COACHES HOT SEAT BLOG

First we would like to Congratulate Jim Furyk for winning the PGA Tour’s Tour Championship tournament on Sunday and the FedEx Cup Playoffs.  Jim Furyk is a very quiet and private man, but we can tell you from first hand experience that he is one of the fiercest competitors that has ever played the game of golf and one of the toughest men we have ever run across when the pressure is really on. 

 

Congratulations Jim Furyk for a Great 2010 golf season and we are  looking forward to Jim and the entire US Ryder Cup team whipping the butts of the Europeans this week in Wales!

 

How about the pitiful irony that even the game of golf has a postseason playoff season of Playoffs that has a series of events that narrows down the competitors that is used to determine a legitimate champion and in college football we have a bunch of Candy Asses led by the greedy and evil BCS Boys, and lots of Candy Ass head coaches that can’t handle a few more games to crown a REAL CHAMPION?

Oh, it is incredible irony, but when you have a game in college football where mediocrity is rewarded to such a degree that now even losing teams might be sent to play in postseason bowl games and meaningless exhibition bowl games are celebrated as a “series” of anything tells everyone all they need to know about what these Candy Asses are really all about… 

More on the BCS Boys later this week but there was an interesting result from the daily internal Coaches Hot Seat poll on Monday that asked the following question:

If the BCS Boys had been in charge of the United States in the late 1930s up until the attack on Pearl Harbor in December 1941 what would the US and the western world look like today?

A.  The US and its Allies would have defeated Germany and Japan

B.  The US and its Allies would have defeated Germany and would have had ceded Asia to Japan

C.  The US and its Allies would have defeated Japan and would have ceded Europe to Germany

D.  The US would have stayed out of the war and ceded Asia to Japan and Europe to Germany

E.  There would be no United States of America today and everyone East of the Mississippi would be speaking German and everyone to the West of the Mississippi would be speaking Japanese.  There also would not be anyone of the Jewish faith left alive on planet Earth.

 

Not surprising to any of us, E was the unanimous answer to the above question from the 80 Coaches Hot Seat members that voted and that result should remind everyone that there are always consequences and big prices to be paid for following the route of the Candy Asses and there are no bigger Candy Asses in America today than the people behind the BCS (the college and university presidents, the conference commissioners, some ADs and some college head coaches) that believe that championships in the American Republic should not be won and earned on the field of play.

Very simply, if you believe that Mediocrity should be rewarded and that a National Championship should not be won and earned on the Field of Play then you are a Candy Ass and you will be one of people that will be responsible for the downfall of the American Republic.

If you favor subjective polls and computer geeks using programs over Real Men lining up across from each other and settling which team is the best on the Field of Play, as it is in every other sport in America, then not only are you a Candy Ass you are a Sorry Excuse for an American. 

You say you don’t have the Guts to settle the National Championship in College Football on the Field of Play?  Then how in the Hell can you call yourself an American?

Oh, that’s right, we are living the Age of the Candy Ass and in the game of college football it is very easy to see the Candy Asses because they are the one’s that don’t have the Guts to settle Championships on the Field of Play and they are always talking about “Style Points.”

An interesting question posed on Monday Night when a few CHS members got together to watch the NFL football game:

“These guys in the media that talk about the importance of “Style Points” which is really just running up the score on another team to gain advantage in the Bogus BCS, do they tell their children that running up the score on opponents to achieve “Style Points” is the right thing to do OR are they just incredible hypocrites?”

The consensus answer here at CHS on that:  If you believe that running up the score to get “Style Points” is right and you tell your kids so, then you are a Sorry Excuse for a Parent and if you say that running up the score to get “Style Points” on national TV but tell your kids it is the wrong thing to do then you are an Incredible Hypocrite.

Which is it then:  Sorry Excuse for a Parent or Incredible Hypocrite?

Our conscience is clear here at Coaches Hot Seat because our parents raised us to believe that running up the score to get “Style Points” is not only Classless it is Flat Out Wrong and it doesn’t matter if you offer us 10,000 Dollars, 10 Million Dollars or any amount of Money you can conjure up we will never defend running up the score to get “Style Points” to anyone or for anything, but especially not on TV in front of our children or to our children in person.

Running up the score to get “Style Points” to gain advantage in the Bogus BCS is not only WRONG it is Incredibly Un-American, but then anyone with a working brain knows the BCS not only violates everything OUR country stands for, but that the Bastards behind the BCS care about only two things:  Money and Power and they laugh at the idiots in the media that defend the Nonsense of the BCS, but when you pay people a lot of money to say something then maybe you expect them to say exactly what you want them to say.

