Great resemblances in sports history: Al Golden

Al Golden is fast approaching his first National Signing Day as Miami’s head football coach.  Even though he wasn’t the big name that a lot of Hurricane fans were hoping the school would hire, he’ll still enjoy the honeymoon period that every new coach is afforded.  But the guy he resembles is enduring the exact opposite of a honeymoon period:

Not long after the first spring football practice of the Al Golden Era wraps up at Miami, disgraced former Illinois governor Rod Blagojevich will be retried in federal court on a host of corruption charges. Talk about two guys going in different directions.

This is a fascinating time for Golden as he tries to get Miami pointed back in the right direction. While rebuilding Temple, he earned a reputation as a solid recruiter. And it was not-so-hot recruiting that helped to get Randy Shannon, Golden’s predecessor, shown the exit.

Don’t expect Golden to make a tremendous splash this Wednesday, though. As of this writing, his list of 13 verbal commitments was ranked 46th nationally by Rivals and 47th by Scout. Even the best recruiter would have trouble playing catch-up the way Golden has the last few weeks.

In the short term, Golden shouldn’t be judged on the blue chippers that he doesn’t sign this week but instead by the relationships on the recruiting trail that he starts to repair. Jorge Milian of the Palm Beach Post provides some insight here:

Lemming thinks Golden has had to overcome “poor recruiting management” under Shannon, which included a surprising lack of contact with some of the top high school programs in South Florida.

Miami Central coach Telly Lockett, who led his team to a state Class 6A championship in December, told The Miami Herald about “a breakdown of communication” between his school and UM.

“Al Golden wants to form a relationship,” Lockett said.

That relationship resulted this month in standout Central defensive back Thomas Finnie reneging on an oral commitment to South Carolina in order to sign with Miami. (Palm Beach Post)

This sounds like the situation Tommy Tuberville walked into at Auburn after Terry Bowden had burned bridges with half the high school coaches in the state of Alabama.  As for Golden, he’s no fool.  He knows Miami’s greatest teams were built on talent from South Florida.  If he’s going to win big, he’ll have to lock down that region again the way former Miami coaches like Jimmy Johnson and Butch Davis once did.

Great resemblances in sports history: Leonard Hamilton

Great resemblances in sports history: Phil Martelli

Great resemblances in sports history: the Les Miles clap

Great resemblances in sports history: Houston Nutt

Great resemblances in sports history: Channing Crowder

Great resemblances in sports history: Nick Saban’s office

Great resemblances in sports history: Robert Green’s goalie glove

Great resemblances in sports history: Sidney Lowe

Great resemblances in sports history: George Foster

Blue chip football recruit’s adopted father calls him out in the press

Russelville (AL) linebacker/running back Brent Calloway is among the bluest of the blue chip football recruits who’ll sign this coming Wednesday.  He’s ranked the 38th best player in America and the top player in the state of Alabama by Rivals.

Early on he gave a verbal commitment to Nick Saban and Alabama. But at the U.S. Army All-American game, he flipped his pledge to Auburn.

Apparently, this didn’t sit too well with Harland “Peaches” Winston, the guy who adopted Calloway about four years ago. Doug Segrest of the Birmingham News provides some of the particulars:

Winston isn’t happy with the change of heart. He has nothing against Auburn. He just doesn’t believe his son handled it correctly.

“I’m from the old school,” Winston said. “When you shake a man’s hand, look him in the eye and make a commitment, you stick to that commitment.”

“I respect him and I’m going to root for him. But I don’t think he handled it the right way.” (Birmingham News)

Hey Peaches, way to keep the family business private! If Brent comes in after his curfew next weekend, will you be calling the Action News team?

Here’s the deal: Alabama wants Calloway to play linebacker, but he wants to give running back a shot. Auburn has agreed to give him that chance while having a depth chart at the position that isn’t too daunting in Calloway’s eyes:

“I’m not afraid of competition, but I’d rather go against one or two than five or six. Alabama has (at running back) Corey Grant, Dee Hart and (Demetrius) Goode. Plus, Eddie Lacy and Trent Richardson are back.

