Wednesday: “Ehh, I lose track” ; D-3 guy scores 138 points
No briefing tomorrow guys. Hope everybody has a great Thanksgiving. Let’s dive on in.
COLLEGE FOOTBALL
-Norm Wood of the Daily Press reports that Georgia State has approached Shane Beamer about its head coaching vacancy. Georgia State, which went 1-10 last year, paid former coach Bill Curry $350,000 a year. Shane makes just over $200,000 as a Virginia Tech assistant.
-Andy spotlights tailback/fullback Martin Scales, who picked up four key first downs on short-yardage runs against BC.
-Doughty writes that the quarterback platoon at Virginia is reminiscent of the Matt Schaub/Bryson Spinner platoon of 2001.
-Andy has a lot of notes and quotes from Tech defenders here.
-Quote of the night comes from Bud Foster, on Tech’s eight-game winning streak in the UVa series. “Eight? I thought it was nine. Ehhh, I lose track.”
-Rutgers officially announces move to the Big Ten.
-Cal fires coach Jeff Tedford after a 3-9 season.
-Don’t do what I did last week and forget to make your Fearless Forecasters picks. Slate is here.
COLLEGE HOOPS
-Jack Taylor of Grinnell scores an NCAA record 138 points in a 179-104 victory against Faith Baptist Bible. You can see video of his last eight points here.
-Grinnell was one of the pioneer schools to run the up-tempo offense VMI favors.
-Speaking of up-tempo offense, Tech coach James Johnson dropped by the media room yesterday for those of us who were down there for football. I’ll have something on him in tomorrow’s paper. If you’re going to Friday’s game vs. App. State, come on down and say hey.
-Butler stuns No. 9 North Carolina, 82-71.
-The Cavs get contributions from their youngsters in beating North Texas.
-Mike Krzyzewski says the “ACC is vulnerable right now.” “I do think more people are going to go after people in our conference now,” he said. “Especially if Maryland shows that in some way they can reduce or get out of that $50 million commitment.”
NFL
-Your Thanksgiving slate includes: Texans at Lions (12:30 p.m., CBS); Redskins at Cowboys (4:15 p.m., FOX) and Patriots at Jets (8:20 p.m., NBC).
NAME THAT TUNE
The winter days, they last forever
But the weekends went by so quick
Went ridin’ around this little country town
We were goin’ nuts, girl, out in the sticks
One night, me with my big mouth
A couple guys had to put me in my place
When I see those guys these days
We just laugh and say, “Do you remember when?”
Also, the paper is collecting thoughts from the public on this topic. Anything you want to share, fire away:
Virginia Tech still needs a win to become bowl eligible. Meanwhile, whether Virginia spoils the Hokies’ hopes or not, the Cavaliers’ season will come to an end as soon as the final gun sounds on Saturday afternoon at Lane Stadium.
What went wrong for Tech and UVa this year? What will it take to fix it? Send us your thoughts about the 2012 football seasons, and we’ll run the most thoughtful answers in Friday’s Roanoke Times and Virginian Pilot.
Keep your answers short, sweet and to the point. Don’t forget your name and hometown.
November 21, 2012 - 8:18 AM
The interesting thing about the Shane Beamer-GaState deal is that Shane has already visited ‘informally’ with the GSU folks, on October 27th. This has evidently been going for a little while now. If Frank comes out and discusses it, then you know it has to be a virtual certainty. The GSU AD won’t make any comments, but Frank did, so I’d say Shane is gone to prep at GaState.
The one thing I’m thankful for this Thanksgiving? I can get all 3 games on our TV…with some creative aluminim foiling of the rabbit ears.
Regarding the ACC, I’ve heard all manner of rumors involving VT, UNC, UVA, NC State, Clemson, and FSU being poached or switching preemptively. SOme desire by the Big XII to expand back to 12 or more, for the SEC to hit 16, and even for the B1G to hit 16. It’s honestly driving me nuts. I’m not opposed to changes, sometimes they can be for the better. But 16-team, cross-country mega conferences? Huge TV deals? Spare me. And, seeing some smaller schools bumping up to D-1A conferences, like ODU, I think is going to be a costly move in a lot of ways. Eventually, I do see the potential for collegiate athletics, primarily the revenue sports, to divorce themselves from the NCAA.
