In need of assistants

ESPN’s Bruce Feldman posts his list of the top ten intriguing new assistant coaches… without mentioning any current member of the Tennessee coaching staff.  Considering that he got up close and personal with Orgeron in the writing of his terrific Meat Market, that’s an interesting omission.

Meanwhile, much closer to home, he may not have been particularly intriguing before, but Coach Jancek is now, by virtue of being named defensive co-coordinator.  Whether that’s a reaction to the USF offer or something else isn’t known, but it’s probably safe to assume that there’s a raise in there somewhere.

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UPDATE: Richt says Martinez is the “tip of the spear”, whatever that means.  Sounds vaguely FSU-ish to me.

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A Wildcat doesn’t change his spots.

Give Bill Snyder credit for one thing, the man is consistent.  Back in the saddle as Kansas State’s head coach, he’s returned to the one tried and true method he always relied on to make his program nationally relevant:

Schedule the weakest possible non-conference schedule you can to puff up the win count.

Here ’tis:

Sept. 5 vs. Massachusetts
Sept. 12 at La.-Lafayette
Sept. 19 at UCLA
Sept. 26 vs. Tennessee Tech

Yep, that’s two games against 1-AA opponents.  The man has no shame.  And before you point out that there are two road games on the slate, remember that he just got there.  Give him a little time and he’ll make sure that doesn’t happen again.

Out of the mouths of…

I’ve got two great Junior-related quotes for you to absorb.

First, here’s what Gramps has to say about his boy and the whole Urban-is-a-cheater episode:

“Yeah, he screwed up,” said the elder Kiffin, Monte Kiffin, who also serves as Tennessee’s defensive coordinator.

“In Tennessee they liked it, but when it was out there on the ticker tape — ‘Kiffin says Meyer cheated!’ — it looked worse than it was … and Lane felt bad about it,” Monte Kiffin told the Sentinel in Monday’s edition. “I just hope people understand. He respects coaches. He wasn’t trying to come across as arrogant. He’s not arrogant. He respects Urban Meyer. He respects all coaches.”

Junior’s got a funny way of showing respect, that’s for sure.  And I’m guessing he’s going to feel a lot worse about what he said regarding Meyer after they face off in the Swamp this year.

Quote number two comes from the guy who used to occupy the throne Junior currently sits on, Steve Spurrier.

On Tennessee coach Lane Kiffin and some of the things he’s said?

SS: I don’t need to get into all that. People say I used to talk a lot. I guess any time you win a whole bunch, you talk more than guys who don’t win a whole bunch. But most of all my little mouthy things occurred during the summer when we were doing those Gator Club meetings. Those people want to hear something funny. Bobby Bowden always tells little corny Gator jokes every summer, and it wasn’t any big deal. When I said FSU stands for Free Shoes University, they interpreted that as a dig. Anyway, I guess that’s just the way it goes.

Translation:  run your mouth when you’ve accomplished something, keed.

It’s shaping up to be a fun year in the SEC, isn’t it?

Entrance ramp on the road to Hell

This is one case where I hate to say I told you so, but I told you so:

The Oregon Legislature plans to introduce a bill this week that would make it the first state in the nation to require universities to interview at least one minority candidate before hiring a head football coach.

House Bill 3118 is patterned after the NFL’s Rooney Rule, whose 2003 implementation helped transform the league’s head coaching ranks. The bill’s aim is to help diversify hiring in major college football, where just seven of 120 head coaches are minorities.

Rep. Mitch Greenlick (D-Portland) drafted the measure at the behest of constituent Sam Sachs, a former college football player and minority-rights activist.

This is where it starts, with well meaning “minority-rights activists”.  But it’s a damned slippery slope from there.  What happens if the six state schools don’t progress in a manner deemed worthy by the legislature?  More social engineering would be my guess, all for the greater good.

College football needs to get ahead of this one, before it’s too late.