12/19/04

Well North Texas let me be the first to say, "Welcome to mid-major, kinda, competitive football?" They will enter Conference-USA next year, and if the New Orleans Bowl is any indication, they are in for a year of struggles and rushing frustration.

As a fan of New Mexico State, I have always kept a close eye on the Green Meanies of North Texas, and the Sun-Belt conference. This shows that the Sun-Belt Conference has as much college competitive fire as the NHL: Absolute Zero.

Week after week I have heard about the freshman running backs. We had Heisman runner-up Adrian Peterson running over would be Big-Twelve tacklers, and Mike Hart of the University of Michigan making the Wolverines smell the aroma of roses and Jamario Thomas. Thomas was the savior of North Texas. After teammate and 2003 Division I-A leading rusher, Patrick Cobbs, went down earlier this season, all was thought to be lost.

Then Thomas did the unthinkable. He rushed for over 200-yards in five straight games, tying the freshman record. He faced tough competition in the likes of Utah State and the two toughest Louisiana Colleges behind LSU: Louisiana-Monroe and Louisiana-Lafayette.

I'm not blaming North Texas for anything. They had a tragic start of the season. Before the season began in August, one of their quarterbacks, Andrew Smith, died in an automobile accident. That might explain the four-straight non-conference loses and being outscored in those loses 174 to 69.

Then Cobbs went down with a torn ligament in his knee. Thomas stepped right in during conference play, and took over. Thomas, who was regarded at a top-20 running back in some recruiting circles, chose North Texas over Arizona State, Texas Tech and Colorado.

The 5'11, 195-pound back has surpassed all expectations. He was considered many this year as the best of the diaper-dandy running backs, but not by this writer. Thomas may be an amazing back on Sundays come a few years from now, but the New York Giants have a more
diverse offense than North Texas. Thomas ran for 77-yards on 17 carries in the first half of the New Orleans Bowl, which they lost 30-10 to Southern Mississippi, a mediocre team in their new conference.

In the second half he ran for a total of 15 yards on 12-carries, showing the team's only offense is in fact Thomas. Southern Mississippi was 88th in the nation against the run. If North Texas
couldn't show their run prowess against this high-school sized front seven they will never show it next year.

New Mexico State and Utah State are headed for the WAC next year, North Texas to Conference USA to replace Louisville that is going to the Big East. In my mind there is no use to have a Sun-Belt Conference.

This poor conference is last in revenue, attendance, and watch-able games. I saw Florida Atlantic take on North Texas. Man, and you guys thought the Chicago Bears and Dallas Cowboys on Thanksgiving was tough. It was like watching two old men fight for the last piece of gelatin pudding: Slow and boring, and constant questioning on "Why I'm I watching this dribble?"

Middle Tennessee called on the services of Big Boi of Outkast, but not Andre 3000. That's like asking Robin to save Gothem City, but leave Batman, he's not needed They had a concert after the game so the college would surpass the 15,000 average attendance needed for a division I-A football program. If they didn't have the attendance, the school would go back to division I-AA. That's like asking Robin to save Gothem City, but leave Batman doesn't need to come.

I feel for these teams. They are trying to see the big money picture like the big schools. But all these teams are losing money, and faith out of its boosters to stay afloat in Division I-A mediocrity.

I don't think they could beat William and Mary, or make it in the Division I-AA Playoffs. Make it like pro-soccer in Europe. Division I-AA teams can only move up if they win the championship and they move down if they finish in the bottom ten. It would help out us, the
college football fan, in watching games.
 

12/6/04

Notre Dame University has made me pleasantly happy, probably for the first time in 15 months.  The last time I was this happy with The Fighting Irish (and I use that word fighting begrudgingly) was when I saw Chris Perry for The University of Michigan barreling over Notre
Dame defenders as if he was King Kong, and they were stationary minuscule buildings, or the ladies in distress.

       We are looking at history when we see the moral spine of Notre Dame University being broken by its want to once again become a football God.

                   This week Notre Dame has made headlines daily.  Not like in decades past when it was for Heisman accolades or National Championship hunts.  It is for their metamorphic change into division-1A football reality.

