Sources: Monte Kiffin to be Dallas DC; UVa hopes for rebound against Clemson; Thoughts on Jeff Banks leaving UVa football program; No one elected to baseball hall
As you can see, lots to get to, and this post doesn't include the NFL playoff matchups for this weekend. That will come later.
NEW COWBOYS DEFENSIVE COORDINATOR
ESPN reports sources are saying the Cowboys have hired Monte Kiffin to be their defensive coordinator.
Kiffin, who will turn 73 in February, was most recently the defensive coordinator for his son, Lane, at USC. The Trojan defense underperformed this season, as did the team, because USC was preseason No. 1 but finished 7-6 with a 21-7 loss to Georgia Tech in the Sun Bowl. Kiffin decided to step down after the season but indicated he would be interested in a return to the NFL.
Professional football is where Kiffin has made his name, where he was the architect of the Tampa-2 defense, a system many teams run today. He was the defensive coordinator of the Buccaneers for 13 seasons and his units finished in the top 10 in scoring and total defense in 11 of those seasons. He won the Super Bowl with Tampa Bay in 2003.
Kiffin's defense is a 4-3, compared with a 3-4, which Dallas run since Bill Parcells was coach. The main difference fans would see in a 4-3 for the Cowboys is that linebacker DeMarcus Ware would play on the line as a defensive end.
Kiffin is a respected defensive mind, and it will be interesting to see if he still has what it takes to field a top defense in the NFL in 2013. Some might wonder if the game has passed him by. His defenses had a hard time stopping some of the newfangled offenses in college football, but his system has always been solid in the NFL. The league is changing, though, and more and more college techniques and ideas are catching on with offenses, so Kiffin might have to adapt. I think this will either be a great move or a colossal bust for Dallas. I think he can still get it done, but he obviously doesn't have the energy of a Rob Ryan, and I don't know if his defense will be able to contain a healthy Robert Griffin III and the Redskins offense.
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VIRGINIA BASKETBALL
Virginia at Clemson, Noon ACC Network
After a letdown performance against Wake Forest on Wednesday, Virginia continues its ACC road trip by battling Clemson at Littlejohn Coliseum on Saturday. UVa comes into the game with an 11-4, 1-1 ACC record and the Tigers are 8-6 and 0-2. They are coming off a 68-40 loss at Duke on Tuesday. Before that, Clemson kicked off its ACC slate by dropping a tough one at home to Florida State, 71-66.
Last season, these two schools split a pair of meetings. Virginia won at John Paul Jones Arena, 65-61, and Clemson won at home, 60-48. That game at Clemson was the game after Joe Harris broke his hand against UNC. He contributed just two points and Mike Scott was a little below his average, putting in 13 points. Jontel Evans scored 17 to lead the Cavs. Tanner Smith and Andre Young led the Tigers, scoring 13 each. At JPJ, Scott had 23 points and Harris had 19 in a much better effort from the 'Hoos. Clemson finished last season 16-15, 8-8 in the ACC.
Smith and Young are both gone from this year's team, so the Tigers have had to have some new faces step up. Forwards Devin Booker (Sr., 11.9 points, 8.1 rebounds per game) and K.J. McDaniels (So., 11 points, 4.6 rebounds) lead the Tigers offense. Another senior forward, Milton Jennings, puts in 9.8 points and 5.3 rebounds per game. At 6-foot-9, he leads the team in made 3-point field goals with 18 (42.9 percent). Freshman guard Adonis Filer is the only other Clemson player to score more than eight points per game at 8.5.
Clemson does not shoot well from 3 (31.6 percent), the free-throw line (64.5 percent, no players who have shot at least 10 free throws have made more than 80 percent), but is decent overall from the field (44.1 percent).
Clemson went 8-4 in its non-conference schedule compared to 10-3 for Virginia. The Tigers had tough games against Arizona (who was undefeated until last night) and Gonzaga, and also lost to a Purdue team that is only 7-8. By far, though, Clemson's worst performance this season was a 69-46 loss to Coastal Carolina at home. The Tigers' best game was probably hanging with Arizona in a 66-54 loss or beating a now-10-4 South Carolina team, 64-55.
