COACHES HOT SEAT BLOG

Bobby Johnson Conversation Continues….

One of the great things about the Internet is that anyone with a network connection can get access to an unlimited amount of news and information from all over the world and the same goes for getting info on the great game of college football.  Before we moved to a subscription based model here at Coaches Hot Seat in 2008 we really had no idea how many visitors to our website were from members of the US military serving overseas, but now we have subscribers in the military from all over the world including many that are serving in Iraq and Afghanistan today.

 

After Bobby Johnson stepped down from the head coaching job at Vanderbilt last week saying that “football consumes your life,” we heard from a number of our subscribers in the US military that were somewhat indignant that someone coaching a sport on a college campus in the safety of America could be so completely overwhelmed with his job that he would quit right before the season was about to get underway.  Here was one comment we got:

 ”If Bobby Johnson thinks coaching football at Vanderbilt is tough, maybe he should join US troops here in Afghanistan thousands of miles away from our families and homes for months at a time while fighting a war against an enemy that is often invisible to us.  We can assure Bobby Johnson that he would find out very quickly that there are things that “consume one’s life” and then there are the hardships that brave Americans are willing to deal with 24 hours a day to defend our country.”

Well said.  Very well Damn said…and thank you for your grand and unselfish service to our Great Country.

We don’t really have a problem with Bobby Johnson stepping down at Vanderbilt because he thought that his heart and soul were no longer committed to the job, but there is a right time to leave a football program and there is a wrong time and the middle of July is the wrong time as everyone that knows anything about the game of college football understands completely.  Retire or get away from coaching if you like Bobby Johnson, but how about doing it during the time period when other head coaches step down, either just before the end of the season or just after the season is over.  

It seems though that having one’s life “consumed by football” was not the only thing driving Bobby Johnson to leave Vanderbilt but because of some things that went against Johnson during SEC football games. 

Tony Barnhart of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution updated his blog after talking to Bobby Johnson late last week:

Updated:  Vandy, SEC lose a lot as Johnson walks away

Note: I talked to Bobby Johnson shortly after Noon on Thursday and updated this blog.

“It was Sunday, Nov. 6, 2005 and Bobby Johnson was not a happy camper. The truth is he was pretty damn mad.

The Saturday night before Johnson’s team had lost one of those gut-wrenchers that perennial underdogs like Vanderbilt always seem to lose: The Commodores, led by Jay Cutler and Earl Bennett, came up on the short end of a 49-42, double overtime game at Florida.

Vanderbilt was in position to win the game in regulation when Cutler threw a touchdown pass to Bennett with 54 seconds left to bring the Commodores to within one, 35-34. Before the score Johnson had already made up his mind that he was going to go for two points and the win.

But guess what? On the touchdown play Bennett was called for excessive celebration. It was a bogus call. After the game Johnson called it stupid. But stupid or not it pushed the ball back 15 yards so Vanderbilt had to kick the extra point to tie. Florida won the game in the second overtime.

I watched the game in New York where I was working for CBS. By the time I got back to Atlanta on Sunday Johnson had looked at the film and was steaming. I sent him an email because I thought the call was just horrible. He wrote me back and on the record would only say that his team was “disappointed because we had the opportunity to win.”

He shared a lot of thoughts off the record which I am not at liberty to disclose. Let’s just say that the head coach at Vanderbilt felt his team was not treated fairly on the road.”

Well, CRY US A RIVER BOBBY JOHNSON!

Tony Barnhart continues….

“It is an unusual time to walk away from coaching, to be sure. The first reaction from people around the league was concern that health might be an issue. It was not, said Johnson who, at 59, is in great shape and still hits a golf ball nine miles.

But to listen to Johnson’s press conference was to get little clues.  Over the course of eight seasons there were a lot of losses like the one to Florida in 2005. Johnson lost 66 games in eight years at Vanderbilt. Twenty-six of those losses were by seven points or less. That’s a lot of heartache.

