More Hoops Scheduling Rumors

Via the comments from earlier in the week, we're hearing rumblings of a possible game in Athens against Marshall. Last season the Thundering Herd's RPI was 67th and they went 11-6 in CUSA (including their league tournament). It's a decent RPI filler game.

On the other hand, Georgia will play Mississippi Valley State on Nov. 12th to open the season. This is the Friday Night before the Auburn road game. MVSU had an RPI of roughly eleventy billion (ok...325th out of 347th). They play an up tempo style, but they stink.

As a point of reference our buddy ScenicCityDawg pointed out that former Dawg Drazen Zlovaric rained down 16 points of awesomeness on these guys two years ago in Athens as part of a 41 point victory. Uhh....that was 35% of his total points over his two year UGA career.

It's not an ideal RPI match-up, but it's Game 1, and everyone plays a few of these bottom feeders.

Tentative Basketball Schedule:

Home:
Xavier
UAB
Marshall (rumored)
Arkansas State
Mississippi Valley State
Plus 3-5 more teams

Road:
Georgia Tech
Saint Louis

Neutral:
Notre Dame (confirmed)
Plus 2 more in Orlando

Any other rumors you're hearing? Let us know. MemphisDog will start working them. From what I've heard, we can eliminate Miami, Penn State, UNC and NC State from the rumor mill. Those are were all either non-starters despite the early rumors, or they fell apart during the process.

PWD

About Kentavious Caldwell's Recruitment

I regret being on the road so much lately and not sharing my full jumping up and down joy over Caldwell's commitment with you. I posted several things on Twitter at the time, and just wanted to share them with you here...finally. (Video - Caldwell goes for 43 points)

What We Are Getting
He falls into a category of player that Jim Harrick once labeled "guys that start shooting the moment they get off the bus." Coach Durham called guys like Caldwell "makers" instead of "shooters."

Basically, he's a guy with the confidence of J.J. Reddick, Chris Lofton or Dennis Scott. But he's got more natural athletic ability than those guys. He's not as athletic as Jarvis Hayes, Travis Leslie or Mike Mercer, but he's a capable athlete who can play some defense, create his own shot and bomb from outside and mid-range.

He needs to put on quite a bit of weight to handle more diverse body types of opponents because he's rail thin, but the potential is there. It's not an accident that ESPN, Scout and Rivals all listed him as a Top 10-15 player. This kid is truly special.

How We Got Here:
Thank you Lonnie Outlaw. When Outlaw signed on Signing Day, most Dawg fans scratched their head with a collective Whiskey Tango Foxtrot. The signing day value of Outlaw...and Kenarious Gates for that matter are...are more clear now. Mark Fox and Mark Richt were manufacturing momentum and leveraging some lucky breaks:

Lonnie Outlaw (WR) is related to Nick Marshall
Kenarious Gates (OT) high school bball teammate with Caldwell
Caldwell and Marshall are extremely close friends.
Clemson's basketball coach leaves.
Marcus Thornton (Mr. Basketball) leaves Clemson.
Georgia wins Thornton at last minute.
Georgia lands Marshall as two sport player.
Marshall and Thornton help us land Caldwell.

That's how you manufacture momentum by capitalizing on your lucky breaks and knowledge of relationships.

Good stuff.

About the NCAA Investigation

Image by Jim Hipple
Let's start with the basics here. I have it on decent authority beyond simply AJ Green's statement at SEC Media Days that he was in fact in South Carolina when the problematic party was happening in Miami. So that's good. That comes from someone in our network who personally saw him.

But let's get to the bigger issues at play here. This year the NCAA expanded its enforcement staff for men's basketball and football. Of particular interest are agents, runners and third parties that are funneling kids to different universities or funneling benefits to specific players prior to going pro. For a look at the special group of investigators going after basketball handlers pre-enrollment, you can view this NCAA presentation talking about what they are looking for.

Anyway, the NCAA is trying to reign in the spending pre and post enrollment on kids. If you actually read the Reggie Bush / OJ Mayo NCAA findings, it reads as a cautionary tale to other athletic departments. It's basically a warning shot to the rest of big-time basketball and football that the NCAA cops are coming.

The Marvin Austin / Miami Agent Party is simply the first high-profile opportunity to put that enforcement staff into action.

But why now? Why go after the cheating more now? One could argue that it's because there's more cheating going on. But I also wonder if the timing is also reflective of the upcoming NFL Collective Bargaining Agreement. The NCAA wants to put pressure on the NFLPA and the NFL Owners (via bad PR related to agents/runners) to ban agents who tamper with players. Could the NCAA be trying to put that kind of language and conversation on the table as part of the negotiations?

