COACHES HOT SEAT BLOG

It has been a busy few weeks for those of us here at Coaches Hot Seat as we wind down 2009 in our real jobs and we must report that although things are fair to middling or worse in the United States, there is a revolution of sorts going on in Asia, mainly China.  Believe it or not there is an economic explosion in China right now and they are very quickly moving back to 10+ percent annual growth in their economy with them basically running the US playbook….or at least what used to be “our” playbook.  If we here in the Untied States are lucky, the Chinese will lift all boats and help to get our country out of its current mess and get our economy back somewhere to sustainable growth, because right now the US is nowhere near operating at a level that will even come close to paying current bills and future obligations.  Sadly, the Chinese are the last real capitalists left on the planet and it is going to be fascinating to watch how the US – China relationship plays out over the coming years and if we will be able to regain our footing as an economic power without massive amounts of government involvement in our economy and gargantuan amounts of debt that is being placed on the backs of our children and grandchildren.

We shall see, but one thing for sure the next couple of federal elections in 2010 and 2012 are going to as momentous as the elections were in the United States in the years 1900, 1904, 1908 and 1912.  The buffoons leading and running the Republican Party between 1992 and 2008 opened the door for the Democrats to make huge gains because of their irresponsibility on foreign and domestic issues and in the next 2 to 4 federal elections we are going to find out if the Republican Party is owned by Wall Street, the Fortune 500 companies and the Forbes 400 billionaires or if they will return to the party of Lincoln, Teddy Roosevelt, Dwight Eisenhower and Ronald Reagan.  One thing we do know, if the Republicans don’t change their ways dramatically in a very quick way they are going to find themselves in a permanent minority and see that the American people that value freedom, liberty and capitalism will find another group of people and a new political party to place their votes and trust with.  Interesting times ahead, of that we are very sure!

 

Getting back to college football….

Coach Paterno was the ESPN SportsCenter Conversation last night and as usual Coach Paterno was his normal intelligent and wise self…

 

Of course there should be a playoff in college football, that should be common sense to all, unless you are a Candy Ass that prefers going to parades, crowning beauty queens, tossing roses, playing meaningless games and generally acting like an idiot.  Yes, we agree with one of the greatest coaches in college football history that we need a playoff.  Let’s see, the Candy Asses have the bowl executives, the conference commissioners, some ADs and a bunch of college presidents that for the most part have never earned dollar one when not working for the government.  Uhhhhhh, we will stick with Coach Paterno and so would anyone with a lick of common sense, but then the BCS exists today so you know the stupid sobs mentioned above are driving this train, but that doesn’t mean they won’t be arrested and perp walked out of their offices if they are found to have been supporting and running a BCS system that violated US law.  Stick that where the Sun doesn’t shine BCS Boys and Merry Christmas to you!

The other issue that Coach Paterno mentioned was Big Ten expansion which is a subject which has almost had more written about it in the last few than Tiger Woods 14+ mistresses, but to us Big Ten expansion all seems fairly straightforward. 

If we were running the Big Ten of course we would move to add at least 1 team or up to 3 teams to set up two divisions that would lead to a football conference championship game.  With that in mind, below are the teams we would approach in order to invite to join the Big Ten, keeping in mind that we would want to move from 11 teams to 14 if 3 quality schools were interested in joining the conference.

1.  Notre Dame – The Irish have said they are not interested in joining the Big Ten conference, but we would still invite the ND president and AD up to Chicago for dinner and a formal invitation to join the conference that would include letting the Irish keep all their TV revenue with NBC Sports and then a nice revenue sharing plan that could add millions of more dollars to their coffers.  If the Notre Dame declined, we would move on to….

2.  Rutgers – The Big Ten would be wise to first look to the East and the New York metro market and Rutgers would be an ideal school to add to the Big Ten.  Rutgers is the University of New Jersey and it would bring a strong state school and a big media market along with it to the Big Ten and we cannot imagine that Rutgers would stay in the Big East if the Big Ten came calling.

3.  Missouri – One of the best schools geographically to be added to the Big Ten would be Missouri and it sounds like if the Big Ten comes calling in Columbia the Tigers would be ready to make the jump.  Missouri is a solid academic school and they have some very good athletic teams and they would be a great addition to the Big Ten.  (If Missouri left for the Big Ten we would invite TCU, Houston and SMU top join the Big 12 to become the Big 14)

4.  Kentucky – OK, OK, quit screaming that Kentucky would never leave the SEC for the Big Ten, but from where we sit UK would be crazy to pass up a chance to switch to a conference where they could win conference titles in basketball AND football!  Kentucky is geographically a great fit for the Big Ten and they would bring a strong state school, a basketball tradition second to none and an improving football team.  If we were Kentucky and we took a good look at the SEC and saw the big boys in football that the Wildcats will probably never be able to get thru to ever get the opportunity to play for a conference title, we would not only listen to the Big Ten if they came calling we would be on a plane to Chicago posthaste!  (If Kentucky did leave the SEC for the Big Ten that would open up a great opportunity for Georgia Tech to return to its old home, the SEC, which would give the SEC a foothold in its “home” market of Atlanta and would add a great school to their conference).

