Saturday morning- growing up that meant superhero cartoons with my siblings and staying in my pajamas as long as possible.  Years later it meant something was horribly wrong, since I was never awake by noon on Saturday.  Now . . . → Read More: The Dark Side of Signing Day]]>

The players deserve the pageantry, because the schools take control as soon as its over.

Saturday morning- growing up that meant superhero cartoons with my siblings and staying in my pajamas as long as possible.  Years later it meant something was horribly wrong, since I was never awake by noon on Saturday.  Now it appears it means a new timeslot for this column, joining Lindsey for your weekend BSR content.  So grab a bowl of cereal, try to ignore how much less appealing Batman, and X-Men cartoons are now than they were 20 years ago and enjoy Broken Bat’s move to Saturday!

By this time next week we will have hit college football’s signing day, the most overhyped ESPN-manufactured event since, well, every NFL Draft and “The Decision.”  Thousands of college kids will announce and sign their letters of intent, and committing themselves in writing to attend that particular university.  Well, at least to try to attend that university.  You see, the university is in no way bound to honor that letter of intent if it turns out they don’t have enough scholarships to offer to all the players they signed.  You would think that the head coaches would know how many scholarships they have and only agree to have that many players, but, well, math isn’t quite their strong suit I suppose.  I won’t beat a dead horse too much on this farce of oversigning, since other sites have it covered pretty well.

However, there is one part of the letter of intent itself that makes it more insidious than merely one-sided.  The scholarship is only offered on a one-year basis, and must be renewed each year by the team.  If a player isn’t performing on the field, even if he has incredible grades and is a model citizen, the coaches can elect not to give the player the scholarship, often the lone means for these athletes to attend college.  They must find another school willing to take them or try to afford the rest on their own.  Now, this doesn’t happen to most athletes, but simply the fact that it happens to any athletes should make our skin crawl as we shell out hundreds of dollars a year for tickets, gear, and television packages to support programs that are academically-based in name only.  The only side committing to anything lasting is the athlete, who must sit out a year if he chooses to transfer (unless he is going to an FCS program).

As Taylor Branch pointed out in his brilliant piece in The Atlantic, there is a simple solution: allow universities to offer longer scholarships.  Suppose Toledo was willing to commit to a player for four years and Ohio State could only commit to two years- certainly that would weigh on a player when he saw the depth chart and the likelihood he could be seen as expendable and dumped from the team for some arbitrary offense or imagined injury to free up a spot in a couple years.  Of course allowances would be made to remove a player who was failing or did something particularly heinous, but in general it would force universities to make the same commitment to their players that the players make to them.

An open market would not change the landscape much in the recruiting process after a few years I imagine, as most schools would simply get on board with a maxed-out four or five year scholarship, but at least student-athletes would be secure in knowing they will be given the opportunity to complete their degree at the university they have chosen, regardless of whether the coaches had a better prospect at the position down the line.

Signing Day has gotten more coverage every year, as millions of fans wait with bated breath to hear what a 17-year-old has decided to do with the four playing years he probably has left after being barraged by fans, fast-talking coaches and shady middlemen.  Most top prospects have already taken their decision to LeBron-esque heights, and you know what, they should have their fun.  They have been given pretty much all the control in picking their school and in some way or another they have earned it.  They should enjoy all the pageantry, games and momentous anticipation of their decision, because as soon as they sign their letter, that control flips completely.

Fielder isn't the only one swinging for the fences and hoping not to strike out.

noon and Monday morning.  However, I am not the only one procrastinating- Prince Fielder is . . . → Read More: Boras to Blame if Fielder Fails to Cash In As Suitors Dwindle]]> Well it looks like I am delayed today, which means that at least there will be some fresh sports content between Friday at

Fielder isn't the only one swinging for the fences and hoping not to strike out.

noon and Monday morning.  However, I am not the only one procrastinating- Prince Fielder is still on the market and while the Orioles are most certainly not in the running for his services (even Washington is more competitive and there is no doubt they would back up the Brinks truck for him) he will have a significant role in some team’s long-term future.  Personally I am rooting for him to join the Rangers, a team that would seemingly be strung as far as they can go after their Yu Darvish signing, but Tom Verducci has a very compelling idea of how they could go after him by offering him an opt-out after three years.  Regardless, this is another example of Scott Boras taking a big risk and hoping it pays off.

