| NFL | |
|
NFL Mock Draft 2009 Draft of 2009 Lacks Star Power NFL Draft 2009: Getting Started Super Bowl Well Worth Tuning In For
|
| NBA | |
|
Prospects On Center Stage NBA Preview 2008/09: Final Call
|
|
Would You Take This Coach? By R.C. Do me a favor: pretend that your favorite college football team just lost their coach and is in the process of looking for a new one. Now, imagine that you know exactly how each prospective coach will do at your school for the next, say, ten years. What would you accept? What would make you happy? If I told you that your school was going to hire the following coach tomorrow, would you accept that?  Given that the coach, going into his tenth season as coach, would have a(n): 1) Overall winning percentage of 60%. Assuming your school is a BCS conference team, this includes the two-to-four cupcakes your team will have every year. 2) A conference winning percentage a little over 50%. This also includes reaching your conference championship game twice, but never winning it (if your conference has no championship game, this would be equivalent to placing second in your overall conference standings). 3) 0-0 record in the BCS. In other words, no trips to the BCS in the first nine years of his career. Also, say he is the only coach in a BCS conference to have survived for those first nine years but never gotten to a BCS bowl game. 4) Seven trips to bowl games, but with a 2-5 bowl record. Only four of the bowl trips have been on New Years day; and a couple of the losses have been fairly embarrassing against lower-to-mid level football schools. There was, though, one dominating victory in a New Year's day bowl game (against your border rival, no less). 5) Two top 25 finishes in those first nine years, and never a top 10 finish. 6) Approximately one embarrassing blowout loss per year. When I say blowout, let's say for example that in conference play you see scores such as 50-17, 63-24, and 30-3. Let's also say the coach steps out of conference and catches it on the chin to a tune of 73-14, and 50-24. Those are just some examples; there are undoubtedly a few more embarrassing losses along the way. 7) A few very fast starts, vaulting your school into the national spotlight. Say your school spanks an in-conference, top 3 ranked foe at their house by a decisive 14 points. Another year, your school beats its top 5 ranked border rival, at their house, in a shocking ten point victory. Both years your team ends up in the top ten, even getting the mention of some national title talk, but eventually falls out of the top ten on its way to a disappointing end to each season. 8) The last few years of the coach's career, top-rated in-state prospects begin to sign with out-of-state schools. Last year, the top 3 recruits in the state even shunned the home-town school and sign with others, mostly in-conference schools. 9) The coach has a few major media blunders, such as mentioning how glad he is to have a conference opponent rotate onto the schedule (because they aren't very good), and then promptly loses to them at home. 10) As of late, controversy tends to be the rule rather than exception with your football program. Every week there seems to be yet another scandal that is swirling around your coach; but he tends to survive and make it out of one scandal but can't help to step right into the next one. Would you be happy with this coach? Some of you certainly may be, but I would guess that most of you reading this would not be happy with this performance. As I'm sure you've figured out, I'm basing the above off of a specific coach. I'm sure many of you figured out that I'm talking about no other than Houston Dale Nutt, head coach of my beloved Arkansas Razorbacks. All of the above describe Houston Nutt, except for the fact that I approximated some things and switched some of the scores around ( Arkansas lost to USC 70-17, for example, and not 71-14). Other than those minor, immaterial differences, numbers 1-10 give a brief synopsis of Nutt's career at Arkansas. Now, when many read this article they will immediately label me as a "Nutt hater," dismiss my opinions and move on without further thought. I am no Nutt-hater, though. I was the biggest Nutt fan possible for the first seven years of his career. Not only did I root for the guy, and genuinely like him, but I also vehemently defended him against any critics. Let me give a brief run-down of reasons that have turned me against my once beloved coach (yes, this is the second list in this article. If that bothers you, I offer my sincerest apologies): 1) Mediocrity It has become abundantly clear that Arkansas is never going to win a championship of any kind under Houston Nutt. Well, that is unless you consider a SEC Western Division title and a trip to the SEC championship game as a true "championship." Oh, and of the two SEC championship game trips Houston Nutt has under his belt, one of them came only because the NCAA banned Alabama from post-season play due to various infractions. Looking back, I'm sure Houston wishes that Alabama hadn't been ineligible – Georgia sent the Hogs back to Fayetteville in that 2002 championship game with a 30-3 loss. 2) Complete Lack Of A Killer Instinct This goes along with the mediocrity line, but it is such a frustrating part of Houston Nutt's coaching it deserves its own section. I can't even begin to count the number of times Houston has passed up great opportunities for one reason: fear. More specifically, fear of failure. Nutt is so utterly afraid to fail that he causes himself to do just that time after time. How often have we seen the Hogs in a tight game before halftime, with a minute or two remaining and two timeouts left. Obviously, this happens to all teams throughout the course of the season. And Houston Nutt performs worse in these situations than any coach in college football. Typically, the Hogs will burn time until about thirty seconds is left on the clock. Then a full-out panic will hit the Arkansas' sideline, with coaches' arms flailing and timeouts being wasted. Then, predictably, the field goal unit will be rushed on to attempt a last minute 50 yard field goal (when the kicker hasn't made over a 40 yarder in his career). Frustrating, to say the least. 