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2023 College Football Off Season


Irishman

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A couple moves out of the gate. Matt Ruhle goes to Nebraska, and now Luke Fickell goes to Wisconsin
https://www.jsonline.com/story/sports/college/uw/2022/11/27/wisconsin-set-to-hire-cincinnatis-luke-fickell-as-next-football-coach/69680209007/ 

I thought about putting 2022 in the title as well, but with just over a month left, I left it out. Plus this is about 2023 and beyond. 

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4 hours ago, Irishman said:

Mike Leach is in the hospital and reports are that he is not doing well. He had battled pneumonia late in the season. Praying he gets well. He is an absolute gem among coaches.

https://twitter.com/Super70sSports/status/1602161993397538823?s=20 

https://twitter.com/darrenrovell/status/1602133633938194432?s=20

Not sure what to believe at this point.  Some reports indicated a massive heart attack and some reports even that he passed last night.  Sounds like Coach Leach needs all of our prayers

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I was very surprised that Coach Ken Niumatalolo was fired as the Navy football coach following the Army Navy game.  I thought John Feinstein hit the nail on the head with his editorial in the WAPO.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/2022/12/12/navy-coach-fired-army-navy/

Coach Ken gave 25 years of his life to Navy...15 of those years as a head coach.  He is the all time winningest coach in Navy football history.  The last 3 years have been rough, but this team was showing significant improvement at the end of the season and 18-22 starters he and his staff brought to Navy were returning next year.  Also, with Cincy, Houston, and Central Florida departures, the AAC conference gets much easier next year.  The Navy athletic brass I believe errored putting Navy in that conference in the first place with the odds stacked against them.  As any service academy, they cannot recruit the transfer portal, they cannot extend NIL opportunities, not to mention the extremely tough academic and admittance requirements.  

IU fired their all-time winningest coach in program history (Bill Mallory) in 1996 as they thought they could do better.  How's that worked out for them since?  The Navy AD overreacted to a tough Army Navy game loss that could have went either way and treated a loyal long-time classy school representative extremely poorly. The same coach (Morman in faith) that rejected the head coach offer from BYU just a few years ago to stay at the Naval Academy.

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For anyone that didn't see the beginning of the 123rd rivalry game between the Army Black Knights and the Navy Midshipman, I attached a link below. The intro video that featured 8 families, game prayer, national anthem by the combined glee clubs, fly overs and the teams running out on the field is something else.  No other game in college football is like this one.

The parents featured on the CBS video hit me square in the heart every time I watch this because its really close to home.  Our son and DIL are both US Army officers...with our son "currently off the grid" completing some very challenging training for combat readiness....their emotions hit me straight in the heart.  God bless our brave men and women serving our country, and special prayers to our finest that won't be home with family this holiday season.   Go Army....Beat Navy!!

 

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Love watching the Army Navy game every year. The pregame show is always an inspiration. It was one of the craziest games I remember in the series and felt HORRIBLE for the RB from Navy. These young men pour so much of themselves into this game. My goal is to see it in person some day. 

I agree Bash about Navy dismissing Niumatalolo. He was the face of the program for so long, and is such a class act. 

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11 hours ago, Irishman said:

Mike Leach is in the hospital and reports are that he is not doing well. He had battled pneumonia late in the season. Praying he gets well. He is an absolute gem among coaches.

https://twitter.com/Super70sSports/status/1602161993397538823?s=20 

https://twitter.com/darrenrovell/status/1602133633938194432?s=20

I’m taking this hard.

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7 hours ago, Bash Riprock said:

Not sure what to believe at this point.  Some reports indicated a massive heart attack and some reports even that he passed last night.  Sounds like Coach Leach needs all of our prayers

More details....it appears it was a massive heart attack....with no first aid for somewhere between 10-15 minutes. 
https://www.clarionledger.com/story/sports/college/2022/12/12/mike-leach-heart-attack-mississippi-state-football-coach/69720334007/ 

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2 hours ago, Irishman said:

Love watching the Army Navy game every year. The pregame show is always an inspiration. It was one of the craziest games I remember in the series and felt HORRIBLE for the RB from Navy. These young men pour so much of themselves into this game. My goal is to see it in person some day. 

I agree Bash about Navy dismissing Niumatalolo. He was the face of the program for so long, and is such a class act. 

I was just reading that Niumatalolo was fired while still at Lincoln Federal Field in Philly.  He didn't even get a chance to return back to Annapolis and discuss the future.  He was on the staff for 25 years, 15 as a head coach.  No way to treat the all time winningest coach in your program.  Shame on the Navy Athletic Administration.

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3 hours ago, Bobref said:

I heard a guy say this morning, “the world is a much less interesting place without Mike Leach in it.” That sums it up. Did you know he had a law degree?

I did not know that until I read this morning....Pepperdine.

Incredibly sad.....what a personality.

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20 hours ago, temptation said:

I’m taking this hard.

As am I dude.

Hard for me to quantify the positive impact that studying him has had on my career. Not just the Air Raid offense, but his general approach to leading a team. Shoot, his general approach to life. He made it ok to be “different” as a football coach. 
 

I really admired him and kind of had the pipe dream that I might meet him some day.
 

Mike’s Pirate School forever, Texas A&M pretend soldiers never

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