COACHES HOT SEAT BLOG

Steve Spurrier, Stephen Garcia and Lots of Damn Mistakes at South Carolina

We are not sure what happened in Columbia, South Carolina yesterday with Steve Spurrier calling out columnist Ron Morris of The State newspaper and we certainly would not put it past the Ole’ Ball Coach to try and distract from Stephen Garcia being kicked off of his football team….

Spurrier’s rant can’t mask problems, Gene Sapakoff, The Post and Courier

…but there is ONE thing we are very sure of and that is Stephen Garcia should have been tossed off the South Carolina football team long ago and would have been physically thrown out of the athletics building by about 99 percent of our college coaches during his first year on campus at South Carolina after some of the BS he pulled….and was allowed to pull over and over again.

Case in point about Stephen Garcia that would have sent his rear-end packing by our college coaches from his freshman year at South Carolina:

Garcia arrested again, AP, March 3, 2007

Note: Stephen Garcia has been suspended from all team activities indefinitely per USC athletics department policy. In addition, Steve Spurrier issued the following statement Saturday evening: “I need to stay out of this conversation right now and let the legal system run its course. We’ll make a decision after that.”

“South Carolina’s highly touted quarterback recruit Stephen Garcia has been arrested again — this time on a charge of malicious injury to personal property.

Garcia was arrested about noon Saturday after a visiting professor reported that Garcia had used a key to scratch the man’s car parked near the university, Columbia police spokeswoman Sgt. Florence McCants said.

According to an arrest warrant, Adam Biggs told police he saw a man using a metal key to scratch the side of Biggs’ car. Biggs, a Claflin professor who is teaching at South Carolina this semester, said his 2007 Toyota Corolla was parked on the side of a street near campus. Biggs confronted the man and asked his name.

According to a police report, the man identified himself as Stephen Garcia. When Biggs threatened to call police, the man offered to pay $500 for the damage to the car, according to the police report.

When police contacted Garcia, “the suspect stated to the officers he was aware of the allegation, but denied causing any damage” to Biggs’ car.

In an earlier run-in with police, Garcia was arrested Feb. 17 and charged with drunkenness and failure to stop for a police officer. The 19-year-old recruit from Lutz, Fla., is not old enough to purchase alcohol. His court date was scheduled for March 7 in that case.

A telephone message left with Garcia’s lawyer Neal Lourie was not immediately returned Saturday. Garcia was scheduled to be arraigned in bond court later Saturday.

Garcia, who enrolled at South Carolina in January after graduating early from high school, was suspended from the football team for four days after his earlier arrest.

South Carolina athletic department spokesman Steve Fink said Saturday he was unaware that Garcia had been arrested in the most recent case.

On Friday when news about the allegations first broke, head coach Steve Spurrier told The (Columbia) State that he believed “Stephen when he said he didn’t scrape the kid’s car.”

“I’m going under the assumption that he’s been falsely accused,” Spurrier said. “He didn’t even know the kid. I just don’t believe he’d do that.”

According to the arrest warrant, the damage to Biggs’ car was estimated at more than $800.”

What the Hell? Wait….there is much more to this story….

The above story was followed up by this AP story two days later:

Gamecock recruit Garcia apologizes for keying professor’s car, AP, March 5, 2007

“South Carolina quarterback recruit Stephen Garcia admitted keying a professor’s car and asked the victim and football coach Steve Spurrier to forgive him.

“I want to publicly apologize to Mr. (Tim) Biggs, Coach Spurrier, my teammates, the USC fans and the entire University of South Carolina. I do not make any excuses for my conduct, I am committed to changing my behavior and making positive contributions to the community,” Garcia said in a statement released Monday through his attorney Neal Lourie.

Garcia, a highly touted recruit who enrolled early, has been arrested twice since arriving at South Carolina in January.

“We are hoping and believing that Stephen Garcia has learned some lessons and will change his personal life to be able to reach his potential as a student-athlete at South Carolina,” Spurrier said in a statement.”

