Photo Legend: Pete Cawthon

Pete Cawthon was a great example of the overlapping of various sports in the early part of the 20th century. While he was best known for coaching at Texas Technological College, which is now known as Texas Tech, he began his coaching career at Rice. However, he was not the head football coach; rather, he coached the baseball and basketball teams.

Cawthon was definitely not an unknown commodity when he became Texas Tech’s third football coach. One of the men who recommended him for the job was none other than Knute Rockne. Cawthon compiled an impressive 76-32-6 record at Texas Tech, and oversaw two dominating seasons. In 1932 Texas Tech led the nation in scoring, compiling 382 points in twelve games, and in 1938 Cawthorn led his team to a 10-1 record, with his only loss coming in the Cotton Bowl to Saint Mary’s (CA).

Today Cawthon remains as Texas Tech’s all time leader in winning percentage, and is second in total victories. His life story is told in Tender Tyrant: The Legend of Pete Cawthon, by Etta Lynch.

Meet the New Hires: Kevin Sumlin

1988-1990 Washington State (Grad Asst.)
1991-1992 Wyoming (WR coach)
1993-1997 Minnesota (WR/QB coach)
1998-2000 Purdue (WR coach)
2001-2002 Texas A&M (O. Coordinator)
2003-2005 Oklahoma (Special Teams, TE)
2006-2007 Oklahoma (Offensive Coordinator, WR Coach)
2008-Present- Houston Head Coach

Kevin Sumlin became Houston's 11th head coach this past offseason after a successful stint as co-offensive coordinator at Oklahoma. Sumlin takes over for the recently departed Art Briles, who will be taking over at Baylor starting in the Fall of 08'. This will be Sumlin's first shot at head coaching. The 86' Purdue graduate has worked his way up from graduate assistant at Washington State, to positional coach at Minnesota and Purdue, to offensive coordinator at Texas A&M, and finally as co-offensive coordinator at Oklahoma before taking the Houston job.

Sumlin had great success in his one season as offensive coordinator at Texas A&M. Once he took over the offense, A&M's points per game average rose from 16 ppg in 2001 to 33 ppg under Sumlin. It was his only year as OC at Texas A&M as he was released along with the departure of RC Slocum.

After Texas A&M, Sumlin joined Bob Stoop's staff at Oklahoma as Special Teams coach. During that time he lead the nation's top 10 punting unit. During his time as offensive coordinator/WR coach, his offenses continued to shine despite the abrupt departure of blue chip quarterback Rhett Bomar. In fact, the two receivers he worked with, Malcolm Kelly and Juaquin Iglesias, became the #5 and #6 all time leading receivers at Oklahoma in one season.

The very offensive minded Sumlin will need some help on the defensive side of the ball at Houston. He's hired John Skladany, who was last at UCF as the defensive backs coach and prior to that was defensive coordinator at Iowa State. Another thing which will be critical to Sumlin's success at Houston will be his ability to recruit against all the other Texas powerhouse programs. Briles was able to do this fairly well due to his ties as a famous high school coach in the state. Either way, this is a strong hire for Houston. However, as is usually the case with mid major coaches, there's always going to be some level of doubt as to how high the program could get before he bolts for greener pasture.

Who will be Rich Rodriguez's first Michigan Quarterback?

Now that Terelle Pryor is going to Ohio State, Michigan's first year head coach Rich Rodriguez will have to settle for a second choice signal caller. With the growth of the spread option, demand for duel threat quarterbacks has never been greater. In time the father of the spread option, Rodriguez, will be able to get some of the very best to come to one of college football's most storied programs. In the mean time, he will have to settle for someone who could have never expected such an opportunity. Rodriguez does not expect to name a starter until the end of spring practice, if not later. Here's a rundown of the candidates.

Nick Sheridan - 6'1'', 201 lb., So., Saline, MI
The walk on is considered to be the most mobile of the three quarterbacks currently on the roster. He appeared in two games during the '07 season and served as the backup place kick holder after redshirting in '06. He is the son of former Michigan assistant coach and current NY Giants LB coach, Bill. His mobility, while not outstanding, may give him the edge.

Steven Threet - 6'5'', 228 lb., Fr., Adrian, MI
Threet is the all-american kid. He played football, basketball, and baseball in high school while becoming his school's valedictorian. He was an early enrollee at Georgia Tech in Janurary 2007, but transferred to Michigan prior to the '07 football season. He spent last year sitting out due to his transfer. He was an impressive passer at the high school level, but his mobility won't cause anyone to confuse him with Pat White. He was the #9 QB prospect by both Rivals and Scout out of high school.

David Cone - 6'6'', 214 lb., So., Statesboro, GA.
Cone played in the same two games Sheridan did in '07. Neither players earned a letter this past season. He quarterbacked his high school team to three straight state title games. He put up impressive passing numbers considering he was in a wishbone offense. Despite his option experience, his skill set does not fit well with the offense. He was ranked the #33 pro style QB by Rivals out of high school.

