In spite of a horrific record, he got a contract extension just a year ago. From AP-
UNLV has fired football coach Mike Sanford after five losing seasons, a 15-43 record and no bowl appearances.
Sanford’s firing comes after a 45-17 loss to Air Force on Saturday made the Rebels ineligible for a bowl game.
In a joint statement, university president Neal Smatresk and interim athletic director Jerry Koloskie said Sanford will coach the final game of the season at home against San Diego State on the Nov. 28.
“We agree this action is needed at this time,” Smatresk said.
Sanford, 54, will be paid a $225,000 buyout, under terms of a three-year contract extension the coach signed last year.
This for her actions in a recent Mountain West Conference semifinals versus BYU. From AP-
New Mexico women’s soccer defender Elizabeth Lambert has been suspended indefinitely after engaging in rough play — including hauling an opposing player to the ground by her pony tail — in the Lobos’ 1-0 loss to BYU in the Mountain West Conference semifinals.
Lambert is prohibited from taking part in practices, games and conditioning, coach Kit Vela announced Friday.
“Liz is a quality student-athlete, but in this instance her actions clearly crossed the line of fair play and good sportsmanship,” Vela said.
Video footage of the game shows Lambert, a junior, committing a series of excessively rough plays, including kicking, tackles, a forearm shiver to the back — in response to an elbow to the ribs — and yanking BYU forward Kassidy Shumway to the ground by her hair.
Lambert was assessed a yellow card during the 76th minute, apparently for tripping.
Lambert apologized for her actions.
Here’s a video of what happened. Warning the audio isn’t too good.
Her actions may have been provoked but are still uncalled for. I do think Lambert could have a future in another sport. How good is she at ice skating? Watch out Mountain West women’s hockey players.
The altercation took place on September 20th. From AP-
New Mexico Lobos head coach Mike Locksley has been reprimanded for a fight involving an assistant coach, who told police Locksley struck him and split his lip.
Athletic director Paul Krebs said at a news conference Monday that Locksley was issued “a verbal reprimand” with a follow-up letter placed in his personnel file after the Sept. 20 altercation.
According to a police report, receivers coach J.B. Gerald said the fight occurred during a “heated” coaches meeting.
Locksley became angry, grabbed Gerald by the collar and punched him as other coaches tried to intervene.
Krebs downplayed the incident, saying it’s not unusual in college football for coaches to have “heated discussions.” He also expressed steadfast support for Locksley, whom he hired after last season.
No charges were filed. I do think Locksley could be in a great of trouble at this moment. He is being been accused of sexual harassment and the Lobos aren’t having much success on the field(0-4 in 2009). It wouldn’t at all surprise me if Locksley’s tenure in Albuquerque is a very short one.
As of midnight September 1st, the satellite provider stopped carrying the sports channel. From the Salt Lake City Tribune-
Unless an agreement is reached in the near future, BYU and Utah football fans who are DirecTV subscribers will not be able to watch their teams play several games on the Versus television network this fall.
TCU, Wyoming, Air Force and San Diego State fans are out of luck as well.
The sports channel Versus has broadcast rights to televise the Sept. 19 Florida State-BYU game, the Oct. 24 TCU-BYU game, the Oct. 24 Air Force-Utah game and the Nov. 21 San Diego State-Utah game. It also has the Wyoming-Texas game on Sept. 12 and a few others involving Mountain West Conference teams.
Versus, which is owned by cable giant Comcast Corp., was dropped by satellite broadcaster DirecTV on Tuesday after the two sides failed to strike a deal to keep the channel as part of DirecTV’s lineup.
A notice on the DirecTV channel previously occupied by Versus says, “Comcast, which owns Versus, has forced us to take down the channel because we will not submit to their unfair and outrageous demands.”
Once known as the Outdoor Life Network (OLN), Versus is known now for its Tour de France and National Hockey League coverage. It also has rights to selected MWC, Big 12 and Pac-10 football games.
Both sides are giving differing reasons for the dispute. Mountain West football fans who subscribe to Directv have reason to be anxious. Their games were to start being aired next week on Versus.
Normally I could care less about Versus, but my television viewing can be affected if the two sides don’t come to an agreement quickly. The NHL is also aired on Versus, and the Florida Panthers(my favorite hockey team) open the 2009-10 season by playing the Chicago Blackhawks in Helsinki. Only Versus is televising the game. Out of the 82 games the Florida Panthers played in 2008-09, I doubt I missed watching five of those that were shown on television.
