Happy Ash Wednesday (for those who celebrate it) to everyone, from a very cold Alabama Gulf Coast. It's been a good week down here, except the weather refuses to warm up. I have basketball thoughts, but first and foremost this is a football blog, so I'll start there.
The biggest news out of the Nebraska football program in the last week is the departure of Nebraska's defensive backs coach, Charlton Warren, to North Carolina. Couple things about this:
1. Can you imagine the revolving door the Nebraska defensive backs have been through; this will be the 5th defensive backs coach Nebraska has had in the last six seasons. That is not a good way to build continuity.
2. The loss hurts, mainly because he was Nebraska's best recruiter. As a matter of fact, he was recently ranked in the top 10 of Big 10 football recruiters. He was especially great for recruiting talent in the SEC footprint; Nebraska got a couple of players from there in this class mainly due to him.
3. For those freaking out about Riley and Nebraska not being able to keep him, settle down already. This is a case of who Warren knows as well as where he is from. Warren knows Fedora from his days at Air Force, and he is from Atlanta so with this move he is much closer to home. As with some things in business, it's not about what you know sometimes, but about who you know. Riley said Monday I believe that he will make Warren's replacement a very high priority...and I hope he puts his money where his mouth is, so to speak.
As I said, I'm in Gulf Shores, AL this week so I found it interesting that the Crimson Tide actually profited in money this fiscal year; $53 million to be exact. Meanwhile, their cross-state rival Auburn's football program made money, but the athletic program as a whole lost money.
Meanwhile, 14 West Virginia athletic coaches commit recruiting violations, yet no postseason ban for the Mountaineers after the NCAA "probed" them. Thanks a lot, NCAA.
Speaking of the NCAA, Mississippi State athletic director Scott Stricklin had some interesting ideas Wednesday; take away the long college football tradition of redshirting and give a player five years of eligibility. Or, make all freshmen ineligible unless they meet certain high school standards and if they do, they get that fifth year. This comes on the heels of several conference commissioners advocating making all freshmen ineligible.
From the National Football League, some tidbits: The Cardinals sign Larry Fitzgerald to a restructured two year deal. Now, if the Cardinals could just find a quarterback....
Meanwhile, Lovie Smith in Tampa Bay is "comfortable" making Jameis Winston the face of Buccaneer football. Good luck with that, Lovie. I've thought all along that he will be a bust.
Rex Ryan in Buffalo says addressing his QB situation is a priority. No crap, Rex. That's the only thing missing from a potential Bills run to the playoffs.
Speaking of Rex, his former team is looking at Josh McCown according to reports. Man, how many mediocre to terrible QBs can the Jets be looking at? They were looking at Ryan Fitzpatrick recently. If the Bills are looking at McCown too as reports indicate...yeah, good luck with that.
Another year, another salary cap increase for the NFL. Last year, it went up about $10 mil, this year it's going up about $7 to $10 mil.
Couple of basketball thoughts now. Duke-North Carolina rivalry resumes tonight...without Dick Vitale. Good. He talks about anything but the game.
Kentuck extends its undefeated season last night, but I think it might be best for them to lose prior to the NCAAs. There's a reason why no team has gone undefeated since Indiana in the 70s...too hard to do. The added pressure of the tourney would hurt as well.
Big game in Stillwater tonight for a pair of ranked teams (Iowa State and Oklahoma State), but especially for Oklahoma State after they got smacked around pretty good by TCU.
And finally, my pro team, the Rockets search for a point guard continues. They are interested in Phoenix guard Goran Dragic but the asking price would be high for a guy who would probabl be a rental player...probably a pick and two players.
Until next time.....
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