Justin Feagin - 6'0'', 190 lb., Fr., Delray Beach, FL
The Floridian was recruited as an athlete out of high school despite playing quarterback in high school. He put up over 2,000 all-purpose yards as a senior in high school. He was a top 100 player in the state of Florida and ranked the 41st best athlete nationally by Rivals. Rodriguez's offense is based on quarterback reads and missing spring practice may be too big of a hurdle for Feagin to overcome, despite being the best fit physically.

Carlos Brown - 6'0'', 209 lb., Jr., Franklin, GA
Brown is the only letter winner competing for the QB job. Brown is the long shot in this race considering he's played primarily running back during his time at Michigan. He was a quarterback his senior year of high school but threw only 52 passes. More damming for Brown is that he is out of spring practice with a broken finger. Even if healthy, his time at quarterback this spring would have been limited.

Nobody Will Ever Be Satisfied

Around mid December every year there's a common debate that emerges in the world of college football: BCS vs Playoff System. Every "expert" feels they have concocted the answer to determine the perfect way to crown the nation's champion. When it comes down to it, there truly is no greater system than the BCS in all of sports to crown the most deserving champion based on the body of work throughout the season.

Don't get me wrong, playoffs are a joy to watch regardless of the sport. Every game takes on a new meaning from the regular season. Players play with more of a sense of meaning than they do during the regular season. In every major team sport, with the exception of college football, the formula for success is to play good enough in the regular season to reach the playoffs, and then once in the playoffs win every game or series.

Too often in sports teams are awarded championships based on their end of season success as opposed to the entire body of work. The best example of this was when the 6th seeded New York Giants got white hot in the playoffs and knocked off the undefeated New England Patriots. Nobody honestly believes the 10-6 Giants were a better team this year than the 16-0 Patriots. That being said, many people have the mentality of "what have you done for me lately".

In college football this year, many people believed that Georgia and USC were the two best teams in the country at season's end strictly due to their late season success. They failed to look at the season's entire body of work. They forgot that USC lost to 40 point underdog Stanford in what could easily have been the biggest upset in college football history. They also forgot that Georgia didn't even win the SEC East. Yet due to their late season success, they feel they should have had the opportunity to play for the championship.

That same cutthroat mentality that comes into play in the playoffs happens every week in college football's regular season. There's not one team in college football who should be making excuses or blaming systems for not playing in the BCS championship game. The championship is there for the taking. Just ask Missouri, Kansas, and West Virginia who were one late season loss away from playing for the championship this season. College football more than any other sport makes every game critical to win. Perfection is required to be eligible for the championship. If you're not perfect, you must tip your cap to the team who is, and the best you can do is regroup for the next season.

Nobody will ever be happy with any system that is put into place. Even in college basketball's March Madness there is controversy as to who the last teams in the field of 64 teams are! For those who support a college football playoff system take note of the college basketball arguments. All you could hear from analysts after the selection show was how teams like Virginia Tech, Arizona State, and Dayton were snubbed from the dance. Just this past week Bobby Knight was calling for the field of 64 to expand to 128 teams. America is in love with the playoff system, but college football stands pat to award the regular season's best team at season's end, and I applaud them for it.

Jimbo Fisher and UAB: One Year Later

The state of Alabama had two Division 1 coaching job openings following the 2006 season. Everyone knows that Nick Saban filled one of these, with much fanfare. However, the University of Alabama at Birmingham also made a coaching change, and the fall out from that switch makes for a potentially more interesting story.

For nearly all of UAB’s coaching search, Jimbo Fisher was the prohibitive favorite. Fisher had built an impressive resume at LSU, and was a hot name on the coaching front. However, in the end UAB decided to hire Neil Callaway, a lifetime assistant who was a mediocre hire at best. So why did UAB pass on Fisher? For many, the answer lies in its affiliation with the University of Alabama. Both schools are a part of the state college system, so both hires were approved by the same board. When the board reviewed the potential Fisher hire, they concluded that his price tag was too steep, even though UAB supposedly had boosters willing to foot the bill. This news was somewhat underreported, but was a disturbing tidbit in a wild offseason.

The Fisher fiasco is over, and in the end he ended up at Florida State, where he currently is in line to succeed Bobby Bowden. However, did the original conflict affect UAB, and if so, in what way? Needless to say, the Callaway hire has not worked out thus far. Last season UAB went 2-10. However, the more alarming statistic is the schools point differential. UAB’s offense was consistent from 2006 to 2007, as they actually scored ten more points, with 235, this past season. However, the defense went from shaky to a disaster. In 2006, UAB allowed 297 points, which was over 100 points less than 2007’s total of 421. In addition to poor on field results, UAB’s recruiting has taken a downturn as well. According to Rivals.com, UAB’s 2008 class is outside the top 100, while as recently as 2006 the class was rated #65.

