Arizona State's Offensive Coordinator has been hired to coach The University of Memphis Football team, per the Arizona Republic.
1983 to 2002 equals 30 seasons to the author of this piece? Sounds like journalism-school math.
The ecology fallacy - worst argument ever.
Jim Margraff (Johns Hopkins) & David Shaw (Stanford) have the best football coaching jobs in America...
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Perhaps the biggest issue w/ college football is the pressure to win. Mark Richt is a good example but so is Les Miles. So are Gary Pinkel and Steve Sarkisian.
But one thing that is too often ignored: Coaches are very highly paid. Football coaches are often the highest paid state employee. I'm not just talking about Nick Saban. How about Mike Riley? He coaches Nebraska. He earns $2.7 million per year. He won five games in 2015, on a schedule that included BYU, South Alabama, Southern Miss and Rutgers, It's hard to feel sorry for a coach that makes that kind of dough and the university that pays a coach that kind of dough expects sellouts, great television revenue, bowl games.
But one thing that is too often ignored: Coaches are very highly paid. Football coaches are often the highest paid state employee. I'm not just talking about Nick Saban. How about Mike Riley? He coaches Nebraska. He earns $2.7 million per year. He won five games in 2015, on a schedule that included BYU, South Alabama, Southern Miss and Rutgers, It's hard to feel sorry for a coach that makes that kind of dough and the university that pays a coach that kind of dough expects sellouts, great television revenue, bowl games.
Georgia's long record of success? Last national title was 1980, only the second in history of program. Last conference championship was 2005. That's why Richt was fired.
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Everyone should be aware by now that college coaching is 55% off-field politics and 45% on-field performance, maybe 60-40. If the coaches don't play the extra-curricular activities game, shmoozing with the alumni and boosters (an odd euphemism), making nice with local big-shots, perhaps shooting local television commercials, and the like, they are not bound long for the position. (ie, John Cooper at Ohio State, couldn't win against either Illinois or Michigan but performed well enough at the off-field extra-curricular stuff to keep his job long past the point where his win/lost record justified, especially at a top tier school like OSU)
It's not like the coaches are mimicking the saga of Billy Mitchell (a former, many times over, NY Yankees manager)...yet.
It's not like the coaches are mimicking the saga of Billy Mitchell (a former, many times over, NY Yankees manager)...yet.
What does Billy Martin (the correct name of Yankees former manager) have to do with college football coaches. Martin was never paid more than decent players on his team, most likely. Football coaches at top 25 programs are paid more than professors by several multiples. Columbia has Ivy League restrictions to deal with, but in a fairly evenly matched group of six of the eight teams, only manages to win one or two games a year, while Cornell wins one or two every two years. Columbia has had a revolving door of coaches. Cornell's coaching position is endowed by a late Wall Street tycoon, yet can never pay as much as a state school with a huge football budget and TV revenue. Cornell once fired a successful coach because he had an affair with the wife of an assistant coach -- perhaps this supports EuroAm's thesis.
I love to watch college football. Let's face it, it's entertaining. It's also big business. Much is invested and few teams reap the financial fortunes. But all want to grasp the brass ring. The have-nots want to be haves and will keep searching for the coach to bring them to the promised land. To do athletes must be recruited and so many of those with talent do not have the academic credentials and some (looking at the arrest records) are criminal. The charade will continue as the stakes are high. Welcome to the world of revenue sports!
I heard that New York state made a concerted effort not to involve the state schools in big time football. Syracuse was the only team in the state that had a big time program, which now appears to be dying. Compare this to California which has a number of contenders. Maybe all the schools should use the money, they spend on big time sports, to make sure all their graduates leave school as healthy individuals who place importance on remaining physically active all their lives, and do not spend their time eating nachos and drinking beer in front of a TV on Saturdays and Sundays.
It may have been true 60 years ago that NY tried to discourage its state universities from having big time football. But in the face of much better colleges having major athletic and continued academic success, it is self-evidently hard for anyone to say there is anything incompatible with big-time academics and big-time athletics co-existing. The State University of New York currently has a number of schools who have major intercollegiate football squads and those programs were established or reestablished in recent years.
