FIU Panthers Prowl

The Departed: Cristobal and Cyprien; Coley Player of the Week (again)

Well, that was a busy hour.

After my cell phone battery drained waiting to ask NFL Network draft analyst Mike Mayock about what safety Johnathan Cyprien has done to move up his draft board to the No. 3 safety, I saw I had a text message from a source that former FIU coach Mario Cristobal was bouncing from his still-new University of Miami job to Nick Saban's Alabama staff to be offensive line coach.

I know Cristobal considered it a tough decision as he pondered late last week whether or not to make this move. Not so much on football and resources, obviously, but leaving South Florida for Tuscaloosa.

As for Cyprien, Mayock said he's part of the deepest draft for safeties in the last three or four years and thought he made great sense for Washington to draft.

"He could start immediately for the Washington Redskins," Mayock said. "He can play both (free and strong safety) but I like him at free."

And Washington's probably got a broader mind toward Sun Belt talent than most organizations. They have to deal with Dallas' DeMarcus Ware (Troy) twice a year and just got a sixth-round steal in FAU running back Alfred Morris.

WOMEN'S BASKETBALL

Junior guard Jerica Coley put in 63 points in wins over Troy and Western Kentucky, shot 54.8 percent from the field in doing so, pulled in 14 rebounds and added six -- assists, steals and blocks, each. So the Sun Belt named her Player of the Week for the fourth time this season.

Baseball season opener postponed until Saturday

Baseball season opener, 7:30. It's been postponed until Saturday, 2 p.m. with the second game Saturday 45 minutes after the finish of the first game.

Just out of view: the four fans not taking shelter in the concession stand area. Of course, three of the four were from the swim team.

Also at the rainout were Max Diaz (FIU '04) and Miri Diaz (FIU '11), husband and wife on the ninth anniversariy of their first date, which was an FIU baseball game.

Supposedly, they're hoping for an 8 p.m. start (Sheldon laugh).

 

CRISTOBAL TO 'BAMA?

http://www.miamiherald.com/2013/02/15/3237215/cristobal-interviewsfor-job-at.html

Money & Laundering

Just throwing out contract comparison numbers for the present and past football coaches. Ron Turner's not costing FIU much more money than Mario Cristobal would have this year. Of course, Turner's most recent track record as a head coach ended when Michael Vick still could hum "How Much Is That Doggie In The Window?" without drawing sidelong glances.

The pool of money for assistant coaches is supposed to remain the same as last year, then rise thereafter

Base salary

Turner: $500,000

Cristobal: $453,183

Length

Turner: Five years, running out in January, 2018.

Cristibal Endng in June, 2017

Bonuses

Retention

Turner: $50,000 each mar. 1

Cristobal: $25,000 each June 30

APR

Turner: $25,000 for over 940

Cristobal: $15,000 for over 940 (raised from $10,000 by the extension)

GPA

Turner: $25,000 for over 2.5

Cristobal: $15,000 for over 2.5 (raised from $10,000 by the extension)

Wins Conference Outright or Conference Championship Game

Turner: $20,000

Cristobal: $20,000 (added by extension)

Bowl Game Participation

Turner: $20,000

Cristobal: $20,000 (raised from $10,000 by the extension)

Wins Bowl Game

Turner: $10,000

Cristobal: $10,000

Conference Coach of the Year

Turner: $10,000

Cristobal: $10,000

Hey, I don’t have that!

Turner: $10,000 for participating in a conference championship game. Of course, there was no conference title game in the Sun Belt.

Cristobal: $15,000 for being ranked in the final USA Today/Coaches Top 25 poll. Added at the last extension.

WILLIAMS CLEANSING HIMSELF

You can bet the official FIU bio for linebackers coach Tom Williams holds to the facts as closely as his resume did this time. Williams might still be Yale's head coach had both been the case there.

Instead, Williams resigned in 2011 after three seasons. The New York Times found that his resume claim of being a Rhodes Scholar candidate, repeated on his official Yale biography on the web site and presumably the media guide, was false. Also false was a claim on his Yale biography that he spent a season as a free agent San Francisco 49ers linebacker.

Williams spent last season at UTEP coaching the secondary. Now, after a mass staff change there following the 2011 season, he comes to FIU. Before being head coach for the Yalies he had been a defensive coordinator at Stanford, Hawaii and San Jose State, associate head coach at Stanfod and linebackers assistant with the NFL's Jacksonville Jaguars.

But now Williams is at FIU putting time and distance between the Fibs and Now. He's doing the same thing Bobby Petrino's doing at Western Kentucky on a smaller scale. Williams just got caught fibbing. Petrino got caught fibbing in a bouillabaisse of motorcycle, ex-volleyball player legs and a state university job (thus, state university money).

The sad thing is Williams has a bachelor's degree and a master's degree from Stanford. He played there. He went on to some all right coaching gigs. He has a wife, kids and two degrees from the school with the most envied athletic-academic combination in the country. Impressive enough. Why try sprucing that up?

Embellishing on top of Williams actual accomplishments is the equivalent of going for a fake punt on fourth and 22 from your own 25 with a couple of minutes and change left in a game you're leading 10-7. Oh, wait, Williams did that, too. At Yale. Against Harvard. Harvard stopped the fake short, then won 14-10.

  

 

 

Player thought & thoughts on athletes

I haven't spoken to a single football player on the record about the firing aside from safety Jonathan Cyprien on the day he was invited to the Senior Bowl and went through graduation. As far as the players still in school, it's against FIU's policy to conduct on the record interviews outside the oversight of the media relations department or a coach.