“Football is not life but it’s a way of life and it consumes your life,” Johnson said. “You only have so many years to live and you want to see it a different way. In fact, I do. Some guys want to coach with one foot in the coffin. But I want to do some other things.”

I don’t have to tell you that Vanderbilt is a tough job. It’s a small, private school with high academic standards in a conference that has won four straight national championships and five of the last seven. Only three coaches in the history of the school (Dan McGugin, Art Guepe, Johnson) have held the job for eight or more years. It can be argued that at this point in history, when the SEC is so dominant, the Vanderbilt football job is more difficult than it has ever been.”

Tony, Tony, Tony!  Oh don’t say it…..now Tony is CRYING US A RIVER!

Barnhart continues and here is where the real selfishness of Bobby Johnson comes in, because when you decide to stay on in a job so that you handcuff your administration and bosses so they do not have time to hire a coach because the season is about to begin, then you get into major league selfishness.

“And about the timing of the decision? My take is that after all of those tough years together, Johnson felt his staff deserved a chance to carry on without him.  If he had left last December that probably doesn’t happen.  Now Caldwell and this staff have a year to prove to Vanderbilt that they can get the job done.

“They were owed that,” Johnson said.”

Oh, that’s Rich!  No Bobby, no one is owed anything in this life!  Maybe some Mark Twain is apt this spot after Bobby Johnson stuck it to the Vanderbilt administration, to his players, to the recruits he just signed in February and to the fans of Vanderbilt who had their head coach run out of them just before the 2010 season was about to begin.

“Don’t go around saying the world owes you a living.  The world owes you nothing.  It was here first.”  Mark Twain

Maybe they don’t teach Twain at Clemson, Furman and Vanderbilt!We are calling Bullshit on Bobby Johnson quitting his football team just before the 2010 football season was about to begin.  Let’s face facts:  Bobby Johnson couldn’t handle the heat of the Vanderbilt job so he hit the road Jack and don’t he come back no more, no more, no more, no more, hit the road Bobby, and don’t come back no more!

The Great Ray Charles

 

Lots of Crying Over Vanderbilt Athletics in Recent Days

One thing that has dominated many of the stories about Bobby Johnson quitting his head coaching job at Vanderbilt just before the season was about to start (yes, that is what he did!), is all the reporters and columnists crying about Vanderbilt being a small, academically elite school, that just doesn’t have a chance to compete in the mighty SEC.

CRY US A RIVER AGAIN!

To this also we are calling Bullshit on, but if you really want to get to heart of the problems with Vanderbilt athletics it is that the folks running the school haven’t a clue to how one would combine a strong academic mission with strong athletic teams.  If there is anyone at Vanderbilt that believes that is impossibility, we present to you Clueless Morons…

STANFORD UNIVERSITY 

 

What is it, 16 STRAIGHT DIRECTORS’ CUPS for the best I-A college athletic department in the country?  Why yes, we believe we are right about that!

Is there anyone at Vanderbilt that believes the academics at Vandy are better than they are at Stanford? 

OH, WE ARE LAUGHING HARD ABOUT THAT ONE!

Maybe we should go back a few years at Vanderbilt to find the hands of one of the Biggest Candy Asses in America today, Gordon Gee, the current president at Ohio State, who was spinning his BS at Vandy.  It was Gordon “I love to put on a bow tie in the morning” Gee that disbanded the Vanderbilt athletic department in 2003.  Here’s the AP story on the tragedy and the stupidity of disbanding the Vanderbilt athletic department:

“As president of Vanderbilt University and four other prominent schools before that, Gordon Gee perceived an unhappy trend: Student-athletes were drifting away from the core of university life. They lived, ate and studied in a jock bubble.

Sure, most went to class. But they missed out on virtually every other important college experience, from studying abroad to Greek life.

