View From Bennett Avenue

A recent theme this time of year has been the importance of the 15 days of practice bowl teams get to prepare for their game. That these extra two weeks are unbelievably important to the future of the program, or at least that is what we hear from the head coaches of 6-6 teams trying to justify a post-season appearance.

But if that is true, why don't all programs get December practice time? After all, who needs extra practice time more than the teams who did not make a bowl game? Shouldn't Washington State get to improve in December as much as Oregon? It is like the draft order of professional leagues being reversed with the best teams picking highest. Give the Cougars some extra practice time!

MAC Raided Again

Fans of Pittsburgh football must have been a bit anxious this month as the program looked for a successor to coach Dave Wannstedt. Would athletic director Steve Pederson make the right call or do something boneheaded like choose the equivalent of Bill Callahan, as he did at Nebraska? It did not look good at first as Pederson--and how does he keep getting big jobs?--did not seem ready to replace Wannstedt, despite the buzzards circling around his coach since the team started the season 2-3 with wins over New Hampshire and FIU and losses to Utah, Miami and Notre Dame. Once West Virginia routed the Panthers 35-10 on Thanksgiving Friday, the ability for Wannstedt to save his job was long gone. But Pederson was not ready to pounce on both Al Golden, the head coach at Temple, and Dana Holgorsen, the offensive coordinator at Oklahoma State, who were rumored to be Pitt's top two choices as soon as Wannstedt resigned in early December. Worse still, West Virginia lured Holgorsen to Morgantown and Pederson had better hope that the Mountaineers do not hit a home run with that choice.

And so Pitt turned to Miami of Ohio head man Mike Haywood and gave him a five year deal. Now Haywood is a much different hire than Callahan as he does not have an NFL background and will not install an offense totally ill-suited to the talent at Pitt. He is an excellent recruiter, who has ties to Texas, and will install discipline to the Panthers program. Which is all well and good but I do not know if his two years at Miami were enough for him to establish Pitt as a Big East power. While Haywood's RedHawks impressively won their last five games, including three straight on the road and a huge showdown with Golden's Temple before upsetting Northern Illinois in the MAC title game, his record out-of-conference leaves something to be desired. Yes they hung with Florida early and even beat a lousy Colorado State team, but routs at Missouri and especially Cincinnati were rough. The Bearcats are a big rival of Miami and only finished 4-8 this year, but one of those wins was a 45-3 shellacking of Miami in mid-season.

That is only one game and hopefully Haywood will have the Panthers playing good ball from day one. With Notre Dame, Iowa and Utah on the schedule next year, he'd better be the best man for this job.

Sunshine State Hires

Now let me get this straight. Florida once went to a second-tier school to hire an ambitious, offensive-minded head coach (Steve Spurrier) and hit a home run. After a great run he moved on and the school hired an excitable defensive guy without head coaching experience (Ron Zook). That did not go so well. After he was fired the school then pounced on another ambitious offensive-minded head coach from a second-tier school (Urban Meyer) and hit another home run. He then retired. So, now needing to hire a new head coach, Florida again hired an excitable D guy without head coaching experience (Will Muschamp). Good luck.

As for Miami, I am a big Al Golden (pictured) fan and like the hire. He will recruit brilliantly and get the Canes D back to its past high level. For his sake I hope he recovers some of the recruiting losses Miami has suffered since firing coach Randy Shannon. It will be good to see the rivalry develop between the big 3 Florida schools and their new coaches.

View From Bennett Avenue

Every time I go to events honoring football greats the thank you speeches inevitably touch on the crucial role played by parents in the development of each athlete. The sacrifices and lessons imparted each shaped these individuals as much as god-given talent. And so it is a bit sad that the past two Heisman winners could not share the moment in person with their fathers--fathers who both loved their sons--for negative reasons. Hopefully this trend will not continue.

Remember When

I mentioned Jim Young the other day in such a positive light that I do not want his head to swell. And so 25 years after it happened, here is one of the more memorable recent Army-Navy clashes and a game that must still bother Young.