Also, I'm not positive, but I'm pretty sure that not every state has Agent Tampering (wrong verbiage) laws like Florida does. After the Tank Black saga at UF in the 90s, the State of Florida legislature attached criminal penalties to agents who provide certain incentives to college athletes.

The current Miami Party investigation is sort of a perfect storm for the NCAA. A chance to flex it's expanded enforcement muscle pre-NFL negotiations in a state where there are harsher penalties for the alleged activities during a time where the college football writers are ramping their attention to the sport back up (pre-Media Days).

I think we walk away clean on this particular issue. But the NCAA is definitely looking for more opportunities to make examples of schools.

PWD

UGA vs. Notre Dame Scheduling News

Sorry for the tease. It's hoops...not football. As previously, announced Georgia basketball will play in the Old Spice Classic in Orlando during Thanksgiving break (Thurs, Friday and Sunday). The question had been...which of the 8 teams will the Dawgs face in those three games?

Thomas Noie of the South Bend Tribute says that UGA will open play on Thursday against Notre Dame (2010 RPI of 49th). If the brackets hold up, he says the winner gets Cal (20th ranked RPI) and then potentially Temple (8th ranked RPI). Wisconsin (21st ranked RPI), Boston College (125th ranked RPI, Texas A&M (13th ranked RPI) and Manhattan (226th ranked RPI) are also slated to appear in the tourney. Last year's RPI info from RealTimeRPI.com. (ht - WeAreND)

As long as UGA wins the first game against ND, it should get three pretty strong RPI games in Orlando. The only bad scenario is a first round loss followed by a weak RPI game against Manhattan.

Rumors:
In other hoops scheduling news and rumors, we're hearing that Georgia's road trip to Saint Louis to play Rick Majerus' squad may take place on Saturday, Nov. 20th. This is a bye week for Georgia football, and the Atlanta Falcons will play the Rams on Sunday, Nov. 21st. This isn't confirmed yet, but MemphisDog has it on good authority.

We're also hearing that UGA has one more home game to fill before the schedule is announced. The Dawgs are looking for a quality opponent to fill that last spot. Currently the slate of known games are:

Home:
Xavier (Feb. 2011)
UAB
Arkansas State (ht - MemphisDog)

Away:
Georgia Tech
Saint Louis

Neutral Games:
3 games Old Spice Tourney (See above)

Get a quality non-conference game in there at home, and it's a killer schedule. Thoughts on that slate?

PWD

Da'Rested

I have been all over this on twitter all day. Wasn't in a position for most of the day to access this site. Have been having a blast with the idiocy of this story.

On Twitter the guy you need to be following is Wes Rucker. He's the Vol beat writer for the Chattanooga Free Press. He broke the story last night, and he's been all over it all day.

PWD

Football Ticket Cutoff Scores Announced

Shocking cutoff levels really (Via Georgiadogs.com).

Season Tickets

• Contributors who ordered and have a cumulative score of 1,507 or higher will receive adjacent renewable season tickets.

Single Home Game Tickets

• Louisiana-Lafayette: All contributors who ordered will receive tickets.
  
• Arkansas: All contributors who ordered will receive tickets.
  
• Tennessee: No single game tickets were available because Tennessee receives the maximum allotment for a visiting team.
  
• Vanderbilt: All contributors who ordered will receive tickets.
  
• Idaho State: All contributors who ordered will receive tickets.
  
• Georgia Tech: All contributors who ordered will receive tickets.

Georgia versus Florida

• All contributors who ordered will receive tickets. All club level orders will be filled (cumulative score 51,000 points and higher).

Away Game Tickets

• South Carolina: All contributors who ordered will receive tickets.
  
• Mississippi State: All contributors who ordered will receive tickets.
  
• Colorado: All contributors who ordered with a cumulative score of 38,500 and higher will receive tickets. Tickets may be purchased through the Colorado Athletics Ticket Office beginning August 2nd by calling 303-492-8337 or online at CUBuffs.com.
  
• Kentucky: All contributors who ordered will receive tickets.
  
• Auburn: All contributors who ordered will receive tickets.

Well...I now feel like an idiot for not putting in an order for those Auburn tickets. I had heard a rumor of a wildly different cutoff for Colorado. So that's an interesting number. Overall, I'm shocked.

PWD

Images of the Decade

This aired back in January, and it's exceptional.

The Next UGA Athletic Director

There's never a good time to undergo a change like Damon Evans' departure from UGA. However, we have to look at the bright side. The athletic department is in rare air when it comes to its income statement, its competitive positioning and the compensation package.

