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Friday TIME: US | UK WEATHER: US | UK HOME THE NEIGHBORHOOD "Life in the UK" American Groups Essential Contacts Money Education Driving WHAT'S ON US Group Events Diary Dates Music Live FEATURES Politics blog SPORTS Features Sideline blog NFL Draft THE AMERICAN MAGAZINE ONLINE |
SIDELINE ARCHIVE Unnecessary Hits To The Pocket / Upset: BYU October 17, 2008 Romo's Pause / Seattle Seahawks October 15, 2008 Weekend Prep: Red River and More October 10, 2008 College Football's 'Crossroads' Weekend October 9, 2008 Gramatical Error October 7, 2008 Turning The Page September 30, 2008 So Cal 'Quizzed — But Who Will Answer? September 26, 2008 3rd Tuesday Panic Button / Forté Yard Dash September 23, 2008 Two and Oh; Oh and Two September 22, 2008 No More NCAAffeine September 11, 2008 Week 1 College Football September 6, 2008 How To Spell Heisman / Chad Ocho Cinco September 1, 2008 Why the Favre story STILL won't go away August 18, 2008 Olympic Notes / Ricky's Still Relevant August 14, 2008 Committee Meetings August 9, 2008 Let the QB Battles Begin August 8, 2008 Slinging The Slinger — More Favre August 6, 2008 Welcome to the 2008 season July 28, 2008 Plus One May 27, 2008 Draft: The Morning After April 28, 2008 Draft: Thinking the Unthinkable April 25, 2008 Draft: Ready For The Long Haul April 23, 2008 Sofa–bound Sport April 16, 2008 Post–Winter Wonderland April 11, 2008 Six Impossible Things February 4, 2008 Brady's Misdirection Play February 3, 2008 Colorful Language January 23, 2008 Let the Romo–bashing begin: Dallas lost January 14, 2008 Bowl Bites: The Wrap January 10, 2008 All About The Coaches January 1, 2008 Bowl Bites 3 and A Communication Breakdown December 29, 2007 Bowl Bites 2 December 27, 2007 Bowl Bites 1 December 23, 2007 The Empty Chair - Coach Situations Vacant December 22, 2007 For Some, The Playoffs Are Now December 15, 2007 A Certain Lack Of Welcome December 13, 2007 Unrelated Notes November 29, 2007 Two Thanksgiving thoughts November 22, 2007 Halftime: NFC November 9, 2007 Halftime: AFC November 8, 2007 London, Part 2 / A Tale of Two Chads / A Game of Intimidation November 4, 2007 Damp Squib / Other London Notes October 29, 2007 Rock 'Em, Sock 'Em / Dolphins – The Aftermath October 23, 2007 The Dolphins Did What? October 18, 2007 Notes on the Defenses October 13, 2007 Habits to be Broken October 12, 2007 Overtime October 13, 2007 This Week's Starters October 6, 2007: USF: Covering The Spread / Fantastic Football September 27, 2007: Grossman: The Final Act? / McNabb, the Epilogue September 24, 2007: Eagles QB in Slight Controversy September 21, 2007: Leftwich's Parting Gift to Jacksonville? / Boos cruise September 18, 2007: Notre Dame M.I.A. September 16, 2007: Looking Beyond NFL Wk. 1 September 12, 2007: Best Hope For Heisman September 10, 2007: Coaching Hot Seats / AP Poll Feeling ’Appy September 7, 2007: The NFL’s Prime Cuts September 5, 2007: Michigan Falls to Killer Apps September 3, 2007: Look Out Couch / The Taint's On You, Bud September 1, 2007: |
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SPORTS SIDELINE 
Observations, Opinion & Occasional Silliness by Richard L Gale ALL ABOUT THE COACHES Cam Cameron's first year as coach of the Miami Dolphins may not have been terrible, merely a bit clumsy. That would seem to be the conclusion after Dolphins Executive VP Bill Parcells wielded his new axe and cleft the neck of General Manager Randy Mueller. As first moves go, Bill's aim was accurate. Cameron's head may yet follow, but one thing serial coach Parcells' has learnt from all those career stops is when an organization has the right infrastructure to produce a champion. Finally, Parcells has a position senior enough not just to assess a front office, but to leave coaching behind and build a front office himself. His rambling press conference when appointed as Executive VP was to the effect that he had difficulty giving up coaching, that football was too much in his blood, but that maybe this was his way of sating that desire. Elsewhere, another retired Hall of Fame coach, Marv Levy, stepped down as General Manager of the Buffalo Bills ten years to the day since he stepped