Monday, April 26, 2010

2010 Browns Draft

Fans of Ohio State football are used to 10 win seasons and if a Buckeye coach put together a couple of 9-4 seasons they would be on the hot seat and many would be calling for his head.  For those that think the good people of Ohio are spoiled by this football success they can rest easy because we also cheer on the hapless Cincinnati Bengals and Cleveland Browns.  I myself have been a Browns fan since I was a wee little tot watching my grandfather cursing the name of Mike Phipps while the Steelers beat us year after year.  In my lifetime, the Browns have really only had one period of continued success during the 1985 - 1989 timeframe when  Bernie Kosar was at quarterback.  I could go on about many things but I think the best way to describe it is there is only 4 teams that have never made it to the Super Bowl.  Only two of those teams were in the league prior to 1995 - the Detroit Lions and the Cleveland Browns.  Since the team was brought back in 1999, the management has been abyssmal especially in regards to personnel decisions.  I could complain all day about how Butch Davis cut the heart out of an up and coming franchise or how the GMs repeatedly have let good talent get away and get little in return.  The hope is all that has stopped with the addition of Mike Holmgren being put in charge of football operations.

Tuesday, April 20, 2010

The Big Ten Expansion part 643 - An 18 team Big Ten?

I jest in the title a bit but it is amazing how much press Big Ten Expansion gets every time it is mentioned.  The conventional wisdom now is that the Big Ten is looking to go to 16 teams.  I wonder why they don't goto 18 teams as it makes more sense.  Currently the Big Ten has 8 conference games a year and that won't increase as the  fans and administrators for these schools don't want to lose a home game.

So why would they goto a 16 team conference? 

Former Buckeye Coach O'Brien a possible hire by Rutgers

It is being alleged that former Ohio State basketball coach has been hired to take the job at Rutgers University.  An article on the New York Daily News that you can find here states that the deal is already done and an announcement will occur shortly.  I am happy to see Coach O'Brien get another shot at coaching.  I always considered him to be a great man and a great coach and was shocked when the issues arose that lead to his firing.

I really think he will go a great job for Rutgers and with the recruiting hotbed of New York City a short distance from Rutgers, they are really only a great coach away from success.  People forget how good O'Brien was and I think part of the continued angry response against him by Buckeye fans is a remnant of just how much we respected him until the scandal.

I think this post by John Porentas sums up the situation quite well.

Saturday, April 17, 2010

The state of scUM football

In honor of Michigan's spring game, I decided to wander into the muck and take a look at the state of scUM football.  This is the results we have seen from our rival over the last 4 years.

Michigan
2006 (11–2-0) (7–1-0) – 2nd (Rose)
2007 ( 9–4-0) (6–2-0) – 2nd (Capital One)

2008 (3–9-0) (2–6-0) – 9th
2009 (5–7-0) (1–7-0) – 10th

There seems to be a definitely change in results starting in 2008.  If only we could determine the difference....

Of course I am being sarcastic.  RichRod started coaching the team in 2008 after Lllllloyd Carr retired at the conclusion of the 2007 season.  He has complained since he arrived on campus that the cupboard was bare when he arrived and he needed to improve their recruiting to get back to where they were (the year before he got there???)

Here's the recruiting rankings for the Michigan classes since 2002.  This list shows rank - split by stars - offense vs defense recruits.

Recruiting Classes
-----------------------------
Year - Rank - (Tot-5*-4*-3*) (Off-Def-Ath-ST)
2002 - 16th - (21-1-11- 9) - (12-7-2-0)
2003 - 17th - (17-2-11- 3) - ( 8-7-1-1)
2004 -  5th - (21-1-12- 8) - (13-8-0-0)
2005 -  6th - (23-1-10-11) - (12-8-2-1)
2006 - 13th - (19-2- 9- 7) - (8-10-0-1)
2007 - 12th - (20-2- 5-12) - (10-9-1-0)

2008 - 10th - (25-0-17-6) - (15-8-2-0)
2009 -  8th - (22-1-13-6) - ( 9-9-3-1)
2010 - 20th - (27-0-6-20) - (8-14-3-1)

Notice the big improvement between the Carr years and the RichRod years?  Yeah me neither.  Here's the 3 year averages for the last 9 years.

2002-04 - 12.7 Avg Rank (11.0 Off - 7.3 Def 1.0 Athl)
2005-07 - 10.3 Avg Rank (10.0 Off - 9.0 Def - 1.0 Ath)
2008-10 - 12.7 Avg Rank (10.7 Off - 10.3 Def - 2.7 Ath)

I realize that the recruiting services aren't an exact science and that Michigan has had a few players leave the school.  However based on the above I feel pretty comfortable in saying that RichRod inherited as much talent as Lllllloyd had during his tenure.  Lllllloyd was able to take that talent to a 122-40 record at Michigan and in his last 11 years at Michigan he never finished lower than 3rd in the Big Ten standings.  RichRod?  8-16 record and finished 9th and 10th in his two years.  RichRod is correct to some degree as many players transferred during his first season but that is on his head not Lllllloyd's.  His coaching style pushed away the very people that could have helped him succeed and we have all seen the result (unless you only watch bowl games).  Why would anyone think the results in future years are going to be any different?

This is only looking at things on the field.  RichRod came to Michigan in a cloud of controversy as he left West Virginia.  He is now is currently under investigation by the NCAA for football violations at both Michigan and West Virginia and now being sued for a real estate deal gone bad.  Honestly, nothing would surprise me about him at this point.

Can you imagine if we had a coach like that at Ohio State?  John Cooper certainly isn't my favorite coach but after a rough first year he improved the team quickly and despite his lack of success against scUM and in bowls was a good representative for the school off the field (he was no Jim Tressel but then who is?).  If RichRod were the coach at Ohio State there would be rioting in the streets until he was fired.

Don't get me wrong, I am not hoping that scUM improves their fortunes.  Any time I even start to feel sorry for that team up north I just think back at 1996 (or 1993 or 1995 or that freaking Heisman pose.... grr!  I hates them!  I really really hates them!!!).  I would however like to face a team that I at least respected as the current state of scUM under RichRod brings dishonor to everyone including their opponents.  Michigan needs to fire Rodriguez now because the longer they wait the longer it is going to take to clean up the mess he leaves behind.  Any Michigan fan that believes otherwise is just deluding themselves.

Thursday, April 8, 2010

The Fair Solution for College Football (Conferences, Playoffs, and TV money)

Let me say that first off ... I know this will never happen.  It won't happen because there is too much money involved and too many budgets that would be gambling with the results.  The biggest issue with good change in college football is that the decisions weren't made when the money was small enough that it didn't matter.  No school or conference is going to willingly risk losing money with my suggestion and every single one of them could lose out.  Having set that ground rule, here is my idea.

Tuesday, April 6, 2010

2010 NCAA Tournament Retrospective

Last night, Duke won the 2010 NCAA basketball tournament in the best final game in at least a decade.  If you didn't see it, Butler barely missed a half court shot at the buzzer that would have given them the game.  In some ways it is too bad they missed as it would have been a fitting end to the season.  Either way, it was a nice cap to an otherwise mediocre year in basketball.