THE BEST OF COLLEGE FOOTBALL:
NICK SABAN, MICKEY MATTHEWS, CHUCK BROYLES, AND LARRY KEHRES
HONORED FOR RESPONSIBILITY, INTEGRITY AND COACHING EXCELLENCE
WITH THE 2008 LIBERTY MUTUAL COACH OF THE YEAR AWARD

Winning Coaches Receive a Combined $240,000 to Donate for Charity and Scholarship

BOSTON (December 31, 2008) - Every college football coach shares a love of the game and tenacity to win, yet today four coaches share the distinct honor of this year's best display of success, integrity, and sportsmanship both on and off the field. University of Alabama Coach Nick Saban, James Madison University Coach Mickey Matthews, Pittsburg (Kan.) State University Coach Chuck Broyles, and Mount Union College Coach Larry Kehres are the 2008 Liberty Mutual Coach of the Year Award winners.

Each winning coach receives $50,000 from Liberty Mutual Insurance to support his favorite charity and $20,000 in scholarship funding for his school's alumni association. Now in its third year, the Liberty Mutual Coach of the Year charitable and scholarship donations total $680,000. The winners also will be recognized in the permanent Liberty Mutual Coach of the Year display at the College Football Hall of Fame in South Bend, Ind.

"These four coaches represent all that is great about college football," said Archie Manning, chairman of the National Football Foundation & College Football Hall of Fame. "They share a collective belief that how you win is every bit as important as winning itself. They value and demonstrate respect, sportsmanship and civic involvement, and have left a positive footprint on their universities, their student-athletes, and their communities."

Coaches Saban, Matthews, Broyles and Kehres were chosen through fan votes at www.CoachoftheYear.com and ballots cast by an elite selection committee of College Football Hall of Fame players and coaches and the national media based on their on-field coaching results, sportsmanship and integrity, academic excellence of their student- athletes, and their community commitment. Fan votes accounted for 20 percent of each coach's final score while the College Football Hall of Famers and national college football media accounted for 55 percent and 25 percent, respectively.

2008 Liberty Mutual Coach of the Year Award Winners

Football Bowl Subdivision (Division I-A) - Nick Saban, University of Alabama

When Nick Saban's Crimson Tide took the Georgia Dome field in August, hopes were high to improve on last year's 7-6 season. That first-game victory over Clemson was the beginning of Alabama's resurrection in the SEC and countrywide, and led to an undefeated regular season and, ultimately, a Sugar Bowl date with Utah on January 2 in New Orleans. The 12-win campaign set the school record for the largest increase in wins from year one to year two for a Crimson Tide head coach.

Leading a team that commits, on average, 30 percent fewer penalties than its conference foes is a big reason Coach Saban enjoyed such a tremendous season the field. And off the field, Saban is equally poised for success as a philanthropist and mentor. The Nick's Kids Fund he started when coaching at Michigan State continues to be a shining example of Saban's concern for disadvantaged children, and since arriving in Tuscaloosa the Fund has distributed more than $540,000 to 115 charities. And this past June, Saban and his wife, Terry, announced a $1 million gift to benefit Alabama's first-generation scholarship program. Community involvement extends to the players as well, with many participating in a local Life Skills program as well as helping to raise funds for Alabama libraries.

Crimson Tide student-athletes also benefit from Saban's guidance in the classroom. His published mission statement for his team reads, "[Graduating from college] is going to have the greatest impact on the quality of your life forever." And Alabama's rising Academic Progress Rate is evidence of his commitment to their education.

Chris Mortensen just reported on  ESPN's Sunday NFL countdown that Bill Parcells has a clause in his contract that allows him to opt out of his Phins deal within 30 days of a sale of the team away from Wayne Huizenga. Huizenga is looking to finalize the sale with Stephen Ross on Tuesday and thus Parcells could opt out and would still recieve the final $9 million on his current guarenteed contract.  Mort did not say whether or not it would be likely if he would opt out BUT he did mention that if he were to do so,  the Jets, Browns, Lions and Raiders would all come after him. Mort then mentioned that Parcells would never stand in the way of his son-in-law Scott Pioli if he wanted to go to one of those places. One more thning from Mort's report. He mentioned that if Parcells were to leave that Ross could go after former Cheifs boss Carl Peterson to replace Parcells. Why Peterson? Ross was a partial owner of the Philadelphia Stars of the USFL in the early 80's when Peterson was  the President and the GM.

Ok now some reaction to this startling report.