aside as the franchise's head coach. Like Mueller, he produced more draft–day criticism than playoff runs. But whereas Mueller's final year included a hail of boos on draft day, one of the least tactically–sound trades of the modern era (WR Wes Welker to New England), and a team that was an overtime away from going winless, Levy's departure from the Bills would seem to leave Buffalo with a roster so deep in talent that even a record number of injuries couldn't stop them from staying in the hunt into December. Levy' day–one selections in the last two drafts: RB Marshawn Lynch, LB Paul Lozluszny (IR) and QB Trent Edwards in '07; SS Donte Whitner, DT John McCargo, CB Ashton Youboty in '06. On neither occasion was Levy praised for the Bills' drafting, and in 2006, he was criticized heavily for their selections of Whitner and McCargo, at least until they started playing. But from these two drafts only a couple of 7th rounders didn't contribute this season. Quietly, Levy has built a legacy for his Bills. Finding a senior role after coaching rather than sliding into obscurity may be easier after a Super Bowl run or two. In Parcells' case he won Super Bowls with the Giants, and reached the big game with the Patriots, while at least pointing the Jets and Cowboys in the right direction. Levy's career will forever be associated with the Bills teams he led to four consecutive Super Bowls — four consecutive losses, if we're being picky, but at least he knew how to get teams there consistently. Yesterday, the Baltimore Ravens parted with Brian Billick, a coach who once won a Superbowl. Problem was, that was 2001, and the Ravens never went back. One year removed from a 13–3 season, owner Steve Bisciotti looked at his team's 5–11 record, last place finish in the AFC North, 9–game losing streak (including that overtime loss to the Dolphins), and quoth 'nevermore'. Finding his next coaching job might be tricky for Billick, despite the Super Bowl ring. He arrived at Baltimore with the reputation as an offensive genius, thanks to his coordinator role with the Culpepper–Moss era of the Minnesota Vikings. However, under his leadership, the Ravens offense has been consistently anaemic, even during the Super Bowl year. He may not be a hot property anymore as a coordinator, let alone as a head coach in the NFL. Now that his entire staff is out of work, his own former defensive coordinator, Rex Ryan, may get a job before Billick does. Bowl Bites: Coaching Counts As the bowl games get later, the distance from the regular season gets longer. Equally, experience becomes a bigger factor, as coaches try to focus their players on the matter in hand. Not only do players have longer to forget the fundamentals such as tackling and securing the ball, but there's the talk of declaration for the NFL, the distractions of coaching changes and, with the bigger bowls, the even greater distractions of 'destination' bowl cities and the pre–game hoopla. No surprise then that Joe Paterno logged his 23rd bowl victory this week. It was also his 500th game as a head coach, and puts his record at 372–125–3, just one victory behind Florida State's Bobby Bowden on 373. Leaving aside for the moment the fact that 31 of Bowden's victories were from when he was in charge at non–FBS Howard — that's a statistical debate for another day — Bowden's victory lead was cut to one as FSU fell to Kentucky, 35–28. Traveling without 36 of their regular players following an academic cheating scandal that added to the normal attrition of team suspensions and injuries, the Seminoles fought hard, never falling more than two scores behind, and at the gun were still in position to make one last fling for the end zone. Bowden has never before lost a bowl game in December, and yet this Music City Bowl loss may have been one of his greatest coaching performances. With the FSU academic scandal still prominently referenced by critics, some people are inappropriately suggesting Bowden should step aside and allow a new era to begin at FSU. But this simply isn't the way it should end. Paterno will be back at Penn State for one more year. Hopefully Bobby Bowden will be too. |
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