The mishandling of the Jimbo Fisher situation by the University of Alabama system has dealt a severe blow to the UAB program. Rather than ending up with one of coaching’s brightest young stars, even if only for a couple of seasons, they took on an afterthought who does not appear to be up to the job. If this particular situation serves as a precedent for any future ones, then it doesn’t pay to be the little brother in college football.

Photo Legend: Don James

When Don James graduated from the University from Miami, he held five of the school’s passing records. However, by the time he was done with football, James would be forever linked with a program on the opposite corner of the country.

In 1971, James returned to his Ohio roots to coach at Kent State. While he was only there for four years, he was able to serve as an influence to both Nick Saban and Gary Pinkel, who both played under him.

However, James is best known for his years at the University of Washington. While at Washington, James went to fourteen bowl games, and won ten. James won six Pac-10 titles and four Rose Bowls, but one stood above the rest. In 1991, James rode the backs of Mark Brunell, Billy Joe Hobert, and Steve Emtman to a 34-14 victory over Michigan in the Rose Bowl and a National Championship.

Only Rick Neuheisel has approached the level of success at Washington regularly achieved by James. However, the recent Seattle Times report has left a cloud over those successful teams. At the moment, Washington fans have to wonder if, and when, their Huskies will return to the promised land.

Meet The New Hires: Greg McMackin

2007: Hawaii - Defensive Coordinator
2003-2005: San Fransisco 49ers - Associate Head Coach / Linebackers Coach
2000-2002: Texas Tech - Defensive Coordinator
1999: Hawaii - Defensive Coordinator
1995-1998: Seattle Seahawks - Defensive Coordinator
1993-1994: Miami (Fla.) - Defensive Coordinator
1992: Navy - Defensive Coordinator
190-1991: Utah - Defensive Coordinator
1986-1990: Oregon Tech - Head Coach / Assistant Athletic Director
1985-1986: Denver Gold (USFL) - Secondary Coach
1978-1984: Stanford - Secondary Coach
1976-1978: Idaho - Defensive Coordinator / Recruiting Coordinator / Secondary & LB Coach
1973-1976: Western Oregon State - Defensive Coordinator / Recruiting Coordinator
1969-1973: Aloha High School - Head Coach / Assistant Coach
1968-1969: Arizona - Graduate Assistant

Greg McMackin took a unique path to one of the most unique posts in football - head coach for the University of Hawaii. McMackin's career has taken him to such positions as an NFL defensive coordinator, defensive coordinator at Navy, head coach at Oregon Tech, and secondary coach for the USFL's Denver Gold. The defensively oriented McMackin has spent much of his career on the other end of the practice field from offensive geniuses. He's spent significant time with June Jones, Mike Leach, Dennis Erickson, Mouse Davis, and Jack Elway.

The combination of the disappointing performance in the Sugar Bowl and the departure of head Coach June Jones left a bad taste in Hawaii's mouth. Given the timing of Jones' depart, it also left the school in a difficult hiring position. However, considering the circumstances, McMackin is an excellent hire.

McMackin has had tremendous success at nearly all of his many stops. In his most recent stint as defensive coordinator at Hawaii, he improved the defense from 93rd nationally in total defense to 33rd in one season. His prior one year stint as Hawaii defensive coordinator saw similar success, improving the defense from 109th nationally to 35th. Other highlights include having the 6th best passing defense at Texas Tech in 2000, finishing 1st in total defense, scoring defense, and passing defense at Miami, and improving Utah's defense from 106th nationally to 1st in the WAC. McMackin is also the author of Coaching the Defensive Backfield. He is a top notch defensive mind.

The hiring of a defensive coach is in contrast to Hawaii's offensive reputation. The man taking over as offensive coordinator is Ron Lee who has served as Hawaii's wide receivers coach for the past nine seasons. Lee comes from the Jones/Davis run-and-shoot school of offense. However, much of his career was spent at St. Louis High School in Hawaii assisting his brother build the school into a dynasty by winning 14 state titles. The Warriors are hoping Lee was a good study in his nine seasons at Hawaii.

Both McMackin and Lee are taking on new roles at an advanced age so their longevity at Hawaii is questioned. While more BCS bowls probably aren't in Hawaii's future, a continued stay near the top of the WAC likely is.

Early Look at the Hot Seats

ACC
Bobby Bowden - Florida State
Ralph Friedgen - Maryland

Big East
Dave Wannstedt - Pittsburgh
Greg Robinson - Syracuse

Big Ten
Kirk Ferentz - Iowa
Joe Paterno - Penn State

Big 12
none

Pac 10
Mike Stoops - Arizona
Tyrone Willingham - Washington

SEC
Phillip Fulmer - Tennessee

Conference-USA
Mark Snyder - Marshall

MAC
Jeff Genyk - Eastern Michigan

Mountain West
Mike Sanford - UNLV
Joe Glenn - Wyoming

Sun Belt
Rickey Bustle - Louisiana Lafayette

WAC
Hal Mumme - New Mexico State
Brent Guy - Utah State

Deserving Minority Assistant Coaches

College football is a wonderful game that has so many good facets and stories to tell. However, it is behind the times in one area in particular – the hiring of minority head coaches. While there have not been many hirings, there are still some very capable candidates waiting for the call.

