COACHES HOT SEAT BLOG

Coaches Hot Seat Quotes of the Day – Thursday, November 1, 2012 – Martin Luther King, Jr.

“A genuine leader is not a searcher for consensus but a molder of consensus.”

And

“A nation or civilization that continues to produce soft-minded men purchases its own spiritual death on the installment plan.”

And

“Faith is taking the first step even when you don’t see the whole staircase.”

And

“If a man hasn’t discovered something that he will die for, he isn’t fit to live.”

And

“There is nothing more tragic than to find an individual bogged down in the length of life, devoid of breadth.”

And

“Whatever your life’s work is, do it well. A man should do his job so well that the living, the dead, and the unborn could do it no better.”

And

“The function of education is to teach one to think intensively and to think critically. Intelligence plus character – that is the goal of true education.”

And

“Men often hate each other because they fear each other; they fear each other because they don’t know each other; they don’t know each other because they can not communicate; they can not communicate because they are separated.”

And

“We must live together as brothers or perish together as fools.”

And

“On some positions, Cowardice asks the question, “Is it safe?” Expediency asks the question, “Is it politic?” And Vanity comes along and asks the question, “Is it popular?” But Conscience asks the question “Is it right?” And there comes a time when one must take a position that is neither safe, nor politic, nor popular, but he must do it because Conscience tells him it is right.”

And

“I say to you that our goal is freedom, and I believe we are going to get there because however much she strays away from it, the goal of America is freedom.”

And

“Peace for Israel means security, and we must stand with all our might to protect its right to exist, its territorial integrity. I see Israel as one of the great outposts of democracy in the world, and a marvelous example of what can be done, how desert land can be transformed into an oasis of brotherhood and democracy. Peace for Israel means security and that security must be a reality.”

And

“The tough mind is sharp and penetrating, breaking through the crust of legends and myths and sifting the true from the false. The tough-minded individual is astute and discerning. He has a strong austere quality that makes for firmness of purpose and solidness of commitment. Who doubts that this toughness is one of man’s greatest needs? Rarely do we find men who willingly engage in hard, solid thinking. There is an almost universal quest for easy answers and half-baked solutions. Nothing pains some people more than having to think.”

And

“Nothing in the world is more dangerous than sincere ignorance and conscientious stupidity.”

And

“The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort and convenience, but where he stands at times of challenge and controversy.”

[Read more →]

Tags: Uncategorized by Joe
Comments Off

Week 10 Coaches Hot Seat MUST Win Games for Coaches and Teams

27 Coaches and Teams Facing MUST WIN Games In Week 10

Frank Beamer, Virginia Tech vs. Miami – Frank Beamer has been on quite a roll at Virginia Tech as the follow records attest…

2004:  10 – 3
2005:  11 – 2
2006:  10 – 3
2007:  11 – 3
2008:  10 – 4
2009:  10 – 3
2010:  11 – 3
2011:  11 – 3

….but in 2012 the Hokies are…

4 – 4

….with LOSSES to THREE TEAMS that Virginia Tech has MORE talent than…

Pitt, Cincinnati and North Carolina

…and another LOSS at Clemson which is no shame the way Clemson is playing these days but then how does one possibly explain those LOSSES to Pitt, Cincinnati and North Carolina?

There is NO good explanation for those losses and thus why Virginia Tech cannot afford a loss on Thursday night at Miami because with these games left after the Hurricanes…

Florida State
At Boston College
Virginia

…if Va. Tech does lose to the Canes they might not get to 6 wins in 2012 and that would be a mighty fall for a program that has been at the top of college football for almost a decade now and again their would be NO legitimate explanation for why or how Virginia Tech fell so far.

Al Golden, Miami vs. Virginia Tech – For all of the talk about what a “great job” that Al Golden has done at Miami there is no getting around Golden’s win/loss record with the Canes…

Overall:  10 – 10
ACC:  6 – 7

….and here comes a Virginia Tech team with 4 losses into what will probably be half-full stadium on Thursday night in south Florida and if Golden and the Canes lose this game with these games left….

At Virginia
South Florida
At Duke

….Miami may not get to MEDIOCRE in 2012 and thus be able to yell out the “Call of the Candy Asses” meaning “we are bowl-eligible” and with the NCAA all over the Miami program this year might be the last year for awhile that Miami will be able to go to a bowl game so beating Va. Tech is mighty Damn important.

Steve Sarkisian, Washington vs. California – Steve Sarkisian and Washington got a MUST Win over Oregon State last Saturday night not that many college football fans got to see the game since it was on the almost private Pac-12 Network which is overseen in our opinion by…

Pompous Arrogant Asses that believe they are God’s Gift to Planet Earth

….which is a CANCER that will bring down the American Republic if too many of those Pompous Arrogant Asses get into positions of power in our country BUT we digress and the issue at hand here is that Washington is now…

4 – 4

…on the season and they need two wins out of their last four games to be MEDIOCRE and thus “bowl-eligible” against the following teams…

At California
Utah
At Colorado
At Washington State

…which makes this game against a reeling Cal football team very Damn BIG for Sarkisian and his Huskies.

Jeff Tedford, California vs. Washington – Out of 9 games played in 2012 California has lost 6 of those games against…

Nevada, Ohio State, USC, Arizona State, Stanford and Utah

…and the Golden Bears have these games left….

Washington
Oregon
At Oregon State

….and if Cal loses this game they will probably finish the season at 3 – 9 which even in the Land of the Crazies otherwise known as Berkeley, California would be a Complete Disaster!

Bob Stoops, Oklahoma vs. Iowa State – A couple of years ago when Oklahoma played Connecticut in the Fiesta Bowl a few Coaches Hot Seat members were in Scottsdale, Arizona on business and we met at our hotel and had a couple of breakfasts with a Oklahoma football fan and rancher from the Great State of Oklahoma and he voiced his concerns then about the direction of the Sooners football program and its “toughness” and that lack of “toughness” by Oklahoma football was on full display against Notre Dame last Saturday.

YES, it’s time to face FACTS about Bob Stoops and Oklahoma….in our humble opinion of course: Bob Stoops has his Millions of Dollars, he has built himself a nice big house and now Bob Stoops has GONE SOFT and his Oklahoma Sooners have GONE SOFT as well and that is easily proven because there is more contact between geeks bumping into each other while looking down at their IPhones at a computer trade show in Silicon Valley there is an ANY Oklahoma practice these days!

YES, the Oklahoma Sooners under the Stoops Brothers have…..

GONE SOFT!  As in….CREME PUFF SOFT!

In Oklahoma’s last 14 games the Sooners record is…

9 – 5

…with LOSSES to…

Texas Tech, at Baylor, at Oklahoma State, Kansas State, Notre Dame

…and in 2012 the Sooners still have to play…

At Iowa State
Baylor
At West Virginia
Oklahoma State
At TCU

Could Oklahoma possibly lose 4 or more games in 2012?

YES they could, and the rest of Oklahoma’s season starts with a game at Iowa State on Saturday which is game where the Sooners have FOUR to FIVE TIMES more talent than the Cyclones and like Notre Dame this Iowa State team will pop Oklahoma in the mouth and teams that have popped the GONE SOFT Oklahoma team in the mouth in recent years have BEATEN the Sooners!

Coach hard Bob Stoops because if you lose this game it will be time to put your “working at about 50 percent” of your capability and GONE SOFT rear-end on the Hot Seat!

