if the BCS Boys don’t believe that then we just tell them to strap their asses down because we are just getting this send the Un-American BCS train rolling.

So much more to write about (Like Nick Saban coming within a blocked kick of being on the Hot Seat!) which we hope to get to in the Tuesday Blog with the CHS Playoff Poll and new 16-team postseason playoff seeding.

 

It’s Johnny Cash Time!  (In Vienna this time!)

Post Week 8 Coaches Hot Seat Rankings

Top 10 Coaches on Post Week 8 Coaches Hot Seat Rankings

1.  Steve Kragthorpe, Louisville – What a contrast between two programs that are going in two different directions in the Louisville – Cincinnati game over the weekend.  Steve Kragthorpe and Brian Kelly both arrived at their programs three years ago with Kragthorpe taking a program from Bobby Petrino who had put up a 41 – 9 in the previous 4 seasons and Kragthorpe has followed that up with 13 – 18 (.419).  Brian Kelly took over Cincinnati from Mark Dantonio who in 3 seasons had put up a record 18 – 17 and Kelly has put up a record of 28 – 6 (.823).  Does anything else really need to be said?  Didn’t think so, because it has to be obvious to everyone that Kragthorpe took over a Louisville football program that was at the top of college football and now has produced even below mediocrity and Brian Kelly took over a mediocre program (although rebuilding under Dantonio) that is now one of the top programs in the game.  One can only wonder what would have happened if the schools had hired the other coaches where Louisville and Cincinnati would be today.  One thing we are very confident about is that if Kelly had been hired at Louisville the Cards would be still winning big but we haven’t a clue what Kragthorpe would have been able to do at Cincinnati.  Maybe the folks at the UofL should give a lot of thought to the difference between those two programs today and if they are willing to accept mediocrity when it is a proven fact that the right coach at the right time can win at ANY SCHOOL.

2.  Greg McMackin, Hawaii – Was it really only 2 years ago in the 2007 season that Hawaii beat Boise State 39 – 27 in Honolulu under June Jones?  Yes, sadly that is true and we say sadly because only 2 years later Hawaii just got blasted by Boise State 54 – 9!  After taking over from June Jones a Hawaii football program that was at the top of the WAC conference and one of the most feared out-of-conference foes in the country, Greg McMackin is now 9 – 12 in his second year and it looks like to us that the Warriors are spiraling down into irrelevancy.  With a record of 2-5 on the year, Hawaii has at Nevada, Utah State, New Mexico State, at San Jose State, Navy and Wisconsin left.  If June Jones was still at Hawaii we would have given the Warriors better than a 50-50 chance to win all of those games, but now….who the Hell knows.  If Greg McMackin does end up with a losing season in 2009 to go with the 7—7 record he put up in 2008, can Hawaii possibly continue to employ a coach that is turning UH football into a complete afterthought?  Judging by the crowd in Honolulu for the Boise State game the decision to retain McMackin may be made for them because no college football program, but especially Hawaii can afford to play before a half-filled stadium in current economic times.

3.  Ralph Friedgen, Maryland – With the loss to Duke, Maryland’s Ralph Friedgen is 35 – 34 (.507) in his last 69 games with the Terps and now at 2-6 on the ’09 season one has to really wonder how long this is all going to continue in College Park.  We don’t know a whole lot of people around the Maryland athletic department, but we cannot imagine that if Maryland did not get to 6-6 in ’09 that Friedgen would be brought back for the 2010 and that makes it very important for the Terps to finish the season with 5 wins to get UM to .500 and to a postseason bowl game.  With at NC State, Virginia Tech, at Florida State and Boston College left we just don’t see any way in the world that the Terps end up with a .500 record this season and that means the folks in College Park will have some decisions to make come December.

4.  Mike Sanford, UNLV – After getting a win over hapless New Mexico, who didn’t even have their head coach on the sidelines, Mike Sanford and the Rebels have gotten a small reprieve but this won’t last for long.  Now at 3-5 on the season, Mike Sanford needs 3 more wins at a minimum to return for the 2010 season and UNLV has at TCU, Colorado State, at Air Force and San Diego State left.  We cannot imagine that Sanford and the Rebels will win three of their last four games, but if they do we will still buy Mike Sanford dinner at the Mandalay Bay Casino in Vegas and even give him 100 bucks in chips to play blackjack!  Is that within NCAA rules?  If it isn’t then the NCAA is even fuller of bullshit than we thought!  Come on NCAA, reinstate Dez Bryant at Oklahoma State and end this madness.

5.  Dan Hawkins, Colorado – Another loss, this time to Kansas State on Saturday, and Dan Hawkins is now 15 – 29 (.341) in his fourth season at Colorado and if 15 wins in four seasons is acceptable to CU then CU really is not in the football business anymore.  Now at 2-5 on the ’09 season the Buffs have Missouri and Texas A&M at home up next and then road trips to Iowa State and Oklahoma State and then they finish the season against Nebraska at home.  Colorado should have a shot to beat Mizzou, A&M and Nebraska at home but those 2 road games at Iowa State and Oklahoma will certainly be very tough games to win.  Since Hawkins and CU needs 4 wins to get to .500 and make it seem like the Buff football program is not going backwards, Colorado is going to need an upset or two down the stretch.  What if Colorado lost all their remaining games, would Dan Hawkins be fired?  We rather doubt it, and maybe he should be given 5 years to get the CU program turned around, but if the folks in Boulder would like we can name dozens of programs that were in bad shape and were turned around quickly by coaches and we won’t even talk about putting up a 15 – 29 record in the first 44 games on the job.

6.  Ron Zook, Illinois – Illinois AD Ron Guenther has said that Ron Zook will be returning for the 2010 season but that doesn’t mean that Zook is off the Hot Seat.  Ron Zook is now 19 – 36 (.345) in his fifth season at Illinois and he is on track if the Illini do not finish with a winning season in ’09 of only have 1 winning season in those five years.  That one winning season in 2007 was a Big Ten Championship and a trip to the Rose Bowl but even a trip to the Rose Bowl cannot explain or forgive the following records of Zook’s at Illinois:

Ron Zook at Illinois

2006 – 2 – 9

2007 – 2 – 10

2007 – 9 – 4

2008 – 5 – 7

2009 – 1 – 6

Yes, seemingly Ron Zook will be back for the 2010 season with the Illini but we are betting that he will be under the gun to really produce next season, because if he is not put under the gun to produce in ‘10 then Illinois no longer has a college football program.  Now at 1 – 6 on the ’09 season Zook and the Illini have Michigan, at Minnesota, Northwestern, at Cincinnati and Fresno State left and there is a real chance they might not win another game this season.  If the Illini do go 1-11 in 2009 it will not only be Ron Zook that will be under a lot of pressure in 2010, but also Illinois AD Ron Guenther as well.

7.  Tommy West, Memphis – Tommy West and Memphis had an off week after getting whipped by Southern Miss and now with the Tigers at 2-5 on the season West probably needs his Tigers to win 5 of their last 6 games to return in 2010.  One of the reasons that West needs a .500 record in 2009 is that his overall record at Memphis isn’t stellar, 49 – 56 (.467), and one has to figure that sooner or later the folks running UM athletics will decide that mediocrity will no longer be tolerated with the Tiger football program.  Next up for Memphis, a Tuesday night game at home against East Carolina and then at Tennessee, UAB, at Houston and at Tulsa.  Wow!  If Tommy West can win 5 of his last 6 games then he probably should return in 2010 but we doubt if many teams in I-A could achieve that goal.  If the Memphis job does open up later this year we believe that a lot of very good coaches will be after it and we only hope the folks at Memphis are smart enough to cast a wide enough net to interview as many highly-qualified coaches as possible that will really want this job.

8.  Mike Sherman, Texas A&M – Why we would have been more inclined to fire Mike Sherman after the Texas Tech win than after the Kansas State loss.  Let us explain….. 

If Coaches Hot Seat was the AD at A&M here is what our conversation with Mike Sherman would have been like on the Sunday after the Texas Tech game:

CHS AD and Mike Sherman in conversation\

CHS AD:  Come on in Mike and sit down.

Mike Sherman sits down in a chair in from of the CHS AD’s desk.

CHS AD:  Great win against Texas Tech, but let me ask you….How in Hell can you lose to Kansas State 62 – 14 on the road one week and then beat Texas Tech on the road 52 – 30 the next?  Can you possibly explain that?

Mike Sherman dead silent

CHS AD:  OK, we set you up with three patsy games against New Mexico, UAB and Utah State and you won those games but what the Hell is going on in the Big 12?  I tell you what I think, it looks to me that after the Aggie fans were about to storm the athletic department and throw all of our sorry asses on the street, you and your football staff started to get worried and for the first time since you have been the head coach here you actually coached like winning and losing football games actually is important.  That is the only explanation for such back-to-back crazy performance.  Any comments?

Mike Sherman dead silent

CHS AD:  OK, since it looks like to me that you and your staff will only really get serious about coaching the A&M football team when embarrassment and your jobs are on the line here is what we are going to do.  Your job and the jobs of your staff are on the line this Saturday in the game against Iowa State.  In fact, if you lose to Iowa State, a team that Texas A&M should hammer every year, then not only will I put you on the Hot Seat myself I will also set up some pillory stocks where you and your assistants will put your head and hands into and then I will order a few thousand pies from the local grocery store and let the students throw them at you.  Since it seems that you and your staff will only really be motivated if you think your jobs are on the line and/or that you will be publicly embarrassed then we really have no option here but to institute these measures, because if we just give you an “atta-boy” and tell you to go on your way the football team will lose to Iowa State and we will be under siege again.  OK, have a great week of preparation and if you hear hammering or sawing going on know that is some of the Aggie students building the headstocks.

 

9.  Paul Wulff, Washington State – Paul Wulff brought his Division II football team to play Cal in Berkeley on Saturday and what we thought about WSU before the Cal game is the same thing we thought about WSU after the game.  Washington State would right now be a decent Division II team, although we think Terry Bowden’s North Alabama team would blow WSU off the field, and if a decent Division II team is good enough for Washington State then it is good enough for us.  Just don’t call us when the Pac-10 drops Washington State and adds Boise State which by ever right is what the Pac-10 should do if they really wanted teams that play at the I-A level.  Paul Wulff is now 3 – 17 in his second year at Washington State.  Nothing more than that needs to be said about this disaster in Pullman.

10.  Al Groh, Virginia – We expected Georgia Tech to blast Al Groh and the Cavs and that is exactly what they did 34 – 9.  Now Groh and UVA are 3-4 on the season and we believe that Al “I love being on the Hot Seat, because what else could explain the inconsistent play of my UVA teams since I arrived in Charlottesville” Groh has Duke, at Miami, BC, at Clemson and Virginia Tech left on the schedule.  OK, Virginia should beat Duke – 4-4.  We expect Miami to blast Virginia – 4-5.  BC is a tossup so let’s not count it yet.  We expect Clemson to blast Virginia – 4-6.  We expect Virginia Tech to blast Virginia to finish the season 4 – 7.  Guess what, even if UVA beats BC, we expect the Cavs to end up with 7 losses and anything less than 6 wins for Groh in ’09 and it is:  “Turn out the lights, the party’s over!”  Yes, it is time for Virginia to step-up and show that they want their head coach and his assistants to return in 2010!  If UVA does end up at 6-6 or better in ‘09 we will stop off in Charlottesville in the offseason on one of our springs trips to historical Virginia and run one set of stadiums at UVA’s football stadium with Al Groh on the whistle!  Now that should motivate Al Groh to win out!

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There is so much going on in college football these days and so little time to comment on it….

The tragedy at UConn – The most surprising thing to us here at CHS about the tragedy at UConn with the stabbing death of football player Jasper Howard is how shocked everyone at UConn is over the death of a young black man in a violent way.  Jasper Howard’s death is more the rule and reality of our largest cities as young black, latino and white men that are often trying to do things right with their lives get caught in between gang wars, turf wars, drug dealing and all matter of other crap that is destroying the lives of millions of Americans.  Here in the SF Bay area almost everyday we read about or see on the local news about young black, latino and white men getting killed either because they had fallen into a bad life and were up to no good or that they were just innocent bystanders and got killed in the cross-fire. 

Jasper Howard’s death on a college campus is a very unusual occurrence and it must be shocking to his parents from Miami that their son was killed on a college campus in Connecticut of all places when they probably thought he was in most danger in south Florida, but the very real fact is that black, latino and white men that are growing up in impoverished cities and areas of our country are getting killed by the dozens everyday and hardly anybody every says a word about it.

We also have another group of young Americans that have to deal with the reality of death at a young age and those people are the members of the US military that have in recent years often found themselves in war zones and facing the reality of the death of the friends and fellow soldiers.  Randy Edsall if he is smart will use Jasper Howard’s death as a great teaching moment for his players and the students at UConn so that everyone knows that not only is the world a very dangerous place, but that also one must always be vigilant of where one goes and who one hangs around.  Let’s hope that the police in Connecticut find Howard’s killer(s) and bring the or those son of a bitches to justice.

God Speed to Jasper Howard and his family.

 

SEC commish and the suspension of the officiating crew – It is hard for us to recall a lot of things that we have disagreed with SEC commish Mike Slive with on over the years, except of course the BCS (Although we note that Slive tried to save the BCS Boys from the US governmental action that is coming and may put several of these BCS Boys in a very tight spot) and we also agree completely with him on the suspension of the SEC officiating crew.  In an interview with ESPN earlier this week the SEC crew chief, Marc Curles, for the officials that did the Arkansas – Florida game said:

Curles caught a glimpse of his bonehead call Saturday night when he reviewed a tape of key plays from the game.

“Quite frankly, I knew that I had made a mistake,” he says of what he saw on tape.

What he had seen on the field only a few hours earlier, in front of a national TV audience and 90,000-plus packed into The Swamp for Florida’s homecoming, was quite different.

“I saw out of the corner of my eye — the play went over near the sideline,” Curles recalls. “I’m trailing the play, moving in that direction. And out of the corner of my eye, I see a vicious blow, and I see the Florida player go flying down 20 yards behind the play. And in my mind, the Arkansas guy had blindsided him and knocked the player that was completely out of the play, which would have been a personal foul. Obviously, that isn’t what happened. Where I made the mistake is I didn’t see the whole thing. I didn’t see how it developed. I saw out of the corner of my eye what I thought was a foul. I can’t think something is a foul. I got to know it is. And that was my mistake. And I know better than that. What makes me mad at myself is that I know better than to call something if I didn’t see the whole thing. And I’ve been sick about it ever since, quite frankly.”

The above quote by SEC ref Marc Curles is almost beyond belief because he is saying that he threw a flag against Arkansas even though he “didn’t see the whole thing.”  If an official in college football doesn’t “see the whole thing” then he has no business throwing a flag, especially at such a critical point in a football game involving the No. 1 team in the country.  Mike Slive and the SEC after hearing from Marc Curles really had no choice but to suspend him and his entire crew, because if an official will throw a flag for an event he did not fully see then he will throw a flag for anything that he might or might not have seen.

Mike Slive in the SEC ‘s press release on the suspension of the officiating crew said:

“A series of calls that have occurred during the last several weeks have not been to the standard that we expect from our officiating crews,” SEC commissioner Mike Slive said in the statement. “I believe our officiating program is the best in the country; however, there are times when these actions must be taken. … While only a few calls have been identified, the entire crew shoulders responsibility for each play. I have taken this action because there must be accountability in our officiating program. Our institutions expect the highest level of officiating in all of our sports and it is the duty of the conference office to uphold that expectation.”

We agree that the SEC has the best officials and crew chiefs in college football but we have noticed in 2009 and actually beginning in 2008 that SEC officials almost seemed to be taking over and becoming bigger than the games than only officiating the football games they were a part of.  We expect college football officials to call penalties when they see them but officials should not be bigger than the game itself and we certainly hope that Rogers Redding and others at the SEC take a hard look at the prominence that the SEC officials have moved into in most SEC games and that in the future it would be better for everyone, the teams, the officials and the game itself if the crews just “officiate” the games instead of “controlling or driving” the action.

Just an observation. 

Yes, we really haven’t had a lot of disagreements with Mike Slive over the years and the next time we are in Birmingham maybe we should take Slive and his SEC staff out to lunch and discuss how we can work together to stick it to the Pac-10 and Big Ten that seem to enjoy so a Candy Ass Rose Bowl Parade over real men playing football.  In fact, we agree with the rumor that has been whispered around the Southeast in recent days that if the BCS Rankings stay the same that the SEC might be better off just cancelling the SEC Championship Game and having Florida and Alabama play for the National Title in the Bogus BCS title game.  Let’s see, the SEC made $14.3 million from the SEC Championship Game in 2008 and placing two teams in the BCS would generate $19 million per team which would more than make up for the SEC Championship Game, but then Florida and Alabama both figure to be in the Bogus BCS anyway.  It looks like cancelling the SEC Championship Game if Florida and Alabama were ranked 1 – 2 would cost the SEC about $15 million bucks but it would probably be worth it to imagine Big Ten commish Jim Delaney pulling out the rest of his hair up their in Chicago!  (If Delaney did pull out all his hair we also would like to check out a theory of ours that Big Ten commish Jim Delaney is also Dr. Evil from the Austin Powers movies, because none of us have ever seen Delaney and Evil in the same room together!  If Jim Delaney and Dr. Evil are one and the same then that brings us to the next question…..Who would Mini-Me possibly be?  We can think of a few people that would fit the Mini-Me bill!)  Yes, cancelling the SEC Championship Game would be the best $15 million dollars spent in the history of American sport!

