From John B. -
Talk about craziness in the world. The amount of money required just to oust the current coach and staff is staggering. Add on the cost of new coach and staff and it is getting almost as expensive as political elections.
Which leads me to my question?
What job is worse these days? Head Football Coach or Athletic Director?
Think of all the clowns that are AD's. Joe Alleva at LSU. Jurich at Louisville who has pretty much sold his soul by hiring and retaining Bobby Petrino and Rick Pitino despite all their sins and transgressions that continue to pile up.
Heck, Petrino and Jetgate pretty much ended David Housel's AD career on a bad note at Auburn.
Also, add Baylor's AD during the Briles scandal. The list goes on and on.
Since head coaches report to AD's, does the blame for the insanity of college football start at the top?
Enjoy the 5 at 10 and Press Row. Keep up the solid work.
John B. -
So many great points here, John.
For a lot of reasons, we'll say that being the AD is far and away the worst of the two.
The AD is the football coach in name only. Heck, if Power Five football coach X walked into his AD's office and said, "Hey, AD, hop up and let me take a nap at your desk." The AD's response would be: "Can I get you a pillow?"
And sweet buckets, if Saban or Meyer or Harbaugh or any of those cats that carry an entire athletic program walked into the AD's office and dropped a steamer on his desk, the AD better be prepared to wipe the coach.
Now, look at the other tentacles of these jobs. Power Five college football jobs now offer life-changing money. You get millions when they hire you and million more when they fire you. In fact, the college football coach may be the single best investment in sports. Only the NFL quarterback is close.
If you find a rock star college football coach, it changes everything.
Now, remember that the AD is also a office administration gig more than a sports job, meaning it is far less fun too. Add in the fund-raising (gross, having to beg boosters for money and then be beholden to them), the complaints from smaller sports that you do not show them enough love, to everything else.
Man, the AD job is far worse. Even at the fundamental baseline of this: When the head coach is having success, he is a genius and gets a raise; when that success fails, everyone wants to know why the stupid AD gave him an extension.
Alabama head coach Nick Saban walks the field before the Iron Bowl NCAA college football game against Auburn, Saturday, Nov. 26, 2016, in Tuscaloosa, Ala. (AP Photo/Brynn Anderson)From Jomo
JG - wanted your thoughts on this. Take away Bama and the entire SEC football teams have at least 4 losses (after Fla. loss to Bama) And once Saban quits. Do you think going forward that parity will continue? Since EVERY SEC school has state of the art facilities, locker rooms, practice facilities, private planes to recruit, etc And every SEC school has great stadiums (except Vandy) AND all SEC schools have all the TV money they need. Every school can pay a coach $3-$5 million, etc. With the population growth in the South and more and more athletes to choose from, Is this going to create an SEC landscape of 8-4 teams and lose the incentive to play strong out of conference games, in order to have the best chance to get to the playoffs. And is this going to cause fan bases to put 8 win coaches on the hot seat and some years a 3 or 4 loss SEC team win the championship and stay home for the playoffs?
Jomo -
Interesting question, and all of sports on a majority of levels, the games are cyclical.
You are correct, the infrastructure for each of the SEC schools is amazing. I'm not sure how much parity there is at the top of the SEC.
Yes, this year there is the cream of the crop in Alabama, which is the cream of the entire sport, and then everyone else. Yes, it is kind of eye-popping that every other SEC team has at least four losses.
But this year feels more like an outlier than the start of a trend. Consider what has happened around the league:
Auburn was rolling and then injuries to the quarterback and the SEC leading rusher ended that. Yes, injuries happen to everyone, but the value of those injuries varies greatly.
Tennessee was picked to succeed, and the Vols - in addition to the injuries - had one bad game at South Carolina and kind of became disinterested when the East was no longer in play.
Georgia is starting over with a new coach. So is LSU. Florida is either going to be a lot better next year or the Gators could be starting over too.
In truth, that maybe the ultimate legacy of Nick Saban. He's going to cause every school in the league to hit the reset button in an effort to try to keep up. Think about that: Saban has retooled the league with his dominance and sent everyone looking for defensive-minded dudes with some connection to Lord Saban.
As for the spinning wheels of mediocrity, some team will rise to the top of the league and have a run after Saban leaves.
t's simple fact, and it will be the team that finds the next great coach, because as we mentioned earlier there is nothing of greater value in sports than the college football head coach. And unlike the pro leagues, success in college sports begets success in college sports.
Winning = championships. Championships =exposure. Exposure = interest. Interest = recruits. Recruits = winning.
As great as Saban was, if the magical young run of 2008 had encountered some injuries or bad luck, an early derailment could have caused who knows what kind of ripples.
