TheTastyGreek

Well, pick an indoor venue.

I've never even heard of irony. Anyone else who can honestly say they have? No fair using Google to figure out what it is.

Come on, wish hand! This could be your night!

To be fair... He is deceased. We had a memorial prediction thread in his honor on the football forum. So, technically he's referring to someone in the past tense.

Western Kentucky is serious about basketball and dedicated to winning. We are not. That's why Ken McDonald and Ray Harper don't work there anymore, while a tiny number of our fans theorize about how an 18-20 win season might earn Benford an extension. Good things happen more often when you put your program in position for good things. When your program philosophy is to have a Wish hand and a Poop hand, and just cross your shit-caked fingers that the Wish hand starts filling up eventually... That's when you end up with 5 years of Tony Benford.

Hypothetical question... If I'm a guy who basically only follows North Texas news and sports out of bitterness and spite, finding little joy in either and largely using this forum as an outlet for maintaining grudges with people who I feel slighted or disrespected me years ago... Are you suggesting I reevaluate my life choices? And, an aside to many of you that are probably wondering where your responses went... You are all hilarious, but I decided to be *The Bigger Man. * - As confirmed by a certain lascivious maternal figure.

Hop in the suburban with the rest of the gang. Pizza's on CBL. And help yourself to as many trophies as you feel you deserve.

Hey, man... I tried to just do jokes. I blame society.

