Bobref

See Deion Sanders at Jackson State.

The Indiana officiating community lost a giant yesterday. Todd Clark, a Lafayette veterinarian and 40+ year football official, passed away unexpectedly. Aside from being a multiple state finals football official, Todd was a key member of the observer corps for the last several years, despite being confined to a wheelchair. Todd became well known briefly when he had a heart attack on the field and was successfully resuscitated by the athletic trainers on-site. He continued to officiate for years after his recovery. Todd was a great guy, a former IFOA board member, a valued member of the Western Indiana Officials Association, and a good friend of mine for 20+ years. He will be sorely missed.

JANUS v. AMERICAN FEDERATION OF STATE, COUNTY, AND MUNICIPAL EMPLOYEES, COUNCIL 31, SCOTUS case out of Illinois in 2018.

That’s the way it has to be in public sector unions.

Oh, it’s going to be much more than a “landscape shaker.” It’s going to be a complete game changer. Very shortly, schools will center recruiting pitches around the program’s ability to act as a sports agent for the players, managing and maximizing NIL opportunities. An entire industry is springing up around NIL.

The GM is by far the more important hire. Make sure you’ve got the right guy there. Then let him hire the new coach.

So, the axe dropped on Nagy this morning. He was followed out the door by GM failure, Ryan Pace. Now begins the process that will shape the next decade for this organization.

Because if they colluded like that, the Commissioner would fine them both about $5 million, and they’d probably lose draft choices as well. Among other reasons, the betting community would be up in arms.

This is a huge get for the Irish. https://www.si.com/college/notredame/football/notre-dame-football-harry-hiestand-returning-a-home-run-for-marcus-freeman-tommy-rees Harry Hiestand Returning To Notre Dame Is A Home Run For Marcus Freeman, Tommy Rees The return of Harry Hiestand to coach the offensive line at Notre Dame is a coup for Marcus Freeman and Tommy Rees Irish Breakdown readers and members have known this was coming, but more and more national reporters are learning what we've known for awhile, and what has been reported on Irish Breakdown for weeks, that Harry Hiestand is going to return to Notre Dame as its next offensive line coach. Hiestand and Notre Dame have been working on a contract for weeks, and IB sources indicate all the hurdles have been cleared and the former Irish line coach will once again be the Irish line coach. Of course, Hiestand was the Notre Dame offensive line coach from 2012-2017, and during that time the program came to be known as O-Line U for its success at producing elite lines and high NFL Draft picks. Notre Dame won the 2017 Joe Moore Award, which goes to the nation's best offensive line, during Hiestand's final season in South Bend. A case could be made that Notre Dame also had the nation's best offensive line in 2015, two years before that award was created. Of course, that award is named for a former Irish coach, one who was part of Notre Dame's last championship squad (1988) and also had a legendary career at Pittsburgh. During Hiestand's six seasons at Notre Dame he developed four players that became 1st Round NFL Draft picks (Zack Martin, Ronnie Stanley, Quenton Nelson, Mike McGlinchey), including three that were Top 10 NFL Draft picks. Notre Dame also had a second and a third round draft pick during that tenure, and three more players that Hiestand recruited and coached for at least one season were drafted in the second (Liam Eichenberg, Aaron Banks) and third round (Robert Hainsey) a year ago. Notre Dame's offenses averaged 204.1 rushing yards per game during Hiestand's tenure (minus sacks, team runs), compared to 191.8 in the four year since he departed and 142.7 in the four years prior to his arrival. Notre Dame's offense also averaged 5.83 yards per carry (minus sacks, team carries) during his six seasons, compared to 5.41 in the four years that followed his departure and 4.74 in the four years prior to his arrival. Notre Dame's 2015 team set a modern program record for yards per play (7.0). In 2017, Notre Dame's 6.25 yards per carry also set a modern program record. Despite a narrative emerging about his recruiting passions, Hiestand landed top line classes year after year. He even recruited a player inJerry Tillery that eventually became a first round pick at defensive line. Tillery, of course, was initially recruited to Notre Dame as an offensive tackle. For Notre Dame to become a national title contender a major step was getting its offensive line back to the levels it had during much of Hiestand's tenure. The program has grown in other ways since he left, but the line steadily took steps back. Head coach Marcus Freemanand offensive coordinator Tommy Rees convincing Hiestand to come back gives the program a chance to get its line where it needs to be. This is a coup for both coaches. For Freeman it gives him one of the best, and most respected names in the business. For Rees, more practically, it gives him an offensive line coach who will certainly be able to improve the physicality and production of the run game. It's the first, and arguably most important, big coaching domino to fall for Notre Dame this offseason. It's step one towards Freeman building the kind of top-to-bottom elite staff that his predecessor never could build. Hiestand and Rees clearly have a relationship. The former was the offensive line coach for the final two seasons of Rees' career, including overseeing the line that allowed Rees to be sacked just 8 times in 2013. They also worked together in 2017 when Hiestand was the offensive line coach and Rees was in his first season as the quarterbacks coach.