Joker Phillips, Kentucky vs. Vanderbilt – Now at 1 – 8 on the season and 0 – 6 in the SEC Kentucky and its head coach Joker Phillips REALLY need a win and a loss to Vanderbilt in this spot at home in Lexington when Vandy was a program way behind UK football only a couple of years ago would be nothing shot of a Complete Disaster.

Kentucky at 1 – 8 has left…

Vanderbilt
Samford
At Tennessee

….and that makes this Vanderbilt game a MUST, MUST Win game for Phillips and his Wildcats because Samford is a I-AA team and a win in that game will mean NOTHING and Tennessee and Derek Dooley will be a desperate for a win in the last game of the season and a 2 – 10 record in 2012 will be might hard for the “powers that be” at Kentucky to defense even if Kentucky basketball is the best in the land which it might very well be!

Tony Levine, Houston vs. East Carolina – Houston was such a hot program under their last head coach Kevin Sumlin that Tony Levine really needs to keep things rolling at Houston in 2012 and that means at LEAST get the Cougars to a bowl game and with Houston football now at 4 – 4 and with these games left…

At East Carolina
Tulsa
At Marshall
Tulane

…and win against East Carolina is a MUST!

Rich Ellerson, Army vs. Air Force – 2012 has been nothing short of a Complete Disaster for Army football and with 1 win and 7 losses a win over Air Force at West Point would be especially meaningful and if Army can beat Boston College at home then one would think they could beat Air Force as well. Army’s chances to go to a bowl game are gone, but the Commander in Chief’s Trophy is still up for grabs and wins over Air Force on Saturday and Navy on December 8 would turn a Complete Disaster of a season into a Successful Season for the Cadets so GO ARMY!

Derek Dooley, Tennessee vs. Troy – Derek Dooley and his Vols task for the rest of 2012 is very simple with Tennessee now at 3 – 5 on the season that very simple task is:

Tennessee MUST WIN their last four games against…

Troy
Missouri
At Vanderbilt
Kentucky

…or Tennessee AD Dave Hart will be forced around Thanksgiving to consider making a change in the leadership of Tennessee football and since in our opinion Tennessee is a school that a lot of coaches would be interested in talking to the “powers that be” at the University of Tennessee about Dave Hart’s choice IF Dooley and the Vols don’t get to at least 7 wins in 2012 will be either….

Stay with Mediocrity

OR

Take a chance on Something Better

One thing for sure Tennessee AD Dave Hart does not want to see is a Vols team in 2013 that is fighting to get to a .500 record again as the best teams in the SEC continue to get better and better and better.

Paul Johnson, Georgia Tech vs. Maryland – Paul Johnson had a great coaching record at Georgia Southern and Navy and in his first two years at Georgia Tech when the Yellow Jackets won…

Two Coastal Division Titles
One ACC Conference Title

AND

20 Games

…but Tech has fallen on hard times the last three seasons and since the beginning of the 2010 season the Yellow Jackets are…

Overall:  17 – 17
ACC:  11 – 10

….and Paul Johnson must sit in his office in the Tech athletic facilities and wonder just what in the Hell has gone wrong?

Let us answer your question for you Coach Johnson:

First, Paul Johnson should have NEVER fired Dave Wommack as his defensive coordinator in January 2010 after Tech’s loss in the Orange Bowl to Iowa (Wommack is now the Ole Miss DC) and certainly Johnson should have NEVER replaced Wommack with Al Groh because more than anything else those two moves contributed to the downfall of Georgia Tech football over the past three seasons.

Secondly, the problem with Paul Johnson’s triple-option offense is that in today’s world where defensive linebackers, defensive ends and defensive safeties are so fast it is very hard to get any rhythm going with a triple-option attack UNLESS you have a credible passing game that can keep the linebackers, ends and safeties honest and Georgia Tech just flat-out has not had and does not have a credible passing attack under Paul Johnson.

Thirdly, when Coaches Hot Seat members can sit at Coaches Hot Seat Central 1,500 miles from where Georgia Tech is playing while watching at Tech came on TV and call out the upcoming play even before the ball is snapped do you think that defensive coordinators that are paid to find trends in offensive sets and alignments also might be able to predict what Tech is about to run as well?

HELL YES!…..is the answer to that question which means that Georgia Tech’s offense in addition to NOT having a credible passing attack is also very Damn predictable and thus why Johnson should be able to see on game-tapes that safeties and linebackers are ending up on the side of the field where Tech is running their triple-option so much of the time and why the Tech offense has been getting stuffed so much over the past three seasons.

What Paul Johnson needs right now is….

A legitimate defensive coordinator….someone like Dave Wommack

A credible passing attack for his offense

The Tech offense needs to be LESS predictable and it needs to quit tipping off the opposing defenses on the play it is about to run.

With all of the above being said the Yellow Jackets are 3 – 5 on the season and have left..

At Maryland
At North Carolina
Duke
At Georgia

….and if Georgia Tech doesn’t beat Maryland on Saturday we don’t think Tech will even be MEDIOCRE and be able to yell out the Call of the Candy Asses: “We are bowl eligible!”

Randy Edsall, Maryland vs. Georgia Tech – After going 2 – 10 in his first season on the job at Maryland the Terps are 4 – 4 in Randy Edsall’s second season in College Park and because getting to at least MEDIOCRE and a 6 – 6 record is paramount if Edsall wants to get anything going with the Maryland football program beating Georgia Tech on Saturday is a MUST.

Maryland is 4 – 4 and they have left…

Georgia Tech
At Clemson
Florida State
At North Carolina

….so not only is beating Georgia Tech a MUST to get to a .500 record this season the Terps will have to beat one of their last three opponents which the Terps will be heavy underdogs to as well.

Jon Embree, Colorado vs. Stanford – In his second season at Colorado Jon Embree’s records are…

Overall:  4 – 17
Pac-12:  3 – 11

…and Embree really needs to start getting some wins or there are going to be a lot of Colorado alums and boosters that are going to start asking questions that Colorado AD Mike Bohn has NO good answers for like….

”Just where in the Hell is the Colorado football program going?”

Colorado is 1 – 7 on the season with their lone win was a last minute comeback against woeful Washington State and the Buffs have left…

Stanford
At Arizona
Washington
Utah

…..and by all rights Colorado should have at least a decent shot to win ALL of their remaining games but winning one or ALL of their remaining games is a different matter entirely.

The most troubling statistics for Colorado after 8 games:

Colorado is 124 th overall out of 124 teams in giving up points giving up an average of….

46 points a game

Colorado is 117 th overall out of 124 teams in giving up points scoring an average of…

18.1 points a game

NO, when you are giving up an average of 46 points a game and only scoring 18.1 points per game you are NOT going to win many games and if there is one saving grace for the Buffs on Saturday it is that the Stanford offense is only scoring 27 points per game so its not likely another blowout is in the offing for Colorado.

David Shaw, Stanford vs. Colorado – IF and it is a BIG IF but IF Stanford had any offense at all it would be 7 – 0 right now and in the Top 5 in the country.

The Stanford offense was only able to score 6 POINTS against both Washington and Notre Dame (which the Stanford defense outscored in both games) earlier this year while wasting great efforts by the Stanford defense in the process and wasting the great win over USC and now 8 weeks into the season the Stanford offense is…

91 st overall in Passing Yards – 204.4 yards per game

66 th overall in Rushing Yards – 161.6 yards per game

70 th overall in Points Scored – 27 points per game

…and with these games left after Colorado…

Oregon State
At Oregon
At UCLA

…if the Stanford offense doesn’t improve soon The Cardinal will finish the season with 5 losses and Captain Kangaroo….

