Put your comments in the comment section. You know, right where they belong.
In other news, Callahan’s agent is kind of a dick:
“Listen to how stupid you people are. You people need to start studying soil content or something. Why don’t you find out how many pair of socks get washed every day in the locker room?”
Ok, so we’re finally going to give it a go this week. For the first time ever, join us here at DXP for an open comment thread during the KSU game. I’ll be joined by Sammy Vegas, Timmy Rose(?) and a cast of tens of thousands. Stop by to share your frustrations, count missed tackles and bad angles, and generally curse the fate the football gods have cast upon us.
It’s sure to be a wingdinger!!
Anagram for Kevin Cosgrove:
Covers Evoking
I’m just sayin’.
Or reason #1 that it’s difficult to feel sorry for the guy even after a rough senior season ended by injury. Leave it to DXP to unearth the definitive collection. Chances of you heading to Tempe12.com? Roughly 100%.
Everyone seems to be busy talking up Turner Gill, Bo Pelini and Navy’s Paul Johnson as Nebraska’s next head coach. None of those sound like “homerun” hires to me, and I’ve always been comfortable thinking outside the box, so let me introduce to you another name.
Chris Hatcher – Head Coach, Georgia Southern.
I first became familiar with Hatcher while he was the head coach at Valdosta State. I was at Florida State at the time, and one of the local-ish channels covered Valdosta State sports and even televised a number of their football games. Through this exposure, I filed Hatcher’s name in my memory bank for future reference.
Hatcher played quarterback at Valdosta State where he was a two-time All-American(1993 and 1994) and threw for 11,363 yards and 121 touchdowns during his stellar career. Hatcher also won the Harlon Hill Trophy by the second-largest voting margin in the then 19-year history of the award. He was also voted to the GSC Football team of the 1990s.
Hatcher began his coaching career as a student assistant coach in 1995 at Valdosta State. The following year he became the quarterbacks/tight ends coach at the University of Central Florida where he worked with Daunte Culpepper. Hatcher then spent three years working with the quarterbacks at the University of Kentucky where he worked under former VSU head coach Hal Mumme. During his time with the Wildcats he coached the No. 1 NFL draft pick, All-America quarterback Tim Couch. While at UK, Hatcher and the Wildcats played in the 1999 Outback Bowl, the program’s first New Year Day’s Bowl in 47 years then followed that the following year with a berth in the ’99 Music City Bowl. It marked the first time the Wildcats had consecutive bowl appearances in 15 years.
In 2000, Hatcher took over as the head coach at his alma mater Valdosta State. That year he took a team that had been 4-7 the previous year and turned it around to a 10-2 record (8-1 in GSC action) and a berth in the Division II playoffs. His 2001 and 2002 teams posted back-to-back undefeated records during the regular season, and ran off a Gulf South Conference record 35 straight victories during the regular season.
In 2004, the Blazers lost their season-opener before rattling off 14 consecutive victories, capped by a 36-31 victory over Pittsburg State in the Division II national title game. Hatcher was named ‘National Coach of the Year’ by the American Football Coaches Association and was the offensive coordinator for the East squad at the Hula Bowl. Despite an 8-2 record in 2006, the 10th-ranked Blazers did not receive an invitation to the playoffs, marking the first time that occurred in the Hatcher era.
Last year’s Valdosta State team finished sixth nationally in passing offense (283 yards per game), 12th in scoring offense (34.9 ppg) and 19th in total offense (389.9 yards). However, Hatcher’s teams have been successful in all three facets. The 2006 defense ranked 27th nationally in scoring defense (15.7 points allowed) while the special teams ranked third in punt returns (17.3 yards) and blocked seven kicks.
Overall during his seven years at Valdosta, Hatcher:
posted an .864 winning percentage
registered a 68-7 mark in the regular season
was 56-6 in Gulf South Conference play
had 60 All-GSC selections
coached 16 All-America selections.
In January of 2007, Hatcher was hired to take over at Georgia Southern.
“There were a lot of qualified candidates, but Chris Hatcher was someone I felt embodied all we were looking for,” said [Director of Athletics Sam] Baker. “Chris has a proven track record as a head coach – capturing the national championship in 2004 and recording an .864 winning percentage during his seven-year tenure at Valdosta State. I looked for a coach who knows how to win and I believe Coach Hatcher can do that at the Division I level. I also wanted to hire a coach with strong recruiting ties in Georgia and Florida. Coach Hatcher knows the area well… Our Athletic Department’s charge was to go out and hire a head coach that will improve on the progress we made off the field, and have that translate to on-the-field success. I think we have that coach in Chris Hatcher.”