No, we are not in any kind of conspiracy with the SEC to overthrow the Bogus BCS and replace it with a playoff…….Mike, don’t you like a good Cabernet?  Yes, well we will have a case of Black Stallion 2005 Cabernet Sauvignon (Yes, it is good!) sent ahead so we can open in at lunch at there at Bottega restaurant there in Birmingham. (Let’s hope the corkage fee is not to high!)  Hey, we have a great Bottega restaurant here in the Bay area in the Napa Valley in Yountville!  If we are going to piss off Jim Delaney by having lunch in Birmingham then it only makes sense to really make him go out of his mind by having lunch at Bottega in Yountville as well! (There goes a paper weight thru a window at an office complex outside of Chicago!)  Take it easy Jim, even when college football moves to a playoff you will still be able to sit in the front row of the Rose Bowl parade and cheer on the Rose Parade Court!  “Throw them a Rose Jim, throw them a rose!”

And you folks don’t think we have a bunch of Candy Asses are running college football?  Please, you and I both know these Candy Asses have their pinky out when they take tea in the afternoon dreaming of how great America would be if the U.S. HAD LOST THE REVOLUTIONARY WAR so that we could all hold hands and sing together “God Save the Queen!” 

“God Save the Queen?”  How about let’s play some college football games in the postseason that actually mean something!

 

BCS Czar – We here at Coaches Hot Seat took note this past week that the BCS Boys are considering hiring a permanent point person for the Bogus BCS which raises a lot of very interesting questions related to that the heat in the kitchen may be getting a little to Hot for the Boys liking and that they want to transfer that heat to some other lackey or maybe the BCS Boys’ attorneys are starting to get concerned about what is in all those BCS and bowl contracts that might actually break US law. 

Memo to the BCS Boys:  If you limit competition in college football across state lines, in our opinion, you are violating federal law and if the BCS is treating Catholics in a preferential way to Mormons, Christians, and even non-believers then you are not only bastard discriminators you may just be violation some more laws as well!  Oh, this is going to be great fun watching these politically-correct college and university presidents squirm as they try to explain how they can possibly explain treating one religious group in a preferential way over another!  Wait until these bastards are put under oath on the stand for all of America to see or read about rather with court sketches included for dramatic effect!  The problem is though, that these college and university presidents are some of the biggest hypocrites on the planet and we know of them to know that if their hypocrisy serves their needs and purposes then hypocrisy it is!

Since we want to do all we can to help the BCS Boys we would like to pass along our recommendations for this new BCS Czar!

Coaches Hot Seat Recommendations for BCS Czar!

Gilligan – This is a no-brainer!

 

Jethro Bodine – If they want an intellectual equal they can’t go wrong with Jethro!

 

Granny Clampett – She could bring moonshine to bowl parties!

Sergeant Schultz – “I know nothing!”  You got that right BCS Boys!

 

Howdy Doody – No way any real American could create a system that treats one group of Americans differently than another group of Americans and in a negative way too boot, so yes, the lifeless Howdy Doody fits perfectly with these BCS Bastards!

 

Pee Wee Herman – This makes sense, on so many different levels, on oh so many different levels!

 

Bozo the Clown – Now this just seems logical for some reason!

 

Uncle Fester – If the BCS needs a point man then Uncle Fester is the MAN!

 

Otis – Oh, Otis could be the One!

 

The Entire Cast from the movie Kelly’s Heroes – These Boys put $$$$$$ ahead of principle and that seems to fit here!

 

Angel Martin from Rockford Files – Angel is squirrely, the BCS Boys are squirrely.  Again, this just makes a lot of sense!

 

On a more serious note, the perfect BCS Czar is….

Gordon “Greed is Good” Gekko

 

In our opinion, the BCS Boys are Greedy Bastards that are running an Un-American system that does not even after all of their BULLSHIT crown a legitimate national champion.  Yes, not only is Gordon Gekko the perfect BCS Czar, the character Gordon Gekko personifies in every way the Bastard BCS Boys!

We have a few more recommendations if you need them BCS Boys!

 

10 Coaches and Teams Facing MUST WIN Games in Week 8

Al Groh, Virginia – You have to give Al Groh a lot of credit, every year it seems he is on the Hot Seat and every year he rallies the Cavs and fights his way to place where his rump is considerably cooler by year’s end.  No, we never called Al Groh a quitter, just a mediocre football coach, because there is no explanation for the ups and downs that UVA has had under Groh except that they have a head coach that is not able to put a consistently winning football team on the field.  Case in point 2009:  Virginia opens the season with losses to William & Mary, TCU and Southern Miss and then they beat North Carolina, Indiana and Maryland.  No shame in losing to TCU, but William & Mary?  Come on Al!  Well, Groh and the Cavaliers have Georgia Tech this week and in 2008 Paul Johnson and his Yellow Jackets went to sleep against a 4-3 UVA team in Atlanta and got their asses beat.  Will Johnson allow his Jackets to wallow around again in 2009 and lose to a team that lost to William & Mary?  We shall see, but a loss to Ga. Tech by Groh and he and his Cavs are back below the .500 line at 3-4 and the .500 line is where Groh must be at a minimum by year’s end if he hopes to be living in Charlottesville come August 2010.  Yes, we are assuming that if Al Groh is fired he will land an assistant job in the NFL in about 5 minutes, because Al Groh is a very good position coach.  Is he a good head coach?  He’s 59-47 in his ninth year at Virginia…  That sounds like mediocre personified to us…

Dan Hawkins, Colorado – After a win over Kansas, Dan Hawkins has the CU train going in the right direction again but coming up quick on the right is a stop in Manhattan, Kansas and if the Kansas State Wildcats play anything like they did against A&M the Buffs train might be off the tracks again come Saturday night.  Our friends in Boulder, that is when we can get them out of their “mood” rooms where they hang posters of Jimi Hendrix, Janis Joplin and Che Guevara and where there always seems to be a “particular” smell coming out of when we come thru the front door (“No thanks, a beer will be fine for me.”) tell us over the phone that Hawk could probably lose the rest of his games in 2009 and not get fired, but that sure the Hell doesn’t mean his ass isn’t on the Hot Seat.  Even with the win over Kansas, Hawkins is 15 – 28 (.349) in his fourth season at CU and even Dan would tell you that is nowhere near an acceptable record for the Colorado football program.  What CU needs to do for the rest of the season, now that it looks like they have solidified the QB position, is to get better.  We only see three possible wins, Texas A&M at home, at Iowa State (which Paul Rhoads has playing some pretty good football), and Nebraska at home after the Kansas State game and that make this KSU game a MUST WIN if the Buffs want any shot at a bowl game.  Lose to KSU and CU drops to 2-5 which means they would have to win 4 of their last 5 and we just don’t think that is possible unless Colorado starts playing a lot better defense.  We shall see, but for now Hawkins may be safe at CU no matter what happens and our friends in Boulder may or may not be safe depending upon how strictly US laws are enforced in the Republic of Boulder, Colorado!

Stan Parrish, Ball State – Someone at CHS asked the other day, is Stan Parrish going to be fired after one season at Ball State?  Maybe so, after starting out 0-8 (counting the bowl game he lost as the HC last year) in his first 8 games and also that Parrish doesn’t have the greatest of track records as a HC in a past life.  The Ball State faithful are getting pissed off as they watch all of what Brady Hoke slowly, no quickly slips away and that is why this Saturday’s game against another team without a win, Eastern Michigan, is a MUST WIN game for Parrish.  Lose to Eastern Michigan and it looks like Ball State will finish the ’09 regular season without a win, when Ball State didn’t lose a game in the ’08 regular season.  Yes, that is a big drop-off and that why Stan Parrish is now coaching for his job and that is why Eastern Michigan is a MUST, MUST, MUST, MUST WIN Game.

Ralph Friedgen, Maryland – Friedgen and the Terps are 2-5 on the ’09 season, but a much more ominous record is that Ralph Friedgen is now 35 – 33 (.515) in his last 68 games at Maryland and there is just no way in Hell that record is acceptable to anyone at UM from the president on down.  Next up for Maryland is a trip to play at Duke and although David Cutcliffe is now the head coach of the Blue Devils and David is a very good football coach, there is just no way in Hades that any Maryland team with the talent difference between these two programs should lose to Duke.  On the other hand, the Vegas boys have made Duke a 4 point favorite in this game which should tell everyone all they really need to know of how far the Maryland football program has slipped in recent years.  Here at Coaches Hot Seat, we like Ralph Friedgen, we respect Ralph Friedgen (because we know what he did as an assistant under Bobby Ross and George O’Leary), but we have to tell it straight, and it is our opinion that Ralph Friedgen has either lost his fire for the game or he has forgotten how to be a good football coach.  There is just no other explanation for what has happened at Maryland in recent years, and if Ralph Friedgen has lost his fire then he needs to step aside and let someone else lead the Maryland football program.  A loss to Duke and more than likely it will be someone else forcing Friedgen to step aside, so yes, this is a MUST WIN Game.

Steve Kragthorpe, Louisville – 13 – 17 are the numbers that Steve Kragthorpe and the folks making the hiring and firing decisions at Louisville are probably most concerned with, because 13 – 17 is Kragthorpe’s overall record at the UofL in his third season on the job.  Now at 2-4 on the ’09 season the Cardinals have to travel to play one of the most underrated teams in the country in Cincinnati and although it may be a tough reality to face, beating Cincinnati is a MUST for Kragthorpe and Louisville.  Lose to UC and Louisville drops to 2 – 5 on the year with Arkansas State (maybe a win), at West Virginia (loss), Syracuse (maybe a win), at USF (loss), Rutgers (more than likely a loss), which would put UofL’s season record for ’09 around the 4-8 to 5-7.  We seriously doubt if Steve Kragthorpe could survive another losing season and that means that somehow Steve must find 4 wins out of these last 6 games.  If he can do that he will have done a great coaching job, but like Friedgen, we think Kragthorpe is a good football coach but that he took a job that was a bad fit for him and the school.  Yes, sometimes even a bad fit can win lots of football games, but that would be the exception not the rule.  Cincinnati is very simply a MUST WIN game for Steve Kragthorpe and the Cards.

Charlie Weis, Notre Dame – No matter what some pundits are saying, we still believe at the ND is ready, able and willing to write Charlie Weis a big check if the Irish do not make it to a BCS bowl in 2009 and that is why it is imperative that Notre Dame beat BC on Saturday.  After listening to Tim Brando on the Paul Finebaum show earlier this week with Pat Dye (Finebaum Radio Audio Link) we went back and looked at the BCS Media Guide (the Soviets would have done well having the BCS Boys around during it reign of terror!) and yes indeed, if Notre Dame finishes among the Top 14 in the final BCS Rankings then they will be eligible for an at-large BCS Bowl berth.  Notre Dame would have to finish in the top 8 to get an automatic berth and top 14 for a shot at an at-large berth, which strikes us rather odd that the Catholics at Notre Dame are given that privilege but the Mormons at BYU, the Christians at TCU and the Americans at all other schools are not given that same right.  Is that clause in the BCS rules un-American?  Of course it is, but we also believe it to be illegal since all of these schools are receiving federal financial aid and there are plenty of student-athlete on every I-A team that gets that federal financial aid and how can colleges receiving federal financial aid treat student-athletes different?  Memo to the BCS Boys:  The government didn’t get Al Capone for running the mob, but for breaking tax laws.  Don’t think for a second that the same type of thing isn’t being looked into on the Bogus BCS.  In the future it might just be that yes teams will be able to participate in the BCS, but their students and researchers won’t have access to federal financial aid.  Don’t think that could happen?  Think of again you arrogant asses running this Bogus BCS.  By the way, the same applies to the old bowl system as well, which unfairly favored certain teams and conferences and in our mind is as illegal as the BCS.

Back to Charlie Weis.  Since Notre Dame can finish in the top 14 in the final BCS Rankings and get a BCS Bowl berth, and since these bowl executives have proved time and time again that they don’t give a damn about the game of college football and will whore themselves out to the highest bidder (that is not the case for every other NCAA championship by the way), we fully expect that ND would be picked by a BCS Bowl if they stumbled into the top 14.  Can Notre Dame get into the final 14 of the BCS Rankings?  Yes, if they win out and maybe if they lose one game because we all know the polls are total BULLSHIT, don’t we?  Everyone nodding their heads up and down that have a clue!  No chance in Hell for the Irish if they lose two or  more games.  All of that adds up to Boston College being a MUST WIN Game for Charlie Weis and the Irish.  Hey, if Charlie Weis does get fired he might have a good shot at the Cleveland Browns job and who’s to say that Weis might be a better head coach in the pros?  We believe the NFL certainly fits Weis’ personality a lot better than the college game, which is something Weis and Notre Dame might think about if they get to the end of this season and it looks like Weis might be up for a pro job which would give ND an opportunity for a mutual departure for Weis from South Bend.  Something for all to think about…

Paul Wulff, Washington State – Paul Wulff is now 3 – 16 in his second season at Washington State and it looks to us that the Cougars will probably lose every remaining game in 2009.  With at Cal this Saturday, at Notre Dame, at Arizona, UCLA, Oregon State and at Washington left, that certainly seems so, which gets us to thinking if the folks in Pullman are looking over to the east a bit at Idaho and wondering if bring Robb Akey (Idaho 6-1 on the year) back to WSU might not be the best move right now.  Maybe Paul Wulff is just on the cusp of turning around the WSU program, or maybe the Cougs will lose 11 games in his first year, 11 games in his second year and 11 games in his third year.  It could happen and with home games in Pullman starting to look like high school games attendance wise, this all has to be very troubling to the folks that have to balance the books at WSU.  If WSU lose to Cal as we expect, we will be keeping our ear close to the ground in Pullman, something the Idaho AD should be doing as well.

Rick Neuheisel, UCLA – Now in his second year at UCLA, Rick Neuheisel is 7-11 and Rick is finding that winning at UCLA, especially when cross-town rival USC is on massive roll is lot harder in practice than in theory.  For all that has been said about Rick Neuheisel in his coaching career, we will say that Rick has become a different man since his arrival back in Westwood in that he now takes more responsibility for everything that goes wrong with his football program, which was not the case when he was Colorado and Washington.  The biggest problem Neuheisel has is that he is still short-handed in talent and he is not yet getting the kind of play from his QB and his defense that he needs to consistently win games in the Pac-10.  UCLA travels to play a rising Arizona team on Saturday and a loss in Tucson would drop the Bruins to 3-4 and finding 3 more wins with games a Oregon State, Washington, at Washington State, Arizona State and at USC seems fairly problematic.  Yes, Arizona is a MUST WIN Game for Rick Neuheisel and the Bruins.

Mike Sherman, Texas A&M – The latest story out of the south Texas media is that the A&M AD Bill Byrne was foolish in signing Mike Sherman to an 8-year contract where he guaranteed to pay him $150,000 per month for every month left on that contract.  Yes, the contract that AD Byrne game to Mike Sherman was incredibly stupid and short-sighted and now we are supposed to believe that it doesn’t matter what Mike Sherman’s win/loss record is because A&M couldn’t fire him anyway because they don’t have the money.  Isn’t that special?  Yes, that is an outrageous argument and points to the real problems in College Station which extend just not to the AD, not just to the president, not just to the board of trustees, but even to the Texas governors mansion.  Yes, the real problem here is that Texas Governor Rick Perry can’t decide if he wants to be the president of Texas A&M University or the governor of Texas and with that in mind here is our recommendation to Rick Perry:  If you want to be president at Texas A&M resign as governor of Texas and move up to College Station, but if you want to be governor, start acting like a governor and let the people that should be running A&M, the board of trustees, run A&M.  If you don’t believe that about Rick Perry, what about this comment about Perry in a recent column by Buck Harvey in the Express-News:

Byrne had pleased his bosses, and August of last year gave a glimpse into that. Then, with Gov. Rick Perry standing nearby after practice, a reporter asked Sherman if he had voted for Perry.

Perry turned to Sherman and smiled: “Of course you voted for me. Who do you think got you hired? I control this place.”

Perry was joking. But since Sherman never fit the profile of the typical Byrne hire, maybe there was some truth to it.”

Yes, there are way too many people with their hands in the pot at Texas A&M and all of that involvement has led us to the inescapable conclusion that A&M is now being run by a bunch of Candy Asses that are doing tremendous damage not only to Aggies athletics, but to the entire university as well. 

Now, Texas A&M fans, alumni and boosters can sit on their hands and let the Candy Asses completely overwhelm their school or they can get pissed off and throw the bums out and the bums include Mike Sherman if he is not able to even get to six wins in 2009 with the piss-poor patsies the A&M played out of the Big 12 this season, which are the Aggies only wins to this point.

Congratulations Aggies Fans.  You have set on your hands and let everyone from the Governor of Texas on down turn your school over to a bunch of Candy Asses and yet you don’t say a word.  What is really scary is the a lot of Aggies end up in the US military and if Aggies are willing to let a bunch of Candy Asses run their university then we wonder just what kind of folks the US military taking on these days.

This can all be fixed very easily and that is by the Texas A&M fans, alumni and boosters standing up and saying they are not going to take this bullshit any longer and that everyone from the Governor on down is going to be held accountable for their actions.  If Aggies aren’t willing to do that, then they deserve the Candy Asses that are running their institution and they deserve to get the Hell beat out of them in Lubbock, Texas on Saturday night.

