The Rest of College Football

[lineygoblue]

I agree the chances of that are slim, but the point being, he's going to find another HC job, and it will probably be a good one ...

.... which, I suppose, .. eliminates WVU ...

[geo weidl]

possibly the o-lie-o job?

[Dr. Strangelove]

possibly the o-lie-o job?

Our institution isn't so idiotic or flavor-of-the-week to hire that clown.

[JRB]

The most obvious landing spot for Rodriguez would be Clemson-- Dabo Swinney was a dubious choice to replace Tommy Bowden in the first place, and it seems as if the Clemson head coach has been on the proverbial hot seat for the last twenty years now. If that doesn't work out for him, I could see any number of southern schools possibly giving him a shot-- Ole Miss(since Houston Nutt's going to get run out of town before too much longer, and that school always wants to hire a name), Southern Miss(if Larry Fedora gets a better job), one of the south Florida programs, maybe East Carolina. I'd think any Conference USA school would be fortunate to land him, but I think he'd do best at a program that can succeed in recruiting Florida.

[entropy]

Texas tech would be a good home for him

[JRB]

I don't think the Texas Tech job will be open after this season, and I don't think it would be the best fit-- Rodriguez doesn't have that many recruiting ties in Texas, though he has had some success there. I think Tuberville's a better fit there than Rodriguez would be.

Another school that I think would actively pursue Rodriguez would be Tulane. I'm sure Rodriguez wants a more high-profile opportunity, but Tulane experienced its best season in school history with Rodriguez as offensive coordinator, and the Bob Toledo era has been a total washout so far. If Tulane puts up another losing record this year, they'll almost certainly be looking for a new head coach, and they might have Rodriguez #1 on their list.

[SeanB]

If Dan Mullen continues on an upward trend at MSU, I wonder if he'd move on (despite the extension he signed) and then Rodriguez gets a look there? Probably not so timely as some of the other destinations Jason mentioned.

Clemson had a monster recruiting class this past year...they won't have much more patience if Sweeney continues to struggle. Wake Forest comes to mind. I like the thought of ECU, too, but that's an awfully tough place for which to recruit. I wonder if Rich would consider that? I think he'll have more choices than a lot of folks think he'll get next year.

[Jamie H]

I think Rodriguez will be able to find a higher-profile job than Tulane. At the minimum I see him getting a Big East job.

[Hannibal]

Rodriguez won't find a job at a BCS school unless it is a school that is struggling badly and has hit rock bottom. If Clemson goes 7-5 and fires Dabo Sweeney, they'll be hiring a guy who will completely destroy the program and turn it into a national laughing stock for at least a couple of years. Their stellar 2011 class will probably get gutted, and their defense will become a complete sieve. They'll probably be looking at three our four years before the program is even respectable, and they'll probably never have a defense. I'd be surprised if the Tigers want that.

[Dr. Strangelove]

But he had a great offense at Tulane!! And he turned Patrick White into a star!!

[lineygoblue]

Just like Tressel did with Troy Smith

[JRB]

Boise State hit with lack of institutional control charge...

http://sports.espn.go.com/ncaa/news/story?id=6471288

I don't see Boise State football suffering a serious penalty here, but they'll probably take a bit of a scholarship hit.

[JRB]

In other news, the Pac-12 has secured its future with a monster TV deal...

http://sports.espn.go.com/ncf/news/story?id=6471380

[WM Wolverine]

Interesting that this deal includes 'all-rights.' That means that UCLA, Oregon, UCLA, USC, UW, etc can't negotiate a 3rd party media rights deal like M does and make $7+mil a year while Ohio State makes above ~$11mil off their 3rd party media rights...

I know the SEC allows each team complete media rights of one OOC game and most SEC teams rake in $5 - $10mil in 3rd party media rights.

[geo weidl]

Bear in mind these articles that I post are not from any M nation sites. Again I apologize for pulling an ENT.

The 5 Dirtiest Programs in College Football

April 29th, 2011 Matt Hansen
You are here: Home ? Featured ? The 5 Dirtiest Programs in College Football


It was very hard to make this list without having an 11 way tie for first based on the SEC minus Vanderbilt. How in the hell is Vanderbilt in that conference anyway? And don’t go thinking I’m just an SEC hater trying to shame the greatest conference in NCAA Football. Anybody with a pulse knows that the SEC plays by a different set of rules than the majority of other schools when it comes to recruiting, so settle down.
For the purposes of this article, I will only be taking into account football programs and as they stand today, excluding those that have received a fair punishment for their crimes (think SMU). The ultimate purpose is to point out those programs that the NCAA continues to look the other way on or simply slap on the wrist while they keep on winning. Without further ado, here are the dirtiest programs in NCAA football:

