Top Four Stories Following College Football Regular Season Final Weekend

After the final weekend of the 2015 College Football regular season, there are some immediate topics that stand out to me.  While some storylines still need to be settled during Conference Championship weekend we know for sure a few things:

 

1. Les Miles gets redemption while LSU shows their true colors

For a couple of weeks, rumors swirled that Louisiana State University would buy out Head Coach Les Miles contract and get a new Football coach.  Despite the fact Miles has won a National Championship, two SEC Conference Titles, and is one of the top recruiters in the nation, boosters and administration wanted a new head of the football program.  They wanted to use a three game losing streak and three consecutive years of diminishing record versus in conference opponents to bring in a new guy. 

The saying “Where there is smoke, there is fire” applies to this disgraceful situation.  From LSU Boosters putting up money to pay for the contract buyout to LSU Administrators putting out “secret feelers” to three different potential coaches speaks volumes about Louisiana power brokers.  It is disgraceful to throw a great coach who has been loyal to the school and his players for years.  While Miles had opportunities to leave LSU, he stayed.  Just because Miles and LSU Football are not the top program in the SEC is negligible.  In fact, of all active SEC Football Head Coaches Miles is the second most successful man to Nick Saban of Alabama.  The truth is that it is intellectually dishonest to believe that Jimbo Fisher, Chip Kelly or any other rumored names to replace Miles would do a better job at LSU.

Moving forward LSU Athletic Director Joe Alleva should be the man on the hot seat now.  He was silent for weeks, waited until after the win versus Texas A&M to declare his “support” for Les Miles. This whole dilemma has been disgraceful in the way it was handled and at some point we have to hold people accountable.  Also don’t forget Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal called out LSU Administration over how they have handled this situation and Jindal supports Miles as Football Coach at Louisiana’s top state university.

2. The College Football Playoff committee got it right on Notre Dame

When the College Football Playoff committee dropped Notre Dame out of their Top Four rankings in favor of University of Iowa I was one of the people decrying the flip flop move by the committee.  Now in hindsight of Notre Dame’s loss to Stanford it looks like the Committee got this one right.

In their last couple game Notre Dame has not played up to expectations and their litany of injuries are catching up to them.  The team is starting their 2^nd string Quarterback along with their 4^th string Running Back; not exactly a recipe for success.  Furthermore, unexpected close wins against teams such as Boston College does not help their overall resume in the eyes of the Committee.  Now the loss to Stanford not only seals their fate as not Playoff Bound but they get the consolation prize of going to a good Bowl game.  Kudos to the College Football Committee for seeing Notre Dame for who they are…like Dennis Green said “They are who we thought they were!!”

3. Virginia Tech’s next Head Coach will be Justin Fuente

Despite the “rise” of University of Memphis’ Football program over the last couple years, many college football fans do not know of Justin Fuente.  Fuente is a former collegiate Quarterback who was the TCU Football Offensive Coordinator before being hired as Head Coach at Memphis.  Over the last four years Fuente has showed he is a good recruiter and developer of talent.  But he is also the “hot coach” in college football, which does not always equal success when they move on to the next job.

In the past College Coaches such as Randy Edsall, Derek Dooley, Will Muschamp, and Tyrone Willingham all were at one time the “hot name” and got the next job but then couldn’t live up to the expectations placed on them.  Fuente is a good recruiter and offensive minded coach.  But there is a reason why Fuente is retaining Virginia Tech defensive coordinator Bud Foster, and that reason has to do with Fuente knowing his limitations.  Foster has been one of the top ten defensive coordinators in college football over the last two decades.  Fuente knows from his experience coaching at TCU that his offensive prowess and recruiting talents will be fruitless without a defense to compliment them.  Also, keeping Foster is a good faith gesture to Virginia Tech boosters to show he is not coming in to “change everything” like other “Hot Name” Coaches have done in other stops.  Fuente is already off to a good start and he hasn’t even coached a game yet at Virginia Tech.

 

4. Mark Richt and Kyle Flood firings expose a dark side of collegiate athletics

On Sunday University of Georgia and Rutgers University fired their Head Football Coaches, opening up more positions to be filled among the major college football programs.  But these firings indirectly expose the dark underbelly of collegiate athletics in today’s world.

Mark Richt was the Head Coach at Georgia for fourteen years, compiling a win-loss record of 145-51 and lead his team to finish the season ranked in the top ten in the country six times.  But in a “what have you done for me lately” culture, Richt had not won an SEC Conference title since 2005.  After three seasons in which Georgia did not meet pre-season expectations, Richt’s standing with the athletic department and boosters led to what the University is calling a “mutual” parting of ways.

The truth is, multiple reports tell us that Georgia Boosters and Administration had grown tired of Richt and wanted a new man in charge of the Football program.  With the resources and desire to “keep up with the Joneses” of other SEC schools, Georgia will be throwing all they have to get the biggest fish in the college football coaching availability pond.  There will be rumors that range from Philadelphia Eagles Head Coach Chip Kelly to Alabama Defensive Coordinator Kirby Smart to University of Houston coach Tom Herman; but none of these or other potential candidates bring any guarantees of success.  Richt was a symbol of stability at Georgia and hopefully the administration learns from the errors of their fellow SEC schools.

