Mr2Bits
Gator Fan
Rain looks like it could be on its way to the northern Orlando suburbs, so what better time to offer my latest segment of "Talk of the Town" with a little of this and a little of that. It's a slow news day in Gator Nation football-wise, but we'll have plenty of football recruiting news coming up in the next couple of weeks as National Signing Day draws near.
Was nice to see former Gator Al Horford having a good night as the Atlanta Hawks rallied back from a halftime deficit to beat the Phoenix Suns last night (noticed he also has an "Al's Amigos" fan club) as I watched the game with my significant other. Looks like David Lee did the same for the Knicks even though they wound up losing to the Raptors.
These past two weeks have seen the college football coaching carousel spinning wildly, but one thing that surprised me was that there wasn't a lot of time wasted in getting the various vacancies filled. I like the Tommy Tuberville hire at Texas Tech and Skip Holtz going to USF; they both bring experience and proven track records to their respective schools. I've already expounded on Lane Kiffin's charade in a prior segment, so there's no need for a re-hash. It's hard for me to gauge how Derek Dooley will do at Tennessee, but I'm glad he mentioned that he wanted to being an air of class and integrity back to the program during his introductory presser after Kiffin and his gauche behavior created an unfavorable image for them and a bit of unrest in the SEC.
In my opinion, the best replacement hire post-2009 was Brian Kelly to Notre Dame. After having gone through three coaches in the last fifteen years (Davie, Willingham and Weis) who were not the right fit, the Domers got it right this time as Kelly not only brings head-coaching experience to South Bend, he brings proven results and an enthusiasm that seems to have been missing there for some time. The worst: Lane Kiffin to USC; why I say this is that a member of his staff (Ed Orgeron) was involved in a controversial episode right off the bat, and not only does he leave one program under NCAA scrutiny, he walks into another one facing the same. This cat is just plain bad news no matter where he goes.
As far as Gator football goes, I'm glad there wasn't as hard of an impact as the media predicted with the number of underclassmen declaring for the NFL. Even though we're losing five of our juniors (Joe Haden, Carlos Dunlap, Major Wright, Maurkice Pouncey and Aaron Hernandez) the impact wasn't as severe as it was after our National Champioship run. Based on how our incoming Class of 2010 is shaping up so far, we have potential up-and-comers who could fill in some of the slots as I anticipate the coaches opening up the competition beginning with spring practice. If I was reading this correctly, I heard that Mike Pouncey would be moving over to his brother's former slot at center this coming fall.
Anyway, here's hoping our Gator roundballers can finally get their first SEC win tonight against LSU. I have a feeling it'll be a long season for Billy Ball, but looking ahead to 2010-11 Coach Donovan has an impressive recruiting class coming in which includes Austin Rivers (yep, he's Doc Rivers' son). I just hope our fanbase can try to sit tight and not get overly discouraged; right now I don't forsee us getting back to the Big Dance this spring but it's more probable next year.
And how is YOUR weekend so far?
Was nice to see former Gator Al Horford having a good night as the Atlanta Hawks rallied back from a halftime deficit to beat the Phoenix Suns last night (noticed he also has an "Al's Amigos" fan club) as I watched the game with my significant other. Looks like David Lee did the same for the Knicks even though they wound up losing to the Raptors.
These past two weeks have seen the college football coaching carousel spinning wildly, but one thing that surprised me was that there wasn't a lot of time wasted in getting the various vacancies filled. I like the Tommy Tuberville hire at Texas Tech and Skip Holtz going to USF; they both bring experience and proven track records to their respective schools. I've already expounded on Lane Kiffin's charade in a prior segment, so there's no need for a re-hash. It's hard for me to gauge how Derek Dooley will do at Tennessee, but I'm glad he mentioned that he wanted to being an air of class and integrity back to the program during his introductory presser after Kiffin and his gauche behavior created an unfavorable image for them and a bit of unrest in the SEC.
In my opinion, the best replacement hire post-2009 was Brian Kelly to Notre Dame. After having gone through three coaches in the last fifteen years (Davie, Willingham and Weis) who were not the right fit, the Domers got it right this time as Kelly not only brings head-coaching experience to South Bend, he brings proven results and an enthusiasm that seems to have been missing there for some time. The worst: Lane Kiffin to USC; why I say this is that a member of his staff (Ed Orgeron) was involved in a controversial episode right off the bat, and not only does he leave one program under NCAA scrutiny, he walks into another one facing the same. This cat is just plain bad news no matter where he goes.
As far as Gator football goes, I'm glad there wasn't as hard of an impact as the media predicted with the number of underclassmen declaring for the NFL. Even though we're losing five of our juniors (Joe Haden, Carlos Dunlap, Major Wright, Maurkice Pouncey and Aaron Hernandez) the impact wasn't as severe as it was after our National Champioship run. Based on how our incoming Class of 2010 is shaping up so far, we have potential up-and-comers who could fill in some of the slots as I anticipate the coaches opening up the competition beginning with spring practice. If I was reading this correctly, I heard that Mike Pouncey would be moving over to his brother's former slot at center this coming fall.
Anyway, here's hoping our Gator roundballers can finally get their first SEC win tonight against LSU. I have a feeling it'll be a long season for Billy Ball, but looking ahead to 2010-11 Coach Donovan has an impressive recruiting class coming in which includes Austin Rivers (yep, he's Doc Rivers' son). I just hope our fanbase can try to sit tight and not get overly discouraged; right now I don't forsee us getting back to the Big Dance this spring but it's more probable next year.
And how is YOUR weekend so far?