…could have WON 9 games with this Stanford football team EASY.

As for the Colorado game with the Buffs getting blown out by Oregon, USC, Arizona State, UCLA, Fresno State and even beaten by I-AA Sacramento State on their home field IF Stanford loses to Colorado then the ENTIRE Stanford coaching staff should resign immediately after the game because they will be FIRED IMMEDIATELY upon their return to the Stanford campus and be asked to IMMEDIATELY to clean out their offices and leave the premises because if Stanford loses to Colorado there would be NO DOUBT that David Shaw and his coaching staff were destroying the Stanford football program that took 4 years and lots of hard work to build which included Tens of Millions of Dollars to renovate Stanford Stadium and provide the resources to put Stanford among the elite in college football.

Kyle Whittingham, Utah vs. Washington State – Kyle Whittingham and his Utes got a much needed win over California last Saturday and now at 3 – 5 on the season unless Utah football wants to fall completely off the map they really need to get to 6 wins in 2012 and with these games left…

Washington State
At Washington
Arizona
At Colorado

….Utah will need to beat a couple of teams it will be the underdog against to get to MEDIOCRE and 6 wins which makes this game against Washington State a MUST Win for the Utes.

Dana Holgorsen, West Virginia vs. TCU – After starting out 5 – 0 and beating…

Marshall, James Madison, Maryland, Baylor and Texas

…with last two games being very close shootouts Dana Holgorsen and West Virginia fell flat on their faces against teams that actually play defense, Texas Tech and Kansas State, and here come another team that plays defense in TCU and if Holgorsen doesn’t rally his Mountaineers in this game the 2012 season could turn into a complete debacle because after TCU the Mountaineers have left…

At Oklahoma State
Oklahoma
At Iowa State
Kansas

…and ONLY Kansas among those remaining 4 games is an almost sure-fire win.

YES, the West Virginia offense and defense needs to show up on Saturday or the Mountaineers will drop to 5 – 3.

Mark Richt, Georgia vs. Ole Miss – Georgia got a nice win over Florida on Saturday but Mark Richt and his Bulldogs must keep things going this week with Ole Miss coming to Athens because a loss in this spot and the “Mark Richt can’t win the important and big games” will come out again and this isn’t even an important or big game against Ole Miss….UNLESS YOU LOSE IT!

Now at 7 – 1 on the season Georgia has left…

Ole Miss
At Auburn
Georgia Southern
Georgia Tech

…and by all rights the Bulldogs should finish the season at 11 – 1….BUT….why do we have the sneaking suspicion that Mark Richt and the Bulldogs are going to “choke” one of their remaining games and open the door for someone else to go to the SEC Championship Game?

Answer: Because it has happened so many times before that’s why!

Kirk Ferentz, Iowa vs. Indiana – Now at 4 – 4 on the season Mr. 3.65 Million Dollars otherwise known at Kirk Ferentz has his Hawkeyes on the verge of not making a bowl game in 2012 after going 7 – 5 in 2011 and barely making a bowl game last season.

Iowa has left…

At Indiana
Purdue
At Michigan
Nebraska

…which REALLY makes this game against Indiana a MUST Win Game and if the Hawkeyes lose in this spot Iowa fans everywhere will start to wonder why they are paying Kirk Ferentz more than $3.5 Million Dollars a year when any random cow….

…from any farm in Iowa could coach the Hawkeyes to a bowl game EVERY season and the cow would cost even with high corn and grain prices only a few thousand dollars a year!

Kevin Wilson, Indiana vs. Iowa – Kevin Wilson and Indiana got their Big Ten Conference win in a couple of seasons and now at 3 – 5 on the season and with these games left…

Iowa
Wisconsin
At Penn State
At Purdue

….if Indiana wants any chance to go bowling this year then they MUST BEAT Iowa on Saturday. PERIOD.

Brian Kelly, Notre Dame vs. Pitt – After the BIG win over Oklahoma last Saturday Brian Kelly and Notre Dame now faces MUST Win situations in their last four games against…

Pitt
At Boston College
Wake Forest
At USC

….and if Notre Dame is for REAL they should easily roll over Pitt, Boston College and Wake Forest before their trip to play USC in Los Angeles on November 24.

Two scores from this past Saturday that should scare the Hell out of the fans of Notre Dame football were…

Minnesota – 44
Purdue – 28

Stanford – 24
Washington State – 17

….because Notre Dame had a tough time beating BOTH Purdue and Stanford this season and with both Purdue and Stanford struggled against below average teams this past weekend and with the Oklahoma Sooners now being softer than Pillsbury Dough Boy one has to really wonder if Notre Dame has played ANYONE in 2012.

Answer: Notre Dame hasn’t really played ANYONE in 2012.

Bo Pelini, Nebraska vs. Michigan State – What Bo Pelini must completely understand is that the…

PRESSURE NEVER ENDS

….for the Nebraska head football coach and after that nice win over Michigan last Saturday the Cornhuskers face another big game this week against a struggling Michigan State team.

Nebraska is 6 – 2 on the season and has these games left…

At Michigan State
Penn State
Minnesota
Iowa

..and there is NO REASON IN THE WORLD why Nebraska shouldn’t win out the rest of their games but winning out starts with Michigan State on Saturday.

A WIN over Michigan State would be great

BUT

A LOSS to Michigan State would be bad for Nebraska and Bo Pelini.

That is just the FACTS OF LIFE at the University of Nebraska and there is NO getting around the FACTS OF LIFE.

Frank Spaziani, Boston College vs. Wake Forest – Frank Spaziani has ONE chance to hold onto his job at Boston College!

Boston College MUST WIN out the rest of their games against…

At Wake Forest
Notre Dame
Virginia Tech
At NC State

…and to that idea we say….

“Good Luck with that Frank Spaziani!”

Hey, in a normal year with just an average Boston College football team ALL four of BC’s remaining games would be winnable BUT this is a below average BC team that lost to Army earlier in the season so we expect for the Boston College football team to fold the tent against Wake Forest, not show up against Notre Dame, quit against Virginia Tech and barely play against NC State.

Oh, the Boston College players don’t agree with the Coaches Hot Seat opinion of them?

PROVE US WRONG!

Charlie Weis, Kansas vs. Baylor – After a close loss to Texas which had no business beating the Jayhawks last Saturday after Kansas outplayed the Longhorns all day long the KU football team has to go on the road to play a Baylor team that is scoring an average of…

44.1 points a game

…BUT is giving up an average of…

42.7 points a game

….which means that Charlie Weis better get that Kansas offense rolling or Baylor will roll to a big win in Waco and run the Kansas losing streak to 7 and with these games remaining on the schedule for KU…

At Texas Tech
Iowa State
At West Virginia

….the Kansas losing streak will probably be standing at 11 straight games come early December.

Mack Brown, Texas vs. Texas Tech – Mack Brown and Texas are only two last second wins over Oklahoma State and Kansas from being…

4 – 4

…right now which would have lit Brown’s rear-end ON FIRE but with the Longhorns now at 6 – 2 on the season and 3 – 2 in Big 12 play the Horns have left…

At Texas Tech
Iowa State
TCU
At Kansas State

…and Texas has plenty of talent on their roster to WIN ALL of their remaining games but how many games will the Horns win is the question.