There is a reason why star players tend to be signed by the time people are making Spring Training flight reservations.  For one, teams aren’t going to wait forever in the hopes of getting that one free agent, so uncommitted payroll dries up quickly once the buying begins.  There will be a few initial signings to set the market and then players will move around that.  Boras has known Fielder’s price for a while, but he didn’t become a superagent by taking the market value for his players.  He is the kind of agent who sets his own price and dares the team not to sign his player- which is great, unless the team moves on.

Look at what happened with Ryan Madsen.  The Phillies may or may not have offered Madsen a four-year, $44 million extension, which blew up as Boras held out for more.  Instead the Phillies broke the bank on Jonathan Papelbon while Madsen was left scrounging for a one-year deal with Cincinnati.  Just a couple years ago he talked a big game for Johnny Damon, getting an allegedly $14 million offer from the Yankees.  When Boras wanted more, Damon wound up signing with Tampa Bay for $5.25 million on a one-year deal.  This type of brinksmanship comes with definite risks, because if the player waits too long then suddenly he is at the mercy of a market where teams have satisfied all or most of their needs without their services.

Fortunately for Fielder, he has at least one team more than willing to spend for him.  The Nationals, desperate for more television viewers and attendance, would almost guarantee at least a $180 million, 8-year deal a la Mark Teixeira.  He would get them exactly what they want in terms of hype and be a great battery-mate for Bryce Harper.  Perhaps the very presence of the Nationals allows Boras to leave Fielder dangling and hope for more.  But if Washington is smart they will recognize that there aren’t too many teams who are desperate enough for a first baseman with a great bat and mediocre defense, despite being an All-Star player.

First basemen are easy to find, and the aging, bargain basement power-hitting first baseman/DH is almost a cliché.  If a team isn’t really hurting for a game-changer they may easily be content in late January to just sign a one-year stop-gap and hold off on the franchise-altering moves.  There is a major question as to whether Texas would even be inclined to add payroll even if they could afford it in 2012, given the commitments made (or need to be made) to Josh Hamilton, Adrian Beltre, and others.  If Texas can’t come close to offering a competitive deal to Fielder then what is to stop Washington from offering a sub-par deal except to keep Fielder happy long into the contract.

At the end of the day, Fielder is too good not to get nine figures, but players who aren’t quite at that level may want to think twice before they put their faith in a boom or bust agent like Boras.  He is the best in the business for what he can get, but he may be the riskiest for what he passes up.

How exactly is this the best MLB could do?

despite all of the upheaval and utterly moronic moves by culturally and psychologically cloistered commissioners, they seem to live on in . . . → Read More: Selig’s Extension Shows Invincibility of Even the Worst Commissioners]]> I am curious: what exactly does it take for a commissioner not to be considered a hero by his owners?  In recent years,

How exactly is this the best MLB could do?

despite all of the upheaval and utterly moronic moves by culturally and psychologically cloistered commissioners, they seem to live on in their positions, promoted not only to incompetency but far beyond it.  When Bud Selig announced that he was coming back through 2014 for another round overseeing the demise of America’s pastime, I found myself wondering whether being a commissioner might be the easiest job to retain in the country.  As long as the commish is content to be a puppet of the owners behind the scenes and a Generalissimo in front of the cameras, he can do whatever he wants as Americans continue to eat up all the sports content they can get, though their tastes waver between the sports.