Five years ago this week, Gee decided he’d had enough. At loggerheads with his athletic director, he summoned his top administrators and stunned them with the news: He planned to disband Vanderbilt’s athletic department, and fold it into the division of student life.”

Uhhh……Gordo “I feel naked without a bow tie” Gee:  If you thought that the athletic department at Vanderbilt should have been disbanded then WHY THE HELL HAVEN’T YOU DONE IT AT OHIO STATE?  What’s good for Vandy is bad for the Buckeyes?  Or is your logic, which supports the Bogus BCS, so twisted that you don’t know Up from Down?  We are going with the latter!

Very good Damn question!  Gordon Gee has been the president at Ohio State since October 2007 and it seems to us that Ohio State still had an AD and athletic department!  What is it Gordo?  Lost your nerve?  Busy buying bowties?  It has to be something!

Not that we would expect anything to be remotely consistent with Gordon Gee, because Gordon Gee is one of these BCS Lovers that actually stands for a Bogus postseason system in college football that treats one group of Americans in an unequal way to another group of Americans.  The BCS is about as UN-AMERICAN as one can get in our great country, where multiple college football teams can end the season with the same or undefeated records and not have a chance to win the National Championship on the field of play.  Could then be anything more American, than a system that doesn’t allow a sports championship to be won on the field of play?  No, we can’t have teams playing each other in college in the postseason in a playoff tournament, because that wouldn’t be “academic.”  Oh, that’s a Hoot!

Uhhhh….Gordo:  Every college sport on the Ohio State campus decides their National Champion on the field of play, except for football of course….

Not that Gordon Gee would understand anything relative to how the Real World works or the Principles of the American Republic, because the man has worked his entire life on a college campus! 

Yes, that was a great decision by Gordon Gee to disband the Vanderbilt athletic department because it has done such great things for the Vandy sports teams…

Let’s see here, Stanford finished FIRST in the Directors’ Cup Standings, Florida was Second, Virginia was Third….where is Vanderbilt?

Oh, there they are!  59 th!  Behind Villanova and Cornell!

Yes, there really is not limit to the damage that the BCS Lovers can do to our country if they get their hands on things, but then All Americans should count themselves lucky that the BCS Lovers have such a small amount of influence on American society. 

After all, if the BCS Boys were running the country everyone would gather together at Sunset each night and hold hands and sing Kumbaya and for sure all the young American men and women would not earn championships on the field of play….and certainly not be in college athletic departments either!

On a very personal level it is our opinion here at Coaches Hot Seat that if the likes of Gordon Gee every gained power in America they would indeed destroy the country because Gee is just like others in US history that have believed one group of Americans are not equal to others just like the football players at Boise State, TCU, Utah, BYU, Cincinnati, do not have the same rights as the players at “BCS” schools.  No, that is not American.  We believe in the Declaration of Independence here at Coaches Hot Seat.  One can only wonder what Gordon Gee believes in…..

Memo to Gordon Gee:  You stand for the very worst in the history of America and that you are a liberal who claims to stand for liberal ideas make your hypocrisy even worse, not that your giant ego gives two rips about anything but your own rear-end. 

If you stand and support the BCS then you support clowns like Gordon Gee so think about that fact the next time someone is spouting Bullshit about the BCS, because it folks like Gordon Gee that have not worked a day in their adult lives in the Real World that come up with such Bullshit ideas like the Bogus BCS.

That is our opinion and since we are Americans we are Damn proud to say exactly what we think about people of Gee’s ilk and that we can do that is what makes America….America.

Yes, just so you don’t forget here is the BS of the BCS straight from the horse’s mouth:

If you support that Absolute Nonsense being spouted by Bill Hancock please drop your passport at the border and head for Cuba because your Bullshit ideas would be celebrated in Communist Cuba!

Yes, you have Americans that believe in the Principles of the American Republic, starting with the Principle that All Men (and Women) Are Created Equal or you are a Damn Communist that believes Communistic Dribble!

