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Show 2ZJ006M Stop throwing stones I used to think the best predictor we had of the true nature of the human beast was a. total breakdown in the social order, for example the predatory behavior of the looters in Haiti following hurricane Jeanne. Now I know I was wrong. The people of Cache Valley have turned on their football team after an 0-4 start in a fashion reminiscent of Kipling's Seeonee wolfpack in The Jungle Book, who attempted to depose their wise leader, Akela, after he fails to take down a young buck. I'm tempted to simply ignore the clamor of the uninformed masses, but sometimes if enough people repeat a folly and no one steps up to point out the obvious, the folly can become conventional wisdom. It's time to talk about the facts before mass delirium takes hold. USU is not moving down to 1AA two years after getting into the WAC. People act as if moving down a division or dropping football entirely would produce a huge windfall of cash when the supposedly bloated football budget was folded into academics. First of all, that simply wouldn't happen. Second, football is one of the few revenue-producing sport at USU and there are going to be some unhappy athletes in other sports if football gets cut. Do you think USU is going to receive $500,000 paydays for going on roadtrips to 1AA schools, as it did for traveling to Arkansas this year? If so, I've got some cheap land in Florida for sale. Firing Brent Guy is not going to make the football team's 0-4 start any more palatable, nor is such a move likely to produce victories in the future. In fact, there is a strong argument to be made that showing patience with a new coach is the wisest course of action. In Figure A, below, I have tabulated some numbers on coaches who started slow, but rewarded their fans' patience. It's not just that being lenient with a new coach is a prudent course, ifsthatquickly firing a coach who doesn't produce immediate results is the most disastrous thing that can happen to a football program, mere are many cases where dumping the coach sent a program into a tailspin it took years to climb out of. Why is _ _ _ _ _ _ canning ^Christopher Terry a coach quickly s u c n a bad idea? A great /' example T o o b r o k e to fold g rot J a m @cc. u s u. eclu Baylor. In 1996, the school had had five winning years out of the previous six under Chuck Reedy. Unfortunately, that year the team was hit hard by injury and was snakebit in close games. They lost 28-24 to Oklahoma, 28-23 to Texas and 49-42 to Missouri in triple overtime. Incredibly the university fired Reedy after that 4-7 season. This set off a chain reaction at Baylor that led to the Bears becoming the worst team in the Big XII, where they have been outgained by more than 200 yards a game some years. In the nine years since, Baylor has only topped three wins once. Dave Roberts was hired in 1997, but after just two losing seasons, he was fired. Kevin Steele came in next and lasted four years, but was also fired. Guy Morriss is the coach there now and has a 12-26 record in four years. Intelligent Baylor fans nope they get to keep Morriss because he may actually have the team on the road to respectability. Why do constant coaching changes translate into poor results on the field? It is usually difficult for a new coach to fill up an 85-man roster for at least the first couple of years. Athletes who are seniors and juniors may have come to the school to play for the coach who got fired. For example, a huge tackle who got recruited to block for the option finds himself riding the bench because the new coach favors agile blockers for a spread-pass- ing scheme. The player would have strong motivation to transfer to a school where he stood a chance of earning some playing time. Sometimes old players liked the previous coach better and don't get along with the new staff, which can also lead to roster attrition. Coaches usually have the most success when they've got a roster full of athletes well-suited to running the coaching staff's scheme. In Brent Guy's case his upperclassmen were all recruited to USU to pitch the ball around in Mick Dennehy's spread offense. Guy's background is playing and coaching defense and running the ball is a big part of his philosophy. This year the Ags have had much better luck establishing the ground game than last year when the offensive line was too light and there wasn't a back the caliber of Marcus Cross. The running game at USU stands to improve if Guy gets a chance to establish his