By the way, Mike Sherman is 7 – 11 in two seasons at A&M and he has yet to beat a team that had or has a winning record in the year he played them.  In fact, the 7 teams that Mike Sherman has beat, New Mexico twice, Utah State, UAB, Army, Iowa State and Colorado have a collective record in the year that Sherman/Aggies beat them of 17 – 49 (.258).  In other words, MIKE SHERMAN HAS BEATEN NO ONE, but yet he has a contract that calls for Texas A&M to pay him $150,000 for every month left on his contract?  Please, is there anyone on the planet that think this makes any sense at all?  If so, you are an IDIOT!

Yes, not only is Texas A&M being run by a bunch of Candy Asses, what is very clear that the real patsies here are not the teams that Mike Sherman has beaten, but the Aggies fans themselves.  How proud all you Aggies must be and guess what we rather doubt that if the vaunted Aggie fans have the courage to stand up to the Candy Asses that taking their new football program and university to a new low right before their eyes.

Yes, Texas Tech is a MUST WIN Game for Mike Sherman, unless of course Texas A&M fans just sit on their hands and do nothing, which judging by their past actions is exactly what they will do. 

Mike Sanford, UNLV – Mike Sanford is 13 – 41 (.241) in his fifth season at UNLV and the Rebels are 2-5 on the ’09 season and we believe that Sanford needs to get to 6 wins to return in 2010.  With a game at New Mexico, that is currently without their head coach, on tap if UNLV cannot win this game then the Mike Sanford era at UNLV will be all but be over.  After New Mexico, the Rebels have at TCU, Colorado State, at Air Force and San Diego State left and with that schedule we believe at this point that UNLV will have a new head football coach come December.  If Mike Sanford is not back for 2010 we do believe that UNLV will be able to hire a very good football coach either from the assistant or head coaching ranks that will not only be able to win a lot of football games but will also do all the other things that a college president would want out of an athletic coach.  Not that Mike Sanford hasn’t done a good job at the off-the-field stuff, but there is no argument that Mike Sanford has not won enough games at UNLV and that lack of wins will be the thing that will end up getting him fired.

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Before we get to what the college football postseason would look like if it was run by red-blooded Americans (No, red-blooded Americans could not possibly create nor defend a series of bogus exhibition games and a title game chosen by elitists, certainly not the type of Americans that stormed the beaches of Normandy and Iwo Jima and save the world from the Nazi’s and imperialistic Japanese!) let’s take a look at some of the things that have caught our attention in recent days….

Dan Wetzel delivers a death blow on the absurdity of the BCS but how many people in America anymore really know the difference between bullshit and winning championships on the field of play? (Since the Wall Street bastards are still stealing billions of dollars from the American people everyday of the week and actually earning interest from us on that stolen money, we really doubt how many people will fully understand Wetzel’s column) – Dan Wetzel of Yahoo! Sports delivered another huge blow to the BCS in his column yesterday, BCS intelligence, when he pointed out that with the BCS it pays big-time for teams like Florida and Texas to play weak schedules so that they can pile up wins and keep their players healthy, especially compared to Oklahoma and USC that actually act like real American men and are not afraid to take on real football teams both at home and on the road. 

The premise here by Wetzel should be very easy to understand, even for the Candy Asses that are running, prop-up and support the bogus BCS:  The BCS actually devalues the regular season because it rewards team that play WEAKER SCHEDULES!  Do you get that morons that scream from the rafters that the college football regular season is the be-all-to-end-all?  Teams like Florida and Texas are REWARDED for playing patsies and schools with guts like Oklahoma and USC that go out and schedule real football teams for their teams and for their fans end up getting punished for playing those games, because the bogus polls and computers that make up the embarrassment that is the BCS REWARD teams that do play weak schedules!  Remember all of the talk each March from the NCAA Basketball Selection Committee about the importance of college basketball teams scheduling and playing “quality” foes and that the teams that play “quality” foes will be rewarded by the Committee over teams that play patsies to try and pad their win/loss record?  Guess what you idiots that defend the BCS – THE BCS REWARDS THE TEAMS THAT PLAY THE WEAKER SCHEDULES!  Is there really anyone on the planet after understanding that the BCS actually REWARDS teams that player weaker schedules that the BCS is hurting the regular season and making the regular season even more irrelevant?  Sadly, not only can you take a horse to water and not make him to drink, you could prove beyond the shadow of the doubt to Candy Asses from one end of the American Republic to the other that the BCS is Bogus and you will still have Americans (many that claim to be descendents of the folks that won World War II) that will say in a very Candy Ass and winey fashion:  “But the BCS makes every game count.”

Hey idiots!  The BCS is a fraud and since we here at CHS have met most of the folks that are involved in running this BCS at some time in the last 10 years we can tell you first hand, the BCS structure is filled with Candy Asses that often don’t know the difference between night and day forget about knowing what separates real football games from a bunch of exhibitions that are preceded by beauty pageants, hot dog eating contests, visits to Sea World to get splashed by killer whales and college/university president’s getting their asses kissed for a week straight (Yes, that is why the BCS is defended so, these college/university presidents love going to a bowl site and having their ass and their family’s ass kissed by bowl reps that turn into little more than indentured servants that trip over themselves all week to see who can refill the president’s drink quicker and get him some more shrimp from the buffet!  Don’t believe that?  We have seen these bowl bozos in action and one wonder how any of these folks could possibly be cut from the same cloth of the Americans that won World War II….(as we remember shaking our heads in disgust as we have watched bowl reps pucker up and kiss more ass than the news media in south Texas that seemingly have their lips permanently to A&M’s Mike Sherman’s ass!)

Read Dan Wetzel’s great column and learn you BCS Candy Ass supporters!:  BCS intelligence

BCS Intelligence?  Please, these Candy Ass BCS Boys wouldn’t know where to find a hot dog in a hot dog eating contest, unless of course it was held at the site of bowl game and then these BCS Boys would have a hot dog in each hand because the bowl reps would circling them making sure that they would always have hot dog, bun, mustard, catsup and anything else they would need…(The bowl reps know they are hosting bogus exhibition games and that the American people will wise up one day and demand a playoff, so they want to keep this gravy training going as long as possible!).  BCS Boys: 
“Hey bowl rep, will you drop shrimp into my mouth if I lay back here on the dais?”  Bowl Rep:  “YES SIR!  Not only will I drop shrimp in your mouth but we will have someone massage your feet at the same time!” (Bowl rep thinking…”I will do anything to keep this gravy train rolling even if he has stinky feet!)

The more we find out about the BCS and the bowls, and there is so much more to come out, especially when the government makes the BCS/bowl contracts public, that the American college football fans is just going to get madder, and madder, and madder, until these BCS Boys wise up and beg forgiveness and trip over themselves to institute a playoff.  A few indictments and perp walks of the BCS Boys would help as well and don’t think that can’t happen BCS Boys, and that includes some of the college and university presidents that have worked like Hell to prop up what we believe is a system that breaks US law related to competition and violates several acts pertaining to the Civil Rights Act.  You see, treating Catholics in a preferential way to Mormons and Christians, when all those schools are getting federal financial aid is just not kosher BCS Boys.  Maybe a withholding of federal financial aid for any school that participates in the BCS would solve this Bogus BCS problem in about two seconds…  Give that some though Senator Hatch…. 

Mike Sherman and his buyout at Texas A&M – Another one of the “can we wash your car Coach Sherman” member of the media popped up again this week as Randy Riggs of the Austin American-Statesman commented on the what is now being referred to as the “Disaster in Manhattan” by Aggie fans in his latest column:  Aggies hit rock bottom in Kansas State loss

From Randy Riggs column:

“Sherman’s scalp is probably safe. He’s in the second year of a seven-year deal with a buyout stipulating he’ll receive $150,000 for each month left on his contract. That’s likely more than an athletic department that cut 17 full-time positions this summer is willing to take on, even if it were so inclined to try — and there’s no indication it is.”

We touched on Mike Sherman’s buyout before the season and the reality is  that when Texas A&M AD Bill Byrne hired Sherman he agreed to perhaps the stupidest thing that we have ever seen in the history of collegiate athletics.  AD Byrne agreed that Texas A&M athletics, which is already in dire straights financially, would pay Mike Sherman if they fired him $150,000 for every month that is left on his contract.  To get an idea of how stupid that was, before the season we here at Coaches Hot Seat figured up that if Texas A&M fired Mike Sherman in December of 2009 it would owe him $9,250,000 dollars!

$9,250,000 DOLLAR BUYOUT FOR MIKE SHERMAN?  WHO WOULD BE STUPID ENOUGH TO GIVE CLUELESS MIKE SHERMAN THAT KIND OF BUYOUT?

ANSWER: TEXAS A&M AD BILL BYRNE

Clearly, A&M AD Bill Byrne has lost his mind because not only is Mike Sherman not worth a buyout that would pay him that kind of money we seriously doubt if he is qualified to be the head coach at a high school in College Station, Texas.  Please, we would love for someone around Bill Byrne to tell us how a coach that had a career record in the NFL of 57-39 and had never been a head coach in college before being hired at Texas A&M could possibly be worth that kind of money?  The only logical answer to that question is that it would take a real idiot to sign that kind of buyout with an unproven coach and now that Sherman has looked like he is completely lost as the head coach at A&M this bogus contract has Aggie fans everywhere over a barrel with the thanks for that bullshit going to Bill Byrne. 

It is just absolutely beyond stupid that a guy like Mike Sherman was not given a buyout of 1 year’s salary or something similar which goes to the heart of the problem at Texas A&M.  Not only should Mike Sherman be fired at the end of the ’09 season if he doesn’t put up at least a .500 record with the patsies he played out-of-conference, AD Byrne should be shown the door as well.

As for Mike Sherman’s buyout we would just tell him to get the Hell out and sue us for the money.  It is time to clean house at Texas A&M and we are talking from the president on down!  Texas A&M deserves much better, in its administration and on the football field and if the Aggie fans allow the bullshit that has been going on in College Station since the day that Paul “Bear” Bryant left in 1957 to continue then we have been given the Aggies way too much credit for their intelligence and street smarts when it comes to knowing the difference between what is right and what is BULLSHIT!

 

If you don’t think America is an incredible and often crazy country, just take a look at the details of Lane Kiffin’s contract:

“Eleven months after being hired, Tennessee coach Lane Kiffin finally signed his six-year, $14.5 million contract with the school. Kiffin had previously been working on a memorandum of understanding while details of the contract were worked out.

Here are some of the finer details of his deal:

Kiffin will earn $2 million this season and have his salary increase by $150,000 each year through 2014.

His buyout if he takes another job starts at $1 million and is reduced by $200,000 each year until 2013.

Should Kiffin be terminated, he will receive $7.5 million in 2009-10, $6.25 million in 2011-12 and $5 million in 2013-14.

Some of the perks include two loaned cars for his personal use, 20 season football tickets and six men’s basketball season tickets.

Kiffin will get paid $50,000 if he is SEC coach of the year and $280,000 if he leads Tennessee to the national title.”

What?  An average salary of $2.4 million and multi-million dollar buyouts if Lane Kiffin is fired from Tennessee?  The only question that pops to mind is what in the Hell has Kiffin done in his life to possibly done in his life to have gotten that kind of money?  Answer:  The man has done nothing, but don’t confuse anyone at Tennessee with the facts!

Let’s look into Lane Kiffin’s career which has now landed him the head coaching job at Tennessee, one of the most storied jobs in the SEC conference. 

In 2001 Lane Kiffin entered Pete Carroll’s orbit at USC after spending one year with the Jacksonville Jaguars, one year with Colorado State, and two years at Fresno State.  Is there really anyone stupid enough to believe that Kiffin would have gotten those NFL jobs and onto Carroll’s staff at USC if his last name was not Kiffin?  If you believe Kiffin actually earned those jobs then you are very stupid, because it was his Daddy’s name that got him those jobs and we defy anyone to dispute that fact.  (Yes, that is our opinion).

Lane Kiffin was on Carroll’s staff at USC from 2001 – 2006 and after Pete Carroll fired Norm Chow in the spring of 2005 (a complete surprise to Norm by the way) Carroll brought Steve Sarkisian back from the Oakland Raiders where he had spent one year as an assistant coach and he made Sarkisian and Kiffin co-offensive coordinators.  (That’s right, Lane Kiffin was not even a coordinator on any level until the 2005 season, and he was hired at the Tennessee head coach in 2009.)  For the 2005 and 2006 seasons Sarkisian and Kiffin were co-OC’s with Sarkisian on the field right by Pete Carroll and calling the vast majority of offensive plays.  After the 2006 season Sarkisian came up to Oakland and interviewed with “fruitcake” Al Davis about the Raiders head coaching job.  Sarkisian brought along with him Lane Kiffin and after Sarkisian wisely turned down “fruitcake” Al Davis, Lane Kiffin was then hired by the Raiders.  Considering that Tom Cable is now the head coach of the Oakland Raiders should tell you about the quality of head coaches that “fruitcake” Al Davis will hire, which if you don’t know about Cable, we wouldn’t hire him to coach a prison football team.

So here is what we have so far.  Lane Kiffin was not even a “co-offensive coordinator” until the 2005 season and he was hired by a moron to take over the Oakland Raiders in 2007.  What then did Lane Kiffin do as a head coach of the Oakland Raiders?  How about a 5-15 record over one-and-a-half seasons and then getting fired after the fourth game of his second year!  That’s right, Lane Kiffin is hired by a “fruitcake” in Al Davis to coach the Raiders, where any bum off the street would have at least a 50-50 shot to getting the Oakland job if he stumbled into the Raiders headquarters on any given afternoon and then he is fired after putting up a 5-15 record and running one of the most dysfunctional staffs in football, college or pro.

So Lane Kiffin gets fired after putting up a 5-15 record with the Raiders and he disappears into the fog and many of us here at Coaches Hot Seat expected to see him next on the sidelines at a local high school, but then in the fall of 2008 we start to hear at Kiffin is “suddenly” in the running for the head coaching job at the University of Tennessee!  What?  Lane Kiffin as the head coaching of the University of Tennessee?  Please, is this April Fool’s Day?  What we didn’t realize is that after Kiffin got his ass fired by the Raiders he picked up an agent that has a degree from the University of Tennessee and SURPRISE, SURPRISE that agent is pushing him for the UT job! 

Actually, that Kiffin’s agent would be pushing him for the Tennessee job didn’t come as a surprise to us because Kiffin’s agent has perfected the art of being the agent for head coaches which creates another opening that in our opinion is where the real money is made…..access to the players!  Yes, that is what is behind Kiffin’s agent having so many coaches as clients, that the agent will then will have the chance to sign the coaches’ players to contracts to represent them when they head off for the NFL.  (That is our opinion by the way and what any person with an IQ over room temperature would think)  Hey, that’s a smart strategy, but for the idiots at Tennessee that both hired and are now paying a guy in Lane Kiffin that is not qualified to be the head coach at Knoxville High School, we have to wonder how stupid are these people in east Tennessee!  Didn’t Tennessee AD Mike Hamilton understand the real reason (our opinion mind you…) that Kiffin’s agent wanted Kiffin as the head coach at Tennessee?  Are we to think that Kiffin’s agent really believe that Lane Kiffin has done anything in his life to have earned the head coaching job at Tennessee?  By the way, if you think Kiffin had done enough in his life to even be considered for the Tennessee job then there is just no getting around the fact that you are a F _ _ _ ING IDIOT!

Yes, we got a great laugh out of looking at the salary and buyout numbers for Lane Kiffin’s new contract and now all of us at Coaches Hot Seat can now tell our kids:

“Hey, America is a great country and even if you are not qualified for a job if you are able to throw your last name around there might an idiot out there that will both hire you and pay you a lot of money even though you haven’t done anything in your life!”

Actually, we tell them from experience that bosses like Mike Hamilton are one in a billion and bosses like Mike Hamilton ALWAYS get fired because they hire people for very key positions that are not remotely qualified for those jobs.  Sorry Mike.  We like you a person, you are a great family guy, you made a great hire in Bruce Pearl, but the hiring of Lane Kiffin was not only stupid, but it will end your AD career at Tennessee.  Don’t believe that Mike?  Drop us an email and we will regale you with some of the outrageous bullshit that went on with Lane Kiffin with the Raiders that actually makes “fruitcake” Al Davis a truth-teller in his news conference when describing Kiffin’s behavior at Oakland.

Yes, America is a great country!  We know that because Lane Kiffin is now being paid in excess of $2 million dollars a year and the man is really worth $50K a year as the head coach of a local high school!

Everyone here at Coaches Hot Seat, and a dolphin on the sidelines at Tennessee for that matter, could average 6 to 7 wins a year at Tennessee.  Let’s see if Kiffin can beat CHS and a dolphin.

 

Now let’s get to the Post-Week 6 Coaches Hot Seat Power Playoff Poll:

Coaches Hot Seat Power Playoff Poll, Post-Week 6

1. Alabama*

2. Texas*

3. Florida#

4. Boise State*

5. Cincinnati*

6. USC*

7. TCU#

8. Miami*

9. Oregon#

10. LSU#

11. Georgia Tech#

12. Iowa#

13. BYU#

14. Oklahoma State#

15. Virginia Tech

16. Penn State

17. Houston*

18. Pitt

19. South Carolina

20. Ohio State

*Conference Champs

#At-Large Teams

Other Conference Champs

MAC – Central Michigan*

We now use the above Power Playoff Poll to seed a 16-team college football postseason playoff tournament, although we would prefer that a committee similar to the committee for the NCAA basketball tournament be used to pick the 7 wild card teams and then seed the 9 conference champions and 7 wild card teams in the postseason tournament.  Below are the First Round Games if the season had ended after Week 7.