It stemmed from an incident in a game played last Saturday. From AP-
SALT LAKE CITY — Utah has suspended guard Luka Drca for two games for an intentional foul committed in a loss to No. 4 Oklahoma.
Drca tripped Blake Griffin as the Sooners were on a fast break with a 14-point lead early in the second half of Saturday’s game. Oklahoma’s Willie Warren was called for a technical for jawing with Drca, who was whistled for an intentional foul.
Utah coach Jim Boylen said in a release Monday that he was suspending Drca for two games.
Boylen says he wasn’t required to suspend Drca, but felt the trip was unacceptable behavior. The junior from Serbia will sit out Saturday’s home game against Weber State and the Utes’ road game against Utah State next Monday.
Drca suspends every bit of the suspension. That kind of behavior he portrayed on Saturday doesn’t belong on a basketball court.
The former NFL QB didn’t make it through four season in his Aztecs job. From ESPN-
The Aztecs athletic department has scheduled a news conference for 4 p.m. ET Sunday, regarding an announcement about its football program, according to the school’s Web site.
Long had been assured of his position in public statements by athletic director Jeff Schemmel. But San Diego State is 2-10 and 1-7 in the Mountain West after snapping a seven-game losing streak with a 42-21 defeat of UNLV on Saturday.
Long, a former Iowa quarterback, was hired by the Aztecs in 2005 after spending four seasons as offensive coordinator at Oklahoma. San Diego State was Long’s first head coaching job.
While at Iowa, Long was runner-up to Bo Jackson for the 1985 Heisman Trophy in the closest vote in history. He guided the Hawkeyes to the Big Ten title and the Rose Bowl that season.
He was Oklahoma’s passing game coordinator and quarterbacks coach when the Sooners won the national championship in 2000 and was offensive coordinator when Jason White won the 2003 Heisman and when Adrian Peterson and White finished 2-3 in 2004.
Long got his coaching start at Iowa in 1995 after playing eight seasons in the NFL, with the St. Louis Rams and Detroit Lions. He was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame in 1999.
I remember Long’s NFL playing days. He had the time at SDSU to put together his own team through recruiting and apparently he failed. Some excellent assistant coaches aren’t meant for the head man’s job. Ask Miami Dolphin fans if they believe in that statement after Cam Cameron coached the team
The University wants him to stay as a fundraiser and goodwill ambassador. From AP-
FORT COLLINS, Colo. – Sonny Lubick is out as Colorado State coach and hasn’t decided whether to accept the school’s offer to stay on as a fundraiser and goodwill ambassador. “I have no plans right now. It’s too early to speculate,” Lubick said Tuesday at a news conference.
Athletic director Paul Kowalczyk said Lubick has a job as associate athletic director available to him “if and when he wants it.”
“I want Sonny to be associated with the program,” Kowalczyk said. “I’m going to do whatever I can to keep him in the fold. I want him to be associated with this program that he’s put on the map.”
Lubick’s coaching staff was also let go with the exception of Tom Ehlers, the director of football operations, who will be kept on to oversee the transition period.
Kowalczyk has no timetable for hiring a new coach. He’s already received calls about the vacancy, but wouldn’t reveal any names. Kowalczyk said he would consult with Lubick before hiring a new coach.
“I’d be foolish not to,” he said.
Kowalczyk asked Lubick to step down a few days before the Rams’ season-ending win over Wyoming last Friday.
*****
Speculation has been swirling around Lubick’s future for days after the Rams finished the season. They haven’t had a winning record since 2003, although Lubick is 108-74 in 15 seasons at Colorado State and is credited with turning an underachieving program into a consistent winner for most of his tenure.
Lubick was defensive coordinator at University of Miami before taking the head coaching job at CSU. I knew a couple of Lubick’s assistants when he first went to Fort Collins.
Being far removed from Colorado, I am not familiar with what’s going on in Ft. Collins. Considering Lubick’s success at the school, his dismissal is astonishing. CSU was a perrenial graveyard for coaches and Lubick made the school competitive first in the WAC and then the Mountain West.(They had been to one bowl game ever) I wouldn’t be surprised if the Rams are back to being a doormat in a few years.
PROVO, Utah – For a star runner at Brigham Young, this was hardly a clean getaway.