Charlie Strong
While Charlie Strong does technically have head coaching experience – he was the interim head coach for Ron Zook’s final Florida team’s Peach Bowl appearance – he has been a successful defensive coordinator for nearly a decade. While Strong may not bring the flash that some schools always look for in their head coaches, there is no reason to believe that he will not succeed as a head coach. Do not be surprised if Strong is coaching a BCS level team within the next five years.

Joker Phillips
Joker was a hot name in the coaching rumor mill this past offseason, which led Kentucky to promise him the job when Rich Brooks retires. Phillips has been one of the catalysts to Kentucky’s shocking rise back onto the national scene, and it is good to see that he is being rewarded as such. This hire has a tremendous amount of upside for Kentucky, as it is hard to see Phillips leaving his alma mater on his own. If Phillips parlays his head coaching potential into results, it is possible that Kentucky becomes a national player much like its in state rival Louisville has in recent years. One word of warning, Phillips' deal with Kentucky has little teeth. He could leave before Brooks steps down with no penalty and he could be fired with no penalty.

Mike Locksley
When Larry Fedora left Illinois for Oklahoma State, Ron Zook called on his former Florida assistant to be his offensive coordinator. What has followed has been one of the most shocking turnarounds in recent memory. Much has been made about Zook’s recruiting ability, but the driving force behind some of Illinois’ top signings, most notably Arrelious Benn, has been Locksley. The charismatic Washington, DC native has always been a dynamite recruiter, but he is also showing signs of putting together some top notch offenses. Locksley should be attached to many openings in the next season or two, but he be waiting for the Maryland job when Ralph Friedgen leaves. The thought of Locksley recruiting his natural turf for Maryland is a scary proposition for the rest of the ACC.

There are many other capable minority assistants in the college ranks, so expect to see some more profiles both during the rest of the offseason and on into the regular season from CGB.

Photo Legend: Murray Warmath

Minnesota legend Murrary Warmath led the Golden Gophers to their last of six national titles in 1960. He also led them to their last Big Ten Conference title in 1967 (co-champ). He brought Minnesota to their only Rose Bowls in 1961 and 1962. Golden Gopher Nation hasn't seen the San Gabriel Mountains since.

He coached the last of his 18 seasons for the Gophers in 1971. He spent all 18 seasons coaching in "The Brick House", Memorial Stadium. Minnesota moved into the Metrodome in 1982 and Memorial Stadium was torn down in 1992 to make room for an aquatic center. Gopher football hasn't seen the heights it did under Warmath since. The University is in the process of spending $288.5 million to correct the mistake, constructing TCF Bank Stadium.

Coach Warmath played his college football at Tennessee under legendary coach Robert Neyland. He coached Mississippi State for two seasons prior to heading up north in 1952 and 1953. Warmath still lives today, into his 90's, and resides in Minnesota.

Meet the New Hires: David Cutcliffe

1982-1998 Tennessee (Assistant Coach)
1998-2004 Mississippi (Head Coach)
2005 Hired as Notre Dame Assistant (resigned prior to season; health)
2006-2007 Tennessee (Offensive Coordinator)

Duke's hiring of David Cutcliffe shows that they are serious about football. He comes to Duke as one of the premier offensive minds in the college game. His resume's high points are without question his mentoring of Peyton Manning at Tennessee and his brother Eli at Ole Miss. During his stints at Tennessee he has been the driving force of high powered passing oriented offenses. His peak came after Peyton Manning was gone and he coached on the National Championship winning Vols' squad. He was given the Frank Broyles award for top assistant coach in the country in 1998.

Cutcliffe's only head coaching stint came back in 1999-2004 where he took over after Tommy Tubberville's departure to Auburn at the end of the '99 season. During his time there, Cutcliffe lead Ole Miss to an overall 44-29 including 5 winning seasons. In 2003 he was named SEC coach of the year after his career best 10-3 record as head coach. After his one losing season at Ole Miss, Cutcliffe was told to address the defensive problems on his team including firing some on his defensive coaching staff. Cutcliffe refused and he was consequentially fired.

Cutcliffe re-emerged at Notre Dame as an assistant coach and most recently was the offensive coordinator at Tennessee. Cutcliffe will be going head to head with Butch Davis at North Carolina to see who can bring life to otherwise dead in-state programs. One major question that emerges about Cutcliffe is how long he would plan to stay at Duke if he were to receive a better offer elsewhere. Cutcliffe is more than likely the most impressive hire made by a school this offseason. Duke did a great job to bring him back into the head coaching role.

