COACHES HOT SEAT BLOG

We are a little late with the Post Week 9 Coaches Hot Seat Rankings this week because we wanted to get everyone together last night to go over a number of items (CHS Rankings, Top 100 Assistants, CHS Media Review, A BCS Conspiracy? (more on that in the next blog post), a tape put together by one of our tech guys on the number of misses called by officials in 2009 – Wow, lots of them!) and the nature of living in America in 2009.  Is it just us, or does it seem like you have work twice as hard as one worked 5 years ago to make the same amount of money?  Of course, if you are working for the government (or a university) you are in the catbird seat right now, as long as the money doesn’t run out which is never a sure thing with the way governments are spending money these days!  The real catbird seat are in the industries, automobiles and houses stand out to us, where there are entire sections of the tax code dedicated to making sure that people are making money and even then some of these fools are often in, coming out of, or teetering on the edge of bankruptcy!  Bravo to Ford Motor Company and their great CEO Alan Mulally who stayed off of government money and now has Ford back on a path to consistent profitability (Mulally is a hellava of a CEO and leader and we would go to war with that sob!).  Most of us haven’t bought a Ford vehicle in years, but that Mustang, Taurus, Escape, Explorer, F-150 and Expedition are looking pretty good!

Getting back to Coaches Hot Seat, we gathered last night to consider a number of items and the Post Week 9 Coaches Hot Seat Rankings while we watched Monday Night Football on ESPN (By the way, the current broadcasting team for MNF is the best since the glory days of MNF when Frank Gifford, Dandy Don Meredith and Howard Cosell were holding down those same positions.  Mike Tirico has really come into his own in the last few years and he has become one of the best play-by-play announcers in the game of football.  Mike is well-prepared, he is confident, he knows when to let his partners talk and he actually calls the game he is at instead of debating the finer points of BS which is so prevalent in college football today.  Yes, because the NFL actually settles their champion on the field of play you don’t hear Tirico or anyone else calling NFL football games talking about the bogus BCS.  Tirico focuses on each play, what is going on in the game, on the sidelines, with the crowd and he is just doing a hellava job overall.  We all remember Ron Jaworski from our youth when he was a QB with the Philadelphia Eagles and Ron does a great job of explaining the game and what is happening to the viewers and he lets Tirico call the play-by-play and allows his new partner Jon Gruden to get his comments in.  The newest addition to the MNF booth is Jon Gruden and he is tremendously insightful about things that we often don’t think about and he really looks at the game as coach and isn’t afraid to talk like a former head coach which is very refreshing compared to the ex-coaches that call college games and seem to think that the viewing audience is a bunch of idiots.  Tirico, Jaworski, and Gruden are on top of their game and they are reminding us of those great days in the 1970s and 80s when Monday Night Football was not just a game, but was an event that almost the entire country tuned into each Monday. (Of course produced by the great Roone Arledge and directed by Chet Forte!)

Let’s go way back in time to 1973, Monday Night Football

 

Post Week 9 Coaches Hot Seat Rankings

Top 10 Coaches on Post Week 9 Coaches Hot Seat Rankings

1.  Greg McMackin, Hawaii – It seems like with Hawaii’s Greg McMackin we write the same thing over and over again, only the win/loss numbers get worse each week.  Greg McMackin is now 9 – 13 in his second year at Hawaii after taking over for June Jones who won 23 of his last 27 games with the Warriors.  Those are just stunning numbers and after Hawaii opened the season by beating Central Arkansas and Washington State (one I-AA team and one team that is playing like a Division II team) they have now lost 6 straight games and they have to run the table to have a chance to get to a postseason bowl game.  Only two seasons ago Hawaii was undefeated and playing in the Sugar Bowl and now they are on a 6 straight game losing streak and fighting to get back to the Hawaii Bowl on their home field.  As Jed Clampett says, “Pitiful, Pitiful…”  Hawaii has Utah State, New Mexico State, at San Jose State, Navy and Wisconsin to finish the season and we would have guessed that June Jones would have went at least 4-1 with that stretch of games.  Now let’s see what Greg McMackin can do.  If Hawaii ends up with a losing season in 2009, will the folks in Honolulu bring McMackin back for another mediocre season in 2010?  Who the Hell knows, but we do know that those waves in Hawaii will just keep rolling in and one will always be able to get a margarita when the Sun is setting over Waikiki!

2.  Mike Sanford, UNLV – After getting blasted by TCU 41-0 and dropping to 3-6 on the year, UNLV and their head coach Mike Sanford may have finally rolled snake eyes.  Yes, there is still a chance that UNLV could win their last 3 games, finish at 6-6 and maybe even get to a bowl game but there is also a chance that the streets will be paved with gold and good looking women will fly into our windows like one did for that kid at the end of the movie Animal House.  Sanford and the Rebels have Colorado State (winnable), at Air Force (not really winnable), and San Diego State left (winnable) so maybe the streets will be paved with gold and we should keep our windows open, but we rather doubt it.  Of course, Mike Sanford does have one leg up on the No. 1 guy on the Hot Seat Greg McMackin since UNLV beat the Warriors on September 19.  If Mike Sanford is to have any chance to returning for the 2010 season the next task is very clear cut:  The Rebels must beat Colorado State on Saturday.