Well, anything less than 8 wins a season at place like Texas is a Complete Disaster bordering on Armageddon and that makes this Saturday’s game at Texas Tech a MUST WIN Game because that last game of the year at Kansas States looks completely Un-Winnable.

Lane Kiffin, USC vs. Oregon – As any college head football coach that has an IQ over room temperature knows the biggest threat to his job security is NOT the callers to radio shows, NOT the columnists in the local newspapers, NOT members of the news media and NOT Coaches Hot Seat BUT the biggest threat is in FACT the boosters and alumni to the school that the head coach rarely sees or talks to but have huge sway and influence behind the scenes and will when a head coach is struggling usually be weighing in with the “powers that be” at the school long before the head coach realizes his job security and job is in question.

Case in point:  Lane Kiffin at USC

When one is talking about the University of Southern California which is kind of like a cross between Stanford University and the University of Alabama and which has tens of thousands of very accomplished alumni that have one and often more than one degree from USC and when they in the little time they have in their busy working lives pick up the Los Angeles Times and read stories like this one…

Lane Kiffin is so promising – and so immature, T.J. Simers, Los Angeles Times

….about how the USC head football coach is acting in a piss-ant and immature way they don’t laugh and say something like “that’s just football” or “that’s just Kiffin being Kiffin,” but rather they shake their heads in disgust and when they see another USC grad at work, at lunch or somewhere else usually the first thing that is said between them is something like…

“Can you believe what Kiffin did again?”

…which is usually answered by the other USC grad with something like….

“Yes, I saw that. I wonder if Lane Kiffin will grow up before or after he gets fired?”

….with a reply of something like….

“My guess is that when Lane is fired he will not know why and will probably never know why.”

Early this week we reached out to USC grad friend of ours who has THREE degrees from USC and is tremendously proud of his school and its sports teams and although this USC friend of ours has always been willing to give Lane Kiffin the benefit of the doubt since Lane Kiffin really wasn’t a Pompous, Arrogant Ass when he was on Pete Carroll’s staff at USC because Carroll would not have tolerated such behavior….BUT….this USC grad is getting fed-up with Lane Kiffin and if Lane Kiffin is going to be an immature ass AND not win LOTS of football games and championships then the question is….

“Why the Hell is Lane Kiffin the USC head football coach?”

Lane Kiffin’s records at USC are…

Overall: 24 – 9 (.686)
Pac-12: 16 – 8 (.667)

…and since we are talking about USC football where a Surfer from Huntington Beach….

…could WIN 8 Games a year the standard that Lane Kiffin will be measured against are the Win/Loss records of three former and legendary USC head coaches…

Pete Carroll – 9 Seasons at USC
Overall: 83 – 19 (.814)
Pac-10: 53 – 14 (.791)

2 National Titles
6 Pac-10 Championships

John Robinson – 12 Seasons at USC
Overall: 104 – 35 – 4 (.727)
Pac-10: 53 – 23 – 3 (.671)

1 National Title
5 Pac-10 Championships

John McKay – 16 Seasons at USC
Overall: 127 – 40 – 8 (.726)
Pac-8: 70 – 17 – 3 (.778)

4 National Titles
9 Pac-8 Championships

…and either Lane Kiffin will MEET or EXCEED the coaching and championship records of Carroll, Robinson and McKay at USC or very simply….

One day Lane Kiffin will be asked to come to USC AD Pat Haden’s office and Lane will be told in a very calm and measured voice that USC was moving in a different direction and that Lane and his assistants will have a “couple of days” to clear out their offices.

USC is now 6 – 2 on the season and 4 – 2 in Pac-12 play and the Trojans have left…

Oregon
Arizona State
At UCLA
Notre Dame

….and if Arizona can beat USC then ALL of the above four teams can as well and we would not recommend that Lane Kiffin have his USC team finish with a 6 – 6 record in 2012 when you have the top QB in the country under center and MORE talent on the USC roster than every team the Trojans are playing this season save the Oregon Ducks who have roughly even talent to USC now which shows everyone how far the Oregon football program has come in recent years.

It’s put-up or shut-up time for Lane Kiffin in the USC – Oregon game on Saturday and for “Switch those jerseys out” Kiffin either….

WIN

Or

SHUT THE HELL UP!

Ellis Johnson, Southern Miss vs. UAB – Southern Miss head coach Ellis Johnson has to be the first year coach with the Hottest Seat in recent college football history after taking over a Southern Miss team from Larry Fedora that won…

34 games in 4 seasons

….and with Ellis Johnson off to a 1 – 8 start and is coming off a devastating loss to Rice last Saturday.

With these four games left…

UAB
At SMU
UTEP
At Memphis

….Johnson and his Southern Miss team NEED A WIN in the worst way and a loss to a woeful UAB team in this spot would put Ellis Johnson’s return in 2013 as the Southern Miss head coach in jeopardy.

Les Miles, LSU vs. Alabama – Here are Les Miles year-by-year records at LSU…

2005:  11 – 2 – SEC West Division Title
2006:  11 – 2
2007:  12 – 2 – SEC Champion and National Title
2008:  8 – 5
2009:  9 – 4
2010:  11 – 2
2011:  13 – 1 – SEC Champion
2012:  7 – 1

….which adds up to a great winning percentage for Miles BUT in 7 seasons only…

TWO SEC Championships
ONE National Championships

…and considering the kind of program that Miles took over for Saban at LSU it seems that LSU should have won more games and championships…..yes?

We think so and thus why this Alabama game is MUST Win for Les Miles and the LSU Tigers because a loss in this spot to Saban and Alabama would bring up the same questions that came up after LSU’s loss to Alabama in the Bogus BCS national title game in January (someone make sure Bobby Hebert gets into Les Miles post-Bama game press conference if LSU loses because Bobby is the ONLY member of the media asking REAL questions of Miles) and it would firmly establish that Alabama as the BEST team in the SEC Conference and that reality would not go down well in Baton Rouge.

So the question relative to the LSU – Alabama game is…

What do you got Les Miles and LSU?

Our opinion:  Les Miles and the LSU Tigers are Scared and Intimidated by Nick Saban and the Alabama Crimson Tide and we see the Tide Rolling in Baton Rouge on Saturday Night!

Like we just said:

What do you got Les Miles and LSU?

That sound you hear is Nick Saban cursing in his office and wondering aloud why Coaches Hot Seat is questioning Les Miles and LSU’s manhood!

Because we can Nick…..AND….because after that Debacle in New Orleans last January Les Miles and LSU’s manhood IS IN QUESTION!

Gene Chizik, Auburn vs. New Mexico State - Auburn and Gene Chizik’s game against New Mexico State on Saturday isn’t so much a MUST WIN Game as it is a…

Better the Hell NOT Lose It Game!

…because if Auburn loses to a 1 – 7 New Mexico State team that has won 10 games over the past four seasons then Gene Chizik can just leave Jordan-Hare Stadium after the LOSS and proceed straight to his office in the Auburn athletic facility and START PACKING because Chizik’s time on The Plains WILL BE OVER!

Tags: Uncategorized by Joe
Comments Off

Coaches Hot Seat Quotes of the Day – Wednesday, October 31, 2012 – Erk Russell

“A good sense of humor even helps in football.”

And

“We had a group of about eight boys in the Navy, all from the South — South Carolina, Georgia, Tennessee, Mississippi. In the barracks we took the corner, drew a line, said, ‘No Yankees’ across this. We didn’t really mean it, but they thought we did.”

