Interesting piece in the L.A. Times. Bill Paschke is a fine sportswriter and Jim Mora is a fine coach.
http://www.latimes.com/sports/ucla/l...29-column.html
Interesting piece in the L.A. Times. Bill Paschke is a fine sportswriter and Jim Mora is a fine coach.
http://www.latimes.com/sports/ucla/l...29-column.html
So, I often see Mike Riley on "best coaches" lists. Why is this? I don't doubt that's he's a fine coach, but OSU never finishes very high and sometimes finishes rather low. Why is Riley the only coach in the country who can still get credit with a less than stellar record?
Disagree strongly. Riley had a six-year stretch from 2004-09 where OSU finished lower than third all of once. Sure, they've never been to Pasadena, but they've been close.
In the pre-expansion era, his average league finish was 4th. In the expansion era, his average finish is 4th, and that's facing two Top 10 teams every year.
Riley has three wins vs. Top 5 teams, and is 5-2 in bowl games. All this despite an athletic budget that ranked 9th in a 10-team league (I suspect OSU is now 10th out of 12) and having Oregon within your state's borders.
Oh, I believe he's a good coach. I'm just surprised that the media always recognizes it as well. He's definitely the odd man out in the types of lists I'm referring to. I mean, you have Nick Saban, David Shaw, Urban Meyer, Jimbo Fisher, and then Mike Riley. I'm not sure consistently finishing 3-4 in conference would get anyone else onto "top coaches" lists, but Riley really does have a lot of respect. It's almost like he's the token "good coach in a so-so program" that they feel has to be put somewhere.
Riley did wonders, left, then came back. I think that elevates him a lot as well.
Good Grantland Article on the games this week and financial success of the conference.
Quote:
Now, just five years after bringing up the rear financially, the Pac-12 hassurpassed the SEC and Big Ten as the richest conference in the land. Earlier this year, the conference reported just shy of $334 million in total revenue for the 2012-13 fiscal year, a 345 percent increase over 2008-09. In television revenue alone, the Pac-12 reported $252.7 million in 2012-13, nearly a threefold increase over the $85.6 million it reported the previous year. The current payout averages $20.8 million per school under the new TV deal, compared with $6 million per school under the old deal, and it will only keep rising.
Arizona struggling a bit on the road vs UTSA
Only to March back and punch RichRod right in the coinpurse. That 25 yard seam route to the TE on 4th and 10 was awesome.
Oh, Stanford lost today. Woo-hoo!
UCLA is looking good against Memphis but less than godlike.
Anyone else wonder why Memphis didn't spike the ball on its last possession?
And by the way, it was weird for Pat Haden to be down on the sideline at all, let alone arguing with the refs.
This morning on Dan Patrick's show Sarkisian said he called Haden down to the sideline. Really? Or is Steve simply throwing himself under the bus?
I have to say the sense of entitlement shown by sark and haden over this episode is very distasteful.
Who here expects Washington to look a lot better this week? I do. Petersen is a good coach. He isn't used to playing good teams every week. I'd put money down, that he spent the last month prepping for Illinois 1/3rd of the time and Stanford for 2/3rd of the time. It wouldn't even surprise me if he didn't even look at the last two teams more than a passing glance. I think Washington comes out and looks great this week, wins next week, and gives Stanford all they can handle.
I said before the year began, that it wouldn't shock me to see Stanford sitting at 2-2 after the Washington game. That game will be for second place in the North.
OK, maybe not for second place. Washington does luck out in that they don't play us, so maybe it's not for second place. :D
USC in trouble against BC, down by 10 in the third.