What have we missed in the last fortnight-plus?
The Barracks Coup
Earlier in the season, we all witnessed the New England Patriots of the NFL get into trouble for their extensive electronic/signals/intercept intelligence operation. In this regard, what happened at Texas A&M with the VIP Connection newsletter is a cousin, but not a twin sibling, to what transpired in pro football's professional division.
Franchione made a couple of mistakes with the newsletter:
A) He published it
B) He compromised sensitive team information
C) He created conditions that now allow Texas A&M AD Bill Byrne to terminate him without honoring the multimillion dollar buyout in his generous contract, signed in 2002.
I've got to believe that the newsletter was an open secret in the Aggie big cigar circles. Thanks to pernicious forwarding, the "exclusive" letters could travel across cyberspace and into anyone's hands. Franchione should have probably been aware of that.
By being an open secret, it was also an open fist, and as A&M struggled out of the gate this season, it clenched into a closed one. In other words, maybe the boosters have limited patience and, despite their largesse, a limit to resources. So, I am not surprised this leaked out during a time of struggle for the Aggies. It would A) embarrass Franchione and B) create circumstances by which Byrne could expel Franchione.
Byrne, unlike his predecessor Wally Groff, is a modern athletic director. He is also the most powerful official on the A&M campus after former president Robert Gates left to become Secretary of Defense. Until there is a new president, or, in 2009, if Gates comes back, Byrne will continue to be the strongest person on campus. He is not in a position to be manipulated -- see how he lanced Arkansas for approaching Billy Gillispie last year. True, A&M eventually lost him to Kentucky, but to even have coaches attractive to schools like Kentucky for basketball, that says a lot about the hires Byrne makes.
Byrne, however, did NOT hire Franchione. The big money boosters facilitiated that, partly out of ambition, and, I suspect, a decades-long desire to stick it to Alabama for the whole Bear Bryant affair. I thought there were better choices (see one Kubiak, Gary), and I never got the feeling Byrne wanted Franchione -- even with the extension, which was the product of a 2004 campaign where A&M returned to decency. Even 2004 was a debacle, though -- losses to Baylor, OU, Texas, Utah and Tennessee in the Cotton Bowl.
Franchione may win out (thought not likely) and still not survive. To compromise your own talent in such a way that allows your program to be embarrassed is one step beyond what any AD can defend.
For Want of 1/12th of a Dozen
For Want of 1/12th of a Dozen
Georgetown's bizarre 0-7 campaign on the gridiron featured a competitive loss to start and a competitive loss to date. In between sit a series of forgettable blowouts. Despite notes from the Old Gray Lady that indeed we do mean business in the 100-yard rectangle, Georgetown still is by and large a school whose athletic fortunes continue to be won on the hardcourt.
Greg Monroe of New Orleans, the top recruit in the nation, committed to Georgetown to play basketball next year. Not only is he the jewel of John Thompson III's current recruiting class, he is even for Georgetown a rare gem for its history. The last time a #1 player, Othella Harrington, opted for the Hilltop, I was an 8th grader and Kriss Kross was telling me to jump, jump over the radio waves of Y95 FM in Laredo. And for those of you familiar with Y95's format changes over the last decade and a half, that's been a very, very long time.
Georgetown needs a football Greg Monroe. This is on the surface appears laughable, as there are at least 200 schools (some even at the Division II and III level), that provide a better football opportunity than the Swift Potomac's Lovely Daughter. Monroe sports an impeccable combination of athletic and academic skill. Imagine if we had the football Greg Monroe to add to our squad of men who are building this program with their sweat and effort.
As noted in the NY Times article, Georgetown head coach Kevin Kelly can walk into the door in the football factory states like Texas, Florida and Georgia. Perhaps, indeed, to attain football success, we should be looking for on an athlete who would probably not start on the two-deep of a major school but has an intangible desire to compete and win. Maybe the athlete was injured and schools have withdrawn interest. Maybe the athlete wants a top-flight education.
If we are to aim high with our expectations, and get noticed by major publications in doing so, Georgetown should aim high with recruiting as well. Since we don't offer football scholarships, our task is much more difficult even compared to weak D-1A squads. However, if we are to sail, we must do so in a boat that will ride strong on the waves. The team on this squad is navigating bravely.
