Why we can’t have nice things

This is how we like to picture ourselves tailgating on North Campus:

This is how Michael Adams pictures us tailgating on North Campus:

You’ve got to admit that gentleman displays a pretty deft touch with the ol’ chainsaw.

John Theus’ importance, and why I’m nervous

It’s not that I disagree with Seth Emerson placing John Theus on his most important list.

It’s that I’m worried he’s underrated Theus’ importance at No. 8.

Imagine.

In reaction to yesterday’s news about the new Big 12-SEC postseason game, Paul Myerberg indulges in some romantic thinking.

This is a crisis moment for college football. It’s also a look-in-the-mirror moment for those who dictate the game’s ebb and flow: either the power-brokers – a Mike Slive, a Jim Delany, a Larry Scott, a Bob Bowlsby – can cater to their constituents, like a politician aiming for reelection, or they can do what’s best for the game itself.

What’s best for college football is equality. Don’t be scared of that word: it doesn’t mean socialism, and it doesn’t necessarily mean parity. It means that deserving teams get what they deserve; it means that regardless of the size of your stadium, your career winning percentage, your TV contract or the name on the front of your jersey, you get a seat at the table.

The new system, when in place two years down the road, should ensure that each of every program in the F.B.S. can play for the national championship. It must, for the sake of college football itself. Anything less would be a continuation of our current, flawed system.

First of all, there’s a real danger of getting way ahead of ourselves with this.  All I feel confident about saying right now is congratulations to the two conferences for pulling off a power play:  the Big 12 nailed the ACC badly and Slive has himself a nice bargaining chip to toss in when Delany’s constituents figure out what they really want besides Rose Bowl Forevah!  Besides that, who knows.  It’s too early to call this one item a game-changer.

That all being said, in response to Myerberg’s dream, sorry, not gonna happen.  Or at least not in the way he envisions.  There are too many wheels in motion, too many forces in play for a 120 or so-school FBS to survive.  Things like increased scholarship payments, multi-year scholarships and the end of AQ status for the postseason each on their own may not seem like much, but together they all point towards a sea change in D-1.

A separation between the NCAA haves and have-nots is coming.  The only question for some is on which side of the divide they’re going to fall.  Jim Delany has never been fond of sharing.  It’s ironic that the new postseason may turn out to be the vehicle that gets him his wish.

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UPDATE:  Yep.

Tony Gilbert to the Plains

It’s been rumored for a while that he would be leaving, but at least he’s wound up reuniting with his former position coach.

That completes a pretty radical transformation of Georgia’s S&C staff.

… All of the assistants working under second-year coordinator Joe Tereshinski have left in the offseason: Keith Gray to the Philadelphia Eagles, Thomas Brown (another former Georgia player) to a coaching job at UT-Chattanooga, and Rex Bradberry for a job with the U.S. Special Forces.

John Kasay Jr., who had served in a part-time role on the staff, has also left.

Tereshinski has said that he didn’t force anybody out, that everybody left for a better job. But with the positions open, he hired experts who give the staff an entire new look:

– John Thomas, ,who ran Joe Paterno’s strength program at Penn State for two decades, was hired as associate director.

– Sherman Armstrong was hired as a speed coach.