Yes, those are our opinions as American citizens and unlike the Candy Ass BCS Boys we believe like the Vast Majority of Americans that Championships of all kinds should be earned and won on the Field of Play!

More on the BCS Boys later this week….

 

Note to Tiger Woods:  For what it’s worth a few members of Coaches Hot Seat got out to see Tiger play during the BMW Championship in Chicago a couple of weeks back when they were there on business and Tiger’s swing is looking a lot better and a lot tighter than it has in years.  Clearly, there is a lot more work that Tiger Woods has to do, but it seems to us that his swing is heading back in the right direction and is now a lot closer to the swing he used during his amateur and earlier pro career.  The main thing about making a big swing change is to make sure that when you are playing golf that you are playing golf and that you leave the practicing and swing work on the driving range.  The power of imagination and the ability to focus the mind on the task at hand are still the most powerful things we know of when it comes to very good golfers and athletes doing great things on the golf course or field of play and if you are thinking about the technique of doing something it always gets in the way of actually doing it.  

If Michael Vick can make such an incredible turnaround, and it almost looks like better play with the Eagles than when he was with the Falcons, then Tiger Woods can come back even better as well. 

What we like to see here at Coaches Hot Seat is champions playing at the top of their game whether it be Tiger Woods, Michael Vick or anyone else in any sport that we love to watch and/or play ourselves. 

Let’s hope Tiger Woods, Jim Furyk and the other Ryder Cup team members, led by Captain Corey Pavin BEAT THE HELL out of the Europeans this week in Wales! 

 

Post Week 4 Coaches Hot Seat Rankings

Top 10 Coaches on Hot Seat Rankings

Crank it the Great Mr. Johnny Cash… in Vienna!

 

1.  Tim Brewster, Minnesota – In his fourth year at Minnesota Tim Brewster has won 15 games and here at the teams he has beat:

2007 – Miami (OH)

2008 – Northern Illinois, Bowling Green, Montana State, FAU, Indiana, Illinois, Purdue

2009 – Syracuse, Air Force, Northwestern, Purdue, Michigan State, South Dakota State

2010 – Middle Tennessee

15 Total Wins

7 Wins Against Bogus BCS Schools – Indiana, Illinois, Purdue (2), Syracuse, Northwestern, Michigan State

6 Wins Against Non Bogus BCS Schools – Miami (OH), Northern Illinois, Bowling Green, FAU, Air Force, Middle Tennessee

2 Wins Against I-AA Schools – Montana State, South Dakota State

2 Losses Against I-AA Schools – North Dakota State, South Dakota

Clearly, Tim Brewster even with 15 wins the teams he and the Gophers have beaten we don’t see very many teams on the WIN side of the column in the last 4 seasons and that is the primary reason that he finds himself on the Hot Seat.

Big Ten play begins this week for Minnesota with Northwestern up first at home in that brand new and beautiful new stadium and this is a MUST, MUST WIN Game for Tim Brewster and we will all find a whole lot about the Minnesota football team this week when we see if they show up ready to play an important conference game.  If you can’t get fired up for conference play, then one wonder what the Hell is going on at Minnesota…..

2.  Paul Wulff, Washington State – This is a lot shorter list then Tim Brewster’s, but in three seasons at Washington State Wulff’s overall record is…

Paul Wulff, 3 seasons at WSU – 4 – 25  (.138)

And Paul Wulff has beaten…

2008 – Portland State, Washington

2009 – SMU

2010 – Montana State

1 Win Against Bogus BCS School – Washington

1 Win Against Non Bogus BCS School – SMU

2 Wins Against I-AA Schools – Portland State, Montana

Sorry, but 4 wins in 3 seasons and only 1 of those wins is against a Bogus BCS School is just PITIFUL!

What did the two head coaches before Paul Wulff do at Washington State?

Bill Doba, 5 seasons at WSU – 30 – 29  (.508)

Mike Price, 14 seasons at WSU – 83 – 78  (.516)

No, Washington State is not an easy place to recruit players to or to win football games at, but Bill Doba and Mike Price proved that Washington State can field winning football teams in Pullman and that makes what Wulff is doing just not acceptable if Washington State is going to continue to be a legitimate football member of the Pac-10 conference.

Maybe we are just wrong to expect that Washington State should be able to field a competitive football team…  No, we are not wrong, because we saw Washington State do just that under Bill Doba, but especially Mike Price and that means either Paul Wulff starts winning football games or it is a time for a change in Pullman.  That is, if Washington State is still committed top playing winning football.

