Bill Snyder drops the truth about college football

Kansas State head football coach Bill Snyder will forever retire the Boring Interview award, but perhaps in his advancing age he is less afraid to state his own opinion. Bravo.

In an interview with 610 Sports Radio KCSP, Snyder went off on the state of college football that it has become a giant money grab that has altered the priorities of what a university should stand for.

Snyder said: "I can only speak personally. I'm grossly overpaid for what I do. That's part of what creates the issue."

No one is disagreeing with Snyder, but who is going to stop this giant gravy train of cash? The coaches? No. The agents? Hell no.

Snyder is 73, and recently signed a five-year deal worth $14.75 million. I wonder if he said, "Heeeeeey, no thanks."

Snyder continued: "I think it's in a bad place right now. It's in a bad place for a variety of reasons. We've allowed it to become money driven. We've allowed it to become TV driven. We've allowed athletic programs or football programs to mean more to a university than what the university is really supposed to be all about.

“The last I heard, we were educational institutions. Certainly there is an education that takes place in football, and I understand all the parameters. But it's not driven by values; it's driven by dollars and cents."

All of the above is accurate.

When schools realized a visible football and men's basketball team could be major revenue producers and beacons for donations is when the model dramatically changed. It has since become a race between coaches inside their own programs for "we need this and we need that" and the spending is non stop. These things need money. This means school officials have to beg donors, or agree to whatever TV wants to cover costs, which also include coaches' salaries.

What will change this reality Snyder did not say.

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Baylor is Texas' best chance in '13-'14

The college basketball season is over, and now the eyes of the great state a Texas can focus on what it really cares about - football practice. Or 7 on 7. Or football speculation. How are there not any football coaches fired yet?

This college basketball season in Texas will be marked by the giant flop by every team in this state for failing to qualify for the NCAA tournament. Because 21 Division I teams just isn't enough.

This state, however, did win the National Intramural Tournament - Baylor was the 69th best team in the nation. Kidding. Baylor's talent said it should have been in the NCAA but the results said otherwise.

Stephen F. Austin should have reached the NCAA tournament but lost in the Southland Conference tourney finals, and Baylor gagged away too many close games to make it.

Heading into this offseason, however, Baylor should be the best team in this great state when next season begins.

This team, however, figures to lose much: Point guard Pierre Jackson is gone, and it would be a real shock if 7-foot-1 freshman center Isaiah Austin returns.

The swing guy is Cory Jefferson. He is a 6-foot-9 junior who averaged 13.3 points and 8 rebounds. If he remains in Waco, happy times for coach Scott Drew. Forward Rico Gathers should be better, and contribute more with more touches. Along with incoming recruit Ishmail Wainwright, Baylor should have the necessary toys to win 20 games next season and much more.

Kansas should lose all five starters from a Sweet 16 team; Texas' leading scorer is transferring, and the Horns are likely going to lose point guard Myck Kabongo to the draft; Oklahoma State can't expect Marcus Smart to return. Iowa State and Kansas State should be tough outs but Baylor has the pieces to not only return to the NCAA tournament but win this conference.

The other teams to watch out for: UTEP, because Tim Floyd knows what he is doing, and SMU. Head coach Larry Brown already had a solid recruiting class, but he landed the best recruit in the history of the program when he recently added McDonald's All-American Keith Frazier, who chose SMU over Texas Tech.

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Kim Mulkey's mouth overshadowed the end of a brilliant Baylor career

Women's basketball doesn't much move the needle but there are exceptions, mostly because Baylor senior center Brittney Griner is the ultimate aberration.

Her college career is over after Louisville pulled off one of the biggest upsets in the history of an NCAA tournament by defeating Baylor 82-81 in the Sweet 16 on Sunday night.

Griner will leave Baylor as the rarest of examples of a female college athlete whom the university actually profitted from rather than the other way around. She drew big crowds, generated untold revenue in media publicity, and led her team to an NCAA title.

And after the most disappointing defeat of her life, she handled herself with the class her head coach should have emulated.

Louisville leaned and beat on Griner all night in a game the officials never really controlled. Griner still finished with eight free throw attempts, tying her with teammate Odyssey Sims for the most in the game. Baylor was 19-of-26 from the line; Louisville 12-of-16.

"Most of the time you get more calls. You just play through it," Griner told the media after the game.

Notice - no complaining from the player who was being treated like a giant tackling dummy.