Biggs, a visiting professor at the university, told police he saw a man damaging his car Thursday. After a confrontation that included a threat to call police, the man identified himself as Stephen Garcia and offered to pay $500 for the damage to the car.
Garcia was arrested two days later and charged with malicious injury to personal property. He also was arrested Feb. 17 on charges of drunkenness and failing to stop for a police officer. The 19-year-old from Lutz, Fla., cannot legally buy alcohol.

Lourie said he is trying to get Garcia’s court date, scheduled for Wednesday on charges from an earlier arrest, moved so both cases can be handled at once.

Garcia was suspended from the football team for four days after his first arrest. He was suspended indefinitely after Saturday’s arrest as is school policy for any athlete who is arrested.”

What the Hell?

Here is how the conversation would have gone between 99 percent of our college coaches and any of us if we had arrived as a freshman on campus and had been arrested for public intoxication and keying a professor’s car:

Coach: Did you key this professor’s car?

Player: Yes.

Coach: I want you to get your things together in the locker room, turn in your school issued equipment and get the Hell out of this athletics building and I do not want to see you anywhere near our team again. Understand? Good. I am now going to call your parents and explain to them why I am kicking you off this team and that I made a terrible decision to offer you a scholarship.

That is how 99 percent of our coaches would have reacted to Stephen Garcia’s actions during his freshman year at South Carolina but here we are 5 years later and this Idiot….yes, Stephen Garcia is a BIG Idiot….is still doing this crap and as you process that Idiot comment we would like for you to think about the following for a moment….

There are Hundreds of Thousands of American servicemen and women that are RIGHT AT THIS MOMENT in Harm’s Way in Afghanistan, Iraq and elsewhere all around the world and this Sorry Piece of Crapola Stephen Garcia at 22 plus years of age cannot even follow the rules given to stay out of trouble given to him by a college football coach and athletic department?

What the Hell?

We are only sorry we were not at South Carolina yesterday ourselves because what Stephen Garcia really needs which his father is evidently not Man enough to give him is a kick in the ass and if there ever was someone that could use a few years in the US military to straighten his Sorry Ass out it is Stephen Garcia….but then why put US Military personnel lives at risk by having some Sorry Piece of Crapola around like Stephen Garcia that cannot even follow some simple rules given to him by his coach that he agreed to follow?

The entire last 5 years of the Stephen Garcia’s precious ass drama could have been avoided if Steve Spurrier would have sent his Sorry Ass packing in 2007 after he admitted keying the car of a professor as a freshman at South Carolina which we can tell you not only would have gotten us thrown off of our college sports teams but would have been met with severe punishment by our fathers and in exactly what universe Stephen Garcia was raised where the Crapola that he has pulled over the last 5 years will be tolerated is way beyond our understanding because we do not tolerate our kids yelling or making loud noises in public like in restaurants or not staying on top of their homework or talking back to their mothers or not being at home and ready for dinner each night and on and on….and Stephen Garcia has been getting away with all of this Crap for 5 years?

Thank goodness that Crapola story is finally over BUT the last 5 years of Garcia’s stupidity at South Carolina could have been avoided if Steve Spurrier would have only applied the same standards to Garcia that were expected of him by Spurrier’s father and that reality should be a great lesson for coaches out there that decide to bend the rules for a player because he might have some talent or that he is somehow worthy of being saved. Hell, if Stephen Garcia doesn’t give a Damn about himself how the Hell can any coach decide he is worth keeping around a football team?

This is very simple:

If you can’t follow the Damn rules then you are GONE.

Is that simple enough?

If not, then you are a Sorry Ass football coach and no Damn wonder you are not winning games and championships.

Boy, we would just love it if Stephen Garcia’s precious ass would wonder on down to the Marines Parris Island so the US Marines could give Stephen Garcia all of the important things in life that he did not get from his father:

We can only wonder just what in the Hell that Steve Spurrier and lots of other coaches and athletic officials at South Carolina have been telling Stephen Garcia over the past 5 years? Maybe something like this….

“Mr. Garcia, you are the greatest ever and we would appreciate it if you would show up for practice from time to time and not get drunk every night and if need anything just call over to the athletic department and we will have someone come over and kiss your ass. Also, if you get arrested for breaking the law don’t worry about it since we will just blow it off and find you an attorney to challenge what those evil police people do and say to you. Don’t worry Stephen….everything will be fine and be assured that we will be here for you and we will kiss your precious ass until the end of time.”

