Red McCombs "Kicked In The Face" Over Strong Hire

((HT: ESPN))

Red McCombs was the owner of the Minnesota Vikings when the team hired Mike Tice...

That worked out well...

And, now, McCombs (the largely influential Texas Longhorns Booster) is hot about the hiring of Charlie Strong as the new Texas coach... since he wasn't consulted...

McCombs wanted Jon Gruden... which was another great idea on his plate...

Lacking anything else to do, he went on a talk show in San Antonio to express his displeasure over not being consulted on the hiring of Charlie Strong- a "kick in the face..." he called it...

Here's the sound bite from McCombs and sports talk radio...


McCombs has donated nine figures to the school which, of course, means he can dictate who can be coach...

Since the track record is so solid...

All that's missing is a harumph, a heel turn off his boots, and walking back to whence he came...

Shield Your Eyes, Dickie V's Friends Impersonate Dickie V

((HT: ESPN Front Row))

Chris Fowler sounds like Rodney Dangerfield...
Mike Ditka does it the best way...

Jon Gruden sounds like Jon Gruden
Bruce Pearl nails it...

But Dick Vitale is celebrating 35 years at the Mother Ship...

Here's the roast from the inside out...


Would you like to get your time back...???

TOO LATE!!!

GT's Cheat Sheet: The Final 4 Edition (With Chucky, Too...)

GT and Coach Gruden in Athens...

We start the week with the Final 4 which rolls into Atlanta as the NCAA celebrates its 75th anniversary. Let me start with saying from all of us OSG, and GPB when send our heartfelt well wishes to Rockdale County native Kevin Ware. Kevin suffered a gruesome leg injury as his Louisville Cardinals defeated the Duke Blue Devils to get to the Final 4.

Kevin is an outstanding young man and will come back from this better than ever. The Ware story is just one of the many Georgia stories that will grace the Final Four. Jon Horford who plays for Michigan is the brother of Atlanta Hawks center Al Horford.

Ironically, Horford's (Jon) Michigan team beat Florida (Al's) alma mater to get to Atlanta. Former Hawks forward Glenn Robinson's son, Glenn Robinson III, plays for Michigan. The Robinsons lived in Austell.

Wichita State has two players from the state of Georgia, Carl Hall (Bleckley County)- a Cochran native, and Tekele Cotton of Marietta who played his high school ball at Whitefield Academy and was a teammate of UGA's Kenny Gaines.

It will be great to see two administrators who are dear friends, Tom Jurich (Louisville Athletics Director) and Herman Frazier (Deputy Athletics Director at Syracuse). I knew Tom when he worked at Northern Arizona University, and Herman when worked at Arizona State University.

Good people...

Now lets move to Football, three big dates in April to keep an eye on. The NFL releases the 2013 Regular season schedule on April 16th, and the draft is 9 days later in the 25th.

Had a chance to speak with ESPN's Jon Gruden ( also former Raiders and Buccaneers Head Coach) about the Atlanta Falcons off-season. Gruden was the featured speaker at the University of Georgia's Spring Football Clinic this past week.

Here is my chat with Coach Gruden...

And don't forget the Georgia Bulldogs spring game, the G-Day Game, coming up between the hedges this weekend as well... should be a good showcase for the talent who want to have their shot at chasing an SEC East title in 2013...

MLB Baseball has started the Braves with Upton brothers, Jason Heyward, Freddie Freeman, Tim Hudson, Craig Kimbrell have this city thinking about the glory days of the 90's, and we can't forget about the Masters (Golf's first major) which will begin next week at Augusta. The BIG question will Tiger Woods win another Green Jacket. Woods is currently the game's Number One player.

Gruden not going To Tennessee: Nobody but Vol fans shocked

((ht: @jimmyhyams))

We've purposely tried to stay away from talking too much about coaching rumors, partially because they are mostly not true.

But we wanted to mention this.

Reports from UT Radio Reporter Jimmy Hyams now say that Jon Gruden told Tennessee officials last week he is NOT a candidate for a job there and has NEVER been offered a contract.

Shocked?

Only if you are a UT fan.

This comes on the heels of yet another stray, "sources say" report from Chattanooga that Gruden was "Mulling" an offer from the school and the only hold-up was paying his assistants what he thought they were worth.

Read the Times-Free-Press story RIGHT HERE

Bwahahaha! We are laughing, but at the same time, we'd really like to know who puts this stuff out there. Is it the "Pipe Dream" faction? Is it delusional alumni? Or is it reporters trying to scoop each other?

Of course there was the even more bizarre story from Glenn Carver of WREG-TV in Memphis. You'll recall Mr. Carver saying that Cleveland Browns owner Jimmy Haslam offered Gruden a share of the team in addition to what UT would pay him.

Of course everyone involved denied it. Immediately.

