The Rest of College Football

[Dr. Strangelove]

Pitt would've been a good addition but for the fact they add no new markets and have fan support as bad as Maryland or Rutgers. But otherwise they are acceptable competitively and are a large, major research institution.

Syracuse...I do not get the appeal of adding these guys. They are like adding Northwestern with much better hoops but no research money. They do not carry the NYC market any more than Rutgers currently does. In fact, when Cuse played USC in Giants Stadium, they still couldn't draw 40,000 to that game. Their following is shrinking. But a lot of reporters and journalists went to school there so they keep them "relevant"

[WM Wolverine]

Pitt is a B10 caliber school athletically, academically (research), culturally, geographically; they just don't add new markets; e.g. expand the footprint. Thus they don't bring enough $. Look at past expansions by the Major football conferences since the mid 80's; it's all about expanding your footprint...

Syracuse? I wanted them as #12 a long time ago when there were rumors in the late 90's. Now? They are pretty isolated, don't deliver NYC anywhere near as much as even Rutgers and are a smallish private school along ways from the enormous NYC market or any other large tv markets. They fit the ACC!

Virginia; yeah or nay? Supposedly we'll be hearing leaks in the middle of this weak about the cracks in the ACC. If it cracks enough, I think everyone is available (NC).

[entropy]

I am very grateful for the opportunity that I had during the last four seasons to serve as the head football coach at Auburn University. I’m extremely disappointed with the way this season turned out and I apologize to the Auburn family and our team for what they have had to endure.

In my 27 years of coaching, I have gained an understanding of the high expectations in this profession. When expectations are not met, I understand changes must be made.

While we experienced a tremendous low in 2012, I will always be proud of the incredible highs that we achieved, including three bowl victories, an SEC championship and a national championship.

I want to thank Dr. Gogue and Jay Jacobs for the great opportunity they gave me. I’m confident in their leadership ability to continue to move this football program forward.

I feel blessed to have been surrounded with so many great coaches, players and administrators that have worked relentlessly and dedicated themselves to this institution. I will miss not being able to continue to mentor these players on a daily basis. I’m confident these young men will continue to excel both on and off the field. They are a great group and I wish them nothing but the best.

I’ve been fortunate to spend seven years of my coaching career at Auburn, which is an incredible place to work and live. My family and I have been blessed to call Auburn home and look forward to remaining in the Auburn community.

I have said this many times, but the Auburn fans are the best in college football. They have an incredible passion and love for their school and I want to thank them for their support in good times and in bad times.

As I said four years ago when I arrived, Auburn was great way before we got here and it will remain great long after we leave. My sentiments about Auburn have not and will not change. I wish the next football coach all the best and I anticipate a smooth transition.

I encourage the Auburn family to continue to be ‘All In’ and support this great university and its athletics programs. War Eagle!

- Gene Chizik, November 25, 2012


Post Extras:

[Dr. Strangelove]

ACC could be voting on a replacement for Maryland as early as the next couple days, per CBS. Sounds like the leading candidate is UConn, which is good news for those hoping the ACC remains unstable.

http://www.cbssports.com/collegefootball/blog/jeremy-fowler/21132939/acc-talking-expansion-but-16-teams-unlikely-per-source

[Hannibal]

Yes yes, Maryland is no better than Eastern Michigan or Houston. We've got it. Kick out PSU and Nebraska, take us back to 10, only one team goes bowling

Rutgers is far closer to Houston than they are to the mean of the Big Ten.

Once you establish that geography and quality of the athletic program are completely 100% irrelevant, then the next logical move is to invite Houston and San Diego State. You are just as likely to get the BTN on basic cable there as you are in New York City.

It's clear that there is absolutely, positively zero motivation whatsoever for expansion other than carriage fees. If that's the case, then there's not a single major metropolitan area that isn't accessible by taking the local team, regardless of how much it sucks and how poor of a fit it is. TCU, South Florida, Wake Forest, Houston, San Diego State, Boston College, and Georgia Tech are all perfect candidates. It is the "TV markets" argument taken to its logical conclusion. And actually, TCU, South Florida, Georgia Tech, and Houston all make better candidates than Rutgers in this respect, since there are far more college football fans in Texas, Florida, and Georgia than there are in the Rutgers footprint. And by taking Rutgers, you have established that the quality of the football program is completely 100% irrelevant to its economics. You are guaranteed to get hundreds of millions of dollars in a big TV market, regardless of whether there is any interest in that local team.

Likewise, the SEC can generate trillions upon trillions upon trillions of dollars by taking any shitty team from any major market and then starting an SEC network. Northern Illinois would give them access to the lucrative Chicago market. Duke gives them access to the massive Raleigh-Durham area. Akron locks up the entire state of Ohio. Temple gives them the Pennsylvania market. Once again, this is nothing but the TV markets theme taken to its logical conclusion.

Of coures, if you follow this path, then you project a college football system that somehow generates an order of magnitude more money than it currently does today, despite the fact that you're not adding any games or making them any better. It's like how if you ask all of the division vice presidents of corporation X to calculate their profitability and the total that they come up with is ten times the annual profit of the whole corporation.

[WM Wolverine]

New Jersey is a state with ~9mil people. Remember that Rutgers never pushed its athletic department (revenue sports) till the past twenty, twenty-five years.

-

Rutgers has an OOC game schedule in '14/'15 vs PSU and '19 vs Maryland.