You would think that perhaps if franchises are losing money or the sport is losing market share to the other major sports that that could be a reason to get rid of a commissioner.  It would make sense after all- if the commissioner’s job is to oversee the league and the league starts to struggle, then like any CEO he is out.  But that may be the best part about the modern-day commissioner.  When push comes to shove, he can always blame the players.  Yes, blame the players for the insane salaries that the owners choose to pay them, and blame the players for the decline in revenue when teams negotiate TV deals and ticket prices.  Yes, blame the players for the poor business practices that allow teams to limp along collecting paychecks through revenue sharing.  After all, it is far easier to blame the employees than to look across the table at your fellow owner and handle the problems in-house.  The commissioner can act as a foil for the owners, and like any charlatan can rustle up enough anger to create a showdown at the next collective bargaining negotiation.

But Bud Selig hasn’t had a work stoppage in some time, so at least he has that going for him.  And no, I don’t hold him responsible for the Marlins and Pirates (at least, likely many more teams) lying about their profits to get local citizens to pay for their ballparks.  I don’t even hold him responsible for baseball losing its place as the #1 sport in America.  The rise of college football has fed the pro game to some extent, and I will be charitable in not penalizing MLB too much in not marketing itself with the same ability as the NFL.  On the field however, Selig’s work is sloppy at best, decisions made late or not at all.  Even leaving the steroid crisis aside (one that he was tacitly responsible for and has done his best to declare “over” long before any action had been taken), Selig has neglected and in some cases damaged the game on the field.

After numerous questions about instant replay for safe/out calls or plays at the plate, Selig assembled a committee to review on-field activities.  They were formed over a year ago, and not a peep heard since.  It is his favorite past-time, I think.  Not baseball, mind you, but forming committees to silence the critics then never taking action.  He did the same thing with the steroid issue at first before it exploded in his face.  Looking back he was a lot like BP executives when they kept underestimating the amount of oil spilling into the gulf but each time reaffirming that this is the final, accurate number.  He had the All-Star game called a tie, and then years later declared the winner of the All-Star game to have home-field advantage.  He never answered the simple question of what would happen if another All-Star game lasted that long; he just hopes it doesn’t happen again.  One day he is willing to make a tie in baseball, the next he tries to declare that game eminently meaningful.

But I suppose those on-field blunders don’t cost the owners money, but they will eventually when fans care even less than they do now.  But with such a player-friendly labor system in place, he has plenty to fall back on if anyone ever threatens to blame him.  He can always blame the players.

None of this explains how David Stern of the NBA or John Marinatto of the Big East manage to keep their jobs.  Stern has seen his league retain its inaccurate image of a league of thugs while his heavy-handed measures only alienate his players.  Sorry David, but a dress code doesn’t make someone make wiser decisions with their lives.  Marinatto has seen his league utterly collapse while teams bolt to anyone who will take them, becoming so unattractive that Air Force actually turned them down.  I could go on, but I can’t help but think I made the worst career choice ever.  I should be on the fast track to being a commissioner.  All I need to do is lose all respect for the sport and I should have the greatest job security short of the federal government.

Well, it looks like Penn State finally has their man.  Of course, by “their man” I mean “someone who was willing to take the position.”  Bill O’Brien won’t inspire wonder in the hearts of . . . → Read More: O’Brien’s Success Hinges More On PSU Administration than His Coaching]]>

Bill O'Brien's job will be much easier if his administration is able to reform its practices and prevent another Sandusky.

Well, it looks like Penn State finally has their man.  Of course, by “their man” I mean “someone who was willing to take the position.”  Bill O’Brien won’t inspire wonder in the hearts of Penn State fans or recruits though his resume is certainly one to respect as a head coaching candidate.

