Coaching News

During Thanksgiving, our sports minds were tuned to the beginnings of the Tiger Woods story.

Now, during Christmas, those of us in college football have received even bigger news:

Urban Meyer is stepping down as head coach of the University of Florida Gators.

Citing health issues, the coach is making this move after consultation with his family, physicians, and leadership at the University of Florida. It may be remembered that he was hospitalized following the loss to Alabama in the SEC Championship Game.

Even though there was speculation regarding this issue being one surrounding the cyst on his brain outlined in the SI article here, ESPN is reporting that it's related to a heart valve muscle defect.

The Toledo native grew up in Ashtabula, and was a graduate assistant at Ohio State as his first foray into the collegiate level. He eventually ended up as the head coach of the Bowling Green Falcons before jumping to Utah and Florida.

Even though it has been speculated that Notre Dame is his "dream job", he has not pursued that opening during the last two searches the Irish have undergone. There are even rumors that, within his contract at Florida, he had an "out" covering his departure of that position to return to Ohio State as head coach.

Many questions still swirl regarding this decision and announcement:

1. What will happen with the recruits who have given their verbal to the Gators thus far (California's Joshua Shaw recently chose Florida over Ohio State and USC; Matt Elam is another name that might be impacted here)?
2. Who will coach the Gators in 2010? Defensive coordinator Strong has now assumed the head coaching position at Louisville; I'm not sure if there are any other internal candidates, although I know one coach who is available.
3. If it's health related, why wasn't Tebow able to heal him?

At any rate, we wish Coach Meyer and his family the best for this holiday season and transition in their lives.

And, speaking personally, should his health and passion allow, I hope he'll keep Columbus in mind on that day when Jim Tressel ascends from the sidelines to the heavens.

Here's where we are for our offseason:

Akron: Hire- Rob Ianello (no)
Buffalo: Hire- Jeff Quinn (no)
Central Michigan
Cincinnati: Hire- Butch Jones (no)
Florida
Florida State: Hire/Appointment- Jimbo Fisher (no)
Kansas: Hire- Turner Gill (yes!!)
Louisville: Hire- Charlie Strong (yes!!)
Marshall: Hire- Jon "Doc" Holliday (no)
Memphis: Hire- Larry Porter (yes!!)
Notre Dame: Hire- Brian Kelly (no)
UNLV: Hire- Bobby Hauck (no)
Virginia: Hire- Mike London (yes!!)
Western Kentucky: Hire- Willie Taggart (no)

Coaching Carousel

With a couple more moves this week, it's time to update the list:

UPDATE- OK, I'm an idiot. I didn't even know that UNLV was looking.

Akron: Hire- Rob Ianello (no)
Buffalo: Hire- Jeff Quinn (no)
Central Michigan
Cincinnati: Hire- Butch Jones (no)
Florida State: Hire/Appointment- Jimbo Fisher (no)
Kansas: Hire- Turner Gill (yes!!)
Louisville: Hire- Charlie Strong (yes!!)
Marshall: Hire- Jon "Doc" Holliday (no)
Memphis: Hire- Larry Porter (yes!!)
Notre Dame: Hire- Brian Kelly (no)
UNLV: Hire- Bobby Hauck (no)
Virginia: Hire- Mike London (yes!!)
Western Kentucky: Hire- Willie Taggart (no)

Just as a reminder for any BearCat fans swinging by- you can't complain about your coach leaving before a bowl game when the last two guys you hired did exactly the same thing.

Driving home a point

Here's the latest in the continuing saga of inactivity/ineptitude/impotence by the NCAA in their dealings with the University of $outhern California.

You may remember- athletes and families being paid by agents, basketball player representatives being paid to funnel players, players living "rent free" in luxury apartments; all leading to nada from the No Clue At All.

Today, it's leading rusher Joe McKnight using an SUV registered to an LA businessman with the rights to the website 4joemcknight.com (no current content).

I've said all along that there's a culture here indicative of a "lack of institutional control".

But the more and more this continues, I believe that the issue is less about U$C's ability to monitor their programs, and more convinced that it's the NCAA that has no control over its institutions.

People know me...

For the four of you that regularly read this thing, you know that I've been a bit distracted this year as compared to last.

Historically, I've posted a couple of times a week hereabouts- both thoughts on college football in general and a lot of Buckeye-specific rants and cheers. It also became a great place for me to keep our picks league informed and do the weekly updates- remember when those used to be emails with footnotes?

This year, though, I was asked to move part of the dog and pony show up a notch. One of my favorite Ohio State blogs was looking for writers, and Jeff asked me to share my brand of crazy with Buckeye faithful.

So, instead of bugging you guys with Ohio State stuff, I've found a group of people who haven't heard my stories three hundred times already and seem to not mind too much.

