Interesting take on the world of college football

John U. Bacon - an author, journalist and college instructor - wrote an interesting column in The Detroit News:

http://www.detnews.com/article/20110107/OPINION03/101070405/Michigan-football-is-big-business--and-players--coaches-pay-the-price

I felt that it deserved a thread aside from the Rich Rodriguez firing. It's a very interesting look at the incredible demands placed upon college football players and coaches. The pressure is amazing - but, then again, so are the paychecks for the coaches. And, these athletes are getting full-rides, something I sure as heck would have liked in college.

I worked alongside John in journalism and covered him when he was a prep hockey coach. He's a very good writer and a great guy. His book "Bo's Lasting Lessons" was a great read.

 

I'm thinking the book might be interesting, but the column really didn't shed much light, to me at least.

Coaches working 100-hour weeks? We've known that. Athletes spending their entire day either in their sport, or in classes? We've known that. College football's a big business? Well, we definitely know that.

Maybe it would have taken too much from the book, but I would have just written about Robinson's day, and plug the book. That, I found rather interesting.

He had three treatments for an injury. How long were they, and were they designed to get him back on the field next week, or for his long-term health? How much of his time was spent on football-related activities, and how much time was for academics? That, I'd be interested in.

 

He's sold one book based on that column:

 

It's easy to say, "Yeah, I have no sympathy for those guys. Look at their paychecks." Then there's the AP picture that shows Rodriguez and his son driving away from Schembechler Hall after the firing.

Rodriguez was not the right coach for Michigan. He should have been fired. That said, his son - what, 11, 12 years old? - looked absolutely crushed. All the money in the world, including a $1.5 M buyout - can't change the heartbreak of a child seeing his dad get fired.

It's proof that we're all human.

 

Why take your kid to your office when you know you're getting fired?

 

Funny, it looks a lot like a condensed version of what he wrote for the WSJ yesterday except they made two paragraphs out of the first one he wrote for that story.
And he used an Albomesque seven "I"'s in that stretch.
Pass.

 

Good point. Another photo showed his wife and daughter leaving Schembechler Hall the day before.

 

The way he was treated from day 1 makes me think he shouldn't have been hired.

And I will buy that book as well.

 

You guys ever have a coach you are really close to? I did, and I'm close to the coaches entire family. Chances are they wanted to say goodbye to the players who have been family to them for three years.

 

The story I desperately want to read is WHY it is necessary for these 18-hour days/100-hour weeks.

If you had chosen to work a 40-hour week last week, Mr. Sparano, exactly how much worse would the Dolphins have been beaten by the Patriots? What exactly did you accomplish in the 16th and 17th hours of those workdays that you can provide as tangible proof that the time was well served?

 

Or maybe he figured as long as he had a family member with him, they wouldn't be able to fire him.

 

That's what I meant when I said I didn't see the column shedding much light on the situation.

I've never quite figured out how coaches put in 300 plays, when they don't even use half of them, or they use a play once or twice a season. Seems like it's counterproductive.