The AppState game will be the last easy game until nearly Christmas, so it will be the chance to see the ‘Hurryin’ Hokies 2.0′ break 100 for the first time in a long time. Johnson’s got his guys happy (except maybe CJ sometimes) and shooting far better than they did last season. They’ve got a tough stretch of three games coming up before they’ll get into their holiday tourney. They still need to produce better on offensive rebounding, but this past game their 3pt & FT shooting percentages were way up. With a high tempo offense like this, it will help Johnson in getting those actual high major recruits he desperately needs to compete in the ACC.
Frank said that GSU hasn’t asked him for permission to talk to Shane last night on TTL. So, I think that there’s a sense of panic in Blacksburg, and Frank’s trying to keep a lid on things.
If Shane goes that route, I wish him the best, because I think he would make a fine head coach someday. He’s heck of a recruiter, and it would be a bit of a loss for the program.
Aaron, I think that JJ favors the up-tempo offense, and it’s working like charm so far.
UNC’s loss to Bulter isn’t a big deal. UNC’s young and Butler has a lot of experienced players on their roster. It was just a shame that Butler didn’t upset Puke on Gordon’s hail mary half-court shot. Oh, the story that could have been…
OJ, Nick Saban is a proponent of 4-5 mega conferences of 60-70 total teams, and all other teams slotting in between them and the FCS/D-1AA schools. I’d not be surprised to see that happen. It will be horrible, but that won’t slow it down.
Coach K is right when he says the ACC is vulnerable. The ACC has been in a downward spiral for several years now, neither football nor basketball performing the way they used too, therefore they can’t do anything from a position of strength. There are 3-4 schools in the league with potential to play in other leagues and I expect the SEC and Big 12 to come calling. I read somewhere that Weaver maybe opened the door to suitors just a crack yesterday. Just when we thought everything was settling down it gets interesting again. The biggest bowl game of all; angst vs comfort.
I haven’t had enough coffee yet, but my sleepy memory thinks the song is Cherry Bomb by the artist whose name is some combination of two or more of the following: John, Cougar, Mellencamp. Not one of his strongest efforts, in my opinion, but then again I’m no Don Kirshner, so take it FWIW.
Cherry Bomb. John Cougar Mellencamp.
How long would Shane be at GSU? 2-3 years before Frank retires and Shane comes back home?
Cherry Bomb it is. Nicely done. Agreed, Fred, not one of his best. Still decent. That was during John’s “Accordion Era.”
If true about the GSU search, Coach Shane has to take that job. It’s essentially the perfect situation for a young, aspiring I-A (sorry, can’t bring myself to type “FBS” still) coach: a program with no history, coming off a 1-10 season and a “celebrity” coach, expectations are nil, media pressure is nil, the recruiting fields- even after the SEC and other big boys harvest their portions- still contain quality gleanings, etc. If you have a little bit of success, you will draw plenty of attention from everywhere and get your name on the next “it coach” list. If nothing happens with the program, no one will notice outside of downtown Atlanta (and they likely won’t even notice there).
I’ll leave it up to everybody else to opine whether it would be good or bad for Tech… but it would be a golden opportunity for Shane Beamer. If it pans out and he gets hired, I wish him all the best there.
Trev, we both know that informal discussion always takes place before a ‘formal interview’, which is the handshake to finalize the contract. That happens in every single coaching search. Shane was being discussed as a ‘fan favorite’ to replace Curry over a month ago. There have definitely been discussions held. I saw one news report last night that Shane was with the GSU AD folks on Oct. 27th. So that would make it extremely unlikely there have been no talks. It’s just the semantical game that is played with coaching hires at all levels. The school never wants to look like they’re interviewing 15 guys and getting constantly turned down. The coach never wants to burn a bridge in case he doesn’t get the offer. It’s not big deal, but it certainly is standard procedure.
cr, yeah the momentum won’t slow down for sure, but as money takes more of a prominent role in college sports, I find my interest level waning. I’m not a huge pro sports fan as it is, aside from the teams I follow…and loosely follow at that. For me, I’ve found that as I have more stuff to do in life, being a fan takes a backseat to bigger priorities. It very much follows the ‘Love your life. Like your sports’ tag line that Colin Cowherd uses regularly. At one point, sports took front and center…now they don’t.