And

As a young coach, I ran with the players. As a 55-year-old coach, I jogged with the players. As an old coach of 60, 64, 65, I had to start woggin’. A wog is a little bit faster than a walk, but slower than a jog.”

And

“A good story just makes you feel better.

And

“My first 31 years in this business were like a guy eating at a buffet table. Later, when I came here to Georgia Southern, it was like eating the desert.”

And

“The best way to win a game is not to lose it.”

And

“That’s overworked. Heck, once you get a few scabs on the forehead, they’re bound to bleed some when popped open. I’ve quit that, anyway, because I’ve got to uphold the image of a head coach.” – On the blood that trickled down after he’d head-butt his linemen before games at Georgia.

And

We had a president that came to Georgia Southern and during one of our booster luncheons to kick off the football season — he’s the new president, his name was Nick Henry…. He got up before the group and said, ‘It’s so nice to be at a college that’s not on probation.’ He said, ‘I taught at Georgia, they were on probation. I went to Arizona State, they were on probation.’… I followed him with my remarks and I said, ‘Dr. Henry, you don’t have to worry about Georgia Southern cheating. Because it takes money to cheat, and we don’t have any money.’”

And

“Communication is the most important technique in teaching and in coaching, eyeball to eyeball, one on one: ‘This is what we want to accomplish, and this is the way we’re going to accomplish it.’ Not memos, not bulletin boards or announcements, one on one.”

And

“You know what a consultant is, don’t you? A consultant is a guy that knows 100 different sex positions but doesn’t know a woman.”

And

“I’m gonna say it one more time. We are Georgia Southern. Our colors are blue and white. We call ourselves the Bald Eagles. We call our offense the Georgia Power Company…and that’s a terrific name for an offense. Our snap count is “rate, hike”. We practice on the banks of Beautiful Eagle Creek and that’s in Statesboro, Georgia–the gnat capital of America. Our weekends begin on Thursday. The co-eds outnumber the men 3 to 2. They’re all good looking and they’re all rich. And folks, you just can’t beat that…and you just can’t beat Georgia Southern. And you ain’t seen nothin yet…”

And

“I had an opportunity (to play) at Alabama. I told them that that was what I always wanted to do and that I was coming, and when I got back home an Auburn coach was sitting on my front porch, and he said, ‘Come on, we’re going to Auburn.’ And I said, ‘I just got back from Alabama, I told them I was gonna go to school there and that’s what I want to do.’ And he said, ‘Well you’ve got to take a look at Auburn.’ So I said, ‘OK.’ We drove to Auburn, he put on a change of clothes, picked up his bag and we went to Gulf Shores, Alabama, and fished for two days. When we got back, I said, ‘I’ve always wanted to go to Auburn.’”

And

“My dad always had a job that he really didn’t relish getting up and going to every day. He said, ‘Boy’ — that’s all he ever called me — he said, ‘Boy, you do something that you enjoy doing.’”

And

“Attitude might be worth 80 percent of any athlete’s makeup.”

And

“Our recruiting budget at Georgia Southern was $200 our first year. I had just left Georgia, whose recruiting budget was a quarter of a million dollars. And as I drove down the Woodpecker Trail, trying to touch base with people in Claxton and Alma and Jesup and Ludowici, sometimes I wondered, “What have you done?’”

And

“I’ve been bald so long I really don’t remember when I had any hair. I know I didn’t have any when I coached at Auburn in 1958. I had a thin crop when I played for Auburn (1946-49). That’s it. When I went to Auburn to coach, I had fringe hair, the kind some men part down low and comb across their heads to cover up the bare spots. Haircuts went up to $1 about then. I wasn’t about to pay anybody a dollar to cut what was already falling out, so I got me a razor.”

And

“In football, like in life, you’ve got to do what you’ve got to do to get the job done. I’ve always believed that. Football is still football, it’s a game of tackling and blocking and competitive people. Every time I told a joke or told a story or pulled a stunt, there had to be a moral behind it.”

[Read more →]

Tags: Uncategorized by Joe
Comments Off

Coaches Hot Seat Quotes of the Day – Tuesday, October 30, 2012 – John Steinbeck

“A journey is a person in itself; no two are alike. And all plans, safeguards, policing, and coercion are fruitless. We find that after years of struggle that we do not take a trip; a trip takes us.”

And

“A journey is like marriage. The certain way to be wrong is to think you control it.”

And

“I am impelled, not to squeak like a grateful and apologetic mouse, but to roar like a lion out of pride in my profession.”

And

“I have never smuggled anything in my life. Why, then, do I feel an uneasy sense of guilt on approaching a customs barrier?”

And

“I’ve lived in good climate, and it bores the hell out of me. I like weather rather than climate.”

And

“I’ve seen a look in dogs’ eyes, a quickly vanishing look of amazed contempt, and I am convinced that basically dogs think humans are nuts.”

And

“Ideas are like rabbits. You get a couple and learn how to handle them, and pretty soon you have a dozen.”

And

“If you’re in trouble, or hurt or need – go to the poor people. They’re the only ones that’ll help – the only ones.”

And

“In the souls of the people the grapes of wrath are filling and growing heavy, growing heavy for the vintage.”

And

“It has always been my private conviction that any man who puts his intelligence up against a fish and loses had it coming.”

And

“It has always seemed strange to me… the things we admire in men, kindness and generosity, openness, honesty, understanding and feeling, are the concomitants of failure in our system. And those traits we detest, sharpness, greed, acquisitiveness, meanness, egotism and self-interest, are the traits of success. And while men admire the quality of the first they love the produce of the second.”

And

“It is a common experience that a problem difficult at night is resolved in the morning after the committee of sleep has worked on it.”

And

“No man really knows about other human beings. The best he can do is to suppose that they are like himself.”

And

“Power does not corrupt. Fear corrupts… perhaps the fear of a loss of power.”

And

“Sectional football games have the glory and the despair of war, and when a Texas team takes the field against a foreign state, it is an army with banners.”

And

“The writer must believe that what he is doing is the most important thing in the world. And he must hold to this illusion even when he knows it is not true.”

And

“We spend our time searching for security and hate it when we get it.”

[Read more →]

Tags: Uncategorized by Joe
Comments Off

The San Francisco Giants – WORLD CHAMPIONS!

It would be impossible for us to express how incredibly PROUD we are of the new WORLD CHAMPIONS….

The San Francisco Giants

….for the way they have played in 2012 both in the regular and postseason and in the way they Completely Dominated and SWEPT the Detroit Tigers to…

WIN the 2012 World Series!

Above all The San Francisco Giants are a….

TEAM

…and the Great Babe Ruth said it better than we can about a what a TEAM really is ….

“The way a team plays as a whole determines its success. You may have the greatest bunch of individual stars in the world, but if they don’t play together, the club won’t be worth a dime.”

…..and we could not agree with you more Babe as you described the 2012 San Francisco Giants!

Just like in 2010 with us watching the San Francisco Giants play most of their games in 2012 and seeing how the Giants have developed and grown in positive ways during the season by the moves made by General Manager Brian Sabean we must beyond giving credit to the GIANTS players for an Incredible Job WELL DONE we also must recognize that GREAT TEAMS area led by GREAT coaches and the Giants have just that in manager…

Bruce Bochy

In addition to the GREAT work done by Bruce Bochy with the Giants in 2012 all of the other coaches did a GREAT job as well but we must especially note the work of Giants pitching coach Dave Righetti who during his playing career as a starting pitcher and later one of the top closers in Major League Baseball was always one of our favorite players and who did nothing short of masterful work with the Giants pitching staff this season and whatever the Giants are paying Dave Righetti it isn’t enough!