Like pretty much every game on the Cavaliers' schedule, barring more serious injuries, this contest can go either way. For the most part, since coach Brad Brownell has been at Clemson, he and Tony Bennett's squads have had some tight matchups. Their third game against each other came in Brownell's first year at the school and Virginia won at home, 49-47.
If this Cavalier team plays up to its potential, I think it can beat every team on its schedule except for Duke, which seems to be in another stratosphere this year compared to the ACC's other schools. It also can lose any game on its schedule, as we have seen. Arguably, Virginia has won its three toughest games -- at Wisconsin and vs. Tennessee and North Carolina, though I would maybe put opening at George Mason in the tough category. And, besides that game at Mason, Virginia has dropped three easy games (maybe not easiest, but games they should've won) at Delaware, vs. ODU in Richmond, and Wednesday at Wake Forest. This team is capable of anything.
The team will have to shoot better Saturday (36 percent Wednesday) and turn it over much less (17 Wednesday). A better defensive effort than three-fourths of the game vs. the Demon Deacons would also help. One lineup move I wonder if Bennett is considering is starting Teven Jones at point guard over Evans. After missing several games, Bennett started Evans vs. Wake and he was very sloppy with the ball and turned it over four times. Jones had started many games and played pretty well. He hit two 3-pointers to begin the UNC game that set the tone nicely. Evans looked great coming off the bench against the Heels. Perhaps Evans should start eventually, but he might still be a bit rusty and bringing him off the bench could be a better idea. We will have to wait and see what Bennett decides.
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REACTION TO BANKS LEAVING VIRGINIA
We don't know all the details of what transpired to see Jeff Banks leave for Texas A&M. We do know that Nevada hired Texas A&M special teams coach Brian Polian (son of former NFL GM Bill Polian) to be its head coach, thus creating the opening for Banks.
I think that the move on Banks' part was a little classless, BUT, he is reportedly good friends with Texas A&M head coach Kevin Sumlin and A&M is in the state in which Banks resided before his departure for UVa. He coached at Texas El Paso for a decade before he was hired at Virginia last Thursday. Plus, A&M is going to be a preseason top 10 team next year with national championship aspirations, so it is hard to blame Banks for what he did. And, Banks is going to make more money and have the title of associate head coach.
If Banks inquired about the job after Polian left, I can't respect him too much. And if he was saying yes to Virginia while at the same time in secret discussions with A&M before Polian left, then than is a little low. But if Sumlin was the first to reach out to Banks, and it wasn't until after Polian left, then I think about the situation a little differently. It is difficult to say no to a good friend, back closer to home presumably, with a better team and more money and more prestigious position.
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REACTION TO NO ONE GETTING INTO THE BASEBALL HALL OF FAME
I've seen the headline elsewhere since then, but I have to give one of my co-workers, Buddy Wright, credit for coming with a great headline for this story when it originally came out: Baseball writers pitch a shutout.
On Wednesday, the baseball writers that vote for the Hall of Fame elected no one to the 2013 class, which included names such as Barry Bonds, Mark McGwire, Roger Clemens, Curt Schilling, and Sammy Sosa. The closest former player to getting in was longtime Houston Astro Craig Biggio, who received 68.2 percent of the vote. Players need 75 percent to get admitted.
Schilling (38.8), Clemens (37.6 percent), Bonds (36.2), McGwire (16.9), and Sosa (12.5) weren't even close. The voters announced their feelings loud and clear: Suspected cheaters aren't allowed in the hall. I'm OK with that up to a point, but I think they can be more discerning for some ex-players. Bonds did a lot of good things in his career before he got all beefed up, as did Clemens. Schilling, as far as I know, was never associated with performance enhancing drugs. I think another possible solution is to vote everyone in regardless, but make footnotes for those that were suspected of using PEDs. That might be a slippery slope, but this is a difficult situation and I don't know if there are easy solutions.