BCS Schools playing non-BCS Schools in NFL Venues

There is a growing trend in college football these days. BCS conference schools are playing non-BCS conference schools at NFL venues. Northern Illinois hosted Iowa at Solider Field in Chicago on 2007. Eastern Michigan played Northwestern at Detroit's Ford Field. East Carolina has three like games on the books, Virginia Tech in 2009 and South Carolina in 2011 and 2014, all in Charlotte, North Carolina. Illinois recently agreed to play Western Michigan in Detroit for the 2008 season. Toledo will play Ohio State in Cleveland in 2009.

The benefits for the non-BCS schools is obvious. Typically they end up playing their BCS conference neighbors in road games so the neutral site games are welcome. Playing in NFL venues give the smaller schools fantastic exposure and provide a big time feel for their program. Programs like Western Michigan can seem miles away from the NFL, but playing a Big Ten program in an NFL venue helps narrow that gap in perception. These games are a tremendous way for the lower profile schools to attract athletes and students.

The more puzzling question is why the BCS conference teams agree to these match-ups. BCS conference are used to writing checks to visiting non-BCS conference instead of the return trip. However, the neutral site phenominon is a deviation from this philosophy. There are two likely factors driving the trend. One is the added recruiting advantage playing in a major metropolitan area can bring. It appears as if some schools are willing to part with the financial gain of a home game against for the added exposure in recruiting. Through e-mail, Ohio State Athletic Director Gene Smith wrote, "We have a lot of alumni in Cleveland and probably most important, we recruit Cleveland heavily in football but also other sports. The PR is significant."

The other factor is likely due to the schedule expansion from 11 games to 12 games. This factor is pronounced in the short term due to schools scrambling to add a 12th game to their schedule. Illinois needed to fill a game in 2008 this off season and that urgency likely provided Western Michigan a negotiation edge that landed the Illini in the Motor City. Gene Smith further explained, " When the 119 division 1A schools went to 12 games vs. 11 the inventory became less for 1A home games. That is why you see more of these, 2 for 1's, more 1AA schools on schedules. It is pure supply and demand." Non-BCS schools need to add an additional game to their schedule too, however. Some have opted to played I-AA schools at home, perhaps altering the market for non-return games. Apparently non-BCS schools expect the 12th game to be a home game for them, but if they can get a BCS conference school to play them in a nearby NFL venue, they'll gladly take it.

College Football's "Bad News Season"

If you visited any of the major sports news outlets online in recent weeks, you noticed that college football has been dominated by stories about players getting into trouble this offseason. During the period following the end of the season and before the start of spring practices there seems to be a significant increase in arrests and suspensions given out to players. There is no denying the correlation between the freedom these players have and the amount of trouble they have gotten into.

The first, and perhaps most notable, story to come out was the indefinite suspension of projected starting quarterback Ryan Perriloux of the defending NCAA champion LSU Tigers. Perriloux has been in trouble ever since he stepped foot on campus. If it weren't for Perriloux's immense talent, one would have to guess Les Miles would have kicked him off the team some time ago. If Perriloux is the starter in week 1 next season, Miles will have made a loud and clear statement about how he feels about off the field issues on his team.

More recently, Indiana's star QB Kellen Lewis was suspended indefinitely for breaking team rules. This will not bode well for Bill Lynch's bid to build off last season's bowl berth. In addition, just this week a Rutgers DT was arrested for undisclosed reasons, while at Nebraska an offensive linemen was arrested for 1st degree sexual assault.

These tidbits, along with other injuries that occur during this time of the season, has prompted "Big Red Network" writer Steve Hanway to coin this time of the year "Bad News Season." How right he is. At this time of the year if your college football team is staying out of the news, it's more than likely a good thing. The challenge for college coaches will be to keep their athletes out of trouble during the offseason as well as they do during the season. This may mean more structured team activities, early scheduling of classes, or more "optional" workouts.

Is Bill Lynch the Right Man for the Job?

One of college football’s feel good stories of the past season was how Bill Lynch rallied Indiana following the death of Terry Hoeppner and lead them to a bowl game. For his efforts, Lynch was rewarded with a contract extension through the 2012 season. However, the off season has not gone well for the Hoosiers, as they suspended star quarterback Kellen Lewis last week for an indefinite period. Last season Lewis threw for 3,043 yards and 28 touchdowns while rushing for 736 yards and 9 touchdowns. Essentially, it would be impossible for Indiana to replace that production.

The options that Coach Lynch has at quarterback during spring practice are slim. Ben Chappell has extremely limited experience, and redshirt freshman Teddy Schell is hurt this spring. If Lynch can develop a quarterback to take over for Lewis if he cannot play this season it will be a major accomplishment.

Lynch does not need this type of turmoil in his first full off season as Indiana’s coach. Instead of focusing on improving the team, Lynch will have to scramble to fix the quarterback problem. There are legitimate questions as to whether he will be able to do that. While his career at Ball State began successfully, it is arguable that his best three seasons at the school were his first three, when he went 20-14 with a bowl game appearance in 1996. If the same thing happens at Indiana, it will do nothing less than set Hoosier football back by five years or more.