First Round Games – Friday/Saturday December 18-19, 2009

Texas – Big 12 Champion

Central Michigan – MAC Champion

 

LSU - #4 At-Large Team

Boise State – MWC/WAC Champion

 

Georgia Tech – #5 At-Large Team

BYU – #6 At-Large Team

 

Oregon – #3 At-Large Team

Florida – #1 At-Large Team

 

Oklahoma State – #7 At-Large Team

USC – Pac-10 Champion

 

TCU – #2 At-Large Team

Miami – ACC Champion

 

Cincinnati – Big East Champion

Iowa – Big Ten Champion

 

Houston – CUSA/Sun Belt Champion

Alabama – SEC Champion

After watching Texas struggle against a weakened Oklahoma team (and an OU team with a very weak offensive line) we decided to move Alabama up to the No. 1 spot and drop Texas to No. 2.  It still remains to be seen if Texas can overcome their struggles on offense and get through the Big 12 and Big 12 title game, but we rather doubt that the Longhorns will be undefeated at the end of this season.  As for the matchups that would be created by the above teams in a 16-team postseason tournament is there really someone on this planet that believes that the above games wouldn’t light the country up and have everyone, we mean everyone like with the NCAA Basketball tournament not just college football fans, talking about college football for three solid weeks?  Please, if there is a fool out there that a believes a series of meaningless exhibition games is even in the same world with the real and win or go home games that would be created by a 16-team playoff then not only are you a fool, you probably need to report to the local elementary school for some re-education!

You can check out the webpage for the 16-team tournament here:

CFB National Championship Tournament/ CHS Power Playoff Poll  

Very simply…..  The BCS was created, run and is defended by a group of Candy Asses that would be lucky to know the difference between a football and a ping-pong paddle.  If the BCS is so great, then why don’t we use it for every other sport in collegiate athletics anyone with any sense would ask?  Answer:  Because the BCS is a fraud and the folks running it know it is a fraud, but when people are passing dollars to anyone and everyone that is willing to kiss the ass of the BCS Boys then this entire Bogus BCS starts to make some sense!

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Post Week 7 Coaches Hot Seat Rankings

Subbing for Johnny Cash this week is the Great Glenn Frey with his 1980s hit….

The Heat is On

 

Top 10 Hot Seat Coaches – Post Week 7 Coaches Hot Seat Rankings

1.  Mike Sherman, Texas A&M – Ok, let’s get this straight.  Texas Tech beat Kansas State 66-14 two weeks ago and then Kansas State turned around and beat Texas A&M 62-14, so does that mean that A&M’s opponent this week is 120 points better than the Aggies?  Maybe so, and that is why Mike Sherman’s rear-end could melt gold about right now!  Mike Sherman is 7-11 in two seasons at A&M (7-11?  Maybe a place where Mike Sherman will be working soon if this keeps up!) and he has won 7 games.  Who has Sherman beat in those 7 games?  Not one team that had/has as winning record in the year he played them and the unfortunate teams on this list of college football titans are:  ‘08 – New Mexico, Army, Iowa State, Colorado – ’09 – New Mexico, Utah State, UAB.  Wow!  Those are some real powerhouse college football programs.  Yes, whether he realizes it or not, Mike Sherman is on the Hot Seat and is not only heading towards what could be a historic beatdown in Lubbock, if the Aggie football team keeps spiraling down, this bad play could really start affecting alumni/booster donations to the university.  A&M is 3-3 and they have Texas Tech, Iowa State, at Colorado, at Oklahoma, Baylor and Texas left and we have a hard time believing that the Aggies will even win 3 of their last 6 games and that would mean 2 losing seasons for Sherman in College Station.  Could Texas A&M possibly bring back a coach in today’s world after two losing seasons in two tries where there are great football coaches around every corner ready to take over football programs?  Remember, we are not talking about PODUNK U. here, but TEXAS A&M!  If they can Texas A&M football does not exist anymore, but that may already be the case, depending on how nice Mike Leach this coming Saturday night.  Right now Mike Sherman’s rear-end is so Hot he could be a nightlight for half of Texas!

2.  Mike Sanford, UNLV – Mike Sanford is now 13 – 41 in his fifth season at UNLV and barring the Rebels winning 4 of their last 5 games, at New Mexico, at TCU, Colorado State, at Air Force and San Diego State, UNLV will have a new coach come this December.  Right now Mike Sanford’s rear-end is so Hot he could light up the Vegas strip!

3.  Greg McMackin, Hawaii – The downward spiral from the June Jones years at Hawaii continues as the Warriors lose another one, this time at Idaho.  McMackin is now 9 – 11 in his second year and we believe that unless he wins 5 of his last 7 games there will be a job opening in Honolulu come December.  Next up:  Boise State.  Good Luck!

4.  Ralph Friedgen, Maryland – Another loss for the Terps and reading the transcripts of Ralph Friedgen’s post-game press conference another week of Friedgen’s befuddlement.  It seems that Ralph Friedgen doesn’t know what is wrong with his football team, which is a very scary thing when uttered by a head football coach and that kind of talk must have the folks in College Park very concerned.  In Ralph Friedgen’s last 68 games he is now 35 – 33 (.515) and if that is an unacceptable record to the people running Maryland athletics, then more power to them!  If on the other hand winning is still important at UM then “we have a problem College Park!”  As for Friedgen’s befuddlement of why his football team is not playing very well we have a newsflash for Ralph:  Your team is playing poorly because it is very poorly coached!  Ralph Friedgen needs to get a big sign with the following on it and put it up in his office:

“If anything goes bad, I did it. If anything goes semi-good, we did it. If anything goes really good, then you did it. That’s all it takes to get people to win football games for you.”  Paul “Bear” Bryant

Ralph Friedgen’s rear-end is so Hot he is rivaling the Hot Air in Washington D.C. these days!

5.  Steve Kragthorpe, Louisville – Kragthorpe is now 13 – 17 in his third year at Louisville and although the Cardinals have shown some flashes of playing better, they still are not playing anywhere near the level that they played under Bobby Petrino.  That is Steve Kragthorpe’s biggest problem, the major difference between the play of UofL under Petrino and their play now and anyone with a working brain can compare the two coaches and see that Kragthorpe is really coming up short and has in fact taken the Louisville football program backwards.  Now at 2-4, Kragthorpe probably needs 4 wins in his last 6 games to keep his job (that’s assuming that Louisville is willing to call 6-6 acceptable, which we would never do at any school under any circumstance in a coach’s third year) and he still has to play at Cincinnati, at West Virginia, at USF and Rutgers, among others….  We don’t see any way Kragthorpe even gets to 6-6 and that means Louisville will be looking for a new coach come December.  This time they need to hire someone that matches the Louisville/Southern+Midwestern culture….  Lots of great coaches out there at would fit that bill… Steve Kragthorpe’s rear-end is so Hot you could light it on fire and he could beat Secretariat’s record around the track at Churchill Downs!

6.  Ron Zook, Illinois – This is getting very ugly in Champaign after the Illini lose another game, this time to Indiana, and they only have 1 win up on the board in 2009 and that win is against Illinois State!  We see so many problems with the Illinois football team, from bad play execution, to lack of effort, to confusion, to all kinds of things, that if Illinois hired Coaches Hot Seat to take over the Illini football team right now we would have to give some serious thought to where we would start.  The really bad news for Illinois is that they may not win another game in 2009 with at Purdue, Michigan, at Minnesota, Northwestern, at Cincinnati and Fresno State left.  Would Ron Zook be fired if he went 1-11 in 2009?  Probably not, unless he totally lost the football team and we haven’t a clue if that is an issue, but whatever happens there are serious problems at Illinois.  Ron Zook’s rear-end is so Hot that he could heat up Lake Michigan to such a temperature this winter that we could all go swimming!

7.  Tommy West, Memphis – With the loss to Southern Miss, Tommy West is now 49-56 (.467) in his ninth year at Memphis and I guess that kind of overall record is acceptable, if you are willing to accept mediocrity that is!  Memphis has traditionally had a strong athletic department, a good basketball program and UM is a pretty good school for its size, but they continue to have a mediocre football program while at the same time Tulsa and Houston have football programs that have in recent years been in or right around the Top 25 on a regular basis.  It is past time for the folks at Memphis to either fish or cut bait.  If West’s record is acceptable, give the guy an extension and tell them to forge on into the world of mediocrity.  If West’s record is not acceptable, then it is time to fire Tommy come December and then hire an up-and-coming coach that can entirely change the culture at Memphis.  Tommy West’s rear-end is so Hot that he could cook all the barbeque in Memphis for the foreseeable future and as anyone that has been to Memphis knows that is a whole lot of B-BQ!

8.  Dan Hawkins, Colorado – If only….  If only Colorado had played like they played against Texas and Kansas when the played Colorado State and Toledo, because we believe that the Buffs would be 4-2 right now instead of 2-4.  Maybe if Hawkins had just started the best QB in fall camp, clearly Hansen over Cody Hawkins, instead of pushing Hansen to “talk to his parents” about redshirting the Buffs would have also had a shot at beating West Virginia.  Of course, we all live in reality not fantasy, and it is too bad that Hawkins did have the Buff football team rolling at the start of the season like it was rolling against the Jayhawks, because this entire mess around Hawkins’ job status could have been completely avoided.  Even with the win over Kansas there is still a lot of improvement that the Buffs can make before they head off to play Kansas State on the road, which by the way, is one of the biggest games of Dan Hawkins career.  If CU can beat Kansas State then they will have an outside shot to get to a bowl game, but with a loss to KSU will bring up the same questions that the Colorado fans have been asking about Hawkins for about 6 weeks now.  Yes, Dan Hawkins rear-end is still Hot and it is so Hot that he could inflate a flying-saucer looking balloon which he could launch from Boulder which would then fly towards the Kansas border and which of course would receive wall-to-wall coverage on the all the cable news channels.  Don’t think the folks at the cable channels are that stupid?  Believe us, some of the densest and out-of-touch with the American people folks on the planet are running these cable news channels!

8.  Paul Wulff, Washington State – Paul Wulff is 3 – 16 in his second year at WSU and the Cougs are sitting at 1-5 with at California, at Notre Dame, at Arizona, UCLA, Oregon State and at Washington left.  Does anyone really believe Washington State will win another game this season?  Didn’t think so and if WSU doesn’t win another game Wullf’s two year record will be 3-22.  We rarely say this, but Coaches Hot Seat could have taken over the Washington State football program two years ago and done better than 3-22 and that reality must scare the hell out of the folks in Pullman!  Paul Wulff’s rear-end is so Hot he could melt all of the snow on beautiful Mt. Rainier!

Mt. Rainier over Seattle

 

10.  Charlie Weis, Notre Dame – So close Charlie, but no cigar!  The fact is that Notre Dame should have been able to beat an average USC team (USC barely beat a weak Ohio State team and lost to Washington and this Trojan team is flat-out average) at home if the Irish really had any juice and now Weis and ND face a situation where they need to win out or Weis’ job status will be up for review come December.  We believe that it is either BCS or bust for Charlie Weis in 2009 and that means the Irish need a Top 8 ranking in the final Bogus BCS poll and it looks like ND will have to run the table in the rest of their games and that might not even do it.  With BC, Washington State, Navy, at Pitt, UConn, and at Stanford left if Notre Dame was a good football team they would steamroll all of those teams, but since we believe the Irish are an average football team we predict they will go 3-3 in their remaining games.  OK, maybe 4-2, but even with a 4-2 finish that adds up 8-4 in ’09 and 8-4 will not meet the requirement of “being in the BCS conversation” that the Notre Dame AD set down last December.  Yes, we are very close to Dandy Don Meredith time in South Bend…..Turn Out the Lights the Party’s (Almost) Over!  Charlie Weis’ rear-end is so Hot that when the Notre Dame AD lets him go Charlie will turn his back to the AD and say:  “Well, at least my ass isn’t on fire anymore!”

After watching replays of college football on Sunday….

Something that we here at Coaches Hot Seat still have not figured out is how a college head football coach can spend an entire Saturday getting his team ready to play, then leading his team in a game and then spend time getting them prepped for the upcoming week on Saturday night and then still be able to put together a poll ranking the Top 25 football teams in the country.  Is it just us or is it incredibly absurd to think that a college head football coach could know anything about teams across the country, save the team that he just played?  Of course it is absurd and incredibly stupid to have a “Coaches Poll” but there are incredibly stupid people that will do anything to prop up the bogus BCS.  Yes, we all know why the Coaches are cowardly trying to hide their poll results from public view, because college head football coaches have a less of a clue where teams should be ranked than any random giraffe plucked off the African continent!

Yes, Grant Teaffe and any coaches that supports the idea of hiding the results of the “Coaches Poll” from the public, the people that are paying everyone salary in the game of college football by the way are…

COWARDS!

Yes, Grant Teaffe you are a COWARD and you also happen to be one of the few COWARDS we have run into from the state of Texas and that should make you doubly-proud! 

Hide the Coaches Vote?  Hell, by the time we get to the bottom of the BCS that will be the least of the worries of the Candy Ass Bastards that have set-up and are running this Bogus and incredibly UN-AMERICAN BCS. 

Yes, there is no way in the world that we here at Coaches Hot Seat with the best technology in the world can see all the teams we need to see between attending and watching games during the week and on Saturday and then watching replays of the games that we have on file on Sunday and Monday.  No chance in Hell, and that makes the BCS polls even more bogus, because we haven’t a clue how these folks in the Harris Poll are voting because….because they are hiding their voting results as well!  We are starting to see a trend here and this entire Bogus BCS is starting to look like the Soviet Union under Stalin.  No way Hell any red-blooded American could be running this Bogus BCS!

Of course, the computer dweebs can come up with their polls by running a program on a computer while they are drinking a Red Bull and eating a Twinkie, but we wish that someone would tell what computer polls have to do with real men playing real football on a real football field.  Answer:  NOTHING, except of course in the BIZARRO world of the BCS where you have Candy Asses from top to bottom with some beauty queens, travel agents, cocktail parties and ticket brokers thrown in for good measure!  What does any of that have to do with playing football?  AGAIN, NOTHING!

We have some news for the Candy Asses out there that think the bowl games are anything like the game of football.  If the regular season is the be-end-to-be-all as the BCS Lovers claim then those folks should show us where during the time before college football regular season games that the players go to theme parks, are sent on shopping sprees, have wing eating contests and get to hit the bars in the nights leading up the game?  Answer for the Candy Asses:  All of that bowl bullshit doesn’t happen in the regular season and that means that anytime a football player is visiting Disneyland and eating pies it is not a real football game and thus we get back to the absurdity of taking 30 days off, visiting theme parks, eating pies, etc., and actually calling any of this nonsense involved with the BCS legitimate.

If you want to send college football players on vacation, send them, but send them on vacation and then call it a football game, because it isn’t, unless of course someone is stuffing greenbacks in your pocket!

A clueless Coaches Poll run by a COWARD, Harris Poll voters that are afraid to show their votes and computer dweebs that are asked serious questions about where teams will be ranked at the end of the season.  Yes, that makes a lot of sense for a way to determine the national champion in college football, that is if you were living in a banana republic run by former Illinois governor Rod Blagojevich!  No, even Blago is not dumb enough to come up with this BCS bullshit!

Everyone have a great week in the American Republic and elsewhere around the world where you are reading this blog from.  If you are in a banana republic reading this blog please let us know if there is someone stupid enough there to both come up with the BCS and also media companies that act like it any of it makes any sense.  Our guess is that even Communist Fidel Castro would call bullshit on the BCS!

Another Glenn Frey tune – You Belong to the City

 

 

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Years ago in US military intelligence school a teacher recommended to a couple of us that it was probably best practice to give the good news first when briefing the C.O. or someone with star(s) on their shoulders and thus we follow that advice here.

There was some great news put out by the Great Steve Wynn of the Wynn Casino in Las Vegas this week that Great Garth Brooks is going to get off his rear-end on that ranch in Oklahoma, come out of retirement and do some shows at the Wynn in Vegas on the weekends in the coming months.  Bravo to Steve Wynn for writing a big enough check to get Garth off his rear-end and for keeping the tickets at the relatively cheap price of $125 bucks.  The Encore Theater at the Wynn only has 1,500 seats and it is a great place for a concert and people that go to see Garth should get their money’s worth. 

LA Times story:  Garth Brooks is bound for Vegas

The tickets for Garth’s concerts go on sale on October 24 and the shows, which will be on the weekends only, begin on December 11.

Since Garth always puts on a great show, you will see some of this if you go!

Much Too Young To Feel This Damn Old

 

The Thunder Rolls

 

Unanswered Prayers

 

The River

If Tomorrow Never Comes

 

The Dance

 

Yes, that is some Great news that Garth is coming out retirement and thanks to the Great Steve Wynn for stepping up and writing what must have been a HUGE Multi-million dollar check!  Don’t cry for Steve, he will make it back easily at the gaming tables, probably even some from us if we have a bad run of luck at the blackjack table!

Things We Now Believe After Watching Week 7 of the College Football Season

Brian Kelly is one of the best head coaches in college football – Don’t believe that?  Just look at his track record everywhere he has coached.  Kelly can flat-out coach and he will probably have a decent shot at the Notre Dame job in a few weeks, that is if Jon Gruden doesn’t swoop in turn the college football world upside by taking over in South Bend!  Now that would be something!  Gruden leading the Irish!  Now don’t tell us that wouldn’t be great fun! 

