An All-College idea
OK, here’s my idea for the All-College. Bedlam. A doubleheader. Women, then men. OU-OSU. OSU-OU.
Cowboys vs. Sooners. Sooners vs. Cowgirls. At the Ford Center, a few nights before Christmas.
Basketball in this state needs a serious surge of energy. Bedlam would do it. The coaches want no part of it, of course, because coaches don’t want to be placed under any pressure. Tough.
A December game between the Bedlam rivals would shine the spotlight on basketball and would be good for the teams, too. Both schools have plenty of games that are virtual scrimmages, although Stephen F. Austin certainly took a chunk out of that theory. But playing games that matter, playing games that could go either way, would refine the squads every year.
The coaches wouldn’t like it. But sometimes coaches have to be overruled. Sometimes coaches have to realize that this sport, believe it or not, is bigger than they are. college basketball is suffering from paralysis pre-New Year’s. A Bedlam All-College would solve that problem.
OU-Virginia Tech not that attractive
Interesting soap opera on the failed BCS switch. The BCS tried to pit Oklahoma-Virginia Tech in the Orange Bowl, giving college football a 3-4 matchup instead of Virginia Tech-Kansas in the Orange and West Virginia-OU in the Fiesta.
It’s too bad the commissioners voted down the plan, but only bad for the precedent it could have set. The end result would have been little better than what we’ve got.
OU-VTech is really no better than OU-West Virginia. Yes, the Hokies finished third in the BCS rankings, but that was a bogus finish. For some reason, the computers loved Virginia Tech, but no one really put the Hokies ahead of Southern Cal or Georgia or even Missouri in prowess.
OU-Virginia Tech would have garnered no more national attention than OU-West Virginia. The idea that the OU-VTech winner, if impressive, could have mounted a national championship campaign over the Ohio State-LSU winner is silly. The Big Bowl champion will be the national champion, and that’s just the way it is.
Now, if we were talking about an OU-USC showdown, that’s a differerent story. Clearly the two best teams not in New Orleans are the Sooners and Trojans. That’s a game that might take a little shine off the Big Bowl. But no way was the Rose Bowl going to sign off on such a switch.
Truth is, OU got the better end of the status quo. The Fiesta Bowl is a far superior bowl to the Orange. Better organized. Better run. Better locale. Sorry, Miami, but Phoenix has you beat as a tourist destination.
The BCS jerryrigging is a grand idea. Some years it could really set up a better bowl schedule. This year was not one of them.
Coaches lacking loyalty
In today’s Oklahoman, I wrote about coaches who don’t finish out a season with their teams. This morning, I’ve received a couple of responses from OSU fans and no doubt will receive more, upset that I fingered Larry Fedora for leaving the Cowboys but no Sooner assistant for one of their similar crimes.
Of course, some OSU fans exist only to stoke the belief that the media is out to get the Cowboys. If I had written about a Sooner assistant, and left Fedora unmentioned, those same OSU fans would have accused me of not caring that Fedora bailed on the Cowboys.
The truth is, when I wrote the column, I had Fedora and OU’s Kevin Sumlin both mentioned. In the same paragraph, in the same context. I figured Sumlin was like all the rest and was walking out on his team. Then I found out he was staying through the Fiesta Bowl. The truth is a wonderful defense.
Yes, many current and past Sooner coaches have quit on their teams. Bob Stoops left Florida before its bowl game in 1998. Mike Stoops and Mark Mangino and Mike Leach and Chuck Long all left OU before various bowl games, although Mike Stoops and Brent Venables stuck it out with Kansas State in 1998. I didn’t go back before this year for any references, because we’ve lost enough trees in Oklahoma this week. No reason to waste newsprint on what everyone knows. That if we start listing disloyal coaches, the number would reach into the thousands.
I stuck with only references to 2007. I had Sumlin and Fedora both on the list. Turns out one of them truly cared about his team. It’s not my fault that the one who cared was the Sooner, not the Cowboy.
Bailing on the BCS
West Virginia has lost its football coach for a BCS bowl, and Oklahoma has been down this road before. Mike Price resigned as Washington State’s football coach before the 2003 Rose Bowl to take the Alabama job. Price agreed to stay on for the Rose Bowl as co-head coach, with his defensive coordinator Bill Doba, who was named to replace Price.