To me, this policy treats these athletes, some of whom are grown men and women, some of whom have and support children, like second-graders needing to be coached through a Christmas assembly. I do, however, respect said policy because I don't want to get any athlete or media relations person in the doghouse or the unemployment line. Some coaches can be a little control freaky.

Now that doesn't mean some football players haven't stopped by wherever I happen to be working and informally chatted, asking what I think and letting me know what they think. Because I don't want athletes to feel that whatever they say to me when we're just yakking without notebooks and recorders out is going to wind up here, I'll just say the consensus is about what you'd expect: they liked Mario Cristobal and his staff, not thrilled about the firing, but are open-minded about the new coaching staff.

It's not as if these young men just found out about Santa Claus, The Great Pumpkin and Te'o's girlfriend. They've been at high schools during coaching changes and they know FIU can be Wackyland. I don't sense an exodus certainly not on a percentage level with what Richard Pitino had to overcome after taking over the men's basketball program after the Isiah Thomas firing.

A bigger concern than transfers might be academic eligibility. That's where the "stop work" orders of December for the assistant coaches and support staff could boomerang right onto FIU's butt. Those folks, more so than at schools with bigger budgets and better organizational infrastructure, needed to ride some kids to academic eligibility the way Eddie Arcaro rode horses to the wire. Without that jockeying, don't be suprised if some kids don't make it.

As some coaches note, being a student-athlete isn't a skate these days, especially at a school without an army of, ahem, "tutors." While talking to women's basketball coach Cindy Russo for Saturday's article on Jerica Coley (read it at your own risk), she said she thought her team with four Dean's List students was "stressed out." They'd missed the first week of classes on the road, were back home for the second week, then will be on the road next week for games at Louisiana-Lafayette Tuesday and at South Alabama on Saturday.

"Their tanks are empty and minds are full," Russo said.

POSTS

I just spent my Friday night going through the last six days of blog posts and logging IP numbers (yeah, I live on South Beach, but I'm also in my 40s avec kid, who I'm up and getting ready for school daily).Those of you with multiple names to one IP number, all comments by all names in the last six days will be deleted. You can repost them again under one name. That's fine. This isn't about the content of your post. Clearly, my standards for "offensive" are pretty idiosyncratic.

I just want the electronic Fletch act out of this Comments section.

Back to UM for Cristobal

Sources close to former FIU coach Mario Cristobal, a former University of Miami player, graduate assistant and assistant coach, say he's not officially a University of Miami assistantagain yet, but will be soon, probably by the end of the day.

Now, the question becomes: what sanctions will the NCAA come down with and what reaction will it bring from head coach Al Golden? Because if Golden goes, don't rule out Cristobal being lifted into that position.

On FIU's end, size matters -- of Cristobal's paycheck. Whatever he'll make at UM this year cuts into the $906,386 FIU owes him just out of base salary (one year automatically plus a second year with that amount reduced by whatever he makes in another coaching job).

FIU owed former basketball coach Isiah Thomas $660,000 upon his firing last April. In 2012, the school with the second largest athletic budget in the Sun Belt Conference (around $23 million), the budget with the largest percentage in the nation coming from public money or student fees, managed to do at least $1.1 million worth of head coach firing.

That speaks for 40 to 50 percent of next year's Conference USA football TV money.

Pregame on hoop big game; Sonia Perez Swimmer of the Week (again); lawyer time

Bigger dance hall, swankier dance partners, but the shoes are the only thing FIU coach Richard Pitino wants as a major change for tonight's game with No. 5 Louisville at the KFC Yum! Center.

Pitino said he spotted the South Beach model adidas at a summer AAU game. The adidas rep at the game welcomed Pitino's request that FIU get some and Pitino decided they would make their FIU debut at the Louisville game. (Thanks to Joey de la Rosa for contributing his shoe and a steady prop-holding hand to the above shot).

Otherwise, he wants to keep everything the same as most games, despite the fact they'll be playing in front of 10 times the crowd they usually face and FIU's highest ranked opponent since No. 1 UCLA in the 1995 NCAA tournament.

"It's an opportunity for us to get better," Pitino said after Wednesday's morning shootaround. "Regardless of who we're playing, that's been the goal from Day One when I took this job. Let's get better every single day. This is another opportunity."

Louisville shouldn't be familiar just to Pitino. FIU players should recognize the Cardinals' high pressure style.

"It's funny because we play the same defense as they do," Pitino said. "When we're going over scouting, I'll tell them to get into Louisville's "White Press." All of a sudden, they're playing harder and it's more aggressive. I want to tell them, 'Guys, that's our defense, too! Play that hard every single time!' So we may switch the name of our press to "Louisville' instead of "White" to see if it'll work and carry over. It's good for them to see those guys playing the same style defensively, showing them that we can do it, we've just got to play a little bit harder."

SWIMMING

I know I'm usually up on the swimming thing and I knew about this one yet it still slipped through the cracks. Sonia Perez broke the FIU record in the 1000 freestyle with a 10:11.36 at Nova Southeastern's Sharks Invitational, won the 200 Individual Medley, the 400 IM and the 1600 free.

So the Sun Belt awarded Perez her second consecutive Swimmer of the Week award and her third of the year.

RECORDS REQUESTS

Called in our lawyers this morning. What I've asked for doesn't take long and in an information age, should take a few minutes. Pop a colada and get it done.

That is, it shouldn't take that long if said records actually still exist...

Coley Sun Belt POW (again); where are those evals again?; Manny in, Manny out, whatever

Junior guard Jerica Coley received her sixth Sun Belt Player of the Week award, the most by an FIU women's basketball player.