Georgia Southern is currently 7-2 and both of their losses have come in OT. That brings Hatcher’s career mark as a head coach to 83-14 (.856). His 2007 squad averages 260 yards rushing and 120 yards passing, with a run/pass split of 75%/25%. These numbers are surprising given that Hatcher is known for his “Hatch Attack” passing-oriented offense. His offensive system, complete with cheesy moniker has helped draw comparisons to a young Steve Spurrier.
I doubt Hatcher is truly Nebraska’s guy, but he is certainly someone to keep an eye on. I’m usually a few years ahead of the curve when it comes to young coaches finding sucess (see also, Turgeon, Mark), but my guess is in three to four years Hatcher is up for a BCS job somewhere.
Last Week: 6-4 (60%)
Season: 55-49-1 (53%)
Last week, Timmy Rose guaranteed a victory by Notre Dame by at least 10 points over Navy or he was done making picks for the year. I’m not one to poke fun. In fact I was wondering all week how to get him back on here. We compromised. I give him my Halloween date for an hour, he picks Navy. He reluctantly agreed. (careful with the taps, the tubes aren’t very well secured to the can, i think something is wrong with the box)
(props again Lobster Bob)
My Halloween, New Years, St. Patty’s Day, Cinco de Mayo, and 4th of July date (and an hour with T. Rose) isn’t free. DONT WORRY!!
These 5 star picks are…
SAMMY VEGAS
MIDDLE TENNESSEE STATE (-13.5) over U. Louisiana Lafayette: MTSU is on a 4 game winning streak and ULL has one win this entire year. ULL is coming off a beat down last week at Tennessee where they got beat up more than Jeffie Husker parading his ‘Jeffie Husker’ Husker jersey at the bars in Tallahassee. MTSU needs this one as they are sitting one game back of Troy and have them on deck for the Sun Belt championship.
GEORGIA (-1) over Auburn: Georgia controls their own destiny in the SEC East and has one more after this at home vs. Kentucky. Auburn has played a brutal schedule this year with no offense and their defense is good and has allowed them to stay in every game – much like the defense of every Omaha bar girl I approach before 12:30. Plus, I had to get this picture in before the season wore out.
WASHINGTON STATE (-10.5) over Stanford: Stanford’s win over USC was luckier than Bill Callahan not getting a pink slip Sunday morning. Seriously, how does a team with the 100th best offense and 104th scoring offense beat USC? WSU is back at home for only the 2nd time in the last 5 weeks and last time beat UCLA by 20 and out-yarded them by almost 300 yards and the time before lost to Arizona State by 3. I already got Lindsay Lohan and Britney Spears lined up for this blowout.
Arizona State (-6.5) over UCLA: How bad is UCLA? They lost to Notre Dame, Washington State, and Arizona the 3 out of last 4 weeks. But wait, the one win was vs. Cal. What? ASU is 8-1. Exactly, ASU coach Dennis Erickson can coach, UCLA coach Karl Dorrell can’t.
Florida (-6) over SOUTH CAROLINA: I don’t like anything about the Gators. I don’t like anything that has to do with Steve Spurrier. I don’t like Urban Meyer. So anyways, Erin, like I was saying. You are clearly desperate, I am clearly available. What do you think of a guy like you and a girl like me?
IOWA (-14.5) over Minnesota: This is completely the truth – look it up. Minnesota has been out-gained by almost a 1,000 the yards the last 3 vs. ND State, Michigan, and Illinois. In fact, they haven’t out-gained an opponent all year in total yards with a spread offense. Iowa will get their 3rd straight win and cover here or I will not make a pick for the rest of the………………day.
TIMMY ROSE
HAWAII (-17) over Fresno State – This is a rare opportunity for Hawaii to showcase its team on national television as this one is broadcast just minutes after Dr. D’s weekly drunk-dial to one of his ‘lucky’ students (10:05 CST if you plan to watch on ESPN2). Coach June Jones will run this one up to get QB Brennan as many Heisman votes as possible. Brennan needs 3 TDs to break Ty Detmer’s career passing TD mark and will do against a weak Fresno D. The Warriors scored 68 on the mainland against the Bulldogs last year and if Cosgrove is consulting Fresno, they may just put up 76 against them this year.
OKLAHOMA STATE (+6) over Kansas – It might be more difficult to score 10 straight TDs playing NCAA Football on Xbox than it is to put up 10 straight against the hapless, talentless, heartless, embarrassement of a defense that Cos-choad is somehow still allowed to coach in Lincoln. While KU has covered every game this year, we saw with last week’s Colts-Patriots game that betting on 6 point road favorites that have covered every week is hardly a lock. I’m betting that Mark Mangino misses kick-off to clear out the hotel buffet, has a mild heart attack walking from the locker room to the field, and KU doesn’t recover from an early 2 TD hole.