On the flip side, the job won't be without its challenges, and that's what makes the hire so incredibly important.

Here's a partial list of some of the things the new AD will likely have to deal with in the next 5-6 years (in no particular order):

• Replacing the baseball coach - David Perno has dug himself an enormous hole, and it's possible that he'll pull himself out of it. However, making himself (a former utility infielder) as the pitching coach isn't the most confidence inspiring move this off season. To me, it would be like Mark Richt solving his problems with Willie Martinez by making himself the Defensive Coordinator.
  
  
• Retaining or Replacing Mark Fox - Mark Fox's timing in this transition is exceptional. He'll have a loaded team next year capable of making a helluva first impression on his new boss. In 100+ years of athletics, UGA has only lost two coaches to other programs that we wanted to keep -- Tubby Smith and Ron Polk. The new AD will likely see what Damon saw. The best/fastest opportunity to build a legacy at UGA is via basketball because Richt will get all the credit for football. Retaining Fox (or replacing him if he flames out) will be a major part of the new AD's job over the next 5 years. Luckily, the checks for Stegeman renovation were all written before Damon walked out.
  
  
• Replacing Andy Landers -- Landers turns 58 in October. It's not unreasonable to think that he'll be doing something other than coaching hoops when he's 64 years old. UGA has only had one full-time women's basketball coach in its history.
  
  
• Replacing the Gymnastics Coach - I don't want to poop on Jay. He had a solid first year, but almost nobody survives replacing a legend in their sport like Wooden or Bryant. That's what Suzanne was. Can he survive the next 5-6 years? Sure. Would I bet on him to make it? History says "no."
  
  
• Conference Realignment - It's highly unlikely that the conference landscape will stay the same over the next six years. How will UGA be positioned from a TV, Revenue, and Divisional Alignment standpoint?
  
  
• A new university president - Mike Adams is about 62 years old now. He won't be here much past 65. We'll need a strong leader to help us navigate that change.
  
  
• Replacing Jack Bauerle - Jack is also about 58 years old. Will he be here in 6 years? Probably...because that's just how he rolls. But how much longer beyond that?

And that's just a partial list of big personnel issues out there. There's also marketing opportunities to be unlocked, new media to be leveraged, facilities to be expanded and debt to be managed. All while getting many of our women's sports (other than softball) out of the ditch. Oh...and the football team could make this search a lot easier with a fast start in September of this year.

This is an absolutely enormous hire, and it's a tremendous part of Adams legacy. That's why I've got more confidence in his role in this search than many others. He knows how big a job this is, and what leaving us with a mess would do to his "place in history." Am I resting easy with Adams running the ship on this? No. But, I'm a lot more optimistic than others because the job offers so much.

PWD

About the Search Committee and the Process

Let me start by saying that I'm incredibly pleased with the quality of the search committee that Dr. Adams has assembled for the Athletic Director search, and I'm also pleased that he's setting a realistic time line for the AD search of 6 to 12 months.

The search committee includes (Bios from the Red and Black and Georgiadogs.com):

• Chairman: David Shipley -- Law School Professor, former Dean of the Law School, and faculty representative on the Athletic Board. (PWD Note: Dawgnoxious gave Shipley a big vouch as did another trusted source today. He's a big UGA fan attending many home and away football games)
  
  
• Jack Bauerle -- UGA's Swim Coach with multiple national titles under his belt. Former Coach of the US Olympic Women's team. (PWD Note: Former student, assistant coach and player who has been a part of the UGA athletic program since 1970. As an ultra successful coach for men's and women's swimming as well as an enormous football fan, Jack is the perfect fit for the committee to represent the coaches)
  
  
• Tom Landrum - Senior VP of External Affairs at UGA. Holds two degrees from UGA, and is a member of Mike Adams senior team. (PWD: It was a no brainer that he would be part of this committee.)
  
  
• Swann Seiler -- Member of UGA Athletics Executive Board, Trustee of UGA's Arch Foundation, Marketing Executive with the Southern Company* and UGA Journalism School Graduate. (PWD Note: Swann obviously understands the UGA culture as good as anyone in the group, and she's got a marketing / fund raising background to help with the search. Plus, most of our biggest boosters trust the Seiler family. Good voice for them in the process.)
  
  
• Carla Williams -- Senior AD for Women's Sports, two degrees from UGA and a PhD from FSU, former UGA basketball player and former assistant basketball coach under Andy Landers with two Final Four rings as an assistant. Prior to managing the women's programs at UGA, she ran the compliance department. (PWD Note: Making her part of the process is an excellent use of her skill set. Despite the articles mentioning her as a candidate that never made sense given her experience level. However, she can add real value here.)
  