When Tennessee parted ways with their long-time head coach Phil Fullmer, the administration thought they knew how to move the football program forward.  Over the last seven seasons Tennessee has employed three different Head Coaches.  Meanwhile South Carolina went “big name hunting” after Lou Holtz retired in 2004.  In ten plus seasons with Steve Spurrier South Carolina won 86 games but never won an SEC Conference Title.  So history tells us that moving on from a Football Coach who has been in place for years does not always equal success or a real upgrade.

On the other side of the coin is the Kyle Flood firing at Rutgers.  Rutgers Football program was a prominent program during the late 1950’s through early 1960’s winning three conference titles over a period of four years.  Greg Schiano came to Rutgers after coaching at the University of Miami and brought a winning attitude on the field and on the road as a recruiter.  Schiano built up a Rutgers program from the ground up and leading Rutgers out of obscurity to their first national rankings and Bowl Games in three decades.  But after ten plus seasons Schiano wanted to take on the challenge of coaching in the NFL (an endeavor that went sour); his replacement was Kyle Flood.

Flood would get off to a hot start as a Head Coach in which he led his team to co-Conference champions and close Bowl game loss.  But after that initial success, Flood’s Rutgers team would stumble, compiling a mediocre over win-loss record of 18-20.  Many of the issues with Flood came to a head earlier in 2015 when several players on the football team were arrested and charged with felonies.  Meanwhile, Flood reportedly had a physical confrontation with a university professor over the “mistreatment” of one of his players.  What was revealed in 2015 was that Flood’s success in 2012 was with Schiano’s recruits and in Flood’s efforts to keep up the talent level of the program was more willing to take chances on recruits with troubled histories.  Flood, not being the caliber of coach or recruiter Schiano was, made the mistake of sacrificing scruples to win ball games.  Those choices led to the university’s football program to receive a black eye in the aftermath of past issues with the Athletic Department and Admiration over recent issues.

Now Rutgers must move forward and bring in a Football coach who doesn’t just change the culture of the program but has the moral high ground to pull the program back to a level of respectability while also being able to recruit at a level on par with their membership in the Big Ten Conference.  Rutgers will also be looking for a new Athletic Director; with the firing of Julie Hermann Rutgers will replace her with Pat Hobbs who will be the university’s third Athletic Director in four years.

Universities have become multi-million dollar operations who utilize their Football programs as revenue generators.  Memberships in major athletic conferences such as the SEC and Big Ten help garner the University’s Athletic Department money and exposure that they would not receive with membership.  Also part of the deal is the expectations placed on these programs by Administration and Boosters; whether a coach is fired for bringing shame to the university or the coach has outstayed his welcome, the dark truth of College Football is that winning more games than you lose each season is not enough to keep a coach his job.  There are numerous layers that are both public and private that go into the hiring and firing of Football Coaches.

The Real Difference between Philadelphia Eagles & Dallas Cowboys

We have all heard the phrase “If it’s not broke, don’t fix it”.  Well on the flip side, how about the phrase “If we do not learn from history then we are doomed to repeat it”?  Week Two of the NFL season embodied those phrases in the matchup between the Philadelphia Eagles and Dallas Cowboys.  Two long standing rivals whose organizations are in very different situations.

The Cowboys let their Pro Bowl Running Back, Demarco Murray, leave after leading the NFL in Rushing Yards.  People scoffed at them when the team put their faith in young Joseph Randle and oft-injured veteran Darren McFadden to carry the load of the running game in Murray’s absence. Also, the Cowboys have Lance Dunbar as their third down situation back. The Cowboys took this leap of faith because they have seen this story before and have spent the last few years building one of the top offensive lines in the NFL through the draft. Tyron Smith, Zack Miller, and Travis Frederick were all drafted when the so called “experts” said the Cowboys had other options to pick in the first round of the NFL Draft each year.

The Cowboys invested in depth by picking up the discarded former first round pick Brandon Weeden to be their backup Quarterback. Before Weeden got to Dallas his career statistics were 55 percent completion percentage with a 26 interceptions thrown in two seasons with the Cleveland Browns. In six games playing Quarterback for the Cowboys, Weeden has a 79 percent completion percentage with four touchdowns and only two interceptions.

This is the same Cowboys organization that invested resources into the offensive line and the backup Quarterback during the run of success in the 1990’s.  Those teams had Steve Beuerlein and Bernie Kosar as backups in case anything happened to their future Hall of Fame Quarterback Troy Aikman. Also the tactical moves by Head Coach Jimmy Johnson to build an offensive line with Pro Bowl selections Larry Allen, Erik Williams, and Nate Newton. Replicating the past with unheralded personnel moves such as these have put the Cowboys in a position as leaders in the NFC East with a 2-0 record to start the season.