Parcells has earned his $12 mil in one year in my mind. Players are paid way more than that to do way less. He has set up a franchise for years to come and has already paid for himself. Furthermore, everyone made it clear when Parcells was hired he wanted to be with the Phins because he wanted to work for Huizenga. He now would no longer be working for Huizenga so I can totally understand why he would want to test the waters or more so test out Ross to see if the relationship between the two works.

With or without Parcells moving forward this organization is now set up to win.  If Parcells were to leave, Ireland and Sparano run this thing if you can't get Pioli to replace Parcells. Its Pioli or status quo, do NOT bring in anyone from the outside. That said, Ross needs to come in and re-structure Parcells' deal and give him a piece of the team. It's the only way to keep him in Miami and keep him with the Phins. Ross has to keep Parcells or else he is getting his tenure as Phins owner off to a rocky start.

Ok I love what the Phins have done this season. There is no doubt in my mind that Parcells is builing a team to compete for a Super Bowl but based on track record for Parcells and his disciples as well as Belichick disciples, year two is not going to be the year of the ring:

FROM YEAR ONE TO TWO:

Bill Parcells (Dallas): 10-6 to 6-10

Sean Payton (New Orleans): 10-6 to 7-9

Romeo Crennell (Cleveland): 6-10 to 4-12

Eric Mangini (NY Jets): 10-6 to 4-12

Nick Saban (Miami): 9-7 to 6-10

EXPLANATION:

Disciples of the Bill and Bill regimes change culture immediately. They are usually entering a situation off of an awful one the year before and thus an easier schedule with more winable games.  They usually overachieve in year one and then year two with a tougher schedule it becomes harder to win games because there are not as many games on the schedule you should win. All of that said the Phins in 08 have done amazing job beating teams we now think they should have beaten (8-1 against teams under .500). Before the season there was not a single team that we would have said  that "they should win that game" and thus the beauty of Parcells!

If you were programming NBC,  your Sunday night game next week would be? :

Dolphins @ Jets

Patriots@ Bills

Lions @ Packers

Giants @ Vikings

Cowboys @ Eagles

Broncos @ Chargers

CONGRATS TO STEVE WALSH, THE NEW HEAD  FOOTBALL COACH OF CARDINAL NEWMAN!!!!

-         I cannot get over the respect and admiration shown for Randy Shannon at the Groza awards last night.  It was amazing watching a guy like Bennie Blades, who played with Shannon at the “U” and played 11 years in the NFL, act giddy around Shannon. High School coaches raced up to talk to him after he was done speaking. I get it now. I thought I did before but I get why he is known as arguably the best recruiter in the country. He commands a room and commands respect.

-         Are the any positive superlatives left to describe the job that Tony Sparano and Chad Pennington have done this season?

-         With all due respect, there was not a single moment all year long that I felt like the Dolphins missed Jason Taylor and / or Zach Thomas. They are both Hall of Famers in my mind but its impossible to argue that the Phins for 08 were better without them

-         The Dolphins will have a very easy schedule travel wise in 2009. Games @ New England, New York, Buffalo, Jacksonville, Carolina, Atlanta and likely either Kansas City or Oakland. All Eastern time zone games outside of the one against an AFC West team.

-         Interesting to see that ESPN has been much more likely to credit other news media outlets like foxsports.com and si.com etc ever since they completely ignored the Brett Favre – Lions story that Jay Glazer reported for Fox and were widely critiqued for it

-         I cannot even imagine how much the new TV commercial for the video game “Guitar Hero” cost. In it are Alex Rodriguez, Kobe Bryant, Michael Phelps and Tony Hawk.

-         Great job by NBC keeping Jay Leno. Leno mistakenly named a “host in waiting” a few years back when he announced he was retiring and would leave the “Tonight Show” to Conan O’Brien. Leno had a change of heart and wanted to continue doing the show. Only problem was that the $ and the time slot were already committed to Conan. Leno reportedly was flirting with ABC to take over the Jimmy Kimmel 12:05 spot and then move Kimmel back an hour. NBC got scared and then got really creative. They decided to move Leno to 10pm which is unheard of in TV lure. A “late night” talk show has never been on regularly in primetime but NBC is going to roll the dice. So many good things come out of this. Leno is with NBC and not ABC which allows Conan to take over the 11:35 slot without the pressure of going up against both Leno and David Letterman. It also gives NBC a major safety net if Conan fails with the “Tonight Show” they can just move Leno back to that slot. In addition NBC now has an entire hour every night to not have to worry about creating new programming which in turn should off set some of the costs of bringing Leno back at a higher price, raising Conan’s salary and adding Jimmy Fallon in Conan’s old slot. All that said, I won’t watch any of these shows, I just find it interesting.