Beware of Chucky! (Why Jon Gruden should not be hired on the college level)

With the first of what surely will be many firings on the college football landscape, brings the now annual speculation that Jon Gruden will take a college head coaching job. There will be many high profile openings available and he is already getting calls to ascertain interest. College presidents beware! Hiring Jon Gruden will be a program crippling mistake.

Teaching ability

One the most important aspects of coaching college football, is the ability to teach. Gruden has proven that he either did not possess the ability to teach or did not have the stomach for it as he always preferred veteran quarterbacks and never developed a single QB on the pro level. This inability to develop or want to develop a pro quarterback directly led to his firing in Tampa Bay. College Football is all about teaching players.

Practice & Player Contact Limits

The NCAA has strict guidelines about how long players can practice and workout. Gruden is a notorious early riser who wakes up daily at 3:17. He works non-stop. How easy do you think it will be to adjust his practice schedules, meeting schedules and training schedules down to fit the college model? It will drive him nuts that he can’t be on the field or even in the stands for off-season work-outs. He would be an NCAA infraction waiting to happen.

West Coast Offense

The West Coast Offense is a timing based system that requires immense practice time to perfect. Time college coaches don’t have because of practice limits. Look at the last several West Coast pro coaches who dropped down to the college level - Mike Sherman at Texas A & M, Bill Callahan at Nebraska, Sylvester Croom at Mississippi State, Al Groh at Virginia. They all bombed offensively. Coaches don’t change their preferred schemes. They are always inclined to go with the schemes they feel most comfortable with. However, the West Coast offense does not work in college

Alumni & the Rubber Chicken Circuit

College coaches have to kiss the ring. They have to bow down to influential alumni. The landscape is littered with successful coaches who could not get along with influential boosters and got fired because of it. This is what happened to Tommy Bowden at Auburn and David Cutcliff at Ole Miss. Every program has these guys who have made their money and now the “program” is their pet project. These are also the guys who fund the private organizations that pay the majority of the coaches’ salary. Another aspect of coaching college is the “rubber chicken circuit.” That’s the name coaches give to the off season dinner circuit that they have to go and give speeches and eat those meat, starch and vegetable banquet dinners we all love so much. I don’t know how good Gruden would be doing these things, but I do know that I’d rather hire a coach that is already familiar with these types of activities. Pro coaches who drop down to college find that they do not have the stomach for this stuff. Its part of the job so wouldn’t you want coaches who are already familiar with these tasks?

For these reasons, I think Jon Gruden would be a horrible choice for a college head coaching job. As for the pro ranks, seems like he’d fit perfectly in Dallas but that’s a column for another day.

The Linebackers!

There are two players most responsible for my love of football. One will be the right defensive end on my list. The other is none other than Patrick Swilling. I grew up loving the way Swilling came off the corner. He terrorized NFL quarterbacks as part of the Dome Patrol Defense. I wanted to be Swilling in every way. He had a swagger on the field. He played with his mouth piece dangling. I tried that but sadly they have rules against those things in lower levels. I was devastated when the Saints traded him away. I ended up being a Lions fan for a couple of years. I also like the fact the Swilling did well in business and was later elected to the Louisiana State Congress. He is by far my favorite linebacker of all time.





At middle backer I got Ray Lewis. There has never been a better team leader than Lewis. It was telling during the first season of Hard Knocks that Brian Billick said the team didn't need to go away to training camp because he had Lewis. He said no one was ever late to practices because no one wanted to face Ray Lewis. That tells you everything you need to know about his leadership abilities. It doesn't hurt that he also happens to be one of the fiercest competitors and hardest hitters the game has ever seen. Defensive MVP and Superbowl winner too.