Enough said on that subject…..

3.  Mike Sherman, Texas A&M – Week 4 was off-week for the Aggies and now Sherman & Company get to find out if they can play football against non-Cupcake opponents.  Any random person chosen off the streets of downtown Houston could have coached A&M to a 3 – 0 record to this point in the season which means the Aggies’ 2010 season does not really begin until this Thursday night in Stillwater. 

It is put up or shut-up time for Mike Sherman and his Aggies and if they lose to Oklahoma State their record in 2010 will be….

3 – 0 Against Cupcakes

0 – 1 Against Legitimate Football Teams

With Arkansas in Dallas up next on the schedule we would recommend that the Aggies beat the Cowboys on Thursday or things are going to get REAL HOT in College Station, Texas!

4.  Mike Locksley, New Mexico – After the loss to UNLV the Lobos are giving up an average of 56.25 points per game in 2010 and that little factoid cannot make anyone around the UNM football program, but especially the fans and alumni very happy.  It is one thing to lose football games, but it is another thing entirely to get blown out by teams that have the same or even less talent and that reality is why Mike Locksley finds himself on the Hot Seat right now.  It doesn’t get any easier for Locksley and the Lobos with UTEP, at New Mexico State, San Diego State, at Colorado State, Wyoming, at Air Force, at BYU and TCU coming up on their slate.  Wow, that is a very tough schedule!  Unless things change very quickly in Albuquerque the Lobos are going to have a hard time winning another game in 2010 and that kind of football is just not acceptable at a school like New Mexico that has a history of fielding pretty decent football teams.

5.  Dan Hawkins, Colorado – Dan Hawkins and the Buffs had a much needed week off as they prepare for the now reeling Georgia Bulldogs team and this Week 5 Game between two coaches on the Hot Seat in Hawkins and Richt is a MUST, MUST WIN GAME for both head coaches.  With only 18 wins in his fifth season at Colorado Dan Hawkins knows exactly what he needs to do in 2010 and that is get the CU program going again in the right direction and get the Buffs back into a postseason bowl game.  CU is 2 – 1 right now and Hawkins needs 6, 7 or maybe even 8 wins to return for 2011 and Colorado’s first year in the Pac-12 and with the following upcoming games of:  Georgia, at Missouri, Baylor, Texas Tech at Oklahoma, at Kansas, Iowa State, Kansas State and at Nebraska, the Georgia game is a MUST, MUST, MUST, MUST, MUST WIN for Dan Hawkins!

6.  Mark Richt, Georgia – Anyone that has watched Georgia under Mark Richt over the past nine seasons and watched the Dawgs against Mississippi State on Saturday night can tell that something is terribly wrong in Athens.  Our good friends and Georgia alums in the Atlanta area have been telling us for years that Richt’s “kid gloves” treatment of Georgia football players getting arrested and into trouble has been building up over the years and “all of that” is now showing up on the football field. 

The thing about members of college sports teams getting arrested, especially when they are multiple arrests year after year, is that either the coach and his staff are recruiting the wrong type of people to the school and/or the players are showing disrespect for the team, the coaching staff and even the school.  As our college coaches used to tell us here at Coaches Hot Seat 25 plus years ago…

“Everywhere you go, everything you do, everyone you interact with, you do it as a member of this sports team and if you make an Ass of yourself or get arrested you just show your complete disrespect for me as your head coach and especially show a complete disrespect for your teammates that are doing things the right way.”

What do the football players at Georgia, Florida and other schools around the country not understand about the above statement, or maybe a better question is, are the head coaches at Georgia and other schools making it very clear that making an Ass of yourself or getting arrested is NOT ONLY NOT ACCEPTABLE it shows that YOU DON’T GIVE A DAMN ABOUT your team, your coaches and your school?  Hell, we don’t know what the problem is with all of these arrests, but we do know that all of us here at Coaches Hot Seat had a Helluva time in college and we did not come remotely close to getting arrested which speaks volumes about what some of these kids must be doing to get themselves arrested. 