3.  Ralph Friedgen, Maryland – After a embarrassing loss to Duke (anytime a school with the resources and talent of Maryland loses to Duke it should be embarrassing, even though Cutcliffe is doing a hellava job) Friedgen and the Terps had a bye week and the best news coming out of the bye week is that they didn’t lose it.  Now at 2-6 on the season and 35 – 34 (.507) in his last 69 games at Maryland, Ralph Friedgen is now facing 4 games to determine his future with the Terps.  With a trip to play at NC State, Virginia Tech at home, at Florida State and Boston College in College Park to finish the year we don’t give Maryland much of a chance to finish at .500 or better in 2009 and that means the folks running UM athletics will have some decisions to make come December.  Should Ralph Friedgen return in 2010 if Maryland does not finish with at least a .500 record in ’09.  If we were making that call we would base it on the simple idea if we thought Maryland would be better or worse next season.  If that question cannot be answered would be very loud affirmative “YES” Maryland should go ahead and turn their football team over to James Franklin.

4.  Dan Hawkins, Colorado – Before the CU Buffs got spanked by Missouri on Saturday Colorado chancellor Phil DiStefano said that Dan Hawkins “needs more time” to be successful.  Although we would probably agree that any new head coach needs the time to get his players and system into place, we would also say that it is very important that a college football program should be moving forward in a consistent and positive way and we don’t really know if that is the case with Hawkins at CU.  After the loss to Missouri, Dan Hawkins is now 15 – 30 (.333) in his fourth year at Colorado and we are having a difficult time understanding how winning only 1/3 of one’s games can possibly be considered acceptable at any I-A school.  If we were running CU athletics we would also be very concerned with how Colorado looks on the football field because right they don’t look like a very well coached team.  Maybe we don’t know what we are talking about, but when your team is down 33 to 3 at halftime at home to a team that came into the game at 4-3 on the year, it strikes us that something is terribly wrong here.  When we have watched Colorado play in 2009, save the Texas and Kansas games, we see an offensive line that couldn’t block the Pillsbury Dough Boy and a defense that leaks like the SS Minnow with the Skipper and Gilligan at the controls.  Well, whatever is going on at Colorado, the fact is that even if Colorado wanted to fired Dan Hawkins it does not have the money to do it and would it not be able to raise the money to do it, so we guess that someone at CU smartly said we might as well get behind Dan because we couldn’t fire the guy if ran naked through Pearl Street with a pumpkin on his head on Halloween night (a long standing tradition by the way that is easier to do when you have had a few pops and the way CU is playing maybe Dan and son Cody took a few pops on Saturday night and donned a pumpkin, but what do we know!).  The numbers are Dan Hawkins is 15 – 30 overall at CU and 2-6 on the season with Texas A&M, at Iowa State, at Oklahoma State and Nebraska at home to finish the season.  We wouldn’t be surprised if CU didn’t win another game, but if they went 2 – 2 in those 4 games it wouldn’t surprise us either.  What would surprise the Hell out of us is if the CU Buffs actually went into their next game determined to pop the other team in the mouth on both sides of the ball and then take the ball down the field on offense and put it into the end zone.  Yes, that would surprise the Hell out of us and if CU does finish 4-0 and 6-6 overall on the ’09 season we will make a point to be in Boulder in 2010 on Halloween night and take a few pops and then run through Pearl Street sans anything but a pumpkin on our heads, after we have taken a few pops of course!  Here’s the great thing about America though.  Dan Hawkins can lose the rest of his games in 2009 and be assured of returning for the  2010s season!  That’s why we have never been very big on “expressions of support” in the middle of the season, because you just never know….

5.  Tommy West, Memphis – After the loss to East Carolina on Tuesday night in the Liberty Bowl, Tommy West and his Memphis Tigers dropped to 2-6 on the season and now West’s overall record UM is 49 – 57 (.462) and those numbers are not what we would call impressive, or even mediocre for that matter!  With Memphis AD R. C. Johnson mulling Tommy West’s fate, West must surely know that he needs to turn this thing around quick or he will be in a bad spot come December.  With a trip to Tennessee up next, then UAB, at Houston, and then at Tulsa left to finish the year West probably needs to win out in order to have a strong argument that the Memphis football program has not completely stagnated but we think that most teams in I-A football would have a tough time winning out with that schedule.  If Tommy West and his Memphis football team don’t end up with a .500 record or better in 2009 will West be back in 2010?  We rather doubt it….