What is it?  Are you an American or a Communist?  If you believe in the BCS, in our opinion, you are a Communist!

Oh, you say that even Communist Fidel Castro sends the Cuban National Baseball team to play in competitions where the championship of the tournament is won and decided on the field of play? 

Yes, the BCS Bastards are EVER WORSE THAN FIDEL CASTRO!

Phil Steel’s Coaches Hot Seat Top 13 for 2010

We read anything and everything we can get our hands on relating to college football here at Coaches Hot Seat, we are always very interested to see Phil Steele’s thoughts about this great game and we read with great interest his 2010 Coaches Hot Seat Top 13 List.  Here they are:

Phil Steele’s 2010 Coaches Hot Seat Top 13 List

1.  Rich Rodriguez, Michigan

2.  Ron Zook, Illinois

3.  Les Miles, LSU

4.  Dan Hawkins, Colorado

5.  Tim Brewster, Minnesota

6.  Todd Dodge, North Texas

7.  Ralph Friedgen, Maryland

8.  Bill Lynch, Indiana

9.  Tom O’Brien, NC State

10.  Doug Martin, Kent State

11.  Dennis Erickson, Arizona State

12.  Steve Roberts, Arkansas State

13.  Mike Sherman, Texas A&M

While we certainly agree with Phil Steele that all of the above head coaches are feeling a certain amount of heat on their rear-end, we would exclude a few of the above and change the order a bit.  The Coaches Hot Seat Top 13 Coaches on the Hot Seat as of right now is…

1.  Dan Hawkins, Colorado

2.  Ralph Friedgen, Maryland

3.  Mike Sherman, Texas A&M

4.  Rich Rodriguez, Michigan

5.  Lane Kiffin, USC

6.  Dennis Ericson, Arizona State

7.  Ron Zook, Illinois

8.  Greg McMackin, Hawaii

9.  Tim Brewster, Minnesota

10.  Paul Wulff, Washington State

11.  Todd Dodge, North Texas

12.  Bill Lynch, Indiana

13.  Bob Toledo, Tulane

Looking over Phil Steele’s Hot Seat list and listening to conversation around the country, but especially in SEC country, is the Hot or Not Seat of Les Miles at LSU and Mark Richt at Georgia. 

Let’s look at Richt and Miles’ win/loss conference records:

Mark Richt, Georgia

Overall Record:  90-27 (.769)

at Georgia:  90-27  (.769)

in SEC:  50-22  (.694)

2 SEC Conference Titles in 9 seasons

4 SEC Eastern Division Co or Outright Titles

9 Bowl Games – 7-2 bowl record

2 Time SEC Coach of the Year

Biggest Eyesore:  2-7 record against Florida

Les Miles, LSU

Overall Record:  79-36 (.687)

at LSU:  51-15  (.773)

in SEC:  27-13  (.675)

1 National Championship

1 SEC Conference Title in 6 seasons

2 SEC Eastern Division Titles

8 bowl games – 5-3 bowl record

Biggest Eyesore:  Only 8-8 in SEC over past two seasons.

The Question:  Is Mark Richt or Les Miles on the Hot Seat?

We would say NO for both as the 2010 season gets underway, but both coaches could find themselves under a tremendous amount of pressure if they get off to bad starts and Florida and Alabama maintain their dominance of the SEC.

Could either Miles or Richt be fired after the 2010 season?  Yes, both could be fired if they ended up with losing records with Richt probably having a little more slack to play with, but good to average seasons will see both men back at their schools in 2011.

Wildcard Happenings with Richt and Miles:  We don’t really expect Mark Richt to do anything beyond just continue to coach at Georgia until they ask him to leave or he retires, but Les Miles might very well be tempted by the Michigan job if it opens up again, whether Rich Rodriguez is fired at Michigan or Rodriguez takes a job at another school.  Which school might Rodriguez leave Michigan for?  Well, there are plenty of schools out there that would hire Rich Rodriguez based upon his coaching record at West Virginia while also keeping mind that Rich Rod wasn’t the best fit in Ann Arbor.  Just look at Phil Steele’s and Coaches Hot Seat’s Coaches Hot Seat Top 13 Lists to find some schools where Rodriguez might land in December 2010.  Which gets us back to Michigan bringing one of their own home to coach the Wolverines with Les Miles.  Yes, “it’s definitely doable.”