Kyle Perry was arrested last week after getting out of his car and striking a pedestrian — with a mop.
Perry’s vehicle apparently got too close to the man, who was pushing a bucket with mops across a street June 14, witnesses told police.
“Angry words were exchanged,” Provo police Capt. Cliff Argyle said. “Mr. Perry exited his vehicle and grabbed a mop out of the pedestrian’s mop bucket and started to strike the pedestrian.
“The pedestrian grabbed another mop and used it to defend himself,” he said. “Eventually the pedestrian was shoved over a planter box and fell onto his back.”
The man, who had a bump on his head, blocked Perry’s car until police arrived and arrested the track star for aggravated assault, Argyle said. Any legal action from the mop fight is up to prosecutors.
In 2006, Perry won the Mountain West Conference title in the 1,500-meter run. He finished 12th in the same event at the NCAA track championship. His performances were limited this year by injuries.
I’ll leave readers to make the appropriate wisecracks. Right now I can’t think of anything. Maybe Mr. Perry can pitch long…..err mopup relief.
Charter Cable has made some noise about potentially dropping the sports channel Versus (formerly OLN) prior to the start of the Stanley Cup Playoffs. Sports fans on Charter look to lose exposure to the following sports:
Exclusive coverage of the NHL playoffs, including the Eastern and Western Conference Finals and the first two games of the Stanley Cup Finals.
Professional Bull Riders (PBR)
America’s Cup
Field Sports
The Tour de France
Mountain West Conference College Football, Basketball and more
Of course Versus provides you with a who to call and email form to voice your displeasure to Charter Cable. This all becomes a game, because really the only people who really get harmed in this are the people who watch Versus, like those 5 hockey fans.
Heralded by many, in Idaho, as the true National Champions, the Boise State Broncos closed the 2006 College Football season as the only undefeated team. Florida, by virtue of their thrashing of Ohio State, is the National Champion. And the Broncos? Fifth in the AP. Sixth in the USA Today Coaches poll. Not exactly the treatment befitting an undefeated team, who will be remembered best for their thrilling victory in the Fiesta Bowl – a game already declared an instant classic.
Boise State however will not be accorded any more respect than they won on the gridiron. They are the other – an interloper at the big BCS bash. And in spite of their undefeated record, the exciting style of football they play and the prominence their situation has received, they are not welcome to clamor that they were denied their rightful place atop the College Football heap. Their National Title hopes denied not because they lost, but because they play in a smaller conference, in a smaller market and They are not a glamour team like USC, Texas, Ohio State or Florida.
Lots of folks will be writing and scribbling in the coming weeks what needs to be done to fix the BCS. Many of those folks perpetuate the ridiculous system for picking a Champion. And pay careful attention to that word. Championships are not won on the field, they are picked by voters, whether ink-stained scribes or clipboard cr5acking coaches, and then parsed by a computer.
The writers and coaches both pay more fealty to the polls than they ought. Much was made about the clash between Texas and Ohio State earlier this season. Texas finished the year with three losses, one of them against Ohio State. It was a very different team from the one that stunned USC in previous year’s Rose Bowl. But Texas was highly ranked. Because people who hadn’t seen them play thought they were a good team. One honest writer cast a protest vote for Boise State as the top ranked team. Whoever that writer is, he or she has earned the right to pen the by now obvious column declaring that what college football needs is a playoff.
The solution is obvious, but money stands in the way. The Bowls, the major conferences and Notre Dame profit far too much from the BCS to allow the lesser conferences like the Western Athletic or the Mid-American or the Mountain West to join the party in an actual eight or sixteen game playoff that would actually allow the teams to compete to crown a Champion.
Commentator Norman Chad once declared that true sports don’t determine the winner by voting. This was why athletic competitions with subjective styles of selecting winners could not be called true sports. Your fate was not in your hands. You couldn’t win and therefore prove your mettle. College Football’s postseason sadly has long been an athletic competition and not a sport.
So in Gainesville celebrate your Champs. Urban Meyer did a great job game planning. And that made a huge difference. Make no mistake, though. This Championship belongs in part to Meyer’s predecessor Ron Zook, who recruited many of the players who went out and whupped Ohio State. They toppled Goliath and won the big game. But the matchup was picked, not entirely earned. And until the Championship Game is truly the clash of the last two teams standing after a playoff tournament, the conclusion of every College Football season will carry some baggage.