It’s why, as much as I dislike the NHL lockout, I’m really not missing it that much. It’s a game, and I get to watch a handful of them in a normal year…so not having it, no huge deal. The threat of an NFL lockout last year wouldn’t have made much of a difference for me either, I’d have found other stuff to do on Sundays on the few occasions that I would have watched a game.
So if college football becomes a big-money semi-pro league (arguably, it essentially already is) made up of the top 60ish programs, chances are that my interest in the sport will trail off to where I check box scores from time to time and look at the standings, but don’t dedicate much to watching games. Heck, I don’t watch all that much now anyway.
The best part of college sports are the long-standing rivalries…be they in-state (VT-UVA, UM-MSU, UGA-GT, etc), border rivalries (UM-OSU, OK-UT, UF-UGA, etc), or simply historical rivalries (ND-USC), the atmosphere, and the allegiances since many of us are alums of our favorite teams. Money is proving to wreck rivalries as teams flip and flop around looking for the best deal, and in that the game is losing some of the appeal. The allegiance to alma maters won’t change, but everything else is. And I don’t think it’s for the better.
Regarding Shane…I think getting a HC gig at a smaller school would be good for him, if becoming a top-tier HC is an eventual goal. He’s got some good skillsets already for coaching, and honing them at a smaller, lower-division school is a good, lower-pressure way to do it. Several top-notch coaches have gone that route…Brian Kelly, Urban Meyer, Frank Beamer…all had assistant and HC gigs at smaller schools before taking over at higher-level programs…and have seen pretty good success.
If Shane is offerred I hope he takes it and is great. Then, if the conspiracy theorists are right, he will be fully qualified to move up when Frank retires.
Oh, and how do you score 179 points in a game as short as a college game?
I can’t even lift my arms enough times to take 60 shots in my driveway in 48 minutes.
OJ, I would add Dana Holsgren and Chip Kelly to that list.
Report out of the Miami Hearld that the NCAA is threatening to lay the hammer down on Miami U if they former players don’t contact the NCAA and explain their involvement with Sharpio. They are basically saying, “Answer us, or we will consider your inability to answer as admission to collobration with Sharpio.” It’s kind of like the CRC or whoever it was that stripped Lance Armstrong of his 7 TDF titles based on his quitting to fight for his innoncence.
Some are saying the NCAA are going out of control. Some are saying the NCAA needs to lay the hammer.
I say, who cares? I think the NCAA has lost all credibility long time ago and are doing their damnedest to try to make themselves relevant. As OJ noted earlier, college sports are becoming richer, powerful, and eventually, I foresee, like he, that college sports will say, “Eff you,” to the NCAA and form their own league without the NCAA.
I agree that Shane Beamer should take the job at GSU. A great, logical stepping stone job. But I worry that Stop-In Food Stores will need to find someone else who has perfected the “no-look fountain soda fill” for its commercials next year…
The kid from Grinnell was on the Today Show this morning. Very well-spoken and unassuming. That’s why I love mid-level college basketball more than the ‘big-time’ Division I leagues.
Hahahahaha. Love the no-look fountain drink pour, RP. First time I’ve seen that: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=glSQpmcqA50
The opportunity for Shane Beamer is pretty ideal, as mentioned above. He’d be in a large metro area, with access throughout the state/region to attracting the players not selected by the heavy hitters. Sort of like an ODU situation, only not fighting against his dad for recruits. The expectations would be low, so that takes pressure away. And, bottom line, unless you want to be a career assistant, this is the way it is done. Bud Foster tried to go old school about it, and doesn’t get mentioned for top jobs. The way to move up is to move. Shane’s pitch can be about all the FBS teams he’s been with, and go from there. I don’t mind seeing anyone seek or accept a better job. This seems like that for him.
