DDT

Say g’day Mack
Texas handled the Mack Brown situation poorly and can now join Auburn, Pitt, Michigan and all the rest whose Machievellian antics and backroom intrigues have created awkward situations for departing coaches and for college football programs.

Sixteen years, a winning record, a national championship and runner-up for another counted for little as Brown ran the gauntlet of the 2013 season. At least he was allowed to resign, and, according to reports, could have stayed. But if he was going to stay, that should have been announced at least by mid-season so the program could get on with planning for the future. In the meantime, all the speculation about his job tenure was damaging. Texas will now lose at least a year in recruiting.

Nick Saban at Alabama and Art Briles at Baylor can thank Brown for their new multi-year, multi-gazillion dollar contracts because when it became apparent that there might be a coaching vacancy in Austin that gave their schools incentive to up the ante to keep them.

Saban would have been a shameless hire. Like the New York Yankees who have tried to buy pennants by throwing millions at players, Texas could afford to pay Saban whatever it took. But there’s no way Saban was a “Texas guy.” Briles would have been a better candidate, but Baylor moved quickly to secure his position, and, rarely, if ever, have coaches switched schools within the Big 12 or the old Southwest Conference.

It’s hard to see Texas finding anybody who has any connection to Texas or even the state. The name of Jim Harbaugh has come up. But what would a guy from Michigan who turned down his alma mater a couple years ago be doing in Texas? His successor at Stanford, David Shaw, would be a good candidate, but that match, Texas/Shaw, somehow doesn’t pass the smell test. Chip Kelley’s name came up. Erstwhile coach at Oregon, now with the Philadelphia Eagles. Joke. Who then?

Les Miles, LSU: He has the track record but has no reason to move. It would be a matter of money. Jimbo Fisher, Florida State: Why would he move? Money. Hugh Freeze, Ole Miss: Young, up and coming, has done as well as could be expected given the resources at hand, which are not many at Ole Miss. And they say he recruits well. Todd Graham, Arizona State: one year as head coach at Rice, three at Tulsa, one at Pitt, then on to AzState his current stopover. He typifies the state of the fast-gun game—take the money and run, keep moving. Larry Fedora, North Carolina: He was an assistant at Oklahoma State and knows the territory. James Franklin, Vanderbilt: First black coach at Texas? Possibility.

The only other alternative would be some assistant who the powers have been watching. Young, unknown, chance to create his own legacy from the ground up, doesn’t have to come in with the burden of “win right this minute” that the others would bring. Win right this minute will eventually happen, but an unknown might be given a small grace period.

As the financial arms race in college athletics spirals out of control, colleges and universities continue to send the wrong message. They are not about education. They are about money: win big, win now, get the big bowl payout and the TV money, outspend your competition—win!

The Carousel:
Arkansas State: Moved to Boise State, Bryan Harsin. No replacement named yet.
Army: Fired, Rich Ellerson. No replacement named yet.
Boise State: Moved to Washington, Chris Petersen. Replaced by Bryan Harsin.
Bowling Green: Moved to Wake Forest, Dave Clawson. No replacement named yet.
Connecticut: Fired, Paul Pasqualoni. Replaced by Bob Diaco, D coordinator at Notre Dame.
Eastern Michigan: Fired, Ron English. Replaced by Craig Creighton.
Florida Atlantic: Fired, Carl Pelini. Replaced by Charlie Partridge.
Miami (Ohio): Fired, Don Treadwell. Replaced by Chuck Martin.
Texas: Resigned, Mack Brown. No replacement named yet.
USC: Fired, Lane Kiffin. Replaced by Steve Sarkisian of Washington.
Wake Forest: Retired, Jim Grobe. Replaced by Dave Clawson.
Washington: Moved to USC, Steve Sarkisian. Replaced by Chris Petersen.
Wyoming: Fired, Dave Christensen. Replaced by Craig Bohl.

Updating DDT’s bubble alerts:
Bo Pelini, NU: “If they want to fire me, let them,” said Pelini. DDT sez: It hasn’t happened yet, but it will. Pelini’s continued emotional incontinence may eventually take its toll with the Children of the Corn.

Kirk Ferentz, Iowa: Wins over Michigan and Nebraska in the last two weeks of the season have saved coach.

Dave Christensen, Wyoming: Fired.

Jim Grobe, Wake Forest: Resigned.

Paul Rhoads, Iowie State: Dumping assistants. May survive one more year.

Bobby Hauck, UNLV: A decent year by UNLV standards (7-5), and a big win over San Diego State in the home finale.

Will Muschamp, Florida: Admin appears to be behind him. He scape-goated his O coordinator and dumped him to buy another year.

Brady Hoke, Michigan: Lost four of the last five. Disciples of the Maize and Blue are displeased. Next season will be a week-to-week proposition for Hoke who was Michigan’s second choice after Jim Harbaugh said “no” a few years ago.

