Wednesday, March 31, 2010

Hired!


Funny how things work out in the world of college basketball. Less than a month ago Tom Penders and the University of Houston beat Tony Barbee and the UTEP Miners in the Conference USA Tournament Championship. Since then, Penders was allowed to resign at UH as opposed to being run out the door by AD Mac Rhoades, Barbee left El Paso for a BIG RAISE and a high profile new gig at Auburn, and both schools have new coaches. One alumni base is giddy, the other is downright fuming.

UTEP probably could not have done better than hiring favorite son Tim Floyd. Floyd was the obvious choice when it became apparent that UTEP was not interested in bringing back Billie Gillespie. The 56 year old Floyd was an assistant under UTEP's basketball icon, Don Haskins. He has coached in the NCAA and the NBA, most recently as an assistant with New Orleans. Floyd has the support of the Administration, the Alumni, and even the Bear's widow...Tony Barbee left the proram in great shape and with any luck Floyd will be able to maintain and even improve on what Barbee started. More importantly for UTEP fans, Floyd has a history in El Paso going back to his earliest years, and could be for the Miners a coach that will stick around and leave a legacy rather than use the job for a stepping stone to something bigger.

Houston on the other hand is stunned at the hiring of James Dickey. Cougar fans have been salivating for weeks over the idea of nabbing former UTEP, Texas A&M, and Kentucky coach Billie Gillespie. So for AD Mac Rhoades to haul out James Dickey? A major disappointment. Dickey was a decent coach at Texas Tech, even making the Sweet Sixteen with Darvin Ham, Wil Flemmons, and "Leaping" Lance Hughes...but that was ages ago and Dickey is not thought to have very good connections with the kind of people that can help him bring top-notch talent to Hoffeinz Pavillion.
Dickey could turn out to be a great hire, but on the surface it looks like Houston really messed this up. First they don't seem to be on the same page regarding Gillespie, with Mac Rhoades wanting him but the University President not being so sure. They gave Sam Houston coach Bob Marlin no reason to think he was a serious candidate, prompting him to take the Louisiana-Lafayette job. They never seemed interested in UNT coach Johnny Jones, who not only has done a great job with the Mean Green, but has deep ties to Louisiana and could really do a good job recruiting the Bayou region.

Speaking of Bob Marlin, the Rajun Cajuns make a terrific hire. Marlin has proven his ability to get the most out of his players, and judging from what I saw from the Cajuns this season that is exactly what they need. U-La-La has athletes, they need someone to bring them together and teach them to win games. Marlin knows how to do that.

Coming soon...some thoughts on spring football, the second greatest sport in Texas next to fall football...in the meantime, Go Butler!

Monday, March 22, 2010

Madness Re-cap


From 65 to 16. The first two rounds of the NCAA tournament produced the requisite amount of surprises, shocks and expected routs. The state of Texas did not fare very well with only Baylor surviving to the round of sixteen. Baylor, however, had a pretty tough time just getting past Sam Houston State in the first round. A brilliant defensive strategy from Bearkats coach Bob Marlin which involved installing a triangle and two defense, kept the vaunted Bears backcourt off their game throughout. As a Southland Conference fan, I was extremely proud of the effort put forth by the Bearkats. They showed the country that the SLC is capable of producing a team that can play with the big boys. Now they just need a team to get over the hump and produce an upset in the first round.

Coach Marlin is being mentioned as a candidate for the head coaching job at Houston, another program that went out in the first round. Tom Penders steps down after taking his fourth team to the Dance and with a career 648 wins. The hot name in the Houston coaching search appears to be former Aggie coach Billy Clyde Gillespie but the Cougars could do much worse than to hire Marlin, a class coach who has proven he deserves a shot at the next level.

Another coach to keep a close eye on is Johnny Jones at UNT. Four 20 win seasons and two NCAA tournament appearances in the last four years will get your name out there. Jones has apparently interviewed at Auburn, an SEC school Jones knows well with his roots going back to LSU. Whether Jones jumps ship at UNT remains to be seen but two things are clear as we head into this off-season: 1) Jones would leave the program in far, far better shape than how he found it, actually making it the kind of job that would be attractive to up and coming young coaches across the country. 2) Even if Jones leaves, North Texas cannot go backwards, the next step for this program is to win an NCAA Tournament game and the Mean Green must make that their expectation. If Northern freakin' Iowa can get into the sweet sixteen, so can the Mean Green. The Bearkats and the rest of the Southland Conference should feel the same way after what we witnessed over the weekend.

As for the other Texas teams in the tourney, Texas saw their "Titanic" of a season finally sink mercifully to the bottom of the ocean. How one team goes from the highest of highs, to one and done is a great mystery of our time but it is one that Rick Barnes will have to figure out and quick.

Tony Barbee looks like he is building a solid program at UTEP. Barbee, a John Calipari desciple, is focused and intense, and not afraid to take chances on risky players like Derrick Caracter. It's a mind-set that could pay some big dividends or backfire miserably. If Barbee can run a clean program and continue to recruit well, the Miners could be a yearly participant in the Big Dance, and can generate a lot of excitement around El Paso, just as the programs in Las Cruces and Albuquerque have done.