Who would get the LSU job if Miles headed off to Michigan you ask?  Well, let’s just say Texas might not have a “Coach-in-waiting” any longer if the LSU job opens up!

Not that any of the current SEC head coaches want to see Muschamp at LSU!

A reminder of what really matters

Tom Stienstra, the Outdoors writer for the San Francisco Chronicle who is one Helluva Outdoorsman and Writer, wrote a great piece on Sunday in the SF Chronicle about what really matters in life:

“In a flash, your world can be shattered. You never see it coming.

That moment came this past week for my family: In Afghanistan, my nephew, Gary Davis, was driving a seven-ton military truck when a roadside bomb exploded beneath him and flipped the truck. The soldier on his right was killed.

Three others were severely injured.

When Gary was rescued, he was unconscious but alive, bleeding heavily. Medics had difficulty locating his rare blood type but tracked it down and saved his life.

At the hospital, doctors amputated Gary’s lower legs, then stabilized him for spinal fractures in the lower back and neck.

The best news: no brain damage. At midweek, Gary regained coherence in a hospital in Germany and phoned his parents, Monte and Nancy. Gary’s positive spirit shone through, said Monte, who provided details of the event. He said Gary is already looking ahead with optimism to a full life: “His attitude is amazing.”

In a catastrophe, you realize your family and friends provide safe harbor, and that your health is a vital link to a future with hope.

There’s a lesson here for those who love the outdoors. For the greatest benefits from the outdoor experience, no matter what your pursuits, connect these three elements: adventure, friends/family and health. That’s the secret.

And do it now. Grab life when you have a chance. You don’t always get paid back in the future for sacrifices you’re making now.

One of my longtime pals, Dan Furniss, a college roommate, fishing buddy and by profession a lawyer, one of the top litigators in America — he helped win a $1.1 billion antitrust settlement from Microsoft — never seemed to have enough time. His life was always packed and overflowing, undertaking the equivalent of what several people might do, all the time. Last fall he told me how much he loved his wife and family, how he wanted to travel with them, take part in adventures, but he wasn’t sure if he could afford to quit working so much.

So we planned a fishing trip for spring, and Dan said he’d try to figure out how to get away from his law office for a day or two. But in February, at 58, he had a heart attack and died. Again, like the first call about Gary, it was devastating.

You think you have all the time in the world, then you find out you don’t.

There is no future payback. There is only the now. Today is not a dress rehearsal but rather the only sure thing we all have.”

Amen to that Tom!  For those of us here at Coaches Hot Seat that spend a lot of time in the great outdoors and out in some of the great wild country of America and cherish our daily trips out of the office even if it is for a quick boat ride or hike, Tom’s writings are music to our ears.

Tom concludes his column by writing:

“Therefore, with those long odds, consider every day alive a gift.

In the same light, honor yourself. People who hike, bike or exercise three times a week and generally cut out the bad habits will live 14 years longer than those who do not, according to a study.

Mountain climber Hans Florine dropped me a line this past week and passed along this adage: “If you don’t make time for exercise now, make time for illness later.”

Which gets us back to the core premise: Grab life now. Share adventures with people you care for. Get healthy.

These are the greatest rewards of the outdoors.”

“Grab life now.”  No truer words have ever been written.

Tom’s above Sunday column, A reminder of what really matters, will not be available to non-SF Chronicle subscribers until later this week, but Tom’s past columns are always great reading.

