College Football Coaches Say (And Do) the Darndest Things
Let me say this about that: this hasn’t been a good week for college coaches who proclaim themselves to be mentors, educators and leaders of men.
Item one: Pac 12 coaches, in a seemingly brazen swipe at Oregon football and coach Mario Cristobal, named only one Duck player to the conference’s first team (and only four total out of 46 on the first or second teams). The coaches also named Utah’s Kyle Whittingham as coach of the year.
Oregon, of course, won the conference title this year and boat-raced Utah last week to represent the Pac 12 in the Rose Bowl.
Taking your personal dislike out on a coach you think may be walking too close to the ethical line, as some have suggested in this case, is childish. If you think Cristobal is not playing fair in recruiting report him to the league office. Do NOT take it out on Oregon players in an official capacity of naming an All-Conference team.
It is possible that Oregon could win a league title with lesser talent. In fact, it happened in 2009 when the Ducks captured the title with only one player, tight end Ed Dickson, making the first-team squad.
But at least Chip Kelly was voted Coach of the Year.
Item two: Remember that year Stanford star Christian McCaffrey was criticized for skipping the Sun Bowl to protect his NFL interests?
Well, major college coaches skip bowl games all the time to protect their own interests.
Memphis worked hard all season to garner a rare Cotton Bowl berth only to see its coach, Mike Norvell, reap the benefits by taking the Florida State job. Norvell will not coach his team in the Cotton Bowl.
Urban Meyer, in 2004, took the Florida job and did not coach undefeated Utah in the Fiesta Bowl.
In 2012, Bret Bielema chose Arkansas over coaching his Wisconsin team in the Rose Bowl.
We could go on and on and on.
But McCaffrey was seen as disloyal, by some, for running out on his Stanford teammates. Even though, a year before, he was named MOP in a Rose Bowl performance for the ages. Give me a break.
Item three: Some big-time coaches also complain that the transfer portal is not good for college football, even though coaches can pick up and leave any time they want.
What the coaches mean is that loosened transfer rules make their jobs harder. Too bad.
Check out this year’s Heisman race and tell me this was bad for college football. All three of the quarterback finalists led their schools to the College Football Playoff. All three were backups at their previous schools and left to better their situations. Joe Burrow, who left Ohio State for LSU, is going to win the Heisman Trophy. Justin Fields, who left for Georgia for Ohio State, was stuck behind Jake Fromm in Athens. Fields now has a chance to lead the Buckeyes to a national title. Jalen Hurts, who was benched at Alabama for Tua Tagovailoa, has a chance to write a fairy tale ending at Oklahoma.
How have any of these transfers hurt college football?
Item four: The annual reveal of the final USA Today coaching ballots has provided comic relief for years. Imagine the chicanery and manipulation involved before voting coaches were required to make public their final votes?
Some of my favorite through the years.
--New Mexico State Coach Hal Mumme, in 2007, voting Hawaii at No.1.
--Florida State Coach Bobby Bowden voting his son’s team at Clemson No.11, the highest ranking the Tigers received.
--The whopper, of course, was 2003 when the coaches were not allowed by contract to crown their No. 1 team, USC, as national champions after the Trojans won the Rose Bowl.
This year’s final USA poll reveal had several interesting results.
Saban voted Alabama at No. 5, eight spots better than the Crimson Tide finished in the final CFP ranking.
Nebraska Coach Scott Frost, once the offensive coordinator in Eugene, trashed Oregon all the way to No.12 (the Ducks finished No. 6 in the CFP).
Dan Mullens voted Florida at No. 6 (of course he did!).
Kirby Smart voted Georgia at No. 5 (of course he did!).
Liberty Coach Huge Freeze voted Wisconsin No. 17, in stark contrast to the committee having the Badgers at No. 8.
Also, Clay Helton, what were you thinking?
He voted Alabama at No. 13 on his final ballot, not a smart move considering the USC Trojans open the 2020 season against the Crimson Tide in Dallas.
--Just the thought of Lane Kiffin taking the Mississippi job so he could mentally torture Saban, steal away his assistants and peel-off a few recruits is… just stupendous.
Kiffin spent three entertaining seasons on Saban’s staff before leaving to coach Florida Atlantic for three seasons.
If Kiffin’s return to the SEC is anything like the one season he spent at Tennessee, in 2009, the conference office will need to hire support staff and double-down in compliance.
Kiffin joins a cast of SEC West coaching characters that includes Saban, LSU’s Ed Orgeron and Texas A&M’s Jimbo Fisher. The best division in college football just got better and way more interesting.
One more note about Kiffin’s only season at Tennessee. His Vols would have defeated No. 1 Alabama if not for Terrence Cody being on the Crimson Tide’s roster.
Cody blocked a last second field goal that preserved a 12-10 victory in Tuscaloosa. It was Cody’s second block of the game.
--Heisman time: The largest winning margin in Heisman history came in 1968, when USC's O.J. Simpson bested Purdue's Leroy Keyes by 1,750 points. With any luck, come Saturday, there will be a new all-time margin leader. Note: the slimmest winning margin was Alabama's Mark Ingram edging Stanford's Toby Gerhart by 28 points in 2009.