Yes, any coach worth a Damn is throwing up over the Bullshit that Stephen Garcia was able to get away with for five years at South Carolina and if there one thing that Steve Spurrier and other South Carolina athletic officials should be ashamed of it is the outrageous coddling of Garcia for the last 5 years and the terrible damage that has done to South Carolina athletics because now any student-athlete at USC can just point to Stephen Garcia when the do something wrong or gets in trouble and say…

“Hey, if Garcia was allowed to get away with it why not me?”

Very Damn Serious Question: If you fill up America with Stephen Garcia-like men in December 1941 is America still here today?

Not a chance in Hell because Stephen Garcia-like men would have never had the Guts, the Courage or the Ability to fight and defeat the German and Japanese and that reality should scare the Hell out of anyone that loves America.

 

Bo Pelini and the “Situation” at Nebraska

After the firing of Mike Stoops at Arizona that we believe involved issues beyond Mike Stoops win/loss record there is a “situation” developing in Nebraska involving Bo Pelini and the press and some Nebraska fans/boosters that we were not going to write about until Coach Osborne addressed the issue yesterday….

Osborne weighs in on Pelini, media, Nebraska fans, Rivals.com

“There’s been plenty of debate regarding Nebraska head coach Bo Pelini and his dealing with the media over the past four years, especially after his post-game exchange with a reporter following Saturday’s win over Ohio State.

The issue has become such a hot topic around the state that NU athletic director Tom Osborne decided to throw his two cents on the situation during his interview on the Husker Sports Network radio show “Sports Nightly” with Jeff Culhane.

Here was Osborne’s response when Culhane asked him for his thoughts on Saturday’s night incident:

“The case with the other night, I think Bo was concerned about his team’s confidence and being mentally ready to play,” Osborne said. “Certainly with Taylor (Martinez) getting some criticism – I think much of it was fairly undeserved, but he was getting a lot of it – to have an article come out the day before the game speculating on when he might get pulled or get him out of the game, probably had people on the coaching staff a bit concerned, partly because of timing and partly because of subject matter.

“So anyway in the press conference, I think one of the gentlemen who was involved with the story came in in the middle of the press conference, and Bo had already been asked about Taylor. He’d talked about it I think pretty thoroughly about what a game he’d played, and (Bo) was asked again when this man came in. So I think because of the background information, he wasn’t very happy.”

Osborne said the relationship between media and those in athletics has generally always been somewhat strained, primarily because of conflicting views on what should and shouldn’t be reported. Osborne said he dealt with numerous similar situations during his 25 years as Nebraska’s head football coach.”

….but since the elephant in the room has been recognized by the most important man in the Nebraska football world in Coach Osborne then it certainly is something worth talking about because it is a significant issue.

It is one thing for Mike Stoops to act in ways on the sidelines that made Arizona alums and even some big boosters wince in the state of Arizona which is a place in constant flux and change with new people and new businesses being formed all the time and long-time traditions not always being the highest things on anyone’s list of priorities, but it is another thing entirely to act in ways that fans, boosters and alums feel is inappropriate in the state of Nebraska which is filled with hard-working people that believe you work hard every day, keep your nose clean and name out of the newspaper, give credit to other people when things go right and take blame when things go wrong which pretty much describes one of the greatest college head coaches ever and current Nebraska AD Tom Osborne.

The story that really caught our attention and prompted a call to us by a friend of ours in Nebraska (more on that in a moment) was the following story by Lee Barfknecht of the Omaha World-Herald:

Peevish postgame does Nebraska no favors

“It’s time, again, to address the Nebraska football program’s elephant in the room. Or, more accurately, the guy at the podium, head coach Bo Pelini.

On Saturday night, after the biggest comeback in Husker history and an incredibly important win over Ohio State, Pelini short-answered the media and acted peeved that a World-Herald writer had the gall in a column last Friday to analyze his coaching and his quarterback’s play.

Pelini’s act is old news locally. Since arriving four years ago, he has told us repeatedly he disdains the press and has indicated on occasion he doesn’t care what the fans think, either.

This is the point where all the Bo-lievers jump in and say, “Give it up. We don’t care if he talks to you. All he’s supposed to do is win.”