[entropy]

Another member of the Stoops family is joining the head coaching fraternity.

Mark Stoops, Florida State's defensive coordinator, has agreed to become the next head coach at Kentucky, sources told ESPN.

Kentucky will officially announce its hiring of Stoops on Tuesday, according to the sources.

Stoops, 45, replaces Joker Phillips, who was fired after guiding the Wildcats to three straight losing seasons. Stoops has been the defensive coordinator at Florida State since 2009.

Prior to his stint with the Seminoles, Stoops was the defensive coordinator at Arizona from 2004-09 under brother Mike Stoops, who was ousted as the Wildcats' head coach during the 2011 season. Their older brother, Bob Stoops, is the head coach at Oklahoma.

The Seminoles are ranked second nationally in total defense this season and allow an average of 249.4 yards per game.

[entropy]

SPORTSbyBROOKS

Exclusive: SbB has learned Arkansas is engaged w/ reps of the interests of Les Miles & a $5-yr $27.5M offer is on the table

[entropy]

btw... that sounds like someboy looking for a raise

[entropy]

Brett McMurphy @McMurphyESPN
UNC AD Bubba Cunningham on ACC rumors: "ACC has been our home for nearly 60 years & we want it to be our home for another 60 years at least"

[THE_WIZARD_]

The Big East and ACC need to just merge and be a basketball conference.

[entropy]

http://espn.go.com/college-sports/story/_/id/8685541/acc-votes-add-louisville-cardinals

ACC adds Louisville in 2014

[entropy]

By MATTHEW FUTTERMAN

Forget Notre Dame. The most astonishingly unlikely story in college football this year so far is the rise of Coastal Carolina.

In case you've missed it, the Chanticleers, who've been riding a hot streak of late, are preparing for a showdown this Saturday at Old Dominion in the round of 16 of the Football Championship Subdivision playoffs—the tier previously known as Division I-AA.

Joe Moglia has led Coastal Carolina to an 8-4 record this year.

But what's most remarkable about this team is the resume of its 63-year-old, first–year head coach, Joe Moglia. Five years ago, Moglia was the chief executive of TD Ameritrade, AMTD +3.03% the Omaha-based financial institution with a market capitalization of $8.9 billion.

Football coaching is widely understood to be a forbidding game of six-dimensional chess that can only be mastered through sleepless nights and a lifetime of commitment to the gridiron. But in 2012, just a few years after he left Ameritrade to "pursue other interests," Moglia seems to have taken conventional wisdom, given it a swirly and hung it in the shower by its underwear.

Moglia's greatest perceived weakness—that he spent most of the past quarter century NOT coaching football—is starting to look like his greatest strength. "People tend to make not only football but business sound a lot more complicated than it should," Moglia said Tuesday, taking a break from preparations for the 10-1 Monarchs. "Just because a plan sounds smart doesn't mean it can be executed."

In other words, football coaches of the world, spare us your blather about cover-twos, zone blitzes, pistols, wildcats and A-11's. Allow us to introduce that 300-page binder you brought to the job interview to our paper shredder. "There isn't any question I was better in business because of my experience in football when I was younger, and I know I'm a better coach now because of my experience in business," Moglia says.

Before any of you Wall Streeters abandon your desks and deliver your two-weeks notice, bear in mind that Moglia didn't just fall into this job. He spent 16 years on high school and college sidelines before beginning his business career when he was 34. After he left Ameritrade, his connection to former Nebraska coach and athletic director Tom Osborne helped him land an internship on that school's staff under head coach Bo Pelini.

He also coached for a year in the fledgling United Football League before he convinced Coastal Carolina to hand him the headsets. By mid-October, Coastal Carolina was 2-4, including a 55-14 drubbing by Appalachian State. But the Chanticleers have reeled off six straight wins since then.

In his first months, Moglia tested each of his players to figure out whether they were auditory, visual or kinesthetic (touch-and-feel) learners so he and his coaching staff knew the best way to teach each of them. He spends most of his time working with his coaches to make sure they are using their time and personnel most effectively instead of pushing them to all-night film sessions. As games approach, the Coastal Carolina playbook often shrinks. Instead of adding in wrinkles, his team is more likely to focus on the handful of plays they execute well. Anyone on Moglia's staff is allowed to challenge anyone else.

"There's usually a hierarchy in a football program, like in the military," said Mike Gallagher, Coastal Carolina's recruiting coordinator, who has coached in high school and college for 14 years. "But here you have all the ideas coming to the table."

During games, Moglia decides whether to kick or go for it on fourth down, but he doesn't call plays and keeps his instructions at the macro level. "Let's bring some more pressure," or "Let's try to run down some clock." If that sounds like a CEO letting division heads do their jobs, it's not a coincidence. (Word has it the former executive with an estimated nine-figure net worth gives a pretty convincing living-room recruiting speech).

Moglia is realistic about his team's chances at Old Dominion, a team that would likely beat a few teams playing in the top level of Division I, the Football Bowl Subdivision. His team's only chance is to avoid giving up the big plays and dumb turnovers. "We'll probably have to get a little lucky," he says.




Post Extras:

[Dr. Strangelove]

Daddy's done at USC

http://www.latimes.com/sports/sportsnow/la-sp-sn-monte-kiffin-resigns-usc-20121129,0,6743333.story

[Hannibal]

I guess that family/nepotism thing doesn't work the same if the son is the employer.