Navy (-15) over NORTH TEXAS – While Navy could feel more of a letdown than A-Rose after a Cougar has to leave the bar to tuck her kids in, we’re guessing they won’t put more than twice in this game. Navy has only punted the football 11 times this whole season (that’s the exact number of TDs KU scored on Nebraska last week) which is fewest in the NCAA. North Texas has one of the worst rush defenses in the country (but not quite as bad as Nebraska’s and North Texas does not have a single 4-star recruit). North Texas will get yards and points against Navy’s pass defense, but a few turnovers will lead to easy Navy points and the Midshipmen are much more disciplined than the Mean Green from Denton.
For the past several weeks Bill Callahan has found himself fighting for his job and facing increasingly difficult questions from the media. Bill Walsh called this process, the “Death Watch.” In his book, Finding the Winning Edge, Walsh states:
“No matter what your record; no matter how well chronicled your accomplishments; no matter how much everyone (the media, fans, etc.) seems to like you at some point, as the head coach you will be put “on the bubble” and a “Death Watch” for your firing will begin. The cycle begins and ends hundreds of times around the country each year…The basis for the “Death Watch” is quite simple: losing games.”
Walsh then notes that as the death watch cycle begins to take shape, the head coach can make a number of all too common mistakes. Today I want to list some of the mistakes coaches should avoid, and try to assess how Callahan is doing at handling the media during his “Death Watch.”
Here is Walsh’s List of things a coach should never do, along with Callahan’s related comments:
Engaging in an ongoing ridicule of the team. Comments such as: “They don’t understand what it takes”; “They just haven’t learned how to win”; never help.
Despite his critics that assume otherwise, I think Callahan excels at avoiding ridicule when it comes to the players. At the time I was extremely impressed with these comments following the USC game.
“It wasn’t so much discouraging as it was disappointing. I was disappointed in the obvious performance of the defense and how we played. I think that was obvious. I think it was concern going into the film study, but after the film study, I came out encouraged that it’s correctable. There are a lot of areas that we were a player off or a technique off that we didn’t perform exactly correct. I’m not trying to deflect any type of criticism to the players. I accept the full responsibility in that regard. It still falls on my shoulders. I do accept that. We have some things to clean up. It’s still a team effort, a team game. We’re all in this together.”
Trying to reach and influence the players through the media. Comments such as “I believe in these men”; “They’re a great bunch of guys”; “Believe me they’re playing their hearts out”; while well intended are inherently hollow.
Callahan from the November 6th Press Conference on the 2007 seniors:
“I think these kids have been great. I’m disappointed for them that they haven’t had the success they’ve wanted to at the end here. They’ve been great. They’ve been a lot of fun. They’re great guys and great kids. They’ve worked hard. They’ve poured their heart and soul into their preparation. You go back and think about all the efforts and time and energy that they’ve put into the program, from the time they’re recruited until the time they’re seniors, it’s phenomenal. You have to respect that. I certainly appreciate all their efforts. It’ll be great to see them honored on Saturday. There’s a lot of great kids and I hope the best for them. I hope we can do something positive for them on the way out.”
Oops. But seriously, what else can he say in response to a question like that?
Asking the press and public for more time by promising things will get better next year. If such comments are repeatedly made, they can be perceived as a “plea”. Subsequently the media may view them as a “weakness” on your part.
I’ve never heard or seen Callahan ask for more time. In fact, he was asked pretty directly about this in this Tuesday’s press conference. His response isn’t exactly a plea, but did approach asking for more time.
“I sincerely want to be here. I think I indicated that when I signed a contract extension that I want to be here. If I didn’t want to be here, I wouldn’t have signed the extension. I love our team, I love our kids, I like Nebraska, I love Nebraska and I’m trying to do the best I can right now, so absolutely I want to be here.”
Unknowingly displaying out of control emotions. All factors considered, neither the press, nor the public will respond well to such a display. In fact, most see it as a sign of weakness.
I’d argue that some Nebraska fans are looking for more emotion from Callahan. Lately he’s come across as a bit haggard and morose, but certainly not full of rage or hostility. Are fans being fair with him here?
Insinuating that a coordinator is at fault in an attempt to try and gain some time. It is highly unprofessional and unethical to use an assistant as an available scapegoat. If you continue to lay blame for lack of success on one of your assistants, even if by inference, the media will view it as an excuse.
Again Callahan has avoided this almost to a fault. Fans would love to see Cosgrove scapegoat-ed right out of town. I’m sure much of this relates to Callahan’s friendship with Cosgrove, but he’s definitely been professional in this respect.