I had several choices in mind for my third linebacker. I thought Rickey Jackson and that would have given me Saints book-ends. I thought Derrick Brooks but I like him more as an FSU do everything backer than the Tampa Cover 2 version. Then I thought about Kevin Greene. He was a monster for Pittsburgh and Carolina. But he is a a 3-4 outside backer and I'm running a 4-3. So I have settled on Wilber Marshall. He was a ferocious hitter and could do everything on the football field. He could cover, play the run and rush the passer. He was an integral part of the 85 bears vaunted defense. He also had one of the most ferocious hits in league history when he laid out Troy Aikman (see picture below).  Aikman's chin split wide open. He had to wear a special chinstrap the rest of his career. That play alone gets him on my list ahead of the others. Who's your all time favorite linebackers?

Thankful for Football.....

The Shut-Down Corner blogged 77 reasons why he was thankful for football. It's a good list although I don't agree with #53 about Micheal Irvin and for # 63 just look to New York and Darrelle Revis. To see the original 77, click the title to this blog........................... I figured I would complete the list to 100. Here's my additional 23:

100. That the 72 Dolphins still get together and pop champagne showing the bond that old team mates share.

99. Red Zone channel - It’s like having a mental remote and is addictive.

98. That Peyton Hillis can go from an afterthought in college and a throw –in on a trade and become a star.

97. That Ray Lewis is still laying people out.

96. Watching Mark Sanchez develop right before our eyes. That throw to Braylon Edwards was amazing.

 95. That Tampa is in the play-off hunt giving hope for “next year” to the fans of all last place teams.

94. That Chris Henry’s lost life helped save so many others

93. Watching Hines Ward play receiver like he was a linebacker.

92. For Jeff Fisher taking a stand against Vince Young. It’s a team game.

91. That all 5’10” of London Fletcher is still making plays in the NFL. Giving hope to the little guys

90. That Dick Lebeau is still zone blitzing the hell out of folks.

89. For Cheerleader shots during games & and that you can rewind live TV now!

88. “Can’t do it. I want winners”

87. Al Davis’s jump suits (Hey, they’re just funny)

86. Steve Johnson - waiver wire pick-up of the year.

85. For kick-offs to Devin Hester.

84. That my wife joined my fantasy league and beat me in the title game last year.

83. Ed Reed

82. For Josh Freeman - the new Captain Comeback?

81. The Jacksonville Hail Mary. Knock it down! Whoops.

80.  That first Sunday after the Super Bowl when you realize its all over and you can’t wait for it to start again.

79. Watching the game with your Dad and listening to him try to explain how good Gale Sayers was.

78. For Rocky Bleier and all the old Steelers raising money for the Flight 93 memorial.

NFL Power Rankings

1. Patriots - Tom Brady may be the greatest quarterback of all time. He does more with less. He has definitely moved into my all time top 3 (Sounds like a good future blog).

2. Eagles - Big win against the Giants. There was no hang-over from the Monday night game against the Skins.
3. Jets - Mark Sanchez is maturing before our eyes. The last two weeks the team has won because of his play down the stretch. And has there been a more perfect pass thrown this season than the throw down the sideline to Braylon Edwards between the corner and safety? I don't think so. It may be time for Rex to loosen the reins on the kid so there won't be so many close 4th quarter games.

4. Steelers - The Raiders looked like they were in pre-season mode. The Steelers are good but not that good.

5. Ravens - Team did what it needed against a team (Carolina) that is without its starting backfield and with a coach who is on his last leg.

6. Falcons - Big test this week as the team hosts the Pack. A win will go a long way toward solidifying play-off positioning and maintaining the division lead on the Saints and Bucs.

7. Saints - Team is starting to roll again offensively. Key injured players are returning to the line-up just in time for the stretch run.

8. Packers - Team is rolling. Aaron Rogers can take a huge step forward Sunday. The knock on him is that he never wins the big game. A road game against a conference foe that is also in the hunt for home-field advantage counts as a big game.

9. Tampa Bay - The more I see Tampa play, the more impressed I am with Josh Freeman. He is cool under pressure and his team definitely follows him. I can't wait to see what he looks like when he gets more experience and a couple more weapons. He'll be deadly.

10. Chicago - The Bears are an interesting team. At times they can look sloppy on offense and Jay Cutler is always a play away from a crippling interception. But they are great on special teams and very good on defense so they will always be in games. Now if they can just get more production from their running game they could be on to something.