His POINT was that "you gotta have a will" and that his team didn't show it. He blames it on "everyone gets a trophy". And he's an idiot, or full of shit. More on that after a brief digression to the greater cultural point. Now, if you want to personally believe that participation ribbons and touchy-feely softness in athletics is a symbol of a weakened, soft generation... You can make an argument for it. I think you can make just as compelling an argument that Kids Today(tm) are on a high-achievement, intense treadmill of pressure to succeed. And the rigorous weeding out process in everything; athletic, academic, social, and otherwise, is more brutal now than ever. Because there are shitty, lazy, mostly worthless kids in every generation, and they'll usually (not always!) grow up to be shitty, lazy, mostly worthless adults. Just like there are high motivation, tenacious kids, sometimes with metaphorical whipmarks on their backs in every generation, and they usually (not always!) grow up to be highly successful, driven and self-motivated achievement-oriented adults. It was true in 1960, and it's true in 2016, and it was true in the 1700s, and it'll be true in another 200 years from now. Kids today that are soft and lazy don't get whipped in the face with a belt buckle. But high achievement kids a generation ago didn't have the same challenges and forge of competitive difficulty that this generation does. And I say that as a guy near 40 who grew up as part of that previous generation. Anyway, even if you think Kids Today(tm) are wrecked and ruined, hearing this guy make this argument in explaining a loss is horseshit. Because EVEN IF he's right, and every kid in this generation is subject to have-a-hug, trophy-for-everyone wussification... EVERY PLAYER IN THE GENERATION WENT THROUGH IT. You're coaching kids that had that same cultural softening as your opponents. He's in his tenth season at Louisville, and every player on that roster is his, two or three times over and again. He's had some of these women in his program for over a quarter of their entire lives. So, if they're soft and entitled... Why did the opposing coach fix the problem and Walz couldn't? Now, frankly... I think any kid talented and motivated to wind up playing basketball at Louisville never bothered to keep a Participation trophy, assuming they ever got one. Because you go down that roster, and they're all winners, Frankly, they're bigger winners, more talented, and relatively greater achievers than their whiner coach ever was when he bounced a ball. Walz is coaching at LOUISVILLE. 9 out of his 10 years, he's been recruiting to a Big East or ACC school in the heart of basketball country. How many schools are a clear level above Louisville in women's basketball? I can think of four: UConn, Baylor, Stanford, and Notre Dame. Once upon a time, you could throw Tennessee in there, but I don't think that's true anymore. Otherwise, he's right there with anyone else, and he can have his pick of the talent outside of maybe 5 or 10 girls in any given year. He's not picking through the snowflake pile, even if you're of that mentality about Kids Today(tm). He's picking through All-Americans, kids who've excelled in AAU against rival top talent for most of their lives, So, if his incoming kids are soft, delicate snowflakes... Who is at fault that he got stuck with them? Pick through your share of the cream of the crop better. Or, if they didn't toughen up in 4 or 5 years under him... Who is at fault for that? Use your years with them to toughen them up. And who, exactly, on his roster is he accusing of being victim to Participation Trophy Culture? Is it Cortnee Walton? The girl who finished her degree a year and a half ago, that went 30-0 in high school, won a state championship and a national championship in high school, lettered in two different sports beyond basketball, is on track to finish with a grad degree from Louisville, and also won an award for volunteering and civic involvement that only got awarded to five kids in the whole country? All while not missing a single game last season? Is she a delicate snowflake? Because she seems pretty kick ass, and based on all she did before even getting to Louisville... It doesn't seem like she learned it from Jeff Walz. Again, even if Walz is right, and everyone in this generation of college kids is a soft, delicate snowflake... The other team is made up of snowflakes, too. And if the other coach is better at packing a snowball than Walz is, then the blame isn't on the snowflakes. The hell with Jeff Walz. Again, if you take his OWN POINTS and apply them to his history, he's a loser. Not my word, not my rationale... His. "Everybody thinks they should get a job. Everybody thinks they should get a GOOD job! And that's not the way it works!" Well, how did Jeff get his job? How did this guy, who only played one actual year on the court at Northern Kentucky, get his job? Did the AD at Louisville say: "Hey! I need a guy who averaged 3 minutes a game for a Division 2 school back in 1991 to come in and teach these girls how to be winners!" Did sheer awesomeness, tenacity, and a culture of ruthless meritocracy reward this spare part on a losing team for a shitty program in the Great Lakes Valley Conference 25 years ago with a head coaching job at an ACC school? No. I actually gave him too much credit earlier when I said he had one winning college season. Jeff finished up his bench career at a D2 school without ever playing for a winning team (LOSER!). Then, he went home to be an assistant coach for a 7th grade boys team. Lucky for Jeff, his little sister was Kentucky's Miss Basketball back in 1996. He steps up to be an assistant for her high school team, and when she verbals to WKU, ol' Jeff gets to tag along as an assistant there. If his sister were two years older, Jeff likely spends the rest of his career gathering up dodgeballs as just another middle school redass coach in too-tight short shorts. But, he didn't. Jeff rode the coattails of his supremely talented player (as so many high school coaches do) and little sister to a college assistant job. And when the head coach that hired him moved to Nebraska the next year, Jeff tagged along. And as soon as the guy who gave him his college break started struggling at Nebraska, he hopped on another woman's coattails, and rode her success to Minnesota, then to Maryland, and then after a decade he got his own head coaching job. He's been at Louisville for ten years now. He has a team full of exceptionally talented, highly acclaimed overachievers, just like the little sister who got him through the door in the first place. And he's won almost 3 out of every 4 games he's coached. But whether you're talking Big East, AAC, or ACC...He's never won his conference, he's never won his conference tournament, and he's never even won his division. If he has any coaching trophies, they're the equivalent of the '5th place loser trophy' he's talking about in his rant. And it isn't society's fault. So, in conclusion... Jeff Walz can take his wagging finger and wave it in the mirror. His roster of superstars got beat, and he says it's because his team didn't have the will to win. And he says it's society's fault, not his. Even though almost every girl on his team had that will to win before they got to his team. Even though every player on Jeff's roster is a better example of achievement, talent, fortitude, success, and not-loserdom than Jeff was at their age. Jeff Walz blaming society for his team's assumed weak will is as absurd as the old regime here saying that games sell themselves. It's a horseshit rationalization from people who ought to know better. Either he's an idiot because he doesn't realize it, or he's an asshole because he's trying to avoid the blame himself. If you think society is ruining this generation, the proof of it isn't playing ACC basketball at Louisville. All of those girls have spent their lifetime feasting on Participation Trophy kids and leaving tire tracks on their backs. And if you think Jeff Walz is right when he says that people are too often rewarded with something because of fortune, luck, circumstance, or just soft-hearted surrender to feelings... His entire career is a shining example of it.

