Earlier this week, a number of Auburn season-ticket holders received phone calls thanking them for their support of the 2013 Tiger football team.  Those calls came from Cam Newton.

Sort of.

The former Heisman-winner at Auburn recorded a message that was used in a “robocall” campaign.  Newton’s message to the Auburn faithful:

“War Eagle!  This is Cam Newton.  I was blown away by the strong showing of the Auburn Family at A-Day to celebrate a new day of Auburn football.  Coach (Gus) Malzahn has developed a fast-paced, exciting, hard-nosed team that plays football the Auburn way.  I just wanted to personally thank you for your support of the team.  I know we will be rolling Toomer’s Corner again this fall.  Bring your friends to help us sell out every game and let’s create an atmosphere that propelled us to a national championship.  I look forward to seeing you at Jordan-Hare Stadium on August 31st for our season-opener against Washington State.  War Eagle!”

In case you’re wondering how Auburn fans plan on rolling Toomer’s Corner now that the two majestic oaks felled by Harvey Updyke have been removed, click here.  The school is planning to use strands of wire to catch the tossed toilet paper until new trees grow large enough to handle the weight on their own.

Mike Leach has never been afraid to speak his mind.  (Or to lock a kid in an equipment shed if you believe Craig James.)  Earlier this week, Washington State’s head coach shared his thoughts about the differences between conferences… specifically, the difference between the SEC and everyone else:

“Everybody loves to try to talk about these differences.  Conferences want their (own identity).  ‘They’re the power conference, they’re the speed conference, they’re the skill conference.’  All that’s a bunch of baloney, I’ll tell you that.  Once you’re in one of the major conferences, everybody’s got 300-pounders, everybody’s got people that can run.  As boring as this answer is, although it’s unique and more accurate, these conferences are all the same.

The difference with the SEC that does exist — don’t think in the SEC that the skill guys are any faster or better than the skill guys in the other conferences — what I do think is different is defensive front guys.  They’ve got good speed in their defensive fronts.  In other words, in the SEC, I think, a lot of time, you’ll see teams playing with four bona fide, good-looking, talented defensive linemen, where I do think that other conferences are playing with two or something like that.

After that, I’m telling you, not to dash any hopes, they’re very similar and remarkably the same.”

There’s no question that Leach knows what he’s talking about as he’s coached all over, including in the SEC.  But the fact that NFL teams draft more SEC players each year than players from other leagues tempers his statement just a bit.

After the 2012 season ended with a disappointing 5-7 record, Missouri head coach Gary Pinkel announced there would be no changes on his staff.  Just days later, offensive coordinator David Yost resigned… after 12 years at Missouri and 17 years with Pinkel.

Yost told CBSSports.com that he intended to sit out this season and re-charge his batteries, so to speak, but instead he’ll be coaching receivers — and only receivers — at Washington State under second-year coach Mike Leach.  So what happened at Mizzou:

“I’d just gotten tired.  I didn’t want to do it anymore…

I always loved my job, looked forward to it.  It got to a point where I didn’t love my job…

When I was single, I coached.  I was an office rat.  I was good.  It was great.  Over time you get married.  You have your first, your second, your third child.  When I moved to coordinator I didn’t do a good enough job delegating off things….

I’m working right now to make sure I don’t get in a heavy workload.  When my family gets here I want to make sure I have time for them, it gives me a chance to kind of reinvent myself.”

The NCAA’s recent decision to remove contact limitations and dead periods from its recruiting rules might impact Yost’s plan for a less busy lifestyle.

Pinkel replaced Yost by promoting co-offensive line coach Josh Henson to offensive coordinator in December.  Receivers coach Andy Hill was moved over to quarterbacks to fill Yost’s other duties.

Apologies for a quickie headline post today.  Too much going on with coaching searches and phone calls to check on coaching searches.