138 points! The guy must had one of those nights where he just had the right stroke. That’s up there with Wilt Chamerlain’s 100 points in a game. Of course, that was a different era, but still, that kind of feat won’t repeat very often. Enjoy it.
First and most importantly, Everyone have a great holiday and stay safe.
Secondly, I would like to respond to the person yesterday who said us blog regulars cheat on the lyrics game. I’ve never once cheated on the lyrics game. If I don’t know the answer then I don’t guess. I’m pretty sure that’s the case for most of us out here. It’s not like we get a prize for knowing the answer.
I think we should have a contest on who will be the next team invited to the ACC. The logical choice says UCONN. I’m going on a limb and say UCF. I’ve mentioned this a couple of other times. It gives you the Orlando market and provides a nice stopping off point from FSU to Miami.
I used to trust your college picks….but you lost me forever last week when you picked maryland over the Noles…What were you thinking.
Estel — missed the deadline and got all the home teams. Serves me right.
Cherry Bomb by John Mellenkamp
OK….at least you had a reason….not one that you put a lot of thought into…..
First time I’ve ever posted and gotten booted and did not have one cuss word, whats up with that AMc! It was about Md, Iguess that was it.
If Shane gets the GSU job can he take O’Cain, Stinespring and Newsome with him?
OG, not many that really fit the qualifications of ACC but DP is leaning towards Louisville.
I was talking with a couple who are both Virginia fans last week. During their lives they could only remember one time the Cavs beat Tech, 2003. It kind of hit me the same way it does when a kid today asks me what a pay phone is.
On another note, Taylor’s record is a lot like lowering the goal in your driveway to dunk. From a certain angle it looks cool, but zoom out a bit and you’ll see the minivan in the background dwarfing the situation.
Beat Tech in football just to clarify.
Oh, Bud– the king of the back handed deep cutting smack talk. I love the fact that he has a never ending hate for LOLUVA.
Good for Shane, probably a nice little pay raise, Atlanta has some great suburbs and GA probably has more than enough talent lying around to make that school competitive and gives him a great learning experience. I would hate to lose him on the recruiting trail, (which is paying dividends already) however can’t hate someone trying to better their situation.
CR– No comments on how Shane has gotten everything from his father?? How its all been just given to him?? I agree with a lot of what you say my man, but have never understood your disgust with Shane. His track record in SEC schools would have had me excited even if his last name was OCainspring.
Coach K is correct, the ACC went from looking solid as a rock to having the mountain erupt beneath them. Uconn or Louisville are decent choices, but if the BIG12 makes a huge push for F$U and/or Clemson we could have a full blown Krakatoa. They need a REAL ACC network. To stand a chance in the future, that extra $20+ million a year Maryland will get easily makes the buyout feasible, with or without Kevin Plank.
I don’t cheat on the song of the day, unless AMac hits us up with some classic rock, or the 90′s on 9, or maybe some old school country or the occasional ole school hip hop, I pretty much have no clue. Plus my work computers seem to hate his comments page, but the same computers like Andy’s… go figure.
Estel,
I think he means that because he missed the deadline the predictions automatically defaulted to all of the home teams and that anyone else who misses the deadline has this happen to them as well.
Major props to Duke and Cutcliffe agreeing to extensions.
There was another small college player years ago at Rio Grande College. His name was Bevo Francis who scored thosr numbers on more than one occasion. Aaron, maybe you can dig up some of those stories and add them to your column.
Tom — Sorry about that. Whatever happened it wasn’t intentional. Possible I clicked the wrong button. Will check recycle bin.
No, Shane Beamer will not be coming back to take the VT head coaching job. Daddy Frank will be very fortunate to last 3 more years at the rate the program is going now and there is no way the brass will want more of the same at Hokieville. New blood is what is going to take to get the Hokie football program into the current world of reality. But what I want to really know is how about those Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets? I told you they were going to win the Coastal and then they are going to beat FSU. The Hokies nearly beat FSU and lowly NC State did beat them. So the Jackets can do it, they have the momentum and the offense and Al Groh is gone. The Jackets will sting again!!!!!
Barry, the word “stink” is spelled with a “k” not a “g”
Dan — I will have the last laugh on this one!!!