Flushing out the NCAA

A North Carolina legislator has had enough of organizations reacting to the state’s bathroom bill, by Gawd, and is ready to do something about it.

An N.C. House Republican says the NCAA and ACC have “stepped out of bounds” by moving sports championships out of North Carolina over House Bill 2.

Rep. Mark Brody, a Republican from Monroe, announced in a Facebook post Sunday that he’ll file a bill this week to address the boycotts.

Brody says his “Athletic Association Accountability Act” will “determine whether the NCAA and the ACC have violated their tax-exempt status by engaging in political or lobbying activities.”

“The NCAA and the ACC have allegedly engaged in excessive lobbying activities that exceeded their respective charters by using economic retaliation against NC for the purpose of forcing the General Assembly to adopt social legislation that is not connected to their core mission,” Brody wrote.

Tell us more, dude.

It’s unclear how Brody’s proposal would work, and his Facebook post offers no further details about his bill. According to the IRS website, nonprofit groups can’t have tax-exempt status “if a substantial part of its activities is attempting to influence legislation.” The groups “may engage in some lobbying, but too much lobbying activity risks loss of tax-exempt status.”

Brody isn’t the first Republican politician to question whether the boycotts should be considered excessive lobbying under Internal Revenue Service standards.

U.S. Rep. Richard Hudson of Concord brought up the issue when the ACC announced its boycott last year. “This blatant political move – less than two months before the election – brings into question their tax-exempt status,” he said in a news release at the time. “This is an avenue we intend to explore.”

As long as they don’t have to go exploring down Constitution Boulevard, anyway.  I doubt he really cares about the “more” part, anyway.  It’ll make for some tasty red meat to throw the bathroom-obsesseds’ way and that’s what really counts for now.  In the meantime, Stacey Osburn has no comment.

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UPDATE:  The nerve of some people…  poor ol’ Pat.

Guilt by association

It’s times like this that make you wonder what Joe Paterno might be facing were he still alive.

The former athletic director at Penn State University has pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor child endangerment charge for his role in the Jerry Sandusky child molestation case, more than five years after the scandal broke.

We’ll never know, of course, which may be a monumental blessing for his family.

“A green leafy substance suspected to be marijuana was seized…”

I guess it wasn’t oregano.

Nice try playing the athlete card, Riley.  That stuff only works in Tuscaloosa.

Always be ‘crootin’, a continuing series

I’m not sure we’ve ever heard anything similar said about another Georgia coach:

On one of his days down in the Sunshine State to visit recruits before National Signing Day on Feb. 1, Coley was on a small plane heading into Jacksonville en route to Miami. According to Jeff Pond, the defensive coordinator at Mater Academy – Coley’s eventual destination to visit prospect Latavious Brini – the aircraft was shifted off target during descent.

It created a difficult situation for the pilot, having to suddenly pull up and restart the descent into Jacksonville. While it was a scary situation and could have resulted in a bad outcome for Coley, he didn’t let it deter him from his duties.

He and defensive coordinator Mel Tucker made their way to Hialeah, Florida and Coley began speaking in Haitian Creole to Brini, who is of Haitian descent. From then on, both Pond and Brini saw the dedication from the Bulldogs’ key recruiter and it was those final efforts that landed the Florida defensive back.

Recruiting is an area that has been boosted by the addition of head coach Kirby Smart and his staff to Georgia’s program. That has been the case, especially in his first full off-season in which the Bulldogs landed a top-three recruiting class in 2017. But Coley has played an equal role as Smart has on the recruiting trail as his background has essentially opened up a new pipeline.

Not only is Coley’s focus on his own position group, but he has used his experiences with high school coaches around the Miami area to enhance the program’s future at any position possible.

Haitian Creole and Miami.  As long as there’s major talent coming out of South Florida and Coley can tap into it, he’s good for Athens, regardless of how well we think he’s doing on the coaching side.  Speaking of which, it might be a good time to remind everyone that his immediate predecessor was new to the job.

It’s one thing for a coach to talk on the recruiting trail and give players promises for playing time and numerous other things, but Coley has shown that those assurances can be kept.

That has displayed through a former Georgia player who worked under the coaching styles of both Bryan McClendon and Coley. Isaiah McKenzie brought a skill set to Athens in his three seasons before opting to head to the NFL. In his junior campaign, he was used increasingly under the direction of Coley as 73.3 percent of his receptions came in his final season at Georgia, in which he produced as the team’s leading receiver.

McKenzie saw a difference in the two coaches, and believes Coley’s brought a different kind of benefit to the offensive success.

“Coach Coley brought a lot of energy and positivity to the program,” he said. “Those two traits turned the receiving corps around completely. He encouraged us to be to each other and to have a positive outlook on the game of football as well as life in general. He puts his heart into coaching and teaching us. the energy speaks for itself.”

Just like Coley, McClendon was a good recruiter, but I have to say he didn’t show much in his only season as Georgia’s receivers position coach.  Has Coley been an improvement?  It’s hard to say, coaching wise, as one year on the job is a little unfair to both in making that assessment.  But Haitian Creole and that South Florida pipeline…

“We don’t have a set standard for what a strength coach should be.”

Willie Taggert’s offseason keeps getting buttah and buttah.

When three Oregon football players were hospitalized in January following a strenuous workout, they were being led by a strength coach certified from a track and field coaches association.

For a $245 fee, the U.S. Track and Field and Cross Country Coaches Association (USTFCCCA) offers a 21-hour strength training course to become a certified NCAA strength coach in any sport. By comparison, the widely-used Collegiate Strength and Conditioning Coaches Association (CSCCA) requires 30 times as much training — a 640-hour certification process.