Tom Stienstra, San Francisco Chronicle

The British Open, the American Century Celebrity Championship at Lake Tahoe and the Tour de France

The British Open was great fun to watch even though one had to go down to 7 th place to find the first American player, with Phil Michelson and Tiger Woods just not getting it done when it really counted at St. Andrews.

Clearly, whether Tiger Woods would admit it or not, Woods’ is still struggling a bit with his golf swing and with the fallout from all the off-the-golf course stuff in his life.  Tiger Woods has now gone 7 majors that he played in (he skipped the last 2 majors in 2008 because of knee surgery) without a win which is not quite to the 12 major winless streak that Jack Nicklaus suffered through between 1967 and 1970.  Jack Nicklaus was a little younger, 27 to Tiger’s 33, when his winless major streak started and Jack was just playing bad golf, not dealing with a whole host of personal issues that have been swirling around Tiger since last Thanksgiving.

Tiger Woods now has won 14 professional majors to Jack Nicklaus’ 18 major wins and we have no doubt that Tiger will catch and pass Nicklaus once he gets his personal life in order and his golf swing refined a bit more.  Tiger has at least 10 years of playing golf a very high level which is 40 major opportunities and we would bet a lot of money if we were bettors that he can win 10 percent of the majors he plays in over the next decade.  To this point Tiger Woods has played in 53 major golf championships since he turned pro in 1997 and he has won 14 or 26.4 percent of those tournaments.   Wow!

We hope everyone got to watch the American Celebrity Golf Championship at Lake Tahoe yesterday on NBC Sports because great fun was had by the CHS members that were out on the golf course…and beach!  Billy Joe Tolliver destroyed the field at the Edgewood Golf Course with some incredible golf and as always the level of golf played by some of the athletes is something to see.  Although there are a few of us here at CHS that would love the chance to play Tony Romo on the golf course…..looks like Tony can be gotten to if you throw a few needles his way!

As for Charles Barkley….Uhhhhhh, Chuck…..what about bowling?  No, then we couldn’t go to the American Celebrity Golf Championship and give Chuck a hard time each year!

Memo to Charles Barkley:  Forget Hank Haney!  Just drop us an email here at CHS and we will meet you in Vegas for some serious golf lessons and no, you will not be hitting ball after ball on the driving range!  It is our opinion here at Coaches Hot Seat that the problem with your golf game is entirely mental and we have a trick or two that we can teach you on the mental side of the game of golf.  Yes, some serious shock treatment is in order for Barkley’s golf game and no, what you have been doing doesn’t feed the bulldog!  A few holes with CHS and your golf game would be transformed!

The Tour de France continues on the Versus channel and the bicycle riders are now in the Pyrenees Mountains in the south of France and many of us here at Coaches Hot Seat are up early in the morning watching CNBC’s Squawk Box on one TV and the Tour de France on the other.

Sadly, Lance Armstrong has dropped way down the overall standings and is slopping his way all the way to Paris and Lance is lucky that no one from Coaches Hot Seat is there in France to chew Armstrong’s butt out! 

Come on Lance Armstrong…..GET OFF  YOUR BUTT!

Thanks again to everyone at Versus and French TV for doing a great job broadcasting/covering the Tour de France. 

Note on bicycle riding:  If you want to get your butt in shape jump on a bicycle every day and ride for 10 or so miles.  Throw in a few hills and you can really burn some calories and get yourself into shape, just be Damn careful if you are riding on roads. 

One of our favorite rides here at Coaches Hot Seat is to ride around Lake Tahoe in one day which is about 72 miles of beautiful scenery and plenty of places to jump in the Lake and cool off! 

We here at Coaches Hot Seat have a very simple plan to bike around Lake Tahoe:  Start very early around 6AM, bike until lunch and stop for wings and beer, get back on the bikes to sweat the beer out, stop for a “nature break” a few times to also help get rid of the beer, end the day at a restaurant on the Lake that serves very cold beer and a place where our wives can come pick us up and take us and the bikes home!

Have a great week!

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