===> Virginia Head Coach Update
It is pretty hard to get a read on this Dave Odom and Virginia situation. Yoni does a super job of painting a complete picture for you if you are interested in following it.
The general feeling seems to be that Odom is the “ultimate backup” candidate…and that is not necessarily such a bad thing. Chuck Amato was also NC State’s ultimate back-up candidate and that couldn’t have worked out any better.
I think that AD Littlepage and Odom have recently been (less than) subtly testing the waters of the Virginia-faithful’s reaction by letting Odom’s name leak into the media.
I also think that, if true, they made a big mistake in the way that this happened. If you wanted your fans to react positively to Odom, why would you float his name immediately after it became apparent that you weren’t going to land someone with the stature of Tubby Smith or Rick Barnes? The more prudent move would have been to have allowed a small to mid-major name leak first. Then, when Odom’s name would have come to light, the fans’ natural reaction would be to compare Odom to the lesser alternative and he would immediately be accepted with open arms. Almost nobody would have been good enough immediately after the fans’ disappointment of not landing Tubby Smith.
My personal choice for Virginia would be to go hire Mike Brey. But, that choice is admittedly very self serving.
===> Featherston the Great
There is no reason for me to do too much commenting on anything when Al Featherston does such a super job of hitting so many interesting points.
===> Tarheels’ Title
Try not to vomit too much if you can stomach hearing about how Carolina has so quickly re-established itself as one of the elite college basketball programs in the country. You can’t really criticize them for making the shrewd moves to get back to the Final Four after a whopping 5 year absence. This piece does a good job of covering Monday’ events from the Illinois perspective.
===> Tarheels REAL Titles
While your friends and the entire media are busy praising the Heels, don’t let them exaggerate the truth and claim an extra national championship ‘bestowed’ on them 12 years late by a baker in Los Angeles, California. No kidding!!
===> Football: Trestman
We will gradually be turning our attention more towards football in the coming weeks as we gear up for the Wolfpack’s 2005 season. A lot of excitement is building around the coming season and a lot of buzz seems to have been generated throughout the nation by Chuck Amato’s off-season coaching hires.
The Pack gained immediate favor with many of highly-rated high school quarterbacks with the hiring of Marc Trestman. This has been supported by recent recruiting news that indicates some top names (like Zach Frazer) are expressing interest in the Pack.
Trestman came to Raleigh with a message for the coaching staff — he is here to be a coach; not here to be everyone’s best friend. This is not to insinuate that any kind of hostility exists between Trestman and the staff at all. What it refers to is that Noel Mazzone’s reputation was more of a “buddy” with everyone (staff, players, we’ll leave it at that) as opposed to playing the necessary role as the leader of the offense. Trestman has not left any gray area that he is now the leader of the offense. A leader that we have needed for a couple of years.
When the assignments for recruiting territories for the new coaching staff were made a couple of weeks ago, I made an observation that excites me — Trestman was assigned coverage of Wake County and nothing else. IMHO, this indicates that Trestman is here to focus on the offense and little else. I like this approach. It is similar to a Norm Chow-role where the OC is paid to be an OC so stay out of his way and let him do his job. He gets paid enough for him to take the pressure when/if he fails, so don’t burden him with other duties that could negatively impact his performance.
Offensive Coordinators are like mini-head coaches. They are busy enough. There is nothing more important to next season’s success than to have an effective and efficient offense. Creating an environment where Trestman can focus on day to day execution and building the offense will pay major dividends in the future. Additionally, with Chuck Amato’s historical coaching experience on the defensive side of the ball, Steve Dunlap has more executive-level support with the administration of the defense.
===> Still Waiting for Kickoff Time
There is no secrecy around the news that the Wolfpack’s season opening game with Virginia Tech is a candidate to move from Saturday, September 3rd to Sunday, September 4th in order for it to be nationall televised on one of the ABC/ESPN networks. Problem is — this news has been out there for over a month and still has not been publicly confirmed as a done deal. I don’t expect it to be much longer…so, keep your eyes and ears out.