1. Auburn

Given the recent path Ohio State is on with the NCAA, one might assume that they would top the list, but Auburn won the National Championship and they will win this one as well. Auburn tops the list primarily because of one name: Bobby Lowder. I’m betting most of you had the last name “Newton” penciled in for that distiction, but the Cam and Cecil Newton are but tiny pieces in the filthy Auburn puzzle.
Lowder’s fingerprints have been all over the Auburn football program since the 80′s. I don’t know if he has any children or not, but if he did they would be named Pay-for-play Lowder regardless of sex. He’s just that type of guy. He’s under investigation by the FBI for money laundering, embezzlement, fraud, and misappropriation of funds. There is a network at Auburn that I could write a trilogy of books about and still miss pertinent details, so I won’t even try here. Over at tigerdroppings.com, one man has already tried and let me put it this way, it is a riveting read if you ever want to know just how far a group of men will go to get a’ W’ on fall Saturdays.
If you want a more convincing source, Former Head Coach Terry Bowden was happy to share his account of the Auburn program back in 2001.
Recent Highlights: Cecil Newton/Cam Newton Scandal, Stanley McGlover HBO Story, Recruitment of the Thibodaux, LA duo Greg Robinson and Travon Reed

2. Alabama

Alabama comes in at number 2, showing that one of the greatest rivalries in all of sports is not reserved only for play on the field, but the level of dirt they are involved with off the field as well. As recently as 2009, the NCAA Committee on Infractions has described Alabama as a “serial repeat violator” with an abysmal infractions track record.” This was in response to an elaborate text-book scandal involving over 200 student athletes in total, 5 of which were confirmed to be on the football team. They also oversign players with the best of them, which is not against the rules, but they also have an alarming number of athletes coming down with career-ending injuries, which magically frees up scholarships for incoming blue-chip recruits. Beyond that, Alabama has been cited for every trick in the shady recruiting playbook: suspicious loans, pay-for-play, cars, etc…they do it all down in Tuscaloosa. They’ve even been hit with postseason bans, scholarship reductions, probation and the dreaded lack of institutional control “lack of instituational control.”
So why do they deserve more you ask? Well, they have been on probation 3 times in the last decade or so and yet, they were the 2009 National Champions. You have to ask yourself if these repeated violations are really being punished appropriately if they are still reaching the pinnacle of their sport.
Recent Highlights: Barry Sanders, Jr. Recruitment, Saban leads the way on oversigning, Alabama’s Director of Player Personnel, Brent Calloway situation

3. Ohio State

Unless you have been living under a rock, you have heard about Jim Tressel and the “Tat 5,” but that is far from the only violations under Jim Tressel’s watch. Almost 400 self-reported secondary violations (a number nobody is anywhere close to), handouts to Troy Smith, the Terelle Pryor recruitment and the Maurice Clarett fiasco all somehow flew under the radar for years. Tressel’s conservative, clean image has always been comical to anyone paying close attention to the program who wasn’t wearing scarlett and grey colored glasses. Tressel left his Youngstown St. program with serious violations and it appears that OSU will be no different. The recent investigation is uncovering a lie a day from the Sweater Vest and it appears that they will get what they have coming to them.

Recent Highlights: The Tressel e-mails to Ted Sarniak, The NCAA charges on Jim Tressel, and Maurice Clarett ESPN article

4. USC

USC has already gotten punished for it’s crimes to some extent, but the Reggie Bush situation is really just the tip of the iceberg. Pete Carroll made no bones about the fact that he ran his program like and NFL program and it showed. They were dominate on the field, steroid use was pretty clearly in full effect and players were getting paid like nobody’s business. With one foot out the door on the way back to the NFL Pete Carroll made sure to let everyone know he was flabbergasted by the mere accusation that there was any wrongdoing under his watch. Even the NCAA found that to be funny and punished them anyway. I’d cut them a little more slack, but they hired Lane Kiffin, the sleaziest guy in college football since Ed Orgeron who is also on the staff.
Recent Highlights: [ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qOtZ-o7GfUI"]Joe McKinight admitting to a violation in his press conference[/ame], Joe McKnight driving a sweet SUV, Lane Kiffin’s violation record while at Tennessee, The Ting Brothers

5. The University of Nike at Oregon

Oregon is a relative newcomer on the cheating scene compared to the legends that come before them on the list. They have probably the most famous booster of anyone – Phil Knight, creator of Nike. Not only does that allow Oregon to have the worst uniforms ever, it also casts a bit of a professional atmosphere over the whole program. The Ducks are leading the way with a new type of payment process. They make large payments to “Recruiting Services” that all suspiciously have ties to big-time recruits that they have landed recently. Oregon has suddenly become a national recruiting power pulling the top prospects from Texas, California and Michigan to name a few. Maybe those kids just really like ridiculous uniforms, but more likely ‘Street Agent’ extraordinaire Will Lyles had a lot to do with it.