Happy Friday! Well, except for those who have to work the weekend. To you, happy almost there or whatever day? Regardless, a full day of college football starts in a little less than 24 hours. Use your mobile devices if you have to work. Watch your favorite team attempt to win a game with your future-device! Link dump.
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College Football
Bart Doan and I are friends. We also rarely agree on anything regarding college politics. However, Bart nails it on the head with his latest column. In it he looks at athletic directors being not that great at their jobs.
A TSS roundtable discussing who should coach USC. Also, a TSS roundtable discussing who should coach South Carolina. Some inspiring names are mentioned for both jobs.
Patrick Stevens asks if firing coaches midseason is the new normal. Coaches have been fired in the middle of the season before, but a few coaches this year got canned well before we made it halfway through the season. I am not sure this is as much the new normal as it is a situation that will differ from year to year. Regardless, if you are a football coach, it is rather alarming to see your brethren getting canned this early. We should also note that some of the job openings were because of special circumstances.
Memphis is America’s college football team? Memphis is America’s college football team! Adam Kramer of Bleacher Report makes the case, and it is a good one.
The AP points out that it is a big weekend for interim head coaches. I imagine the situation of taking over those duties during the middle of the season can’t be ideal. Still, it is probably better than getting yelled at by the former head coach, who presumably got canned for being a bad coach — which is the interim is in that situation to begin with. So… all good?
Some not great news is coming out of Minnesota. No need to really comment or make declarations yet. It is something to keep an eye on, though.
Extra Point
Lee Jenkins did it again yesterday. Another tremendously soul-touching profile of Lamar Odom. You might cry.
College Basketball
The preseason Coaches Poll has been released. Go look at it. Let’s get irrational with anger over rankings which will not matter a few months from now together.
More talk about moving the start of the college basketball season earlier. The Pac-12 commish finds it interesting, but mostly as a way to have it be a one-semester sport. There are a TON of reasons why making it a one-semester sport seem awesome, but a lot of it wouldn’t be altruistic. Universities, and their much beloved amateurism, would only have to keep student-athletes eligible for one semester. I’m actually getting less and less intrigued by this idea as people in power begin to talk about it.
I know the headline of this piece will get the most attention, but other than that it is a good piece on a team that is far better than casual fans realize.
CBS released their broadcast schedule. Go see when/if/where your favorite team is playing.
The AP has a nice piece on LSU being in a situation they are unfamiliar with. The discussion is about LSU embracing all the hype surrounding Ben Simmons. Unless you have been leaving under a rock (and if you are… why, man? STOP living there), you already know that Simmons is supposed to be all that and a bag of chips.
And One
Yo, humans. Do I have your attention? Good. I need you to do me a favor and chill.
