Unsportsmanlike Conduct

About a month ago, someone asked Tommy Tuberville if he would like to return to a coaching position in the SEC. He replied that he was happy at Texas Tech, that he was tired of moving his family around, and that he wanted both of his sons to graduate from Texas Tech. (His son, Tucker, is a redshirt freshman on the Tech football team.)

One week ago, Tommy Tuberville was in Houston for the Meineke Car Care Bowl of Texas press conference. He talked about how Tech was looking forward to its late December meeting with the University of Minnesota, and generally did all the things you'd expect from a coach who is preparing his team for a post season bowl.

Friday afternoon, in a meeting with Athletic Director Kirby Hocutt, Tuberville "looked Hocutt in the eye" and reaffirmed his commitment to Texas Tech and the Red Raiders. That night, he and other coaches took recruits to dinner at The 50 Yard Line Restaurant. According to reports from those at the dinner, the party ordered their food(mind you, the least expensive steak on the menu is $15) and then Tuberville left the table and never returned.

Saturday morning, the recruits were told by an assistant coach that Tubs had accepted the head coaching job at the University of Cincinnati effective immediately. This came 30 minutes before the story broke in the media. Not only were the recruits left dazed and confused, so was Kirby Hocutt. You could see it in his face at a press conference held later that afternoon.

Saturday afternoon, Hocutt met with the Tech assistant coaches and received assurances from ALL of them that they would remain at Tech until after the December 29th bowl game. Sadly for the Red Raiders, some of those coaches took their cues from Tuberville.

Sunday, Offensive Coordinator Neil Brown resigned to assume a similar position at the University of Kentucky. Monday, strength and conditioning coach Joe Walker resigned to follow Tuberville to Cincinnati. Another offensive coach resigned to follow Brown to Kentucky. All of these resignations are effective immediately. I seriously doubt that Cincinnati and Kentucky would have minded if their new hires had finished out their responsibilities at Texas Tech with regards to the bowl game.

My daddy always told me that you are only as good as your word. If you make a commitment, then you keep it. If I were the AD at Cincinnati and Kentucky, I would be wary of my "new hires." They have proven by their actions at Texas Tech that their word means nothing. They left Tech in the midst of preparations for a bowl game less than 3 weeks from now. TIf past behavior is a good predictor of future behavior, don't be surprised if they end up leaving your schools in the lurch as well.

For their actions, Tommy Tuberville and the departing coached get flagged for unsportsmanlike conduct.

The End of Tradition

There is no joy in the Big 12 tonight. Today, Texas A&M announced that the Aggies WILL be moving to the SEC in 2012. That announcement brought an end to 117 years of tradition. It is highly doubtful that the Aggies will be keeping their annual Thanksgiving meeting with the Texas Longhorns.

I know, you're all sitting there thinking, "Why do you care, beagle? Aren't you a Texas Tech fan?" Yes, I do follow Texas Tech football, but this is something that all football fans should care about. The college football arena has lost one of its traditional marquee games- those games that you watch even if you don't have anything riding on the outcome: Texas-OU; Ohio State-Michigan; Army-Navy; Grambling State- Southern. Those games are as much about the tradition as they are about football.

Sure, the Big 12 will fill the void left by A&M's departure, but the pageantry and spectacle that surrounds the Aggies coming to town will be forever lost. Who can forget the Friday after Thanksgiving 1999 when the Longhorn band stood on the floor of Kyle Field in College Station and paid tribute to the Aggie students who were killed when the bonfire collapsed? There wasn't a dry eye in the house. It still brings tears today:

College football will go on, but it has lost something that cannot be replaced.

We'll miss you, Miss Reveille. Thanks for the memories.

Childress v Busch WAS a Fair Fight

Now, before everyone gets their knickers in a twist, read on. I am not going to debate whether Kyle bumped Joey Coulter after the CWTS race, nor am I going to discuss the punishments handed down. What I am going to discuss is the media's perception that because Richard Childress is an owner and Kyle Busch is a "driver", it was somehow an unfair fight.

