BC's coaching search includes Florida assistant
Boston College athletics director Gene DeFilippo spent Friday holding interviews for a replacement for fired football coach Jeff Jagodzinski.
Sources close to the program say DeFilippo interviewed BC associate AD for football operations Barry Gallup on Friday. Although Gallup has strong ties to the program, BC defensive coordinator Frank Spaziani remains the front-runner.
With his internal interviews concluded, DeFilippo focused on outside candidates, with Steve Addazio, Florida's recently named offensive coordinator, the primary focus, sources said.
Addazio, 49, has New England ties, having played at Central Connecticut State from 1978-81. After a stint as a high school coach in Connecticut, he had coaching stops at Syracuse, Notre Dame, Indiana, and Florida, where he has been since 2005.
When Dan Mullen, Florida's offensive coordinator, accepted the head coaching job at Mississippi State, Gators coach Urban Meyer promoted Addazio from offensive line coach.
FLORIDA: Two plumes of water from airport fire trucks arced over Florida's jet as it taxied in, carrying the national champions as they returned home Friday after beating Oklahoma in the BCS title game the night before. Players and coaches marched triumphantly down airstairs between two team flags, ready to head back to school. They didn't get much of a welcome, but the university is planning a big celebration for today and didn't publicize the arrival time. About 15 fans were there to watch players board buses. Police estimate about 28,000 students poured onto University Boulevard, the bar-lined main drag across the street from campus after the victory.
Copyright (C) 2009 News & Record and Landmark Communications, Inc.
Roll Over Tide, Roll Over: BCS Debacle
Wow!
Talk about a "twist" to an already "muddled" sugar saga.
Get it? twist? muddled? Sugar?
As in Mint Julip? Nawlins? Super Dome?
Ok, forget it!
Back to BCS madness.
The seventh ranked (No. 7) Utah Utes just finished at 13-0.
Spanked the Tide tonight in the Big Easy.
31-17.
Rodney Dangerfield = Mountain West Conference.
"No Respect."
Thirty-plus end-of-year bowls in NCAA Division 1-A and still no definitive National Champion.
The fourth-ranked Tide's to blame.
Bama really screwed things up for the NCAA.
Or shall we say the Utes did.
No...Bama did. The Utes had no pressure on them.
Utah played superbly this evening.
Dominated the Tide.
Wasn't even close.
Really.
21-0 after the first quarter.
Shhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh.
There were many stunned, sullen looks at the Super Dome after one quarter.
Sugar never tasted so sweet, or sour depending on your perspective.
This wasn't supposed to happen.
Not on this night, not in this game.
But it did. And the debate will begin.
Again.
The Utah Utes, your NCAA Division 1-A National Champions.
Why not?
Impressive road wins at Michigan, Air Force, and New Mexico.
Late-season thrashings of San Diego State, BYU, and now Alabama.
Would the Utes give either Florida or Oklahoma a run for their money?
Don't be shy. Don't be ashamed. It's okay.
You can all put your hands down now.
Really.
Ya see, The NCAA DOES have a pigskin problem.
College football and its conferences are not mutually exclusive static entities.
Some NCAA conferences improve faster than others.
Its called, "free market competition."
Could this be true with the Mountain West?
Or how about the Western Athletic Conference?
Remember Boise State?
13-0 Boise State.
Boise State, which finished No. 5 in 2007.
Boise State, who shocked the mighty Oklahoma Sooners in the 2007 Fiesta Bowl?
There are some pretty good teams coming out of the Northwest these days.
The Utes have done it again.
And it wasn't even a close game.
The Utes dominated this contest against the dynastic Tide.
The Tide was thoroughly and completely humiliated this evening.
As was the Southeastern Conference.
Has NCAA's ranking system for Division 1-A become obsolete?
Look at it this way.
Let's say the Carolina Panthers went 16-0 in their first season in the NFL.
And the Panthers had a soft schedule their first year.
The NFL decides not to not include the Panthers in the playoffs.
First-year team, soft schedule, not playoff worthy.
Didn't really EARN it.
Does that make sense?
A simple "No" will do.
We are dealing with a dinosaur mentality here.
And a lot of greed.