The Aggies are taking a lot of heat for falling to Purdue, but honestly, the Boilermakers were placed as a fourth seed for a reason. Just because they were banged up and less than stellar down the stretch does not mean they can't play. The Aggies had a good year and are finally creating an identity all their own in College Station.

Baylor...well Go Bears. The last Texas team standing gets my support. Hopefully they will give us some exciting basketball this coming week. Love the backcourt of LaceDarius Dunn and Tweety Carter, but my favorite Bear is Quincy Acy, a player I had the chance to watch in high school. Tremendous hops on that young man and a good kid as well.

Wednesday, March 17, 2010

Not a Wash-out


To summarize: Ron Washington uses cocaine, just once, gets tested by Major League Baseball in a most unfortunate case of bad timing, tells his bosses Jon Daniels and Nolan Ryan, goes to all the right doctors, says all the right things, and apologizes to the known world when the story breaks nine months later. Got it? Good.

The question I find most intriguing...Who merits a second chance in America? People are coming down on both sides of the fence in the Ron Washington debate. Some say a 57 year old Skipper of a Major League Baseball team must have the common sense to never put himself in such a situation and should have been terminated on the spot. Some say the way he handled the situation shows contrition and maturity and therefore he should not be judged so harshly.

I heard someone say that Wash has done all the right things, and with the exception of snorting the coke in the first place, I would tend to agree. If it is true that this was a one time deal, that he made a stupid mistake that never happened before and will never happen again, I think I would have come to the same conclusion that Daniels and Ryan obviously did, which was to give Washington another chance. The consequences of that decision will be playing out in front of us all over the course of the upcoming season, which promises to be uncomfortable for Washington and his players for at least a few months. Every move Washington makes will be up for scrutiny from the front office, his team, the media and the fans. Hecklers from Anaheim to New York must already be working on their material for when the Rangers visit. These things could prove to be a mighty distraction or could prove to galvanize a manager with a team that knows a thing or two about guys being on the edge of the abyss. Was it a gamble for the Rangers to stick with Wash, absolutely, but betting on a good man is always worth the risk.

I am big on forgiveness, and yes big on second chances. Does that make me a bleeding heart? Maybe. Does it mean I have a heart. God I hope so.

Tuesday, March 16, 2010

Ah, the Madness


Here we go! Even before my obsession with high school football, I was infatuated with college basketball. Hours upon hours spent in front of the couch on the first two days of the NCAA Tournament watching my bracket go to pieces was a highlight of my year. I don't get to play hookie anymore but I still get very amped about the Tournament. This year it is especially exciting because seven teams from Texas are in the field including two teams that I have a close connection with, UNT (Alma Mater) and Sam Houston State (Southland Rep).

First let me say that all seven teams are deserving of the Dance. I am sure that the three Texas teams who received automatic bids, Houston from C-USA, UNT from the Sun Belt, and Sam Houston from the Southland, would not have made the field if they had not won their conference tournaments. That being said, winning a conference tournament is an accomplishment that is worthy of the automatic bid. As for the at-large bids (Texas, Texas A&M, Baylor and UTEP) I have no problem with any of them reaching the final 64, they all produced a body of work that merits post-season invitation.

I am very interested in two games that take place at the same time on Thursday. North Texas as a 15 seed taking on number 2 seed Kansas State in Oklahoma City, and 3 seed Baylor playing 14 seed Sam Houston State in New Oleans. The Mean Green are red hot and coming off a Sun Belt Conference Championship but is obviously a huge, huge underdog to the Wildcats of the Big 12. They say backcourts win in the tournament and UNT has a good one in Point Guard Josh White and SG Tristan Thompson, plus George Odufuwa can rebound with anybody. I can't sit here and predict a North Texas victory but there is no team I will be pulling for more than the Mean Green.

The Bearkats of Sam Houston State are right behind North Texas in my rooting interests. I really respect Coach Bob Marlin and the staff at SHSU and watching them for the last two years on the Southland Conference Television Network I have been impressed with the Bearkats style of play. They are agressive on defense, pass the ball extremely well and normally shoot well from the outside. They will need to be near perfect in all those areas to have a chance against the Bears. Gilberto Clavell will have to play much bigger than his 6-6 frame, which he usually does. Corey Allmond cannot have an off day. But if the Bearkats can play at their best, they can take down Baylor, giving the Southland Conference it's biggest basketball win ever including Northwestern State's win over Iowa in in 2006.

Had some thoughts up here about Tiger Woods returning for the Masters, but took them down. It has been my opinion from the beginning that what goes down between Tiger and Elin, or between any married couple for that matter, should stay between the couple and not become a media spectacle and fodder for talk shows. I can't stop the runaway train that is "Tiger Talk" but I can choose not to jump on. Jesus told the people about to stone an adulteress "Let he who is without sin cast the first stone". As Bob Dylan said: "It ain't me Babe".