As for Post-Saban - and let's be clear, we think he's going to coach for several more years because what else will he do - whomever Florida hires after McElwain is our choice as the guy who will ascend.
Tennessee football coach Butch Jones and his staff already have landed 23 public commitments for their 2017 signing class, but they're busy recruiting with the regular season over and the team's bowl destination not yet determined.From SP
Why do you always beat up on Butch Jones? There are a whole lot of coaches in the SEC who underachieved this year but you are always hammering Butch.
Why the anti-UT bias?
SP -
That's funny, SP.
And we appreciate the question, because when we get a balanced number of why are pro-this, anti-this questions, we know we are playing it down the middle. Here's the simple fact:
UT gets more coverage around these parts because UT has more fans than any other sporting entity around these parts.
When things are going good, UT gets an avalanche of coverage that causes folks to wonder why we love UT. When things are frustrating for UT fans, the amount coverage doesn't change, but the angst is magnified.
In truth, do not mind yourself with the perceived negative - and how can the last five games of this season, in which UT lost to two very mediocre at best teams and defensively completely unraveled in a season in which Vegas had them on the short list of winning it all not be viewed as a complete disappointment? - coverage. Be wary of the absence of coverage, because when angst turns to indifference, then the program is really sliding.
But your point is interesting. How many SEC programs underachieved this year. We talked about this a little bit on press Row on Thursday, but here are the SEC preseason over-under win totals for the 2016. This is not the end-all, be-all for under or overachieving, but it's a starting point.
Alabama - 9.5
Arkansas - 7
Auburn - 7
Florida - 8
Georgia - 9.5
Kentucky - 6
LSU - 10.5
Mississippi State - 9.5
Missouri - 6
Ole Miss - 9.5
South Carolina - 6.5
Tennessee - 10
Texas A&M - 8
Vandy - 5
Now this is not universal. Mississippi State's bad year was made more tolerable by whipping Ole Miss. And let's be clear, Dan Mullen may have the second-most job security of any coach with more than 12 months on the job in the league.
So who on that last are the most disappointed? By numbers, Ole Miss, Georgia, Tennessee and LSU missed the total by two or more wins. Georgia has a first-year coach; LSU replaced its coach. Ole Miss is in a strange place with losing its QB dealing with the NCAA and coming its first Sugar Bowl win since Christ was a child.
That leaves Tennessee and the compounding frustration of suffering through the fact that the Vols are not all that relevant in the SEC right now.
Cleveland Cavaliers' LeBron James (23) saves the ball from going out of bounds against Los Angeles Clippers' Blake Griffin (32) during the first half of an NBA basketball game Thursday, Dec. 1, 2016, in Cleveland. (AP Photo/Ron Schwane) From Ben
Listening to you guys on the radio today, you were talking about the SI Sportsman of the Year.
I was wondering two things. Do you agree with the choice and if you had a vote who would be your top five? Also, what sports 'honors' have lost the most luster in the last 25 years because it used to be that the SI honor was a really big deal?
As you would say, whatcha got?
Ben -
Great question.
My ballot would have been:
LeBron - for obvious reasons
The Cubs - Ditto
Michael Phelps - Greatest Olympian ever
Peyton Manning - end of an all-time career and the definition of a sportsman has never been more accurate.
Vin Scully - Just because I am biased for the old velvety tones.
Interesting question about the tainted titles.
If we had to pick three, we'll go Heavyweight champion of the world, any power conference basketball tournament title, and the "World's Best Athlete" title that came with winning the decathlon.
FILE - In this Nov. 26, 2016, file photo, Clemson quarterback Deshaun Watson reacts after throwing a touchdown pass to Artavis Scott during the second half of an NCAA college football game against South Carolina, in Clemson, S.C. Lamar Jackson stumbled down the stretch, leaving the rest of the field one last chance to catch him in the Heisman Trophy race. (AP Photo/Richard Shiro, File) From Scott
What's the worst case scenario this weekend on the college football playoff terms?
Thanks, and I love the 5-at-10. (Did you update your Rushmores this week?)
Scott -
Great question. There are two that could turn really bad.
What happens if Alabama loses (and pigs fly), Clemson loses, Washington loses and the playoff is top-ranked Alabama and three Big Ten teams. That would mean there are only two conferences represented and only one conference champion in the mix. (And if Penn State was that only conference champ, it would be Alabama and three Big Ten East division teams.)
The other is a little more simple and you can and plug pieces in and out how ever you want.
But the question is larger than ever: How much do conference titles mean and if a team that can't even win its division is in the dance, there's a fair argument that this system is devaluing the regular season. And that's a shame.
Does the eye test and resume argument over winning a conference title and head-to-head mean this is an invitational rather than a playoff? (We are running late, and we'll update our Rushmores this week at lunch. Deal? Deal.)