Stonehill College is in Easton Massachusetts and its men’s basketball team – the Stonehill Skyhawks – are in the Division 1 Northeast Conference. Another member of that conference is the Chicago St. Cougars, and the two teams played each other in a game with a bizarre finish. Let me set the stage:
- Chicago St. led by two points,
- Time left on the clock was 1 second.
- Chicago St. had possession of the ball out of bounds.
You guessed it, Chicago St. lost that game. How could that happen you may ask.
The Cougars’ player with the ball out of bounds called a time out – – but Chicago St. had no timeouts left. By rule, the timeout is granted and a technical foul is assessed thereby giving Stonehill two shots from the foul line. Naturally, Stonehill sank the two free throws to force overtime and then Stonehill won the game in overtime 85-82.
That loss left the Chicago St. Cougars with a record of 2-15 for the season; it is not as if defeat is unknown in that locker room. However, that loss must be a standout for the team; that timeout call is even worse than the infamous one executed by Chris Webber in the NCAA Tournament against UNC. Yes, the stakes were higher in that March Madness game; Chicago St. is clearly not going to “be a factor” in the NCAA Tournament this season; however, Webber’s mistake was made in the course of game action not in a situation where the ball was in the hands of a player standing out of bounds needing only to throw the ball to anyone on the court to start the clock down from 1 second.
[Aside: That victory for Stonehill ran their season record to 4-12; I am guessing they too will not “be a factor” in this year’s March Madness event.]
Moving on … The Atlanta Falcons hired former Falcons’ QB, Matt Ryan, as their President of Football late last week. Ryan turned in his “football analyst on TV” mantle and assumed the role of “NFL Front Office Executive”. The Falcons can only hope that Ryan will be as good as an exec as he was as a studio analyst on TV; the CBS pregame show has a hole to fill.
In that new role, Ryan will answer directly to the principal owner of the Falcons, Arthur Blank. In a statement by the Falcons, Blank said that Ryan will have the final say on “all football decisions”. That would seem to take any ambiguity off the table about roles and responsibilities within the organization.
Ryan’s first job objective is to find and hire a new GM and a new head coach both of whom will report to him. And it would appear that Ryan is letting no grass grow under his feet. According to a report in this morning’s Washington Post, the Falcons announced on Monday that they had already interviewed both John Harbaugh and Mike McDaniel for the head coach position.
Let me make it clear that I do not wish for Matt Ryan to fail in his new role; it seems to me that he is a class act. However, the Falcons did something akin to this in the past.
- In 1968, the Falcons hired former NFL QB, Norm Van Brocklin, as their head coach.
- In 1970, the Falcons made him the GM in addition to the head coach.
- “Stormin’ Norman” was with the Falcons through the first half of the 1974 season.
- The Falcons record under Van Brocklin was a meager 37-49-3.
Switching gears – – sort of … John Harbaugh is clearly the trophy fish in the coaching pond at the moment, and his coaching style is different from just about everyone else out there on various teams’ radars. John Harbaugh is a former Special Teams coach and defensive backs coach; he was never an offensive coordinator nor a defensive coordinator; he does not call plays on either side of the ball and – – according to reports – – he delegates game planning and scheming to his staff. That style does not map well onto many other coaching aspirants.
What does John Harbaugh do to earn his keep as a head coach? From my perspective, he assures that there is always an adult in the room. Moreover, that adult will remain emotionally in control through good and bad game situations providing a measure of stability that is not universally present on NFL sidelines week after week.
Personally, I think the Giants would benefit the most from having Harbaugh’s maturity and stability on their sideline; those elements were clearly absent during the “Brian Daboll Days”. As of this morning, I have not heard or read anything that would suggest that the Giants have spoken with Harbaugh about the job.
Finally, here are words for Matt Ryan and John Harbaugh as of this morning from General George S. Patton:
“Accept the challenges so that you can feel the exhilaration of victory.”
But don’t get me wrong, I love sports………
I have family members in Miami who have already penciled in Harbaugh as the next Dolphin coach. Of course, my son in Atlanta has done the same for the Falcons.
I am skeptical about Harbaugh’s ability to bring success to a franchise that has other critical weaknesses. During his tenure, Baltimore had a very strong front office, led by Ozzie Newsome for much of the time. They always put talent on the field.