                   With the firing of Ty Willingham, Notre Dame's football program has the respectability of the Boston Celtics, a once colossal sports franchise now struggling to be a mediocre team at best.

                   Twenty and even ten years ago if there was a job opening at Notre Dame, the university would have future Hall-of-Famers banging on Touchdown Jesus to take the job.

                   Now, Notre Dame can't even beat out The University of Florida for a coach that succeeded in the Mountain West Conference, the very same coach that got his start as an assistant coach at Notre Dame.  With the leaving of Urban Meyer from the Notre Dame Employment picture to Tallahassee, the football program is about as calm as a stampede.

                   The only reason I thought Notre Dame could have possibly fired Willingham was in order to get the ingenious strategic services of Meyer, but now that possibility is erased.  My hopes are that Notre Dame runs for Bobby Petrino, the legend now at Louisville, or Dan Hawkins.

       Hawkins of Boise State would be an excellent hire.  Though not as wide open as Utah's offense, Hawkin's Broncos have been in the top fifteen the past three years.  Over his four years as the Bronco's coach, he has compiled a 44-6 win-loss record.   He was offered a contract extension from Boise State of $2.6 million over the next five years. Washington, Mississippi and Stanford are all trying to lure Hawkins away from the Smurf Turf of Idaho.

        Boosters and alumni have been upset in recent years with the lack of wins and poor recruiting production by Notre Dame.  Over the past decade Notre Dame has not't won a bowl game.  Their one and only BCS bowl birth seemed to be a made-for-television-movie about The Bad News Bears (Willingham being Walter Matthau of course) with their worst bowl loss in the history of Notre Dame against those mighty Beavers of Oregon State.  They made two heisman trophy winners in the past two years.  Carson Palmer and Matt Leinart threw a combination of nine touchdowns against the Irish.  Palmer won the award in 2002. Leinart will win be in New York to accept the award in all probability in less than a week.

       According to Rivals.Com, Notre Dame has finished 32nd, 12th and 24th in recruiting during Willingham's three years as head coach. Some recruiters saw Notre Dame fall out of the top-25 this year for the first time in more than two and a half decades.

       Willingham was the first coach in Notre Dame History to have his contract terminated and not honored.  He didn't have time to see his first recruits become seniors, and only had three years to change a fifty-year-old offensive scheme.

       This is not Willingham's fault.  Student-athletes don't, or can't come to Notre Dame for one solid reason: The high academic expectations Notre Dame has on its athletes.  Lou Holtz loosened some of those restrictions during his tenure at Notre Dame and even recruited some less-than-moral players.  He offered both Randy Moss and David Terrell scholarships.  Moss was headed to South Bend before he beat up a fellow student to the point of near-death, and Terrell couldn't pass academic standards.

       Notre Dame for some reason still thinks it is higher than most schools.  This is obviously false.  Tradition is only transcended by one other aspect of college sport.  That is a consistency of winning, and the only thing consistent about the Irish Football Team in the past ten years is their inconsistency.

       Notre Dame's arrogance also came along with the reputation of being the greatest academically standing school when it comes to football.  Notre Dame's graduation rate now is 68%, only 6% more than football and convict factory Miami (Florida).

       Notre Dame isn't Michael J. Fox and can't go "Back to the Future."  Notre Dame needs to adapt to its surroundings.  They either can become a powerhouse again by lowering standards, and admitting they want to be like the Michigan's and Ohio State's of the football world, or they can continue to preach about great education.  There's a league for those teams, it's called the Ivy League Conference, and if Notre Dame keeps on kidding itself on the hybrid system of academic and football excellence, their future might be as athletically hopeful as SUNY-Cortland's.

11/24/04

HEY HEY JOE, YO - IT'S TIME TO GO!!

Maybe Joe Pa hasn’t been listening to top-40 music lately, but his pop-artist namesake, JoJo, has something that many Nittany Lion boosters concur with.  That is her number one smash hit probably dedicated to Paterno “Leave, Get Out.”

And I for one agree with that ever-so-smart 14-year-old lip syncher.  Joe Paterno’s career at Penn State has seen 10 United States Presidents.  He’s won two national championships, had five undefeated teams, 18 top ten finishes, four coach of the year honors, and 29 first round draft picks.