And for what it's worth, Syracuse University, a private university, can choose to ignore New York State 'discouragements' in that regard...they did then, they do now, which is partly why SU did not accept an offer to become a division of the State University in the 1950s. Syracuse's football program is hardly 'dying'; the search for a new football coach who will return the program to strong competitiveness is underway and doing well under a recently installed chancellor and recently hired athletic director who are both committed to the football program.
The stereotype of graduates of those universities not being healthy because they choose to spend Saturday and Sunday eating nachos, drinking beer in front of a TV on Saturday and Sunday is risible.
And for what it's worth, Syracuse University, a private university, can choose to ignore New York State 'discouragements' in that regard...they did then, they do now, which is partly why SU did not accept an offer to become a division of the State University in the 1950s. Syracuse's football program is hardly 'dying'; the search for a new football coach who will return the program to strong competitiveness is underway and doing well under a recently installed chancellor and recently hired athletic director who are both committed to the football program.
The stereotype of graduates of those universities not being healthy because they choose to spend Saturday and Sunday eating nachos, drinking beer in front of a TV on Saturday and Sunday is risible.
It is time to grant tenure to college coaches. This would free them from abusing athletes in order to protect their jobs and win at any cost. This might restore some balance and integrity to sports as a part of higher education.
The title's misleading. The current or recent coaching vacancies at South Carolina, USC, Virginia Tech, Illinois, and Minnesota had little or nothing to do with wins and losses. And even the Rutgers firing was as much a matter of off-field scandals as on-field shortcomings.
The Beamer situation is comparable in era, initial and final results to Seinfeld. In today's impatient/unrealistic immediate results world, neither would succeed. What fans, boosters and ADs don't realize in this new "arms race" is that there aren't enough great players and coaches to support all of these teams, thus why many repeatedly lose both on the field as well as money. Lets face it - neither Maryland nor Rutgers has much of a chance in football - MAYBE Plank and Under Armour can buy MD a title or at least competitiveness, a la U of Oregon/Nike
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Evidently the obvious message is very, very difficult for some to absorb: college football is a corrupt charade of a game, a big business which would bring a smile to the face of any mafioso. Complete and utter collapse of the ridiculous house of cards that it is is the sole cure.
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College students who like football far outnumber those who don't. Fifteen weekends a year, these football fans watch football with their friends. Those who dislike football are resentful and angry because they are left out of all the fun and they're against fun anyway.
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College students enjoy tailgating. My university (a midsize state school) usually has its biggest crowd in the parking lot, a 3/4 full student section by the 2nd quarter, and a 1/4 full section after halftime.
What is your evidence to support the statement that college students who like football far outnumber those who don't? I'm going to state, with no evidence, either, that that statement is patently false. The University of Georgia has 35,000 students. I very much doubt that they are all college football fans. In fact, I very much doubt that most of them are. And that's an SEC school where football is everything.
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The last time I went to a football game the only empty seats were in the student section. Without the pep band, the student section would have been pretty much empty.
OK, Cornell isn't a Division I football power, but it has won just one game in two seasons, maybe two. It has an endowed coaching position. Why haven't you reported that Cornell has fired its football coaching staff, yet? What are they waiting for, Cayuga Lake to freeze over? Elsewhere, clearly football coaches are overpaid and overly powerful. Before the formal Ivy League compact and before de-segregation of colleges, Cornell was a national power, beating teams such as Ohio State and Syracuse. Columbia was once a power too -- ending a winning streak of the Army team that had Blanchard and Davis. Penn v. Penn State was a premier game on the schedule. If football has value, it is worth doing well. Drink a highball to Davy.
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It seems some NYT readers are less than enamored by college football today, referring to it in earlier comments as "corrupt," "toxic," "obscene," "a mockery" or wishing that college officials could "bring sanity and perspective" to the role of sports in the world of higher education. While I won't argue opinions, as everyone is entitled to one, I prefer a different approach to the issue.
Allowing money to dictate who gets elected to government positions, where those with the most get the most, is corrupt. When governments & corporations are allowed to feed themselves at the public trough while ignoring everyone else, that is toxic. Not doing enough to insure that women around the world have an equal opportunity to succeed is obscene, and complaining about college sports in America as if it deserved such approbations as used above makes a mockery of the tenets ascribed to our nation's Constitution.
