* It’s meaningless and inherently flawed, but quick… name the SEC school ranked highest in the New America Foundation’s 2nd Annual BCS Academic Standings. For the 99% of you that said Vanderbilt, you’re wrong. It’s Ole Miss.
The NFA’s formula starts with the team's most recent federal graduation rate, which includes four classes of players who entered college between 1998 and 2001 and graduated within six years of initial enrollment. Then, each team gains or loses points based on (A) the gap between the team's graduation rate and the overall school's graduation rate and (B) the gap between the team's black-white player graduation rate disparity and the overall school's disparity. Finally, the team gains or loses points if its Academic Progress Rate exceeds or falls below the Division I-A median.
* Chris Low runs down the Top 25 players in the SEC. Alabama leads the way with 7. Florida, Georgia, and Ole Miss check in with 3 a piece, while LSU and Tennessee have 2 each.
* Auburn’s questionable hire of Gene Chizik has raised more than a few eyebrows across the SEC and the blogosphere ( I know, who knew?). Pat Forde grades the recent SEC hires and drops this gem:
Maybe Chizik will be the next Bill Parcells -- he went 3-8 in his first year as a head coach, at the Air Force Academy in 1978 -- before turning out all right. But until that happens, this has the makings of the worst hire in SEC history.Dan Wetzel shares a similar viewpoint.
* Jason Whitlock is dead on again. While race may or may not have been a determining factor in Auburn’s passing on the more-talented Turner Gill for the Ed Orgeron Redux that is Gene Chizik, Auburn may not have been the right fit for Gill at this point of his career.
3 comments:
I'm generally no Whitlock fan but you're right: he knocked that out of the park.
I'm almost certain that Auburn brass didn't say, "We're not hiring a black guy." And I also think Gill would have been destined to fail there, much like Sly at Miss State.
Regardless, Chizik is pretty much a historically bad hire at first glance.
And it's not like the Tigers missed him or anything. Muschamp filled in quite nicely, don't you think?
I typically enjoy reading Whitlock's pieces. Sometimes I think he stirs the pot just for the sake of stirring, but for the most part, I think he says what a lot of people are thinking, but won't say.
I can't believe there haven't been more comparisons to what Ole Miss did in 2004 with Cutcliffe. The Rebels fired a guy who had won there for a few years and replaced him with EOr. And while Chizik at least has a couple years of HC experience, Tuberville won on a much higher level than Cutcliffe did at Ole Miss.
Thanks for sharing
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