Our reply is that Pelini can run his football program any way he sees fit, just as we will do our job.

The World-Herald is by far the state’s largest news enterprise. As long as there is football at Nebraska, we will cover the actions of the football coach, whether it is Bo Pelini or Bo Diddley. And we’ll do it every day without fear, favor or malice.

What makes Pelini’s recent behavior newsy is that Nebraska football now operates in a different sphere — the Big Ten.

First impressions matter, and the early returns aren’t good.

I’ve been to Wisconsin, Iowa and Ohio State for games, and talked with writers from the major Michigan markets about what they think of Nebraska. The Big Ten media corps, after half a season, already has had a bellyful of Bo.”

Here is a video of Bo Pelini’s press conference after the Ohio State game:

Lee Barfknecht is right that Bo Pelini can run the Nebraska football program in any way he deems fit to run it and he can act towards the media however he likes BUT Bo Pelini should understand that his behavior in front of the media is something that has caught the attention of several of our friends in Nebraska, in a negative way, and just as warning to Bo Pelini a few of these Nebraska people are not the kind of folks you want being pissed off at your behavior which they consider embarrassing to the University of Nebraska and the Cornhusker football program and bring to mind a quote from Georgia football coaching great Wally Butts:

“As a coach, the alumni you have to worry about are the ones you never see.”

Yes, Wally Butts told the truth with the above quote and if a friend of ours from the state of Nebraska that holds two degrees from the University of Nebraska system and is a BIG Nebraska football fan is calling us to express concern about Bo Pelini’s “behavior” then that is something that should concern Bo Pelini a Helluva lot because people from Nebraska do not call folks just for the Hell of it and often will not call at all because they do not want to “bother you” even if you have told them over and over again to stay in touch and call anytime especially when they are visiting near where we live.

What is really petty about Bo Pelini’s comments to the Omaha World Herald people in the news conference after the Ohio State game is that Bo Pelini and his staff somehow believed that a college football player, in this case Taylor Martinez, psyche is so precious and on edge that a newspaper story about Martinez’s ability or future could undermine his confidence which if that is the case then Taylor Martinez needs to join Stephen Garcia down at Paris Island and the US Marines for a reality check into the REAL world. Please, could someone explain to us how a college football player that is old enough to fight and die for his country has an ego that is so fragile that a newspaper story could determine whether or not he will perform well in a football game? Geez!

Getting down to brass tacks we think a lot of Bo Pelini as a head coach and as for his behavior it might be boorish and a little over the top at times and what Bo Pelini does or does not do with the press is of little concern to us BUT we are not Nebraskans and the people that Bo Pelini and his staff are working for and answering to ARE Nebraskans and if Bo Pelini is interested in being the head football coach at Nebraska for the long-term (and we are not convinced after the last couple of years that Pelini and Nebraska are the best of fits and that Pelini might look for another good job if he feels uncomfortable working at Nebraska) then he better Damn understand that as Wally Butts said….

“As a coach, the alumni you have to worry about are the ones you never see.”

The standards for Nebraska football are a little different than the other Top 15 to 20 college football head coaching jobs in America because at Nebraska not only is winning games and championships expected there is also an expectation that the head coach will act in a certain way that is not dissimilar to how Nebraskans act in their daily lives and any head coach that falls outside of those expectations, winning or behavior, will put his job on the line even if he is winning lots of football games.

There has been a saying in American life in the last century that it is not a good idea to pick a fight or…

“Argue with a man that buys ink by the barrel”

…which means it is never a good idea for a public official to pick needless fights with the press and in our opinion Bo Pelini has picked a few fights with the press that he may regret one day if he ever gets on the wrong side of the winning expectations at the University of Nebraska which are very high and which were very well explained by Coach Osborne during his press conference announcing the firing of Bo Pelini’s predecessor at Nebraska Bill Callahan (Pay very close attention starting at the 5:00 mark of the below video when Coach Osborne starts talking about the expectations at Nebraska when he was a young head coach of the Cornhuskers):

Yes, there are high expectations at the University of Nebraska and they involved a Helluva lot more than just winning football games and sometime in the future when Bo Pelini and his staff least expect it they might just wake-up one day and find themselves out of job even when they have put winning records up and if that happens Bo Pelini will only have himself to blame and Bo Pelini can take this blog post as fair warning and that he has been put on notice….No, not put on notice by Coaches Hot Seat…BUT by the people that will ultimately do the hiring and firing of Nebraska football coaches which are the People of the Great State of Nebraska.