Coley put up 39 points against Dartmouth Saturday and 22 against Central Florida, both wins. Perhaps most impressively, she hit 24 of 25 (96 percent) free throws. She's sixth in the nation with 22.1 points per game. 

RECORDS REQUEST

Tuesday, I received an update that everything I wanted from athletic director Pete Garcia and former head football coach Mario Cristobal's files were being compiled.

Now, as I had specifically separated Garcia's evaluations as being more urgent than everything else -- they were first requested July 14 --I eagerly anticipated seeing them in my e-mail box yesterday. Hey, I'd been with The Herald about a decade when I asked for copies of all of my evaluations. It didn't take five months. It didn't take five hours. It took closer to five minutes. If they'd had to scan them, that would've been maybe 10 minutes.

My e-mail box remains light on Garcia's evaluations. So what reasonable conclusion can we reach about said evaluations and how much should I trust what I eventually will receive?

SEARCHING

Camp Mitch sources confirm the Rivals.com report that Texas defensive coordinator Manny Diaz interviewed for the head football coach job Monday. CBSSports.com reports that Diaz removed his name from consideration Tuesday.

My thumbnail analysis of Diaz can be found a few posts ago. The opinion remains that if FIU wants to sell the next hire as a guaranteed upgrade on Cristobal, they'll want someone with head coaching experience who'll look good in front of the national college football media in early January when they're in town for Notre Dame vs. Alabama.

Money, money, money, money....

Bobby Petrino gets $850,000 a year base salary from Western Kentucky to replace Willie Taggart. Taggart got five years, $5.75 million from the University of South Florida. Obviously, the price of a coach with a good track record did what the price of cheese did in the past year.

What does that mean for FIU, who needs someone with a college head coaching track record to justify even partially the firing of Mario Cristobal?

I covered Butch Davis' financial situation in a previous post (never mind what he's told FIU). He's getting $590,000 from North Carolina each of the next three years. Whatever another school pays him to coach is subtracted from Carolina's end. If Davis does his friend Pete Garcia a solid, FIU can get Davis cheap and Davis still gets his $590,000. 

Houston Nutt's not eating government cheese either after a $6 million buyout from Ole Miss. Randy Shannon got only one year into a new four-year deal when UM sacked him. He sued to get his money.

In other words, guys who don't necessarily need the money. Bobby Petrino got fired with cause by Arkansas and Western needed somebody to replace Taggart. USF ponied up to get Taggart to leave a place where he had been successful and ignore his other opportunities.

And Cristobal, who was making $453,183 as a base, isn't one of the final two at Temple, so that payoff savings isn't coming to FIU yet or via Philadelphia.

Trying to find out if it was any of the above available three -- or if it was someone else -- who met with Pete Garcia and Board of Trustees head Albert Maury on campus this week.

Panama City Bozeman defensive end Chandler Burkett got a visit from Maryland recently, but he's staying with his FIU commitment for now. From what I hear, current FIU players also are playing from the Wait-and-See playbook, although junior defensive tackle Isame Faciane did Tweet that he was considering transferring.

 

The Ghost of UM Coaches Past...

Butch Davis definitely let it be known Thursday he didn't want FIU's head football coach job. I don't know where ESPN's Joe Schad got his information for his report that Butch was out, but I know I wholly trust where I got my info.

Before that, however, I heard three different applicants' representatives were told not to bother inquiring, this would be Butch Davis' job. And 640AM midday host Andy Slater put out the idea that Thursday was a setup to make FIU athletic director and longtime Davis pal Pete Garcia look heroic by reeling in Davis when all appeared to be lost.

If that sounds ridiculous, note what UM players say they remember from 2001: being told by Davis he wasn't going anywhere, then seeing Davis and Pete Garcia on television the next day getting off the plane in Cleveland together to accept jobs with the Browns. 

SportsByBrooks, who's a hawk on college football, says Davis was using his position as Tampa Bay's special assistant to get information on FIU's players from Mario Cristobal before the firing. A very well-placed source says, "That's a reach. No room for Mission:Impossible 5."

I saw Davis at several FIU practices in 2011. I can't say the same for 2012 -- maybe I saw him at one or two -- but FIU's about as welcoming as any school to NFL scouts dropping by to watch practice and ask questions.

Sounds from Camp Mitch on Butch, other options

Despite what I just said on 640AM's The Andy Slater Show, perhaps ESPN Joe Schad's report from earlier today is correct.

About two minutes into my nuked turkey marsala lunch, heard through the Camp Mitch grapevine that rippling through the FIU hierarchy is that former University of Miami and North Carolina coach Butch Davis doesn't want FIU's head football coach job. Now, that doesn't mean he can't change his mind later, but, for now, he's out.

Also heard that a) perhaps FIU's attention has turned to Florida State offensive coordinator James Coley, a Miami native guy who coached at Norland High a decade ago when the Vikings were a power and b) some big muckety-mucks at Camp Mitch aren't happy with the way Pete Garcia handled this. Not like he's going to get rung up or anything, but it doesn't do to make the muckety-mucks unhappy when you're rolling the dice.

Half the assistants south of Olney, Illinois might be blowing up Pete Garcia's phone. Garcia said to me yesterday this wasn't the same job Cristobal took in 2007. He's right. Ironically, Cristobal's a large reason for that. Still, FIU's seen as a stepping stone, unless someone truly loves living and working here. Some people get attached to their starter house and it becomes the family home.