Has the NCAA reached a critical mass regarding its distribution of wealth?
Is the NCAA just another big huge corporation that remains loyal to its old guard?
The Bamas, the Gators, the Wolverines, and the Irish?
It's a complicated situation, not one easily resolved.
A big mess if you ask me.
Lots of factions, many competing interests.
I think this situation mimics a broader problem in America today.
Call it regionalism.
It hits at the core of who we are as a country.
We are made of individual parts with competing interests.
The NCAA has many of the same problems the car industry has.
For instance, some states wanted the "Big Three" automobile bailout, others did not.
If your state makes Toyotas and Hondas, would you back a bailout?
A free pass for your competitors?
Have the NCAA and some of its old guard conferences become lazy dinosaurs?
Hmmmm.
This is getting a bit creepy.
Scary in fact.
Ok Utes, congrats once again.
Thanks for stirring things up.
And broadening the discussion.
My name is Alan Paul Lupiani.
So Utes, you win my APL Top Ranking of the Year.
Utah Utes, National Champs!
Copyright (c) 2008 Bleacher Report, Inc
Passion drives Rose Bowl coaches
In the wildest recesses of your imagination, could you envision Pete Carroll coaching USC when he's 82 years of age?
I know. Neither can I.
Of course, Carroll at 57 still looks and acts like the original Peter Pan, the big kid who never quite completely grew up. Bounding from station to station during practice, slinging the football around with his fellow coaches afterward, totally engaged on the sideline during games, the coach of the Trojans brings new meaning to the term "boyish enthusiasm."
(And if a guy who's 57 can be considered "boyish," there's hope for This Space at a spry 54.)
The surface comparison going into Thursday's Rose Bowl seems to be the youthful Carroll against Penn State's grandfatherly Joe Paterno. But they're more similar than you might think, because they're both passionate about the game.
Paterno drew his first paycheck from Penn State during the Harry Truman administration, as a 23-year-old assistant coach. He was guiding the Nittany Lions to undefeated seasons and proposing a college football playoff system when LBJ and then Richard Nixon were in the White House.
Today, 35 years the elder of fellow playoff enthusiast (and incoming President) Barack Obama, Paterno has quieted those who claimed the game had passed him by. He's going to the Rose Bowl with the No. 8 team in the country and has two 11-win seasons in the past four.
And it's not just stubbornness, or a simple refusal to let Bobby Bowden gain on his 383 career victories. You don't stay around as he has if you aren't passionate about it.
"He's brought a tremendous energy and spirit to football and to the game, a love of the game that will last forever," Carroll remarked at a pre-Rose Bowl function this month. "We've been in a couple functions together. I see how feisty he is, how tough he is."
Yes, Paterno will momentarily forget a name or a fact once in a while. He's not as mobile as he once was, though he's using a golf cart in practice these days because of last month's hip replacement surgery, rather than the infirmities of age.
And those Coke-bottle glasses and the white socks with black shoes on the sidelines? They're simply the mark of a guy who has earned the right to not care about style.
He's earned the right to not care about other people's expectations in general. Unlike other coaches who have attempted to set up a line of succession, and not always successfully (see: Arizona basketball), Paterno refuses to designate his replacement.
"Too many things can happen from year to year," he said this week. " ... When I decide I'm going to get out of it, I'll give the university plenty of time to make a decision on what they want to do for the next head coach.
"I just don't want to put a guy in a position where he feels he's obligated to stay, and then who knows how long you're gonna go?"
There's another similarity. People keep waiting for Carroll to take that next NFL job, and for Paterno to call it quits. But JoePa just signed a three-year extension, which puts him under contract one year beyond the length of Carroll's current deal at USC.
Maybe they'll reach an agreement this week to both stay around until there is a playoff system. Then again, if that's the case Carroll might make it to 82 yet.
(c)2008 Press-Enterprise Company
Buckeyes still after top recruits for 2009
Ohio State already has 24 names in the bank for its 2009 football class, but action on the recruiting front has only gotten more intense. As the Buckeyes head into their last two days of pre-Fiesta Bowl practice before taking a break for Christmas, they still are in the running for at least four upper-echelon prospects. Chief among them are quarterback Tajh Boyd of Hampton, Va., and offensive lineman Marcus Hall of Cleveland.