21 Year Old Drinking Age

(Please, don’t get us started on the Absolute and Complete Absurdity of the current United States’ drinking age of 21, because if you are mature enough to go away by yourself to college, old enough to vote, but especially old enough to fight for your country in battle then you should be old enough to drink alcohol.  Very simply, the drinking age being at 21 in the United States is causing many of these problems on college campuses and elsewhere because the fundamental relationship between alcohol and Americans has been warped so much that it leads to all kinds of nonsense, like the binge drinking that is so prevalent on college campuses today.  We could go on forever on this subject, but if you are someone that believes in denying people the right to drink at 18, then you would then send them into battle or to vote for the President of the United States at the same age, you are a Total an Complete Hypocrite and are also actually causing lots of arrests on college campuses with this draconian and Bogus 18 year old drinking age.  Oh, it is all just a waste of breath, because people that have no idea what is going on today on college campuses and with our young people don’t have a clue to what we are talking about!  It is better that our young adults don’t drink alcohol at all, but many of them will in college and elsewhere and anyone deluding themselves into thinking that having the drinking age at 21 is stopping one kid from drinking if he/she wants to drink doesn’t have a clue to what is really going on in the world today.  We tell our young adults that drinking alcohol is OK, but only in moderation and that one should never get anywhere close to a vehicle when they have been drinking.  We have taught our young adults about the dangers of alcohol, but also that there are things about alcohol that are good and also a part of the history of our country, like the great wine that comes from California and from elsewhere around the world, and that a mature adult has healthy respect for all types of alcohol which forbids things such as binge drinking.  Enough on that issue, but we could go on for awhile on the subject….)

So just what is going on at Georgia now under Mark Richt?  Well, from a long ways away, it looks to us that there is the perfect storm of many instances of Mark Richt not putting the hammer down on players that have shown a Complete and Utter Contempt for him and the Georgia football team which is now been combined with mediocre play on the field on both sides of the ball and all of that together has turned the Dawgs into a mediocre football team that is made up of players that don’t have respect for their coaches, their team and school and thus are not giving 100 percent on the field.  Yes, many Georgia players did not play at 100 percent against Mississippi State on Saturday night and if you get only a handful of players that are not hustling on every play, especially in a conference like the SEC, you have a recipe for disaster and that is exactly what is going on at Georgia.

Yes, Colorado is a MUST WIN for Mark Rich and Georgia, but even more importantly we will be interested to see if the Dawgs show up and play the way they have in the past or if they just go out to Boulder and lay down and get beat by a team in CU that they have least two, or maybe even three times as much more talent.

7.  Greg McMackin, Hawaii – Hawaii had a bye-week in Week 4….Oh, that’s right Hawaii played I-AA Charleston Southern and beat their Cupcake for the 2010 season 66 – 7.  Yes, Hawaii had a bye-week in Week 4!  Greg McMackin is 15 – 16 in his third season at Hawaii and he now faces a make-or-break stretch that starts with La. Tech at home in a game that a June Jones coached Warriors team would win 99 times out of 100.  Yes, La. Tech is a MUST WIN for Greg McMackin because of the schedule that is behind this Saturday’s game:  at Fresno State, Nevada, at Utah State, Idaho, at Boise State, San Jose State, at New Mexico State and UNLV.  We believe Greg McMackin needs 7 wins in a 13 game season this year to return in 2011 and that means that each and every game is important to a man that has been on the Hot Seat for quite awhile now!

8.  Dennis Erickson, Arizona State – Arizona State played pretty well against Oregon, but again the Sun Devils made lots of very stupid and unnecessary penalties that collectively cost ASU big time.  Anyone that has followed Dennis Erickson’s college career at Miami and Oregon State will remember that his teams at those schools also made lots of stupid mistakes.  Miami had lots of talent when Erickson arrived and during his tenure and they could get away with making lots of stupid mistakes and his four years at Oregon State were before Pete Carroll arrived at USC and were 4 seasons when the Pac-10 was not all that good. 

Newsflash for Dennis Erickson:  You do not have enough talent at Arizona State to let your players to continue to make stupid mistakes and it is always the head coach and his staff that “let” their players make stupid mistakes BECAUSE of the way the coaching staff reacts when the stupid mistakes happen and how a player is punished at the next practice when committing a personal foul or unsportsmanlike penalty.  For us 25 plus years ago the standard for committing a personal foul or unsportsmanlike penalty was very simple:  “See the stadium?  Good, now start running and we will tell you when to stop.”  Yes, after you have run up and down the stairs of the entire stadium two, three or four times you tend to not commit stupid penalties any more and almost always the team gets the message that they really don’t want that kind of punishment either.