Paterno, now entering his 38th year as head coach of Penn State, unfortunately looks like he is going to destroy what took him so long to create: The tradition of football excellence at Penn State.

Since 2001 Penn State has only had one winning season.  His record over that span: 20 wins, 26 losses.  His recruitment is anything but traditional during those years as well.  The highest Penn State recruiting class since was 14th, the lowest, a dismal 93rd.  That year Penn State was worse in recruiting than Baylor, Rutgers and nationally renowned football powerhouse Louisiana-Monroe. 

In Big Ten play this year the 3-7 Lions have been averaging 9.7 points per game, only three points more than the Boston Red Sox averaged this post-season. The game that summed up the season for Joe Pa’s group would probably be the 6-4 loss to Iowa, two safeties! When in the history of football has there been a two safety game for one team, and no other points?  I don't know!!

I’m aware of what Paterno has done for the game.  In a time when coaches are caught with ugly strippers, recruiting 13-time felons and academic fraud, what Paterno has done is nothing short of remarkable.  For 38 years Paterno has run a clean program, and brought home pigskin glory.  Nothing to this day makes me smile more when I see him with his classic sand-brown slacks, skin-tight wind breaker, and Top Gun Aviators on the sideline pacing for the entire game. 

But the pacing is a tease now.  It’s not a frustration of perfection pace, like years before for Paterno anymore.  It’s just a frustrating, will I ever win again pace.  No championship trophies or top recruits anymore.  No College Gameday sets at Beaver Stadium.  No trips to Pasadena or trips to any bowl. The only trip this legend should be taking is into the sunset. 

Coach  Frank Solich at Nebraska got fired for not getting the Cornhuskers to the national championship game enough.  Ron Zook was recently released because Florida hadn’t had ten wins since Steve Spurrier.  Coach Paterno recently signed a contract extension, because of  consistent losing seasons.

Many say that since Paterno had stayed loyal, is a legendary figure, and brought so much pride to Happy Valley that it is his choice when he leaves.  How can fans take pride in a 3-7 team?  Especially, when the three wins are against Akron, still-winless Central Florida, and the Indiana Hoosiers? 

There’s no room for hope.  Their best player, four-year starters Zach Mills, will graduate this year.  The recruitment so far this year according to Rivals is 66th.  The Penn State program is declining faster than the respect of the Democratic Party. 

What he is doing is selfish.  If he was on any other sideline than Happy Valley’s he would have been fired faster than a cocaine heartbeat.  But instead he is regaled and considered to be bigger than Punxsutawney Phil.  But even that groundhog can predict that Paterno’s season next season will be like another six weeks of winter, gloomy, dark and no hope for warmth joy.  I know tradition is important—and that’s why you fire him, because over the past five years Penn State has traditionally stunk up the joint. 

If your team starts losing players to Temple, you might be an unwelcome football coach.  Thanks for the memories Joe Pa, it was bliss while it lasted, don’t make it torture for yourself.        
 

11/19/04

Calling all College Football Lovers

Division-I Graduation rates put out by the NCAA earlier this month showed an increasing trend by student athletes.  According to the survey, 62% of student athletes who enrolled in 1997 (57% of college football players) graduated with a diploma within six years.  This is higher than the general student population of 60%, which has trailed the Division-I athlete every year since 1986.

Expenses and revenues in college football are higher than a Grateful Dead concertgoer, which makes the new academic figures on football players even more surprising.   Since 1995, graduation rates for football players have risen by 9%.  1995 is an important year to the NCAA.  That is the year Proposition 16 was enacted by the NCAA, the reason most officials cite for the climb in diploma frames.

Prop 16 is a measuring stick for student athletes.  Athletes need to meet these academic sliding scale standards.  In order to compete in college athletics, students must have completed 13 core classes, opposed to the previous 11.  These athletes must also attain a passing grade point average and SAT score.  An example of a passing grade is if a football player has a 2.5 GPA he needs a 700 on his SAT score.  If another had a 2.0 GPA he would need to earn a 900. 

