College football 2019 offseason thread

He had at least six years left on a deal - Sumlin wasn't canned until November - maybe he knew the A&M gig was already his but it wasn't like there was another job out there that year where he would get paid more than in Tallahassee. AD sounds like a guy who got dumped saying his ex had put on a few pounds at the end.

 

It’s just a dumb charge to level. Like players didn’t get entitled under Bowden in the last decade he was there? Like there wasn’t multiple scandals?

Bowden has no presence in the story but he matters. He didn’t feel welcome when Fisher was there. Now he’s back in the fold.

 

Maybe. Maybe not. Remember that aTm is in a division with Alabama, LSU, Auburn and Mississippi State while, after Clemson, there's really not anyone in that division that's a giant threat to FSU. I think Jameis had more to do with the success of that program than Fisher, which probably explains why that goober went to the amazing lengths that he did to keep him eligible and defended him to the media. The bottom line is that Jimbo is a thin-skinned lil sumbitch who doesn't handle criticism well, and when fans started demanding assistants be let go and the university started demanding his players not be complete criminals the big, bad football coach got his fee fees hurt and left.

 

I don't care for Fisher. Never have. That said, he took over for a legend - a guy whose program had really fallen apart in his last five years there (average record for Bowden's last 5 years? 7.5-5.4. Yuck.) - and made it really good, really fast. That wasn't all Jameis Winston.

And a lot of coaches hate criticism. Taggart doesn't care for it, either. He big-timed an Oregon reporter before he'd ever coached a game there.

You know how many 9-win seasons Taggart's had? In 9 years? One.

Jimbo's had that many in one year at A&M.

He might be a jerk. Wins, though. Just like Urban.

 

With regard to UAB to the AAC. I'm don't intend to have much else to say about that. I posted on it once, and will leave it lie. No way to know what the AAC will do, and I find it unlikely that they take any public action for many months in any case. They're in the driver's seat and can afford to wait and see who will jump through the highest hoop to get there.

That said, I'm posting this because it is a remarkable public reversal on the part of the University of Alabama Board of Trustees. There is no way that this article is released without their knowledge and overt consent. Clay Ryan, whose tweet is attached, is an attorney who was a long-time fixer for the BoT before he became a Vice Chancellor. The UAB fans still have PTSD and hard feelings toward the board, and some don't quite believe what they're reading. They need to. This is a policy statement from an extremely powerful group who seldom puts such things on record. Lots of the UAB peeps are still trying to get their heads wrapped around this.

Now if ESPN will only decide they like the idea... um, nm.

 

Solid new take on Conference Realignment, 2019 edition. It seems well reasoned, and even if it isn't what I prefer to hear personally, makes good sense.

How to think about Conference Realignment in 2019

 

NFL draft bust Ryan Leaf to call college football games for ESPN

Now that is a freaking comeback, wow.

 

The launch of the SEC Officiating Twitter feed is going about like you'd expect, PAWWWWWWWL!

 

Is Alabama no longer the gold standard in college football?

My apologies if this was already posted. It sure does seem like he's blaming his assistant coaches for the team's flop in the championship game, doesn't it?

 

Wonder what this would do to game attendance. Getting up to go to a game would be like most people getting up to go to work in the morning. Bacon and eggs for tailgating?

Breakfast with the Pac-12? League exploring 9 a.m. kickoffs

 

Ugh. Any game that starts before 11 a.m. is an abomination, especially when they don't announce the start times until a week or two ahead of time.
I guess a 10 a.m. start (1 p.m. EST) is tough to pull off if Fox is trying to stack three games into its broadcast day, but a 10/3/7 PST schedule wouldn't be terrible, considering there are several teams in the Mountain Time Zone they could put in the early window to lessen the effect.