Call your agent. It’s that time of year again when football coaching jobs are doing their annual “musical chairs” thing. Trouble is, mostly they just trade places. It’s really hard for the new “kids on the block” to squeeze into the game.
I can recall, as a kid, sometimes when my Dad would take me fishing, and on a particularly good day, he would say, “I’m catching ‘em faster than I can string ‘em.” National Football League coaching jobs are like that right now.
Over the past 16 years, the NFL has averaged nearly seven head-coaching openings per off-season. At the moment there are six. Don’t bet there won’t be a seventh. Denver, San Francisco, Los Angeles, San Diego (what is it about those California teams?), Jacksonville and Buffalo are all looking for a savior.
Buffalo fired the Ryan brothers. Ditto in Jacksonville where Gus Bradley got the hook after only 14 wins in nearly four years. The San Fran Weirdos fired Chip Kelly after one season but the ‘49’ers have more problems than just Kelly, not the least is the strangeness created by quarterback Colin Kaepernick’s Star Spangled Banner protest.
San Diego thinks that someone, anyone, can produce more than Mike McCoy. What the Chargers really want is a new stadium. A new coach can’t bring that! Los Angeles? They hope to create a fan buzz with a new coaching hire, giving up on journeyman Jeff Fisher. Hey guys, this is Tinseltown! There’s only so many celebrities to go around. A new coach ain’t gonna do it!
Only in Denver, where Gary Kubiak is stepping down for health reasons, does a new coach have a chance to win big. Give some kudos to general manager John Elway for his statement that he will look at “up and coming new young guys” to fill the slot.
Most of the NFL head coaches just trade jobs, moving from a head job to a coordinator’s job and back to another head job somewhere. Let the musical chairs begin!
CHALK TALK: Did Svi travel? K-State fans say yes. KU fans say no. Importantly, the refs said no and Kansas outlasted Kansas State 90-88 Tuesday evening. St. John’s Dean Wade had a chance to make that all irrelevant when he had a clean look at a 3-point attempt with only 7 seconds left but missed. Great game. A win that makes championshilps possible for the winner!
The Kansas Shrine Bowl picks are in. Congratulations to Great Bend’s Jacob Murray and Hoisington’s Landen Urban for making the squad. The Western Athletic Conference had four athletes picked and the Central Kansas League also had four.
“It’s always difficult to keep quiet if you have nothing to do”—Schopenhauer.
OK, OK. I was wrong! So the Big Ten wasn’t the best conference in college football this year as they fizzled to a brutal 3-7 record in bowl games. Thanks to Oklahoma’s comeback against Auburn, the Big 12 had a solid 4-2 record. Actually, bowl games are wild and unpredictable and should not be used as a method to judge the overall strength of a particular conference.
I see where Duke basketball coach Mike Krzyzewski will miss four weeks due to back surgery. Gee, I wonder if his petulant guard, Grayson Allen kicked him?
Speaking of NFL coaches, is any owner desperate enough to hire Rex Ryan. You just kmow he’s going to bring that long-haired brother along with him and you just kmow they are going to tell you how to run your ball club!
Bad starts and cold shooting plagued both the Larned and Great Bend boys’ basketball teams as they returned to the court Tuesday. Larned lost to Kingman and the Panthers fell to winless Dodge City. The Great Bend girls took a big step as they knocked off the defending champs, Dodge City.
How about poor Iowa? Their 45-16 thrashing by Florida was their fifth consecutive bowl game loss. They should consider staying home during the holidays!
Buddy Tabler is a guest columnist for the Great Bend Tribune and his views don’t necessarily reflect those of the paper. He can be reached at budtabler@gmail.com