Since it seems pretty clear to us that Dennis Erickson is going to allow his Arizona State players to continue to commit stupid mistakes, the Sun Devils are in for a very tough season with the following games on the docket:  at Oregon State, at Washington, at Cal, Washington State, at USC, Stanford, UCLA, at Arizona.  Arizona State is now 2 – 2 and if they win 5 games in 2010 we would be surprised which would mean the Arizona State job would come open in December, because we have been told that it is bowl game or bust for Erickson in 2010 and with two I-AA schools on the schedule that means ASU needs 7 wins to get to a bowl game in the mediocrity that is the college football postseason in 21 st century America.  Oh, that’s right the Candy Asses running the NCAA may allow a I-A school with two wins over I-AA schools to get 6 wins and go to a bowl game.  When will the rewarding of Mediocrity end?  When these Bastards bring down the entire American Republic….. That’s when!

9.  Butch Davis, North Carolina – Butch Davis and his Tar Heels got a Much Needed win over Rutgers to go to 1 – 2 on the season and now the challenge is to keep things going in a positive direction with an out-of-conference matchup against East Carolina this weekend.  No, Butch Davis and UNC can REALLY NOT AFFORD to lose to ECU at home on Saturday, because ACC play starts the next week with Clemson coming to town.  Butch Davis probably needs a .500 or better record to return for the 2011 season and with the following games left on the schedule:  ECU, Clemson, at Virginia, at Miami, William & Mary, at FSU, NC State and at Duke….we wish Butch Davis GOOD LUCK with that!

10.  Todd Dodge, North Texas – Todd Dodge and his North Texas football team got a big win on the road against FAU on Saturday after dealing with a rash of injuries over the past few weeks, but for Dodge to get off the Hot Seat his Mean Green will need to keep this momentum rolling into their home game at La. Lafayette this Saturday.  UNT is now 1 – 3 in 2010 and somehow they are going to need to find 5 wins out of the next 7 Sun Belt conference games and that season ending home game against Kansas State (now that is a odd game for both UNT and Kansas State!).  UNT has La. Lafayette, Arkansas State, FIU, at Western Kentucky, Troy, at Middle Tennessee at La. Monroe and Kansas State and if Todd Dodge can win 5 of his last 8 games then he probably should be back for 2011, especially considering the difficulty of the Mean Green’s out-of-conference schedule this season.  Good Luck to you Boys!

How about a few more songs from the Great Johnny Cash? 

Daddy Sang Bass

If I Were A Carpenter with June Carter Cash

 

Walk the Line

 

 

Huell Howser and California’s Gold

It really is too bad that all Americans can’t get too see some of the craziness that goes on in the state of California because some of it is so crazy that you just have to laugh!  

One of the treasures of the state of California is a Man by the name of Huell Howser that has been doing a TV program on public television stations in California for years now and we all get a great kick out of seeing Huell’s shows. 

If you have never heard of Huell Howser or seen his shows then you have missed a lot of laughs, both laughing at and with Huell, and Huell is such a good sport that he doesn’t give a Damn which you are doing because his love of life and of telling stories is his main concern.

Here is Huell Howser’s website:  www.calgold.com/

Here is an episode of his flagship TV show:  California’s Gold

Coit Tower, San Francisco

California’s Gold #12004 Coit Tower from Huell Howser on Vimeo.

Here is the Wikipedia summary of Huell’s life…

Howser was born in Gallatin, Tennessee. He received a B.A. in history from the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, where he also served as student body president. After serving in the U.S. Marine Corps and on the staff of Sen. Howard Baker, Howser’s television career began at WSM-TV in Nashville. He began a series of “human interest” stories for WSM. Howser became extremely popular as the host of a popular segment on what was at that time still a market-dominant station, especially with regard to local news.[citation needed]

Howser became the subject of controversy in the summer of 1979 when he did a story about how the former Tennessee Governor’s Mansion was slated for demolition to make way for a Popeye’s Fried Chicken outlet. He ignored management’s orders to not mention the story on-air. His defiance led to a thirty-day suspension, but before the suspension was over, Howser had secured new employment. He has often since stated that he might still be “looking for more pet pigs around Nashville” if this incident had never occurred.[citation needed]

After working in New York, he moved to Los Angeles in 1981 to work as a reporter for KCBS-TV. During 1982-83, he also served as weekend host and correspondent for Entertainment Tonight. In 1987 he joined Los Angeles PBS station KCET as a producer of “Videolog.”

California’s Gold highlights small towns, landmarks, events or places of interest throughout California which are not well known to the general public, and Howser conducting informal interviews with the locals. Howser received his first name from a conjunction of his parents’ names, Harold and Jewell, as revealed in the California’s Gold episode “Smartsville”. He also produces derived shows including California’s Golden Parks, California’s Water, Visiting… with Huell Howser, Our Neighborhoods, The Bench, Road Trip, and various specials

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