I just hope future players aren't treated unfairly because of their association with the 1990s, when PEDs were thought to have exploded in usage. Everyone that played during that time is getting lumped in with suspected steroids users, and that isn't right. Hopefully a guy like Biggio eventually gets in. He is 20th on the all-time career hits list (3,060) and wasn't associated with drugs.
NEW COWBOYS DEFENSIVE COORDINATOR
ESPN reports sources are saying the Cowboys have hired Monte Kiffin to be their defensive coordinator.
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| New Dallas DC Monte Kiffin |
Professional football is where Kiffin has made his name, where he was the architect of the Tampa-2 defense, a system many teams run today. He was the defensive coordinator of the Buccaneers for 13 seasons and his units finished in the top 10 in scoring and total defense in 11 of those seasons. He won the Super Bowl with Tampa Bay in 2003.
Kiffin's defense is a 4-3, compared with a 3-4, which Dallas run since Bill Parcells was coach. The main difference fans would see in a 4-3 for the Cowboys is that linebacker DeMarcus Ware would play on the line as a defensive end.
Kiffin is a respected defensive mind, and it will be interesting to see if he still has what it takes to field a top defense in the NFL in 2013. Some might wonder if the game has passed him by. His defenses had a hard time stopping some of the newfangled offenses in college football, but his system has always been solid in the NFL. The league is changing, though, and more and more college techniques and ideas are catching on with offenses, so Kiffin might have to adapt. I think this will either be a great move or a colossal bust for Dallas. I think he can still get it done, but he obviously doesn't have the energy of a Rob Ryan, and I don't know if his defense will be able to contain a healthy Robert Griffin III and the Redskins offense.
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VIRGINIA BASKETBALL
Virginia at Clemson, Noon ACC Network
After a letdown performance against Wake Forest on Wednesday, Virginia continues its ACC road trip by battling Clemson at Littlejohn Coliseum on Saturday. UVa comes into the game with an 11-4, 1-1 ACC record and the Tigers are 8-6 and 0-2. They are coming off a 68-40 loss at Duke on Tuesday. Before that, Clemson kicked off its ACC slate by dropping a tough one at home to Florida State, 71-66.
Last season, these two schools split a pair of meetings. Virginia won at John Paul Jones Arena, 65-61, and Clemson won at home, 60-48. That game at Clemson was the game after Joe Harris broke his hand against UNC. He contributed just two points and Mike Scott was a little below his average, putting in 13 points. Jontel Evans scored 17 to lead the Cavs. Tanner Smith and Andre Young led the Tigers, scoring 13 each. At JPJ, Scott had 23 points and Harris had 19 in a much better effort from the 'Hoos. Clemson finished last season 16-15, 8-8 in the ACC.
Smith and Young are both gone from this year's team, so the Tigers have had to have some new faces step up. Forwards Devin Booker (Sr., 11.9 points, 8.1 rebounds per game) and K.J. McDaniels (So., 11 points, 4.6 rebounds) lead the Tigers offense. Another senior forward, Milton Jennings, puts in 9.8 points and 5.3 rebounds per game. At 6-foot-9, he leads the team in made 3-point field goals with 18 (42.9 percent). Freshman guard Adonis Filer is the only other Clemson player to score more than eight points per game at 8.5.
Clemson does not shoot well from 3 (31.6 percent), the free-throw line (64.5 percent, no players who have shot at least 10 free throws have made more than 80 percent), but is decent overall from the field (44.1 percent).
Clemson went 8-4 in its non-conference schedule compared to 10-3 for Virginia. The Tigers had tough games against Arizona (who was undefeated until last night) and Gonzaga, and also lost to a Purdue team that is only 7-8. By far, though, Clemson's worst performance this season was a 69-46 loss to Coastal Carolina at home. The Tigers' best game was probably hanging with Arizona in a 66-54 loss or beating a now-10-4 South Carolina team, 64-55.