As a sports fan for going on 55 years, and a caring human being for even longer, I prefer to focus on more important goals than how overpaid so many college coaches are.
Allowing money to dictate who gets elected to government positions, where those with the most get the most, is corrupt. When governments & corporations are allowed to feed themselves at the public trough while ignoring everyone else, that is toxic. Not doing enough to insure that women around the world have an equal opportunity to succeed is obscene, and complaining about college sports in America as if it deserved such approbations as used above makes a mockery of the tenets ascribed to our nation's Constitution.
As a sports fan for going on 55 years, and a caring human being for even longer, I prefer to focus on more important goals than how overpaid so many college coaches are.
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With all due respect, it's a matter of perspective. While we can always find wrongs in the world that we wish to right more than others, situations or issues that may scream for more attention than others, what we are talking about in this context is a symptom of poor values. Is there a correlation between college coach salaries and poverty in Africa? No. However, is there a relationship between the misuse of public funds to support a second-class quasi-pro athletic league at the expense of financing education and human rights? Probably.
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Well Gee just use the Florida method, separate your athletic department financially.
It would appear that many universities major emphasis is football and basketball, not academics. A loss for America, the ONLY nation in the WORLD where athletics is a part of university life as well as high school. Yes, sports DO have their place, but it is not the do all top activity in education especially in universities.
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Big time college sports is corrupt!
And its influence on colleges and universities is toxic.
Get it?
And its influence on colleges and universities is toxic.
Get it?
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The Harvard Institute for Development (I think that's the correct title) does far more harm in the world, and has done, than all the big-time college sports programs put together.
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One would hope that the university presidents would bring some sanity and perspective to this. They are supposed to be running academic institutions, not pro athlete training camps. Just how much money and time should be spent on football compared to turning out tomorrow's teachers, artists, engineers, and scientists? When is enough enough?
Mark Richt spent 15 years contributing to Georgia's reputation as an institution, but couldn't win some of the big games. I wonder what would happen if academic programs, like philosophy, engineering, and chemistry were to be evaluated head-to-head against competitors. If your engineering grads don't get the same average starting salary or meet the same placement rate as Cal Tech's or MIT's, do you fire the dean after 2 years?
Mark Richt spent 15 years contributing to Georgia's reputation as an institution, but couldn't win some of the big games. I wonder what would happen if academic programs, like philosophy, engineering, and chemistry were to be evaluated head-to-head against competitors. If your engineering grads don't get the same average starting salary or meet the same placement rate as Cal Tech's or MIT's, do you fire the dean after 2 years?
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If 93,000 people came out every Saturday to see Georgia's engineering grads win, then, yes, you'd fire the Dean
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I will shed no tears for any of them. Their salaries are obscene and make a mockery of the idea of "higher education". Their buyouts when they are fired are equally obscene. It is enraging that Mr. Flood will get $1.4 million from the taxpayers of New Jersey for losing his job -- after he clearly violated university policy by contacting a teacher about a football player. We have important, difficult problems in NJ, and paying off the AD and football coach to go away is a waste of money.
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And the foolishness of all this "chasing wins" is that -- even with a new coach who is paid 10 or 50 times what a full professor is, more than any other employee of the university -- for every team with a winning record, there has to be a school with a losing record. For every team ranked in the top 25, there have to be many, many teams whose dittoheads are dissatisfied.
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And of course a good coach has much more work to do that say a full professor, lots more. Not to mention he brings in more money as well.
Helton is a bit of a surprise-even more so that they'd announce before the Pac12 championship. Trojan fans may be calling for his firing on Sunday. Still, considering the luck they've had with Carroll assistants-Sark and Kiffen-it may be a decent gamble, though I thought they might poach Utah's coach, Kyle Whittingham
Although everyone bemoans Richt's firing, they lost to the only decent teams on a bad schedule. They are paying for college playoffs not "good fit."
Although everyone bemoans Richt's firing, they lost to the only decent teams on a bad schedule. They are paying for college playoffs not "good fit."
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