He has served in a host of assistant roles in college at programs like Georgia Tech, Maryland and Duke, which will be helpful if he hopes to reach outside of Pennsylvania to recruit the fertile southeast.  Despite the history of Belichick assistants flaming out as head coaches (see Charlie Weis, Romeo Crennel, Josh McDaniels, Eric Mangini, etc.) it is certainly not a poor background to have.  If nothing else, the heavy-handed dictatorial approach that Belichick assistants tend to have would serve him well in a place that needs a head coach with firm control over every aspect of the program after decades of moral decay and stagnation.  At the end of the day however, we have no idea what kind of a head coach Bill O’Brien will be, and to me that will be far less important than what kind of university Penn State decides to be.

It is no secret that O’Brien was at best Penn State’s fourth or fifth choice, and that’s just among candidates they bothered to ask.  The Penn State brand will be damaged for decades, but I for one do not believe that the football program will be harmed irreparably.  The team itself is not among the elite of the Big Ten, but with one more win they would have still made it to the Big Ten championship game.  With Ohio State ineligible and Wisconsin breaking in a new quarterback (with a new offensive coordinator), the Nittany Lions could very well find themselves playing for the conference title at year’s end.  Penn State still owns the state of Pennsylvania for recruiting, which isn’t quite as fertile as Ohio or Virginia but has plenty of talent to keep a program like PSU afloat.

But none of this will matter if the university fails to take responsibility for their actions (or lack thereof) during Jerry Sandusky’s decade of terrorizing young boys under the facilitation and tacit acceptance of Penn State University officials.  They must go beyond giving an apologetic press conference and implement sweeping reforms to ensure it never happens again.  Too often universities simply jettison the most guilty parties and wash their hands of the situation, failing to make the necessary institutional adjustments needed to prevent such malfeasance from happening in the future (looking at you, Ohio State).  It is a move of damage control that points the finger at the man who is no longer in the room, expecting that getting rid of the most sick will get rid of the disease.  There is a reason why Sandusky was able to begin his behavior in the first place. Penn State was running a system of cronyism that saw one of its few voices of accountability and discipline in Dr. Vicky Trioponey ostracized and ultimately pushed out of her position as the university’s standards and conduct officer for expecting players to face the same penalties as other students.  All the while, the cult of football was followed at the expense of unbiased oversight.

Bill O’Brien may simply wind up a caretaker for a program that has been through a great deal off the field while remaining competitive on it.  He may stay for a few years and be fired for a more accomplished coach as many suspect.  If the university goes that route it may be yet another sign of what is most highly valued in Happy Valley- wins.  That would be unfortunate for a school that has built its football reputation on building men of character on and off the field.  Perhaps it would be better for university officials to think of what they need to do to become men of character.  Even if they were not responsible directly or indirectly for the Jerry Sandusky scandal, they would be wise to remember that it is their responsibility to ensure that it cannot happen again.  This will demonstrate to fans, boosters, and recruits that the university is committed to creating a safe, scholarly environment and has an administration committed to more than the bottom line.  Doing so will take time, energy, and the loss of some egos, but should pay off in wins and donatios down the road.  That may require breaking up the boys club in State College and allowing some outside parties to hold all parties more accountable.  If the alternative is providing a window- any window- for another Sandusky to do his work on university property and with university resources, it is well worth the cost.

If you squint really hard, it almost makes sense.

Bowl and starting the 2011 season 13-0.  There was the thrilling baseball season that saw the Cardinals and Rays get . . . → Read More: Conference Expansion Will Create Brand New Problems in 2012]]> 2011 was a strange year in sports.  There was the Green Bay Packers reclaiming their spot among the NFL elite by winning the Super

If you squint really hard, it almost makes sense.

Bowl and starting the 2011 season 13-0.  There was the thrilling baseball season that saw the Cardinals and Rays get in on the last day of the season and the Cardinals end Tony LaRussa’s career with a championship (and, incidentally, Albert Puhols’ St. Louis career).  College football’s Jim Tressel was fired/resigned/retired (depending on which Ohio State statement you choose to read) in disgrace after lying at least 4 times to the NCAA, one time to get his star players eligible for the Sugar Bowl.  The NBA and NFL both hit lockouts, but only NFL fans seemed to care (hopefully that was a wake-up call to Emperor Stern).  VCU and Butler joined the Final Four, making for one of the most confused and bracket-busting of NCAA tournament memory.  And of course, in the saddest of news, Penn State stood by and allowed Jerry Sandusky to molest children in their football facilities for at least a decade.