 

 

Mario speaks about The Blind Side

I knew Mario Cristobal flew into Atlanta last night. According to what former FIU commit Brett Sheehan, a Suwanee (Ga.) Collins Hill quarterback, Cristobal was in the Sheehan home last night.

Clearly,  he didn't know he was about 12 hours from "former FIU head football coach" Mario Cristobal.

"Very puzzling," he said Wednesday afternoon by phone, his low, halfting tone of voice screaming of his surprise.

He ran through the summary of FIU football when he arrived -- coming off 0-12, an APR among the worst in the country, about to get slammed with a 30-scholarship punishment and go on five years of probation.

"In four or five years, we quickly put FIU on the map nationally," Cristobal said. "We gave FIU an identity. We went to two bowl games, won a conference title, beat a BCS opponent. The importance of getting into Conference USA was emphasized and we helped do that. It's obviously puzzling and shocking after a year when we had so many critical injuries at key spots and close losses."

Cristobal said he's already getting calls about other jobs. "Obviously people recognize what we've done as a program, one of the better stories over the past couple of years."

He didn't want to say much more. But anybody who knows Cristobal, who looks at his career, realizes that what kept him at FIU was the kids he recruited and that he's 305. He didn't want to move his family from here. And I do know that even as this season spun out, he didn't regret the decisions he made last December (Pitt) or February (Rutgers). 

By the way, Carol City's Simeon Thomas, a 6-3 2013 commit that was part of what looked like an excellent haul of defensive back recruits, said on Twitter he didn't know if he was still coming to FIU.

More Cristobal firing stuff; Perez, Beaupre take Sun Belt pool honors

This afternoon, I asked Garcia what if, two or three years down the road, FIU remains at three-to-five wins a season after he makes what many see as a bold move in firing Cristobal. What does that mean for his job?

"I'm held accountable for everything in the athletic department," Garcia said. "My job is to make sure the entire athletic department is headed in the right direction. Right now, I didn't think the football program was headed in the right direction. It's my job to hire a coach that will make us competitive year in and year out and successful. Success is going to bowl games and having winning seasons. That's how our coaches are evaluated and how I'm evaluated."

If that's not the case, he said, "Then I've got to be held accountable."

Garcia hired Richard Pitino nine days after firing Isiah Thomas last spring, although Garcia insists he didn't know Pitino was available when he fired Thomas (see my posts from back then for commentary on that). But Garcia said he hasn't talked to anyone about the job yet, though his cell phone is being blown up, and the timetable is to have a coach in place by the time classes resume on Jan. 7. That leaves one month before signing day. He won't, he insists, speed up the process if it means settling for a candidate on which he's lukewarm.

Garcia has a pal named Butch Davis who needs a job and knows how to recruit in South Florida and to South Florida. And I'm not a fan of personnel or coaching moves to please a fan base, but there needs to be a juicing of excitement about the football program, both in paid attendance and booster bucks because it's the only thing close to a revenue sport FIU has. 

Now, as far as the money to pay a name coach...Cristobal worked relatively cheap for the job and the market, making a base salary of $453,183 (various bonuses pushed that over $500,000). According to Cristobal's contract, FIU now owes him $906,366 if he doesn't get a job next season. If he does, FIU owes him one year's base salary plus a pro-rated amount.

Texas A&M paid FIU $500,000 to get out of its commitment for a game next year and FIU's saving the $500,000 they won't pay A&M to come down. The Maryland game gets them another $500,000 or so.

On the field, FIU might lose Collins Hill (Ga.) quarterback Brett Sheehan, one of FIU's first 2013 verbal committments, who had a stellar year. Sheehan retweeted a Scout.com report that quotes him saying he's decommitting from FIU in the wake of Cristobal's firing. Sheehan's rated at two stars by Scout, Rivals and ESPN.com.

SWIMMING & DIVING

I'd planned to spend today writing about how Johanna Gustafsdottir went from being a fat (by swimming standards) burnout victim to an owner of half the FIU swimming record book who feels very much at home in Miami.

As it turns out, my only break in Cristobal coverage is to tell you that Sonia Perez was picked as Sun Belt Swimmer of the Week and junior Sabrina Beupre as The Belt's Diver of the Week.

Perez won the 400 Individual Medley at the Mizzou Invitational setting a new school record of 4:12.95 That and her school record 500 freestyle time of 4:50.32 were among four Sun Belt-best times this season she reeled off at the meet. Beaupre placed third in both the 1-meter and the 3-meter competitions at the University of Missouri-hosted meet.

 

Cristobal fired; Butch next?

FIU fired head football coach Mario Cristobal after six seasons Wednesday, the last of which was a 3-9 season after FIU was the preseason favorite for the Sun Belt title. FIU heads into Conference USA next season.

"It was based on going 3-9 this year with 30 seniors and what was supposed to be his best team," FIU athletic director Pete Garcia told The Herald. "He's done a very good job for this program, but we've gone backwards over the last year and a half. Over the last 22 games, we've gone 8-14."

That's a reference to FIU's record after a 3-0 start in 2011 that included wins over eventual Big East champion Louisville and defending Conference USA champion Central Florida. This year, Garcia said, FIU's wins were over 1-11 Akron; rebuilding FAU; and South Alabama, in their first year of FBS competition.

Garcia can be temperamental and his relationship with Cristobal the past few years could be called "strained," if you want to be very generous. Cristobal several times made public reference to not being fully aware of the coming NCAA sanctions when he took the job. Also, sources at Camp Mitch said Garcia told a group of boosters before this year's regular season game against Troy that, though this season hadn't gone as planned, changes would be made after the season. Upon hearing that a week or two later, Cristobal almost exploded. His worry wasn't for himself, but for his assistants, who he felt it was his province to handle.