If these athletes don’t meet these standards, they cannot compete or even be in contact with Division-I athletics.  They can attend the university, but must pay their tuition and lose a year of eligibility. With these new standards in place the NCAA believes they are recruiting better students, and that’s why the football graduation rates increased in the past four consecutive years.

With all the work these student athletes put in, both athletically and academically, it begs the question, should student athletes, especially football players, be compensated for their services to their respective universities? 

Maybe the NCAA and college administrators can pretend, but no one should view college sports as an amateur sporting event anymore.  Amateur by Webster’s terms means, “A person who engages in an activity, for pleasure rather than pay.” Though the athlete is not being paid directly, the universities are making up for their economic plight.

According to the NCAA, in 2004 college athletics so far made $485 million in budgeted revenue. That doesn’t include the climax of the college football season, and opening of college basketball.

The University of Connecticut moved to Division I-A football (Division I-AA is less funded and less profitable) to the Big East Conference, and rested its economic hopes on a new $91.2 million, 40,000-seat stadium.  SUNY Binghamton spent $33 million on a new basketball field house, at the expense of New York taxpayers. College football is one of the biggest businesses in the United States and only looks to grow.

The 117 Division I-A school programs spend $52 million in expenses that include transportation of marching bands and cheerleaders, and meals and lodging at hotels. Some teams even rent hotels for home games to avoid distractions.  These same teams made over $182 million in revenue in 2003-04 season, not including booster money, certain television contracts and advertising.

The Bowl Championship Series, which is a series of championship football games at the end of the year, will pay the 63 universities involved in the BCS close to $400 million over a span of eight years.  According to a 2001 Business Wire article, there is a playoff system in the works for college football that could be worth up to $2.5 billion over ten years. That is worth more than the money spent this year on education in the United States.

To think these administrators believe in Teddy Roosevelt’s education first, athletics second, is factually absurd.   From 1985-2001 growth rates at colleges in education programs are 2.7%.  Athletics saw a 4.5% increase, and football alone: a 2.9% increase.

And the crux of the problem is that since colleges are considered “an institution of higher learning,” all their financial earnings and losses go un-taxed.  Of the $182 million that college football makes, the government doesn’t see a dime to help social security, pension plans and welfare, while colleges dish out money like it’s candy on Halloween.  South Florida spent $425,000 on a new weight facility, while some schools pay their equipment managers over $40,000 a year.

Players receive grants-in-aid, or full scholarships.  Their education is paid for, and to many armchair coaches, it’s a blessing for these athletes playing a child’s game. These same athletes probably wouldn’t have a chance for a college education otherwise. 

But these scholar athletes are pawns in an economic chess game.  These students bring in tens of thousands of fans, perhaps hundreds of thousands in one home game, to the university’s campus, and are the face of the school, not to mention the merchandising capital they bring in.  When a kid buys a $56.99 University of Miami Brock Berlin jersey from some sporting goods store, the Miami starting quarterback doesn’t see a dime; his university and the NCAA takes the profits. 

These students have two-full time jobs.  At any freshman orientation, advisors tell them to take classes like a forty-hour a week job.  Well what can a kid do when he has morning lift sessions, two-hour film sessions and double practices?  These practices are all nestled in-between classes which are mandatory by most of the coaches, tutoring sessions and forced study halls.  They hold down two full-time jobs, no time for employment opportunity with spring session grinding them to the ground with strength training, and new plays to memorize for the upcoming season, which can be up to one thousand.

Does it make sense that players have a lower GPA? Yes.  Is it acceptable? Absolutely, considering general students only have a 3% better graduation rate than these football players enslaved by their respective universities. 

These players don’t need the extra stereotype of getting a fee-ride and milking their academics.  The reason these players are getting free rides is because they are bringing in more money and recognition than any doctor, lawyer or any other alumni could.  More often than not, Americans watch more carefully on who won the Heisman Trophy than the Nobel Peace Prize. 

Celebrate these athletes, when most students consider multi-tasking going to class then funneling some beers, these players are responsible for paying all of women varsity athletics and clubs in just one game.  These same athletes are growing in academic maturity as well.  At this rate they will pass the general student population in a matter of years, silencing critics.