However, the 2011 story that fans will see the most impact in 2012 may have been the most transparent act of self-preservation of all- conference expansion.  The Big Ten and Pac-12’s new deal to pair their teams against one another once per season starting in 2017 marks a clever answer to the ongoing problem with conference expansion- how big is too big?  Conferences are pressured to expand, but they struggle at the point at which any geographically reasonable addition would dilute the individual value of each participating school.  Adding a school to a conference makes little sense unless that school can bring in more money than the average current school in the conference.  The SEC may have made that very mistake in force-feeding Missouri to the SEC East as a needed response to adding Texas A&M to the West.  The Big Ten, finding no schools that would add significantly to their coffers, partnered with another stable conference to expand their brand out west and use those games in lieu of a 9^th conference game.

Of course, 2011 saw conferences also choose to ignore the “geographically reasonable” part of the equation that for the longest time seemed inherent in the definition of conferences.  The Big East now consists of teams in Idaho, California, and Texas, and the Big 12, whose footprint has always been Texas, Oklahoma, and the rest of the Great Plains, now has West Virginia in its scope of influence.

The ACC, as we have said at BSR, seems to have gotten it right in expanding to 14 teams while maintaining (though slightly expanding) their geographic footprint in New York and Western Pennsylvania, two incredibly large media markets.

We thought things had stabilized somewhat going into 2011 as well, with the Great Realignment never coming to pass while the Pac-12 just adding Colorado and Utah and the Big Ten adding Nebraska.  This year the one conference that had the least need to expand- the SEC- was bolder than anyone.  The Big East seems to have come up with a decent amalgamation of football and basketball schools to avoid being poached again this year, albeit mostly because every school that other conferences would want to poach was already taken in 2011.

However, this is all in flux if the BCS elects to get rid of automatic bids to BCS games, as expected.  If/when that comes to pass, what is Boise State’s or any other school’s reason to stay in a conference that requires them to fly all over the country and take on tremendous expense just to face a strength of schedule that is only marginally stronger than the Mountain West?  I would be surprised if the Big East survived as a football conference if the automatic bids were eliminated.  The teams out west may yet realign once again to form a “best of the non-Pac-12” out west while Conference USA (which seems like a better name for the new Big East actually) and the Mountain West continue to hash out the details of a merger of remaining pieces.  Stay tuned, there are over a hundred years of tradition and history to deal with, and until it is all converted into cold hard cash don’t expect conference realignment to slow down.

There has been a lot of consternation this morning about whether Indianapolis has ruined their chances at the Andrew Luck sweepstakes, but frankly I am not sure I would be nearly as concerned.  Even if Indy . . . → Read More: Colts Victory May Put Luck in Jeopardy, but Indy Needs More than a QB to Win]]>

Colts will need more than just Andrew Luck to turn 2-12 into a playoff season in 2012.

There has been a lot of consternation this morning about whether Indianapolis has ruined their chances at the Andrew Luck sweepstakes, but frankly I am not sure I would be nearly as concerned.  Even if Indy should lose out on the #1 overall selection, there is a good chance they may still wind up with Andrew Luck and even if not, end up with a player who might be better able to turn this team back into a contender in 2012.

I don’t need to list the quarterbacks taken #1 overall since Peyton Manning went in 1998, but I will anyway.  They include a few gems like Michael Vick (though he needed a prison stay to get his mind straight), Carson Palmer, Eli Manning, Matt Stafford, and Cam Newton (Sam Bradford will need to turn things around next season).  But just as often, they include duds like David Carr, Tim Couch, and JaMarcus Russell (jury is still out on Alex Smith).  Even among the gems, only Michael Vick and Eli Manning could be considered among the elite NFL quarterbacks right now; Palmer hasn’t been close to elite in years.  But Andrew Luck is different, right?

