If a kid died on my watch or yours, we’d be in some real hot water.
At Maryland, it’s grounds for a big check and no hard feelings.
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Category Archives: ACC Football
We’ll always have Damon.
You know an article with a line like “Even if an athlete dies, it is unusual to put staffers on leave, and so Maryland was not outside the norm for not immediately doing so with Durkin…” isn’t going to be flattering, but, jeez, man, is it really necessary to drag Georgia into it?
Maryland’s athletics director, Damon Evans, is also relatively new in his position — and was a controversial pick. Before he left his job as athletics director at University of Georgia in 2010, he was arrested for drunk driving and told police, “I am not trying to bribe you, but I am the athletic director of the University of Georgia.”
The coaches at Maryland were likely pressured to win because of the institution’s fairly recent entry into the Big Ten, Smith College’s Zimbalist said. While theoretically the Big Ten’s TV contracts would yield Maryland more money, if the football team constantly loses games to powerhouses in the conference such as Ohio State University and the University of Michigan, fans and donors would be turned off, he said.
Creating a credible team would ensure the coaches stayed longer, and eventually likely lead to a better offer from another institution, Zimbalist said.
“Overwhelmingly, there are incentives to win,” he said. “I think that’s what’s going on.”
Gah.
Filed under ACC Football, Georgia Football
“from his scholarship with no restrictions.”
I dunno… shouldn’t this be, like, an NCAA violation, or something?
At a minimum, it has to offend Nick Saban’s delicate sensibilities. That ought to count for something.
Filed under ACC Football
As football goes, so goes our country.
Speaking of hold my beer moments, North Carolina’s Larry Fedora saw the tempest in a tea pot about Jeremy Pruitt’s character and decided to up the ante for attention at yesterday’s ACC media days with quite the hot take.
North Carolina head coach Larry Fedora questioned the validity of studies detailing football’s role in the onset of Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy, also known as CTE, a degenerative brain disease found in cases of repetitive head trauma.
It hasn’t been definitively proven that football causes CTE, Fedora said during his appearance at Atlantic Coast Conference media days, but the fact that the connection has been made has impacted how people view the sport.
Fedora also spoke specifically about how rule changes in college football are changing the game, and not for the better. As football goes, Fedora said, so goes our country.
“Our game is under attack,” Fedora said. “I fear that the game will be pushed so far from what we know that we won’t recognize it 10 years from now. And if it does, our country will go down, too.”
Thanks, Obama!
Fedora was just getting warmed up.
Fedora also relayed the following anecdote: He spoke with a general – military branch unknown – and asked what made America’s forces the strongest in the world. It’s because the U.S. is the only country that plays football, the general replied, per Fedora.
“I think because of the lessons you learn in the game of football relate to everything you’re going to do for the rest of your life,” Fedora said. “When we stop learning those lessons, we’re going to struggle.
Has anyone pointed out to the man that the majority of Americans have never played the game, or even watch it? I know, I know… forget it, he’s rolling. The sad thing is that there’s a legitimate argument to be made that the mad scramble to change football rules may be driven more by a desire to avoid litigation than to find things that are legitimately effective in preventing head injuries, but downplaying the CTE risk isn’t a sensible way to make such a case.
Then again, maybe this was just an attempt at shouting “squirrel!” to distract from something else.
Filed under ACC Football, The Body Is A Temple
You pays your money and you takes your choice.
Andy Staples tells us that Jimbo Fisher’s decision to leave FSU for Texas A&M was the result of an odd dichotomy.
Fisher wanted more upgrades, and Florida State’s odd organizational structure had begun causing friction. At most schools, the booster club is under the control of the athletic department. Even if the club is a limited liability corporation separate from the school or the athletic department, the athletic director ultimately decides how funds raised by the booster club are used. That isn’t the case at Florida State, where Seminole Boosters, Inc. CEO Andy Miller wields more power than athletic director Stan Wilcox. Fisher’s priority was a dedicated football operations building that would move the Seminoles’ day-to-day operations out of Doak Campbell Stadium, where student classrooms and player meeting rooms share hallways. That wasn’t Seminole Boosters’ priority, though. Fisher wanted to make his operation more efficient, while the booster club wanted to address the gameday experience for the fans who fund the booster club. So instead of starting work on a football building—something new Seminoles coach Willie Taggart likely will get in the coming years—$80 million went toward renovating the stadium. By the start of the 2016 season, Florida State had added a huge new video board, ripped out bleacher seats and replaced them with chairbacks and added premium areas in the south end zone.
Jimbo, of course, is another proud adherent of the Process, which makes me wonder if, between this story and what we’ve watched unfold at Butts-Mehre since Kirby came to town, that’s the choice presented to a school that chooses to bind itself to a Saban acolyte — spend on what the coach believes is best for the program, or spend on fan experience. What I can’t figure out is why schools like these can’t make the effort to appeal to both. It’s not like they can’t afford it.
Filed under ACC Football, It's Just Bidness
“Take a look at my actions.”
Anderson’s departure set up a familiar scenario for Evans, who was once again positioned to succeed a mentor who did not appear ready to go. Much the same thing played out at Georgia, in 2004, when Evans succeeded Vincent J. Dooley, a legendary Bulldogs head football coach whose contract as athletics director was not extended as he had hoped.
Asked if he feared being seen as opportunistic, Evans said, “I’m grateful for the opportunities I’ve been presented. Kevin Anderson brought me here, gave me an opportunity, a second chance. And I want this to be stated: He gave me a chance when no one else or very few people might have given me that opportunity, and I’ll never forget that.”
Maybe we should start referring to him as Damon “Lather, Rinse, Repeat” Evans.
Filed under ACC Football
Today, in searing hot takes
In case you haven’t heard yet, Maryland is set to name Damon Evans its next athletic director. [Insert snarky red panties comment here.]
Chip Towers is positively thrilled for him.
Ummm… who’s this “you” you’re referring to, Chip? I doubt anybody down our way cares one way or the other. By the way, couldn’t you have at least modified “setbacks” with the adjective “self-imposed”? There’s nothing more impressive than watching a guy pull himself up by the same bootstraps he used to hang himself first.
Meanwhile, back in reality, here’s a take that really is hot.
I wonder if Evans authorized the expenditure. LOL.
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UPDATE: I’m gonna run this one up the flagpole and see if anyone salutes it.
Filed under ACC Football, It's Just Bidness, Media Punditry/Foibles
