@MarkKnudson41
Strike One: We’ve all seen it happen in movies and even in real life. Heck, it happened to Bruce Springsteen…and if it can happen to The Boss it can happen to anyone. You’re out there looking far and wide for Mr. or Mrs. Right, when it turns out that person is right under your nose all along.
When the Colorado Buffaloes lost Head Football Coach Mel Tucker suddenly, unexpectedly in the middle of the night, thoughts turned immediately to who would be Tucker’s replacement. CU supporters instantly began (another) search for Mr. Right. How many times is this going to have to happen?
There’s never a good time to be searching for a head football coach, but this close to the start of spring football could be among the worst from a timing perspective. Nevertheless, the names began getting tossed around amid rampant speculation.
Eric Bieniemy, Mike Shanahan, Dave Logan, Bryan Harsdin, Troy Calhoun, Graham Harrell, Butch Jones (ya, really), Jim Leavitt, Derek Mason…
CU Athletic Director Rick George, painted into a corner by Tucker’s shocking departure, did what you’d expect him to do at the moment, and elevated Assistant Head Coach Darrin Chiaverini to the position of Interim Head Coach, while he begins his coaching search in earnest.
George could save himself a lot of time and energy by simply removing the “interim” tag right now and naming Chiaverini the next CU head coach.
Chiaverini is CU’s Mr. Right.
The former Buff wide receiver and team captain returned to his alma mater after a brief playing career in the pros and four previous stops to begin his coaching career, including stints at UCLA and Texas Tech. He returned to Boulder in 2016 to join Mike MacIntyre’s staff as an offensive assistant. After MacIntyre was fired, Chiaverini stayed and joined Tucker’s staff as the wide receiver’s coach and recruiting coordinator. When Tucker saw what an outstanding recruiter Chiaverini was (ranked in the top 25 nationally) he made him the Assistant Head Coach as well.
Now Chiaverini is left to clean up Tucker’s mess. And he’s doing so as a labor of love. He’s a Buff through and through.
And that should matter. A lot.
CU fans need to face the fact that the Buffaloes job is – and has been for a while – seen as a stepping stone for most college coaches, especially the higher profile ones. Tucker was never emotionally attached to the gig. If he was, he wouldn’t have left the first time he was asked. Neither was Rick Neuheisel 25 years ago, who on his way out the door for Washington, famously called CU “a have not” in terms of resources among college football programs. Don’t think for a moment that guys like Dan Hawkins and MacIntyre wouldn’t have done exactly what Tucker did in the same circumstances. Gary Barnett was the exception that proves the rule. He was/IS a Buff at heart. And he’s the only CU coach in the last quarter-century to be in it for the long haul. (No, Jon Embree doesn’t count. He was a fish out of water in the college game.)
Colorado isn’t ever going to lure a big name “outsider” head coach to Boulder and have him put down roots that weren’t already here.
And that’s why Chiaverini is THE right choice for the job. He’s obviously good at what he does already, and is fully capable of taking the reins. He and his family – his wife’s also a CU alum – already have firmly planted roots in Boulder. This would not be a stepping stone gig for him. This would be his dream job, like Tad Boyle. (Sure, it might be for Logan as well, but if we’re being honest, that ship has probably sailed already, right?) Shanahan isn’t interested, and Bieniemy? It would be career suicide for the Kansas City Offensive Coordinator to leave the NFL for a college gig – at a place where two previous stops during his coaching career have not gone well. At all. Much like Embree, he’s not a fit for the college game.
None of the aforementioned candidates can bring to the University of Colorado what Darrin Chiaverini has already brought. They aren’t better coaches or recruiters…and none of them would put down roots here.
Buff fans could be taking Chiaverini for granted at this point, just assuming that he and his recruiting prowess will always be here. Don’t be so sure. Chiaverini wants to be a head coach. If not now, then when…and where?
For the record, Springsteen got married to actress Julianne Phillips back in 1985, only to get divorced in 1989. He then realized he already had his Mrs. Right, Patti Scialfa, playing in his band since 1984…and married her. They’re still together.
Perhaps there’s a lesson for Rick George in that Springsteen saga.
Strike Two: It was supposed to be big news, and some kind of death blow to the Colorado Rockies organization that superstar third basemen Nolan Arenado wasn’t doing his pre-camp batting practice at Salt River Fields in the days leading up to the start of spring training. Instead, Nolan was reportedly working out at nearby Arizona State University.