Maybe.  Probably, in fact.  He may very well be the perfect heir for Peyton Manning or some other struggling franchise.  He played behind an excellent offensive line and had a great running game, which allowed him to showcase his skills in an ideal environment.  Perfect, except that the NFL is not an ideal environment and certainly not in Indianapolis.  No team goes from 10+ wins in 9 consecutive seasons to a 2-12 record because of one player, even if he is the best quarterback in the NFL.  Defense, the running game and some talented skill position players should be enough to eke out 6 or 7 wins with a talented core.  That means that Indy’s problems likely run much deeper than who the quarterback is.  This offseason they will likely lose the effective Robert Mathis, putting even more pressure on Dwight Freeney.  Reggie Wayne may depart given his age and likely contract demands, along with the increasingly effective wideout Pierre Garcon and versatile lineman Ryan Diem.  This team has a lot of places it will need work even without these exits, and being that the Colts are already one of the most capped-out teams in the league, they won’t have the money to rebuild on the fly.

But this isn’t an Indianapolis blog.  The point is that Luck could slip past Minnesota and St. Louis, should it fall that way, since both have young starting quarterbacks they have already invested in and feel pretty good about. Then again whoever winds up with the #1 overall pick should happen to trade it to a quarterback-desperate team like the Redskins (who have no qualms about trading their picks away), Dolphins, Jaguars (Gabbert is not the answer), or even Seahawks.  In fact, one thing I love about this draft is the utter depth at quarterback.  Beyond Luck however there are a half-dozen quarterbacks who could be taken in the top couple rounds and become legitimate stars in the NFL, from Heisman winner Robert Griffin III to Landry Jones (if he comes out), Russell Wilson, or even Kellen Moore, Case Keenum or Brandon Weeden.  In fact, odds are good that at least one of these players will emerge to have a better career than Luck.  That isn’t a knock on Luck, it’s just how these things tend to shake out.

At this point in the season it is far more important to put your team in a position to win in 2012 and determine what tire fires on this team need to be put out first.  Sometimes when everything has gone bad, as it has for the Colts, it is tough to see where your biggest needs are.  Quarterback is certainly the most glamorous position, but it is also the one most dependent on how other positions perform.  If you lack a decent offensive line it is near impossible for a quarterback to be successful, and if you lack a running back with good vision the defense will be able to sell out on the pass.  Quarterbacks need to be in the right situation to be successful.  Look no further than Matt Cassel in Kansas City.  He was around all kinds of playmakers in New England and had a good deal of success, and now only able show flashes of that brilliance with the Chiefs.  On the opposite end of the spectrum Kurt Warner was taken apart in New York to be declared washed up by everyone except for the Cardinals, who offered him the right system, talented receivers, and enough of an offensive line to showcase his abilities.*

Sure, there are quarterbacks who can see through those years and take the beatings until their team can improve, quarterbacks like Peyton Manning when he joined Indy.  But by and large quarterbacks aren’t much good without a supporting cast. So play on and go for the win, cellar dwellers.  Top QBs are like the star on the top of a Christmas tree- you need one for the tree to be complete, but without a strong tree they are bound to come crashing down.

*How well would Tebow be doing without a stellar defense that allows him to keep games close?

This time of year everyone is getting gifts to tap into the heart of what makes us happy, and in doing so they think about what defines us as people.  Like it or not, we are defined- and define ourselves, . . . → Read More: Sports Gifts Can Reflect More About Us Than Our Fandom]]> A little off the beaten path today, but who says I can’t get seasonal?