Frank Solich, Ohio: Third place in the MAC East, lost three of the last four, 7-5 on the year. Solich appears to be out of gas, but a big win in a bowl game (vs. East Carolina in the Beef O’Brady Bowl) would put everything in a different light.

Ten in Texas, one in New Mexico:
1) Baylor. The Bears owned the 2013 tackle football season in Texas and may for years to come. They did what is necessary to compete in today’s world of collegiate athletics—went out and raised money, much of which of was donated following the religious fervor following RGIII’s Heisman coronation.
    The Bears move into a new multi-million stadium next year, Art Briles was given a 10-year contract, Bryce  Petty is coming back and their first four games in 2014 are SMU, Northwestern State (of Louisiana), Buffalo and Iowa State. By October when they meet Texas, the Bears should be undefeated and ranked high in the Top Ten.

2) Texas. Second best program in the state. The ‘Horns beat OU. Nothing much else need be said.

3) Texas State Boys and Girls home for Farmers and Mechanics. Third best program in the state. The Ags proved to be just barely above average this year and J.Football proved solvable. DDT hopes Mr. Touchdown comes back next year and the Farmers put a defense on the field so we can see if they really belong in the SEC.

4) Texas Christian/Stockyards. It wasn’t a year to “Fear the Frog,” but Gary Patterson has won more than ten games in seven of the last ten years. If the “Froggies” (an old Kern Tips expression) would just wear some decent uni’s and get away from the bling jammy look that has plagued so many teams they might get more respect.

5) Texas Tech. Won their first seven, lost their last five. No quality wins in that first seven, maybe one quality loss (OU) in that last five. And they meet AzState in the Holiday Bowl. Make it six losses in a row.

6) Rice. Winners of the Conference USA West Division (10-3), playing in the Liberty Bowl against Mississippi State. TAMU showed them the dif between the majors and the mid-majors early in the season, but the Owls have improved.

7) UH. Fourth in the American Athletic Conference, no quality wins. Lucky to get a bowl, the Compass-something-or-another against Vandy.

8) SMU. Like Pony teams of old, they had a passing attack for a while (Garrett Gilbert) and could move the football between the 20s but did little where it counted in the red zone. In 2014, two of their losses will come early in the season when they meet Baylor and Texas A&M in weeks one through three.

9) The U’s: UTSA, UTEP. The Roadrunners of UTSA did surprisingly well: 7-5 in only their second season in DivOne. They didn’t beat anybody important and didn’t get a bowl bid but did do better than UTEP (2-10), who found the earth flat and fell off the edge in coach Sean Kugler’s first season.

New Mexico, 3-9. DDT has only taken note because UNM is within 100 miles DDT HQ, which means nothing. Nor does UNM football. UNM is a basketball school, and their home court, “The Pit,” is rated one of the top venues in college hoops. Maybe they should play their football games in there. Otherwise, they are an example of a program that should downsize to the FCS in football.

• It’s a crap shoot. So many good one-loss teams in the hunt, losses that turned on one or two plays. Some good two-loss teams, too. A play here, a play there, and you’re a God or a goat.

Auburn wins two games on last-play miracles this year and Gus Malzahn—in his first year—is declared Messiah and given a big contract. But Gene Chizik won a national championship in his second year at Auburn, then was fired two years later.

Maybe college administrators should only ask one question when interviewing coaches: Are you lucky?

And now the award for the one-time Heisman hopeful who wasn’t nominated but did make headlines last week for being ticketed by South Carolina State Police for going 110 mph in a 70 mph zone. And the winner is, Jadevon Clowney, DT, University of South Carolina Gamecocks.

This just in:

Are they hiring a new CEO for Disney World or a football coach?

From ESPN:  “Texas athletic director Steve Patterson has appointed an eight-member advisory committee and retained an executive recruiting firm to aid in his search for the Longhorns' next football coach.

Included in the group tasked with finding Mack Brown's successor are two members of the UT System Board of Regents, Steve Hicks and Robert Stillwell, as well as former Regent Robert Rowling. They're joined on the committee by UT professor Michael Clement, U.S. federal judge Ricardo Hinojosa, former Exxon Mobil vice president Charles Matthews, Capital Royalty chairman Charles Tate and Pamela Willeford, former U.S. ambassador to Switzerland and Liechtenstein and former chair of the Texas Higher Education Coordinator Board.”

Two regents, a former regent, a UT prof, a federal judge, a former oil exec, a CEO and a former U.S. Ambassador to Switzerland. Not a coach, a former athetic director, or anybody directly connected with football on the committee.

So back to the original question: Are they hiring a CEO for Disney World or a football coach? The former, definitely. It’s not college football anymore, anyway. It’s a big-budget movie. Academy Award to the script writer who came up with this search committee.