Unfortunately (and the reason behind being so far behind in the first place), my old theme wasn’t all that compatible with the new version, so instead of messing around to fix it, I’ve gone all new. Not thrilled about it, as it doesn’t even show the site name and the navigation box that drops down from the top is full of teensy-weensy little print, but it’ll do for now. Some day I’ll tinker more and come up with something new, hopefully sooner rather than later.

In the meantime, the excitement of this weekend’s trip to Pittsburgh has been tempered a little bit by some idiotic college athletes. Seriously, how dumb can you be?

It’ll still be good to get out and see a football game (followed by the Pirates-Brewers at PNC Park that night), but some of the excitement is gone. We’ll see how it plays out.

GO BG!

There is a lot to be unhappy about, and while the five-game home slate is a kick to the jimmy, most of the rage, I believe, is from what’s NOT on the schedule. We’ve certainly played worse schedules in the not-so-distant past. With Western Kentucky moving up to Division 1A this year, there are no 1-AA schools on the slate, which is a plus. The rest of the non-conference schedule is actually quite impressive as well, with games at Minnesota, Michigan State and Boston College, all of whom are big enough names that a win would be impressive, but none are real monsters like we’ve gotten into in the past to pull a fat check.

What’s missing is a home game with Boise State. The mid-major darlings, coming off their sandlot win over Oklahoma in the Fiesta Bowl, were supposed to visit Doyt Perry Stadium on September 29. After we shuffled out of our game with them last year to help the MAC and Ohio University (who, despite winning the MAC East lost to BG at home last year, I might add) fix a scheduling disaster you’d think they would have avoided this year.

They didn’t.

And even though Boise State posted a schedule with a trip to BG planned on their website not more than two weeks ago, BG and the MAC had other ideas. We get the Hilltoppers instead. Also missing is the road portion of a rumored, then published home-and-home with Navy. Annapolis is a kickass place to catch a football game on a fall afternoon, but that game, and likely the series, have fallen by the wayside.

Also, in true ESPN-scheduling-the-MAC fashion, BG has at least three Friday games this year. While this works out for me and my Thursday/Friday “weekend”, it might not be the best for attendance. Two of them at home, one is against Toledo the day after Thanksgiving. Again, works for me, probably doesn’t work for the thousands of on-campus students that will be booted from their dorm Wednesday evening. Add in one home game where I’ll be recovering from a wedding (the future wife has already nixed a whirlwind Saturday through NW Ohio, and I don’t think I blame her…there’s sleeping and gift-opening to do that day!) and another where I’ll be in another country, and I’m looking at three possibilities for home games. The Toledo game will happen, and I’ll likely toss a coin to see if I head to the Ohio U. game (Saturday) or the Akron game the following week (Friday). Or, if things start off much better than expected for the Falcons this fall, I may try to hit them both. Time will tell.

Is the way the schedule came down ugly? Yes, very much so. Is it worth threatening the AD and his puppy? I’m not so sure about that.

UPDATE: Maureen has posted the text of Dakich’s resignation letter to the Athletic Director. Even considering how carefully worded such efforts normally are, I think it still says a lot about Dakich and how he really could have been a long-term coach in a “stepping stone league” had he just rediscovered the whole winning thing. Few people realize or remember until it’s mentioned that his father, Tom, played at BG under legendary coach Harold Anderson. He has ties, he had success, but just couldn’t sustain it.

An interesting semi-related basketball note, the BG Alumni Association in Indy is planning a night out with the Pacers. This is from the e-mail memo they’ve been sending out:

As Bowling Green State University alumni; you, along with your family and friends are invited to join us for an evening of basketball and Falcon FUN! First, join us for a Meet & Greet Reception with BGSU’s own Keith McLeod followed by an intense battle between the Indiana Pacers and Miami Heat.

“An intense battle”? Has anyone been watching the Pacers play for the last three weeks? As excited as I am for Keith McLeod to get a shot in the NBA and especially in Indy, I don’t think I need to drop $45 to shake his hand and watch bad basketball from the rafters.

Though the stretch run could be key for him. He’s listed as the 3rd PG behind Darrell Armstrong and Jamaal Tinsley. Armstrong will turn 180 this year, and Tinsley is not exactly behaving himself. Good luck to Keith as the season winds down!