Congratulations to the San Francisco Giants for a JOB WELL DONE and for bringing HOME another…

World Series Championship

….to the San Francisco Bay area and with the Giants current roster which has by our count 5 or 6 future Baseball Hall of Famers (and Bruce Bochy who should now go in as a manager) the San Francisco Giants are NOT GOING AWAY anytime soon!

Let’s have a GREAT parade on Wednesday for the Giants in San Francisco and then we will see the Giants in Scottsdale, Arizona in the spring!

GO GIANTS!

Let’s make it two in a row and three World Series titles in four seasons in 2013!

 

Post Week 9 Coaches Hot Seat Rankings

No, Johnny not “Get Rhythm”…..

….what we need in this spot for these coaches is…

RING OF FIRE!

1.  Gene Chizik, Auburn – Please, just what in the Hell was that?

Texas A&M – 63
Auburn – 21

What the Hell?

Of course, the 42 points that Texas A&M beat Auburn by on Saturday night could have easily been a…

50, 60 or even 70 point margin

….and when one realizes that Auburn has more raw talent standing on its sideline than A&M has on its sideline and that the game was played AT AUBURN in Jordan-Hare Stadium on Pat Dye Field then one realizes that Auburn has one Helluva problem on its hands and to tell you the TRUTH we are starting to wonder if Gene Chizik has it in him to get out the Auburn football program out of its current downward spiral.

Let’s just go ahead and say what people in the state of Alabama have been telling us for weeks now about what is going on inside the Auburn football program and which is THEIR opinion:

There are NCAA investigators looking into all kinds of things about the recruiting, high school grades and actions of recruits that ended up at Auburn AND several other SEC schools and there are some worries at Auburn that some of those investigations might find their ways to Auburn’s doorstep eventually and that has had some dampening and chilling effect on the Auburn football program whether anyone at Auburn wants to admit it or not.

Auburn assistant coach Curtis Luper was passed over for the offensive coordinator position by Gene Chizik (when Gus Malzahn left for the Arkansas State job) who hired Scott Loeffler instead and that move coupled with Loeffler and Chizik’s decision to move away from a spread offense to more of a power running and passing game has led to some dissension on the Auburn staff which is obvious to anyone that watches what is happening on the Auburn sideline during a game.

Even though Gene Chizik’s background is on the defensive side of the ball the new Auburn defensive coordinator is Brian VanGorder pretty much has autonomy to run the Tigers defense as he sees fit which has led to Auburn becoming not only becoming two different coaching staffs, offensive and defensive, but also two different coaches staffs that have dissension going on inside and among them and Gene Chizik for whatever reason has not stepped in as of yet and told them to ether start working together or their asses will be run out of Auburn.

ALL of the above has turned the Auburn football team into just a group of 18 – 22 year old college football players that have no direction, no goals and no leadership and when they look to their coaches for direction they see that the coaches from Gene Chizik on down are not acting like coaches but rather are arguing with each other and blaming each other and the result of that is things like this…

Texas A&M – 63
Auburn – 21

The current situation at Auburn where the train has gone completely off the tracks and seemingly the head coach is unable to do anything about it is why college athletic departments and college boards of trustees should NOT be signing off on contracts for their coaches that do not have reasonable buyouts for both the school and the coach in those contracts and certainly there is NO DAMN REASON that Auburn should be facing the decision right now of either…

Letting the Auburn football program be destroyed

OR

Pay Gene Chizik a $7.5 Million Dollar Buyout if he is fired after December 1, 2012

Simply the above is an ABSURD position for any college to put itself into and ONLY…

Very Damn Stupid People

…would have agreed to such a contract for Gene Chizik and just for that reason alone anyone that was involved in or agreed to give Chizik such a lucrative contract should be…

FIRED.

PERIOD.

Auburn is now a stunning 1 – 7 overall and 0 – 6 in the SEC on the season and the Tigers have left…

New Mexico State
Georgia
Alabama A&M
At Alabama

…and since Gilligan….

….could have won 7 games coaching Auburn in 2012 if he had arrived on campus just before the season started we wish someone would explain to us how Auburn can possibly bring back Gene Chizik for another season that would most certainly with the problems going on inside the Auburn football program just be another Complete Disaster?

Here’s a thought for the folks at Auburn:  Gene Chizik’s buyout drops to $5 Million Dollars on December 1, 2013 and $3.5 Million Dollars on December 1, 2014 (YES, an absurdity!) and if Auburn decides that they would be willing to give Gene Chizik one more year to turn things around they should found out if Chizik REALLY WANTS to keep the Auburn job and propose to him that either he can be fired this year and take his $7.5 Million Dollar buyout OR Chizik can reduce his buyout to $1 Million Dollars after December 1, 2013 and if Chizik would do that Auburn would give him another season to see what he could do. The above would lay out in no uncertain terms whether Gene Chizik is interested in the….

$$$$$$$$$$$

….or is he motivated by the idea of being the head football coach at Auburn and since Chizik is making $3.5 Million Dollars Plus a year if Chizik REALLY WANTS to stay on as the Auburn head coach he would take the above deal in a nanosecond and if he didn’t take it then he shouldn’t be the Auburn coach because Chizik already as a wealthy man would be putting $$$$$$$$$$$ ahead of Auburn University and who the Hell wants someone like that coaching their football team?

2.  Jeff Tedford, California – While the Auburn sidelines are almost dead and devoid of emotion during games the California sidelines are filled with passion and profanity with the only problem being….

The profanity is flying between and at the Cal coaches from other Cal coaches!

We are not quite sure when things started to go wrong for Jeff Tedford at Cal, but if we were forced to point to one game when things went off the tracks in Berkeley we would point to the 2007 season which was only a year after Cal put up a record of…

10 – 3

…and were co-champions of Pac-10 Conference and the game when things started going wrong in 2007 was the November 10 game against Pete Carroll’s USC team at Memorial Stadium in Berkeley and the final score of that game was…

USC – 24
Cal – 17

….and with that loss to the Trojans the Golden Bears dropped to 6 – 4 on the season and then lost their next two games to…

Washington

AND

Stanford

….and finished the season at 7 – 6 after beating Air Force in the Armed Forces Bowl.

Oh, by the way, 2007 was Jim Harbaugh’s first year as head coach at Stanford so in Jeff Tedford’s sixth year at California when he had beaten Stanford SIX TIMES in a row it was first year Stanford head coach Jim Harbaugh that got the win in The Big Game over Jeff Tedford in 2007.

Starting with that November 10, 2007 Cal loss to USC Jeff Tedford’s records at Cal have been….

Overall:  33 – 31
Pac-10/12:  20 – 25

….and since 2007 Tedford’s record in the BIG GAME against Stanford is…

2 – 4

Now maybe the above overall, conference and BIG GAME records are good enough for the folks in the Land of the Crazies otherwise known as Berkeley, California OR maybe because there are also some Very Damn Stupid People working at Cal just like there are some Very Damn Stupid People working at Auburn and Jeff Tedford has a…

$6.9 Million Dollar Buyout

….if he was fired in December that could very well stop Cal from firing Jeff Tedford which in our opinion Cal should do unless of course they are happy with…

MEDIOCRITY

….at the University of California but then we are talking about California which now has this kind of Unemployment Rate….