The Buckeyes also are actively pursuing blue-chippers in defensive lineman Corey Adams of Scottsdale, Ariz., and receiver Marlon Brown of Memphis, Tenn.
But the Buckeyes need a top-rated lineman such as Hall, of Glenville High School. And with just two scholarship quarterbacks slated to return from this year's team -- freshman starter Terrelle Pryor and redshirt freshman Joe Bauserman -- they also need a
quarterback, especially one with the running/throwing talents of Boyd.
Boyd took an official visit to Oregon during the weekend, one week after doing the same at Ohio State.
"I feel right now the two schools are kind of even with him, but we'll know more once he gets back from Oregon," his father, Tim, said last night.
What Tim Boyd knew for sure was his son "really liked everything about Ohio State, from the players to the coaches to the facilities to the stadium to the school."
That Tajh Boyd even is on the market is a bit of a surprise. He committed to West Virginia, then changed his mind after watching the Mountaineers change their offensive approach. Boyd next committed to Tennessee but then was told by new coach Lane Kiffin that the Volunteers intend to move toward a pro-style offense that probably did not suit Boyd's talents.
"I guess I was a little surprised that Ohio State immediately jumped into the top two or three on his list, but at the same time, you have to credit the coaching staff and you also have to credit the Terrelle Pryor factor," said veteran recruiting analyst Bill Kurelic of Bucknuts.com. "Tajh Boyd saw Terrelle running the same kind of offense for which Boyd seems to be well-suited."
Oregon has been running that scheme for a while. Boyd plans to announce his choice on Jan. 3 during the Army High School All-American Game in San Antonio.
Hall, meanwhile, said last night that his top three, in no particular order, are Ohio State, Illinois and the University of Miami. He also said he intends to visit LSU, Illinois, Miami and Tennessee in January.
"I always wanted to take all of my official visits," said Hall, who visited Ohio State a weekend ago. "I already have a good read on Ohio State. I wanted to get out there and look at the different schools for myself, because I need to make the decision I think is best for me."
One look at the Buckeyes' depth on the offensive line tells him that OSU would be a land of immediate opportunity.
"I know nothing is ever just given to you, but I think my chances are really good to play early at Ohio State," Hall said.
Considering that Adams and Brown are rated as four-star prospects by Rivals.com, their chances of making an early impact wherever they go are good. Kurelic thinks Adams will have a three-way tug of war among OSU, Southern California and Arizona State, though the Buckeyes being in the Phoenix area from Dec. 29 through their Jan. 5 Fiesta Bowl date against Texas might help.
Brown lists Tennessee, OSU, Georgia, Florida and LSU as his top five, in no particular order, "but in the end I think it's going to be tough to beat Tennessee," Kurelic said.
(c)2008, Dispatch Interactive
BYU's done pouting, back to business
So, what really motivates a 10-2 BYU football team as it heads to the Las Vegas Bowl for the fourth straight year?
Could it be that they are considered 3-point underdogs to a seven-win Arizona squad? Could it be erasing the bitter taste of losing their last regular-season game to rival Utah by a 48-24 margin?
Is it the redemption factor of not achieving a three-peat as MWC champion or making it to a BCS bowl? A successful send-off for their seniors?
Maybe all the above.
By all accounts, the Cougars pouted for a few days after leaving Rice-Eccles Stadium, but at their first practice for the bowl on Wednesday, players appeared hungry and worked with a businesslike attitude.
The last time middle linebacker Matt Bauman had a helmet on, he was walking off the field, disappointed and dejected when a Utah fan came up, taunted him and tossed a cup of beer in his face. Even as it splashed off his eyes and dripped down his nose and chin, he just kept walking to the locker room.
He did it simmering mad.
Then came three weeks of waiting to put the helmet back on. Three long weeks of being ticked off.
Bauman said motivation to beat Arizona might be the underdog thing, or even shaking off the frustrating Rice-Eccles experience.
"But all of us want to end with a win and to do it for the seniors who have dedicated four years of their lives to this team," he said. "We want them to go out with a victory, that the last time they wore the jersey, it was a win."
Senior guard Travis Bright said the seniors know what's on the line.