“Auburn only has two (Onterio McCalebb and Mike Dyer) at running back, plus (commitment) Tre Mason and a walk-on. I know for a fact competing there would be easier.”  (Birmingham News)

But wait, there’s more than just the depth chart. Calloway’s interest in Auburn also has a lot to do with family:

Yet another factor is his adopted brother, Siran Winston, who plays basketball at Tuskegee, just 20 miles from the Auburn campus.

That proximity will make it easier on the Winstons, who aren’t strangers to the world of recruiting. They’ve had three natural sons go through the process and an other adopted son, Russellville basketball player Travis Davis, is headed to Tennessee-Martin on an athletic grant. (Birmingham News)

You would think this would warm the cockles of Peaches heart, you know, to have his adopted son emphasize the family connection that way. But you’d be wrong:

“It blows my mind that all of a sudden it was Auburn or nothing,” Winston said.

Winston says he’s not an Alabama fan, but he likes the way the Crimson Tide staff approaches the game.

“They stick to business. You don’t see their coaches high-fiving,” Winston said. (Birmingham News)

Wow, the school that everyone says paid off Cam Newton’s dad apparently isn’t doing too good of a job of keeping Peaches very happy. But the dude has NOTHING bad to say about Alabama, despite the fact that his adopted son’s change of heart appears to have been well thought out. Hey, just sayin’.

Syracuse is free, free fallin’

On the evening of January 17, Syracuse was 18-0 and ranked third in the country heading into a Big East tilt with Pittsburgh. Just after 7:30 EST that night, the Orangemen fell into a massive 19-0 hole against the Panthers. Despite a valiant comeback attempt, Syracuse dropped a 77-64 decision.

Little did we know at the time that the loss would signal the beginning of a downward spiral that Syracuse hasn’t pulled out of yet. What looked like it would be one of Jim Boeheim’s more pleasantly surprising teams has now lost four Big East games in a row and sits at 7th in the league standings.

So what gives? Why is Syracuse suddenly sucking wind like this? Some might blame it on Scoop Jardine’s need to periodically be the worst player on the court. Others might say that Kris Joseph missing that Pittsburgh game threw the team’s chemistry off.

I’m hesitant to single out players for this mess, though. Why? Because it takes a village to start failing like this. And the Syracuse village has had a host of problems lately.

The descent down the Big East standings can partly be attributed to the fact that this is a young team that isn’t battle tested. Looking at their pre conference schedule, the biggest name opponents were Michigan, Georgia Tech, Michigan State and NC State. A host of mid-major also rans filled out the rest of the November/December slate.

The four teams I just mentioned are a combined 46-35 as of this writing. Therefore, it’s safe to say that Syracuse’s great start wasn’t built on running through a gauntlet of college basketball’s best teams.

The only Big East school that played a less demanding pre conference schedule was Cincinnati, a team that’s also regressed since December. The Bearcats started 15-0 but now stand at 18-4.

So while Syracuse played it safe, I can’t necessarily knock the rationale for doing so. Coming into this season, Jim Boeheim had waved goodbye to a couple of NBA draft picks (Wesley Johnson and Andy Rautins) as well as the program’s leader in career field-goal percentage (Arinze Onuaku). Why destroy the confidence of the guys who returned by playing toughies early in the campaign?

Hey, I get it, this team with a lone senior (Rick Jackson) was eased into the shallow end of the pool as opposed to being thrown into the deep end. But here’s the deal: after an 18-0 start, shouldn’t this edition of the Orangemen had gotten it’s own identity? Lately, it would appear the chosen identity is that of a team that has little or no intensity on the defensive end.

Both Villanova and Seton Hall shot right over the vaunted Syracuse zone to the tune of a combined 21-of-41 effort from behind the 3-point line. You won’t win many games allowing the opposition to shoot better from 50% from long range.

Things got worse in the latest loss to Marquette, which was a study in defensive passiveness by Syracuse. Golden Eagle forward Jae Crowder just wandered through the Orangemen finding holes in their zone. In the end, an undersized Crowder finished with 25 points, with most of that production coming on the inside.

During this current four game skid, the Orangemen have allowed their Big East competitors to shoot a cumulative 51% (110-for-217) from the floor. Compare that to the 2009-10 campaign, when Syracuse only allowed the opposition to shoot 40% on the season.