But I don't think Garcia swings a wrecking ball without plans for the next building. Butch Davis is a name, just as Isiah Thomas was a name and even Richard Pitino is a name (a last name, at least). Davis and Garcia go back a ways. Garcia said he hasn't talked to Davis or anyone about the job. 

This comes 12 months after FIU played in its second consecutive bowl game in only its seventh year of FBS play and in the fifth year after Cristobal took over a NCAA sanction-ridden program that had gone winless in 2006. The team went to bowls in 2010 and 2011 after 6-6 and 8-4 regular seasons, the only two regular seasons at or above .500 in FIU's 11 seasons. That earned Cristobal attention from the University of Pittsburgh after the 2010 and 2011 seasons. Rutgers was ready to hire Cristobal in February. But he chose the current happiness he and his family experienced living on South Beach and working near the neighborhood where he was raised.

Cristobal's overall record was 27-47.

This year, FIU wasn't helped by losing starting quarterback Jake Medlock to injury, forcing true freshman E.J. Hilliard to start three games against bowl teams and play the second half against Sugar Bowl-bound Louisville. FIU lost two games on last minute scores and another in overtime. Starting running back Kedrick Rhodes spent most of the season with two sprained ankles.

Still, when Medlock was healthy, offense rarely proved to be a problem compared to defense and special teams, expected to be the backbone of a team that received Top 25 votes in the preseason coaches poll. Those two units failed spectacularly with several fumbled returns, three missed extra points, three bad punt snaps leading to two opposing touchdowns and a safety and the defense ranking 67th in total defense and 90th in scoring defense despite returning 21 of 22 on the two-deep roster from the No. 16 scoring defense in 2011.

Senior defensive end Tourek Williams came on late in the season to earn First Team All-Sun Belt honors, as did senior safety Johnathan Cyprien. Senior offensive tackle Caylin Hauptmann was Second Team All-Sun Belt.

The (Coaching) Wire

Coaching's scramble season, when Sun Belt coaches get fired or hired elsewhere, is in full swing this week.

For the second consecutive year, Arkansas State lost a coach to the SEC, Gus Malzahn heading to Auburn. Wisconsin's looking for a head coach after Bret Bielema went to Arkansas, opening up a Big Ten job.

The rumor mill has churned out Mario Cristobal's name as a possible candidate for the South Florida job. Despite the coaching staff's role in FIU going 3-9, this isn't surprising. As I alluded to in a post several weeks back, most athletic directors and coaches look at FIU's season and think, "Been there." Cristobal's stock, at a peak a year ago, hasn't gone Enron.

But his stock is common compared to the preferred of Western Kentucky's Willie Taggart, who turned his college alma mater from bumbling to bowling and went to high school at Bradenton Manatee. Manatee High coach Joe Kinnan, who built the school into a muscular state power during the 1980s and is an influential football voice over there, reportedly endorsed Taggart for the USF job.

By the way, South Florida was paying Skip Holtz around $500,000 in base salary. They'll need more than that to get Taggart (other opportunities or can stand pat) or Cristobal (makes around $454,000 in base, living in South Beach, working in his old neighborhood), although last year showed money to be no god to Cristobal. He got some extra in the extension, but more money went to be spread among assistants and for use in day-to-day football operations.

As for whether or not Cristobal would jump across the state after flirting with Pitt and jilting Rutgers at the altar last year, it's more likely than him going to either of those. He's a 305 guy and South Florida's only a four-hour drive away.

 

 

Medlock in (for now)

On the weekly Sun Belt coaches conference call, head coach Mario Cristobal said "we forsee him being able to go" as far as starting quarterback Jake Medlock and this week against Louisiana-Monroe.

Medlock left FAU Stadium with his left arm in a sling after getting thrown down on that shoulder in the fourth quarter. He remained in the game until the end. It seems as if every other game, Medlock leaves the field with some part of him dragging. Cristobal thought it was because his season-ending shoulder injury last year prevented Medlock from building physical durability in the offseason.

ULM opened as a five-point favorite at most books and is now up to six.

 

A few thoughts on FIU 34, FAU 24; swimmers rock

 Well, that tripped into Bizarro World. Or, maybe, as it involved Men of Owls, Earth 2 (Earth 3 for you Silver Agers).

 

The maligned defense that couldn't rush the passer the first half of the season with cattle prods got four sacks for 25 yards in losses as it set an FIU record for fewest rush yards allowed, minus 12. But even discounting the sacks, FAU would've had only 13 yards on 15 carries, still undercutting the previous record of 28 yards allowed to FAMU in 2005.

The special teams that had brought only heartache came up huge. An offensive tackle ran for a touchdown on FIU's most effective non-Jake Medlock running play of the first half. An FAU touchdown recalled John Mackey's Super Bowl V tip drill. A security guard gets his leg snapped on the sideline. Lightning delay.

"It's been a weird season, man. I don't know if the football gods or...who knows?" said senior safety Johnathan Cyprien, who had an interception, several chilling hits and played with a special ferocity.

Hyperbuoyant FIU players toted boxes of postgame Popeye's to the buses near 1 a.m. Saturday. With all that's happened this season, they know that the trophy so many touched on the way out for the game would remain at their school for at least the next several years. 

Quarterback Jake Medlock exited the locker room with his left arm in a sling. He got slammed down on the left shoulder late in the game and trotted to the sideline with his upper body doing the Crip Dip to the left. There's only one game left. What's the difference between 3-9 and 4-8? Nothing to you and me. Everything to players and coaches.