I was checking some site statistics earlier, and was surprised (though in hindsight, not surprised at all) to see an ESPN.com article that included an excerpt from Basketball Warfare by Kevin McNamara about last year’s Big East hoops season. Not that it reflects on my work at all, but there are a couple links to the book’s website, bigeastbook.com, which I designed, and that makes me feel damn cool. It’s a simple design, really, but it served a pretty simple purpose, which is now linked on one of the most-read websites out there.

Also, as tournament time heats up, I’ll put up a reminder about the other hoops website I’m behind, Ray Mernagh’s HoopWise. Considering Ray is the guy that introduced me to Kevin, he should use some of that ESPN pull to get some love for the MAC on the big stage. Regardless, his is more of a blog setup, so it should be a daily read for any MAC fan, most mid-major fans (especially in the Midwest) and many college hoop fans.

While I should embarrasingly admit that I have both books, but have yet to crack into them. (My reading time has been ridiculously limited for some reason, and I’m still trudging through a good book about the Browns that I got for Christmas.) From what I’ve skimmed and learned from working with these guys and their sites, it’s good basketball reading. Both books can be ordered from their respective websites.

******
Anyway, on to the task at hand.

Bowling Green’s basketball season wrapped up today with a ten-point loss to Ohio U. in the MAC Tournament. With it, the tenure of head coach Dan Dakich as head coach of the Falcons is most likely over. But it’s not nearly as cut and dry as it was five days ago, when I believe I put his return odds at about 5%.

He was even lower than that about two weeks into February, but combined a 40-minute performance (in a sham of a 45 minute game) at Buffalo and a thrashing of lowly Morehead State showed that while they may not be worldbeaters, the Falcons were coming together somehow and with all but two players returning next year, could be interesting with a full summer of practice. (Not to mention the arrival on the scene of Nate Miller and, later, Ryne Hamblet to cover up the scoring loss of the increasingly streaky Martin Samarco. And that’s not to diss on Samarco, because even with his off nights, he put the ball in the bucket and kept a dismal season from being, well, worse. And some of his efforts last season made the year more interesting than it should have been. His presence will be missed on the floor next year, even though the gap should be filled nicely.)

As the Falcons were building some kind of momentum from the Buffalo-Morehead swing, they welcomed Ohio into Anderson Arena and got stomped. Defense was shaky at best and they were never really in the game (the one I got to see in person all year. On my birthday.), losing by 20-something. Dakich looked defeated on the sideline, a man with no answers, and that figured to be the end. Folks were wondering which postgame interview might include a resignation.

But, true Jekyll and Hyde (and Samarco) fashion, they bounced back with a tight one at Akron, that was lost mostly due to silly ineptness down the stretch. Of course, they then got baked by Kent before beating the eventual 4-seed Miami(OH) at home and were in the game with OU today before going really cold midway through the second half before cutting into a deficit that was just too much at that point.

So, where does this leave Dan Dakich?

No one knows. Relatively-new BG Athletic Director Greg Christopher said today that he’ll sit down with Dakich next week to discuss the future of the program. Some see that as a formality. Some think it’s a courtesy for a man that has given as much to BG (the city and the university) from the basketball court since Harold Anderson. (He’s been here 10 years and even his staunchest critics will applaud his personality away from the floor.) Even more think that the meeting with Christopher will give Dak one more chance to sell the hopes that have evaporated (for the most part in the last five years quickly evaporated) into the cold BG air.

What do I think?

With it all over but the 11th hour schmoozing, and with the thoughts that we’ve heard the same “wait till next year” song and dance before, I don’t think I’d be horribly offended if he got a one-year extension.

With a catch.

Don’t just say “yay, you’re our coach next year!” and be done with it. Make him earn the position back. Set performance goals. Black-and-white, plain-and-simple levels for him to reach on the floor. 20 wins. 18 wins. Whatever. Something that shows success. A MAC Division title. A MAC tournament top-four seed with two wins in the MAC tournament. His players that stay graduate, that’s not a question. Put something in about MAC reprimands (but don’t tell the MAC, they’d run him for wearing ugly shoes the first time out, I think). If he doesn’t meet the contract, he’s done. If he meets it, give him two years. With similar levels (though maybe with a touch of leeway) over those years, give him five.