Another question that is relevant to a school like Indiana is whether or not the administration is truly committed to producing a winning football program. Indiana has always been a basketball school, and rightfully so with their history. However, this has led to some shortsighted decisions when it comes to their head coaches. In 1996 the Hoosiers fired Bill Mallory, the only coach in recent memory to bring sustained success to Bloomington. Since then Indiana has run through Cam Cameron, Gerry DiNardo and, unfortunately, Terry Hoeppner. It almost seems as if extending Lynch’s contract was a relatively cheap and easy way for Indiana to deal with their “football problem.”

Indiana is not the only school that suffers from this problem, but other basketball schools have made more concerted efforts to build their program. A good example this year is Duke, who made a potentially great hire when they brought David Cutcliffe in to coach. While it may not work out and Duke may remain in the basement of the ACC, their hire showed more vision than Indiana’s extension of Lynch, and may position them better in the long run.

Photo Legend: Barry Alvarez

Legendary Wisconsin coach Barry Alvarez - seen here celebrating his first of three Rose Bowl victories on January 1st, 1994 - will be remembered as the man who transformed the Badger program from Big Ten bottom feeder to perennial contender.

As a young Nebraska linebacker Alvarez returned an interception for a touchdown at Camp Randell Stadium against the Badgers. At that point who could have guessed the joy he would bring to that venue. Between that year, 1966, and when he became the head coach, 1990, Wisconsin never won a Big Ten title and had only five winning seasons, never winning more than seven games.

The Alvarez tenure at Wisconsin included 11 winning seasons and three Big Ten titles, all of which concluded with Rose Bowl victories. His three Rose Bowl wins is bested only by Woody Hayes amongst Big Ten coaches. Prior to his arrival at Wisconsin, Camp Randall Stadium was regularly filled to less than half of capacity. At his introductory press conference in 1990 Alvarez said, "better get season tickets right now because before long they won’t be able to.” The summer prior to his final season there were no single game ticket sales because all tickets had already been sold.

Alvarez closed his coaching career by following in his former coach's footsteps, Bob Devaney, serving as both head football coach and athletic director. Prior to his final coaching season he announced his successor as head coach, Brett Bielima. Currently, Alvarez still servers as AD. He has also provided color commentary for Fox during the BCS National Title games for the 2006 and 2007 seasons.

Meet The New Hires: Steve Fairchild

2006-2007 - Buffalo Bills Offensive Coordinator
2004-2005 - St. Louis Rams Offensive Coordinator
2003 - St. Louis Rams Offensive Coordinator/Quarterbacks
2001-2002 - Buffalo Bills Running Backs
1997-2000 - Colorado State Offensive Coordinator/Quarterbacks
1993-1996 - Colorado State Quarterbacks
1990-1992 - San Diego State Quarterbacks
1987-1989 - New Mexico Offensive Coordinator/Quarterbacks
1986 - San Diego State Tight Ends/Recruiting Coordinator
1984-1985 - Ferris State - Offensive Coordinator/QBs/RBs
1982-1983 - San Diego Mesa CC - Offensive Coordinator/QBs/RBs

Forcing out the legendary Sonny Lubick caused an ugly backlash from alums and former players. Ironically, the hiring of Steve Fairchild will bring Colorado State football back to the form they had in the prime years of Lubick (108-74, 6 conference titles, schools first since 1955, 3 top 20 finishes). Fairchild was Lubick's most successful offensive coordinator between 1997 and 2000 and was on the CSU sideline for 5 conference champs and 2 top 20 finishes. Similarly, new defensive coordinator Larry Kerr returns to the same position he served in from 1993 to 2002.

While CSU would have benefited handling the Lubick situation better, a change was needed. His last winning season came in 2003. What may have finally done Lubick in is that attendance at the field bearing his name had dropped to 21,794 in 2008, 88th in the country. Sonny's son, Mark will remain on the staff at CSU.

Fairchild had success during his first stint at CSU and has since sharpened his trade in the NFL. Fairchild's '97 Rams offense scored the most points in school history. Fairchild's three year stint as St. Louis Rams offensive coordinator produced three top 10 offenses. The return of Kerr - who left CSU to take the UCLA defensive coordinator job - should bring the defense back to the level prior to his departure. The 2000 CSU defense finished 31st in the country. His first UCLA defense finished 18th in the country.

Fairchild will right the ship in short order at CSU. However, it will be a challenge for Fairchild to bring things much beyond the height of the Lubick era. A challenge facing Fairchild that Lubick did have is the current strength of the Mountain West. Expect Fairchild to have success at CSU, but don't expect him to start lapping the Bronco Mendenhall's and Joe Glenn's of the Mountain West.