…and has been turned into the Broken State from the Golden State as the state government in California wages an All-Out and Direct War EVERY DAY OF THE WEEK on the Business Owners, Job Creators, Entrepreneurs and People That Work for A Living so maybe….

MEDIOCRITY

….is A-OK for the people at Cal and if that’s the case then MORE THE POWER TO THEM!

After Cal’s 49 – 27 LOSS to Utah on Saturday the Golden Bears are now 3 – 6 on the season and they have left…

Washington
Oregon
At Oregon State

….and one can only wonder if Cal does find a way to beat Washington at home and finishes the season at 4 – 8 will MEDIOCRITY be celebrated or will the folks at Cal eat that almost $7 Million Dollars to buyout Tedford and go out and hire a head football coach that at least has his assistants on the same page and working together to win football games?

Since this is Berkeley, California Freaking ANYTHING IS POSSIBLE!

3.  Frank Spaziani, Boston College – In a game featuring two coaches that have been on the Hot Seat for most of the last two seasons in BC’s Frank Spaziani and Maryland’s Randy Edsall the coach with the Hotter Seat won this HOT SEAT Match-Up in the last minute of the game as BC came back to beat Maryland and Bravo on the BC players for playing hard until the end of the game against the Terps.

As for the BC head coach Frank Spaziani in four seasons on Chestnut Hill Spaziani’s records are…

Overall:  22 – 25
ACC:  13 – 16

…and those records were put up after Spaziani took over one of the strongest football programs in the ACC Conference at Boston College and now BC is one of if not the worst football program in the ACC.

Boston College is now 2 – 6 on the season and they have left…

At Wake Forest
Notre Dame
Virginia Tech
At NC State

…and IF Frank Spaziani and the Eagles can WIN the rest of their games which would include a WIN over Notre Dame then Frank Spaziani might be back for the 2013 season and boy we would just love to see BC beat the Fighting Frenchmen in two weeks in Boston!

4.  Derek Dooley, Tennessee – Steve Spurrier and South Carolina did their Damndest to try and give that game away to Tennessee on Saturday and luckily for Spurrier it was the Vols again making mistakes and turning the ball over which is now like saying the Sun comes up in the East and sets in the West for Tennessee football anymore and this repeating and very bad dream has to be driving Tennessee football fans crazy.

In three seasons at Tennessee Derek Dooley records are…

Overall:  14 – 19
SEC:  4 – 17

….and the Vols are in 2012…

Overall:  3 – 5
SEC:  0 – 5

….and Tennessee has left….

Troy
Missouri
At Vanderbilt
Kentucky

…and Derek Dooley may very well have to WIN the last four games of the season to return in 2013.

We are talking about Tennessee football here where there is ALWAYS plenty of talent to complete with almost ANY team in the SEC and country and when realizes that in three seasons on the job that Derek Dooley has ONLY WON…

4 SEC Games

…out of 21 SEC Games played and Lane Kiffin WON 4 SEC Games in his only season at Tennessee then one can understand why Derek Dooley’s rear-end is ON FIRE right now!

Based upon what we have been hearing about the feelers that have been put out about “X” or “Y” coaches and if they “would be interested in the Tennessee job if it came open” we would recommend that Derek Dooley and the Vols win their last four games.

5.  Joker Phillips, Kentucky – In three seasons at Kentucky Joker Phillips’ records are…

Overall:  15 – 22
SEC:  4 – 18

….and now at 1 – 8 overall and 0 – 6 in the SEC and with these games left…

At Vanderbilt
Samford
At Tennessee

….Kentucky AD Mitch Barnhart is in a Helluva tough situation and we are going to be very interested to how Barnhart handles things with Joker Phillips and Kentucky football over the next few weeks because he could go in a lot of different directions but the decision on whether to retain Joker Phillips or not should always come back to…

Is the Kentucky football program overall both on and off the field going in…

The RIGHT Direction

OR

The WRONG Direction

….which always involves a lot of things beyond wins and loss on the field and things that people on the outside often do not have the ability to judge or discern in an accurate way.

As for what Kentucky football fans should EXPECT out of their football program with the amount of money that the SEC Conference is now generating for ALL the schools in the conference Kentucky should be AT LEAST a .500 football program year-in-and-year-out and 2012 will be the second straight year that UK has not gone to a bowl game after the Wildcats went to four straight bowls in Rich Brooks last four years at the school before Phillips took over.

Bottom-Line:  RIGHT Direction or WRONG Direction is THE question on the Kentucky football program.

6.  Charlie Weis, Kansas – Charlie Weis and his Kansas Jayhawks had Texas BEAT on Saturday in Lawrence and if not for several breakdowns by the Kansas defense on the Longhorns drive to win in the last minute of the game Kansas would have gotten a BIG win and Mack Brown would be on the Hot Seat right now instead of Weis.

The most stunning statistics for Kansas in the game against Texas were…

Total Yards on Offense: 273
Passing Yards: 39
Passing Comp – Att: 3 – 9
Rushing Yards: 234

Wow!

Charlie Weis didn’t even try to throw the ball against Texas which has seen their defensive backs get lit-up by Oklahoma State, West Virginia, Oklahoma and Baylor this season which either says that Weis knows he doesn’t have a QB that he trusts to throw the football around or Weis knew that the Texas offense just wasn’t that good and that 17 points SHOULD HAVE been good enough to beat the Longhorns which it would have been if not for the Kansas defense just flat-out breaking down on the last drive of the game.

Kansas is 1- 7 overall and 0 – 5 in Big 12 play in 2012 and they have left..

At Baylor
At Texas Tech
Iowa State
At West Virginia

…and it looks like the Jayhawks are headed for a…

1 – 11

…season and ZERO wins in Big 12 play which would mean that over the past four seasons Kansas will have won…

TWO conference games!

Geez, was it really only five years ago in 2007 that Kansas went 13 – 1 and won the Orange Bowl?

Hard to Freaking Believe!

7.  Skip Holtz, South Florida – In another stunning finish on Saturday the Syracuse Orangemen scored with just 3 seconds left on the clock to beat Skip Holtz and his South Florida team 37 – 36 after the Orangemen were down by 20 points at halftime!

Unfortunately for Skip Holtz and South Florida a LOSS is a LOSS and that LOSS to Syracuse was South Florida’s…

SIXTH straight LOSS

….after opening the season with wins over I-AA Chattanooga and at Nevada and now at 2 – 6 overall and 0 – 4 in Big East play the Bulls have left….

Connecticut
At Miami
At Cincinnati
Pittsburgh

….and Skip Holtz REALLY needs to win these last four games because if he doesn’t that would be TWO straight sub-.500 records for Holtz at South Florida and that’s after taking over a USF team that had gone to FIVE straight bowl games under former head coach Jim Leavitt.

The pressure is now on Skip Holtz and his South Florida football team because we don’t know if Holtz can survive not getting to at least a .500 record in two of his three seasons on the job because the USF alums we talked to in Tampa at the GOP Convention in Tampa in August were under the impression that there were hiring a head coach in Skip Holtz that was going to take South Florida football to “another level” and they most certainly thought that other “level” would be….

UP

….NOT DOWN.