You can read it RIGHT HERE

For a better perspective, read OUR story earlier this week about Stupid Coaching rumors RIGHT HERE

To summarize all of this: We believe that either Tennessee AD Dave Hart or an emissary of the school reached out to Gruden and asked if he's interested. And Gruden thought about it for a bit. And decided smartly, that it wasn't a good idea.

But it is just mind boggling to us the rumors that continue to fly about Gruden and others. It appears the reporters, alumni and others just can't help themselves.

Heck, we saw the original tweet about Les Miles too, but didn't report it, because we knew it would turn out to either be not true or a ploy for a pay raise. And that's exactly what it was.

Anyway, we'll get off our horses and unfortunately you'll be on your own to decide what is true and what isn't because the sports reporters giving you the information may or may not be correct.

(Opinion) Coaching Carousel gets stupid: Les Miles and Jon Gruden stuff

Okay. This one has been bothering me for awhile.

It's bad enough that college football schools just randomly, willy-nilly fire coaches. But what is worse is the random speculation that seems to fly out of left field for who will replace them.

Sure, I get that over-zealous alumni think that if they get a new football coach that they'll get a "Big Name" guy and he'll fix everything, but how often does that work?

It was absolutely amazing on Tuesday to see how fast the Les Miles/Arkansas rumor flew around the Internet. Yes, it came from a pretty reliable blog (Sports by Brooks), that is often ahead of the mainstream media when it comes to big-ticket stories. But Brooks's Tweet that Arkansas made a 5-year, $27.5 million offer for Miles to leave LSU to come to Arkansas went viral in hours. Heck, it was mentioned during the Indiana/North Carolina basketball game last night.

Read the ESPN.com story on it RIGHT HERE

The problem with it...

While maybe Arkansas asked Miles agent about it, there is and was no way that it would ever happen. It would defy any kind of logic. Sure, Les is a bit of a wild-card...but. A successful, national championship level coach spurns the team he's coached for years to jump to a wannabe? No, not in our lifetime.

We do however believe Arkansas floated the offer. (The Times-Picayune in New Orleans reported it too)  But we would also add that there is a BIG difference between an offer being made and someone actually considering it. 

And then there is this.

WREG-TV in Memphis is now reporting that Cleveland Browns owner Jimmy Haslam has offered former Tampa Bay Buccaneer coach and current ESPN football analyst Jon Gruden a share of the Browns if he'll take a contract offer from the University of Tennessee.

Read that story RIGHT HERE

The problem.

(1) Gruden is still being paid by Tampa Bay and the NFL won't allow him to double dip.
(2) Gruden just started a new deal with ESPN.
(3) According to multiple NFL reporters, the Browns deny any knowledge or existence of said offer.
(4) Haslam himself denies this.

The real issue here is the Tennessee fans believe that Gruden should be there coach. And they will say anything to make it happen. Yeah, sure his wife went there and he was a grad assistant there for a year, but really, be honest with yourself Tennessee fan: Why would he take THAT job?

Unfortunately, this is all exacerbated by a local and to an extent national media who fan the flames by speculating who THEY think would be a good coach for them. Sometimes it's delusional (ie: James Franklin to NC State or Miles to Arkansas) and sometimes it's very good (ie: Mark Stoops to Kentucky).

And then there is Auburn. Auburn, a school teetering on the edge of probation and coming off the worst season in decades. A school with a lot of money and the stereotype of the way-too over-zealous fan base. And that fan base is a bit torn. Many want to hire Bobby Petrino, who would win, but further pile dirt upon the schools reputation. Or do they go the more traditional route and hire a Mark Hudspeth or Sonny Dykes? Inquiring minds want to know....

We totally get that everyone has an opinion. And college football fans think their team can achieve greatness simply by changing the coach. But not everyone is Nick Saban and not everyone associated with a big name means a ticket to greatness. Does anyone outside of Tennessee think Gruden can walk in and take a team that won 1 SEC game this year and contend for a title in 2013? How long a rope would he get before they'd be calling for his head too?

The thing everyone forgets is sometimes you have to get a really good assistant coach (ie: Wil Muschamp at Florida) or go to a coach who has had success at a lower level (ie: Hugh Freeze). There are guys out there who'd be great at a bigger school, if the alumni and media would allow the school to look at them.

They also forget that quite often a name is floated just for the simple fact that coach wants a better deal where he is. How many times does Jimbo Fisher's name get floated for jobs? Each time Miles name gets out there, he gets a bigger and better extension. Don't buy the hype, when these names get floated, it's usually an agent looking to get his guy more money.

We just wish that everyone would refrain from jumping to quick conclusions. The thing that so many schools, alumni, fans and media seem to forget is that sometimes the devil you've got is better than the devil you want.

Besides, Todd Graham can't have every job? Can he?

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