Charlie Weis is not finished yet, but he is close – After playing Pete Carroll’s second worst USC team (his team in Year 1 at USC was his worst) right up until the last second, Weis still has an outside shot of getting the Irish to a BCS bowl, but they will have to run the table and get a little help from teams that will be ranked ahead of them.  We couldn’t quite find our way through the Bogus BCS website to find the “special” rules for Notre Dame but we remember that if the Irish finish No. 8 or better in the final Bogus BCS standings (now how can it possibly be legal under US law for the BCS to single out Notre Dame for such preferential treatment?  We don’t believe that it is legal to give a Catholic school in Notre Dame preferential treatment and not give a Mormon school in BYU, a Christian school in TCU, or even a public school like Boise State the same treatment.  Not only does that strike us as illegal, since all these schools get federal financial aid, it is also is deeply unfair.  Yes, it takes a really Candy Ass Communist to support the BCS, but if you look at who is running the BCS from the Presidential Advisory Board on down you will see a list of Candy Asses that stretches a mighty long way!) and clearly the Irish will need to win out to get into the Top 8.  With Boston College (should be a win), Washington State (the Notre Dame women’s ping-pong team could beat WSU and not work up a sweat), Navy (maybe a win), at Pitt (the toughest game left on the schedule), UConn (maybe a win) and at Stanford (maybe a win), we see only 1 sure win and 5 tough games left.  Will Charlie Weis be fired if the Irish do not go to a BCS bowl game even if they win 10 games?  Yes, we believe he will be fired unless Notre Dame plays in a BCS Bowl game and we would be stunned if the folks at ND are not already putting feelers out for a new head coach.  If Weis was fired, we would hire Brian Kelly, mainly because he is a great coach and he is Catholic, but hiring Brian Kelly would take real intelligence and does anyone think there is real intelligence running the Notre Dame athletic department? 

Boise State is a good team that could beat any team in the country in a “one off” game – Since the Bogus BCS is a “one-off” system by its very nature then Boise State has every right to be considered for the Bogus BCS title game.  The real question is why is everyone at one particular network/cable channel talking down Boise State so?  Hmmmmmm…..

ESPN/ABC is telecasting the Rose Bowl AND the BCS title game this year, both being played at the Rose Bowl – So ABC is telecasting both the Rose Bowl, on January 1, 2010, and the BCS Title Game, on January 7, 2010, and at the same time EVERYONE at ESPN/ABC is talking down Boise State.  Now that is very damn interesting and may indeed may already be part of an ongoing federal investigation…. Would ESPN/ABC want Boise State in either the Rose Bowl or BCS title game?  In our opinion the answer to that question is a BIG NO and that makes us wonder why EVERYONE at ESPN/ABC is talking down Boise State?  Hmmmmmmm…….  We may yet get some of these BASTARDS indicted!  By the way, we are keeping count by person and the number of times people at ESPN/ABC, EVERYBODY by the way, has been talking down Boise State for weeks now!  Keep on talking down Boise State and we will keep marking it down!  This may turn out like an insider trading investigation on Wall Street, especially if some idiot told someone at ESPN/ABC to talk down Boise State….  We shall watch, we shall learn and in the end, we shall see….  If Boise State keeps winning and they keep getting talked down by EVERYONE at ESPN/ABC we just might have one of the cause and effect things going on here!  Since we know some folks at ABC, maybe we should just ask them directly, not that they will answer though! 

With the Bogus BCS Rankings due today did you see this video of BCS Headquarters? – Yes, it is mighty entertaining!  BCS Headquarters Link  Of course, these monkeys actually have a clue!

Steve Kragthorpe is in a lot of trouble at Louisville and is probably out unless he can get to 6 wins in ’09 – With at Cincinnati, Arkansas State, at West Virginia, Syracuse, at South Florida and Rutgers left for Louisville we really don’t see 4 wins in the next 6 games and that more than likely means a coaching change at the UofL come December.  No, not Pitino, Kragthorpe!  If Louisville does make a change we would recommend the people making that change take a walk through downtown Louisville and talk to people and imagine someone that fit in very well in that great sports town.  We have someone in mind, but we are not giving that coach’s name up…..yet……

We respect Bob Stoops but…. – Is it just us or does Oklahoma look like the worst disciplined football team this side of USC (more on that in a minute).  Stupid decisions by both players and coaches, fumbles, penalties galore, and a general lack of football sense by the number of Sooners’ players makes us wonder just what in the Hell is going on in Norman.  Even with all the injuries, Bob Stoops has a ton of talent at OU and if they had played like a smart football team, the way OU used to play, they would have beaten Texas by 10 or more points.

Terrelle Pryor is mediocre QB at best – We are not sure who is coaching Terrelle Pryor at Ohio State but whoever is doing that coaching is doing a Jolly Green Giant-awful bad job.  It doesn’t look to us that Terrelle Pryor has progressed very much at all since arriving at Ohio State and clearly the current playcalling is just a terrible fit for Pryor’s skills.  What are Terrelle Pryor’s skills?  He can run the ball very good, he is a mediocre to bad passer at best, he is not a great decision maker and it looks to us that he has very little fire in the belly.  We wonder if a hoodlum walked up to Terrelle Pryor on the Ohio State campus and pushed his girlfriend down if Pryor would do anything about it.  Jim Tressel had better figure out in a hurry what he is going to do with Terrelle Pryor or the Buckeyes might lose a couple more games this season and clearly the November 21 game at Michigan is now in question.  Can you imagine what a win over Ohio State would do for Rich Rodriguez?  Can you say WOW!

Iowa is a very good football team but…. – Iowa is good but they can be beat by a team that can run the football and defend the run.  Is that team Michigan State?  Maybe, but if the Hawkeyes beat Michigan State we certainly don’t think the Buckeyes will be able to slow down this train and that makes a 12-0 Iowa team a real reality now.  Maybe the Bogus BCS will bit Jim Delaney in the ass this time and there is not a person more deserving in the United States than Jim Delaney to get jobbed by the BCS. 

Clemson beats Wake Forest 38-3? – What?  Last week Clemson loses to woeful Maryland and then they turn around and beat Wake Forest by 35?  That makes no sense but the entire ACC makes no sense!  Yes, Dabo needed this win over Wake and he got it.

Mark Richt needed a win over Vandy and.. – Richt and the Bulldogs needed a win and they got it over the Commodores.  Florida is up next for Georgia after a bye week and believe it or not, Richt really needs to beat the Gators as well.  Florida looks vulnerable to us, especially to a passing team, and if Georgia can get their offense going they can give the Gators a run….

Pete Carroll, why do you have the most undisciplined in college football? – Are these USC Trojans just stupid or are they just poorly coached, because never have we seen so many stupid decisions made by a supposedly “elite” football team.  Maybe Carroll doesn’t care about all of these stupid penalties, but they will bite you in the ass Pete when you play a real football team on the road, and you have a few of those games coming up!  No, Notre Dame is not a real football team. 

Is Nebraska that bad or is Texas Tech that good? – We don’t know, but the Red Raiders looked mighty good against what we believe is a pretty good Husker defense.  The Nebraska offense on the other hand……is pitiful!

Cal and Tedford got a big win and Neuheisel and the Bruins are struggling mightily – How did Tennessee ever lose to this mediocre UCLA team we don’t know, but Cal whipped the Bruins at the Rose Bowl and now UCLA is facing the reality of finding 3 wins out of at Arizona, at Oregon State, Washington, at Washington State, Arizona State, at USC.  Ouch!  Don’t see that happening! 

Yes, Florida is vulnerable to a team that can block up front and throw the ball down the field – The Gators have weaknesses on defense and their offense is filled with tons of talent (mostly untested talent, but talent) but is still only mediocre.  Florida can be beat and that has to be keeping Urban Meyer up at night.  Last year the Gators cut the offense loose, but we wonder if they have the ability to even do that in 2009.

Virginia and Al Groh win again! – Where was this kind of play earlier in the year?  We haven’t a clue but if the Cavs are for real then they need to show it against Georgia Tech in Charlottesville on Saturday!

Greg McMackin and Hawaii lose again – This is getting ugly in Honolulu and what a great job Hawaii would be if it opened up.  Living in Honolulu, hitting the beach, playing golf, and then playing football in the fall!  June Jones proved you can win at Hawaii and Greg McMackin is proving one things:  He is no June Jones!

Paul Johnson has the Georgia Tech offense going again – Once the Yellow Jackets’ offensive line decided that it was OK if they got their jerseys dirty they have been playing some very good football and they will be very hard to beat now.  We predicted Georgia Tech to finish 11-1 and they may just meet that target.  If Paul Johnson is only able to get 10 wins….onto the Hot Seat……Oh, just kidding!

Ron Zook and the Illini are…. – Zook and Illinois are now circling a massive black hole and there is only one way they will be able to pull out and save themselves…..start playing like a team instead of a bunch of individuals.  Maybe some team-building in practice would do these folks some good, because they are now going in about 22 different directions!

Mike Sherman and Texas A&M – Last week in this Blog we compared A&M head coach Mike Sherman to the Absent-Minded Professor, Professor Ned Brainard, played by Fred MacMurray, but after reading about Kansas State whipping the Aggies 62-14 we would like to formally apologize to the producers of the Absent-Minded Professor and to the MacMurray family (by the way Fred MacMurray was a great actor!).  Instead of the Absent-Minded Professor, we believe that Mike Sherman is better compared to:

  

Mike Sherman = Hazel?  Sadly, it seems so….

Pretty soon it is going to be time to fire everyone in a decision-making role in the Texas A&M athletic department because this madness must end!

Alabama looks OK but…. – Yes, the Crimson Tide looked only mediocre against a pretty good South Carolina team, but THEY KEEP ON WINNING!

“They got a name for the winners in the world
I want a name when I lose
They call Alabama the crimson tide
Call me Deacon Blues”

 

Well, that’s enough of What We Now Believe for Week 7!

We have a lot on the stove here at Coaches Hot Seat, including:

1.  Post Week 7 Coaches Hot Seat Rankings – Should be out by lunch on Monday.

2.  Top 100+ Assistant Coaches in College Football – We have been working on the Top 100+ Assistant Coaches list for several weeks now, but we continue to add and remove coaches as things have happened during the season.  We should have this list out by November 1 or so.

3.  Coaches Hot Seat College Football Media Review – We have been working on the CHS College Football Media Review since last season and have been refining it over the past few weeks as we both see more things and info has been pouring in over the hopper.  We are going to attempt to critique every person working in the media that covers college football, studio people, play-by-play folks, color analysts, sideline reporters, etc., so one can imagine it is a big job.  Some of the critiques are already in and they are mighty entertaining!  Should be out by Week 10 of the season or so.

Have a great Sunday!  Coaches Hot Seat will be gathering today for lunch at Sam’s Café and then for a pool tournament to watch the NFL and talk about all of Saturday’s college football.  The weather supposed to be great!  Yes, life is tough at the Hot Seat!

Sam’s Café Webcam

We leave you with the Great Garth Brooks and this one goes out to BCS Boys and the Candy Asses that support them!

Shameless

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Wow!  Anyone that doubts how good of a football coach that Cincinnati’s Brian Kelly is then just watch a replay of that USF game last night where he again lost a starting QB but still put away a very good Bulls team.  If you want to know why Brian Kelly has been able to put up an overall record of 165-57-2 (.737) and a record of 27-3 (.819) at Cincinnati look no further than how hard Kelly coaches his players during the game and the high standards he expects of them both on and off the football field.  Anyone that has seen Brian Kelly’s team at Cincinnati play or practice in person knows that they are a very well coached football team and on a neutral field we would give the Bearcats a decent chance to beat any team in the country.

Of course, the BCS Lovers are already debating among themselves which 5 or 6 teams should have the “right” to play in a bogus BCS title game, while Cincinnati, Boise State, TCU and other teams keep playing very good football but are left on the outside looking in because a bunch of Candy Ass elitists deem it so.  No, that is not America and once this BCS is put on trash heap of history where it belongs (the BCS Boys must really be hoping that a federal grand jury is not taking testimony right now in secret on whether the BCS Boys have created a criminal conspiracy to restrict competition in major college football.  Oh, keep hoping boys, because you will only learn about a federal grand jury investigating your sorry asses, if it is happening, when you are arrested in your offices in the future.  Yes, if you are involved in this bogus BCS you might have violated US law, and that includes college and university presidents that have defended and promoted this bogus BCS.  You see bastards, it is illegal to restrict competition in America, but then what would a bunch of Candy Asses know about competition?  Answer:  NOTHING!) we will be able to adapt the same system that is used in every sport in collegiate athletics, a postseason playoff tournament.  Keep yakking media boys about total bullshit, because we know you have been told to shut up and to not dare utter the world “playoff” while on TV, but don’t start saying that you were always for a playoff once these BCS Boys are put in their place.  No, sure the Hell don’t start claiming that, because we will call BULLSHIT on that in a Texas State Fair minute!  “Could I get three corny dogs please?  Yes, three corny dogs and they are all for me!”  

Yes, we give a lot of credit to Brian Kelly for doing a great job at Cincinnati and we also give credit to the ESPN announcing crew last night (see below) for both calling a good game between Cincinnati and USF and also not spending every free moment talking about the BCS (see Rece “I love the sound of Denny Chimes in the morning” Davis and Lou “Call me doctor, but don’t call me Podiatrist” Holtz). 

 Yes, the ESPN announcing crew last night….

Chris “You know this BCS ain’t so bad….What did I just say?  Maybe all of that time I spent on Pearl Street when I was at Colorado may finally be hitting home.  Quick, someone get me a corny dog so I can get this BCS taste out of my mouth!” Fowler

Jesse “Has anyone seen my comb?  Craig James:  Why?  Palmer:  There is this hot blonde down at the concession stand that told me I have a great looking ass and we are meeting for drinks later tonight.  Craig James:  Did she really say that?  Palmer:   No, but she was thinking it!” Palmer

Craig “A stranger from California is coming out of Sonny’s Smokehouse Barbeque on the west side of Dallas (near the Texas School Depository) and James walks up to the stranger.  Craig James (wearing cowboy boots, cowboy hat and has a hayseed in his mouth):  Hey there partner, call me Little Joe Cartwright if you like, but I bet you could use a truckload of hay.  Am I right or not?  Stranger:  Little Joe is it?  I live in San Francisco, what in the Hell would I do with a truckload of hay there?  Craig James:  I have a truck that is being loaded right now up on the North 40, so what will be……a half or full truck?  Of course, there will be some extra cost to get that hay to the west coast.  Stranger looks at James:  You know, I may be able to use that hay.  Just send it to the Ponderosa Ranch, Incline Village, Nevada.  Craig James:  Ponderosa?  Isn’t that where they filmed Bonanza?  Stranger:  Yes, and I will let Ben, Adam, Hoss, Little Joe and Hopsing know that a load of hay is on the way.  Craig James:  Maybe we should do cash on the barrelhead before we ship this load of hay out.  Stranger:  Maybe if you just give me your autograph on this SMU hat I then will be able to get Eric Dickerson to sign it and it will then really be worth something!”  Craig James:  OK, give me the hat, now was that cash or cashiers check for the hay?” James

Actually, Fowler, James and Palmer have become one of the best announcing crews in college football and Fowler starting a few years ago with no play-by-play experience has become very good at his job and rivals the very good work he does on College GameDay each Saturday.  As for Herbstreit………………..just kidding Herbie!

OK, let’s get to some real football conversation!

18 Coaches and Teams Facing MUST WING Games in Week 7

 Charlie Weis, Notre Dame – As Kenny Loggins and Michael McDonald said in their 1980s hit…

 THIS IS IT!

 

Yes, that’s right Charlie Weis!  THIS IS IT!  Notre Dame and their head coach MUST BEAT USC on Saturday or Charlie Weis will more than likely find himself back with an NFL team come the 2010 football season.  Now at 33-22 (.600) over in his fifth year in South Bend, Weis has somewhere around 8 to 10 less wins than he should have at this point based upon the records of the most successful coaches in Notre Dame history and it really is time for Charlie Weis and his Irish to put or shut up, and we mean shut up for good!  Charlie Weis is 0-4 vs. Pete Carroll and the Trojans in those 4 losses have been outscored the Irish 124-58 and those two facts add up to the reality that Weis and Notre Dame have no more room to maneuver and must come through on Saturday or deal with the very unpleasant criticism that would come with another loss to USC.  Charlie Weis and the Irish have struggled against the easiest part of their schedule, but they have 4 wins on the board and with the standard at Notre Dame for Weis now “being in the BCS conversation,” Weis will more than likely need 10 wins in 2009 which means a loss to USC will leave no margin for error against the remaining teams on ND’s slate:  Boston College, Washington State, Navy, at Pitt, Connecticut, at Stanford. 

Yes, Charlie Weis….THIS IS IT!

Jeff Tedford, Cal – It’s not just that Cal has lost its first Pac-10 games in ’09, but how they lost those games, 42 – 3 loss to Oregon and a 30-3 beatdown by USC in Berkley.  Jeff Tedford is now 62-32 (.660) and is quickly slipping towards the “Mendoza line” for head coaches, which is anything below a .600 winning percentage, which will puts Tedford’s job status into question.  The bad start to the ’09 conference slate, Tedford’s overall record at Cal, and an unexplainable series of struggles in recent years after getting off to strong starts make this Saturday’s UCLA game a MUST WIN for Tedford and the Bears.  A loss to UCLA and Cal drops to 3-3 and 0-3 in the Pac-10  and they will have 6 Pac-10 games left and all of them but Washington State will be tough games to win.  Yes, beating UCLA is a MUST for Jeff Tedford.