Notice that I put quotes around the word driver; I did that for a reason. Had RC come after Kyle following the Darlington Cup race or after a Nationwide race, then I would agree that there existed a disparity of status between the two. I might even agree if Kyle had been driving for another owner in the CWTS; however, this altercation came after a CWTS race in which Kyle was driving the #18, and on every entry list I've ever seen, no matter who was driving the #18, Kyle Busch is listed as the OWNER. That, as far as I'm concerned, places him on equal footing with Childress.

So let's stop looking at this as the big bad owner beating up on the lowly little driver. It wasn't. Instead it was a case of one business owner having a very public disagreement with another. Things like this happen all the time in the business world; they just don't get national press coverage.

HELP!!!!

Ok- the beagle is in serious need of help. She is in a competition on the SHR fan site for the door from the car that Tony raced at Michigan in August(it will be signed). Each week she gets points for correctly picking the top three drivers in the race and a chase driver to finish in the top 3., and at the end of the Chase, the top 25 players will be entered into a drawing for the swag. Up until now it's been pretty easy- JJ in the top three and as the bonus pick. That strategy has vaulted her from 168th at the beginning of the Chase to 11th following Martinsville.

The problem is who to pick for Talledega. Jimmie normally does not fare well at the track, and it is such a wild card. Right now, my thoughts are Tony Stewart, Kevin Harvick, and Jamie McMurray with Harvick as the bonus Chase driver.

What are your thoughts?

Random Thoughts

A random musing from the Beagle-

A comment from CR on Dwindy's blog got me thinking--

Why is it that every time I see these two together...

...these two come to mind????

Your thoughts??????

Breaking News

Once again, the intrepid Beagle has scoured the nation's newspapers and magazines for tidbits of news that might have been missed by the mainstream press.

Chicago- The Duncan Yo-Yo Company announced today that its attempts to make a better yo-yo have gone terribly awry. The company, seeking to make a more responsive yo-yo, infused the popular toy with human DNA; however the experiment has produced unintended consequences. A spokesman for the company said the result of the experiment "was not at all what we expected." The spokesman would not elaborate further; however, BNN has obtained exclusive top secret photos of the experiment's results:

That's right folks, Brett Favre has unretired AGAIN!!!

College Football Silly Season

We NASCAR fans are all too familiar with the Silly Season- that period in the current season where speculation runs rampant about which drivers will be leaving their current teams and where might they end up. Well, it seems that college football has jumped on the Silly Season bandwagon.

Today, the University of Colorado announced that they were leaving the Big 12 conference for the Pac 10. This move upstages an expected announcement from the University of Nebraska on their departure from the Big 12 in order to join the Big 10 and thereby opens speculation as to what will happen to the rest of the teams in the now former Big 12.

The commissioner of the Pac 10 says that the invitation extended to Colorado is but the first of many. Speculation is that invitations will also be extended to Texas, Texas A&M, Texas Tech, Oklahoma, and Oklahoma State. There are other reports that say Texas and Texas A&M will be going to the Big 10 along with Nebraska. Still others say that Texas A&M is so opposed to the idea of joining the Pac 10 that they are looking at moving to the SEC. If Texas and Texas A&M do end up in different conferences, expect to see large numbers of flying pigs and donkeys- not to mention a significant decrease in the temperature of He11.

Texas governor Rick Perry has put in his two cents on the matter, saying that all the Texas schools should get together and form a conference of their own. I guess the governor forgot about the old Southwest Conference, which was completely dominated by Texas schools with the lone exception of Arkansas.

Tech chancellor Kent Hance(Remember him? He's the idiot who fired the best football coach in the school's history) says that Tech's future is tied to Texas and Texas A&M. Uh, chancellor, it's not up to UT or A&M; it's up to the conference issuing the invitations. Where does Tech go if UT and A&M do end up in different conferences?

On top of all of this, word comes out today that USC- the flagship school of the Pac 10- is facing stiff penalties(loss of scholarships and no bowl games for 2 years) for NCAA rules infractions. While it's not the death penalty, it will certainly have an effect on recruiting. How will that play into all of this?

One thing is for certain. College football has taken to Silly Season like a duck takes to water.