FIU came into the game knowing FAU tended toward man coverage and, as Cristobal said to me earlier this week, ran defenses that shut down typical spread plays. So, it was almost infuriating watching FIU bang its head obstinately into a stone wall on first and second down runs in the first half, putting themselves in tough third down scenarios that let FAU come at Medlock heedlessly. At halftime, offensive tackle Rupert Bryan had 5 yards rushing. That put him only one behind Kedrick Rhodes (6 on eight carries) and ahead of Darrian Mallary (4 on two carries). Cristobal said after the game they had to keep FAU honest.

Medlock was eight of 12 for 170 yards in the first half and nine of 16  for 94 yards in the second half.FIU called one run on the 11-play drive to the Times touchdown that gave them a 27-17 lead in the third quarter and one on the first six plays of the drive to the 34-24 lead.

On that sixth play, Medlock got his helmet yanked off. That meant he had to leave the game for at least a play and FIU wasn't going to have freshman E.J. Hilliard come in cold to throw on second and 7. That's why Rhodes' 31-yard run on that play was the most Ours Are Bigger moment of the night. Everybody knew Rhodes would get the ball. A squashed run would leave FIU facing third and long up only 27-24 at the edge of kicker Jack Griffin's Maybe range. But the line muscled a hole on the left side and Rhodes steamed on through to the FAU 6. After that play, you let the line and Rhodes finish it out and they did.

The FAU touchdown that closed the gap also fit into the unusual. Linebacker Winston Fraser leaped to tip a pass, usually a good play, but one that had a two-pronged negative effect. No. 1, it deflected the ball away from a good interception chance and, No. 2, it cast Fraser as Mel Renfro to FAU freshman Jenson Stoshak's John Mackey (Stoshak even wore No. 88).

 

That type of 60-yard touchdown often ignites one team while torching another. Not this time.

Most of that first half passing yardage came on the opening, 99-yard drive that should've been a hint to open things up sooner. Jacob Younger got behind the corner on a streak up the sideline for 46 yards on FIU's second play. When a guy with mediocre speed does that to a corner, the buffet is open. At the end of that drive, right as I was thinking, "They need to get the ball to Willis Wright," they did and Wright showed why. Yeah, he was wide open, but he bounced off one bad tackle attempt and then treated freshman cornerback D'Joun Smith like, well, a freshman. As Wright stiff-armed, then dragged Smith into the end zone, it reminded me of a big brother trying to leave on a date and telling his little brother, "Come on, man, stop playin', I've got to go."

The night's biggest counterpunch, Richard Leonard's 100-yard kickoff return, also counts as a "feel good" moment. Leonard's troubles this season in pass coverage and on returns have been well-documented, moments that turned games against the Panthers. But this electric play, on which Leonard sprinted through a serious hole -- "we saw they had a weakness on the right side and we took advantage of it," he said -- the fastest Panther was the catalyst of positive change.

Leonard averaged 22.7 yards per return on his other three kickoff returns against what had been the Sun Belt's best kickoff coverage team. And his one punt return went for 13 yards. He should get serious consideration for Sun Belt Special Teams Player of the Week. Leonard also gets to run his mouth with FAU's No. 3, redshirt junior Keith Reaser, another Killian grad with whom Leonard's tight.

I felt bad for freshman Jeremiah McKinnon, one of FIU's better special teams players this season, when the FAU punt bounced off his helmet and the Owls recovered. Either Wayne Times didn't do a good enough job of giving McKinnon a heads up or McKinnon didn't hear him. Whichever, at least the defense rose up to hold the Owlmen to a field goal. Previous lost fumbled punts -- against Duke, Akron and Louisville -- turned into touchdowns.

Rupert Bryan's touchdown was beautifully constructed. The alignment indicated a power run, probably to the left, as did Wright coming in motion to the left and pausing in the H-back spot. If a canny defender was of a mind to look for the counter run right, at the snap, Medlock moved to his left as if on a run-pass option. Then, just before being dragged down, he threw back and to his right.

Back...and to the right. Back...and to the right. Important because the play being a lateral meant Bryan didn't have to report as an eligible receiver. He's just a ball carrier. Bryan claimed he hadn't run the ball even in high school, but he knew what to do near the goal line -- put his head down and let momentous bulk buffalo him into the end zone.

As Deion Sanders once said narrating a lineman run, "Winter's coming and big men need love, too!" Bryan got some on SportsCenter as one of the Top 10 Plays of the Day.

SWIMMING & DIVING

CollegeSwimming.com ranks FIU 15th among the nation's mid-majors, the program's best ranking ever. FIU next hits the pool Nov. 29 at the Mizzou Invitational.

 

 

Gameday XI: FIU vs. FAU; volleyball gets Western-cuted

Tonight’s pregame blog is sponsored by the letter E. My needle’s laying there. Might have to bring a colada with me to Boca Friday night.

 

A few things about FAU: Pelini’s a defensive guy and the Owls lead the Sun Belt in pass defense for conference games. Now, part of that is that they’ve had only 156 passes thrown on them, the fewest in The Belt and almost 10 percent less than second fewest Troy and Middle Tennessee. After all, they’re eighth in rush defense (guess who’s last). But the Owls also have allowed only 52.6 completion percentage. Second best is Western’s 57.1.

FAU’s last three Sun Belt games: a 37-34 overtime loss at South Alabama, where FIU needed its best half of defense this season to hang on to a win; a 34-27 home win against Troy, which came from 16 down in the second half to nip FIU, 38-37; and a 37-28 home upset of Western Kentucky, against which FIU’s managed five field goals the last two years.