That was literally one of his exact points from the rant. Kids at a tournament play 4 games, lose the first three, win the last one, don't realize they went 1-3 and are losers. Well, he went to college, played 4 years. Lost the first three, won the last one. He's a loser. So, by his own measure, screw him and his loser opinions. I'm sure he'd agree. Unless he's a snowflake or a hypocrite.

Does he own or rent that tie?

Well, I'm still not coming if I have to sit in Fouts. What a dump. Email only matters when it contains something I can complain about. I live my life based on billboard advertising and sidewalk chalk.

I'm not buying tickets until we fire RV.

Walz was a player at Northern Kentucky for 4 years. 3 of those teams had losing records. Someone call me when a guy who isn't a loser has something to say on the topic. He lost 3 straight years, won the last one. He's 1-3. He's a loser. The world should have spit him out onto the reject pile 20 years ago. Oh, wait... Job well done, ruthless meritocracy!

Sounds right. Thanks! I actually keep a running doc of potential candidates and bios/contracts when possible. Barkley is one of the few sub D1 guys on it, so the Baker connection is very encouraging. Also, if anyone remembers the IPFW coach that got a full profile before it was announced we'd keep Benford, robbing me of my enthusiasm for the project (and some of my will to live)... He upset Indiana a few days ago.

I don't have my laptop, so apologies if I get the name a little wrong... But expect a guy named Justin Rodgers(?) to get a long look. Baker hired him to launch the basketball program at the first D2 school he ever worked at as the AD, and he's done pretty brilliantly during and after Baker's tenure there. I'm not saying the search starts and ends there, but expect him to get an interview and potentially make the shortlist. He's a good option, too. He was on my list o' NotBenfords that I started outlining and breaking down after last season. Even before we hired Baker and made it seem very likely.

The nice thing about Zombie Dangerfield is that he's still a viable option half a decade later.

If every day would be a Friday, we'd never get Saturday college games and the season would effectively be over. Skee-lo never fully thought through the ramifications of his wishes.

Antaios?