Rick Neuheisel, UCLA – After the Oregon Ducks under a first year coach came in and whipped the Bruins in the Rose Bowl last week, Rick Neuheisel is now facing a very serious crossroads in his coaching career at his alma mater.  A loss to Cal and UCLA drops to 3-3 overall and 0-3 in the Pac-10 and they have trips to Arizona and Oregon State up next and those will be very difficult games for the Bruins to win.  There is a very real chance that Neuheisel could be facing his second straight losing season at UCLA if he doesn’t get this thing rolling soon in Westwood and another losing season would put Neuheisel squarely on the Hot Seat, a place he does not want to be with Pete Carroll across town still piling up wins and conference titles while the Bruins wallow around in the mud.  Cal is a MUST WIN for Rick Neuheisel and the Bruins and if you don’t believe that just lose this game and see what happens!

Tom O’Brien, NC State – Tom O’Brien returns to his former school on Saturday and we bet that O’Brien would have never believed that when he left the Eagles three years ago that he would have an overall record with his new Wolfpack team of 14-17 (.452) at this juncture.  With a trip to FSU up next, then Maryland, Clemson, at Virginia Tech and North Carolina to finish the ’09 season, Tom O’Brien and NC State really cannot afford another loss which would drop their record to 3-4 overall and 0-3 in the ACC and that is why beating BC is a MUST for Tom O’Brien.

Al Groh, Virginia – After 3 unexplainable losses to open the season and then 2 unexplainable wins to raise the Virginia record to 2-3, we haven’t a clue to which team of Al Groh’s will show up to play at Maryland on Saturday, but that is what makes all of this so much fun!  With Georgia Tech, Duke, at Miami, Boston College, at Clemson and Virginia Tech left on the ’09 Cavs schedule and Al Groh probably needing 6 wins to return for the 2010 season it looks like Maryland will be the pivotal game for UVA.  A loss to Maryland and Virginia drops to 2-4 and 1-1 in the ACC and they would need to win 4 of their last 6 games to keep Al Groh off the unemployment line and we don’t really see 4 wins for the Cavs out of what is left on their schedule.  Yes, Maryland is a MUST WIN for Al Groh and Virginia!

Ralph Friedgen, Maryland – Just like with Al Groh, Ralph Friedgen really cannot afford a loss on Saturday and when two Hot Seat coaches come up against each so early in the season it often leads to a Roman Coliseum-type fight to exhaustion and that is what we expect out of this game in College Park.  After a loss to Wake Forest last week, Ralph Friedgen’s Terps are 2-4 on the season and they have trips to Duke and NC State (not easy games anymore) and then Virginia Tech, at Florida State and Boston College left on the docket and out of the remaining 6 games Friedgen will probably need 4 wins to return in 2010.  Overall at Maryland, Ralph Friedgen is 66-40 (.623) in 9 seasons, but over his last 67 games he is 35-32 (.522) and that cannot be a record that makes anyone in College Park very happy.  We believe Friedgen needs 6 wins a bowl trip to return for the 2010 season and that means that Virginia is a MUST WIN football game.

Greg McMackin, Hawaii – Now at 9-10 in his second season at Hawaii, it looks to us that Warrior football program is spinning out of control after all the great work that June Jones did to put UH on the college football map, and that spinning out of control must be put at the feet of the head football coach, Greg McMackin.  June Jones was 75-41  (.647) in his 8 seasons at Hawaii, but Jones won 23 of his last 27 football games and now McMackin has lost 10 of his first 19 as the head coach with the Warriors and there is just no way in Hell that kind of record can be acceptable to anyone in Honolulu.  After starting the ’09 season at 2-3 McMackin and Hawaii traveling to play a suddenly tough Idaho team in one of the toughest place to play in the country at the Kibbie Dome this is all of the sudden look very troubling.  Greg McMackin and Hawaii really cannot afford to lose another football game because with Boise State, at Nevada, Utah State, New Mexico State, at San Jose State, Navy and Wisconsin, and we believe it will very difficult for the Warriors to win many of those games.  How many wins does Greg McMackin need to return in 2010?  We say at least 7 wins on a 13 game schedule which means Hawaii needs to win 5 of its last 8 games and a loss to Idaho would only make that task much more difficult.

Stan Parrish, Ball State – Now at 0-7, 1 loss in the bowl game last year and 6 losses in ’09, in his short career at Ball State, Stan Parrish is clearly now coaching for his job because we do not believe that the people at Ball State are going to just let all of the hard work of Brady Hoke to be frivolled away by a coach that has a career .250 winning percentage.  With Bowling Green at home this weekend and then at Eastern Michigan, Ohio, at Northern Illinois, Central Michigan and at Western Michigan, Stan Parrish REALLY, REALLY, REALLY needs to beat Bowling Green this Saturday or Ball State might start looking for a new head football coach at the end of the season.  Yes, Bowling Green is a MUST WIN for Stan Parrish.

Steve Kragthorpe, Louisville – With rumors swirling that Jon Gruden is headed for Louisville to replace Kragthorpe at season’s end (Gruden seems pretty happy on TV and even if he wanted into the college game would he really take the Louisville job?  We doubt it…) there is no time to rest as the Cardinals face a MUST WIN game on the road at UConn this week.  With a road trip at Cincinnati up next and then Arkansas State, at West Virginia, Syracuse, at South Florida and Rutgers to finish the season, Steve Kragthorpe needs to focus on one number and that number is 6 wins, because anything less than 6 wins in ’09 and Louisville will be hiring a new head coach come December.  With a loss at UConn, Louisville will drop to 2-4 on the season and that would mean they would have to win 4 of their last 6 games and that wouldn’t be easy if the Cardinals were playing good football, which they are not.  Yes, UConn is a MUST WIN for Steve Kragthorpe.

Dabo Swinney, Clemson – Dabo Swinney is now facing a critical game in his young coaching career as Wake Forest visits Clemson on Saturday.  Now at 6-6 since replacing Tommy Bowden during the middle of the ’08 season, the natives in Clemson are getting restless and Tiger fans have never been known for their patience.  With a trip to Miami, Coastal Carolina, Florida State, at NC State, Virginia, and at South Carolina left on the schedule it is not going to be easy for Clemson to get to 6 wins in 2009, but it will be especially hard if they lose to Wake Forest and drop to 2-4 on the season.  We doubt if Dabo Swinney would be fired if Clemson had a losing season in 2009, but Swinney would enter the 2010 season on the Hot Seat and would be facing a situation where possibly 8 wins would be necessary to return in 2011.

Mark Richt, Georgia – It’s hard to imagine that a coach with an overall record of 85-25 (.773), 4 trips to the SEC championship game and 2 SEC titles in 8 seasons on the job would be facing a MUST WIN game, but yes, Mark Richt is facing a MUST WIN game against Vanderbilt on Saturday.  After an ugly loss to Tennessee, Richt and the Bulldogs are 3-3 on the season and after Vanderbilt they have the Florida Gators, Tennessee Tech, Auburn, Kentucky, and then Georgia Tech in Atlanta and believe it or not there is a real chance that Georgia could have a losing season in 2009.  What has really gotten Richt into the semi-Hot Seat is the success of the Florida Gators under Urban Meyer (and how the Gators have dominated Georgia in recent years) and the rise of Saban at Alabama which makes what Richt has done lately look like nothing that great.  A loss to Vanderbilt and Mark Richt is going to have to answer again why he was not able to handle LSU at home, a very mediocre Tennessee team, and a Vandy team that has less than half the talent of the Bulldogs.  As for what is wrong at Georgia, it is clear to anyone with an IQ over the average temperature in San Francisco (about 70 degrees F) that the Bulldog defense has more holes in it than a spaghetti strainer.  If Coaches Hot Seat sitting in San Francisco, California can see about a half-a-dozen places where we could eat up the Georgia defense don’t you think that people that call offensive plays for a living can see even more?  Of course they can, and unless Mark Richt addresses the very serious problems with his defense he may very well find himself out of job, because there is only so much more that Georgia fans are going to take from the Gators and watching the rise of other teams in the SEC.  If Mark Richt loses to Vandy on Saturday, he will be on the Hot Seat come Sunday!

Tommy West, Memphis – After a much needed win over UTEP last Saturday things don’t get any easier for Tommy West and Memphis as they travel to play at Southern Miss in another MUST WIN game.  At 2-4 on the ‘09 season and with an overall record of 49-55 (.471) at Memphis, it is time for Tommy West to either perform or he will be looking for a new job come December, which really makes this Southern Miss game a BIG one.  We believe Tommy West needs 6 wins in ’09 to return in 2010 and Memphis has East Carolina, at Tennessee, UAB, at Houston, and at Tulsa left after the Golden Eagles and we really don’t see any way that the Tigers can get to those 6 wins if they don’t beat USM on Saturday.  Yes, Southern Miss is a MUST WIN for Tommy West!

Mike Sherman, Texas A&M – As we said earlier this week in the CHS Blog, Mike Sherman is 7-10 at A&M and up to this point he has not beaten a team with a winner record the year that he played them.  That means that Mike Sherman has not yet beat a legitimate football team yet and now the Aggies head on the road to play a Kansas State team that hasn’t beat a team in Bill Snyder’s first year back with the Wildcats.  What should make this Kansas State game very scary for Mike Sherman is that the Wildcats have lost 10 of their last 18 games and if Sherman and his Aggies can’t win this game we have to wonder if they can beat any legitimate football team.  Now at 3-2 and at Kansas State, at Texas Tech, Iowa State, at Colorado, at Oklahoma, Baylor, and at Texas left on the A&M schedule we think that it will be very hard for the Aggies to get to 6 wins if they do lose to Kansas State and can Texas A&M really keep on a coach that puts up losing seasons in his first two years on the job?  If A&M can, then Texas A&M football is finished and the Aggie fans, alumni and boosters just need to put away all of their Texas A&M stuff in the attic and resign themselves to the fact that they have people in College Station that not only accept losing, the celebrate it!  What Texas A&M needs is a Paul “Bear” Bryant type character running their football team, but they have instead the character played by Fred MacMurray in the Absent-Minded Professor running the show! 

Mike Sherman = Professor Ned Brainard, Absent-Minded Professor?

 

Thank goodness Coach Bryant isn’t around to see this mess because they have turned a school that used to be known for Junction into a place where the Aggie crowd is now tougher than the football team!

Ron Zook, Illinois – Now at 19-34 (.358) in his fifth season at Illinois, Ron Zook is facing a serious challenge that he must face head on if he hopes to a head football coach in college into the future.  At 1-4 on the season, Illinois really cannot afford a loss at Indiana because that would almost ensure a losing season in 2009 and that would be Zook’s second straight losing season in Champaign.  It is not clear to us if Zook would be fired if the Illini had a losing season in ’09, but we do know that the pressure is already building on Zook to get this turned around because there is a feeling that this entire football program is spiraling out of control.  With a trip to Purdue, Michigan, at Minnesota, Northwestern, at Cincinnati and Fresno State to end the season we cannot imagine the Illini getting to 6 wins if they lose to Indiana and that makes a win against the Hoosiers a MUST for Zook and Company.

Dan Hawkins, Colorado – There is just no getting around the fact that Dan Hawkins record at Colorado is 14-28 (.333) in 4 years on the job and there is just no getting around the fact that Hawkins record would not and should not be acceptable at any school in I-A football.  Why Hawkins has not done better at Colorado is somewhat of a mystery, but when we watch CU we don’t see a whole lot of very good football players, especially compared to Colorado teams of past.  The Buffs looks very slow to us, they don’t seem to play very physical along the offensive and defensive lines, the defense has several breakdowns in almost every game and the offense…..well, we don’t know what the Hell the CU offense is supposed to be doing.  With the QB soap opera looking like it will continue for at least another week in Boulder we haven’t a clue to what kind of Colorado team will show up this week vs. Kansas, but if CU doesn’t show up they will get beat again.  After Kansas, Colorado has a trip to Kansas State, Missouri, Texas A&M, at Iowa State, at Oklahoma State and then Nebraska at home and we are finding it very hard to believe that there is any way in Hell that CU gets to 6 wins in 2009.  Would Dan Hawkins be fired if he doesn’t get to 6 wins in 2009?  We doubt if Hawkins would be fired if he lost every game remaining on the Colorado schedule because we rather doubt if it matters at all to the folks in Boulder if they have a winning football program or not.  Hey, we lost again, let’s go to Pearl Street and Party!  Such is the life in Boulder, Colorado!

George O’Leary, UCF – After a big win over Memphis, George O’Leary now has another big game with the Miami Hurricanes coming to town and it can’t be a good feeling that beating the Canes is a MUST WIN.  George O’Leary is 29-38 (.433) in eight seasons at UCF, but he is coming off of a 4-8 record in 2008 and the Knights are 3-2 so far in ’09 and O’Leary really needs to get to 6 wins and to a bowl game to feel comfortable come December.  After Miami, UCF has a trip to Rice, Marshall, at Texas, Houston, Tulane and UAB so we do see some games that can be won on the Knights schedule but beating Miami would really give UCF a leg up as they enter a tough stretch of their schedule.  Beating Miami is not going to be easy, but it is a MUST WIN for George O’Leary and UCF!

Mike Sanford, UNLV – Now at 13-40 (.245) in his fifth season at UNLV and on a three game losing streak that has led to a 2-4 record for the Rebels in 2009, Mike Sanford has never needed a win more as Utah arrives in Las Vegas on Saturday.  Mike Sanford knows Utah well as he was a coordinator there under Urban Meyer and a loss to Utah in this spot would be a double-whammy of losing to Utah and putting Sanford’s coaching prospects into serious question and that is the reason that beating Utah is a MUST WIN.  This is very simple, Mike Sanford needs 6 wins in ’09 to keep his job and if he is able to get to 6 wins we will buy him a steak dinner and round of drinks at the Mandalay Bay Casino at the end of the season!  Hell, we might buy him a steak dinner and a round of drinks if he doesn’t get to six wins…  Get Mandalay Bay on the phone and see what their December rates are and tell them we want a room that a view of the pool!

Dennis Erickson, Arizona State – In his third year at Arizona State, Dennis Erickson is 18-12 (.600) which cannot be the kind of record that folks in Tempe thought Erickson would have achieved when they hired him away from Idaho.  ASU is 3-2 on the season after beating Idaho State, La. Monroe and Washington State (next to nobody) and now they enter the Pac-10 schedule with the Washington Huskies coming to town to play in a HUGE game for Erickson and the Sun Devils.  If Steve Sarkisian is able to bring his Washington team into Tempe and beat Arizona State in his first year on the job we think the folks at ASU will look around and ask themselves just what in the Hell has Erickson been doing for the last couple of seasons.  After Washington, ASU faces a trip to Stanford (tough game), California (tough game), USC (very tough game), at Oregon (very tough game), at UCLA (tough game), and Arizona (tough game) and we are starting to wonder if Erickson is going to put up his second straight losing season at Arizona State.  If Dennis Erickson does put up another losing season in ’09 we have to believe that his job will be in question come December and it should be because there is no excuse to win 10 games in the first year on the job and the put up two straight losing seasons.  There are way too many highly qualified head and assistant coaches out there for any program like Arizona State to accept losing football seasons and we have to think that not only is Erickson now on the Hot Seat he is now coaching for his job.  If ASU loses to Washington at home….WATCH OUT!

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There were so few changes to the Coaches Hot Seat Power Playoff Poll from Week 5 to Week 6, with LSU moving down the rankings but still remaining as one of the 7 wild card teams for the CHS Post-Season Tournament and most of the teams behind LSU just moving up, we decided it didn’t make much sense to publish a poll with only one small and inconsequential change.  Then came the Boise State – Tulsa game last night where it was made very clear that Candy Asses from around the world that are sitting breathless waiting on the first release of the Bogus BCS poll for the 2009 season have some new leaders that they can drop to the ground and worship! 

These folks at ESPN are something else aren’t they?  ESPN is so far up the asses of the BCS that they have been tripping over themselves since Boise State beat Oregon to open the season to tell anyone idiot that would listen that Boise doesn’t have a chance to play for a national title, but that was all taken to a new level last night by Rece “Roll Tide” Davis and Lou “Boise can beat anyone but not week after week” Holtz.  Maybe the next time that Rece “I love Paul “Bear” Bryant” Davis and Lou “The Irish are No. 1 and Jimmy Clausen should already have 2 Heisman’s” Holtz are sent to call a football game it might be a good idea for them to actually call the game instead of spending half the time trying to talk down Boise State and preaching to us peons that the Broncos don’t have a chance of playing for a national title while they were praying with all their might (Yes, it was very obvious Rece) that Tulsa would beat Boise.  Rece “I love Big Al” Davis was so over the top in spending half of the game running down the Boise State football team and saying that the student-athletes and Americans on the Boise team do not have the right to play for a national title that it occurred to us that Rece “I worship the ground that Nick Saban walks on” Davis needs to return to the University of Alabama and take a course in US History with a special emphasis on the founding of our Republic so that Rece “Rammer-Jammer, Yellow Hammer” Davis can be instructed on the fundamental principles of our nation.