Then her coach, the verbally gifted Kim Mulkey, decided she was going to make sure the world knew the officiating sucked and rather than be a decent sport she sounded like a sore losing whiner.

“I'll be glad to answer any referee question you want to ask me, because I don't mind getting fined, so ask me,” Mulkey said in the post game presser. “Now is the time to ask me, OK?”

And then ...

“I thought the game started out way too physical, way too physical. I thought that all three of them, if they go past this round of officiating, it will be sad for the game.”

As a member of the media, many thanks for the candor and the hyperbole. But this is not the best example of leadership.

Officiating basketball is a difficult, and thankless, gig. Just start with the baseline that all college officiating honks.

Mulkey mentioned the refs blew a couple of late game calls, but the officials had little to do with Louisville making 16-of-25 3-pointers, including a few from NBA range. The refs didn't help the Cardinals shoot 48 percent from the floor. 

The refs didn't hand Louisville a 19-point lead.

Mulkey was justifiably upset because she knows she had the best team in the nation and her team should have won another NCAA title.

But this is sports where upsets happen.

Her points about the officiating, and specifically a couple of those calls, may be accurate but like everything there is a time and a place.

It would seem that Griner knew that but Mulkey deliberately forgot.

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Baylor so much closer to moving out of Floyd Casey

WACO, Texas - Even if you are not a fan of Baylor football, but have had the pleasure of going to a game at Floyd Casey Stadium - especially at night - these pictures are great news.

If you have not been on I-35 by the Baylor campus recently, this is a very -ish picture is of what should be named RGIII Stadium, which is scheduled to open in August of 2014.

As you can see, the support beams are under way and just about all of the necessary land next to the Brazos River has been cleared out, and crews are making what appears to be quick progress.

For more information on this new stadium, click here.

 

 

 

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A&M will play Texas when this sorority cat fight stops

I do love me some DeLoss Dodds. The University of Texas director of athletics and de facto Big 12 commish can't help himself. Whether it's giving the green light for his teams to have losing seasons, or remaining absolutely tone deaf to anything not Texas, the man provides good copy.

The Daily Texan asked Mr. Dodds when Texas might play Texas A&M again in football, to which Dodds answered: 

“I think we'll play sometime. I don't know when it will happen or how it will happen, but I'm sure it will happen. They left. They're the ones that decided not to play us. We get to decide when we play again. I think that's fair. If you did a survey of our fans about playing A&M, they don't want to. It's overwhelming. I know. I hear it. Our fans are important to us. I think there's got to be a period where things get different. I think there's too many hard feelings."

That last sentence is true - there are too many hard feelings. On both sides. The A&M people are hacked because the Aggies feel that rather than take something else into consideration other than itself, Texas did what was best for Texas by jumping into bed with ESPN and creating the Longhorn Network and keeping all of the profits. A&M would have done the same thing had ESPN called the Aggies. Bristol didn't call College Station, so the Aggies bolted to the SEC with a giant middle finger on its way East.

Dodds said "We get to decide." Not sure A&M director of athletics Eric Hyman agrees. When I asked him such a question in an interview last fall, he sounded none too eager to play UT primarily because of the brutality of the SEC schedule.

You can bet neither Mack Brown nor Kevin Sumlin want this game for fear of losing a non-conference date.

Financially, the respective decisions made sense for both schools but there is something bigger than DeLoss, Mack, Hyman, Sumlin and any of the power brokers who wear the maroon and white or the orange and white: Texas and Texas A&M.

The schools, the programs, the alumni and the tradition are much bigger than any of these men who are acting like a sparring sorority girls who are upset over the float in the homecoming parade. 

It happens in other states all the time - Georgia plays Georgia Tech in football. Florida plays Florida State. Clemson plays South Carolina. 

Get over it and do the right thing by putting Texas v. Texas A&M back on the schedule. 

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In the end, Baylor does not deserve the NCAA tournament

1. This is why you hate college officiating. Sixteen seconds after Baylor tied Oklahoma State in the Big 12 tourney with a four-point play with 19 seconds remaining, the officials screwed up with a terrible call on a drive to the basket by OSU guard Phil Forte where there was no contact. 

Forte made both free throws, leaving Baylor guard Pierre Jackson to dribble the length of the court and try a potential game-winning 3-pointer at the buzzer. He had 31 points, but the shot hit the rim and Baylor is now left to pray for an NCAA tournament bid that should have been a done deal.