  
• Robert "Trey" Sinyard -- a native of Athens and the recipient of a Foundation fellowship—the highest academic scholarship awarded to UGA students, is a student representative on the board of the UGA Athletic Association and a member of the cross country team. (PWD Note: Trey comes from a hardcore UGA family, and he's an incredibly bright kid.)

This is the type of search where Mike Adams can add value through this connections. As he said during the press conference, he knows many of the athletic director candidates across the country from his involvement as Chair of the SEC Board of Presidents and member of the NCAA's Executive Committee.

The fact that we're a tremendously profitable athletic department who looks to be willing to pay $600k or more makes the position incredibly attractive. UGA's Athletic Director position is one of the Top 10 or so jobs in terms of salary.

In fact, the compensation package should be enough to attract a variety of candidates outside of the traditional Athletic Director role. You're talking about a comp package that would interest Chief Operating Officers and Presidents of mid-sized companies with backgrounds in sports and sports marketing. More on that later.

For now, I just want to say that I'm very pleased with the committee.

See Also:
-- Frank Crumley is interim AD - AJC

PWD


*Not sure if Swann still with the Southern Company or not.

The New AD Search Begins Monday?

WSB-TV is reporting that Damon's tenure as AD ends Monday.  That should surprise exactly no one.  No matter what your job, a DUI is enough to put your employment in jeopardy.  But when you're the married, high profile head of the state's flagship athletic department, a DUI with a twenty-something girlfriend who throws her panties in your lap, it's fatal to your ongoing career.  The arrest report is hard to defend, even if he was an unpaid intern.

So our AD search likely begins tomorrow.  How confident are you that we will get someone who can compete with Jeremy Foley, Joe Alleva, and the rest of the ADs in the SEC and the country?  I for one am skeptical.  Our president, who will likely have veto power over the hiring at a minimum, has a spotty record for hires that won't embarrass the university.  Think Harrick.  Think Evans.  One might assume that the job would attract top talent.  We're highly profitable, still highly competitive, and have no major hiring decisions looming. 

Maybe our executive search firm will have so many good choices, Adams won't be able to screw the choice up.  But, I doubt it.

UPDATE: UGASports.com also has a couple of sources saying Damon's out and an announcement is coming tomorrow.   WSB has a list of possible replacements and The Mayor has already nominated Greg McGarity.

Quinton

Not to Kick a Man While He's Down, But ...

I swear I had this post scheduled before the colossal blunder by Damon Evans this week.  As evidence, I had a similar post last year, so I'm being consistent.  I have to preface this post as such because it's more bad news for the competitive aspect of the athletic department and head man (for now), Damon Evans.  

The final Sears Cup/Directors Cup/Learfield Sports Cup standings came out yesterday, right before Damon's other story broke.  Damon went from bad news to worse because the standings showed the worst performance by UGA athletic teams since 1997.  Georgia finished #20 in the standings.  Final standings can be found here.

The problem for Damon is this:

Check out the trend line for UGA.  The rise over run to that trend line is a decidedly negative number since 2004, the year Damon took over.  UF has been consistently excellent.  LSU has been erratic, but has finished above UGA for three years running now.  It's hard to look at that graph and see anything but a serious erosion of the athletic competitiveness of The University of Georgia over the past six years. 

Look, I get the statistical quirks of the Sears Cup calculations.  But, I'm not comparing us to Stanford, who offers over thirty varsity sports teams.  UF, LSU and UGA have been the perennial SEC representatives in the Sears Cup top 20 for the last ten years.  All three offer the same 19 sports, so the playing field is level among those three (UF has a lacrosse team, but didn't get any points; same for our horse riding program).  If UF can compete for the top spot in the standings, why can't we?  We offer the same sports.  Tennessee also bested us this year (even if you take out their ten points for women's rowing). This isn't MS 312, mutlivariable calculus, or grad level statistics.  It's simple math.  As much as I hate to admit it, we are falling behind our competition and have been doing so for six years running.

I also get that the athletic department makes massive, massive piles of cash money every year.  I understand that academically we are doing as well as we've likely ever done.  On both of those points, Damon can be largely credited, along with several other innovative and even courageous decisions.  But, if a company consistently turns increasing profits into progressively inferior products, how long before its customers start demanding better results and the profits decline?  Or, if we have so many resources, why aren't we leveraging those resources into competitive performance?

Quinton

Damon Evans

I am not currently in a position logistically to comment on this.

PWD