scheme here and bring in a few more recruiting classes of run-blockers and mail-carrier type backs. Generally, the strongest part of a football team is the group from three, four and rive recruiting seasons ago. Since most coaches prefer to play their own recruits instead of athletes who might have been recruited to the program five years ago to fit into a system which is no longer in place, it makes sense to keep a new coach for five or six years and see how he does when his first recruiting classes are upperclassmen. Perhaps I reveal my naivete when I say I thought Aggie fans would put their shoulders to the wheel and support their football team more than ever when the onfield results aren't encouraging. Apparently, most of you would rather spew venom and take cheap shots, at a team that is down on it's luck. G. Christopher Terry is a junior majoring in print journalism. Submit comments to graham@cc.usu.edu for print in a future TBTF mailbag Spurrier teaches how to work COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) - Steve Spurrier spent two weeks pounding his young quarterback; Look off the primary receiver if he's covered and protect the ball in the pocket. So what does Blake Mitchell do when he enters the game? "The first play he went right back to his old stuff, getting hung up on one guy," Spurrier said. "Hung up. Hung up. Hung up. Got hit and rumbled. And I just got so mad because we talked about that for two weeks now, about making some better decisions." After one play, Mitchell had earned a sideline lecture from Spurrier. That's until Spurrier looked up and realized his other quarterback was letting precious time slip away as halftime approached. Spurrier quickly switched his focus, frantically waving his clipboard and yelling at his team to hurry up and run the next play. For now, the swashbuckling, offensive mastermind Spurrier is taking a back seat to Spurrier the teacher, the builder, the breaker of bad habits. With No. 2 Auburn coming to Columbia on Thursday, the Ol' Ball Coach is making no bold predictions. "We'll be underdogs, no question about that," Spurrier said. "Maybe we'll find some ball plays here that we can use to fool 'em? Who knows?" Such is life for the coach who once ruled the Southeastern Conference with Florida, winning six conference titles, 122 games and a national championship in 12 seasons as the head Gator. Spurrier doesn't talk about championships these days. Instead, he talks about getting the Gamecocks to play hard, to play smart and, ultimately, to win more than they lose. In his second season at South Carolina, the Gamecocks are 3-1 - winning the games in which they were favored (Mississippi State, Wofford and Florida Atlantic) and losing the one they weren't (Georgia). "This team is not as talented and experienced (as) a lot of teams that I coached, anyway," he said. "We understand where we are. Our goals are simply to win more than we lose. We certainly think that's a realistic goal." Look beyond the record, and its easy to understand why Spurrier, a man with no shortage of confidence, has such modest expectations. Before beating Florida Atlantic 4-5-6 last Saturday night, the Gamecocks had scored a total of 42 points. Two weeks ago, they nearly blew a double-digit lead against Wofford. That close call left Spurrier furious with players' lackluster effort. In response he benched more than half his starting offense. "We have a few that play Complete Dental Care • New Patients Welcome! Keith D. Hammond DDS PC family dentistry • Friendly, happy staff • Most Insurance accepted • 3, 6, 9, 12 month interest-free payment plans, OAC • Dental Hygienist (preventative care & cleaning) • Nitrous Oxide • Digital X-Ray (less radiation, quicker, safer) • Tooth Whitening If time quality and gentle care are important to you, we are here to serve you CALL 753-0505 Figure A COACH TOUGH START SUBSEQUENT TENURE Frank Beamer - Va. Tech Went to national champion2-9, 3-8, 6-4-1, 6-5, 5-6, 2ship in 1999, top 25 every 8-1 year. Joe Novak - No. Illinois 1-10, 0-11, 2-9, 5-6^^P* 6 consecutive winning seasons. Darrell Dickey - No. Texas 3-8, 2-9, 3-8 Won 26 consecutive Sun Belt Conference games since starting Paul Johnson - Navy 2-10 Middies have been to 3 straight bowl games Rocky Long - New Mexico 3-9, two more losing seasons 5 consecutive years above .500, 3 bowls Jeff Bower - Southern Miss 4-7, 2-8-1 records in first four 12 straight years above .500 years Walt Harris - Pittsburgh 2-9 in second year, losing 5 consecutive winning years, BSC bowl in 2004 record in 