2009 Off-Season Roundup
The News Stories You Need To Know ... May 14
By
Phil Guidry
* After Lane Kiffin jumped out to a huge lead in the
SEC Head Coach Controversy Sweepstakes, Urban Meyer has made a
formidable comeback. His latest foray is a dust-up with former Florida
QB Shane Matthews. Matthews, who has pulled no punches on his radio
show, drew the ire of The General: ""If you want to be critical of a
player on our team or a coach on our team you can buy a ticket for seat
37F, you're not welcome back in the football office. You're either a
Gator or you're not a Gator." Incidentally, Matthews IS a Gator, while
Meyer is a Cincinnati Bearcat. You know, if you want to get technical.
* If you've ever wondered just how much influence
prominent boosters have in the world of college football, here's your
answer: the Orlando Sentinel published an email sent from Andy
Miller - president of Seminole Boosters Inc. - to Florida State Athletic
Director Randy Spetman that read in part, "Please do what you can to
realign the conference... Put Georgia Tech in (the Atlantic) Division.
Give them Maryland." Pretty chilling to hear the conference alignments
of major academic institutions being potentially traded away like the
apple in the fat kid's lunch at school.
* Rhett Bomar has gone from trouble at Oklahoma to
fighting for playing time at the New York Giants' rookie camp. And if
that doesn't work out, he always has his car-dealing career to fall back
on.
* Speaking of fallback plans, Ty Willingham has
resurfaced. He has reportedly been hired as a special teams and running
backs coach for the San Francisco franchise of the new United Football
League. Considering his last successful coaching stop was in the Bay
Area, this was probably a good move. He should win at least as many
games there as he did during his last season at UW.
108 days and counting...
Urban Meyer
http://www.sun-sentinel.com/sports/sfl-urban-meyer-shane-matthews-gators-051209,0,3639225.story
Florida State
http://www.orlandosentinel.com/sports/college/orl-sportsacc-spring-meetings-0512051209may12,0,7173262.story
Rhett Bomar
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/05/12/sports/football/12giants.html?_r=1&partner=rss&emc=rss
Ty Willingham
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/sports/2009207766_willingham12.html