5 & 6.  Pitt or Syracuse – We are not really sure which would fit better in the Big Ten, Pitt or Syracuse, but both would be on our list if we got this far and deciding between these two schools would probably come down to academic as much athletic issues.  If we had to choose, we would probably lean towards Pitt over Syracuse, just to set-up an annual Pitt – Penn State game which would be great for the conference.

After Pitt and Syracuse, we would lean towards in order:  Iowa State, Cincinnati, and West Virginia.

From where we sit the Big Ten is very smart in moving to expand so they can create two divisions and set up a football championship game and in order the teams we would approach, with an idea to add 3 teams to create the Big Fourteen as the ideal outcome:

Notre Dame

Rutgers

Missouri

Kentucky

Pitt

Syracuse

Iowa State

Cincinnati

West Virginia

If we had to right now say what the Big Ten (Fourteen) might look like 5 years from now, we would guess:

Big Ten

Eastern Division

Kentucky

Indiana

Michigan

Michigan State

Penn State

Purdue

Rutgers

Western Division

Illinois

Iowa

Ohio State

Minnesota

Missouri

Northwestern

Wisconsin

Now that would be a great sports college conference!  How about those Indiana – Kentucky basketball games!

We would switch to a 9 game conference schedule and of course make sure that the traditional rivalries, like Michigan – Ohio State were set-up to be played each year. 

Yes, the Big Ten should expand and if they are smart they will think big and create a super conference that can compete long-term with the SEC and Big 12, because right now the Big Ten is falling behind and we believe that if they don’t do something they are going to find themselves even further behind, especially in football, in the coming years as the Big 12 and SEC grow even stronger.

Earlier this week the Arizona Republic poised some questions to the CEO of the Fiesta Bowl John Junker and one of those questions and Junker’s answer was:

“4. You can’t talk about the Bowl Championship Series without getting into the debate over the current system vs. a playoff system.

I wish we had about 10 pages to really cover this with your readers. The general public hasn’t yet figured it out but they will – in a playoff format, a team arrives at game site the day prior, holds a press conference, plays the game on the second day and is on the plane departing on the second night. The bowl-game experience is five or six days in a new and different city, a reward experience for all the players and memories for a lifetime of their final game of their season or career. It’s no contest in terms of which experience better benefits players.”

Memo to John Junker:  Everyone with a working brain knows the way bowls work and that players arrive a week early to do a lot of nonsense that has nothing to do with intercollegiate athletics and everyone also understands that a playoff would be like every other championship that is run by the NCAA, which would be college football teams focused on playing meaningful football games and not visiting theme parks, going to pie eating contests and a lot of other nonsense at bowl games like the “Sony Gift Suite” where….(From SportsBusiness Journal Sony’s suite is latest innovation in bowl gifts)

““FedEx Orange Bowl officials have reserved a suite at each of the team hotels, the Westin Diplomat and Fontainebleau, and plan to stock them exclusively with Sony Electronics products. On the night that each of the teams arrives in town, the players will be invited to the suite, handed a folio that not coincidentally features their school colors and is emblazoned with the bowl logo, and given what is basically a $300 credit line. Players can check off from a list in the folio the items that they want (up to $300 in total value), and the gifts will be delivered to the addresses of their choice.

It’s all part of the continuing efforts by tech and electronics corporations to stay relevant in the eyes of the coveted, college-age demographic, said Jon Cooperstein of Davene Inc., a Memphis-based promotions company that brokered gift deals for 14 of this year’s 34 bowl games.

In addition to the novelty of letting the players choose their own gifts, the gift-suite option cuts back on ordering snafus and tight deadlines that often require manufacturers to customize bowl-specific products in a matter of days.

“I don’t even need to know how many people will be coming through the doors,” Cooperstein said. “The NCAA allows each bowl to award up to $500 worth of gifts to 125 participants per school. Schools always bring more than that and pay for it on their dime. We’ll make up 500 folios and order forms for each school.””

Now, we wish someone, maybe a college or university president, would please explain to us how a “Sony Gift Suite” fits into the amateur and intercollegiate athletics.  Since many of us here at Coaches Hot Seat actually played in NCAA championships during our time in college we don’t seem to recall a “Sony Gift Suite” nor can we imagine that our coaches would allow such nonsense when playing for a championship, but that’s not the point isn’t it….

