DDT

Nineteenth century power ratings

First-ever college football game in 1869: Princeton vs. Rutgers
The NCAA has released power ratings for all seasons since the game of college football began in 1869. The result for 1869: Princeton number one,  Rutgers number two. But they played twice. Each won a game. How, then, could Princeton be given the nod? Some might say there’s only one solution—a playoff. Let them play again and settle it.
    Unfortunately all the players involved in those early matches are dead. Today, Rutgers is DivOne and Princeton is DivOneAA non-scholarship. Might be a mismatch if they played, with Rutgers having the advantage. An academic playoff won’t work. Unfair advantage to Princeton.
    Just another impossible scenario short of a playoff to determine a true champion. They should have settled it then. Now we'll never know.

Random shots:
• Teams whose coaches have been fired shouldn’t be allowed to play in bowl games. It’s like trying to go on a honeymoon after a divorce.

• The Ticket City Bowl (Houston/Penn State) was played in the Cotton Bowl but the Cotton Bowl (KState/Arkansas) was played at Jerry World (aka Cowboys Stadium). If the Cotton Bowl is really the Cotton Bowl it should be played in the Cotton Bowl. And anything else that is played at JerryWorld can be called ... whatever. How about The Big City Big Bucks Bowl. That's the way Jerry wants it, no?


Would you want to coach for that guy? 
A DDT essay
by SAM•U•L
If you were a candidate for the head football coach’s job at Texas A&M, would you want to work for Bill Byrne the Aggie AD who fired Mike Sherman without any previous notice that termination was even a possibility this year? Sherman’s family heard a news report about it before he did. Coach was just pulling into the drive of a potential recruit when Byrne called and gave him the word.
    Shocked and disappointed, Sherman said, “We’re better than that.”
    Evidently not.
    Sherman was 25-25 in four years and only 6-6 this year. The Farmer’s problems “finishing” are well documented but Sherman had a nucleus to work with as the Ags venture into the troubled waters of the SEC where they’ll have problems enough without factoring in a new coaching staff. Was Sherman really that bad? Who will be any better? And how much will it cost TAMU to buy him out?
    Would you want to coach at UCLA, where, even though the team hasn’t eclipsed cross-town rival USC, they had  made steady progress under Rick Neuheisel in four years and could have been on the brink of stepping up to the next level. They were young this year. They'll be better next year.
    USC’s sanctions will take more effect in the next few years and their program is bound to decline. Arizona and Arizona State are starting all over with new coaches, and Utah and Colorado are not much of a threat. It would seem that UCLA is/was in the best position to take over the PAC12 South. At least UCLA AD Dan Guerrero let Neuheisal coach the team’s final regular-season game.
    Would you want to coach at Kansas where Turner Gill only had two years to start building a program before he was banished? In a program where there is no football program, what did the KU AD Sheahon Zenger expect in two years? Was Gill really that bad? Who will any better, especially at KU where, like North Carolina and Kentucky, they really don’t want the football program to get too big and take limelight away from the hoops curriculum.
    Would you want to work for Oliver Luck at West Virginia who hired a “coach in waiting,” then kicked out the incumbent before spring training. True, the previous resident may have engaged in some ticky tacky gossip to sabotage the newbie’s reputation, but you almost can’t blame him after being saddled with a “coach in waiting?” Oxymoron. Either you’re the coach or you’re not.
    Would you want to work for Steve Pederson, the Einstein who fired Frank Solich at Nebraska a year after the Huskers were in the national championship game and replaced him with Bill Callahan who led the Corn Fairies to two losing seasons in four years. Callahan only finished ranked in a major poll once and was 1-10 against teams ranked in the Top 25. Sports Illustrated named Callahan as the worst coaching hire of the decade in college football.
    Credit Pederson for that. NU eventually fired him. He then moved to Pitt where he forced the resignation of Dave Wannstedt who had a 42-31 record and was in bowl games his last three years. So far Wannstedt’s replacement, Todd Graham, hasn’t improved Pitt’s position in the Big East. And three of Graham’s assistants just resigned. Pitt should change their nickname from Panthers to Scapegoats.
    In all of the cases where the head coach has been fired this year—17 head men in DivOne have gotten the sack, so far—the ADs stood before the press and recited the mantra of “program building.”
    “We want to thank (fill in the blank) for the work he has done to build (fill in the program) that will set the stage to take us to the next level.” Makes you wonder—if they did such a good job ...
    Of course, it’s all a politically correct smoke screen to appear civilized in a business where winning at all costs and money have become the uncivilized and abiding values.
    It’s a fast-gun business, college athletics. Pays well, though. How many jobs offer million-dollar severance packages? But the question arises: If the goal of college athletics is to educate young people, are the antics of ADs and alumni in their quest for the grail of “win at all costs” setting a good example for them?
    Maybe we shouldn’t have been surprised to hear about the scandal at Penn State when institutions consider themselves too big to fail, no matter who suffers, and where coaches become the gladiators whose job it is to please the mob no matter what the cost.

Ten years ago, going into the 2002 season, there were 13 changes in the DivOne head coaching ranks. Only one of those coaches, Jeff Tedford at Cal, is still on the job. Nine years ago, there were 18 changes. Only one, Mike Riley at Oregon State, remains. In 2004, there were 13 new head men. Two are still around. In 2005, 20 jobs turned over. Only five of those newbies remain. In 2006, six jobs changed. Two are still on board. The year 2007 was bad year for head coaches as 24 situations rolled.  Five are still at those jobs. There were 18 new coaches in 2008. Ten remain. The majority of those hired in 2009 and 2010 are still around, with the exception of Gill and Porter, but there have been 17 changes already this year as the coaching carousel spins faster and faster.
    As Casey Stengel said about managing in major league baseball, “If you don’t own the club or die on the job, you’re going to get fired.”
    Sounds familiar.