3rd Barry Alvarez - Wisconsin 1-10 first year, losing records 11 bowl games, 3 Rose Bowl winsnext 2 years Dan McCarney - Iowa State 3-8, 2-9, 1-10,3-8, 4-7 Bill Snyder - Kansas State 11 out of 12 winning seasons, 1 -10 first year, 3 losing records turned K-State into national first four years title contender 5 bowl games in last six years as if they really don't give a dang, you know what I mean?" he said. "We've benched some of them and yelled and screamed at some of them. "We ask that guys play their assignment, play with effort and enjoy competing. And we just quite haven't gotten that yet," To drive the point home, Spurrier has cracked down on "loafing," though he wouldn't elaborate on the new penalties. "He's just trying to get the competitiveness back into us," running back Cory Boyd said. "He's trying to instill you shouldn't be satisfied with what you've done. Always try to reach for perfection and greatness." Greatness is what South Carolina envisioned when Spurrier was hired at the end of the 2004 season to replace Lou Holtz. Gamecocks fans were giddy. With Spurrier's Fun-N-Gun offense and championship swagger, South Carolina finally had a coach who could make the mediocre program relevant. Last year, the Gamecocks went 7-5 with surprising victories over Tennessee and Florida. Even Spurrier had a hard time explaining how they pulled it off, with so-so defense and a Fun-N-Gun with little pop. "We're not really considering ourselves a title team," Spurrier said. "I just don't think it's a realistic goal, so we don't really talk about it." Cosmetic Dentistry "We Create Beautiful Smiles" fillings, root canals, dentures, veneers, crowns, teeth implants, whitening Hablamos Espanol 290 North 200 East Logan, Utah 84321 F 10% Discount for USU Student? One coupon per family Coupon must be used before November 30, 2006 _ J. www.logandentist.com Uff SorMooe/ Be o Utes to face ranked Boise State SALT LAKE CITY (AP) - Utah has tried for the last three weeks to live down a humbling loss at UCLA in the season opener. The Utes have outscored their opponents 131-14 the last three games, but the opponents have been a Division I-AA program and two teams that have yet to win this season. The competition is about to get a lot tougher. Utah (31) hosts No. 22 Boise State (4-0) on Saturday. "It will be a good barometer of where we are in week five," coach Kyle Whittingham said at his weekly news conference Monday. The Broncos were a late addition to the 2006 schedule. The two schools from neighboring states agreed last winter to a four-game series. Utah will visit Boise in 2011 and the home-aridhome series will continue through 2013. "It made sense geographically. It made sense from a competitive standpoint," Whittingham said. "If you think you're a good football team, then you shouldn't shy away from other good football teams." The Utes played their Mountain West opener Saturday and beat San Diego State 38-7 on the road. Utah has looked far different from the team that lost at UCLA 31-10 on Sept. 2, but since then the Utes have played the Aztecs (0-3), Utah State (0-4) and Div. I-AA Northern Arizona. Utah follows that stretch with back-to-back games against the Broncos and No. 17 TCU next Thursday. Whittingham said the Utes won't worry about the Horned Frogs, the defending MWC champions, until Saturday night. Boise State is all he wants his players thinking about this week. "They deserve their ranking," Whittingham said. "They're every bit deserving of where they're ranked. Maybe even they should be a little higher in my estimation." Whittingham said the Utes will likely be without defensive end Soli Lefiti, who strained a knee ligament early in Saturda/s game. He hopes to have Lefiti back in time for TCU. The Utes could have offensive lineman Tavo Tlipola back for Saturday, but it will depend on whether TAipola could practice this week. The Cache County School District's REACH Mentoring Program is looking for individuals to volunteer as mentors for students in grades 4-8. Benefits • Satisfaction in helping someone mature and progress •• Reimbursement for mileage and training provided • Mentee/mentor group activities, service recognition events • Up to two USU credits(paid by program)upon completion of course requirements Requirements • Make a commitment for one school year. • Spend a minimum one hour a week one-to-one with a mentee • Be at least 18 years old • Be dependable and consistent in meeting time commitments For more information contact Melia Balls at 757-0139 or email melia.balls@cache.k12.ut.us |