The whole thing was a mess, and OU dominated Washington State 34-14.
Coaches who bail before BCS bowls are rare. Urban Meyer resigned at Utah in 2004 but stayed on to coach the Utes to victory over Pitt in the Fiesta Bowl. Bobby Petrino didn’t leave Louisville for the Atlanta Falcons until after the Orange Bowl against Wake Forest.
It’s scandalous that any coach walks away from his team. But it happens every bowl season. Just not very often with teams that reach the BCS.
Heupel the winner?
On KREF radio yesterday, Toby Rowland asked former OU quarterback Paul Thompson who on the Sooner staff would be the best head coach. Thompson said Josh Heupel.
Interesting answer. Heupel, by seniority, is on the bottom of the OU pecking order. By title, he is far down. But expect Heupel to quickly move up. Bob Stoops’ loss of Kevin Sumlin, to Houston U., opens a spot for advancement. Expect Heupel, OU’s quarterback coach, to move up to co-offensive coordinator.
I thought if Kevin Wilson got a head-coaching job this year, Heupel would be the choice, even above Sumlin, to be OU’s next offensive coordinator. Stoops hired Mike Leach as his offensive coordinator in 1998 and has subsequently had to hire three more o-coordinators. All came from in-house.
Mark Mangino had been offensive line coach under Leach and remained so even after becoming offensive coordinator. When Mangino left, Chuck Long became the coordinator, after serving as quarterback coach under Mangino for two years. When Long left at the end of 2005, Wilson moved up to coordinator after three years as offensive line coach.
Stoops promotes from within. That leads to continuity and good morale on the staff. Heupel is a rising star in the coaching ranks. You could tell when Heupel played that he had the mind of a coach. He will be OU’s next offensive coordinator.
Sumlin continues Sooner trend
It happens like clockwork. Every odd-numbered year, Bob Stoops loses an assistant who becomes a head coach at another Division I-A school. Today, it’s Kevin Sumlin, the OU receivers coach who will be named coach at Houston U. on Friday.
Good for Sumlin. Houston is a good mid-major job. The Cougars are poised to be the class of Conference USA’s West Division. Tulsa and Texas-El Paso have been competitive in recent years, but UH should be the most consistent winner in that group. The recruiting ground is fertile, the tradition solid and while facilities don’t rival the Big 12 schools, Houston still can win.
Sumlin just missed out on the Washington State job, which went to Eastern Washington’s Paul Wulff, but I think Sumlin might have come out ahead with Houston. WSU is a better job, but Houston probably is a better stepping-stone job. If Sumlin’s goal is to be a head coach at a big-time school, Houston can be a launching pad. Art Briles went to Baylor from Houston, but you can beat that job.
This keeps the Stoops pipeline on track. In 1999, Mike Leach went to Texas Tech. In 2001, Mark Mangino to Kansas. In 2003, Mike Stoops to Arizona. In 2005, Chuck Long to San Diego State. Now 2007, Sumlin.
And with Kevin Wilson and Brent Venables still in the stable, the clockwork could continue in 2009. Of course, either could be gone before then.
Waiting for the Mitchell report
Wednesday morning, I started reading the story on the George Mitchell report due out Thursday on baseball’s steroids investigation. Then I stopped reading. I realized I didn’t care. Didn’t care what that story said, didn’t care what the report revealed.
Just don’t care. I’d like to care. I once cared. But I don’t care now. My sports editor called Wednesday and asked if I wanted to write about the Mitchell report when it was released. I said I would if he wanted me to, but I had no desire. I just don’t care.
I wonder if America cares. Barry Bonds is the all-time home run leader and he did it by juicing up. I know it, you know it, everyone knows it. And he was not alone. He wasn’t even in a small minority. Tons of guys did the same thing. The records have been compromised. The game has been compromised. But you can’t put the genie back in the bottle, and you can’t make me care.
Sad sight in the neighborhood
Sorry for the delay in posting. I’ve been out of commission for awhile. On Monday, my power went out early in the day. No Internet. No email. No television. No heat, no land phone, no electricity, either. Strange, strange day.
I was back at work Tuesday but way behind, so the blog had to wait. But I thought I’d fill you in on a few thoughts about the big ice storm.