Yes, it was that bad, but is anyone surprised that everyone at ESPN is now in full-court press to talk down Boise State and to do all they can to make sure that unlike every other team in the history of these bogus polls which has moved up when teams ahead them lose, that Boise State not be allowed that same opportunity.  To that attitude we call BULLSHIT on ESPN and we want the folks in Bristol to know that all of you are officially on BULLSHIT NOTICE on anything related to the idea that somehow that Boise State (or other non-BCS teams) and the Bronco football players do not deserve to play for the national title when that comes out of the mouth of the BASTARDS, yes the OUTRAGEOUS BASTARDS, working for the Beast that is ESPN then you will be called out on it. 

Let’s put Rece “I love my Crimson Tide” Davis in the position he belongs in, at the bottom of the upcoming Coaches Hot Seat Media Rankings with the other lackeys and Candy Asses that support the Bogus BCS and actually do everything in their power to try to weed out teams that “they don’t believe are worthy” for their BULLSHIT system.  To Hell with you Rece “Give some of that Dreamland Barbeque” Davis and to everyone else at ESPN that spouts BULLSHIT that is intended to try and sway public opinion not based upon what actually happens on the field of play, but based upon the opinions of people that are getting their pockets stuffed by the BASTARDS that have created a system in the BCS that should be repugnant to all Americans that believe in Freedom, Liberty and the basic principle that “All Men Are Created Equal.”  Yes, you are BASTARDS!

Memo to Rece “Got 12 National Titles?” Davis and the other Bastards at ESPN:  If you don’t believe in the principles of the Declaration of Independence and the US Constitution then admit it so that everyone knows where you really stand, but if you do believe in the documents upon which our country were founded then shut you flippin’ mouth you BASTARD.  Shame on you, shame on every damn one you at ESPN, because all of you are an embarrassment to a country that supposedly views ALL Americans, yes, even the members of the Boise State, TCU, USF, Cincinnati, etc., football teams as equal. 

Please someone send these BASTARDS in Bristol copies of the Declaration of Independence and US Constitution.  We already know that the BCS Boys get a thrill about treating Americans in unequal ways and don’t think twice about tossing the principles of the American Republic into the garbage, so maybe the ESPN BASTARDS just need to be included also on the list of the discriminators.  George “Stand in the schoolhouse door” Wallace would fit right in with these BASTARDS.

Memo to Everyone at ESPN that somehow believes that Boise State does not deserve to play for a national title:  Boise State has played 5 BCS schools in the last 4 years and they are 4-1 in those 5 games, including two wins over Oregon, 1 over Oregon State and of course, the win over Oklahoma in the Fiesta Bowl.  For people at ESPN or other media outlets to say that Boise State does not deserve to play in the national title game not only denies history and fact but we recognize it as an out-and-out attempt by people in power to deny an equal opportunity for Americans to compete for a title in collegiate sports.  Yes, maybe all of this talk by the folks at ESPN and elsewhere is actually an issue for the Federal Communications Commission, because to so obviously and blatantly degrade one group of Americans to achieve a “preferred” outcome has no place in the United States of America.  Opinion is one thing, but a concerted effort by an entire network that is repeated over and over again with almost the exact phrases by over a dozen different people smells to us like a conspiracy to influence the outcome of a sporting event.  A good question is, with all the people that work at ESPN is there even one person that believes that Boise State, who has a 4-1 record in their last 5 games against “BSC” schools (including a win over the 13 th ranked team in Oregon), has the chance to play in the national title game?  If not, then just what the Hell is going on at ESPN and why do so many of these former players and coaches seem to allow themselves to be drug around by the nose by a bunch of suits in Manhattan that not only never played sports but don’t know how to throw a football or hold a baseball bat.  Everyone at ESPN is saying the same exact thing:  Boise State will not play in the bogus national title game.  Hell, the Soviet Union couldn’t even get everyone to agree, but ESPN can?  Yes, that makes sense…..to morons, idiots and buffoons that is! 

Yes, that is  Hellava question, but at least we know where Rece “Did you know Sela Ward was an Alabama cheerleader” Davis and Lou “You can call me doctor, but don’t call me dentist” Holtz stand:  Boise State is not good enough to play for the national title.

How do we know that?  Davis and Holtz probably said it 100 times between themselves on the telecast last night!

For all those folks at ESPN and other media networks that seem to think that for some reason the members of the Boise State football do not deserve to play for the national title we say that none of your children deserve the same rights and freedoms of other Americans.  There is no difference in the BASTARDS in the media saying a certain group of Americans don’t deserve to play for a national title and us saying that your children don’t deserve the same rights of other Americans.  What is really sad is that the BASTARDS in media don’t understand that basic fact as they prattle on with all of this BULLSHIT.

Next up for ESPN:  Chris Fowler, Craig James, Jessie Palmer who have been assigned to “call” the Cincinnati – USF game tonight on ESPN.  Will they call the football game or will they spend half their time talking about how Boise State, Cincinnati, USF and other teams don’t have the right to play for a Bogus BSC national title?  Maybe they don’t have a choice and the suits in Manhattan have told them that they don’t want Boise State anywhere near the top of the Bogus polls, which can only mean one thing in that we will hear a lot of….

“Boise State is not worthy enough to play for the national title.”

Yes, these folks are BASTARDS and there is no way that George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, John Adams, Thomas Paine, Sam Adams, John Hancock and the other founders of our Republic would even consider anyone that treats one group of citizens in a preferential way over another group of citizens as Americans.  Call yourselves members of the media but sure the Hell don’t call yourself Americans if you are going to treat Boise State differently than other teams that play college football.

 

BCS Poll Release = A Week for Candy Asses Everywhere to Rejoice!

Yes, this is a momentous week for Candy Asses everywhere, because this is the week that the first Bogus BCS Poll will be released as the head coaches that watch less football than Aunt Edna, the clueless Harris Poll voters, and the computer dweebs in dark rooms with a Mountain Dew in one hand a Ho-Ho in the other get their poll results combined to together to create the Bogus BCS Poll.  Yes, when that Bogus BCS Poll comes out Candy Asses from around the world will throw their hands in the air and thank the Heavens for again delivering them into Nirvana.  Uhhh…..not quite Candy Ass BCS Lovers, because the BCS is an out-and-out fraud. 

Of course, it does take a Real, and we mean a Real Candy Ass to defend a system that throws together three bogus polls at the end of the season and then tells the student-athletes on the football teams to take a month off, to show up at Bogus BCS Bowl city a week early for pie eating contests, shopping sprees, visits to theme parks and lots of things that have nothing to do with the playing of the game of football.  Yes, that makes a lot of sense, but once one realizes that college and university presidents, most of whom that have never worked a day in their life in the private sector, i.e on the public payroll, and have also almost to man or women never played a minute of organized sports, are running this train called the BCS then it is easy to understand that they would come up with such a Candy Ass way to determine a Bogus national champion.  Yes, Candy Asses dreamed up this BULLSHIT BCS and Candy Asses defend the BULLSHIT BCS, because if you support the BCS you are a CANDY ASS.  That’s called logic or for the slow one’s in the crowd reading this blog:  Using your noggin!

Eat pie, go on shopping sprees, go to theme parks.  Yes, that sounds like something a Candy Ass would enjoy doing and guess what, that is what the college football teams that can get to a mediocre .500 record or better do, because that is what the Candy Asses that wouldn’t survive 5 minutes in the real world love to do as well (college and university presidents)!  Please, don’t tell the football players that when they get into the real world that no one is handing out pies, sending them on free shopping sprees to Best Buy and letting them into Sea World to kiss a whale for free, because if they think that they will be in for a very rude awakening when the real world kicks them in ass.

The BCS = Dreamed up by Candy Asses, Supported by Candy Asses, Run by Candy Asses ALL to produce a Candy Ass Bogus BCS Champion.

Cut yourself a slice of pie and turn on Ipod because it is time to play some Candy Ass bowl game football! 

Hey, let’s talk about what the college football season would look like if real men and women and not a bunch of Candy Asses were running this operation.  Oh, it would look the same as every other sport in collegiate athletics….  Yes, what a novel idea, but then don’t tell that to a Candy Ass because he is too busy getting his ass kissed by a bowl rep as his wife is on the way to a massage and facial at 4PM, all on the expense account of course! 

Yes, you are CANDY ASS if you support the BCS!

Now let’s talk about some real football!

Now let’s get to the Post-Week 6 Coaches Hot Seat Power Playoff Poll:

Coaches Hot Seat Power Playoff Poll, Post-Week 6

1. Texas*

2. Alabama*

3. Florida#

4. Boise State*

5. Cincinnati*

6. Virginia Tech*

7. USC*

8. Ohio State*

9. TCU#

10. Miami#

11. Oregon#

12. LSU#

13. Kansas#

14. Iowa#

15. BYU

16. Penn State

17. Nebraska

18. South Florida

19. Georgia Tech

20. Oklahoma State

*Conference Champs

#At-Large Teams

Other Conference Champs

CUSA/SB – Tulsa*

MAC – Central Michigan*

We now use the above Power Playoff Poll to seed a 16-team college football postseason playoff tournament, although we would prefer that a committee similar to the committee for the NCAA basketball tournament be used to pick the 7 wild card teams and then seed the 9 conference champions and 7 wild card teams in the postseason tournament.  Below are the First Round Games if the season had ended after Week 4.

First Round Games – Friday/Saturday December 18-19, 2009

Texas – Big 12 Champion

Central Michigan – MAC Champion

 

LSU - #5 At-Large Team

Boise State – MWC/WAC Champion

 

Virginia Tech – ACC Champion

Kansas – #6 At-Large Team

 

Oregon – #4 At-Large Team

Florida – #1 At-Large Team

 

Iowa – #7 At-Large Team

USC – Pac-10 Champion

 

TCU – #2 At-Large Team

Miami – #3 At-Large Team

 

Cincinnati – Big East Champion

Ohio State – Big Ten Champion

 

Tulsa – CUSA/Sun Belt Champion

Alabama – SEC Champion

How about that Cincinnati – Ohio State game in Round 1?  Oh, that would be a great one for Ohio and the game of college football.  Yes, those are some great First Round football games and for anyone to compare a legitimate postseason like the one detailed above with the Bogus BCS is just beyond all belief.

 

Things that caught our attention in the past week:

Oklahoma State’s Dez Bryant should be reinstated and why is Deion Sanders hanging out with a college athlete

Oklahoma State WR Dez Bryant should be a great lesson for young people everywhere.  When you are in a room with authority types ALWAYS TELL THE TRUTH even if the truth might cause you problems.  It doesn’t pay to lie to the NCAA, the FBI, the police or anyone else that is wearing a tie that has you in a small room asking you probing questions.  Yes, you can lie about the size of a fish that you caught, about a how great looking a woman was hitting on you at the university center, and that you made a B in a class when you really were lucky to get a C-, but never lie to anyone wearing a coat and tie. 

As for Deion Sanders, why don’t you just stay the Hell away from college athletes!  Here is the difference between Coaches Hot Seat and other decent human beings that actually give a damn about student-athletes and Deion Sanders.  If we see Stanford RB Toby Gerhard at the Stanford Mall we will say something like “Keep it up Toby” or “Good luck against Arizona.” but if Deion Sanders found himself in the same situation he evidently says, “Let’s get some dinner together.” 

That is BULLSHIT Deion Sanders and shame on your for hanging around these college athletes.

Reinstate Dez Bryant and let Mike Gundy discipline him for his transgression.

 

Bobby Bowden is “Leaning towards coming back?

When Bobby Bowden says he is “Leaning on coming back” to FSU in 2010 does that mean that FSU could lose all of this remaining games and Bowden would still want to come back for the 2010 season?  If so, then Bobby Bowden doesn’t really give a damn about FSU.  What has been most disturbing about Bobby Bowden’s comments in recent weeks about his job status is that it seems like this is all really about what is best for Bobby Bowden not what is best for Florida State University.  What is best for FSU should always come first and if FSU really struggles for the rest of the year, which we see them doing and having a hard time even getting to 6 wins, it will not matter which way Bobby Bowden is “leaning,” because Bowden will not be allowed to return next year.

As for this Bogus “Coach in Waiting” experiment at Florida State, since Jimbo Fisher was placed into the Coach in Waiting spot behind Bobby Bowden, the FSU Seminoles have put up a record of 18 – 14 (.563).  Maybe we are wrong here, but a .563 winning percentage should not acceptable at any I-A school, but especially at a school like Florida State and this FSU mess is one of the best arguments we have seen for trashing the “Coach in Waiting” idea.  There can only be one leader of a football team or organization and if we ever get the time one of us here at Coaches Hot Seat has a great story on a leadership change that he would like to relate that would be a great lesson for college athletic programs that are considering having two people in charge at the same time.

 

Meanwhile in the Real World

Abraham Lincoln once said:

“I am a firm believer in the people. If given the truth, they can be depended upon to meet any national crisis. The great point is to bring them the real facts.”

President Lincoln was right, the American people “if given the truth…can meet any national crisis” and that is why it would be very helpful if members of Congress and the President would quit lying to us about the health care bills that are before the Congress.  The Baucus health care bill that this week passed out of the Senate Finance Committee is but one example of the lies that flow forth from Washington DC. 

The Congressional Budget Office “scored” the Baucus health care bill and came up with the conclusion that it would not add to the deficit and if there is actually someone that believes that BULLSHIT in America then we have a red bridge here in San Francisco that we can get for you at a very cheap price (Just don’t ask for the title to the bridge after we sell it to you!). 

The fact is that the Baucus bill is based upon the idea that the taxes within this bill, and there are hundreds of billions of dollars of tax increases that will affect all Americans in this bill, will go into affect immediately and start being collected, but the health insurance for Americans part of the bill will not really kick in until 2014.  That’s right, if you do not have health care insurance right now and you are expecting the Baucus bill or any other bill passed on out of Washington DC to do anything for you before 2014, then you are living in a fantasyland.  Another Bogus item in the Baucus bill is that it says that in future years that payments to doctors and hospitals under Medicare will be cut by very large amounts and everyone involved in this debate knows that the Congress and the President will NEVER cut those payments.  That is BULLSHIT and people on Capitol Hill and the President need to admit it is BULLSHIT and start telling the American people the truth, namely that there is no way the Baucus bill will not add hundreds of billions of dollars to the national debt.  The prescription drug bill and the bill that set-up Medicare Advantage were bogus and were nothing more than programs that have helped to explode the national debt and the current health bills before the Congress will do the same as well.  What we need is the truth, but don’t count on that coming out Washington DC mind you….

The Baucus health care bill is nothing more than a big Christmas present to health insurance and the pharmaceutical companies and it will do nothing to deal with the biggest problem facing health care in our country, namely slowing the cost of health care which will bankrupt our country in the next decade if something is not done soon.  The Baucus health care bill will in fact continue the status quo to a great extent with only seniors losing some of the extra incentives they have been getting for free in recent years with Medicare Advantage and some of the uninsured getting health care insurance coverage starting in 2014, although at a very high cost to the country.  Since the Baucus bill does not adequately penalize people that decide not to get health insurance, health care insurance premiums will go up in future years because insurance companies will have to take on all comers no matter what their health status which to anyone with an IQ over room temperature knows, will have to lead to higher health insurance premiums for everyone else.  Without everyone in and required to carry a health insurance policy, as we do with car insurance in every state, then there is no way we ever bring down the cost of health care premiums for the general population.  In fact, we are very confident that the Baucus bill will lead to higher health insurance premiums for individuals and small business which are right now getting decimated by health care costs.  Just in the last couple of weeks, several of us at Coaches Hot Seat have been told that the health insurance at our companies will go up between 10 and 20 percent in the next year and that is on top of the 7 to 12 percent increases we have seen for several years now.  Those health insurance costs are unsustainable, especially in a state like California where the regulations and taxes already make it next too impossible but for all but the very largest companies to even turn a profit.

The Baucus health care bill, although better than the bills in the House and the one that passed out of the Senate Health Committee, actually does very little to address the big problems that are facing health care in America and as we read through the bill we actually think it will only make things worse.

Democrats, and many Republicans, like to hand out money to people because it gets them reelected and makes them feel good, but that desire to feel good will bankrupt our Republic.  Instead of the Baucus health care bill or even worse the health care bills that are now in the US House, Congress and the President should be looking at the proposal by Senator Ron Wyden of Oregon which would give health care insurance choice to all Americans and would go a long ways to getting control of health care costs in America.  We would add some things to the Wyden bill, like a strong tort reform amendment, which the CBO says would eliminate upwards of 100 billion dollars in the public and private health care sectors, and we would also make sure that middle and lower class Americans had the ability to get into our health care system.  The Baucus bill in our opinion will make health care in American more expensive for both government programs and in the private sector, it will cause health insurance premiums to rise for everyone, it provides no choice for 80 percent of Americans and it will add hundreds of billions of debt, no matter what the folks in DC are claiming.

Yes, it is outrageous that all Americans do not have access to quality health care, but the bills that are before the Congress will just set the country up for massive amounts of spending in the future, and we have some news for the people in Washington DC when it comes to spending all this money….The United States of America is broke. 

In 2009, 40 percent of all income tax collected will go just to pay the interest on the national debt and it is time that our elected leaders come clean to what the country is facing in coming years with all of the debt we have piled up; around 12 TRILLION right now on the books, the debt we expect to add over the next ten years, another 10 TRILLION or so, and the 56 TRILLION or so in unfunded mandated spending for Medicare, Medicaid, Social Security, and other government programs that we have not set aside any money for. 

All Americans should visit the website of the Peter G. Peterson Foundation and see just what a Hellava mess our country is in and what kind of a disaster we are leaving for our children, grandchildren and even great grandchildren. 