"A lot of it is bittersweet," Bright said. "It's bitter because of the relationships you've built. I'm a little closer to a lot of these guys since I've known many of them since high school, and I'll probably never see some of them again.
"It's sweet because it's time to move on, do other things, and there are a lot of emotions."
Bright said he remembers a year ago, in the bowl win over UCLA in Las Vegas, he watched seniors like Bryan Kehl and Kelly Poppinga in the locker room celebrating, tears in their eyes that the college experience was over and done.
"You want to go out with a bang. It's that little extra motivation, that little extra umph to get it done," Bright said. "I know afterwards in the locker room I'll be crying like a kid because it will be time to go, but I want to cry because it ended with a good game in a good way."
BYU's seniors have been key in an 18-game home winning streak, something coach Bronco Mendenhall says will be their legacy. During the past three years, only five teams (Boise State, Florida, Oklahoma, Ohio State and USC) have won more overall games than the Cougars (32) over that span.
It'll come up all week, as this Cougar team can do something nobody else at BYU has ever done — win three bowl games in a row.
"It's great to have one more game," safety David Tafuna said. "It's a chance to redeem ourselves."
Said senior receiver Michael Reed: "We shouldn't have to worry about who is a senior. We should want to go out there and win a game. We need to work hard and prepare for this game because it's a chance for another win.
"We had two losses this year that left a nasty taste in our mouths. We don't want the same thing next week."
Reed said the contrast is evident in playing a respected Arizona team, and the Cougars had better be prepared, all the window dressing aside.
"They haven't been to a bowl in 10 years and we've been to four in a row," Reed said. "We need a win, we don't want to have that bitter taste in our mouths for the holidays."
Is this talked about by team members?
"Absolutely," Bright said.
The senior issue?
"We've talked about it," Bauman said. "Coach (Jaime) Hill brought it up in all our meetings. Since Mendenhall's been here, it's been about the bigger picture. We have a chance to move the program forward.
"The end of the season is big, not only to cap off this season and make a statement of who we are, but to start things off for next year."
There you have it, Motivation 101.
Which thing will work? Will the Cougars find an edge to their game?
We shall see.
deseretnews.com
Kansas Jayhawks Accept Invitation to 2008 Insight Bowl
The Kansas Jayhawks took another huge step towards football respectability with their acceptance of an invitation to play in the 2008 Insight Bowl. Formerly known as the Copper Bowl, the Insight.com Bowl is played in Tempe, Arizona at Sun Devil Stadium. The selection of The Jayhawks makes this their second bowl in two years, and 4th bowl game in the last 6 seasons. Last season Kansas was invited to the FedEx Orange Bowl against Virginia Tech, which they ended up winning 24-21. Last season's bowl game was also one of the BCS games, and really put Kansas on the map in college football.
The Insight Bowl will take place on December 31st, and Kansas will play a Big 10 Opponent in the game. The game looks to be an exciting one, as the Kansas Jayhawks have played in many exciting games during the 2008 season. Kansas comes from the Big 12's northern conference, and they finished 2008 with a 7-5 record. The game that really propelled them to the post-season, was a 40-37 win they posted against highly ranked Missouri back on November 29th. Going into Missouri and winning it on their home turf really put them in the spotlight again, and showed that Kansas can put up a lot of points if they are firing on all cylinders.
Playing in back-to-back bowl games is usually the sign of a strong football program, and by following up their Orange Bowl performance from last season with this seasons Insight Bowl is definitely going to help when it comes to recruitment time. Fans should be excited about this chance to go see their team play, and at only $25.00 per ticket, students should truly take advantage of this chance to go see their team play in the post-season. For those people who have attended college, making a bowl game isn't always a yearly occurrence, and now that Kansas is back in the picture, they should go support their teams.
Players to watch for in this years Insight Bowl include quarterback Todd Reesing who threw for 3575ds and 28 touchdowns, receiver Kerry Meier who caught 87 passes for 932 yards and 7 touchdowns, and running back Jake Sharp who ran for 796 yards and scored 11 touchdowns.
(c) 2008 Associated Content, Inc.