From the Coaching Openings thread: WHME Ch. 46 reporting that John Barron has resigned as HFC at Plymouth.

You’re right. I looked it up. He played for BSU in their 2004 and 2005 seasons.

https://outsidethehuddle.net/2022/01/06/oth-exclusive-sac-very-close-to-big-changes-for-football-beginning-in-2023/ OTH EXCLUSIVE: SAC “very close” to big changes for football beginning in 2023 There is considerable momentum and discussion ongoing that could see the Summit Athletic Conference look much different come fall of 2023. Per sources close to Outside the Huddle, SAC coaches and athletic directors are nearing an agreement on the adoption of a two-division format, non-conference games and a Week 9 “championship week” for football beginning in the 2023 season. In the plan that OTH is told is “very close” to being endorsed, the SAC will be split into two divisions – big school and small school – similar to the format currently used in the Northeast Corner Conference. The big school division will feature Bishop Dwenger, Carroll, Homestead, Northrop and Snider. The small school division will consist of Bishop Luers, Concordia Lutheran, North Side, South Side and Wayne. It is uncertain at this time just who would need to pass this plan to make it official, although sense says it will be the athletic directors, but it will need to have unanimous approval by the 10 member schools. Under the proposal, each team’s schedule will have Weeks 1 and 2 open for non-conference competition. The next six weeks will see teams play all four of their division opponents and a pair of crossover games against teams from the other division. Some of these inter-divisional games will be rotated, but others will be used to protect rivalries such as the Battle of the Bishops. OTH has also been told that an SAC schedule for the first six years of this new format has already been prepared, pending the plan’s adoption. Week 9 will be “Championship Week” as the first-place teams in each division face off for the SAC Championship and the Victory Bell. The second-place teams will take each other on, and so on. OTH has been told that while there is near-unanimous support for this radically-changed setup for the league, it has not been greeted with universal approval from all parties, due to a few factors. One point that has been brought up involves the fact that schools in the small division will sacrifice a considerable amount of big-time tests by not playing the entirety of the league powerhouses. Concordia Lutheran and Bishop Luers have each benefited in the postseason from playing a tough, higher-class schedule. The other is a concern that suitable opponents will be difficult to find. But considering the amount of programs that would be willing to schedule SAC foes just in this region, especially a Northeast 8 Conference that also has its non-conference games in Weeks 1-2, this feels like a considerable non-factor. While some may love this new format and others not so much, it guarantees the ability for SAC schools to challenge themselves outside of the conference and allow areas of the state to see Fort Wayne’s best in terms of programs and talent. In some circles, the recent era that saw Elmhurst High School close in 2010 and Harding one year later, allowing SAC programs to step out of the region, was sensational. High-profile matchups included Snider taking on the likes of Penn and Cathedral, Bishop Dwenger challenging Cincinnati LaSalle and Bishop Luers traveling to out-of-state powerhouses like Columbus Hartley and Toledo Whitmer. Conversely, other SAC teams were able to find like-talented squads to play, with South Side and Arsenal Tech building a mini-rivalry and Northrop adding central Indiana teams such as Anderson and Muncie South. The ability to schedule out-of-conference games disappeared\ when Homestead and Carroll entered the league in 2015. Over the last six seasons, grumblings have only grown about the regular-season schedule within Fort Wayne growing stale, area 6A programs with the inability to compete with its compatriots due to lack of games against like-sized schools and the allure of seeing big inter-conference matchups within northeast Indiana, such as Leo vs. Bishop Dwenger, East Noble vs. Carroll or Eastside vs. Bishop Luers (in the regular season). While nothing is assured as of this time, this is the closest the SAC has gotten to real change that brings what many consider one of the top three leagues in the state into the present day in terms of scheduling.