6.  Al Groh, Virginia – Al Groh has been on the Hot Seat for years now at Virginia, but last Saturday’s loss at home to Duke may have been the loss that win end his head coaching career.  There really is no excuse for a coach in his ninth year at Virginia losing to a coach in his second year at Duke, but that is exactly what happened to Groh and his Cavaliers on Saturday and there is no way Groh or anyone else at UVA can possibly explain or excuse away that loss to the Blue Devils.  Now at 3-5 on the season with at Miami, Boston College, at Clemson and Virginia Tech still left to play, it looks like to us that Groh will be lucky to even get to the 4 win mark in 2009 and there is not a chance in Hell that Groh will be back in 2010 unless he gets to at least 6-6 and that means a 3-1 run over the next 4 games is the minimum standard that Groh must meet.  Will Al Groh be the head coach at Virginia in 2010?  Will US government balance the federal budget in 2010?  The answer to both questions is the same!

7.  Steve Kragthorpe, Louisville – After beating that powerhouse football program Arkansas State on Saturday Steve Kragthorpe and the Cardinals still have a shot to get to .500 on the season, but only if they win out.  Kragthorpe is now 14 – 18 (.438) in his third season at Louisville and the fact is that he took over a Cardinals team that had won 41 of 50 games under Bobby Petrino and to say that UofL has been going in a different direction post-Petrino may be the biggest understatement of the year.  Now, if Steve Kragthorpe had taken over an average or pitiful football program, a 14 – 18 overall record in his third year wouldn’t look too bad, but he did take over a Louisville football program that was one of the top programs in the country when he arrived on the scene.  Now at 3-5 on the season with at West Virginia, Syracuse, at South Florida at Rutgers at home left to play we really doubt that Louisville will get to a .500 record in 2009 and that means the folks at the UofL will have to ask themselves the very simple question come December:  Is the Louisville football program going forward or backwards under Steve Kragthorpe?  If the answer to that question is not “forward” then Kragthorpe should be replaced.

8.  Paul Wulff, Washington State – Another week, another loss for Paul Wulff and the WSU Cougars.  This time it was a 40 – 14 loss to Notre Dame in San Antonio (San Antonio?  Please, someone explain to us why Washington State is playing Notre Dame in San Antonio!) which means that Paul Wulff has now taken his team to the same city of the Alamo and just like the Texans at the Battle of the Alamo, Wulff and his Cougars got the Hell beat out of them.  The only similarity in the two victors was that both the Mexicans and the Notre Dame Fighting Irish were Catholic, because it was very clear to us that Washington State did not fight until the last man was standing as Bowie and Crockett did!  In fact, it looked like Washington State spent a little too much time on the RiverWalk and not enough time getting ready to battle ND!  OK, in his second season at WSU Paul Wulff is 3-18 and we don’t think the Cougars will win another game in 2009 which means Wulff might have a two year record in Pullman of 3-22.  Wow!  Maybe the Washington State football program really was decimated when Wulff took over, but we note that in the previous 5 seasons Bill Doba put up a record of 30 – 29 and never won less than 4 games and never lost more than 7 games in any one year.  As we have said before in this blog, Washington State is right now a little better than average Division II college football team, which if that is acceptable the folks in Pullman it is A-OK with us too!

9.  Rick Neuheisel, UCLA – Although Rick Neuheisel is in no danger of getting fired anytime soon, if the Bruins continue to lose football games at their current clip, Rick is going to find his rear-end as Hot as some of those co-eds on the UCLA campus!  Neuheisel is now 7 – 13 in his second year at UCLA and the Bruins have lost 5 straight Pac-10 games to open conference play in 2009.  Now at 3-5 on the season the Bruins who started 3-0 look like a team that will stumble down the stretch and miss a bowl game for the second straight season under Neuheisel and that makes the next 4 games very important to the folks in Westwood.  UCLA has Washington (winnable), at Washington State (should win), Arizona State (winnable) and at USC (forget about it!) and if the Bruins play just solid, good football they should have a good chance to get to a 6 wins and to a .500 record which will be very important to a young, rebuilding team.  All of that make this Saturday’s Washington game at the Rose Bowl very important for Rick Neuheisel and his Bruins!

10.  Dennis Erickson, Arizona State – It’s hard to know what to make out of the 2009 Arizona State football team after the last few weeks….get beat in a close one by Georgia, get beat by Oregon State, beat pitiful Washington State and then beat Washington at home on the last play, get blown out by Stanford and then give up a game winning drive to lose to Cal at home.  Maybe Arizona State is just an average football team that makes a lot of mistakes and if that is true then ASU could probably beat or lose to most of the teams in the Pac-10 on any given Saturday.  The bad news is that a pissed off USC team is headed to Tempe on Saturday and the Sun Devils have to travel to Oregon and UCLA and then finish the season against a surging Arizona team.  Wow!  Arizona State could even start playing better football and there is probably at least a decent chance that the Sun Devils might not win another game in 2009!  Now at 4-4, if Arizona State doesn’t win another game that adds up to 4-8 and a 4-8 record in Erickson’s third year at ASU wouldn’t make anyone in Tempe very happy.  If ASU does finish at 4-8 in 2009 would Dennis Erickson be fired in December?  No, but his ass would be on fire when the 2010 season kicked-off!

Thinking of Animal House….

Bluto’s Inspiration Speech

 

Otter’s Defense

 

Animal House Trailer

 

Oh, those were the days!

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