Something that we learned Wednesday night is that Seth Greenburg’s, Virginia Tech Hokies, don’t like losing streaks. For the second time this year Malcolm Delaney’s Hokies overcame loss with a huge win the following game.

After losing their November 27th match-up to nationally ranked Temple, the Hokies won nine straight. Iowa, Delware and Penn State were some of the schools that fell during the streak. Now this time they follow up a UNC loss with big 81-66 win over the 23rd ranked Miami Hurricanes improving to 13-2.

Leading the Hokies with scoring is the obvious candidate, Malcolm Delaney. However, aside from his 28 points, he led Tech with nine assists of his own. Jeff Allen adds another Double-Double to the stat sheet with 14 points and 10 big rebounds. Dorenzo Hudson and Terrell Bell also scored double digits making it four Hokies with 10 points or more.

Now I’d love to give the Hurricanes the benefit of the doubt, but their starters only outscored the bench 41-25. Sounds like The U is playing themselves.

The Hokies will leave shortly and head down to Tallahassee to square off with the Florida State Seminoles. Ranked 25th in the country, the Seminoles look to rebound off two straight losses leaving them at a stellar 13-4 on the year. This is another important ACC game only being behind one game of UVA for the lead in the conference.

Although both teams have already been game-planning, fans will have to wait until 6:00 p.m. Friday, January 15th, to watch this solid ACC match-up.

With all the strong emotions created from college coaches coming and going from football programs like most of us change shoes, one thing has been lost–the student-athletes these changes affect.  While there are many arguements for and against a college coaches right and opportunity to walk from a program despite the agreed upon contracts, it is not the administrations, athletic departments and alumni that are affected the most, but instead, the young men who made their commitment to the particular school.

Despite only monetary punishments (and in the case of Rich Rodriguez and West Virginia, a possible law suit), there are no real sanctions in place for coaches or universities not holding up their contracts.  The players, on the other hand, are still required to sit out a year if they wish to transfer.  This is due to an NCAA rule that is strictly enforced.

Now, more than ever, college sports, particularly college football, have quickly become a huge income producer for colleges and universities.  The NCAA gets their cut of the revenues, too.  In 2008, the NCAA reports revenues showed over $590 million from television and marketing rights alone.

This big business has created an environment where many top coaches will go to the highest bidder, and while the lack of loyalty is ridiculed, it is accepted as just a sign of the times.

Don’t tell that to Arkansas quarterback Ryan Mallett.  Mallett originally signed his letter of intent to play for Lloyd Carr and the Michigan Wolverines out of high school.  When Carr was forced out of Ann Arbor, Mallett would find out that his new coach would be West Virginia’s Rich Rodriguez, who ran a completely different offense that the traditional pro style offense that Michigan ran when Mallett decided to enroll there.

Mallett transferred to Arkanasas, and despite an appeal to the NCAA, he was forced to sit out the entire 2008 season for not honoring his commitment.  In the end, the NCAA showed no compassion for an 18-year old kid who was caught in a bait and switch by the Michigan athletic department, and he was punished accordingly.

More recently (just three weeks before college football’s National Signing Day), it was announced that Tennessee coach Lane Kiffin has decided to jump ship for USC after just one year in Knoxville.  Nevermind the 18 recruits who have committed to UT.  Two of those recruits have already signed the letter of intent, which binds them to that commitment.

It now appears that Kiffin will not be singing "Rocky Top" anywhere next season (google images)

And nevermind the fact that a huge factor in the commitments of these recruits was because of the coaching staff, that will subsequently not be there any longer.

A similar situation has been brewing in Gainesville, Florida, where head coach Urban Meyer announced that he was resigning, due to health issues.  A day later, after a huge fallout of the 2010 recruiting class for the Gators, which included a brief decommitment from safety Matt Elam, the bell cow of the Florida class, Meyer quickly changed his mind, at least to the media and the recruits.

He said after going to one practice, he realized that he would instead take a leave of absence, and it has been reported that he has told several prized recruits that he plans to resume the head coaching role in August.

If Meyer does what many expect, he will not be the head coach at Florida next season.  But in the high-stakes game of college recruiting, the Florida Gators could not afford to take a big hit, just weeks before signing day, so Meyer’s resignation was downplayed to an indefinite leave.

Whether health, family or any other issues do not allow Meyer to roam the sidelines in time for the fall, 20-25 young men will be playing for a coach that they did not commit to, and they will be punished, should any of them choose to transfer.