Succesful Mountain West faces challenges

The winner of this past season's Bowl Challenge Cup, presented to the conference with the best bowl winning percentage, was the Mountain West. They posted an impressive 4-1 record in bowl games. During the '07 season, six Mountain West schools combined to total eight wins against BCS conference opponents. Much of the success came on the defensive side of the ball. The conference boasted the top 5 non-BCS conference finishers in total defense. The success, however, is threatened. Currently the conference is without a tv contract with any major network and can be mainly seen on the mtn., their very own network that debuted in '06 but remains harder to find than the Big Ten Network. Furthermore, the conference's bowl tie-ins provide limited exposure and opportunity for growth. It will be a challenge for the conference to maintain its on-the-field dominance over its peer conferences considering their exposure disadvantages.

In 2006 the Mountain West spun an ESPN tv deal in favor of beginning their own network, the MountainWest Sports Network. The conference teamed with CSTV and Comcast for the network, often called the mtn. (pronounced "the mountain"). The conference ditched ESPN due to financial terms and the network's desire for the conference to play many weeknight football games and basketball games tipping off late at night. Currently the mtn. is only available through many western states cable providers. Neither DirecTV or the Dish Network carry the station (DirecTV will begin carring it for the '08 football season). Other football games air on CSTV or Versus. Some of the conference premier games this past fall aired Thursday night on Versus, a channel many sports fans aren't accustomed to flipping to. The BYU vs. TCU was a premier game, but aired on Versus Thursday night opposite West Virginia vs. Louisville on ESPN and was largely ignored. Meanwhile, some of the Mountain West's peer conferences are experience exposure like never before. The Mid American Conference was shown on tv almost nightly through the early parts of the week. The WAC conference's de facto title game earned huge ratings for a Friday night game. The conference recently moved the game between Boise State and Fresno State, the conference's' preseason favorites, to the last regular season weekend in hopes for another big ratings hit. The Mountain West earned a lot of its reputation by playing Thursday nights on ESPN. The conference needs a similar kick or it may be tracked down by the WAC and C-USA.

The four current Mountain West bowl tie-ins read like the outfield wall of a minor league baseball game: Pioneer Las Vegas Bowl, Bell Helicopter armed Forces Bowl, San Diego County Credit Union Poinsettia Bowl, and the New Mexico Bowl. TCU played in the Texas Bowl, filling a Big 12 tie-in. Along with these bowl's low status comes low payouts. The conference champion plays in the Las Vegas Bowl with a payout of $1 million. The three other bowls all payout under a million. There are only 10 other bowls that have payouts lower than $1 million. The bowls are played on unattractive dates. The Poinsettia Bowl is the first bowl played and the Las Vegas Bowls is played just days later, before much of the world is ready for bowls. The Las Vegas Bowls pits the Mountain West Champion against the fourth best Pac 10 team (fifth best should that conference get two BCS bids). The conference needs its champion to be playing someone better than a middle of the road Pac 10 school. The number two Mountain West team played the 6th place Pac 10 team in this past years Armed Forces Bowl, Air Force losing to California. However, for the 2008 season that bowl will be against a Conference-USA opponent. The remaining bowls are against non-BCS schools. These bowls allow little opportunity for the conference schools to gain national exposure and prove themselves on the gridiron.

Through all the difficulties, the conference's on-field performance has been great. The main reason for this is due to tremendous coaching. BYU's Bronco Mendenhall is quickly showing to be one of the nation's best coaches. TCU's Gary Patterson has been sought after by other major programs. Air Force's Troy Calhoun may have had the best season out of any first year coach. However, if the conference continues to lag in exposure, their coaches may begin to flow to other conferences. Utah was able to hire Urban Meyer from Bowling Green, a MAC school. That type of move could begin to look more lateral. It is important for the conference to improve its media and bowl situation before their coaches start to see greener pastures in other conferences. Otherwise it will be a hard trek back up the mountain to reestablish themselves as the elite non-BCS conference.

2007 1st Year Coaching Impacts

This past fall there were 22 new head coaches roaming the sidelines. Some had more success than others. Some may have appeared to be more successful than others. When you break it down, however, to see who had the greatest impact to their program you may be surprised at the results.

There are obviously many more factors that are needed to be looked at when judging the success of a 1st year coach (player development, signature wins, recruiting, etc.), but in terms of wins and losses compared to the season before Troy Calhoun from Air Force was a rung above the rest. Other coaches like Dennis Erickson, Jeff Jagodzinski, and Brian Kelly had wildly successful 1st seasons, but they were acquiring teams who had more success the season before. Falling to the bottom tier of coaches was Tim Brewster and Steve Kragthorpe. Brewster is one who hopes to follow Ron Zook's philosophy of focusing on recruiting to turn around the program. He had a terrible season at Minnesota, but was in the top 20 nationally in recruiting. The most disappointing coach was probably Steve Kragthorpe. He was hired almost instantaneously after Bobby Petrino left for the Atlanta Falcons, but never really produced results for a highly successful team from the season before. It will be an uphill battle for Kragthorpe this season without star quarterback Brian Brohm.

Below is the rankings of last season's new hires based on the number of games improved from the school's previous season's record. Half games occurr due to a different number of total games played between the two seasosn.

