Wednesday: Coaches on the move
COLLEGE FOOTBALL
-The SEC continues to act as a magnet for the nation’s top coaches, as Bret Bielema leaves Wisconsin (and a Rose Bowl trip) to take over at Arkansas. He went 68-24 with the Badgers.
-Auburn turns to Arkansas States’ Gus Malzahn as its new coach. He was the Tigers’ offensive coordinator during the national title run two years ago.
-Boston College hires Steve Addazio away from Temple, continuing a strong tradition of picking mustachioed frontmen.
-Virginia Tech is a 3-point favorite over Rutgers in the Russell Athletic Bowl. The only other ACC team favored during bowl season is Florida State by 15 over Northern Illinois in the Orange.
COLLEGE BASKETBALL
-Berman has a feature on two of the Hokies’ young contributors, Marshall Wood and Joey van Zegeren.
-Virginia hosts Tennessee at 7 tonight on ESPN3.com.
-Tech’s next opponent, West Virginia, is in action against Marshall at 7:30 p.m. on ESPN.com
BASEBALL
-Red Sox sign Shane Victorino for three years at a reported $39 million.
-The Nats acquire Dan Haren, who is looking to bounce back from an injury-plagued 2012.
-Marco Scutaro signs a three-year, $20 million extension with the Giants.
PREP HOOPS
-Hidden Valley boys win a rematch with Lord Botetourt for their first victory of the year.
NBA
-The Bullets do the most Bullets-y thing ever, beating the Heat for their second win of the year. Next up: Losing by a million to their next three below-average foes.
-Could be worse. The New Orleans Hornets are expected to change their name to the New Orleans Pelicans. I figured that was an Onion story, but it is not.
NAME THAT TUNE
Lotto
Take your chance for a dollar
If I win then I’ll scream and holler
High on the hog is the way to be
And its def livinin in the lap of luxury
I picked 4 numbers they were all OK
For the 5th and 6th I used my birthday
But I erased my birthday and said better yet
I’ll use the birthday of a girlie that I just met
I filled out the ticket gave it a kiss for luck
Handed it to the agent
With a brand new buck
Went home to watch TV on a saturday night
4 numbers came up and they were all all right
Now what happened next, nearly made me drop dead
It wasn’t her birthday it was mine instead
I said next time I’ll just play my hunches
But what the heck, I’ll just…
December 5, 2012 - 8:09 AM
Pelicans! ?? What an awful name. Dan Haren has loads of talent but almost zero chance of lasting a full season. All the other sports news is blah. This time of December is a sports deadzone with the exception of a few good NFL games coming up.
Had to google the lyrics, so I won’t give it away. Definitely not that artist’s biggest hit…
Speaking of the Pelicans, there is a USA Today story this morning saying that the name has not been finalized yet, but that the team had very little control over the matter. Apparently Tom Benson, who bought the team last spring, owned the Pelicans name from when it was a minor league baseball team years ago, and the NBA has final say over all changes of team names or colors. After all of the outrage, I doubt it will go through. Pelicans sounds like a nickname from a Will Ferrell movie.
Everyone knows Haren won’t last the full season, so maybe they don’t even activate him until August 1, then he can pitch in September & October after they shut their ace down again.
Red Sox overpaid for Victorino. I also think 3 years and 20 mil was a little high for Scutaro. I know he helped the Giants win the WS, but he was just a guy who got hot at the right time.
Couldn’t care less about the NBA.
I think Auburn made a good choice, but it still won’t be easy in the SEC.
My reaction to the Pelicans’ nickname was exactly like Shaun. It was our own Travis who shared it over Twitter, and by the way, I had the chance of running into him at Kroger. Nice dude, everyone.
The Pelicans just make me shake my head because they don’t exactly sound initimidating, but one thing about pelicans…they are theiving bunch of birds who hover around trashes hoping to pick up some food. It seem somewhat…approriate for the New Orelans and since it’s partially owned by the NBA, I think it makes sense. Chris Paul vetoed trade anyone?