These bowl games aren’t really about the student-athletes or even the game of college football, but rather a bunch of bums that are sucking on the game of college football to line their pockets, aren’t they?  College presidents that support “Sony Gift Suites” and claim that the bowl games are proper places to settle championships in intercollegiate athletics are clearly massive hypocrites, but then what else is new?  Not much.

As for Fiesta Bowl CEO John Junker, if you want to know what is wrong with the college football postseason take a look at this clown, who is exhibit A in our mind.  In one man is everything that is wrong with the college football postseason and in our opinion, America itself.  For anyone that has been in Washington DC or your state capital lately one has seen the number of CEO’s in the private sector that are constantly lobbying politicians and spending massive amounts of money in order to gain advantage instead of just running their own businesses.  If you want to know how sorry a CEO is, just check how much lobbying he does at the federal and state level.  The more lobbying done by the CEO, the sorrier the CEO, and sadly there are way too many CEOs in America today that spend way too much time trying to gain advantage by lobbying the government instead of running their company in a more effective and profitable way.  Pretty soon though the federal and state governments will not have the ability nor money to carve out favorable tax and other treatments for private companies and CEOs will have to quit sucking off the American people and actually go to work running their companies and competing for market share in a world that is only going to get more competitive.   

Speaking of these bogus bowl games, and in our opinion, that is exactly what they are for the most part, bogus games that do nothing more than reward mediocrity (Again, what’s new?  Mediocrity being rewarded is the new normal in America in the 21 st century) Brent Schrotenboer of the San Diego Union-Tribune punched a hole in the idea that most of the bowls are anything but teams throwing a party for themselves because they have to sell a certain number of tickets or pay up big time to the bowl. 

Costly kick in the teeth to bowl teams – San Diego Union-Tribune

“A lot of these bowls really would have been on the ropes without this ticket guarantee,” said David Carter, executive director of the Sports Business Institute at USC.

It’s helped the bowl system thrive but often at a big expense to schools and conferences. Hundreds of similar records obtained by the newspaper show that unsold bowl tickets cost schools and their conferences $15.53 million last year to participate in the combined 34 bowl games. That’s an all-time high, up from $14.9 million in 2007-08 and $9.3 million for 2006-07. Unsold tickets — 200,000 to 300,000 per year — are the third-biggest expense for teams and conferences involved in these games, right behind transportation and meals/lodging.

As a result, many schools lose money from attending them, especially those in lower-tier games that depend on selling a guaranteed amount of tickets to schools.

“Some bowls struggle, and thanks to that ticket guarantee, they know they’re going to sell X-number of tickets,” said Bruce Binkowski, executive director of San Diego’s two bowl games. “I think it would weed out some of the weaker bowls” if schools were not required to buy a block of tickets from these games, he said.”

Yes, that is a mighty interesting read and only points to the fact that these bowl games are often nothing more than someone throwing a birthday party for him or herself.  “Looky here, it’s my birthday, everyone come, even though I had a mediocre year, it’s time to party!”  No, that is not the way intercollegiate athletics nor America should operate, but then when you have a bunch of Candy Asses running the show you end up with a bunch of meaningless games that mean nothing at all except of course to put money into the pockets of people that have nothing to do with the game of college football.

Due to how much longer than expected we had to work before the Christmas holiday we all were just able to get together the last couple of days at Lake Tahoe for the holidays and we have been trading business war stories and talking college football.  Several of us watched the Utah – Cal game last night and for Cal all we can say is…… OUCH!   That Cal loss was ugly and even uglier was the Oregon State loss to BYU the night before.  We thought that all those people that were talking up how great the Pac-10 was this season were out to lunch and the first two Pac-10 bowl games only confirmed what we thought about the Pac-10 for most of the year.  Of course, how much can one really determine from a meaningless bowl game because one never knows how hard the coaches were coaching, the players were playing and if anyone really gave a damn if their team won or not.  Such is the reality of games that mean nothing if the teams win or lose the contest…  Kind of like playing pick-up basketball and not keeping score or some idiot telling their kid that “You’re still a winner” after his team got beat…  No, your kid is not a loser when his team loses, but his team lost and understanding, accepting and learning from losses is one of the most important things in our society, but sadly even that is now being taken away because as the Football Bowl Association claims:  “Where Everyone Wins”  

OK, everyone in unison…..CANDY ASSES!

We do have a number of things to get to over the next few days at Lake Tahoe, in between celebrating Christmas with our families and hitting the ski slopes and hopefully we can get some of our Coaches Hot Seat work done.  Check out the Lake Tahoe ski resort webcams!  Maybe you will see us hitting the slopes this week!

If we don’t have another blog post before Christmas…….

Merry Christmas to ALL from everyone here at Coaches Hot Seat!

Tags: Uncategorized // 19 Comments »