Unless the NCAA changes or at least, modifies their current rules on transfer rights of student-athletes, coaches and universities will continue to have every right to fire coaches, leave for greener pastures and in some cases, even lie or mislead 17-18 year old kids

Why should the NCAA hold 17-22 year olds to a higher standard than the coaches and administrations that are designed to support them?  In the meantime, the recruits who have committed to schools in transition, like Florida and Tennessee, now have three weeks to make a decision that will have a direct effect on the next 4-5 years of their lives.

Better get it right, kids….the NCAA is watching.

What a year for the University of Texas! I don’t think that I have ever seen a time where both the football and basketball programs have been ranked so high nationally.  This season, the Longhorn football team went undefeated into a national championship losing a close game to Alabama. The Longhorns, who were deprived of their star quarterback minutes into the championship game, still battled hard and brought the final showdown within a single possession.

And Texas’s basketball team is certainly no fluke.  They have a perfect record this season and are currently ranked number one in most polls. Unquestionably, they will be a viable team in this year’s tournament.

I guess the question becomes how does one school attract so much talent? I have visited many cities in this great country–cities that struck me as being hot spots where exceptional athletes would want to live and to play. Yet they have mediocre programs and fail to produce championship teams. What amazes me is that places like Columbus, Ohio, and even Austin, Texas, attract some of the country’s greatest talent.  Notably, b0th cities are beautiful and have reputations for being great college towns, which either creates the appeal for talented athletes or is a result of the performance of talented athletes…chicken or egg?  What is undeniable is that these schools are doing something right.

For the Texas Longhorns to consistently have one team contending for national championships  is one thing.  But to have two teams doing so is simply amazing. I would surmise that this is why Texas has the most financially lucrative sports program in the country.

I guess it is hard to find that perfect balance between an accommodating administration and the right coaching staff who knows how to attract the top recruits. But if there were a way for Texas to package up that formula and sell it in an infomercial they would make millions. I know I would at least watch the program, which is saying a great deal since I avoid infomercials like I avoid answering telemarketing calls and the plague.

So until they produce and air such an advertising gem, we are left to just tip our large cowboy hats while dreaming that our school colors are dominated by that infamous burnt orange and that our team is simultaneously undefeated and ranked number one.

College basketball is one of those sports that on any given day a team can drop rankings. There is always the battle to be number one or keep in the top 10. The question that I have is if that really even matters? The only thing that matters is that you win big conference games and get seated in the pool of 64 teams. I know that your placement in the bracket depends on the strength of your season record, but is that rank and record the deciding factor come March. Can a team come in ranked 10th in their region and still win a national championship? Let me know you thoughts.

Many students in the University of Michigan class of 2011 joke about how the sports gods hate us, how this is the worst time in the history of the school to be a sports fan, and how we are a curse on a school that prides itself on sports tradition.

We now know that the joke is becoming reality.

Between football, basketball, and hockey, all sports teams here in Ann Arbor have fallen flat. Over the course of the last three years, we have experienced unexpected (and some expected) losses day in and day out. Between our first football game (losing to Appalachian State), our first basketball season (10-22), and our hockey team’s performance in last year’s tournament (top seed upset by Air Force), we are going through one of the roughest times in the school’s history.

And yesterday’s basketball game against Northwestern confirmed those accusations once more.

Here we are, sitting on a 31-14 lead against the Wildcats, who were previously ranked for the first time in a zillion years. The team looked good and seemed to be back on the winning track. Then reality hit. A 43-18 run by Northwestern erased that lead for good and deflated all of the fans, and undoubtedly the players, too. This basketball season, which was supposed to be the one positive for Michigan sports, has turned into another disappointment.

But it is not because we simply lack talent. To me, it appears that the players just don’t care. Complacency in the second half led to an astounding 20 turnovers, and it seemed like every rebound was allowed to be swallowed up by the most unathletic big men in the Big Ten (Luka Mirkovic and Kyle Rowley). Michigan’s guards looked lost and uninterested for most of the game, and it has occurred to me that maybe these players just do not take the game seriously.

It’s best that they start taking things seriously, however, because the rest of the school is.

Since the national championship rumors have been flying that Pete Carroll will be leaving USC.  This news has come without much warning to SC fans and to the football community. Carroll has been with the Trojans for exactly 10 years now and has led them to two national championships.  The big question becomes, why would a solid D1 coach with an established program in one of the most football talented states leave SC? I have a feeling that Carroll was feeling compliant and may have been looking for change. Another big factor that I think persuaded him was money. So all you college football fans, why did Pete Carol leave USC? Let me know your thoughts.