An unknown who runs Wing-T? Perfect for UW
Among the fringe candidates mentioned as a possible successor to Tyrone Willingham, Cal Poly's Rich Ellerson is as mouth-watering a proposition to Huskies fans as the sight of another turkey sandwich.
He isn't a household name. He's never been a major-college head coach. He's not a rising star. (He'll turn 55 on Jan. 1, which is to say he's perhaps 15 years older than the ideal age for tackling the kind of reconstruction project he'd face at Washington.)
Furthermore, Ellerson has no desire to leave San Luis Obispo, the California coastal paradise that is home to Cal Poly.
"I've got a sailboat moored out there in Avila Bay," he told reporters recently. "I've got my dive boat in the driveway. I've got a little vineyard in the front yard. I've completely bought into the culture of where I am. Knock on wood, I hope to keep doing this for a while."
And yet the more I look at Ellerson's background, the more I see him as a perfect fit for the Huskies. Here are six factors in his favor:
No. 1: The next UW coach should know the West. A former center and linebacker at Hawaii, Ellerson has served on coaching staffs everywhere from his alma mater, to Idaho, to the B.C. Lions of the Canadian Football League.
No. 2: The next UW coach should know the Pacific-10 Conference. Ellerson has had two stints as an assistant coach at Arizona - first as defensive line coach for the Wildcats' legendary "Desert Swarm" unit, then as defensive coordinator.
No. 3: The next UW coach should know success. Since arriving at Cal Poly in 2001, Ellerson's record is 56-34. Over his last 61 games, he's 48-13. Not regarded as a traditional NCAA Division I-AA power, Cal Poly has won at least seven games each of the past six years. And though Weber State upset the Mustangs in the playoffs on Saturday, their 8-3 season will be recalled for how they went on the road last week at Wisconsin, and took the bowl-bound Badgers into overtime.
No. 4: The next UW coach should know how to stand up for his players. After Andrew Gardner missed three extra-point kicks in the heartbreaking defeat at Wisconsin, Ellerson said: "He's one of us, and if anybody has a problem with that, they've got to go through us. If you don't like it, stay home."
No. 5: The next UW coach should know how to uphold the standards implemented after the program devolved into the scandal-tainted mess awaiting Willingham.
Ellerson hasn't merely achieved with student-athletes, he's achieved with scholar-athletes.
"We have a reputation for being a great academic institution, particularly our engineering school," Ellerson has said. "We have a bunch of guys, we tease you and say we can play you off your feet, then help you with your homework afterward."
No. 6: The next UW coach should know how to best use the once-in-a-generation talent of quarterback Jake Locker. Uh, heaven? Thanks for calling.
Locker operated out of a Wing-T formation at Ferndale. Two years ago, Ellerson switched Cal Poly's offense from a spread to a Wing-T.
"It's unique," Ellerson has said of his triple-option attack. "There aren't a lot of folks that are committed to it. That's part of our reason, frankly, for going back to it."
Cal Poly's triple option, by the way, isn't some Jurassic Park package that allows one short pass for every 27 snaps. Mustangs quarterback Jonathan Dally threw for 1,960 yards and 23 touchdowns this season. He also ran 152 times for 821 yards and 11 touchdowns.
The spread has become the college football flavor of the year - the decade, really - but its influence will wane as defenses adapt. That's how the game works. That's how the cookie- cutter philosophy crumbles.
Ellerson has dared to do something different: A triple-option with a passing component. He's also installed a 3-4 defense with multiple fronts and blitzes - a scheme that enabled his defensive linemen, outweighed against their Wisconsin counterparts by more than 40 pounds a person, to compete for more than four quarters.
Ellerson's concepts, on both sides of the ball, would retool the Huskies, and retool them in a hurry.
About the sailboat moored on the bay, and the dive boat in the driveway? He could have both at Washington, along with a huge bump in salary that would make Rich Ellerson a very rich Ellerson.
I've never met the man. In fact, until my friend Don Borst mentioned him the other day on the radio, I'd never heard of him. So, I'm sure there are drawbacks to his candidacy beyond his inability to wow the Huskies fan base, because ... well, because.
A football coach who tends a vineyard in his front yard can't be all good.
(c) Copyright 2008 Tacoma News, Inc.
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