 

Post Week 6 Coaches Hot Seat Power Playoff Poll

Below is the second Coaches Hot Seat Power Playoff Poll of the 2011 College Football Season which will be used to seed a 16-team Postseason College Football Tournament with the Top 7 Conferences From the 2010 college football season (using the Sagarin Conference Ratings) getting automatic seeds into the Tournament and the 4 remaining Conferences sending their Champions to Play-In Games in order to gain entry into the Tournament. The remaining spots will be filled with 7 At-Large Team seeds which are chose by the below poll but in the real world would be chose by a committee similar to the NCAA College Basketball Selection Committee:

Automatic Conference Champions in the 2011 College Football Postseason Tournament: SEC, Big 12, Big East, Pac-10, ACC, MWC, Big Ten

Conference Champions that would have to play each other to get into the Postseason Tournament: Sun Belt, C-USA, MAC, WAC

Wildcard Teams: 7 Wildcard Teams

Post Week 6 Coaches Hot Seat Power Playoff Poll

* = Predicted Conference Champion – # = At-Large Team

1. Alabama* (6-0)

2. LSU# (6-0)

3. Oklahoma* (5-0)

4. Stanford* (5-0)

5. Wisconsin* (5-0)

6. Boise State* (5-0)

7. Oklahoma State# (5-0)

8. Clemson* (6-0)

9. Oregon# (4-1)

10. Arkansas# (5-1)

11. Georgia Tech# (6-0)

12. Michigan# (6-0)

13. West Virginia* (5-1)

14. Illinois# (6-0)

15. Nebraska (5-1)

16. Arizona State (5-1)

17. Kansas State (5-0)

18. South Carolina (5-1)

19. Houston* (6-0)

20. Baylor (4-1)

*Conference Champs

#At-Large Teams

Projected Conference Champions not in Top 20

WAC Champion – Hawaii*

Sun Belt Champion – La. Lafayette*

MAC Champion – Western 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 7 Conference Champions and the 2 teams that win the Play-In Games in the postseason tournament.

Conference Play-In Games – Saturday December 10, 2011

First Round Games – Friday/Saturday December 16-17, 2011 – (Higher ranked teams host first round games)

Tuscaloosa, Alabama

Alabama – SEC Champion

Winner of MAC (Western Michigan) – C-USA Conference (Houston) Champions Play-In Game

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Stillwater, Oklahoma

Oklahoma State – #1 At-Large Team

Illinois – #7 At-Large Team

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Eugene, Oregon

Oregon – #2 At-Large Team

West Virginia – Big East Champion

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Madison, Wisconsin

Georgia Tech – #5 At-Large Team

Wisconsin – Big Ten Champion

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Baton Rouge, Louisiana

Boise State – MWC Champion

LSU – #1 At-Large Team

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Palo Alto, California

Stanford – Pac-12 Champion

Michigan – #6 At-Large Team

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Clemson, South Carolina

Arkansas– #3 At-Large Team

Clemson – ACC Champion

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Norman, Oklahoma

Winner of WAC (Hawaii) – Sun Belt Conference (La. Lafayette) Champions Play-In Game

Oklahoma – Big 12 Champion

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Which of the above games does ESPN College GameDay go to?  Yes, it is an embarrassment of riches to choose from but our guess for where GameDay goes for the First Round Games is….

Baton Rouge, Louisiana for the Boise State vs. LSU game – Now that would be a Helluva interesting football game to watch!

Great 8 – Second Round Games at Four Regional Sites – Friday/Saturday – December 23 – 24, 2011

Final 4 – Third Round Games at Two Regional Sites – Saturday – December 31, 2011

National Championship Game – Saturday – January 7, 2012

Can you say…

Legitimate National Champion in Major College Football?

With the above Postseason Major College Football Tournament why…..

YES YOU CAN!

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