2. This is why you hate Baylor, and want to throw something at coach Scott Drew. And then you remember it's Baylor, and you recall what this program was before he arrived and you have no choice but to reconsider your disgust.

One game after upsetting Kansas, the Baylor basketball team returned to being so Baylor this season in a loss against No. 14 Oklahoma State in the quarterfinals of the Big 12 tournament in Kansas City on Thursday night. OSU won 74-72 in a game it led by 20 in the first half.

Baylor may be the last team out of the NCAA tournament. The Bears needed to defeat the Cowboys to make the field of 68. This is going to leave Stephen F. Austin as the only team from Texas with a chance to make the tournament.

Considering the players Drew lost from last season's team no one should have expected a return to the Elite 8, but guys like Jackson and Isaiah Austin should have made this more than an NIT team. 

The Bears are 18-14, and their RPI is somewhere in the 60s. They were 1-8 in games decided by 5 points or less.

Drew deserves a statue for making this program nationally relevant for something other than homicides. How he has attracted top talent to his program is quite - cough, cough - incredible? Sure. Go with that word. It's what happens after the top talent arrives that can be so frustrating.

His teams play right at the fringe of control, and when the jumpers are not falling things can look chaotic. Drew's teams have a hint of a Steve Lavin "coached" team; sometimes it looks like a ball has been rolled out and the message is, "Go score the basketball, boys."

It leaves people frustrated that Baylor should be more, and maybe the Bears should be more. The talent they had this season said they were better than 18 wins.

Considering, however, what Baylor was when Drew arrived being frustrated is better than not caring.

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Year 1 of TCU under Trent Johnson - be patient

FORT WORTH, Texas - How TCU won two basketball games in the Big 12 may be the greatest achievement of any TCU team in this first season of this new conference. No athletic program at TCU was more poorly equipped for this promotion than men's basketball, and that is no slam against head coach Trent Johnson or his players.

TCU's upset win against Oklahoma on Saturday afternoon was a nice way to send off a senior class and a team that was over-matched from the start of this season.

The Frogs had two players who would have been recruited by other Big 12 teams - point guard Kyan Anderson and forward Amric Fields. The rest were recruited to be Mountain West players. And Fields was lost for the season when he blew out his ACL in the third game. 

There are encouraging signs: Johnson knows what he is doing; despite every reason, his team never quit on him; he is not going to employ this "grind it out" style forever; Fields is expected back; players are coming; Anderson is one of the better point guards in the Big 12, and he has two years left.

"It's been about what I expected, with the exception of the injuries" Johnson said in a recent phone interview. "I can't talk about (this season) without talking about that. It put pressure on the seniors to be in certain rolls, and to apply pressure more than their skill level or talent."

I offered Johnson my theory on the first season of college basketball coaches - the first year is more about the third year.
Year 1 Coach plays who he has, and the transition is ugly.
Year 2 Coach plays the young people he wants and there looks to be some direction.
Year 3 Coach has his group for two years, and that's when you know if it can work.

"That's your asseessment," he said. "I hate the rebuilding tag. We're going to get it done. We just are. You've seen it in college basketball - you get the right two guys, as long as they can play."

TCU basketball is one of the hardest jobs in high major basketball. The interest level is minimal, and the tradition is non-existent. If this has any shot of working, Johnson is going to need some patience on the part of the administration.

He landed a solid recruiting class - F Brandon Parrish, C Karviar Shepherd, G Michael Williams - and expect that he is going to find a few others to come in next season. If he can find one or two decent transfers, next season should be better.

And he already beat Kansas.

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Jerry Hughes & TCU's defensive end issues in the NFL

FORT WORTH, Texas - Since Gary Patterson was the TCU defensive coordinator his defenses have routinely produce quality defensive ends.

Jerry Hughes, Chase Ortiz, Braylon Broughton, Tommy Blake, Wayne Daniels, Bo Schobel, Robert Pollard, Aaron Schobel, and now Stansly Maponga and sophomore Devonte Fields.

These men produced lots of sacks, forced fumbles, and were All Americans, All Conference picks, etc. What else do all of these guys have in common? With the exception of Aaron Schobel, none of their college success translated up. They were all too short.

On Thursday at TCU Pro Day, Hughes watched Maponga and a handful of other hopefuls run through the myriad of drills in front of the many scouts and the three NFL assistant coaches who attended. 