8.  Randy Edsall, Maryland – Even with lots of injuries this season Randy Edsall seemed to have righted the ship at Maryland with wins over Wake Forest and Virginia to raise the Terps record to 4 -2 BUT after losses to NC State and at hapless Boston College the Maryland record is now 4 – 4 and with these games left..

Georgia Tech
Clemson
Florida State
At North Carolina

….it is going to be very Damn hard for the Terps to get to at least 6 wins in 2012 and two straight losing seasons for Edsall at Maryland would be a disastrous start to Edsall’s tenure in College Park.

9.  Kirk Ferentz, Iowa – In 2009 Kirk Ferentz and Iowa went 11 – 2 and won the Orange Bowl.

Since 2009 Kirk Ferentz and Iowa are…

Overall:  19 – 15
Big Ten:  10 – 10

….and in 2012 the Hawkeyes are 4 – 4 overall and 2 – 2 in Big Ten play and with these games left…

At Indiana
Purdue
At Michigan
Nebraska

….there is a chance that Iowa might not even get to the MEDIOCRE 6 – 6 record in 2012 and how one explains that a coach making over $3.6 Million Dollars a year can’t even get his team to a .500 record with TWO MAC Conference Teams and ONE I-AA Team on the schedule is certainly the Hell lost on us!

This coming Saturday’s game at Indiana is a BIG one for Kirk Ferentz and Iowa because a loss in this spot to a struggling Indiana team would say a whole lot about where the Iowa football program is right now and that would be…..

NOT very Damn good!

10.  Jon Embree, Colorado – Boulder Daily Camera columnist Ryan Thorburn wrote a column this past weekend after Colorado got whipped by Oregon…

Oregon – 70
Colorado – 14

….on the head football coaching search that Colorado conducted in the aftermath of Dan Hawkins firing at CU which raises the same questions we had about the Colorado coaching search that led to Jon Embree being hired to coach the Buffs:

Despite debacles it’s too soon to fire CU Buffs’ Jon Embree, Ryan Thorburn, Daily Camera

“The story reminds me of the response to a column I wrote about two years ago when Colorado fired Hawk-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named and was in the market for a new football coach.

My suggestion: Take a serious look at Brady Hoke and consider making the San Diego State coach an offer he couldn’t refuse.

The guy had an amazing history of turning downtrodden programs into 10-game winners quickly. And Hoke was already familiar with recruiting in Southern California, which would come in handy as the Buffs transitioned to the Pac-12.

I received a number of emails and even a hand-written letter from CU fanatics who were upset by my indecent proposal. Two great ex-Buffs quarterbacks invited me on their radio show to publicly mock my advocacy of Hoke.

They were all bothered that I was writing about an outsider and not beating the drum for a member of their beloved CU family.

Clearly, landing Hoke would have been a long shot anyway. If contacted by the Buffs, he probably would have said no thanks and waited for Michigan to call.

The alumni, fan base and fraternity of former players also made it crystal clear to athletic director Mike Bohn what the next head coach needed to be:

A CU man.

Someone who understands the pride and tradition of the program and the unique challenges of building a winner in Boulder.

So not quite two years later, I’m writing the not-so silent majority back to remind you that your wish was granted.

You wanted Jon Embree, Eric Bieniemy, Brian Cabral or Bill McCartney.

You got three of the four. And the legendary Coach Mac has the other Buffs’ backs.

We can all agree that the first 21 games of this era have been a fiasco.”

What is the “fiasco” that Ryan Thorburn is writing about at Colorado?

Jon Embree’s records at Colorado:

2011:  3 – 10 (2 – 7)
2012:  1 – 7 (1 – 4)

Overall:  4 – 17 (.190)
Pac-12:  3 – 11 (.214)

Here are Dan Hawkins’ records at Colorado:

Overall:  19 – 39 (.327)
Big 12:  10 – 27 (.270)

The above looks like a “fiasco” followed by another developing “fiasco” which goes back to what Ryan Thorburn is writing about above which is the Colorado coaching search that led to Jon Embree being hired at CU who was at the time of his hiring the…

Tight-Ends Coach with the Washington Redskins

Sorry, but when you are hiring a head coach at a major school like Colorado that is a member of the Pac-12 you DO NOT hire a coach that has not even been a coordinator ON ANY LEVEL and yet Colorado did hire Jon Embree at the urging of former CU head coach Bill McCartney and 21 games into his tenure at CU the Buffs just got beat by….

56 points

…by the Oregon Ducks and it could have been by…

100 points

….if Chip Kelly hadn’t been in such a charitable mood on Saturday.

Do we REALLY need to write in this spot that an athletic director when hiring a head coach should do ONE THING and ONE THING ONLY and that is…

Hire the Very Best Damn Coach You Can Find

…and if Jon Embree was the Very Best Damn Coach that Colorado AD Mike Bohn could have found two years ago then great….BUT….Ryan Thorburn and everyone else knows that the pressure was immense for Bohn to hire “a CU man” and “a CU man” Colorado got in Jon Embree.

In 2003 Alabama hired “an Alabama man” in former Alabama QB Mike Shula and in four years at Bama Shula put up records of…

Overall:  26 – 23
SEC:  13 – 19

….and in the wake of Shula being fired in 2006 Alabama went out and…

Hired the Very Best Damn Coach They Could Find

….in Nick Saban and Saban’s records over the past six seasons at Alabama are…

Overall:  63 – 12
SEC:  37 – 8

….and if there is a moral to that story it is that athletic directors should focus like a laser beam on hiring in every position in their athletic departments but especially in head football and basketball coaches men that have a proven track record of achievement during their coaching careers and a coach that cannot meet that standard of high achievement during his coaching career either at or very close to the head coaching position (think very successful offensive or defensive coordinators) should NEVER be on that athletic director’s list of potential coaches NO MATTER what school he may have attended.

With all of the above being said Jon Embree has been put into a very difficult situation at Colorado that even one of the experienced head coaches that Colorado could have hired two years ago would now be having a tough time overcoming BUT that doesn’t change the FACT that Embree needs to start winning football games and with the Buffs now at 1 – 7 overall and 1 – 4 in the Pac-12 and with these games left…

Stanford
At Arizona
Washington
Utah

….the Buffs will have a chance to win some games starting with Stanford on Saturday which will being to Boulder a very tough defense BUT one of the worst offenses in I-A football.

We here at Coaches Hot Seat love the Boulder, Colorado area and if Boulder wasn’t run by a lot of Wacko Liberal Nuts that HATE Capitalism, Free Markets and Free Enterprise we would have long ago moved our families and businesses to the area and next Saturday at Folsom Field on the beautiful campus of the University of Colorado most of the Coaches Hot Seat Members will be in attendance for the Stanford – Colorado game and we will get to see first-hand what Stanford can do on the road and what Jon Ebree’s CU Buffs can do against The Cardinal.

IF Stanford plays like they did against Washington State this past Saturday Jon Embree and Colorado just might be able to get their second win of the season which would get Jon Embree OFF the Hot Seat and send Stanford head coach David Shaw TO the Hot Seat!

Since Colorado is a major battleground state for the 2012 election there are already a dozen or so Coaches Hot Seat Members working in the Denver, Ft. Collins and Colorado Springs areas right now and many of us will be arriving on the Front Range later this week and we look forward to talking to our Colorado-alum buddies to see what they think of the CU football program and pick-up some intelligence as well on where the CU football program is going in the future.

Coach Hard this week Jon Embree….the Stanford Cardinal is coming to Boulder!

Tags: Uncategorized by Joe
Comments Off