In yet another example of family members never helping situations when they decide to speak to the media, Ahmad Black's dad decided to pop off to Robbie Andreu about his son going pro. Beyond that, he decided to announce the supposed thoughts of the other three UF kids from Lakeland. Who cares if they haven't chosen to do that and didn't know this was coming, because Mr. Black is upset....
“I would let Ahmad stay if they would show him some respect,” Bruce Black said. “I don’t think coach Urban Meyer respects my son. If he did, Ahmad would have started the first game (against Charleston Southern) instead of (sophomore) Will Hill. Coach Meyer favors certain players, and Ahmad isn’t one of them."
First of all, he'd "let" his son stay in college on scholarship if he was the starter? How generous of him! Beyond that, Ahmad Black would be making a terrible decision to go pro. Black will not be drafted because while he's a good college player he lacks sufficient size and speed to merit being selected and is at a position which is not particularly coveted in the draft. Talk to Emmanuel Cook of South Carolina, considered a better prospect than Black is, about how that worked out for him last year. If his father has deluded himself otherwise, he will soon be angry at NFL scouts for not showing Ahmad enough respect. If history indicates anything, that will be the coach's fault as well. As for Chris Rainey's supposed interest in going pro, when even Mr. Black can grasp you have no business doing so that speaks for itself.
Mack Brown has been a very good football coach for Texas. He's won two conference championships and a national title since being hired in 1998, and will likely continue to do well in coming seasons. Brown is not known as a particularly brilliant game coach, as anyone who watched Saturday's last minute fiasco can attest, but he's an excellent recruiter and is a very likeable guy. Three million a year for his salary made sense, given the marketplace for successful coaches. Yesterday, for no apparent reason, Texas made Brown the highest paid coach in college football history - 5 million per year through 2016. The idiocy of this move can not be understated. Brown has no suitors - unlike Urban Meyer or Nick Saban, no one's trying to lure him away. The school already has Will Muschamp signed as his replacement, so it's not like they're buying the security of not having to look for a coach. What possible explanation is there to just give Brown a two million dollar raise when most people's budgets are tighter than ever? How many schools will wind up paying more exorbitant salaries to their coaches as a result of Texas arbitrarily raising the bar so much?
One day after the New York Times dropped their NCAA investigation bombshell, Tennessee supporters are busy screaming "All is Well!" like Kevin Bacon in Animal House. Knoxville News-Sentinel columnist John Adams actually says Kiffin has "turned UT football from losers into winners". I didn't know 7-5 passed for being winners in Tennessee these days, nor did I realize having a bad 2008 meant UT was now a program of losers. Adams also basically says no one's been able to pin anything on the Vols in years, so the charges probably won't stick this time. Hey John, even John Gotti was eventually convicted.
Gary Shelton of the St. Pete Times claims this is the most disappointing Bucs season ever. Sorry, no. Not even close. Going 8-8 after a Super Bowl win with no playoff trip was vastly more disappointing than an obviously crappy team playing crappier than expected. This was never going to be anything better than a 4-12 team from the start - anyone who felt otherwise wasn't paying attention. When a franchise has an 0-26 string on their resume, getting worked up about a one win year in the midst of a radical roster makeover seems silly to me. It's been a strange year, and I hope the owners will look seriously at hiring a competent GM and coach after the season has wrapped. There's no need for any extra hyperbole on top of that.
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