Matt congratulated the coach on being undefeated at this juncture. JB: “We’ve played well but need to get better. We knew the San Diego State game would be difficult. James had a huge night vs. Arkansas. Canisius, (who is 6-1), has a veteran backcourt and their best team in years. They and Detroit on Monday will be good tests. Detroit has Ray McCallum, a really good guard who will be an All-American. Teams like that can beat just about anybody. It’s what we are looking for this time of year”.
Matt noted that both coaches have sons playing for them. Jim Baron of Canisius has Billy Baron, his second leading scorer at 17.7ppg. Ray McCallum has his son who is averaging 19.2.
I called in my question, prefacing it by noting that Johnny Manziel had been involved in an incident last June involving a fight, alcohol, a racist comment, (by a friend) and fake ID cards. Yet he just won the Heisman trophy.
“I have four kids. The last thing you want is an 18 year old role model. You hope they do the right things. They can be a great role model in some ways and still make mistakes. Athletes will make mistakes. The mistakes can be a lesson. Very few 18-25 year olds are perfect role models. Of course there are 45-50 year olds who can get in trouble, too. Not too many people go through college making no mistakes. I can’t say for sure because I didn’t spend too much time there except to eat but I’m told there are 20-30 fights a night on Marshall Street. You never hear about them unless they involve athletes. But our players know the ramifications of playing before 30,000 fans.
You don’t know about the other Heisman candidates and what they may have done. You have to base it on what was done on the field. Who was the most important player in college football? They went from 4 wins to 10-2 in the toughest conference in the country and beat Alabama. If ever a defensive guy would win it, this was the year. An undefeated record. Notre Dame. But unless he also returns kicks like Charles Woodson, he won’t win it.”
Matt asked how he would like to be the coach, (Kevin Sumlin), who has Johnny Manziel for another couple of years. “That coach will be able to do some good recruiting. Wide receivers will want to go there. So will running backs.”
Matt noted that 9 of the last 11 Heisman winners have been quarterbacks but this was the first freshman. Coach pointed out that he wasn’t a true freshman- he was a red shirt freshman. He compared him to Michael Carter-Williams, who played some last year and is now starting. (Will MCW win the Wooden Award?). “He’s full of confidence but he could not have done this east year. He’s gained 10-12 pounds and had a lot of hard practices.”
They talked about the Lakers and how Mike D‘Antoni might be in trouble now. “They can’t keep firing coaches. They already owe about $8 million dollars. The Lakers are flawed. Howard can’t hit free throws and that will matter in close games. Nash is out and even when he’s back he won’t help their defense, which is their problem. Artest is slowing down. Gasol isn’t a good fit for that offense. He’s on the bench. They are in trouble.”
Staying in LA, matt noted all the money the Dodgers and Angels are spending, “like the end of the world is coming”. Coach laughed. “Their TV contract gets them $300 million so they can spend $100 million and still make money. The ones that have money worry about winning. The rest worry about making money and staying in business. If you spend a lot and know what you are doing, you’ll probably have a good team. But it’s a fine line. The Yankees have won one title in about a decade. The Red Sox collapsed last year.” Matt noted that even the Yankees are trimming their payroll. He suggested that having Trout, Pujols and Hamilton on the same team will get the Angels lots of runs. JB: “And they are paying them about $25 million each. That’s $75 million for three guys. A lot of runs but a lot of money.”
Jim in Brewerton asked about the meals the team and coaches take on the road. “The players eat at the hotel. They have a buffet of things they like. Sometimes I’ll go out with the coaches and look for a good restaurant. If you gotta eat, it might as well be at some place good. The players like to stay at the hotel.” Matt noted that the coach is known for being an expert on restaurants in various cities. They talked about and Italian place in Salt Lake City that was “New York good. If a place has the best Italian food- it’s ’New York good’.”
Pat in Syracuse wondered where UCONN will wind up? “A great question- they don’t know. Who wants a football playing school? The Atlantic 10 has some. There’s no opening right now. We left early because we didn’t want to be left in a position where we have no place to go.” Matt wondered what you do if you are coach for a school in that situation. “You coach the next game. Recruiting will be hard, though.”
Coach wondered about the money. “Where does it go? There’s NCAA money there- units earned from how well you did in the NCAA tournament. We’d be due about $8-10 million over the next four years. Then there are the exit fees. There’s a lot of money left in the pot. Lawyers will make a lot of it“ Matt wanted to know what will happen to Connecticut and Cincinnati. “I don’t know. Boise State won’t want to play in this conference. Then San Diego State will pull out. I don’t think anyone can figure it out.”
Matt asked if there was any sorrow involved for the coach in this. “Part of it. I thought we’d always be apart of it. It changed so much it wasn’t a viable place any more. The ACC is very stable. I don’t think anyone will leave and if they did they could find a couple of schools to replace them right away.” (But will the ACC be the next battlefield?)
Matt noted that the dying conference has a 21 game winning streak this season vs. non-conference opponents with DePaul’s victory over Arizona. He said that the fact that we play both Louisville and Georgetown twice should created some excitement in this final season. JB: The excitement level hasn’t changed much in 30 years.” Coach said the Big Ten was the best conference so far, “We are right there, just a little bit behind or ahead of them. (?!?) The others, (conferences), are still a little bit down.”
Jim in Cicero wondered what the coach thought about returning the Olympics to the amateurs so we could have a basketball version of the “Miracle on ice” someday. “It would be 10 times that. It really wouldn’t happen. Spain would beat our best college players by 30+ points. Our college teams have trouble against other country’s junior teams. It’s because we lose so many juniors and seniors.”
Matt had read that Mike Eurzione was auctioning off his souvenirs from Lake Placid. Even Bobby Knight had sold off his championship ring. JB: “People like to collect stuff. That’s why Brandon Steiner is living in a $10 million house with an indoor basketball court. I don’t think I’d auction my stuff off.”
Eddie in Rome wanted to know what Jim’s retirement plans were. He seemed to be asking not when he will retire but what will he be doing when he does it. But Jim said “I have no plans and don’t think about it during the season. I’ll think about it a little in the off-season. If you try not to think about something, you wind up thinking about it all the more. Right now I‘m thinking about the next win for this year‘s team.” Eddie wondered “Will we see you around?” JB: “I’ll be around. Julie doesn’t want me around that much. I’ll be doing things for the university. I’ll have some small office quite a ways away. Mike will coach the team. I won’t be a presence.”
Matt said that the coach is a presence on the all-time wins list. He’s about to become the third coach to win 900 games, along with Bobby Knight and Mike Krzyzewski. “I’ve been around along time. If you coach for along time, you’ll win a lot of games.”
Matt gave this programming note: there will be a special bowl edition of the Doug Marrone show next Wednesday, (presumably at 7PM but he didn’t say). Apparently it will be a full scale show: they are going to be at Red Robin in Fayetteville.
