1. The things they never tell you you're going to write about in journalism school. I mean, we've all covered some crazy stuff, but there's no way anyone in this business would ever expect to read, much less write, a story about an assistant coach ordering $2200 of sex toys and having them shipped to his office. I personally could have done without the screenshots of the order for the CandyMan Jock Suspenders or the Wildman T Ball Lifter (red, presumably to replace the blue or orange one he ordered when at Florida), but you know, you can't say the story wasn't thorough.
My first reaction to the story was obviously "this is just weird as hell." My second thought, like many others, was, "What does this do to further the story we've all been following here?" And I don't know. If I'm honest, yeah, it seems like it's gotten a little personal between Brett McMurphy and OSU. And maybe that's natural when Urban Meyer stood up in front of the country and accused McMurphy of making the original story up. "Yeah, mother-----, wait till you see what else I've got proof of." Ultimately, it really doesn't matter what the motives are. It only matters if all this stuff is true.
Ohio State is going to make its decision on Meyer's future this week. My guess--and that of pretty much everyone else--is that he's going to remain the coach in Columbus. There may be an extended suspension (the longest I could possible see is for this whole season, but I don't really think that's going to happen). Should he be fired? I don't know. I'm going to wait to see what the investigation reveals and see if there's some smoking gun that tells me Meyer knew beyond a shadow of a doubt what was happening. If that smoking gun exists, I think we'd already have seen it, but maybe not. I won't shed a tear if Meyer loses his job. But the guy that deserves to, the biggest POS in this story, already has. Zach Smith is never coaching again. And that's well-earned.
2. Speaking of coaches, CBS Sports published its anonymous survey of coaches about other coaches. Somehow those coaches think James Franklin is overrated. Yes, the James Franklin that made Vanderbilt nationally relevant and guided the Commodores to back to back nine win seasons (Vandy had won nine games in a season exactly two times ever pre-Franklin, in 1904 and 1915, and has won a grand total of 18 games in the four years since he left). Yes, the James Franklin that took over a Penn State program that was gutted by the NCAA and has taken it to a bowl game in every season, including back-to-back 11-win seasons that ended in the nation's top ten. Overrated? I think he might be underrrated.
This take on Nick Saban is pure idiocy (or jealousy...or both):
Coaches and PR people hate recruiting rankings...until they make their program look good. Then they're obviously really intelligent and useful.
Speaking of Saban, I didn't have another place I thought it made sense, so I'm dropping in the college football quote of the year here
As far as the list of underrated coaches, I'm not really sure any of them are underrated. Kyle Whittingham (who I advocated Mizzou go after three years ago even though I didn't think he'd take the job) might be but the rest get the due they deserve.
Other thoughts from this:
The fact Mike Leach got only 29% of the vote in the coach you'd most like to have a beer with is a travesty. Leach and Mike Gundy should have gotten EVERY vote. And eight percent voted for Urban Meyer? I know 8% of coaches I don't want to have a beer with.
3. A quick tangent thought on coaches: Why do they act like they're protecting state secrets here?
I know this is going to come off as sounding self-serving and to some extent it is. Let me first say this is not a commentary on Missouri or on Barry Odom. This is a commentary about college sports (and particularly college football) in general. But a smart coach tells the media (maybe not all of the media, but at least one or two people you feel like you can trust) EVERYTHING. Then you trust those media members to use that information judiciously. If they burn you, you never tell them anything again. A handful of us were invited to speak to the senior staff members of the Mizzou athletic department last week. They got to ask us questions and we answered, with the goal being to provide them insight into how we do our jobs.
The question was asked whether there is more sexual assault happening with college athletes than in the past or whether we just about it because of the increased coverage. The answer is probably a little bit of both. But the lesson in it, I told them, is this: "We're going to find out. If something happens you don't want us to know about, we're always going to find out. Maybe not immediately. Maybe not so that we can report it in a timely fashion, but we're going to find out. Always. So if you're just honest, you can probably survive it. If you lie and cover it up, it's going to cost you your job." Ask Urban Meyer. Ask D.J. Durkin. Contrary to popular belief, the media isn't out to bury the programs it covers. We'd prefer not to have to. But the more difficult you make it for us to do our jobs, the harder we dig. And that doesn't usually turn out well for the guys on the other side.
Literally as I was typing this thought, I was sent this story on Kirby Smart (probably the least media friendly coach at a major program in the country) popping off again about the media. Here's the audio of Smart's complaint if you want to listen.
All due respect, coach, that's a dumb rant. And completely misguided.