But wait, there’s still more to this story. During his career as Syracuse coach, Boeheim’s teams have never been known to be overwhelmingly proficient from the free throw line. And that weakness has reared its ugly head again.

First off, the Orangemen are having problems just getting to the line. The aforementioned Crowder and his Marquette frontcout mate Jimmy Butler attempted more free throws (18) than the entire Syracuse team (14).

When SU players do manage to generate some free throw attempts, it’s usually a clank fest. Not only has the charity stripe work been bad lately (61% during the four game losing streak), it’s been terrible the whole season (a Big East worst 64%).

Can Syracuse salvage this season before things get too ugly? Well, better defensive play and generating more trips to the free throw line would help. But now that Big East also rans like Providence and Seton Hall are refusing to be easy outs, that might be easier said than done.

UConn booster Robert Burton is the most glorious kind of a-hole

The interactions of big money boosters and the college athletic departments they throw cash at are shrouded in the type of secrecy usually reserved for the CIA. While we know which guys are giving money to which colleges, most of us are blissfully unaware of the kind of influence the booster gains as a result.

For example, has everyone in the Oregon athletic department taken a blood oath to do the bidding of Phil Knight? Could T. Boone Pickens make anyone in a leadership position at Oklahoma State drop to all fours and bark like a dog on his command? Who knows, but if the answer to those questions is in fact a resounding, “Yes!,” it wouldn’t surprise me one bit.

I’m a cynical son of a bitch, if you haven’t noticed. And I for one don’t think that any mega-booster gives to a school’s athletic department simply because he’s a huge fan. When rich people are generous, it’s usually not as simple as a wave of magnanimity having prompted them to part with their cash. On the contrary, they almost always want something in return somewhere down the road.

Which leads me to Robert Burton, the Chairman and CEO of Burton Capital Management and devoted UConn booster. Well, I should say FORMERLY devoted UConn booster, because after the school hired Paul Pasqualoni to coach its football team, Burton blew a gasket. Here’s the letter he sent to UConn AD Jeff Hathaway after said gasket was blown:

Wow, where do I start with this?  That shroud of secrecy I referred to gets lifted a little bit here, and it’s GLORIUS. Let’s go through the various Bob Burtons who emerged during the course of the letter:

HELPFUL BOB

“To be crystal clear, I was not looking for veto power over the next hire; I just wanted to be kept in the loop and add value and comments on any prospective candidates.”

“I was a GA in Graduate School and worked on my PhD in Tennessee and Alabama. I was also a scout for the Minnesota Vikings while in grad school. I am fully qualfied to assess coaches and their ability to match up with the university’s needs…”

This is the Bob whose money had bought him great access to the school’s previous AD, Lew Perkins. You know Lew, he’s the guy who moved on to Kansas and oversaw an athletic department there that became embroiled in a ticket scalping scandal. Just this week, Sweet Lew was fined $4,000 in an ethics case for improperly accepting gifts.

Burton got that kind of access because back in the 90’s, Sweet Lou needed a ton of cash to upgrade UConn’s athletic facilities. In stepped Helpful Bob and his checkbook. And I’m sure Burton provided a great deal of quality input on the school’s search for a football coach back in 1998, you know, seeing as how the guy has such an intricate knowledge of football’s x’s and o’s.

Get real, Bob. Sweet Lew needed your money, not your opinion. He only asked for it to blow sunshine up your ass in order to get MORE of your cash.

OUTRAGED BOB

“I am fed with you as a manager because you did not let the hiring process take place in an open manner.”

This is the Bob who has had it up to HERE with Hathaway, who in his eyes is just some civil servant making a measly six figure salary. The nerve of Hathaway for doing his job and not reaching out to Helpful Bob. And when Helpful Bob gets jilted, Outraged Bob comes out to play.

LOOK AT ALL I’VE DONE FOR YOU BOB

“During the past two days, I compiled a list of all the money that we have given UConn going back to the day Mike started school and came up with a total of over $7 million, including Lew Perkin’s air transportation to find Randy Edsall and the money I paid to get Murray State to play UConn here in Connecticut.”

This is the Bob who is convinced that a school sitting in the state of Connecticut couldn’t have gotten other rich windbags to cough up their money. Oh, just for the record, Connecticut has the third highest per capita income in the country, in case the sarcasm in the previous sentence got by you.