Hughes was a first round pick of the Indianapolis Colts in 2010; the team thought he could be one of those smaller, but quick, defensive ends like Dwight Freeney or Robert Mathis and eventually replace one. Those two may have been the quickest defensive ends in the league in their prime.

It wasn't until last offseason when the team moved Hughes to outside linebacker did he begin to produce.

"I am very grateful (Colts owner Robert) Irsay selected me in the first round," Hughes told me Thursday. "But when I first got there I wasn't sure what they wanted. I really never did get a straight answer. ... This past season went well. I think I adjusted pretty well and I'm getting more comfortable at linebacker and playing in space."

Hughes should always have been an outside linebacker in the NFL. In '12, he played in 16 games and finished with 41 tackles and a career-best four sacks. Hughes may never be a star, but he can be pretty good and have an NFL job.

Maponga is about the same height and weight as Hughes, and he should be converted into an OLB. That's what Pittsburgh Steelers scout and former LB Joe Greene told Charean Williams of the Star-Telegram.

Here is a look at some of the big name TCU defensive linemen in the past decade or so, and how they fared after college.

Jerry Hughes 6-2, 254. 1st rd pick of Colts in '10. Now an OLB.
Chase Ortiz 6-2, 255. Never made it out of preseason.
Braylon Broughton, 6-6, 272. Currently with Saints. Keeps getting looks because he is so big.
Tommy Blake, 6-3, 252. Never made it. Such a sad story of what should have been.
Aaron Schobel, 6-4, 243. The very best; 78 sacks in nine NFL seasons.
Wayne Daniels, 6-2, 250. Never made it.
Bo Schobel, 6-5, 264. Played 29 NFL games for three NFL teams from '04-'07.
Robert Pollard, 6-2, 261. Played for two teams in three NFL seasons.

These guys were all very good on defenses that thrived in Conference USA or the Mountain West. 

In the Big 12, Patterson is going to need bigger bodies, such as sophomore-to be Devonte Fields (6-4, 240), and as a result more of these guys should have a bit more luck sticking in the pros.

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NFL mock drafts saying Cowboys will go with this need first

Now that the Dallas Cowboys have cut Gerald Sensabaugh to create salary cap space you can officially add "Safety" as a need position. It was a need before he was released.

The team likes second-year pro Matt Johnson, but who knows if he can play. Barry Church, who missed nearly the entire '12 season to injury, should return as a starter.

The Cowboys' first round needs look to be ...
1. GM
2. O linemen. Any except left tackle.
3. Defensive tackle.
4. Safety

As the NFL draft approaches - we're still more than one month away - the mock drafts are changing pretty much daily.

In the spirit of the great information consolidator that is the Huffington Post, here is a compiled look who/what is saying the Cowboys will pick with the 18th pick in the 2013 NFL draft:

Bucky Brooks of NFL.com has the Cowboys selecting North Carolina DT Slyvester Williams.
Daniel Jeremiah of NFL.com has the Cowboys selecting Missouri DT Sheldon Richardson.
Gil Brandt of NFL.com has the Cowboys selecting North Carolina OG Jonathan Cooper. 
Scout's Inc. rate Williams as the 18th pick.
Rob Rang of CBSSports.com is going with Purdue DT Kawann Short.
Dane Bruger of CBSSports.com has the Cowboys selecting Cooper.
Something called DraftTek.com is going with Sheldon Richardson.
The Sporting News says the Cowboys will select BYU DE/LB Ezekiel Ansah.
FootballsFuture.com goes with Richardson.
Charean Williams of the Star-Telegram likes Cooper at 18.
And USA Today has the Cowboys selecting Georgia DT Jonathan Jenkins.

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Aggie a finalist for video game cover

Established NFL players have slowly developed a fear of the EA Madden NFL video game, mostly because it has been a curse to so many careers. 

There are no such feelings about EA Sports NCAA football game, which means former Texas A&M Aggie Ryan Swope needs to go all in on this.

This is rather cool - Swope and former Michigan University quarterback Denard Robinson are the two finalists to grace the cover of the new version of the game - NCAA Football 14.

If you want to vote, click here.

This process has included six rounds of voting with a total of more than 3.1 million votes submitted.

Among some of the possibile cover candidates included Eddie Lacy of Alabama and Kenjon Barner of Oregon. Not one the list, however, was Alabama fan Katerine Webb.

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