This time of year everyone is getting gifts to tap into the heart of what makes us happy, and in doing so they think about what defines us as people.  Like it or not, we are defined- and define ourselves, by our sports allegiances, and the success of the teams we root for.  As a Michigan fan I can hold my head high in any sports environment right now and utter the words “BCS” if any other fan got on my case.  From 2008-2010 however, I would have to hold my tongue lest I get into an argument that can only be lost due to the fact that “my” team stunk.  So we wear (sometimes literally) our fandom on our sleeves, a way to mark ourselves to the world like a bumper sticker on a long road trip (and like bumper stickers, the more pieces you have on the more obnoxious you look).

For a sports fan, I have very few pieces of sports-related items hanging around, but I can say pretty confidently that almost all of them have been gifts.  There is the signed picture of Tony Kornheiser and Michael Wilbon I received for my 18^th birthday (and the PTI mug that went with it), a poster of Gary Williams my brother brought me from College Park, and the oh-so-appropriate Orioles doormat I got for another birthday.  Each time I think the gift marked a point where my fandom had become part of me.  I had only started to really get into Maryland basketball when the poster pushed it over the edge, and the doormat represented a point when I had just about memorized the Delmarva starting lineup.  Growing up my Dad always said he never rooted for any particular team in the NFL, having grown up all over the place and only settling in Baltimore in 1990.  Yet sure enough a couple years ago what did he want for his birthday?  An Ed Reed jersey.  He got a lot of gifts that day and we tried to make his birthday a big deal (it was the first one in a long time his mother wasn’t there for an annual tradition), but he went nuts over that jersey.

I have the old UVa shirts my grandparents bought me when I was certain I would go to UVa and be a Virginia Cavaliers fan for life (seriously, up until junior year of high school it was all UVa), and more Michigan gear than I know what to do with.  Honestly, what do you do with a Michigan shirt that says “Michigan Football 2008: The Tradition Continues” when the team wound up going 3-9 that year?

But apart from the welcome mat it would take you a while in my apartment to figure out who I rooted for unless you decided to venture into my closets or take a very close look at some random objects on my bookshelf.  This holiday season, I am sure anyone reading this will probably wind up getting a sports-related gift of some kind, but I encourage you to consider it more than an overpriced logo or even a way to show off your team.  It is a reflection of where you are in life, what you care about, and what you value.  I was a UVa fan because of what I thought they represented (way in the past now, mind you), and my Dad went nuts for that jersey not just because he loved the Ravens but because he felt a meaningful and permanent connection with the city of Baltimore.  Each of those Michigan t-shirts represents hope for a season that was never quite fulfilled, yet I can’t seem to shake myself of them despite the fact that I may never wear them again.  That hope tied me to my university, not just the team that represented it.

This year I am not asking for anything sports related but who knows, I might be surprised.  If I am I hope it helps make more memories and serve as a reminder of what I hold important not only on the field, but in my values and my life.  But of course, that never happens except with the time and the perspective that comes with it.  At the time, a Jake Arrieta signed baseball is just a Jake Arrieta signed baseball.  Still pretty cool though.  Happy gift-giving season!

This is an odd time in sports.  It isn’t like the post-Super Bowl lull when there isn’t anything going on except college basketball or the April post-March Madness slump when baseball hasn’t gotten going yet.  And yet unless you are a huge fan of hockey regular games are tough to come by.  There . . . → Read More: Edsall Deserves to Go, but Only Move is to Let Him Stay]]>

This is an odd time in sports.  It isn’t like the post-Super Bowl lull when there isn’t anything going on except college basketball or the April post-March Madness slump when baseball hasn’t gotten going yet.  And yet unless you are a huge fan of hockey regular games are tough to come by.  There is the omnipresent force of the NFL and the buildup to the mythical national championship in college football, but most teams have wrapped up and are waiting for their bowl game, if they are lucky enough to be in the top half of teams (hell of a postseason, huh?  Everyone and their brother gets to go to the postseason but only the top 2 teams get a chance to be the champion of anything).  If not, they are waiting around for their coach to get fired or a new one to get hired.  So far Arizona and Washington State have done well for themselves, picking up the top names on the street as soon as possible so they can ease the transition and build a halfway decent recruiting class out of the year.  However Randy Edsall, despite his best efforts, will still be the coach of Maryland.