My power remains out, here on Day 3, but that’s not what has me down. Many of my trees are gone. Either destroyed or heavily damaged. Really, they’re not all my trees, just three in my yard, but I sort of feel a kinship to all the trees.
We built a house five years ago in a new neighborhood that was unique for its vision. The developer picked out the land because it had trees, and he saved every tree possible. So while most new additions are prairie land, we lived in a little onclave that made you think of New England. Tall, elegant trees, 40, 50 feet high. Some of my neighbors had 8-10 trees in their yards, and most of them have been gutted by the storm.
I live a few doors down from Tim Brassfield, executive director of the All Sports Association. Tim had a bunch of trees in his yard, and I went down Monday and tried to help him save a few that were ice-heavy. We knocked off ice and trimmed a little and hoped the tree would bounce back. And Tim said something profound. He nodded toward his house and mentioned that all that stuff in there is replaceable, for the most part. Pictures, maybe not, or heirlooms. But furniture and clothes and electronics and trinkets. All replaceable.
But not these trees. Not these beautiful beings that take 40 or 50 years to grow to maturity. Gone. Sunday night, as I tried to sleep, I would hear that crack of a tree, sounded like a gunshot, and hear another big limb fall. Eerie, eerie feeling. And the next morning brought a sad, sad sight.
Remember the Alamo City
Big 12 football fans got a splendid gift last weekend in San Antonio. First, just getting to be in San Antone for the conference title game. Second, getting to compare a venue like San Antonio with a stale venue like the Big 12’s been playing in recent years: Kansas City, Houston, Irving, Texas.San Antonio is a spectacular venue for the game. The Alamodome is nothing special, although it’s certainly OK. But the city itself, with its centralized marketplace, the Riverwalk, provides a wonderful setting. Fans can mingle and congregate. It’s like no other sports city in America with the exception of
New Orleans, with a massive entertainment district within walking distance of the stadium.
And it’s a great lesson for OU and Texas fans. Compare the revelry and atmosphere around San Antonio’s Big 12 title game with the Big 12 title games in other cities. The Sooners haven’t played at Texas Stadium, but I was there for the 2001 UT-Colorado game, and it was like 2002 in Houston or any of the Kansas City games. Just a big parking lot; lots of tailgating, but otherwise fans spread all over the city until just before kickoff.
Which is exactly the difference between an OU-Texas game at the Cotton Bowl during the fair or an OU-Texas game at Jerry Jones’ new stadium in Arlington. The parking-lot atmosphere is no match for the fairgrounds, just as the parking-lot atmosphere is no match for the Riverwalk.
Texas A&M and Arkansas are starting a series at Arlington in 2009. Oklahoma State and Texas Tech have considered the same, although they also are considering a state-fair matchup at the Cotton Bowl. The in-game atmosphere in Arlington will be great, I assume. But no way will the weekend revelry match what you have at the Fair or on the Riverwalk.
Air Traffic (out of) Control
Darndest thing happened to us last Sunday, trying to fly home. We had a direct flight from San Antonio to Oklahoma City, with a stopover in Dallas. We landed in Dallas, took off again and got somewhere between Ardmore and Pauls Valley. Then we turned around and went back to Love Field.
The pilot said something about fuses blowing, which seemed like indeed a good reason to get out of the sky. But I couldn’t figure out why we couldn’t go ahead and drop us off in Oklahoma City? The plane was going on to Denver, and Southwest needed a jet to get to Denver, but even if that replacement plane was in Dallas, wouldn’t it have been quicker to send it up to OKC and keep the schedule as close to smooth as possible?
Coaching Carousel
We’re up to 16 coaching changes in the NCAA division formerly known as I-A. My latest takes on the changes.
Arkansas: New athletic director Jeff Long is off to a rocky start. He went after a couple of great coaches, Auburn’s Tommy Tuberville and Wake Forest’s Jim Grobe, but was rebuffed. Which is not a bad thing. But Long also was rejected by a mediocre coach, Clemson’s Tommy Bowden, which is a very bad thing. One question: why not make a run at OU defensive coordinator Brent Venables?
Baylor: If Art Briles wins, he’ll be the next coach at Texas Tech. If he loses, he’ll be the next guy fired at Baylor.