For the record, I'm not saying that any of this is good, or likable, or appropriate. But this is the game we're watching, and anyone who wants to pretend that it isn't reality is lying to themselves. It's a bigger business than ever before, and it's more of a business at more schools than it was 10, 20, or 50 years ago. But the changes are a matter of scope and scale, not a fundamental change in the sports themselves. D1 schools are semi-pro sports franchises that happen to offer educational programs, mostly to non-athletes. Some of those D1 schools are fantastically successful at it, most are jockeying for position somewhere in the middle, and some are swimming along in the wake, gobbling up the leavings. Even the schools that historically suck at it all, like us, are far, far richer (financially and otherwise) for being at the bottom of that pile. For example, my dad originally planned on being a doctor, so he used his GI Bill money to get a Biology degree (on a pre-med curriculum) at what's now a D3 school. If you go by rankings, his education kicks the crap out of mine. But, odds are that if he or Harrison Ford sees anyone else in a school t-shirt, that person bought it at the campus bookstore or through the school's website. One of his best friends graduated from their arch rival. Any of you that have met my "Uncle Danny" at a tailgate or a game know the guy. Back when I was born (a few years before the NCAA v. Oklahoma/Georgia Supreme Court ruling and the start of the TV arms race really accelerated things), that rivalry burned so hot that newborn me was just fodder for a school prank. Dan took me (less than a week old) away from my parents for an hour, dressed me in a custom t-shirt supporting his school and mocking my dad's, and had his wife take a bunch of pictures that still get brought up on an annual basis when we all get together. Now, more than 35 years later (dear God, I'm going to die soon...), I know my dad hasn't attended one of his school's games since the mid 90's. I don't think Dan has been to a game for over a decade, and he lives a 2 and a half hour drive away. Meanwhile, he files down here once a year and watches North Texas play Marshall, or MTSU, or whoever fits into an October or November weekend. He and my dad plan it every year. Not a trip north to see their arch rival schools battle it out... A trip down here so they can watch a Todd Dodge or Dan McCarney team from a school they have little or no connection to play another school they have absolutely zero reason to care about. Dan watched us when we had those crappy Thursday night ESPN2 games. He follows us live on ESPN most weeks. But when he or dad want to know whether their own schools won or lost, they have to wait a day or more for the school website to update a full game report. Meanwhile, my mom got a Philology degree from Kapodistriako (aka the University of Athens, formally named after Ioannis Kapodistrias... A man of diplomatic greatness rivaled only by the greatness of his first name). I'm sure I don't have to tell you all about the distinction of Kapodistriako or the challenges of the entrance exams... I'm sure that as passionate followers of colleges, we all know they outrank well respected US institutions like Temple and BYU. Of course, Kapodistriako doesn't sponsor any sports. My mom thinks the whole concept of college sports is literally foreign, and indisputably ridiculous. Meanwhile, her Greek athletic affiliation is Olympiakos... Which is a club organization sponsoring teams in 18 different sports, where the intensity runs so deep and rivalries are so heated that a guy was literally stabbed to death by opposing fans over a women's volleyball game (and this happened during the Dodge era!). It's college sports without the college. Booster clubs, financing, and all. And, meanwhile, the colleges all go on being educational institutions, not semi-pro or pro athletics franchises. Anyway... D1 sports is what makes us stand out, and historically, we suck at it in every conceivable measurable way. Despite it all, we're legitimate in a way we wouldn't ever be without them, and that includes financially (such as it goes for us). With sports, we're an also ran at least proximally connected to the powerhouse educational and athletic programs of the state and the country. Without it? Well, just to leave the personal feelings out of it... Let's just say that the driving (no pun intended, as you'll see shortly) difference between Boise State (which was a JUCO during the lifetimes of many people on this board) and Richland College is that Richland doesn't play D1 football, and that you couldn't ever get a truck driving education at Richland. Which you COULD go to school for at Boise State, even two years AFTER their Fiesta Bowl win over Oklahoma. EDIT: Spoke too soon! You *can* get a trucker education at Richland. Now, if they paint the parking lot blue, maybe THEY can be the next Boise State?

1) Outside of Division 3 (and not everywhere, even at that level)... College sports are in no way designed to be a non-profit/not-for-profit. They haven't been for generations now. 2) Almost everywhere in the entertainment industry, talent earns income far and away above their titular bosses. Even the bosses of their bosses' bosses. Amy Pascal, chairman of Sony's film division, had her salary leaked back in their big email hack. She made $3 million in salary the same year that (for example) Daniel Craig earned over $20 million just for acting as James Bond in "Spectre". That doesn't include his additional earnings for endorsements/promotions and almost as much over again in equity points. Meanwhile, his "boss" was the director (Sam Mendes), who didn't make even a tenth what Craig was paid for the shoot. And Mendes' "bosses" were the film's two producers, neither of whom made as much as Craig. And they were working for the president of Columbia Pictures, Doug Belgrad, who made $2.5 million that year. And Belgrad worked for Pascal. Take Daniel Craig's boss, add his salary to the combined salaries of that guy's bosses, add all their salaries to the president of the company they were working for, and add all that to the salary of the chairman of the parent company... And it still doesn't even come out to 75% of what Craig was paid. Just for the shoot. Sports, pro or "amateur", is an entertainment business. Money goes to the ones who generate the revenue, and it doesn't necessarily start at the "top" and work its way down. And when you can't pay the people who the fans are showing up to see, then apparently the money accrues to the guys who secure those people for their teams instead. NCAA sports are not an academic enterprise. They're an entertainment business, and just like pro sports, television, films, music, or any other entertainment field... The "boss" isn't the one who generates the money, and they aren't going to be the one with the highest paycheck. 3) Pro sports don't limit salaries to promote competition. They limit salaries to promote profitability. Any "competitiveness" that results from it is purely a side-effect. 4) College sports already have salary limitations for the sake of self-preservation. Legal compensation for the athletes is capped. Only recently has it even risen above $0. 5) Coach contracts ARE strictly enforced. They are negotiated with pre-determined buyout agreements on both sides... There was actually a pretty comprehensive article from USA Today earlier that outlined every public school's coach buyout price. The flipside is what the coach has to pay to leave early, which is usually a much different price. For example, Arkansas State. "Very few" college programs are profitable when you only look at the accounting shell game they're using to define profitability. College sports teams that are unprofitable (while also not serving as a Title IX bandage to sustain profitable men's programs) GET SHUT DOWN. College programs crying poverty are as ridiculous as pro leagues crying unprofitability, then seeing the smallest and least profitable teams sell to multiple bidders for hundreds of millions of dollars. If D1 football and basketball were unprofitable, there wouldn't be 350+ D1 basketball teams and growing, and schools wouldn't have been tripping over their own dicks to get startup football programs established at the D1 level (or lower division teams moved up to full D1 status) over the past 10-15 years for fear of the entry requirements changing and freezing them out. Texas A&M can't fake being unprofitable, like some other schools can pretend they are. They were the highest revenue program in college sports last year. When you count income vs. expenses the way they are at the athletics level, they only made $7 million on $193 million in total revenue. But that's counting each and every possible athletics expense, including long term debt and "special projects". And it doesn't factor in school revenue that doesn't flow directly to or through the athletics department. Like, for example, the year they joined the SEC and caught fire with Manziel mania, and the university raised $300 million MORE than they had in any other previous year. Not $300 million, $300 million MORE than their previous best year of revenue/gifts/earnings/donations. Not a dollar of the $740 million they raised that year that didn't go to athletics counts towards "profitability", but you can bet your ass they already know exactly how athletic failure or irrelevance impacts the university's real bottom line. Frankly, it's amazing Harbaugh and Saban don't make multiple times what they do now. Because as long as schools can't or won't buy the players directly like a true semi-pro league, the proxy method is to buy the guys who bring those players in instead. And the chasm between the 1st or 2nd best guy in the world at it, vs. the 10th or 20th? It's enormous, and across the 5-10 year lifespan of a successful top level coach, it could mean the difference in BILLIONS of dollars for the institution.

Chicken grease is going to look awful on those black jerseys. I give them two finger lickin' thumbs down.

Matt's greatest legacy is and will forever remain as a shining beacon of percentile ranges and their value in envisioning a brighter future. What lessons can we learn from his passing? The obvious one is that man's endless yearning for exploring new frontiers, when paired with his natural lustful passions, can find a fatal limit when faced with the ultimate threshold of the body's natural elasticity. Still, in the end (no pun intended, nor any offense to Matt's grieving friends and family, who have my deepest sympathies)... We mustn't stop believing in the seemingly impossible. So, in Matt's honor, I will throw caution and self preservation to the wind and predict a 90%+ probability of not just a win against UTSA, but for the ultimate race for CUSA West! And let Matt's untimely and unsanitary passing not discourage us from following our own dreams. Let it inspire us instead to savor each moment as though it could be our last. Go out and live, my friends. Truly live a life of passion and reckless thrills. Open your hearts to adventure, even if it means potentially closing your caskets so that no one has to make any unpleasant excuses to a confused and heartbroken Granny from A700. Let it start with a 90%+ chance of victory on Saturday. Go Mean Green. And never forget Mike from the A-Team. He was the greatest of us all.

GWTAGGHBTPT

My grandpa loved it. I'm more of a whirlyball guy, myself. Anyone want to project the spring practice 2-deep roster?