December 7, 1985

Navy 17 Army 7 (Philadelphia): On day he finished 7th in Heisman vote, Navy (4-7) TB Napoleon McCallum (in photo in other action) completed illustrious career with award-worthy show. McCallum rushed for 217y as Midshipmen outgained Army (8-3) on ground by 313y to 192y. Middies' finest moment was 58y drive on last possession that ate more than 5 mins of clock and ended with clinching 26y FG by K Todd Solomon. Navy's D highlight came late in 1st H with GLS that cost Army services of QB Rob Healy, who suffered separated shoulder on 4th-and-1 rush for no gain from Navy 2YL. GLS kept score tied at 7-7, where it stayed until 4th Q when Navy FB Chuck Smith scored winning 5y TD run with 8:26 left. Cadets FB Doug Black was held to 64y rushing to fall 50y short of consecutive 1,000y seasons. McCallum set NCAA records with 7,172y all-purpose and 1,137 plays all-purpose.

Army would go on to beat Illinois in the Peach Bowl to finish with nine wins for the first time since 1949. So Coach Young and his Cadets did gain some satisfaction that season--at least as much as you can get without beating Navy.

View From Bennett Avenue

I have a lot more to say about Urban Meyer but will save that for later. After all, his story ebbs and floes.

I wanted to drift back to the NFF press conference from the other day. Once the inductees and then Bill Cosby and Tom Brokaw spoke, the free-for-all to secure interviews before the next phase of the presser begins. It can be crazy. My main concern was Sam Cunningham, but he was surprisingly busy. I would have introduced myself to Marie Tillman, but she was nowhere to be seen. With many of the heavy hitters of college football journalists in attendance, plus a couple of tele-journalists, I tend to spend my time with the forgotten inductees. After all, my emphasis is on the history of the sport and therefore any Hall of Famer is a worthwhile story. And there was poor Mark Herrmann being ignored as any Purdue player from the era between the Bob Griese/Leroy Keyes teams from the late 1960s and Drew Brees would be. After I chided Herrmann for not getting an analyst gig with fellow Boilermakers Griese and Gary Danielson busy as such, we talked about his recruiting (wanting to stay local he chose Purdue over Notre Dame because he could play right away...as a Notre Dame fan I am forced to wonder how good the Irish could have been in 1979 and 1980 when they were rock solid everywhere but at QB) and about his coach Jim Young. Young and Hermann began at Purdue at the same time and together they rebuilt a program that had slipped to mediocrity after the heights of the late 1960s. By year two they were 9-2-1, beginning a string of three years that produced a 28-7-1 record with three final poll rankings and three bowl wins. Herrmann had nothing but praise for Young, who he credits with both his development as a future Hall of Fame quarterback and with instilling ideals in all of the Boilermakers of that era.

After finishing with Herrmann, I waited nearby Cunningham who was being interviewed. But there was a camera crew nearby so I needed to get something accomplished about a book i am proposing that would need a lengthy interview with Sam the Bam. And so, fortunately for me, I was able to spend some time with Charles Young, a classmate of Cunningham's at Southern Cal and a fellow member of the Hall of Fame. Despite being both a Trojan and an Eagle, Young is a great guy and instantly offered his services to introduce me to Cunningam. That had to wait until the current college players, finalists for the Campbell Trophy that honors a healthy mix of athletic achievement, academic success and community service, spoke. Once they finished--and the award went to DE Sam Acho of Texas (see Texas did win something this year)--I was able to talk to both Cunningham and Young for a long time about the book project, which as Cunningham points out, hopes to be accurate about the integration of the SEC. I'll write more about Sam the Bam and this book project in the off-season, after I do a full interview with the talented back.

Urban Meyer

What's to say? Once again he is not only stepping down as Florida coach but is talking about priorities and need to be with family. But why paint himself into that corner? And then when he takes the Denver Broncos job we will all come down on him again. And of the big three college football programs in Florida, Jumbo Fisher is now the coach with the longest tenure--1 year.
Hopefully for Meyer's family's sake he will spend more time with them. And hopefully for Mississippi State they will not have to look for a new coach this winter. It is my prediction that they will. I also feel that this will make Miami hasten their search so that the new guy can poach some Gator recruits. All's fair in love and coaching.