Colorado State: Fort Collins, Colo., ranks among the top 10 towns to live in among college football locales.
Duke: Did the Blue Devils really make a run at Navy’s Paul Johnson. If so, that’s the first sign of life from Duke football in years.
Georgia Tech: Navy’s Johnson is a heck of a coach. But it’s still not for certain he can win with the YellowJackets. Option football works at the service academies. We’ll see if it works against Virginia Tech, Florida State and Miami.
Houston: Interim coach Chris Thurmond was on the John Blake staff at OU. Solid guy.
Michigan: I’ll be believe Les Miles isn’t the next Michigan coach just as soon as the Wolverines hire someone else.
Ole Miss: I think Nutt will win. Not big. Not Sugar Bowl big. But it wouldn’t shock me if Ole Miss wins the SEC West sometime in the 5-10 years. Mississippi is the only SEC West school never to win the division.
Navy: Polynesian Ken Niumatalolo replaces Paul Johnson. I assume he doesn’t count in the list of black coaches.
Nebraska: I like the hire of Bo Pelini. I like all victories of substance over style. Pelini isn’t smooth. He isn’t slick. But the Huskers don’t need smooth and slick. They need someone who will teach ballplayers to knock the snot out of the foe.
Northern Illinois: I assume you already knew that the 2007 Mid-American Conference was the greatest testimony to parity since the dangling chads of Florida.
SMU: $1.7 million isn’t what it used to be. No one seems to want this job.
Southern Miss: I’ve weighed in on this one already, if Larry Fedora gets the job. But you know what I said about Fort Collins? Hattiesburg, Miss., is the opposite. One of the 10 worst places to live in college football.
Texas A&M: You know, Dennis Franchione didn’t do a terrible job in 2007. He went 7-5, with road games at Miami, Norman, Lubbock, Columbia and Lincoln. Mike Sherman’s road foes in 2008: New Mexico, OSU, Iowa State, Baylor and Texas.
UCLA: Has anyone noticed that UCLA keeps getting worse in football? Red Sanders was a big-time coach in the 1950s. Tommy Prothro got UCLA back on track in the 1960s. dick Vermeil went 15-5-3 in two seasons in the 1970s. Terry Donahue was solid for 20 years (1976-95). Bob Toledo had his moments but had a winning percentage of just .605. Now Karl Dorrell is out after going 35-27. Not a good trend.
Washington State: I never knew Kevin Sumlin was a graduate assistant in Pullman, back in the 1980s. I’m pulling for him to get the job.
Eating on the Riverwalk
I love the Riverwalk, but I’ve really never found a place there that I just have to get back to. We tried to get into some joint that’s supposed to be good but the wait was too long. Boudreau’s, or something like that. Al Eschbach ate there and said it was average. Anyway, we ended up at Casa Rio, I think it was, and it was OK Mexican. I enjoy dining outside on the Riverwalk, but the atmosphere, not the food, is the key. Saturday at noon, I went to Fuddrucker’s. I love Fuddrucker’s. Best burger going. I wish we had one in Oklahoma City.
Ten Big Winners From Week 14
10. Steve Kragthorpe: The Louisville coach had a rocky first year but avoided a losing season with a fourth-quarter rally against Rutgers. Down 14, the Cardinals won 41-38 to finish 6-6.
9. Kevin Smith: The Central Florida tailback ran wild on Tulsa, 284 yards, and now has a bogus shot at Barry Sanders’ NCAA single-season record of 2,628 yards rushing. Of course, Sanders’ actually rushed for almost 3,000 yards, but the NCAA doesn’t include his Holiday Bowl performance. You can’t blame the NCAA; OSU doesn’t recognize it either.
8. Oregon State: The Beavers beat arch-rival Oregon 38-31, the first road win in the series since 1996 and Oregon State’s first win in Eugene since 1993.
7. Howard Schnellenberger: The Colonel has Florida Atlantic in the New Orleans Bowl against Memphis, thanks to a 38-32 victory at Troy, a place where OSU got routed in September. The Owls lost big at OSU, Kentucky and Florida but beat Minnesota and played South Florida tough.
6. Brigham Young: The Cougars routed San Diego State to cap their second straight 8-0 Mountain West season. Bronco Mendenhall isn’t Lavell Edwards, not yet anyway, but he’s restoring a little luster to BYU.