The coaching move just makes my head spin. It was on this very blog when it was announced that Malzhan was taking the coaching move to Arkansas State, and I was among those commentators who applauded the move. It looks like it has paid off. The Red Wolves won the Sun Belt title under Malzhan. He’s a fan favorite in Auburn. Win-win for the Tigers and the new head coach.
I can’t wait until the Iron Bowl rival heat up next November between Alabama and Auburn. It should be a good ‘un since Saban wants to exact revenge on Auburn after Cam and the Tigers came from a 24-0 deficit to humilitate the Tide on their own home turf.
This Saturday, if I’m not mistaken, there’s going to be the coolest game played between Army and Navy. I don’t know if I will watch it, but when I saw it last year, I was highly entertained, and a lot of tradition and class acts in the game. Great way to close the college football season.
Myrtle Beach of the Carolina League should sue!!!
An NCSU friend of mine bets that the coach they hired from Northern Illinois will reneg and take the Wisconsin job. Stay tuned!
Hoping Logan comes back for his senior season and Kevin Rogers tutors him. Rogers has forgotten more about QB coaching than O’Cain will ever know.
I really don’t get what the Red Sox are trying to do. Victorino’s best asset is his speed, and Fenway limits the value of that. The Flyin’ Hawaiian seems like a great guy, and perhaps shifting the clubhouse vibe is part of the strategy. Still, it seems like that club’s getting older but not necessarily better.
If I’m a GM in this era — let’s call it the “Post-Age-Defiance” era — the fewer players I can have north of age 30 on my team, the better. I feel the same way about the big Marlins-Jays trade that had everybody upset. I don’t think the Jays will be loving those “stars” they acquired in a year or two, and I don’t think Marlins fans will miss them.
Trevor if you ever get a chance read A Civil War Army vs. Navy by John Feinstein. Great read and it even mentions the Hokies. Will make you appreciate the Army/Navy game even more. One of the things on my bucket list is to go to one.
Aaron, what’s the deal with Boston College and mustache-laced coaches? What’s the next hire? Sidney Whiplash as defensive coordinator?
My sister got to go to an A-N game. Her son in law played for Navy and somehow she scored tickets through that. It is one tough ticket to get and she said it was an incredible experience.
So much happens that the TV cameras do not cover. Truly unique.
Trevor — I was hoping they’d try to coach Rollie Fingers out of retirement.
I’ve read “A Civil War” and agree with Coxster that it is outstanding. The one thing I dread about Saturday is all the companies exploiting the “Daddy comes home from war” image to try to sell their products. Must have seen a dozen of those ads during NFL coverage on Sunday. “Soldiers coming home from the front lines and hugging their children is great…So are our cars.” Yuck.
My reaction to the Auburn hiring was “meh”. Malzan may be a good coach, but they won their title due to Cam Newton. Malzan’s offense wasn’t the same with the other QB’s that he had before & after Newton. I doubt he will be their savior. And with the other hirings announced yesterday, Auburn still seems like the 4th or 5th best team in the SEC West. Malzan does nothing to change that.
Apparently, Joey Phillips, VT’s fullback, has been sporting a Joe Dirt mullet and mustache. It’s comical, but dang, he does look like Joe Dirt. Some of the pictures he posted on Twitter just have fans hooting and hollering. He even wore an American flag t-shirt, saluating in front of the VT’s logo…
Trev, that’s “Snidley” Whiplash, one of my favorite ne’er do wells.
I try not to miss the Army-Navy game. I don’t think there is any rivilry that can beat it. These guys play because they love football, not to try and get rich in the NFL. Watching the faces of the seniors after the game while the teams sing their alma maters is special.
