I can't believe it's been so long since I've updated this blog but my attention has been on some other projects. However, I just added an election prediction post to my similarly ignored political blog so I thought I would add some sorely needed comments here, too.
---
Separated at birth: the San Diego State football team and the U.S. financial markets. As soon as you think things have hit bottom, you get a new lesson in how much lower things can go. The Aztecs are like a cartoon character who falls off the side of a cliff and keeps falling, falling and falling with no apparent bottom in sight. For SDSU's football team, we know there is an end after three more games but we don't know just how bad things will get before the final whistle vs. UNLV.
That I'm not talking about any hope for success or that SDSU will suddenly pull out of its descent and play three competitive games at season's end is indicative of how things are. There is almost nothing good about this program at all. There were three things early this season that we could hang our hats on and all three have been taken away from us -- QB Ryan Lindley, and let me be the first to say that I fear that his shoulder injury could have long-term implications for whether he'll be as great as we thought he'd be; WR Vincent Brown, one of the many Aztecs to have suffered a concussion, which can be a capricious injury; and LB Russell Allen, whose exploits have been swallowed up by the monstrous failures of his defensive teammates.
Call 2008 an utter and complete disaster for the football program.
I don't think athletic director Jeff Schemmel helped much when he said coach Chuck Long would absolutely return in 2009. Schemmel's explanation was that Long hasn't had a chance to prove whether he could be a winner with a healthy program, which includes physical health, a full roster and academic success. As bad as the team's injury plague is, there are so many other problems that if Schemmel can't judge Long by now, then there's not much hope for him, either. One gets the impression that Long is only being kept around because his buyout is too expensive, not that he's still wanted. So either Schemmel is dumb or his coach is unwanted. Not good.
I still think that Long needs to be presented with a creative settlement to his buyout clause, perhaps something like what Tennessee is apparently going to do with Phillip Fulmer, spread his payments out over several years. I think if he bows out gracefully now, he has a chance to resume his career elsewhere. People in athletics understand that sometimes you're not a good fit in certain places, and it's no reflection on the person. I think that's a wrong assessment, but I think that's how sports professionals not close to the program will see it. My own view is that the even-handed, steady Long was a perfect fit for the program but he made some horrible choices as his assistant coaches and has been too loyal to those who've served him poorly.
The biggest problem this year besides the injuries has been the management of an offensive unit that was relatively intact until Lindley went down at TCU in early October. Scheme, game plans, play calling and clock management have been such that most high school coaches could do better.
So let's say Long refuses all overtures to leave on his own. Drastic action is needed to place this program back on track. As a hypothetical boss, I would order him to fire both coordinators, his running backs coach, his linebackers coach, his secondary coach and his special teams coach. That's rough, but covers all the underperforming units. The defensive line has sustained seven season-ending injuries and two other hurt players have missed multiple games. Their coach was only brought in for this season, so he gets a pass.
I also think that, with all the injuries -- many of them to young players -- it could take a long time for them to heal. I think the coaches have to take a time-out from their long-term building process and recruit a large number of junior college linemen, along with a JC running back and defensive backs. Because of scholarship limitations, there won't be many recruits anyway, so I think some offers are going to have to be pulled back and redirected for immediate help. The benefit is added depth for the next two seasons and a chance for the current group of youngsters to not have to take all the heat until they're upperclassmen.
Lastly, I also think that whoever is coaching the Aztecs needs to consider not renewing scholarships of underperforming players, a la Steve Fisher after his first year on the Mesa. Man, that was brutal, but it was also necessary and started the men's basketball team down the path toward consecutive NIT and NCAA Tournament seasons. Nothing was as heart-rending as pulling the rug out from under some young men, many of them local, who'd worked so hard to be successful for us on the basketball court, but it had to be done. It might have to be done here, too, in order to free up scholarships for some JC transfers. I'd be on the telephone right now to every JC coach in the country telling him that every job is open but QB and Brown's receiver spot.
Speaking of Fisher, the way Schemmel has handled this mess reminds me of a post this spring about how nice it would have been for Kansas State to take our athletic director home so we could promote Fisher to the AD spot. I think Fisher would be a natural for the position. He doesn't suffer fools gladly. If he was in charge, I don't think Long would have as much rope as he seems to hold now, unless it were a noose.
---
Speaking of complete messes, let's bring up the Padres. A team that barely missed a 100-loss season is shopping around it's number one starter? Huh? And the team will get better how? This makes absolutely no sense. So he's going to make big money the next couple of years. Work around it. Sorry.
In the entire National League, there are seven stoppers among starting pitchers, that's it. I'm talking about the unquestioned number ones in a rotation, the kind that can lead you to a World Series title like Cole Hamels did. Besides Peavy and Hamels, you have Johan Santana, Brandon Webb, Roy Oswalt, Carlos Zambrano (who had a sort of off-year) and now Tim Lincecum. CC Sabathia might make an eighth depending on where he ends up. Therefore, these types of pitchers don't grow on trees, know what I mean? Giving one up even for quality elsewhere makes no sense when you might not get a quality number one starter for 20 years. You can always find a good outfielder.
Suggesting that Peavy might be traded is bad enough. That the Dodgers are one of the three top contenders for his services is mind-boggling. If he is dealt to LA, then Kevin Towers and Sandy Alderson should be run out of town. Literally. Maybe they can take Long with them.
---
Thank God for USD basketball. And here's a cheer for Hamels, whose high school story was as compelling as any I've reported on. That high school championship game in which he took the mound for the last inning with his teammates and fans yelling encouragement was one of the great moments in local prep sports history.
Otherwise, 2008 has been the worst sports year around here for quite a while.