There are a few types of coaching candidates, from the hot coordinators (Gus Malzahn, Brent Venables) to the mid-major high achievers (Kevin Sumlin, Tim Beckman) to the once-successful (Houston Nutt, Rick Neuheisel) to the steady BCS program-builders (Rich Rodriguez, Mike Leach, Dan Mullen).  It was out of this last category that Maryland plucked Randy Edsall from UConn, and the rest of Maryland football is history.  He returned a talented redshirt sophomore in Danny O’Brien and much of the rest of the squad that went 9-4 a year before.  He lost a number of skill position players but promised to make up for it by installing a wide open, spread passing attack.  Instead his team hobbled to a miserable 2-10, capped off in appropriate fashion by disastrous collapse that saw a 41-14 lead late in the third quarter become a 56-41 embarrassment.  And that was a nice microcosm of the last two years of Maryland football.  A strong first part with a good opening to the second (the win over Miami/early third quarter against NC State) with the squad disintegrating as the game/season wore on.

But bad seasons happen, that is part of the ebb and flow of college football.  Michigan went 3-9 in Rich Rodriguez’s first year, then slowly began the climb that took them to 5-7, 7-5, and 10-2 this season under Brady Hoke.  This would give Maryland fans a fair amount of hope that there is life after a dismal start to a regime (Maryland wouldn’t be firing a coach after winning more games every year… nevermind).  However, there is a big difference between the Rodriguez transition and the Edsall transition.  When Rodriguez came to Michigan, there was a massive number of transfers initially, which gave him a young and inexperienced group but one that started to stabilize over the next couple years, albeit slowly and still with significant defections.  Edsall did not face such an exodus and managed to keep together a group that inherited a successful starting quarterback, which is a strong predictor of success through a coaching transition.  Instead he faces a bigger exodus the year after he takes over, which indicates that his message has not taken hold with his players and that he is already losing his locker room.  Compound that with a poor recruiting class by any BCS program standards (currently ranked 11^th in the ACC ahead of only Wake Forest according to Rivals) and a quarterback that is suddenly riding the bench.*

So no, Maryland fans, it doesn’t look to get much better for the Randy Edsall regime.  The problem is that it would be irresponsible to fire a coach and pay him for the rest of his way-too-long 5-year contract when the university is trying to figure out not if but how many sports to cut completely from its budget.  Even if a new hire could boost purchasing of the largely empty luxury suites at Byrd Stadium, it would likely fail to make up for the cost of the contract or the PR mess that would result from such a move.

Instead Marylanders must hope that the players remaining look at their departed teammates and pledge to be better Terrapins than they were, to recommit themselves to the program and serve as role models for the players that come after them.  They must hope that Randy Edsall can work his magic in making two-star players play like four-stars, and put together a team that can compete in the ACC for division titles.  These things happen, and perhaps with time Edsall will learn not to compare taking over a 9-4 Maryland squad that finished in the top 25 with taking over an FCS UConn team.  It is sad that the year that Maryland got onto the national stage with their polarizing pride uniforms (which I love but non-Marylanders either hate or don’t understand) they had to do so en route to such a terrible season.  However, the smart move- the only move- is to keep Edsall, because things won’t be any better for the university firing him now than after another couple seasons when they have the financial means to do so.  If he turns it around in the meantime, then the Terps can thank themselves for not pulling the plug too early.

*If you take over a program that has a successful, young quarterback and he is suddenly incapable of reading a defense, the blame should land on the coaching staff unless the player was recalcitrant and unwilling to adapt his game to the new scheme.  I don’t think that was the case here.