3) Complete Game Mismanagement Take yourself back to November 24 of last year. This day saw Houston Nutt and the Hogs in a classic battle with LSU, two top 5 teams clashing on the day after Thanksgiving. In an exciting fourth quarter, Darren McFadden ripped off an incredible 80 yard touchdown run to bring the Hogs right back after LSU had gone up by two scores. The next play, we saw LSU stagger back and answer with a kickoff return for a touchdown, putting the Hogs on their heels yet again. Game over, right? Wrong. Felix Jones promptly broke off a kickoff return to LSU's 37 yard line to give the Hogs life once again. Arkansas scored a touchdown, bringing the score to what would be the final, 31-26. I know, I know: where am I going with this? Here's where: Arkansas had about ten minutes left on the clock after Felix Jones's last kickoff return. Normally, this would be plenty of time to score, make a defensive stop, and then have enough time to try for one last go-ahead drive to win the game. Even against the #1 ranked LSU defense, ten minutes should have been enough time for this. But, alas it wasn't. It took Arkansas five minutes and twenty-one seconds to score from the LSU 37. FIVE MINUTES AND TWENTY-ONE SECONDS TO GO 37 YARDS! I remember sitting in the stands screaming for the Hogs to hurry up; the play clock ran to 1 or 2 seconds several times. I knew that, if the Hogs could score and happen to get a stop, none of that would matter because there wouldn't be enough time for one last drive. Why can I realize this, but our head coach that makes 1.5 million a year can't? Sure, I somewhat miscalculated and there was a minute and half left when Arkansas got the ball back for the last time, which is plenty of time by anyone's standards. Much has been said about the pathetic two-minute offense Arkansas displayed, throwing four incomplete Hail Mary passes that never had a chance. My main argument is that had Nutt shown some urgency on the previous drive, the Hogs could have gotten the ball back with at least another minute or two left on the clock. With three minutes left, you can leave the running plays in the playbook. With the way the Wildcat was working, you could have run it every play of the last drive and had enough time to get into the end zone. Does this seem like rocket science to anyone else? Shouldn't Houston realize that the more time that is on the clock, the better, when you are down by two scores? That the more time you have late in the game will allow you to play to your strengths: namely the best running backs in the country; as opposed to putting the game in your QB's hands (who had shown an inability to complete a pass the entire game)? I will stop now, lest I bang on the keyboard until it breaks (I could also type about the critical 4 th and 2 during the same game, in which instead of getting in the Wildcat – which is a guaranteed five yards, at least – the Hogs threw to a double covered Marcus Monk. Monk was the only receiver to go out in a pattern, and the ball was faked to neither Darren McFadden nor Felix Jones. But, I won't.) Most high school coaches can manage situations like this properly and make sound, well-reasoned decisions under pressure. Houston Nutt, well, let's say he struggles do so well. 4) Hypocrisy Ever notice how Nutt constantly harps on "being a Razorback," and "we only want people that want to be Hogs," etc.? Ever notice how he made Mustain and company out to be traitors because they sold out Houston's Razorbacks? I think everyone will admit that Nutt plays up to being loyal to the Razorbacks above all else, and refers condescendingly to all of those that decide they don't want to be Razorbacks anymore, for whatever reason. I'll just say that it's common knowledge that one Houston Nutt transferred after his second year at Arkansas, in fly-by-night fashion. He didn't even take the time to stop by Lou Holtz's office to look the man in the eye and tell him he was transferring. Nope, he packed his bags and moved to Oklahoma State, where he would graduate. Somehow, someway, in many people's eyes – that makes him enough of a Razorback to criticize those that transfer because they have begun see through Nutt's smoke and mirrors. Nutt's smoke and mirrors are wearing thin, to say the least. Just take a glance at the most fractured fan base in the country; that would be the Razorback fan base that is known nationally for uniting behind all things Razorback. I wouldn't how in the world to drive a wedge down the middle of such a rabid following – but Houston Nutt sure does.  July 6, 2007 |
| NCAA Football | |
|
Be Careful What You Wish For
|
| NCAA Basketball | |
|
Jumpology: My Bracket Jumpology: Scouting The Heavyweights Jumpology: Reviewing The Bracket
|