Also, we don't have to wear team colors (and for those that do in this profession, I immediately dismiss you as a hack).
My first reaction to the story was obviously "this is just weird as hell." My second thought, like many others, was, "What does this do to further the story we've all been following here?" And I don't know. If I'm honest, yeah, it seems like it's gotten a little personal between Brett McMurphy and OSU. And maybe that's natural when Urban Meyer stood up in front of the country and accused McMurphy of making the original story up. "Yeah, mother-----, wait till you see what else I've got proof of." Ultimately, it really doesn't matter what the motives are. It only matters if all this stuff is true.
Ohio State is going to make its decision on Meyer's future this week. My guess--and that of pretty much everyone else--is that he's going to remain the coach in Columbus. There may be an extended suspension (the longest I could possible see is for this whole season, but I don't really think that's going to happen). Should he be fired? I don't know. I'm going to wait to see what the investigation reveals and see if there's some smoking gun that tells me Meyer knew beyond a shadow of a doubt what was happening. If that smoking gun exists, I think we'd already have seen it, but maybe not. I won't shed a tear if Meyer loses his job. But the guy that deserves to, the biggest POS in this story, already has. Zach Smith is never coaching again. And that's well-earned.
2. Speaking of coaches, CBS Sports published its anonymous survey of coaches about other coaches. Somehow those coaches think James Franklin is overrated. Yes, the James Franklin that made Vanderbilt nationally relevant and guided the Commodores to back to back nine win seasons (Vandy had won nine games in a season exactly two times ever pre-Franklin, in 1904 and 1915, and has won a grand total of 18 games in the four years since he left). Yes, the James Franklin that took over a Penn State program that was gutted by the NCAA and has taken it to a bowl game in every season, including back-to-back 11-win seasons that ended in the nation's top ten. Overrated? I think he might be underrrated.
This take on Nick Saban is pure idiocy (or jealousy...or both):
- "If you had the No. 1 recruiting class in the country every year [you'd win like Nick Saban]. He shows up at every single game with a better roster than the teams he 's playing. … If you count cheating and getting the best players in the country as part of running a program, he's the best in the country. It's like saying anNFLcoach is the best coach in the league if he gets 25 first-round picks every year."
Coaches and PR people hate recruiting rankings...until they make their program look good. Then they're obviously really intelligent and useful.
Speaking of Saban, I didn't have another place I thought it made sense, so I'm dropping in the college football quote of the year here
As far as the list of underrated coaches, I'm not really sure any of them are underrated. Kyle Whittingham (who I advocated Mizzou go after three years ago even though I didn't think he'd take the job) might be but the rest get the due they deserve.
Other thoughts from this:
The fact Mike Leach got only 29% of the vote in the coach you'd most like to have a beer with is a travesty. Leach and Mike Gundy should have gotten EVERY vote. And eight percent voted for Urban Meyer? I know 8% of coaches I don't want to have a beer with.
3. A quick tangent thought on coaches: Why do they act like they're protecting state secrets here?
I know this is going to come off as sounding self-serving and to some extent it is. Let me first say this is not a commentary on Missouri or on Barry Odom. This is a commentary about college sports (and particularly college football) in general. But a smart coach tells the media (maybe not all of the media, but at least one or two people you feel like you can trust) EVERYTHING. Then you trust those media members to use that information judiciously. If they burn you, you never tell them anything again. A handful of us were invited to speak to the senior staff members of the Mizzou athletic department last week. They got to ask us questions and we answered, with the goal being to provide them insight into how we do our jobs.
The question was asked whether there is more sexual assault happening with college athletes than in the past or whether we just about it because of the increased coverage. The answer is probably a little bit of both. But the lesson in it, I told them, is this: "We're going to find out. If something happens you don't want us to know about, we're always going to find out. Maybe not immediately. Maybe not so that we can report it in a timely fashion, but we're going to find out. Always. So if you're just honest, you can probably survive it. If you lie and cover it up, it's going to cost you your job." Ask Urban Meyer. Ask D.J. Durkin. Contrary to popular belief, the media isn't out to bury the programs it covers. We'd prefer not to have to. But the more difficult you make it for us to do our jobs, the harder we dig. And that doesn't usually turn out well for the guys on the other side.
Literally as I was typing this thought, I was sent this story on Kirby Smart (probably the least media friendly coach at a major program in the country) popping off again about the media. Here's the audio of Smart's complaint if you want to listen.
All due respect, coach, that's a dumb rant. And completely misguided.
Also, we don't have to wear team colors (and for those that do in this profession, I immediately dismiss you as a hack).
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