It's been an amazing experience over at the Buckeye Battle Cry, and has now led to an even bigger announcement. Starting next year (actually, while I'm screaming my head off at the Rose Bowl), tBBC becomes the official Ohio State blog for the nationwide Sports Bloggers Nation. And to answer your question, Scott, I'm not sure what that means in terms of cash... Jeff, Jim, Eric, and I do it for the love of the, uh, keyboard anyway.

Yup, another case of being in the right place at the right time.

So, what does that mean for the Musings? Wellsir, I plan on sticking around and using this for the stuff that doesn't fit our "brand"- How sports fit into the educational experience of a University, How well our Division 1 schools are doing in their hiring processes, etc. And, of course, I'll still be hosting our competitions (get your picks in for the Bowl Challenge).

Anywho- Thanks for humoring me by being a part of this conversation, and for helping me hone whatever freaking skills that made me the blogger that I am.

And if you're wondering; Yes, I just blamed you for all this.

The most wonderful time of the year...

Yup- Bowl Season!! Or as Mich1gAAn and Notre Ame fans call it- "Prozac Month".

Get in the game here:

http://games.espn.go.com/bowlmania/en/group?groupID=19468

Group: House Of Sporks

Password: Jake Terp

Athletes? Sure. Students? Well...

ESPN has an interesting story about Florida State University and their approach to assisting students with learning disabilities.

Students who have such struggles may receive admittance with lower GPAs or test scores, and may have accommodations to assist in their learning and academic coursework while enrolled.

Interestingly enough, according to ESPN up to a third of the football team may have been "diagnosed" with these issues. That raises some questions-

1. Are these diagnosis accurate, or a way to admit players who couldn't otherwise get enrolled?
2. Are the accommodations valid, or ways of seeking to ensure that athletes are able to play?
3. Is the university being progressive in helping troubled students, or seeking to keep the team competitive, the alumni happy, and the money rolling in?
   

When I coached, we had a number of students who entered under similar circumstances. But, the ratio was nowhere near FSU's, and the expectation for the students is that they would work to "catch up" and enter the "mainstream" programs/majors within a year or two.

FSU seems to be doing something else entirely, don't you think?

So far... AMAZING

With today's news that Turner Gill has assumed leadership at the University of Kansas, four of the eight hires this offseason have have been candidates of African American heritage.

Statistically, it's still only 10 out of 120 (Gill was already at Buffalo), but it's exciting that we went from one BCS program with an African American head coach (Miami) to three (Miami, Kansas, Virginia). There was the possibility of another adding to this list, but Houston's Kevin Sumlin declined the opportunity to interview for the open Cincinnati position (Big East Conference).

Here's where we are:

Akron: Hire- Rob Ianello (no)
Buffalo
Cincinnati
Florida State: Hire/Appointment- Jimbo Fisher (no)
Kansas: Hire- Turner Gill (yes!!)
Louisville: Hire- Charlie Strong (yes!!)
Marshall
Memphis: Hire- Larry Porter (yes!!)
Notre Dame: Hire- Brian Kelly (no)
Virginia: Hire- Mike London (yes!!)
Western Kentucky: Hire- Willie Taggart (no)

Round Two/Three/Four/Five

Last night, as a part of "Football Night In America", Tony Dungy had the following to say:

Breaking sports news video. MLB, NFL, NBA, NHL highlights and more.

That someone has a better chance to coach in the NFL, where there are less than 40 opportunities, than Division 1 football with 120 opportunities, is a travesty.

Dungy implies that the University Presidents would be the ultimate voice for making this change; that they alone have the ability to make the boosters, alumni, and athletic departments change.

However, Presidents know where their bread is buttered, and ain't doing anything. My opinion: this should be examined by the federal government. Equal Opportunity Hiring practices are enforced in every aspect of University employment- faculty/adjuncts/staff. They should also be used for coaches and other athletic personnel. Otherwise, the educational institution becomes a business, and businesses are not tax exempt.

However, things are looking good for minority football coaches this season with two more hires, and at least two more high profile opportunities on the horizon. Both Kansas and Louisville are rumored to be actively recruiting African American candidates, although for Kansas it would only be a change of venue and not an additional "number" for our count. UPDATE: Louisville has made their decision.UPDATE: As have Akron and Notre Dame

Here's where we are:

Akron: Hire- Rob Ianello (no)
Cincinnati
Florida State: Hire/Appointment- Jimbo Fisher (no)
Kansas
Louisville: Hire- Charlie Strong (yes!!)
Marshall
Memphis: Hire- Larry Porter (yes!!)
Notre Dame: Hire- Brian Kelly (no)
Virginia: Hire- Mike London (yes!!)
Western Kentucky: Hire- Willie Taggart (no)