Aaron, change of subject… Why are you doing so bad on the Fearless Forecasting? Even my wife is better than you. And the fact that Bitters is next to last is a double whammy for our “Football Coverage Experts”
Twitterville is reporting that Mike Gundy has been offered the Tennessee job. That would surprise me more than Bielema to Arkansas, although there are rumors that Gundy doesn’t get along great with his AD. (Gundy is an Oklahoma State grad.)
He’s a man. He’s 40.
Aaron, agreed !!! The Jeep commercial is the worst. We been helping soldiers since world war 2. We get you home…. I dont see Jeep people picking them up at the airport or giving them jeeps.
Bieleme to Arkansas will be interesting. Especially since he blasted Meyer for recruiting verbal commits as “not the Big 10 way”. I wish him well but wonder how he’ll do in the ungentlemanly SEC.
Wake me when baseball season starts. I pay no attention to stuff like
Derek Eater and who goes where. The “on paper” stuff works out as planned so rarely.
I am interested in Josh Hamilton and who he signs with but more as a curiosity.
Does anyone know when Pop Bottle’s Memorial Service is?
I’m right there with Coxster, Army-Navy is a sports bucket list item for me. I know a couple of people that have been and they said it is just spectacular. I really like how this game gets highlighted now, center stage, nobody else playing. It is what you call ‘must see TV.’
I’m still scratching my head over Bielema. I guess the lure of the SEC is just too great, because he is leaving one heck of a situation at Wisconsin. Arkansas had a pretty good run for a couple of years, but for the most part, that program has been nothing but average, or worse, and it will be tough to be more than that in the SEC. I don’t think he’ll duplicate what he has done at Wisconsin at Arkansas.
These guys make more than enough money, so you’d think they’d be content where they have a good thing going and like to be able to sleep at night. He is now somewhere he can be canned quickly. He had a couple of mulligans in his pocket at Wisconsin, for sure.
Zman, Pop Bottle’s family, Soda Can and Milk Carton, will receive friends at 7-11 on Thursday evening from 6:00-8:00, with a short service to follow.
Rick H and Zman, don’t forget the 21 bottle shaking gun salute at the conclusion of the memorial service. It will get messy, so being raincoat and gloosh.
I’m also shocked at that opening line for the classic matchup of Virginia Tech and Rutgers.
Funny Rutgers story, one year when I went to Rutgers it was looking like rain and we hadn’t planned for that. Going into the stadium, there was a kid selling ponchos for $1 each, basically just a trash bag with holes in it, nothing fancy, but it was red and did have the Rutgers logo all over it, the knight with a sword, or something like that. They were actually pretty neat.
I gave him a $10, he didn’t have change (I think I was his first customer), so I just bought 10 of them. Somebody else in the Hokie crowd might need one, so I figured I look like a big spendah. It turned out we didn’t need to use them that game, so we just brought them home. My wife and I would get the funniest looks at rainy Tech games when we used them.
Zman, I agree with your comment on Bielema & recruiting. There is a 5-star running back from Little Rock, who has already committed to Alabama. If he sticks with what he said before, he would not be calling him today. I bet he was on the phone by noon, though.
Rumor: Stinespring has been offered a head coaching job. Not sure which high school though.
Hey bud, revenge was exacted on November 24th. 42-0 Tide at the half. Subs played the second half. Final, 49-0.
I can’t wait until the Iron Bowl rival heat up next November between Alabama and Auburn. It should be a good ‘un since Saban wants to exact revenge on Auburn after Cam and the Tigers came from a 24-0 deficit to humilitate the Tide on their own home turf.
Comment by Trevor — December 5, 2012 @ 9:16 am
In 2011 Tide won 42-14 at Auburn. Auburn wins by one in 2010. 13 others lost to the NCAA champs also. Get your facts straight Trevor. Point differential comes out to +76 and could have been much more.
Roll Tide!
Seems the Tennessee job is having a hard time finding a new coach.Hmmm,,,
Ron, eff off! You don’t like my comment, cry me a river and get paddling. I don’t know why you need to constantly belittle me for some of my thoughts. Go and whine to your SEC brothers you heathen.