- Seems like Mack Brown's $2 million raise isn't going over so well at the University of Texas. Imagine that? I still don't quite get the uproar. Longhorns football rakes in the dough for that university.
- Turner Gill was officially introduced as Kansas's new head coach. Charles Barkley still thinks Auburn should have hired Gill, writes Kevin Scarbinsky of the Birmingham News.
- Did South Florida coach Jim Leavitt hit a player? That's what the NCAA is investigating. Leavitt is adamant that he didn't.
- South Carolina extended coach Steve Spurrier's contract for another year to 2013. He earns $1.8 million per year.
- In David Letterman's eyes, singer Alicia Keys > Heisman Trophy winner Mark Ingram.
- Quarterback Jake Locker is coming back next year for Washington and will not enter the NFL Draft. I'm curious what this does for Arkansas' Ryan Mallett? That's a big name out of the draft. Notre Dame's Jimmy Clausen is in the pool. So is Oklahoma's Sam Bradford. But it's not a great quarterback class beyond those two. It'll be interesting.
- The FCS doesn't buy this nonsense about playoffs being impossible to do. In fact, it's expanding from 16 to 20 teams next year.
- This isn't necessarily just football, but ESPN has a list of the 25 best games this decade.
- In the vein of the decade's best, Sports Illustrated has a list of top soundbites from the 00's. Some even have hilarious YouTube clips.
- OK, one more list: the top-10 d'oh moments of the 00's.
- Bill Simmons usually has some entertaining podcasts. He's got Dan LeBatard on this week to discuss the ESPN "30 for 30" documentary "The U," about Miami's football program in the '80s. If you haven't seen it, you must. This podcast is a nice little supplement.
- And lastly, this is entertaining. It's a list by Sports Business Journal of all the swag items players get at every bowl. I like the Aloha Bowl's only gift: a Hawaiian shirt.
3 comments:
I don't buy the FCS playoff system as being so great...system is stacked in favor of highest rated teams who get to play at home (big advantage)....some teams playing so far from home that there is no way for fans or students to follow the team with only one week's notice, logistics of hotels and travel would be a nighmare, etc. Not saying it can't be done, but some VERY BIG problems to solve before it would work for large universities and stadiums seating 80,000 people.
Andy,
Interesting story on Mack Brown's raise and the resentment it's generating in some quarters. You're right that football raises a significant quantity of revenue. As someone who works in higher ed, however, I can say that people in the field get ticked off by these gestures during times like these. In many states, university academic budgets are being slashed, tuition is being raised and non-tenured staff are, in some cases, getting laid off.
Yeah, people get chapped about $5 million contracts or incentive-laden deals in which coaches get a $50,000 bump for simply making the PapaJohns Bowl.
A successful football program should help promote a quality university, not the other way around.
Great job with the blog, by the way. Keep up the outstanding work.
Teams with the best record get the homefeild. It is the reward for having the best record. The NFL does it that way also. Not financial viable to play all playoff game on neutral feild.
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