The piss-poor, god-awful 5 worst teams in the NFL right now

5. San Francisco - Last week's game against Tampa was a contest pairing two teams heading in the opposite directions. Tampa is a young team that shows poise, focus and direction. These 49ers exhibit none of these traits. While the team plays hard under Singletary, the team lacks direction.  Singletary just was not experienced enough when the team hired him. The organization would be better served to hire an experienced X and O coach who can utilize the talent they have.

4. Arizona Cardinals - It is said that when you miss on a 1st round quarterback, you set your franchise back 5 years. Well the teamed missed on Matt Lienart and the team is suffering the consequences. There is no Kurt Warner around to bail out the team for that mistake this time. Then they compounded the problem by signing Derek Anderson in the off-season. It's a shame too. I miss watching Larry Fitzgerald play with a competent quarterback.

3. Bills - Their comeback against the Bengals was a thing of beauty. To their credit, this team has played hard all year.  I'm glad that it is finally paying off in wins.

2. Bengals - This team started the season with aspirations of making a run at the Super Bowl. Instead they are challenging for the worst record in the league. Getting blown out by a 1 win Bills team AFTER they were up 28-3 is a new low.

1. Panthers - Andrew Luck awaits them as next year's presumed number 1 pick.

NFL Power Rankings

1. Patriots - Impressive win vs the Steelers. Tom Brady and company definitely have Pittsburg's number. Now they get to face their long time rivals the Colts.

2. Eagles - I do not have a sufficient enough vocabulary to describe the performance that Micheal Vick had Monday night. He looks every bit like a great pocket passer now. Add that to his unparalleled athletic ability and you get a player that can simply crush an opponent. Simple fact. When Vick is healthy. The Eagles offense has been unstoppable this season. He's healthy so the Eagles are my number 2 team.

3. Jets - Bill Parcels always says you are what your record says you are and the Jets are 7-2. The grinded out a victory against the Browns. They don't have to be pretty, they just have to win.

4. Falcons - Last week, I said that if they beat the Ravens then I'd be a believer. Well I lied. I still don't believe in them. However, I can not justify ranking them any lower.

5.  Colts - This team keeps finding ways to win. Bengals gagged last Sunday but as Parcels says,.....

6. Saints - Rested from the bye and looking to make a late season push.

7. Ravens - Seems like this team can beat the good teams but can't come through against top 5 level opponents.

8. Packers - Can take a big step towards wrapping up the division by putting away the struggling Vikes next Sunday. Should be rested from the bye.

9. Giants- When they win they look great. When they lose, it is ugly. The looked horrible against the Cowboys. Couldn't cover, couldn't tackle, couldn't pass protect. Mercy!

10. Tampa Bay - I could have went with the Bears here. Its a toss up really. The Bucs make fewer mistakes though and I like the way the team plays under Morris. Raheem has to be Coach of the Year at this point. No one thought this team would win more than 3 games this season.

The piss-poor, god-awful 5 worst teams in the NFL right now.

5. Bengals - Can you say under-achievers? This team has entirely too much talent to only have two wins. Carson Palmer has regressed. I think he has not recovered mentally from his knee injury. He looks very skittish in the pocket.

4. Dallas Cowboys - It took Wade Philips getting canned for this team to show up and play. Wade handled his firing with class and is still rooting for the team. Perhaps the team can continue to play up to their capabilities and make the 2nd half of the season interesting.

3. Lions - This team is struggling to rid itself of its losing atmosphere. They have more talent than the Bills and had chances to win but the team just couldn't seal the deal. They need to take that next step forward.

2. Bills - The Bills finally got their first win. The 2008 Lions are popping champagne as the will remain the only 0-16 team in history. Seriously though, I am glad they got a win. Every team deserves to win at least 1 game. Plus this team plays hard every week.

1. Panthers - They are running on fumes. Nearly all of their talented players are injury. They will struggle to stay in games the rest of the year.