Oh no! How will the team ever recover from this disaster, it was asked. They must trade him NOW…
Newsflash: The team will find a way to get over this “dis” from their best player.
Yes, Nolan is: Angry. Disgruntled. Pissed off. Fed up. All of the Above.
You know what else he is? Under contract. For A LOT of money. Therefore, he will be starting at third base on March 26th when the Rockies open the season in San Diego. And when he hits his first home run, all his teammates will give him a high five and he will have a big smile on his face.
Because that’s baseball.
The ongoing feud between Arenado and Rockies PR-challenged General Manager Jeff Bridich isn’t going to suddenly evaporate. But it’s not going to drag out onto the field and take up space in the dugout, either.
This too shall pass.
This is not to say that Arenado won’t eventually – at the 11th hour if Rockies history is an accurate guide – be dealt. He might. Or he might not. We. Don’t. Know. But the notion that Nolan isn’t all in on the upcoming season is shortsighted and wrong.
Nolan Arenado is a professional. A passionate, emotional professional. He takes immense pride is what he does. The very LAST thing he would do is put on a Rockies uniform, step foot on any baseball field and not give it his very best effort.
And look at it from a business sense: If Nolan wants to be traded, the last thing the other teams want to see would be him not playing hard for Colorado. Want to damage your trade value? Dog it.
Then there’s the not-so-little detail about his mega-salary for this season. He has a paltry $35 mil on the line this year. He’s got to play in order to earn that salary. Remember, when he got this huge contract from the Rockies almost exactly one year ago, he cried tears of joy.
If you think anything less than full effort from Arenado is what’s coming, then you don’t know one single a thing about being a professional athlete.
Nolan’s a Colorado Rockie, and he very likely will be all season. Rockies brass does not believe they’re in a “rebuilding” situation. They believe – rightly or wrongly – in the young core of 20-somethings that will be taking the field this season. Ownership does not want to trade their best player, and unless things go horribly wrong – worse than last season, they won’t make any kind of drastic move to break it up.
They never have before in their 27-year history.
I don’t have a crystal ball. I don’t know how this season will go. But with history as my guide, my best guess is that the Rockies improve by 10 games or so this season, stay on the fringes of the wild card chase down the stretch, and no key piece, including Nolan, is traded away during the season.
Will that be enough for Nolan to invite Bridich to dinner? No. Will the two men become BFF’s? Nope. But that will be enough, assuming Bridich doesn’t create any more controversy with things he says and doesn’t say, to have Nolan resume his pre-camp workouts at Salt River Fields next February, with thoughts of Rocktober dancing in everyone’s head.
Probably. Stay Tuned.
Strike Three: Why is it that the only All-Star game we watch is Major League Baseball’s? Maybe because it’s the only one that is still an actual game?
Now that the NBA has gone to a goofy format, like hockey and football already did, the mid-February weekend has gone from must-watch to…meh. Team LeBron v Team Giannis? Mini, “pick-up” games? Really?
Here’s the spin, according to Shaun Powell on NBA.com: “Each of the first three quarters will be, in essence, a 12-minute mini-game. The team that ‘wins’ the quarter will receive a donation to charity. And the score at the start of the second and third quarters will be reset to 0-0.
“The scores of the first three quarters for each team will be added up and posted to start the fourth. The cumulative score of the team that’s ahead, plus 24 points (Kobe’s uniform number), will be the final target score. The first team to reach that number will win the game, and there will be no clock.
“For example: If Team Giannis has 120 points and Team LeBron 118 after three quarters, then the first team to 144 wins. A pickup game, in other words.”
I gotta ask: What was wrong with the old, “West vs East” format? What was wrong with watching the best in the world play a 165-163 shootout every year? So what if defense was optional? At least when they had “conference pride” on the line, the two sides would get semi-serious down the stretch and make it competitive. This new format? What exactly does it accomplish if the cumulative score still actually matters and yet they’re just playing like we did at the rec center, where the first team to 11 by ones, wins?
Goofy is the right word. Do fans want goofy?
There’s never been anything wrong with the addition of the weekend skills competitions – starting with the late Carl Scheer’s Slam Dunk contest and adding stuff the three-point shoot out. That’s all great. But can’t we just have an NBA All-Star game that’s still an actual…GAME?