According to the NCAA, that track certification was all that was needed by Oregon football strength coach Irele Oderinde, who was suspended for one month due to the January workout. But should it be? Four industry experts with more than 100 combined years of experience told CBS Sports they don’t consider Oderinde properly certified to be a football strength coach.

Oregon told CBS Sports that Oderinde and his staff may seek “additional certifications.”

More cowbell!

Florida State All-American safety Myron Rolle believes college football strength coaches need to be held more accountable.

“I’m a neurosurgeon now,” Rolle said. “Imagine if I walked into a patient’s room and I just took an online class to be certified, and I said, ‘I’m going to do your surgery today.’ That patient would say, ‘Get out of my room.’”

Oh, come on, Myron.  The man probably slept in a Holiday Inn Express last night.

A tale of two offenses seeking more

David Ching suggests that if LSU wants to run down Alabama, it’s going to have to abandon Les Miles’ pound and ground approach on offense.

… One, the conservative offensive strategy the Tigers brought into several recent Alabama losses produced historically poor results. Two, despite its overall recruiting success, LSU has not signed and developed sufficient talent at particular position groups (namely quarterback), widening the gap between the two programs when they have met head-to-head.

What’s standing in their way: LSU fans’ hope is that the coaching change from the Les Miles-Cam Cameron era to Ed Orgeron, offensive coordinator Matt Canada and a reworked offensive staff will be the spark that the Tigers’ offense needed. Miles’ philosophy generally produced winning results in recent years, but not enough to contend for the big prizes that his position demanded. Orgeron knows that modernizing the offense, specifically by moving away from the plodding rushing attack that bogged down in some of LSU’s biggest games, will be the key to his success. That’s where Canada comes in. The only 2016 Broyles Award finalist who coached offense, Canada posted big numbers last season at Pittsburgh and has built a solid reputation for developing quarterbacks and drawing up inventive offensive schemes…

This is interesting to a Georgia fan for a couple of reasons.  First, Canada succeeded Jim Chaney at Pitt when Chaney answered Kirby’s call to Athens.  Second, if this is indeed LSU’s cue to abandon its heavy run first approach on offense, it’s worth noting some relevant statistical details from last season.

Without looking, where do you think LSU finished in the conference in rushing attempts?  Nah, not even close.  The Tigers were 12th in the SEC in 2016.  (By comparison, Georgia was 4th.)  It turned out, though, that LSU was really good when it ran the ball, as it finished first in yards per carry, which was good for third nationally, at 6.09.  (Georgia, with Chubb and Michel, was an anemic ninth in the SEC.)

Now, LSU was a mediocre seventh in passer rating, so there’s certainly room for improvement there.  Whether Canada figures out a way to preserve the good in the run game while juicing up LSU’s passing attack would seem to be the big question.  One big area for improvement would seem to be just running more plays in general, as the Tigers were a horrid 125th last season in total plays.  That went a long way towards negating a very good yards per play average (13th nationally, tied with — wait for it — Pitt).  LSU was tops in the conference in that regard.

So if there’s a big jump in LSU’s offense, it may simply come as a result of Canada squeezing more snaps out of each game as opposed to some radical restructuring of offensive philosophy.  Sometimes being a genius can be as easy as not trying to do too much.

Meanwhile, back at the ranch, the Dawgs have something of a different issue.  Georgia was 58th nationally in plays run, but 86th in yards per play.  There is no fresh eye coming in to call plays, either.  If things are to improve, it’s going to have to start and go a long way with personnel getting better in the existing scheme. Will they is Georgia’s big question.

It will be interesting, to say the least, to see where the two stack up when all is said and done in 2017.

It’s never too early to start working the refs.

Bert’s got way too much time on his hands this offseason.

“This is why people are frustrated with the federal government, right here.”

An alert reader put me onto this:  somebody in Gainesville got carried away with the local high school color scheme.

Gainesville is being threatened with the loss of federal transportation funding because of the color scheme used for the newly-erected street sign honoring Gainesville High School graduate DeShaun Watson.  And, that has Congressman Doug Collins of Gainesville and Mayor Danny Dunagan seeing, well, “red.”

According to a press release late Thursday afternoon from Collins, the federal Department of Transportation’s Federal Highway Administration last week sent the Georgia Department of Transportation an email citing a code that “specifies the color of highway signs” and noted that Gainesville’s new sign is not in compliance with the code. The notice informed GDOT that a “failure to comply with the jeopardizes the future of federal funding” for the city.

The sign appears on DeShaun Watson Way, formerly Touchdown Drive, a side street leading to the high school and features white text on a red background in a nod to the Gainesville High school colors.

Never underestimate a politician's talent for making hay out of a minor bureaucratic matter, and you won't be disappointed.

“The DOT’s decision to respond to a small city’s celebratory act by threatening to withdraw its federal funding is an egregious example of abuse at the hands of federal bureaucrats. As many sections of our nation’s infrastructure are in disrepair, I am amazed that the DOT has prioritized targeting the entranceway of a local school,” Collins said.

"We're calling on them to fix this. My Deputy Chief of Staff has talked to them," Collins added.

...

Gainesville’s Mayor Danny Dunagan believes the DOT could have approached the issue more delicately.

“A nicer approach would have been to give our city 30 days’ notice to replace the sign before pursuing the nuclear option of federal defunding. Deshaun is a fine, upstanding member of our community and one of the greatest football players of our generation. Our intent was simply to honor him at the entry to our school,” explained Dunagan.

I suppose it was too much trouble to ask ahead of time for a waiver.

If Mark Richt and Mike Bobo hadn't ignored Watson until it was too late, this never would have happened, I tells 'ya.