On the other side of the field Sunday you have the Philadelphia Eagles who for the second straight week played underwhelming on both sides of the ball. The Eagles came into the season with high expectations after an offseason in which they overhauled the roster. The Eagles dished out 104 million dollars worth of contracts to Byron Maxwell, Demarco Murray and Ryan Mathews. Over the last couple years they sent packing Pro Bowlers Desean Jackson, Lesean McCoy, and Evan Mathis in what 20-20 hindsight says was all about Head Coach Chip Kelly not wanting certain types of personalities on his team. Kelly also traded away Quarterback Nick Foles to the St. Louis Rams for former Heisman Trophy winner and 1st round draft pick Sam Bradford to be the Eagles new starting Quarterback.

Despite all the money spent and numerous personnel moves, the Eagles have played below average for the first two weeks of the 2015 NFL season. The Eagles roster looks good on paper, but so did that 2011 Philadelphia Eagles “Dream Team” (as nicknamed by then backup Quarterback Vince Young) that had Pro Bowl offseason acquisitions Nnamdi Asomugha, Cullen Jenkins, and Jason Babin to bolster the defense.  This was to match with an offense led by Quarterback Michael Vick who re-signed that offseason with the Eagles a contract that was 40 million dollars guaranteed. Tens of millions of dollars spent to build a winning team that finished the season 8-8.

The reality is that the splashy and headline grabbing offseason moves don’t win football games. The Washington Redskins, Oakland Raiders, New York Jets, and Miami Dolphins are franchises that have won Super Bowls decades ago but did not learn from the past.  Instead these franchises have spent the last 25 years making the multi-million big free agent signings, splashy Head Coach hires, and trades for big name players.  But none of those moves have helped these teams win a Super Bowl.  In fact, only one of those franchises (the 2002 Oakland Raiders) has even reached the Super Bowl.

On the other hand, franchises such as the New England Patriots, Pittsburgh Steelers, Green Bay Packers, Baltimore Ravens, and New York Giants have put together teams that have not only reached the big game multiple times, but have won the Super Bowl multiple times over the last 20 years. These organizations have built their teams through calculated offseason signings that better the team while using the draft to build a team not just find a star. When these organizations do make mistakes, they do what is necessary to correct course, whether that be fire a Head Coach or unload a player via release or trade.  No one gets every move right, but it’s the smart organizations that learn from their mistakes and move forward to better the team for the current season and the future.

Since Chip Kelly became the Philadelphia Eagles Head Coach he has not been building a team. Instead he has been treating players like interchangeable parts to see if they fit in his system. He uses the draft to select players he thinks can fit his game plan instead of properly weighing the skill sets of these young men. When he drafted Linebacker Marcus Smith, Cornerback Jaylen Watkins and Quarterback Matt Barkley it was never to truly develop these players but instead to plug them into his system based on how he saw their potential fit. In 2015 neither Watkins nor Barkley are on the team anymore while Smith is buried on the depth chart.

Kelly has let go of players such as Wide Receiver Jeremy Maclin, Cornerback Brandon Boykin, Running Back Lesean McCoy, along with offensive lineman Evan Mathis and Todd Herremans because he claims these players did not fit “his” system. Interesting how these players are all playing for new teams in 2015 and they “fit” into other teams who have playoff aspirations.

The Eagles made a splashy move by bringing Kelly in to run their team but Kelly also has brought the wrong mentality with him. College Football has similarities to the Pro game but there is one major difference: while in college you recruit players to plug and play into your system, in the NFL you have to build a team and modify your system for the talent you have on the roster. The Cowboys after spending the first half of the 2000’s learning the hard way, have gone back to the 1990’s Jimmy Johnson model and have built a team. Free agent acquisitions are meant to add a player with a needed skill set to a team, not use signings and trades to build a roster.  We can see what works in New England, Green Bay, Seattle, Pittsburgh, and Baltimore, yet the Philadelphia Eagles insist on re-inventing the wheel.

This is the second straight Eagles Head Coach who is an “offensive guru” who has come to “change the culture”. The media buys into the story line while overlooking the facts. Both Chip Kelly and Andy Reid were in their previous jobs for short periods of time. Both men had never been NFL Head Coaches or Coordinators. Neither Kelly nor Reid had spent time working with salary cap restrictions but were asked to be major decision makers in building NFL rosters. Andy Reid and Chip Kelly had limited experience hiring coaches to work under them (In Oregon Kelly inherited most of his staff from retiring Head Coach Mark Bellotti).

So again, I re-state my opening points, “If it’s not broken, don’t fix it”, and, “If we do not learn from history, we are doomed to repeat it.”  No matter how much we debate the merits of team’s offseason activities, it still comes down to winning on the field each week in the NFL.  It’s looking like a long season for the Philadelphia Eagles and a season still ripe with potential for success for the Dallas Cowboys.