Was that the ECC team that featured Donta Smith? I believe he had committed to Tennessee, but somehow ended up at Ball State. Heck of an athlete and an outstanding linebacker.

Finebaum is a great commentator, but I can’t listen to his radio show. Two out of every 3 callers are semi-literate Alabama fans, and I can’t understand what they are saying.

Heard an interview with the SEC Commissioner on Paul Finebaum’s show, and he said the same thing. Talked about how they needed to decide on the number first, then they had time to work out the selection process.

It would be an interesting project to go back 10 years or so and, using something like Sagarin Ratings, model what various formats of playoffs would have looked like in those years.

You can’t unring the bell … especially when he was right. I find the whole thing hilarious in that it enabled Rodgers to do what he does best … play the victim. That, and own the Bears, of course. 🤣😂

I’ve seen an angry beaver. It looks nothing like that. 😉

The WFT will announce their new name at a press conference Feb. 2. Until then, the name is aclosely guarded secret. But I’m guessing the choice of Feb. 2 as a launch date is not acoincidence. Ladies and Gentlemen, I give you the Washington Groundhogs. It plays right into the old Redskins’ “Hogs” legacy! Unless otherwise noted, all opinions on officiating topics represent solely the opinion of the author. The IHSAA is the only authority for official interpretations of the National Federation football rules and officiating mechanics.

The WFT will announce their new name at a press conference Feb. 2. Until then, the name is a closely guarded secret. But I’m guessing the choice of Feb. 2 as a launch date is not a coincidence. Ladies and Gentlemen, I give you the Washington Groundhogs. It plays right into the old Redskins’ “Hogs” legacy!

Takes one to know one. 😂🤣😆

Wow! He was a freshman at ND when I was a senior in the 1973 national championship season. One of Our Lady’s all-time greatest players. Ross Browner was one of the most decorated defensive players in the history of college football. At the University of Notre Dame he was a four-year starter at defensive end in 1973 and 1975–77. He was a unanimous All-America his junior and senior seasons of 1976 and 1977. In 1976, he won the Outland trophy as the nation's best interior or defensive lineman also in 1976 United Press Internationalnamed him Lineman of the Year. He won the Lombardi Trophy as the nation's best lineman and the Maxwell Award as the nation's best player and again won the UPI Lineman of the Year Award, the only player ever to win it twice. In the decade of the 1970s, Browner was the only lineman who won the Maxwell. In 1977, he also placed fifth in voting for the Heisman Trophy. During his senior year in college, he was featured on the cover of Sports Illustrated with the subheading of "Notre Dame's Peerless Ross Browner."

You know, when it comes to bitter rivalries, there’s something admirable about good old-fashioned spite. https://news.yahoo.com/think-bad-guy-nfl-mvp-023041333.html 'I think he’s a bad guy': NFL MVP voter won’t cast ballot for Aaron Rodgers It won't be unanimous. Hub Arkush, a veteran Chicago sportswriter, told the city's 670 The Score radio station on Tuesday that he will not cast his NFL MVP vote for Green Bay Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers. Arkush delivered a scathing review of Rodgers. He did not pull any punches. “I don’t think you can be the biggest jerk in the league and punish your team, and your organization and your fan base the way he did and be the Most Valuable Player,” Arkush said. “Has he been the most valuable on the field? Yeah, you could make that argument, but I don’t think he is clearly that much more valuable than Jonathan Taylor or Cooper Kupp or maybe even Tom Brady. So from where I sit, the rest of it is why he’s not gonna be my choice. "Do I think he’s gonna win it? Probably. A lot of voters don’t approach it the way I do, but others do, who I’ve spoken to. But one of the ways we get to keep being voters is we’re not allowed to say who we are voting for until after the award has been announced. I’m probably pushing the envelope by saying who I’m not voting for. But we’re not really supposed to reveal our votes.” He was just warming up. “I just think that the way he’s carried himself is inappropriate,” Arkush said. “I think he’s a bad guy, and I don’t think a bad guy can be the most valuable guy at the same time." Arkush said off-field issues had a lot to do with his decision. Rodgers is unvaccinated and spent 10 days on the COVID-19 reserve list. “There’s no guidelines,” Arkush said. “We are told to pick the guy who we think is most valuable to his team. And I don’t think it says anywhere, ‘strictly on the field,’ although I do think he hurt his team on the field by the way he acted off the field." In other words, a Chicago guy won't vote for a guy who "owns" the Bears.