+/- games from previous season

+4.5 Troy Calhoun- Air Force 9-4 (6-2)
+3 Dennis Erickson- Arizona State 10-3 (7-2)
+3 Jim Harbaugh- Stanford 4-8 (3-6)
+2.5 Mark Dantonio- Michigan State 7-6 (3-5)
+2.5 Derek Dooley- LA Tech. 5-7 (4-4)
+2 Brian Kelly- Cincinnati 10-3 (4-3)
+2 Tom O'Brien- NC State 5-7 (3-5)
+1.5 Todd Graham- Tulsa 10-4 (6-2)
+1 Nick Saban- Alabama 7-6 (4-4)
+1 Butch Davis- North Carolina 4-8 (3-5)
+1 Mario Cristobal- Florida International 1-11 (1-6)
+0.5 Jeff Jagodzinski- Boston College 11-3 (6-2)
0 Bob Toledo- Tulane 4-8 (3-5)
0 Stan Brock- Army 3-9
-1 Gene Chizik- Iowa State 3-9 (4-8)
-1 Todd Dodge- North Texas 2-10 (1-6)
-1 Neil Calloway- UAB 2-10 (1-7)
-1.5 Randy Shannon- Miami 5-7 (2-6)
-3 Rob Akey- Idaho 1-11 (0-8)
-3.5 David Bailiff- Rice 3-9 (3-5)
-4.5 Tim Brewster- Minnesota 1-11 (0-8)
-5.5 Steve Kragthorpe- Louisville 6-6 (3-4)

Seattle Times "Victory and Ruins" Reaction

The University of Washington has had a tumultuous off-season. Following a last place finish in the Pac-10, there was much speculation over whether or not Ty Willingham would be retained. When the dust settled, Willingham remained on as coach, but Athletic Director Todd Turner resigned. However, perhaps the more damaging news came at the end of January, when the Seattle Times published Victory and Ruins, its special report on “the disturbing legacy behind the last great UW team.” The report focused on four players – Jerramy Stevens, Jeremiah Pharms, Curtis Williams, and Anthony Kelley. Each story is different, but they all point to a sobering conclusion – an athletic department was willing to place the law and academic integrity below the importance of victories. But what one must wonder about most is whether this was a special case because of the egregious violations, or because the Times took the time to actually research the allegations.

Jerramy Stevens, Jeremiah Pharms, and Curtis Williams were all stars on Washington’s 2000 Rose Bowl team. Unfortunately they were all also involved in various criminal activities during their years in Seattle. Given his transgressions since he joined the NFL, Stevens’ struggles are the most well known, but it does not demean the actions of the other two men. It is especially difficult to read the article on Williams, as it seemingly tarnishes the legacy of a man who passed away in 2002 following his on field paralysis during the 2000 season. In general, the stories show the extreme differences between the portrayal of the players in the media during their time at Washington, versus their actual off-field personas.

The story of Anthony Kelley was perhaps even more troubling. Kelley entered Washington as an academic non-qualifier, but as time went on he developed a love of learning. However, it was implied that there was a negative stigma attached to his desire to go above and beyond the minimum academic requirements. It is also inferred that his coaches were reluctant to let him study abroad even though the term did not interfere with the football season.

While the entire series is a troubling look into the seedy underbelly of a great season, it really makes me wonder how different it was at Washington compared to most BCS schools. Anyone who closely follows BCS schools hears about various “incidents” that happen throughout the year. While many of them are not as serious as those at Washington, they are, for the most part, swept under the rug. For example, most fans have read a glowing profile of some star player while noting that it glosses over some major character flaws. In addition, while Anthony Kelley’s story shows a certain disdain for academic rigors from the coaching staff, how many college football players do you know that have studied abroad while a member of the team?

The fact is that while the series may serve to tarnish the memory of the 2000 Washington Huskies, there is not any evidence that shows this was an isolated occurrence. There are probably many other successful teams that have a similar backstory as the Washington Rose Bowl champions. The Seattle Times did an exceptional job researching this series, and it will be interesting to not only see if it starts a nationwide trend in the upcoming seasons, but whether it effects some change at the college programs themselves.

Photo Legend: Leo "Dutch" Meyer

Leo "Dutch" Meyer was the head coach at Texas Christian University, his alma mater, from 1934 to 1952. Meyer had a great deal of success at TCU. He finished with 109 victories, 7 bowl game appearances, and a national championship in 1938.

However, Meyer's greatest contribution to the game of football was the "Meyer Spread" offense, which is now known as the Double-Wing formation. Meyer came up with the idea when he was able to enroll Sammy Baugh at TCU. Using Baugh's talents and the short pass, TCU was able to specialize in ball control. The success continued following Baugh when Davey O'Brien led the Horned Frogs to the national title.

Meyer served as TCU's athletic director from 1952-1963, and his legacy at the school was further cemented when the university named its basketball arena after him in 1961.