TAKING MY BALL AND GOING HOME BOB

“As soon as you find a new donor, I want you to return the $3 million I gave you for the Burton Family Football Complex, as well as the additional funds I gave Randy and the football department for pictures and other art and the new audio system in the weight room. We plan to donate these funds to another university that supports our objectives and goals. After we get our money back, you can take our name off the complex.”

Here’s the Bob who’s not only stopped being generous, but he now wants back the gifts he gave you. He wants you to put them in their original boxes, re-wrap them and send them to his place. Then he can re-gift them to someone who supports his objectives and goals, foremost among those being to do Bob Burton’s bidding AT ALL TIMES. Apparently, Taking My Ball And Going Home Bob believes that place will be Syracuse.

THREATENING BOB

“When the press contacts me, I plan to tell them the truth and the entire story about how your lack of support was the primary reason Randy departed from UConn and how you did not even give the football team’s largest donor the opportunity to provide any input about the head coaching job.”

This is most cutthroat of all the Bobs, this is the Bob who makes tons of cash by always looking to increase “shareholder value,” as his bio on the Cenveo web site says. Never heard of Cenveo? That’s a print company that Burton bulled his way into leading via a proxy fight back in 2005.

Put all these Bobs together and what do you have? A-hole Bob.

Look, I’m not about to imply that the hiring of Paul Pasqualoni was a brilliant move by Hathaway and UConn. Hell, there are probably a ton of Husky fans as underwhelmed by this as Burton. That’s because in terms of sexiness factor, it probably rates somewhere similar to a friggin’ Jim Donnan hiring. And yes, Pasqualoni could very well steer the Husky ship into an iceberg, taking both him and Hathaway into the icy depths.

But I know one thing about Hathaway in regard to this hiring: he was more than aware it would raise the ire of Burton. How could he not have been? Burton strikes me as the kind of guy who called the UConn athletic department twice a day to offer up his opinion on everything. Still, Hathaway went ahead and pulled the trigger.

That makes me wonder if Burton is somehow an even bigger a-hole than the letter above shows that he is. If that’s the case, that explains why the powers that be at UConn are so willing to part with his money.

Tennessee hoopster Renaldo Woolridge’s rap video might spell trouble with the NCAA

After enduring a tough inter-conference road loss to a ranked team, most college basketball players would just like to get home and wind down.  Others do the exact opposite:

Tennessee men’s basketball player Renaldo Woolridge and two of his friends were granted exclusive and free access to a portion of a Cumberland Avenue bar early Sunday morning to shoot a music video, an arrangement that could constitute an NCAA violation.

Eight hours after the Vols’ 72-61 loss at No. 8 Connecticut on Saturday, Woolridge and his friends occupied an upstairs portion of New Amsterdam Bar and Grill, 1836 Cumberland Ave., to shoot a music video, multiple people confirmed to the News Sentinel.  (GoVolsXtra.com)

This is that preferential treatment thing that the NCAA gets it panties in a bind over, and it might not have been that big of a deal if people from the local NEWSPAPER hadn’t been around to witness it all:

Grant Ramey, a freelance reporter for the News Sentinel who was at the bar to cover the event, said the upstairs area where Woolridge and his friends were located was blocked off by two chairs and a man serving as a bouncer.

Katie Leone, a bartender who has worked at New Amsterdam for six years, also confirmed that the area was blocked off. Leone also is employed as a part-time copy editor at the News Sentinel. (GoVolsXtra.com)

Tennessee is extremely lucky that Thayer Evans and Pete Thamel weren’t sharing some quality bro time at the New Amsterdam on that particular night. They would have taken to their matching laptops and likened Woolridge’s rap shoot to the SMU pay-for-play scandal back in the 80’s.

All that aside, the Go Vols Xtra story concerning this matter contains a GLORIOUS video that provides some background on the burgeoning rap “empire” being built by Woolridge, aka Swiperboy:

Is it just me, or does the Swiperboy lineup look sort of motley? Check out DJ Wegz, who strongly resembles a software salesman who’s ready to make a killer presentation. His suit screams establishment, but his tie?  That screams “Go Vols!”: