FSU’s Bowden to retire, says ESPN

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According to this from ESPN, Florida State coach Bobby Bowden will announce his retirement tommorow, ending a storied career spanning four decades. Bowden will finish with 2 National Championships (1993 and 1999), 12 conference championships since joining the ACC in 1991, a bowl record of 21-10-1 (second all-time in bowl wins, behind Joe Paterno), and an overall record of 388–141–4 (second all-time in wins, again behind Paterno, among Division 1-A coaches).

He will be replaced by current Florida State Assistant Head Coach Jimbo Fisher

Huckabee commuted 90+ year sentence of suspected cop killer

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As a police manhunt continues for Maurice Clemmons, suspected in the execution of four Lakewood, WA police officers this weekend, Mike Huckabee is trying to dodge blame for his decision to commute the sentence of Clemmons while Governor of Arkansas in 2000. Huckabee called it a failure of the justice system. I call it a failure of the Governor. Clemmons had served a mere 11 years of his 95 year sentence for multiple felonies when Huckabee commuted his sentence (Clemmons was ultimately granted parole following the commutation). This wasn’t the case of someone who had made one or two mistakes and had learned from them, or who was the victim of unfortuante circumstances. This was a clearly dangerous individual whose sentence was reduced despite the strenous objections of prosecuters. This was an absolutel failure in judgement, compounded by the fact that Huckabee is seeking to lay the blame solely on the shoulders of the justice system of Arkansas and Washington, despite his starring role in this tragedy.

Was there a failure of the justice system in each state allowing this dangerous repeat offender to be free? Probably.
Is it Huckabees fault that Clemmons “allegedly” pulled the trigger in the shootings? No.
Did he demonstrate incredible lack of judgement in the commutation and his response after the fact today? Absolutely.

Congratulations Mike, you’ve succeeded in making me think there is a worse possible Presidential candidate than Sarah Palin.

It’s OK to fire bad coaches

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On Facebook yesterday, one of my law-school classmates made an observation about Charlie Weis’s then-imminent departure that I suspect will be heard in certain corners the sports media this week, as Weis’s firing is used to advance the evergreen storyline of Notre Dame’s fall from grace. (The only story the sports media likes better than “Notre Dame’s fall from grace” is, of course, “Notre Dame’s return to glory.”) The observation is:

What coach would want to come to ND, considering that the moment they walk in the door, there’s pretty much going to be a number on their head?

My response? Bollocks:

That’s true at EVERY high-level program. If you don’t win within 3-5 years, you’re done. Do you think Florida regrets firing Ron Zook after 3 years and replacing him with Urban Meyer? Do you think Alabama regrets firing Mike Shula after 4 years and replacing him with Nick Saban? Do you think USC regrets firing Paul Hackett after 3 years and replacing him with Pete Carroll? I could go on.

There’s nothing wrong with firing bad coaches. The key is to find the right replacement. The reason Notre Dame has had three consecutive relatively quick firings (within 5 years) is because it’s had three consecutive bad coaches. It’s the hirings you should be criticizing, not the firings.

All coaches at the top programs have “a number on their head…the moment they walk in the door.” They get paid handsomely to deal with the pressure, and they have the potential of huge rewards if they succeed. Again, see Meyer, Saban and Carroll, all of whom have basically become gods among their respective fan bases, and have the potential to become living legends (a la Joe Paterno) if they decide to stick around for a few decades.

So, in conclusion, there is nothing unusual about ND in terms of the “number on their head” thing, and it’s no reason for coaches to run away screaming. Now, the recruiting difficulties caused by high academic standards might be such a reason — but if Charlie Weis proved anything in his tenure, aside from the fact that he’s a bad head coach, it’s that you CAN recruit top-level talent at the skill positions to Notre Dame, academic standards notwithstanding. ND will never be USC or Texas or Alabama or Florida in terms of its recruiting, but it also isn’t doomed to become Northwestern or Duke or (current ephemeral success notwithstanding) Stanford.

Pat Forde has more on this topic. He concludes: “Notre Dame football can rise again, no question about it. But to do so, the school has to make its first good hire in nearly a quarter of a century.”

Irish-haters can snark as much as they want about the frequent firings of recent years, but at worst, those just mean that Notre Dame is behaving like all other major programs routinely do. Does this translate to “Notre Dame is no longer special,” as some claim? I don’t know what the hell that even means. But it seems to me that, if Notre Dame started not firing coaches with sub-.600 winning percentages after giving them a fair shot, that would be a sign that the program has given up all aspirations of greatness and has officially become mediocre. If self-enforced mediocrity is considered “special,” then okay. I think most Irish fans would rather win.

(We can debate whether Willingham was given a fair shot — though his subsequent flop at Washington seems to suggest he was a lost cause anyway, as some intuited at the time — but I don’t think you can argue that Davie and Weis weren’t. They had their chance; they failed. Next!)