Peter G. Peterson Foundation

Yes, we are in a Hellava mess and if people don’t think that the problems that are facing the country will not filter down to sports like college football then they don’t understand the real depth of the problems the United States is facing right now.

There is a lot to keep your eye on out there, but the value of the US Dollar in recent days has been very troubling and it has to have the folks at the US Treasury and Federal Reserve very concerned.  If not, then they do not understand that a great country is no longer great when it doesn’t have a strong currency.  If America ever gets to the point when it is not longer “great” then the world will have a Hellava mess on its hands and Americans will be in a world of hurt.

US Dollar to Euro

It will be fascinating to see what finally comes out of the Congress on health care insurance, but if what has passed out of the House and Senate committees so far is what the final bill will look like, we can only say our country is going to be in a Hellava mess in a decade and much worse off than we are today, because we will never be able to pay for everything that we have promised to the American people.  The sad thing is that our elected representatives know that fact and yet they press on and the US just keeps adding more debt that is only being loaded onto the backs of our children that they will have no chance in Hell of ever getting out from under.

Next up on the CHS Blog:  There is only one way for the United States to ever get out of the mess we are in and it will involve governments on all levels reducing spending in the coming years and more importantly getting our country growing again.  Right now, the Democrats in California, with an assist from Governor Arnold have constructed a governmental and business climate that punishes and penalizes business which has caused a flight of capital and people that has been devastating the economy of the state.  Only a fool or an idiot would invest money in or open a significant new business in California, unless that company was getting massive incentives from the government to operate, and believe it or not the current business climate in the state is actually trying to be replicated on the national level by the same morons that have wreaked so much destruction here.  If America does goes go the way of California as some believe, then very simply America is finished, at least as those of us that grew up in the 1970s and 1980s knew and understood it.

Growth of our economy which will be driven by good private sector jobs at good wages (not more government jobs which only adds to the problems) for all Americans is THE ONLY WAY out of mess that our Republic find itself in, and the federal and many state government are now actually crafting policies and legislation that will make it much harder to get our economy moving again.

Someone cue Forrest Gump.

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Here we go again with the Post Week 6 Coaches Hot Seat Rankings which can only mean!

Johnny Cash, Ring of Fire

Post Week 6 Coaches Hot Seat Rankings

Link to Post Week 6 Coaches Hot Seat Rankings

 Top 10 Coaches on Post Week 6 Coaches Hot Seat Rankings

1.  Dan Hawkins, Colorado – Since the fall camp when backup Colorado QB Tyler Hansen was given the opportunity to “talk with his parents to see if they all thought he should redshirt this season” we have not really understood just what in the Hell has been going on at Colorado.  We all experienced in our lives and thought that we understood that when a college athlete signed a scholarship that the head coach would be making the decisions on who plays, who doesn’t, who redshirts, who is thrown off the team, etc., but evidently in Boulder (which is a very beautiful but odd place itself) it is the coaches ask the athletes what they want to do and then act accordingly.  After Tyler Hansen “decided” in the preseason that he would redshirt in 2009 because Cody Hawkins had solidified himself as the starter at Colorado we couldn’t help but wonder if Dan Hawkins had lost his mind or was he just blinded by the love for his son, which is in itself a huge problem that no college head coach should ever put himself in.  Now that Cody Hawkins has struggled this season, the backup QB that “decided with his family” that he was going to redshirt in 2009 was put into the game against Texas when the Longhorns were running wild and now it seems that “WA-LA” Hansen is now the “starting quarterback!”  As people that know Boulder, Colorado would say at this spot, “Only in Boulder, Colorado” as they roll their eyes in disbelief…  Here’s the thing about Cody Hawkins, we got to see Cody in high school when we were up there on business and stayed over for a Boise State football game a few years back and our impression then of Cody is not much different than what it is today, namely that Hawkins has an average arm (we have 2 QBs in their early 40s on the CHS flag football team with better arms), OK speed, average size and strength, and above average leadership skills.  The problem for Cody Hawkins is that he was a good high school QB but not a great one and his best attribute, his leadership skills, don’t do a whole Hellava lot when you are on a field with the kind of players that teams like Texas can put on the field.  OK, enough on Cody Hawkins, but now that Colorado has evidently switched to a new QB in Hansen it still doesn’t change the fact that the Colorado football team and Dan Hawkins are behind the 8-ball for the 2009 season and we don’t see any way that this ends good for anyone.  Dan Hawkins is 14-28 (.333) in his fourth season at Colorado and he has not had a winning season in Boulder yet, but due to a number of things including the current state of the economy, Hawkins might just return for the 2010 season.  Who knows, but what we really know is that Colorado has Kansas at home on Saturday and Dan Hawkins and the Buffs have never needed a win more.

2.  Paul Wulff, Washington State – Ho, Hum.  Paul Wulff’s Washington State team got beat again, this time 27-14 by mediocre Arizona State.  Wulff is now 3-16 in his second season at WSU and his 3 wins are against:  I-AA Portland State, a winless Washington team in 2008 and SMU in overtime in 2009.  We haven’t a clue to what is going on at Washington State except that we do not think there is snowball’s chance in Death Valley that the Cougars will win another game in 2009 with at California, at Notre Dame, at Arizona, UCLA, Oregon State and at Washington left.  No more wins in 2009 would leave Wulff’s two year record at WSU at:  3-22.  If a 3-22 record over two years is acceptable at Washington State then Washington State is no longer in the college football business.  Enough said on that.  The question that must be asked now is, how many games can Paul Wulff lose and keep his job?  Seems like he could lose from now until Hell freezes over and no one would say a word which says a lot about what is going on at Washington State these days…….namely nothing.

3.  Greg McMackin, Hawaii – After getting thumped by Fresno State on Saturday night (which thanks to ESPN360.com we were able to watch), Greg McMackin has now dropped below the .500 mark, 9-10, in his second season at Hawaii.  In 2009 Hawaii is 2-3 with wins over I-AA Central Arkansas and the above mentioned Washington State and the folks in Honolulu have to be wondering just where in the Hell the Warrior football program is going.  June Jones won 23 of his last 27 games at Hawaii and now McMackin is below the .500 record in his 19 games with the Warriors and that kind of change in fortune can only mean that Greg is squarely on the Hot Seat.  Here’s the bad news for Greg McMackin and Hawaii:  Up next is at Idaho, Boise State, at Nevada, Utah State, New Mexico State, San Jose State, Navy, and Wisconsin to end the season.  We only see 3 “maybe” wins and 5 probable losses left on Hawaii’s schedule which adds up to 5-8. If the Hawaii season does end that way it will mean that folks running the Hawaii athletic department will have a very interesting decision to make once the 2009 season is over.  There are a lot of very good head and assistant coaches in the college game that would row a boat to Hawaii for the head coaching job in Honolulu and if Greg McMackin continues to flounder the folks will learn in hurry just what the UH head coaching job is really worth once they see the quality of the resumes that floods into them.  Hell, if the standard at Hawaii is .500 football, we may just apply for this position if it opens because we could coach Hawaii to that level and still have plenty of time to hit the beach each an every afternoon!  Hell, Pete Carroll might even consider the Hawaii job, because Carroll could win big and still get plenty of beach time in!

4.  Mike Sherman, Texas A&M – To read the media in south Texas one would come away with the impression that a Texas A&M football team that is 3-0 against three pitiful teams and 0-2 against the only two real teams it has played is just fine and dandy and even cause for celebration for Aggie fans.  Yes, Texas A&M football is finished and is now is little more than folks in uniforms waving white towels and getting together the night before the game to Yell at the sky and extol the virtues of the Aggie football team.  It seems that actually winning football games is not important anymore in College Station as long as everyone can gather together, hold hands and sing Kumbaya all the while extolling the virtues of the great leader, Mike Sherman, who has a record of 7-10 in his second season at A&M by the way.  Who has Mike Sherman beaten in those 7 games you ask?  2008:  New Mexico, Army, Iowa State, Colorado, and in 2009: New Mexico, Utah State, UAB.  Yes, that’s right, Mike Sherman has not yet beaten at team that had a winning record in ’08 or has a winning record so far in 2009.  What is Mike Sherman’s record against Big 12 teams you ask:  2-7 with his only Big 12 wins coming over losing teams Iowa State and Colorado in 2008.  Yet, the great Mike Sherman can do no wrong!  Do you ever wonder how Hitler came to power?  One of the reasons was that the media was in the bag for Hitler and right now the media in south Texas and Dallas have all their lips planted firmly on Mike Sherman’s ass and we have no doubt if Sherman and the Aggies lost ever remaining game on their schedule the media in Texas would only pucker up some more to see if they could cover Sherman’s ass entirely!  Such is the state of the media in Texas, but then there are those folks that cover the Dallas Cowboys that actually ask some legitimate questions….Hmmmm, maybe we should send one of those Cowboys reporters down to College Station to see if they could pry their brethren’s lips off of Mike Sherman’s ass!  Yes, that would be entertaining if after two or three questions in one of Sherman’s press conference (which usually has questions like:  “Hey Mike can I get you a cup of coffee?  Do you need a foot rub?  What about your dog, does it need a bath?  Does your car need to be washed?  Yes it is that bad!) if someone from Dallas stood up and said, “What the Hell is going on here?  This guy has beaten no one!  I have a question for Coach Sherman…How long before Texas A&M starts playing football again?”  The problem with that question for Mike Sherman is that Sherman doesn’t have a clue to what Texas A&M football used to be or what it should be today. 

Memo to Dallas Morning News:  Send someone to College Station and have them break up this love-in and while your at it tell them to send Joan Baez back to the commune in California, although we know the reporters covering Mike Sherman will be broken up that Baez won’t be around any longer to get everyone to hold hands and chant the virtues of the Great One Mike Sherman!

Memo to Texas A&M:  Please let us know when you get back in the college football business because right now the Aggies are playing nothing more than Chutes and Ladders.

5.  Mike Sanford, UNLV – One wonders what the standard for a football coach at UNLV is when the current UNLV head coach Mike Sanford has an overall record in his fifth year of 13-40, yet the AD at UNLV is saying that there is more to a coach than wins and losses.  What?  We have some news for the AD at UNLV, there are head coaches all over the country that are graduating players, that have players behaving appropriately and believe it or not THEY ARE WINNING FOOTBALL GAMES!    Yes, it is possible for a football program to both graduate players and win lots of games and at the tops of all of these bogus polls are college football programs that do just that.  Now at 2-4 and with Utah, at New Mexico, at TCU, Colorado State, at Air Force and San Diego State left, we really don’t see UNLV getting a .500 record in 2009 and no matter what the UNLV AD says if Mike Sanford does not get to at least 6-6 in 2009, he will be fired and a new head football coach will be hired later this year at Vegas.  What the folks at UNLV are about to find out is that when there are only 120 head coaching jobs in I-A college football the quality of coaches that will line up around the corner just to interview for the UNLV job will be very impressive indeed.  Of course, the folks at UNLV could decide that 13-40 isn’t that bad……Naw, they couldn’t be that stupid in Vegas, could they?

6.  Ron Zook, Illinois – Ron Zook is now 7-11 since that 2007-08 Rose Bowl and that is a Hellava fall for the Illini.  It looks to us that Illinois is struggling at all phases and when a boat is leaking everywhere it is very hard to know which hole to plug first.  The biggest problem seems to be the offense which has been out of sorts for a couple of years now, but is really struggling under a new OC in 2009 and we don’t see that changing anytime soon unless the offensive line starts blocking, the receivers start running their routes right and blocking when called on, and the running backs actually start running like they have an interest in gaining yards.  The Illini defense has been mediocre in 2009 and that won’t change unless they start tackling and actually look like they have an interest in stopping the other team from scoring.  Yes, there are problems all across the board for Illinois and now at 1-4 and with at Indiana, at Purdue, Michigan, at Minnesota, Northwestern, at Cincinnati and Fresno State left this could be a damn ugly finish to the ’09 season.  Maybe Ron Zook can turn around the Illini this season, but we are talking about a totally different football team that would be needed from the one that has suited up so far this year for Illinois for anything like that to happen. 

7.  Ralph Friedgen, Maryland – After getting beat 42-32 by Wake Forest on Saturday, Ralph Friedgen is coaching for his job over the last 6 games of the 2009 season.  From the 2007 season forward, Ralph Friedgen and Maryland are now 16-16 over their last 32 games and only 8-10 in the last 18 ACC games.  Certainly, a .500 record overall and a losing record over the past three seasons in the ACC cannot be acceptable for the folks running the Maryland athletic department, unless of course having a winning football program is no longer important in College Park.  Here is what Ralph Friedgen and the Terps have left in 2009:  Virginia, at Duke, at NC State, Virginia Tech, at Florida State, and Boston College at home.  We believe that Friedgen will need at least 4 wins in the last 6 games to return as the head coach at Maryland in 2010, unless of course UM doesn’t care about football anymore….which is always a possibility in today’s world. 

8.  Bobby Bowden, Florida State – Over the weekend Bobby Bowden did an interview with ESPN where he said:

“If I was 50, nobody would be saying a word as far as that’s concerned,” Bowden tells ESPN.com. “But at 79, he’s too old. I found out when I first started, it’s always this way: ‘Yeah, but what have you done lately? What have you done lately?’ What you used to do doesn’t count, and I know it’s that way. I’m ready for it. But I also know anytime something goes wrong, he’s too old.”

Age?  Does Bobby Bowden really believe this about his age?  If Bowden does believe that his age is at the heart of his current problems then he has either been badly misled or he does not understand what college football is all about.  College football, like all sports in America, is about winning and the problems that Bobby Bowden has been having in recent years are because, and only because, he and his FSU football team are NOT WINNING ENOUGH FOOTBALL GAMES.  No, this is not about age, this is about WINNING and if Bobby Bowden really believes that if he had won lots of games, conference titles, and competed for national titles in recent years (what Bowden did for years at Florida State by the way) then NO ONE would be saying a word about Bobby Bowden retiring.  Far from calling for Bobby Bowden’s retirement, if Bowden was winning at the same clip he was in the 80s and 90s there would be people screaming from the rafters to lock-in Bowden with a new 20-year contract so that he could coach at FSU into 100s!  No, this is not about age Coach Bowden.  This is about winning football games and when Bobby Bowden has put up a record of 33-25  (.569) overall and only 18-18 in ACC conference games since 2005 his job status should be in question which points to the fact that the above win/loss records are the reason that Bobby Bowden is now on the HOT SEAT.  Age?  Please, give us a break!  If Bobby Bowden believes that a 33-25 overall record and an 18-18 record in the conference since 2005 is acceptable at FSU or any other ACC school for that matter then Bobby Bowden should be asked to step down at the end of this season because his standards of winning are little more than the acceptance of mediocrity and the FSU athletics should be not be in the acceptance of mediocrity business for any of their athletic teams.  Bobby Bowden is on the Hot Seat now because of his record and it is time for the people around him to start speaking the truth and for Coach Bowden to admit that his FSU football team has not been performing to a standard that is acceptable to him and that unless the Seminoles start playing better football he will step down to give someone else a chance.  Don’t think that Bowden’s .569 winning percentage over the past 5 seasons is that bad?  Please, Bobby Bowden’s career winning percentage at all schools is .744 and at FSU it has been .759.  No, a .569 winning percentage is not acceptable at Podunk U and it sure the Hell shouldn’t be acceptable at Florida State.  At 2-4 now, Bowden and FSU have at North Carolina, NC State, at Clemson, at Wake Forest, Maryland and Florida left and we believe that Bowden needs 4 wins out of those 6 wins to have a chance to return in 2010.  What will be really sad is when FSU ends up being forced to fire Bobby Bowden, no not for his age, but for good reason because FSU has just not won enough football games in recent years to justify keeping any head coach on, even a legend.

9.  Steve Kragthorpe, Louisville – Nothing has come easy for Steve Kragthorpe including the win over Southern Miss on Saturday night which came down to a Cardinals kicker making a field goal to take some of the pressure that is not only been on Kragthorpe but the entire Louisville athletic department.  The kick was good and Kragthorpe got a much needed win over Southern Miss, but the bad news is that with a win the Cardinals are only at 2-3 on the season and now they have to face back-to-back road trips at UConn and Cincinnati.  Throw in road trips at West Virginia and South Florida later in the year and Rutgers at home to end the season and it looks like it is not going to be easy for Louisville to find 4 wins out of the next 7 games and we wonder if Kragthorpe can survive without at least a 6-6 record in ’09.  Kragthorpe and Louisville need wins and if they want to turn around the ’09 season they MUST beat UConn on Saturday.

10.  Tommy West, Memphis – Tommy West is another coach that got a big win on Saturday by beating UTEP but with only 2 wins on the board at the halfway point in the season we look at what the Tigers have left on the schedule: at Southern Miss, East Carolina, at Tennessee, UAB, at Houston and at Tulsa and we are having a hard time finding 4 more wins which is probably the minimum number of wins West needs in ’09 to return in 2010.  John Calipari has proved that Memphis can build a consistent winner in basketball and we don’t see any reason that Memphis can’t have a similar type of football program and clearly West’s record in 9 years with the Tigers: 49-55 (.471) is not meeting any standard that would be called anything beyond mediocre.  Tommy West is clearly on the Hot Seat and to retain his job he must win 4 of the last 6 games.  If the Memphis job does open up later this year, they will have some great coaches to choose from, because Conference USA is a great place for an up-and-coming coach to both win games and prove his chops.

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