Like pretty much every game on the Cavaliers' schedule, barring more serious injuries, this contest can go either way. For the most part, since coach Brad Brownell has been at Clemson, he and Tony Bennett's squads have had some tight matchups. Their third game against each other came in Brownell's first year at the school and Virginia won at home, 49-47.
If this Cavalier team plays up to its potential, I think it can beat every team on its schedule except for Duke, which seems to be in another stratosphere this year compared to the ACC's other schools. It also can lose any game on its schedule, as we have seen. Arguably, Virginia has won its three toughest games -- at Wisconsin and vs. Tennessee and North Carolina, though I would maybe put opening at George Mason in the tough category. And, besides that game at Mason, Virginia has dropped three easy games (maybe not easiest, but games they should've won) at Delaware, vs. ODU in Richmond, and Wednesday at Wake Forest. This team is capable of anything.
The team will have to shoot better Saturday (36 percent Wednesday) and turn it over much less (17 Wednesday). A better defensive effort than three-fourths of the game vs. the Demon Deacons would also help. One lineup move I wonder if Bennett is considering is starting Teven Jones at point guard over Evans. After missing several games, Bennett started Evans vs. Wake and he was very sloppy with the ball and turned it over four times. Jones had started many games and played pretty well. He hit two 3-pointers to begin the UNC game that set the tone nicely. Evans looked great coming off the bench against the Heels. Perhaps Evans should start eventually, but he might still be a bit rusty and bringing him off the bench could be a better idea. We will have to wait and see what Bennett decides.
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REACTION TO BANKS LEAVING VIRGINIA
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| Jeff Banks |
I think that the move on Banks' part was a little classless, BUT, he is reportedly good friends with Texas A&M head coach Kevin Sumlin and A&M is in the state in which Banks resided before his departure for UVa. He coached at Texas El Paso for a decade before he was hired at Virginia last Thursday. Plus, A&M is going to be a preseason top 10 team next year with national championship aspirations, so it is hard to blame Banks for what he did. And, Banks is going to make more money and have the title of associate head coach.
If Banks inquired about the job after Polian left, I can't respect him too much. And if he was saying yes to Virginia while at the same time in secret discussions with A&M before Polian left, then than is a little low. But if Sumlin was the first to reach out to Banks, and it wasn't until after Polian left, then I think about the situation a little differently. It is difficult to say no to a good friend, back closer to home presumably, with a better team and more money and more prestigious position.
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REACTION TO NO ONE GETTING INTO THE BASEBALL HALL OF FAME
I've seen the headline elsewhere since then, but I have to give one of my co-workers, Buddy Wright, credit for coming with a great headline for this story when it originally came out: Baseball writers pitch a shutout.
On Wednesday, the baseball writers that vote for the Hall of Fame elected no one to the 2013 class, which included names such as Barry Bonds, Mark McGwire, Roger Clemens, Curt Schilling, and Sammy Sosa. The closest former player to getting in was longtime Houston Astro Craig Biggio, who received 68.2 percent of the vote. Players need 75 percent to get admitted.
Schilling (38.8), Clemens (37.6 percent), Bonds (36.2), McGwire (16.9), and Sosa (12.5) weren't even close. The voters announced their feelings loud and clear: Suspected cheaters aren't allowed in the hall. I'm OK with that up to a point, but I think they can be more discerning for some ex-players. Bonds did a lot of good things in his career before he got all beefed up, as did Clemens. Schilling, as far as I know, was never associated with performance enhancing drugs. I think another possible solution is to vote everyone in regardless, but make footnotes for those that were suspected of using PEDs. That might be a slippery slope, but this is a difficult situation and I don't know if there are easy solutions.
I just hope future players aren't treated unfairly because of their association with the 1990s, when PEDs were thought to have exploded in usage. Everyone that played during that time is getting lumped in with suspected steroids users, and that isn't right. Hopefully a guy like Biggio eventually gets in. He is 20th on the all-time career hits list (3,060) and wasn't associated with drugs.
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