When Dan Dakich gets things together, I don’t think there’s many other people that I’d want coaching BG hoops, and I don’t think there is any other place he’d rather be. Unfortunately, that hasn’t been the case the last five years, but I think one clear-cut year to right the ship isn’t that ridiculous of a request to grant.

GO BG!

Saturday marked the 15th anniversary of the death of arguably (though not very well) the greatest Falcon that ever lived, Doyt Perry. I’ve done a bunch of research on Bowling Green’s football team over the past couple years for my pet project at BGSUsports.com, and every time I uncover something else about Doyt L. Perry, he amazes me even more.

Doyt was born in 1910, the same year that Bowling Green was created by the State of Ohio. He attended college at BG, receiving a degree in Secondary Education in 1933. He earned nine varsity letters in football, basketball and track, and at one point quarterbacked Falcon football to an 18-game unbeaten streak. Almost immediately after graduation, he took a teaching position at Lorain Clearview HS in northeast Ohio, a school without a football team. Having been denied a teaching/coaching job at another school due to a lack of football coaching experience, Doyt took matters into his own hands and created a football team at Clearview. They won the conference title in their first year.

Doyt served in the US Navy for three years, one year after taking a coaching job at Upper Arlington HS in suburban Columbus, Ohio. When he returned from his tour of duty in World War II, he had the Bears back winning titles. Eventually, he took a job with Ohio State, coaching the offensive backfield. At the end of the 1954 season, Ohio State was national champions, thanks in no small part to Perry’s coaching, but his alma mater had an opening coming around. A chance to be in charge of football for his alma mater was bigger to Doyt than continuing at Ohio State, even as a top assistant at a big school powerhouse.

Doyt’s loyalties to BG would be tested two years after his return to Northwest Ohio. After leading BG to its first MAC Championship in 1956, Missouri offered him their head coaching job. A chance to run a major program is one that most coaches would jump on, Perry stayed loyal to his alma mater, and coached 8 more seasons before becoming Athletic Director for the school. In 1959, he led the Falcons to the College Division National Championship, and upon retiring from coaching, was one of the winningest coaches in college football history.

His players respected him, his fellow coaches admired him, and Falcons everywhere can be proud to call Doyt one of ours.

He passed away eight months before I enrolled at Bowling Green, and when I got to campus, he was just an old coach who’s name was on the football field. I only wish I knew then what I know about Doyt L. Perry.

Thanks coach.

In fact, the only reason I’m here bumping the “Safety Dance” video from the top of the page is to turn in a less-than-enthusiastic BlogPoll entry. I do still believe Michigan is actually a “2a” to USC, but realistically, if any other school lost that game in the same way, I’d drop them much further. I’m impressed, but not excited about Arkansas, and Florida is kind of along for the ride. The SEC Championship will help free that up, I’d imagine. (Read: Arkansas will likely win by one or two points, and not much at all will be answered.)

I actually just flipped Wisconsin and ND, then flipped them back. Both have rosters marred only by a loss to Michigan. Actually, make that a severe beating at the hands of the Wolverines (in consecutive weeks). While Wisconsin’s 14 point deficit is partially cosmetic, they were on the road. Notre Dame got defiled at home to the exact same team (see consecutive weeks reference). In fact, ND helped. So they get the nod there. But again, probably an “a” and “b” scenario. (But congrats to the Irish on another Commander In Chief trophy!)

So yeah, here’s the ballot:

Rank	Team	Delta
1	Ohio State	—
2	Southern Cal	4
3	Michigan	1
4	Arkansas	1
5	Florida	1
6	Notre Dame	3
7	Wisconsin	1
8	LSU	1
9	Texas	2
10	Auburn	2
11	Louisville	1
12	West Virginia	1
13	Rutgers	8
14	Oklahoma	—
15	Georgia Tech	1
16	Boise State	1
17	Tennessee	1
18	Virginia Tech	2
19	Boston College	2
20	Brigham Young	3
21	Nebraska	5
22	California	3
23	Hawaii	2
24	TCU	2
25	Wake Forest	10