From this week’s press conference he discusses Cosgrove:
“I visited with the defensive staff and Coz and everyone. I just tried to encourage them to continue to work hard and press on and make the necessary adjustments and go through the film, analyze it and learn from it. That’s all you can do. There’s not much else you can do. I think it’s unfortunate at times when things get snowballed and start steamrolling on you. It’s very hard when you’re on the short field. I think we were on the short field seven times on defense. We turned the ball over three times inside the 25 or the drive start was inside the 25 three times, and when you put a defense on a short field like that and things start to steamroll and have an effect. It’s tough. In the final analysis, people just want to look at the final score and say, ‘there’s 76 points’, well, yeah, that’s true, that is reality and we have to get better. But there are other circumstances that lead to those 76 points. We didn’t do a very good job on offense. We put up some numbers, but we didn’t do the job that we should’ve done in securing the football. We turned the ball over three or four times inside the 50 on the short field. You can’t continually do that against a good team like Kansas that has the ability to score at any range. It’s hard. That’s putting the defense in a bad position. We take this loss as a football team. We don’t point to offense or defense or special teams. We just look at it as ourselves and that we have to get better in every aspect. We have to get better in every area. When those types of games happen like it did at Texas Tech our first year, we threw some picks inside the 50, when they get on a roll, get momentum and you’re trying to play catch-up and not sit on the ball, you’re vulnerable. That’s what happened down at Kansas. I have no excuses, but I’m telling you the reality of that. That’s the reality of what happens. We have to get better, no question.”
So overall, it appears that Callahan has done a reasonable job while facing a great deal of adversity and negativity in his dealings with the media. I just thought it was an interesting topic given the increasing amount of attention his weekly pressers have been receiving.
What say you loyal DXP fans? I know most of you heard yesterday’s rumors and tuned in to the PC to see for yourself. What are your impressions of Callahan and the media?
| Rank | Team | Delta |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Ohio State | — |
| 2 | Oregon |  2 |
| 3 | LSU | — |
| 4 | Oklahoma | 1 |
| 5 | Missouri | 3 |
| 6 | Kansas | 3 |
| 7 | West Virginia | — |
| 8 | Boston College |  6 |
| 9 | Arizona State | 3 |
| 10 | Georgia | — |
| 11 | Michigan | 3 |
| 12 | Southern Cal | — |
| 13 | Virginia Tech | — |
| 14 | Connecticut | 3 |
| 15 | Florida | 3 |
| 16 | Auburn | 1 |
| 17 | Texas | 1 |
| 18 | Boise State | 2 |
| 19 | Clemson | 5 |
| 20 | Hawaii | 1 |
| 21 | Virginia | 5 |
| 22 | Alabama | 7 |
| 23 | Tennessee | — |
| 24 | California | 1 |
| 25 | Kentucky | 1 |
Well, I’m still having a tough time getting my thoughts down on paper in electronic form.
I started a piece on what I think has happened this year, but haven’t decided what I want to with it yet. It included a lot more speculation than I am usually comfortable posting, which probably explains my hesitancy. At the same time, I’m also torn about what I should be covering at this point. I’m tired of talking about how crappy the defense is, and how awful this team is in historical terms. In addition, the stat geek in me can’t even be bothered to glance at the national numbers. That one hurts the worst. A year ago I was buried in numbers and it was quite frankly the most interesting hobby I’d ever undertaken. Not so much this season, however.
Because of that part of me wants to move forward. I’ve already started research for a series of posts that will look at rebuilding and coming back from a horrible season. I think a lot can be learned from the turn-arounds at places like Buffalo, ASU, UConn, Illinois and Kansas. So I’ll be looking at what has made those teams so much better in 2007 from various perspectives (statistical, coaching, off-field changes, etc.). But I think I’ll wait until at least the end of the regular season to really get going on this.
So, until then here are a few things I’m so over right now.
I’m so over Tierre Green’s Frankenstein-like tackling techniques. You know what I’m talking about – arms outstretched in front of him as the ball-carrier runs by.
I’m so over Callahan staring at his play sheet when he could be doing something, anything to motivate his players.
I’m so over rumors and speculations about coaching changes.
I’m so over safeties being unable to disengage from blocks on simple running plays. How do you let yourself get blocked 8-10 yards downfield in the first place…by a wide receiver?
I’m so over the worried looks and concerned emails from people who have better things to worry about than my mental health following another Husker loss.
I’m so over rewinding plays on TIVO to find out where Corey McKeon ended up – only to find out he was simply moved out of the way once again by a single blocker with more heart than #13.
Again from my inbox. I like this one a lot. More to come.
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