The money man

One thing you’ve got to say about Joe Cox – he’s more open about discussing what he brings to the table than any other quarterback of the Mark Richt era that I can recall.

As Georgia’s starting quarterback, Matthew Stafford developed a reputation for possessing a powerful arm and an ability make all the throws.

Joe Cox, in line to succeed Stafford this fall, just wants his throws to be on target.

“That’s always been something that I’ve had to pride myself on because I don’t have the strongest arm and I’m not a scrambler,” Cox said.

…

“Perrilloux has one of the craziest, strongest arms I’ve ever seen,” Cox said. “I’ve always had to work on my accuracy. That’s how I get by. I’ve got to be accurate, quick with my footwork and quick with my decisions and be on time.”

Mike Bobo describes the trade off from Stafford to Cox and what he hopes for this season.

“Matthew obviously has a bigger arm, but I think and hope off of production in practice and stuff like that, (Joe) might be more accurate and complete more passes,” offensive coordinator Mike Bobo said. “We may not have the bigger plays downfield with a big arm on a skinny post, but I think he’s capable of doing that. I just think he’ll complete a higher percentage. That’ll be my guess right now.”

Don’t forget that Stafford completed almost sixty-two percent of his attempts last year.  As I pointed out in another post, that was the highest completion percentage for a season of any Georgia quarterback who played under Richt.  According to georgiadogs.com, that’s the fourth best number of all time for the school.

Here are the top three:

1. Mike Bobo, 65.03% (1997)
2. Eric Zeier, 63,29% (1993)
3. Hines Ward, 61.61%, (1995)

(As an aside – God, I love Hines Ward.)

For some context, Bobo’s figure would have ranked seventeenth last year nationally.  (Stafford finished 37th.)  The point here being that a high completion percentage has never been that key a component of the passing attack in Athens.  Should we expect some changes in the offensive scheme if it’s now coming into significance?

And don’t forget that while accuracy has its place, it’s not the be-all and end-all of a passing attack.  After all, as Weiszer notes “Cox wasn’t named most accurate passer at that Elite 11 camp. That went to Jake Christensen, who played for Iowa.”

That would be this Jake Christensen.  Let’s hope things turn out a lot better for Joe Cox.

It’s the economy, stupid.

The AJ-C decides to indulge in a little salary bashing with this Steve Hummer piece featuring Andrew Zimbalist.  I don’t know what it is about how the laws of the market should somehow miraculously disappear when it comes to paying coaches, but these guys obviously believe they should.

… How much, then, is too much?

A thorny question, both practically and ethically.

Free marketers always will suggest that competition for talent drives the process.

That, of course, is the view within the coaching ranks, but it also can be heard out there in academia.

According to state figures, the highest-paid professor at Georgia Tech makes $385,000. At Georgia, the top pay is $271,000. That’s the peak. The average, obviously, is less. And aren’t professors the ones who really define the mission of a university?

Steve, ol’ buddy, when a professor can command a $100 a plate ticket, that’s when you’ll start to see salaries match up.

People don’t pay for “missions”.  If they did, sports writers would be paid more for what they write, since that’s the mission of a newspaper’s sports page.

“It comes down to, what is the value system of the culture?” Curry said. “In the value system of this culture, a coach who can go into a high-pressure situation and win big is worth a certain amount of money. If the value system were different, if it were predicated on accomplishment in academics or in social action or other important things, it would be a different system, obviously.”

Curry continued, “People who think coaches and [professional] players are overpaid, they’re in complete control in a free market and they always have been. All they have to do is not go to the games and turn off the television. [Salaries] will go down, that’s just a fact of life. Pay will drop drastically if you keep not watching.”

When Bill Curry winds up as your voice of reason, it’s time to change the subject.

Kiffin watch: a defense and a (potential) attack

Isn’t this nice.  A writer for the San Francisco Chronicle leaps to Junior’s defense on the “gas pumping” incident.  The Laner should be believed because he’s too young to know any better:

Kiffin has, however, denied saying that he told a recruit who rejected the Vols that he “would end up pumping gas for the rest of his life like all of the other players” who stayed in South Carolina to play ball.

We have to believe Kiffin on this. He’s only 33; he can’t possibly remember the era of full-service gas stations…

Um… the kid who accused Kiffin of making the statement is about half Junior’s age.  Wouldn’t the same defense apply to him, in spades?

By the way, is this the point where I should mention that there are two full service gas stations operating a mile from my house?

On another front, I’m surprised this has taken so long.  What have you guys been waiting for?