I have neglected to talk about the various news items that have come up in the last couple of weeks so I will take a minute to catch back up. I have all the standard reasons for slacking off but I'll spare you the details and get right right into throwing my two cents in there on the most interesting items that I have come across in the last couple of weeks.
There has been a lot of talk about conference realignment of late and before it is all said and done I think it will definitely happen. At this point it is just a matter of which big fish go where and what the ripple effect amounts to when the dust settles. This could go many different ways. Of the roughly one million articles and blog posts I have seen on this subject in the last couple of weeks there are actually two blog posts on the fantake network that I found the most interesting. With Texas assuming the belle of the ball role in all of the speculation going around horninexile over at Barking Carnival wrote a very interesting post on the Texas perspective. As college football fans we tend to automatically gravitate towards what seems to make sense for good football but his post talks about all the other little things we tend to forget about like academics and money. There is a reason that Boise State isn't already in the Pac 10 and the same can be said for TCU and the Big 12. On the money note there is also an interesting post at Spence Park Soap Box with some pretty straightforward observations on the money aspect of the issue specifically endowments. Both posts are good reminders to the layman that there is a lot in play here. For the record regular OFD commenter Longhorn Mike predicted this whole Super Conference thing on the roof of a beach house in Pensacola, Florida in the summer of 1999. I was there and I am publicly vouching for him. More on that at a later date but in the midst of a heated college football argument that followed many beers he made some very astute observations. It is starting to look like he was right.
Speaking of Texas the NCAA came up with a new rule that limits the contact that "coaches-in-waiting" can have with recruits. This specifically torpedoes the Horns cult hero DC and coach-in-waiting Will Muschamp. Total BS and there isn't much else to say. Both Texas and Maryland are requesting and exemption since the rule came into effect after they had each already named their heir apparent. I expect the coach-in-waiting practice will now cease to be public knowledge.
In other NCAA rules news writing on eye black is no longer allowed. That will teach Reggie Bush to start a trend. The NCAA is also taking more steps against taunting. If a player gets called for unsportsmanlike conduct prior to crossing the goal line the penalty will be assessed from the spot of the foul. Hence, the points are coming back off the board. Better wait to cross the goal line before you get your dance on. The Wiz has the details.
Joe Theismann hates Tim Tebow and Urban Meyer. He went off on Tebow's NFL prospects and Meyer's ability to prepare a QB for the next level. I can't even do it justice, check it out for yourself. Joe went off.
Some 13 year old QB committed to USC. That makes sense for both parties. I could go on for a long time about all the things that are wrong with this but I'll leave it alone. Bottom line, go be a kid for a few more years and enjoy it. Does this kid have parents or what? Last time I checked things didn't turn out so good for Todd Marinovich.
While I'm on the subject of my favorite team to root against I will go ahead and hit all the other business going on that is related to them. Reggie Bush was accused of failing to actually pay for two $10,000 scholarships that he previously promised to two kids from his high school in San Diego. Apparently he coughed up $2,500 to each kid for their freshmen year then stopped paying. Doesn't he have plenty of Lloyd Lake cash still laying around? Does anyone else think Bush is a complete idiot for not just paying Lake and Michael Michaels back their 300k after he signed with New Orleans? If he had the Trojans may not have started hearings with the NCAA today to determine their fate. The LA Times seems to think the Trojans might actually get worked over. I could go on for a while about how the NCAA will lose all credibility if they don't put the smack down on USC but there isn't much point in it. Like Chupacabra I'll believe it when I see it.
Jon Tenuta surfaced this week as the Linebackers coach at NC State. It is still hard to believe that Tah Noo Tah went from being a hot commodity DC to an LB coach at a tread water ACC program in only two years. I still think Tenuta might make some noise before all is said and done adding to the discussions that I will be having 10 years from now that go something like "can you believe ND had that staff and those players and went 6-6 in 2009?"
In other Notre Dame news the fan base has plenty to discuss as we continue to move towards spring football. Many feel the next recruiting
class will be the first one to really judge Coach Kelly and his staff by and I agree with that. There were a couple of great articles on ISD this week about the regional breakdown of the staff assignments and the recruiting outlook for 2011. In addition to those und.com released a 2 minute video that I won't even bother to link, showing clips of the players doing off season workouts to what sounded like a Kix guitar solo. Said video has started a handful of threads on the ND message boards which I suppose is to be expected.
There has also a significant amount of discussion on Coach Kelly's overall approach and as far as I'm concerned the best article and or post I have read yet was written by the wise one OC Domer. OC pretty much turned over all the rocks there. It is a good read. I will spare you the tangent that my brain is telling me to down about leadership. I could go on for a long time on that one but I will save it for another day. The bottom line is this. If Brian Kelly wins a bunch of games and competes for BCS Championships at Notre Dame he will be revered as a great coach and a great leader. If he doesn't we will be back to talking about whether or not the next guy can pull it off. I really like Coach Kelly and I am feeling good about his chances but until the W's start piling up I won't let myself get too fired up. I am simultaneously battling optomism and realism. More thoughts on Coach Kelly soon.