If they can't take the heat, kick them out of the kitchen

posted by LW, Thursday, May 28, 2009

So the American Football Coaches Association has decided that its coaches can't deal with the scrutiny that comes with their votes being public.

The AFCA announced Wednesday that, starting in 2010, its coaches' votes for the USA Today coaches' poll will be made secret again.

This decision was ripped by Chris Dufresne of the L.A. Times, and justifiably so. Because it takes a lot of audacity -- and not a lot of sense -- to shield coaches from scrutiny that should be central to the process, given the undeniably flawed nature of said process.

That's right -- the AFCA has opted for reverse transparency.

Told by a reporter this might be a mistake, AFCA Executive Director Grant Teaff said, "That's your opinion."

Told to expect a lot of blowback, Teaff responded "let 'er rip."

How we got from there to here, and back to there: After years of voting anonymously, and sometimes hilariously, the coaches agreed in 2005 to reveal their final votes in conjunction with the release of the final BCS standings.

If you're going to use a controversial system to decide which teams play in your national title game, you ought to do your business in the town square.

How could coaches tell their players to be accountable for their actions when they weren't?

And to say that these votes are actually the coaches' actions would be a vast stretch in most cases. So many of them pass off the weekly voting to their Sports Information Directors.

I've never been a huge fan of the AP poll, because as a sportswriter I know how hard it is -- actually, how impossible it is -- to watch all these games and follow all these teams when you're spending 8-10 hours at a stadium most Saturday's covering one team.

But however flawed that process might be, it's still a better process because sportswriters are generally more diligent than coaches when it comes to making an honest voting effort. Generally.

Dufresne goes on to make an excellent suggestion. If the coaches are too chicken to provide transparency, tell 'em to take a hike.

Transparency, at this important juncture of college football's present, is paramount to its future. It trumps anything Gallup has been commissioned to evaluate.

If the coaches insist on privacy, fine, let them move their convention to Tiananmen Square.

Just don't allow their poll to remain one-third of the BCS formula.

The coaches have been crowning champions since 1950; let them crown on alone.

Hear hear.

To be fair, the AFCA's decision appears far from unanimous. South Carolina's Steve Spurrier and Georgia's Mark Richt said they prefer transparency in this USA Today article.

Spurrier:

"I thought we would stay public on that last vote, I sort of think we ought to stay public, you know. It keeps everybody pretty honest so I don't know, that was surprising."

Richt:

"I think there needs be some accountability." He would argue for preseason and final regular-season ballots being made public. "It's probably not good (confidential final votes). … I didn't mind opening up my vote. I vote myself. I don't give it to a GA (graduate assistant coach). I literally will sit up. I don't usually sleep after a game anyway, and I might call my vote in at 1 or 2 in the morning and I try to make it make sense. I want to be able to defend my vote every week whether it's public or not."

Then again, Spurrier is the guy who inanely votes Duke No. 25 every year.

Not surprisingly, the Most Paranoid Man on the Planet supports the confidentiality of the ballots.

Urban Meyer:

"We all know how competitive things are, whether it be a fan base, whether it be recruiting, whether it be friendships. I think at some point you have to trust the people who vote."

Andy Staples of SI.com weighs in and says he'll be submitting open-records requests to learn the votes of coaches from public universities.

Dennis Dodd of CBSsports.com said coaches have gone back to the dark ages.

Wow ... first Charlie Weis gets to have losing records omitted from his bio in the Notre Dame media guide. Now Minnesota appears to be pretending that last year's 55-0 loss to Iowa never happened.

Ruh-roh. Allegations of major violations under John Calipari at Memphis.

Calipari, who had been in Destin, Fla., for the Southeastern Conference Spring Meetings, could not be reached for comment Wednesday night.

But UK basketball spokesman DeWayne Peevy released a statement late Wednesday night that said Calipari had "received a letter from the NCAA stating that he is not at risk of being charged with any NCAA violations in this case."

"First and foremost, there are no NCAA allegations against UK head men's basketball coach John Calipari," the statement said. "Coach Calipari was forthcoming with the University of Kentucky during the hiring process about any issues under investigation at the University of Memphis at that time.

"It is normal procedure for the NCAA to ask a former coach to participate in a hearing. Therefore, Coach Calipari will participate as requested."

Here's more on the arrest of FSU receiver Richard Goodman, who's been suspended indefinitely.

Speaking of arrests, stories on Barry Humphries' May 2 DUI arrest here, and here.

Oliver Purnell talks about being blindsided by Terrence Oglesby's departure in The Post and Courier, The State and Greenville News.

On baseball, Travis Sawchik of the P&C says the Tigers are focusing more on themselves and less on scouting reports and other minutiae.

In The State, Wilson Boyd says he doesn't recommend facial paralysis as a slump cure.

More on Boyd in the I-M.

And Eric Sprott of the Seneca paper has a look at Clemson's football camp.

LW

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