5. Florida International: Not all 1-11 seasons are created equal. An 11-game losing streak is no way to go into the off-season, but a one-game winning streak can make the winter a little more bearable. The Golden Panthers beat North Texas 38-19 to avoid an 0-12 finish.
4. Dave Wannstedt: The beleaguered Pitt coach has not gotten the job done; 5-6, 6-6 and now 5-7 in three years. But Pitt fans long will remember the 13-9 upset of second-ranked West Virginia.
3. Brent Venables: The OU defensive coordinator produced his second straight masterpiece performance, shutting down high-powered Missouri 38-17. The Tigers had not been held to less than 31 all season.
2. Hawaii: The Rainbows trailed Washington 21-0 in the first quarter, and the Sugar Bowl was fading away. But a stirring rally lifted Hawaii to a 35-28 victory and a chance to upset Georgia in New Orleans.
1. LSU: Thanks to Pitt, the Tigers go from playing Hawaii in a no-win New Orleans bowl to playing Ohio State for all the college football marbles.
Ten Big Losers From Week 14
10. Karl Dorrell: Last year, Dorrell’s UCLA Bruins knocked arch-rival Southern Cal out of the national title game. This year, USC beat the Bruins and Dorrell was fired for going 6-6.
9. Chase Daniel: The Missouri quarterback slipped in the Heisman voting and slipped in public opinion, for his animated frustration at being shut down by Oklahoma.
8. Troy: The best team in the Sun Belt Conference is not going bowling, thanks to a 38-32 home loss to Florida Atlantic. The Trojans routed Oklahoma State and played tough in road games at Arkansas and Georgia.
7. Tyrone Willingham: His Washington Huskies led Hawaii 21-0 but lost 35-28 and finished 4-9. In three UW seasons, Willingham is 11-25.
6. Boston College: The Eagles will have few chances to win the ACC. But they led Virginia Tech 16-7 and lined up for an extra point. It was blocked and returned for two points. Tech eventually forged a 16-16 tie and won 30-16 with two late touchdowns.
5. Army: The Cadets lost 38-3 to Navy, falling to 3-9 and bringing their record the last 10 years to 27-99, with no wins over Navy since 2001.
4. Arizona State: The Sun Devils beat Arizona 20-17 to finish 10-2 and co-champions of the Pac-10. But Arizona State found no love in the BCS and will play Texas in the Holiday Bowl.
3. Erik Ainge: The Tennessee senior has not been the winner Volunteer fans hoped for, but he had his chance in the fourth quarter of the SEC title game. Instead, Ainge threw his second interception, deep in LSU territory, and Tennessee lost 21-14.
2. Jeff Tedford: On Oct. 13, California led Oregon State in the fourth quarter and seemed poised to rise to No. 1 in the nation. But Cal lost 31-28, and since then, the Bears have won once — a 20-17 home win over Washington State — to fall to 6-6, and Tedford’s status has slipped.
1. West Virginia: The Mountaineers merely had to beat lowly Pitt to play for a national title. Didn’t happen. Might not happen again for a long while.
Southern Miss a solid job
Last September, I was given an assignment. After Appalachian State upset Michigan, we did a big project on college football upsets, and how the little guy isn’t so little anymore. I was asked to identify the next Boise State. The schools that could rise up from mid-major status and knock off a big boy in a BCS bowl.
I listed Southern Mississippi No. 1. That’s the job OSU offensive coordinator Larry Fedora apparently is going to get, and it’s a good one. The Golden Eagles don’t have a lot of money, but they’ve been playing good football for a very long time, under a series of coaches. In the last quarter century, Southern Miss is 24-71 against BCS-level foes, with most of those games on the road. The Eagles have beaten Nebraska, Florida State, Georgia, LSU, Virginia Tech twice, Auburn twice and Alabama three times, plus OSU twice, Illinois twice, North Carolina State and Pitt.
Southern Miss is in a solid league, Conference USA. The East Division includes Central Florida, Alabama-Birmingham, Memphis, Marshall and East Carolina. That’s not a bad grouping. Competitive. But Southern Miss is the best football school in the bunch. Southern Miss can compete favorably in Conference USA and spring the occasional upset.
This is a good job. Fedora can win there.