That’s better results than FIU against the same opponents -- in the same places, for two of them – for a team with less raw talent and experience.

Particularly intrigued by the wins against Troy and Western, I checked them out as best I could. FAU outscored Troy, which had Corey Robinson at quarterback instead of Deon Anthony. FIU might’ve preferred facing Robinson’s experience instead of Anthony’s feet and a the Ken Anderson arm he leased for the day. Whatever, the point is there wasn’t anything special there.

But 37 points on Western? They moved the ball somewhat on the Hillbillies, 355 yards. Quarterback Graham Wilbert got hot on an 84-yard drive. But they also had two touchdowns set up by interceptions; a fumble return touchdown off the last second desperate hook-and-lateral attempt; a touchdown after a 48-yard punt return; and a long field goal after a failed Western fourth down at the FAU 43.

FIU head coach Mario Cristobal described FAU’s defense as one that plays a lot of man coverage. That explains the trouble Western had with FAU’s pass defense – quarterback Kawaun Jakes can’t throw downfield. FIU’s Jake Medlock can.

Cristobal also said FAU takes away some of what the spread really likes to do. At Sun Belt media day, Pelini was confident he’d be able to scheme well against the spread. Running back Kedrick Rhodes isn’t good for a whole game. I’m not sure what sin of Jeremiah Harden has gotten him buried on the bench. Darian Mallary’s wearing down. Perhaps Medlock’s mobility’s improved after a couple of weeks to rest a body with more dents than a rambunctiously driven taxi.

FIU’s been getting to the quarterback lately and, despite Graham Wiltert’s being tough to topple at 6-6, FAU’s given up 17 sacks in conference games. Only FIU’s given up more.  Also, Wilbert’s on a string of 214 passes without an interception.

Give FIU an intangible advantage for coming off a late season bye, but only slightly because FAU’s got to be feeling good about itself after taking out Western last Saturday.

FIU’s started quickly the last few games, getting big plays downfield to Willis Wright, Glenn Coleman and, against South Alabama, Jacob Younger. I see something similar here. And if the Panthers get up, they’ve got to keep strafing. They didn’t need to be so extremely Bo & Woody in the second half against South Alabama. For some reason, I’m also feeling a big kickoff return, though FAU’s had the Sun Belt’s best kickoff coverage in conference games.

(Late in the season, I like to use the conference games comparison – generally measures games against similar competition and the games tend to be more recent.)

I’m thinking FAU moves the ball through the air. Three long touchdown drives. But FIU gets a fumble somewhere, maybe giving the Panthers a short field. FIU gets points off of it so long as that’s not where their lost fumble (trends say there will be one) occurs.

If it comes down to the kicker, throw up the hands. Not in the “It’s good!” signal, but more in the “I have no idea what’s going to happen.” Neither FIU’s Jack Griffin nor FAU’s Mitch Anderson (six of 10) can claim Volvo reliability these days. Anderson’s shown more length this year.

Feeling 34-31, FAU. But, that’s just one black man’s opinion. I could be wrong.

VOLLEYBALL

FIU lost 3-1 to Western Kentucky during the regular season, the only Sun Belt match that Western didn't win 3-0.

The Panthers didn't fare as well Thursday in the Sun Belt conference tournament, getting zapped by the Hillpeople 25-12, 25-12, 25-19. FIU ends the season at 10-19. 

  

FIU favored Saturday; a USA minute

FIU opened Sunday as a 5.5-point favorite over South Alabama and is now down to 3.5 or 4 in most places, despite the news that quarterback Jake Medlock would play Saturday (which Mario Cristobal reiterated on the Sun Belt conference call Monday). The over/under, which started at 51, has gone up to 52.5.

South Alabama, 2-6 overall, is in its first year of FBS (nee Division I) play and fourth season as a program. Recently, USA lost by 36-29 to Arkansas State, beat FAU in overtime and lost 38-24 to Louisiana-Monroe in its last three games.

"We've gotten better the last three weeks and a lot of that's due to our offense getting better," South Alabama coach Joey Jones said on the Sun Belt conference call. "We struggled offensively earlier in the year. We were rotating quarterbacks. We've gone with one quarterback and that's really lhelped us. Our defense has been playing pretty good most of the year."

And that is your USA Minute.

 

 

 

Medlock to play Saturday

In a Sunday night text message, FIU coach Mario Cristobal said quarterback Jake Medlock is "good to go." Then, on the weekly Sun Belt coaches teleconference, Cristobal reiterated that Medlock practiced with no problems Sunday and would play Saturday against South Alabama. 

Medlock left Saturday's game with a jacked up throwing hand and a hanging left shoulder. The team practiced Sunday, will have Monday off and return to practice Tuesday.

 

A few thoughts on Western Kentucky 14, FIU 6

Several years ago in Las Vegas, I made a late night trip from my room at The Venetian down to the blackjack tables. I was there for a few hands of even play, then got one on which I split aces. With what the dealer had showing, this should’ve been two hands of collecting chips. Instead, I got a push on one hand and lost the other. When the cards start going that way, I knew what to do. I immediately got up from the table and called it a night.

When bad things happen to fishermen while working an area, they’ll hang in for a bit before declaring the area has “bad juju.” They leave the area and, hopefully, leave the bad juju behind.

Unfortunately for FIU, the Panthers can’t metaphorically get up from the table when a dependable kicker becomes as reliable as Antonio Cromartie’s birth control. They can’t leave the area when their long snapper starts sending skipping stones back to the punter.

They can’t just shut it down when they get what they want and still don’t get what they want.

For the third consecutive week, FIU’s sitting on a Sunday, shaking their heads at a loss that they feel shouldn’t have been. Compound it now with looking at a future possibly without quarterback Jake Medlock, depending on how badly his right hand and left shoulder were injured on the final drive. Tough kid. Maybe too tough for his own body.

FIU wanted to get up early on Western Kentucky, hit them with a couple of big plays. And, they worked one to perfection, wide receiver Wayne Times going in motion to the right, taking the backward swing pass from Medlock, suckering Western’s secondary up and launching deep to Willis Wright. You knew Times would underthrow Wright – the last thing the passer, especially a stand-in passer, wants to do to a receiver that open is overthrow him – yet Wright still was a stride from the end zone when Western’s Jonathan Dowling stripped him from behind. Good play? Yep. Was Wright holding the ball properly? Tough to tell from my angle. Huge play?

Gargantuan.

That set the tone for the night. FIU would get what it wanted, then fail to take advantage.

Almost as big was Kedrick Rhodes fumble at the Western as he tried to gain a couple of extra yards at the Western 17.

FIU could’ve easily been up 10-3, 10-0, 14-3, 14-0 in this game. Unlike Middle Tennessee and Troy, Western doesn’t have the kind of offense that’s built to come from two touchdowns behind. They got some runs from Antonio Andrews especially when FIU failed to set the edge, and quarterback Kawaun Jakes made two completions over 20 yards. Overall, though, FIU kept Western from finishing drives. Western held the ball for 33:21, but had only 289 yards of offense and one real scoring drive. FIU kept Andrews from grinding out consecutive runs despite his 158 yards rushing on 27 carries. The Panthers kept Jakes under pressure and underperforming. Mr. Passing Efficiency looked like Mr. Just A Guy again. Jakes came in having thrown only four interceptions in seven games. FIU got one and came near a few others. He came in completing 70.1 percent of his passes and completed 66.7 percent. He averaged 12.1 yards per completion and FIU held him to 9.1.

FIU got what it wanted on defense. It even stuffed Western on a fourth and millimeters when the Hilltoppers inexplicably (OK, stupidly) eschewed a quarterback sneak for the first and ran fullback Kadeem Jones on a quick hitting line plunge. The interior defensive line took that extra second to get a great push inside and before Jones could find anywhere else to go, senior safeties Chuck Grace and Johnathan Cyprien were all over him. That stop at the FIU 3 kept the Panthers in the game instead of being down 14-3.

They gave up, really, one scoring drive…but launched that drive and kept it alive with the kind of mistakes you just can’t have. The kickoff got blown when Jack Griffin had to stutter step while the ball started to topple. That caused A) a lousy kickoff and B) an illegal formation penalty on Griffin that got added to the return. Western started just 53 yards from paydirt.

They had the drive stalled – or at least Western looking at a tough fourth down – when Jakes overthrew Rico Brown on third and 6. Problem was, just before the snap, senior defensive end Tourek Williams did the offside cha-cha. And this wasn’t one of those, free-play-high-risk throws. Jakes blew the throw on his own. Instead of going for it on fourth and 6, Western converted the third and 1 with a play action 20-yard lob to tight end Jack Doyle.

And Western would’ve gone for it, just as they ran some half-baked draw play on fourth and 4 from the FIU 28 in the third quarter. Maybe FIU could’ve held Western to no points. Maybe the drive continues, but with No matter what Western coach Willie Taggart Tweets, he clearly has no confidence in kickers who haven’t been allowed to make a field goal attempt beyond 36 yards and longest made field goal is 27 yards. Somebody should tell Willie there’s a pretty good women’s soccer team at Western. Go find himself a kicker.

Not that FIU’s feeling thinks of Griffin as Prudential these days. He made two Saturday, from 29 and 39, but missed wide left from 40. Valuable points in a defensive struggle. At least he didn’t blow an extra point for the third consecutive week. (OK, he didn’t get a chance…)

But long snapper Mitch McCluggage did blow a punt snap for the second straight week, leading to an opposing touchdown. Three bad McCluggage punt snaps, the first three of his career, have led to 16 opposing points this year. And that was a huge score, the one that put Western up 14-6. At the end, instead of one final, futile play for the end zone, FIU could’ve lined up Griffin from the right hash mark for a 38-yard, game-winner. No lock, but even as erratic as he’s been, Griffin’s odds of hitting from 38 beat the odds of E.J. Hilliard coming in cold and hitting a 21-yard pass against the Sun Belt’s best defense.

Speaking of that defense, which got its ninth sack on that final play…Medlock did what got Wesley Carroll benched last year: held onto the ball too long too often. Western sat on some of the quick stuff FIU wanted to throw and when that wasn’t open or Medlock believed it wasn’t open, here came the deluge.

“He’s trying, he’s a young quarterback, but you can’t hang onto the ball, not against a defense like that,” FIU coach Mario Cristobal said. “If it’s not there, you’ve got to tuck and run. You can’t hang back there. That protection is not designed to sit back there.”

The FIU bench drew two flags. One was on Cristobal and, whether he earned this one or not, I wasn’t surprised – mounting frustration with the Sun Belt officials this season, years of him being quickly hot and off the bench to protest calls, I’ve been waiting for that flag to fall. Call it a lifetime achievement flag. The other time, an official claimed he ran into an FIU coach.

It’s that kind of year. With three hands left to play before FIU can leave the table.