1.  Gene Chizik believes he can turn things around at Auburn.

2.  Is Alabama becoming too pass happy?

3.  Here are this week’s SEC football Players of the Week.

4.  Bowl projections for everyone.

5.  The SEC’s BCS title streak is in jeopardy now.

6.  Is Texas A&M proving that big, bad SEC defenses can be taken down by “an offense imported from Conference USA.”

7.  Pushing hard to land an SEC job, could Tommy Tuberville’s slap of a grad assistant hurt his chances?

8.  Meet the SEC’s hoops Players of the Week.

9.  TCU’s Gary Patterson sorta/kinda denies the Arkansas rumors.

10.  Mike Leach says he won’t be leaving Washington State this offseason.

11.  Ex-Ohio State coach Jim Tressel says there’s “no substance” to rumors that he might land at Kentucky.

12.  Mississippi State fans can tell you that it’s never good to be described as “reeling.”

13.  Florida quarterback Jeff Driskel is doubtful for Saturday’s game with Jacksonville State due to a sprained ankle.

14. From bad to worse: Tennessee loses linebacker Curt Maggitt to an ACL tear.

15.  Vanderbilt coach James Franklin said “that wound has healed” when asked about Derek Dooley’s postgame celebration after UT beat Vandy last year.

16.  Texas A&M was simply the better team in Tuscaloosa on Saturday.

17.  South Carolina opened the Frank Martin era with a win over Wisconsin-Milwaukee.

18.  Ready for another Kentucky-Duke hoops clash tomorrow?

What do you get when you add together a 6-18 record over two seasons, a 1-15 SEC record over that span, a third coaching change since 2004, three straight losses to your biggest rival, a new coach with a very limited track record, a fundraising campaign that requires a donation on top of the cost of tickets, the continued growth of HD television and the number of games broadcast each week, and a poor global economy?

A drop in season ticket sales at Ole Miss, that’s what.  According to The Jackson Clarion-Ledger, UM ticket sales are down about 3,000 from this point last year.  Of its 45,000 season tickets, the school has sold only about 32,000 so far (not counting student tix).

New AD Ross Bjork acknowledges the problem:

“We got some work to do.  There’s not doubt about that.  We just have to keep talking, keep pushing, keep selling…

Get people to believe we can get this thing turned around and invest now because of the vision for the program.  That’s been our message.  ‘Hey, we know we’ve had some bumps along the road the last couple of years, but get in now because we’re building this program the right way.’”

This is one of the ironies of college football.  Fans vote with their wallets and in Ole Miss’ case last year, the fans voted to oust Houston Nutt.  But rarely do season ticket sales jump after a coaching change is made — unless a school brings in a major name (more on that in a second).  Most fans take a wait-and-see approach with the new guy’s regime before spending cash to return to the stadium.  So schools often nuke a coach because of attendance issues, yet those attendance issues aren’t often fixed simply by nuking said coach.

As for a “major name,” one wonders if season ticket sales in Oxford would be going a bit better today had the Rebels tabbed Mike Leach as their new coach instead of Hugh Freeze.  Leach is a wild card and there’s a reason he’s coached in Lubbock, Texas and Pullman, Washington… two towns about as far off the beaten path as a man can get.  But Leach was available.  And he had an immediate impact at the ticket window at Washington State.  From a wins and losses standpoint and from a ticket sales standpoint, Freeze and the Rebels will forever be compared to Leach and the Cougars.  Fair or not.

It’ll be fun to see who turns things around first.  (And, yes, Rebel fans, the Pac-12 is an easier league than the SEC, but that won’t stop the comparisons that you know are coming.)

Just days after losing safeties coach and recruiting coordinator Terry Joseph to Nebraska, it appears Derek Dooley has once again — barring any more departures — completed his coaching staff. 

The University of Tennessee has announced the hiring of Josh Conklin, who is currently serving as the defensive coordinator at The Citadel.  Conklin also coached safeties at the Charleston school.

Prior to The Citadel, Conklin coached at Wofford.

Yesterday we told you that former UT assistant Eric Russell had admitted that job security issues led him to leave the Volunteer staff for a spot on Washington State’s coaching team.  We suspect five of the other six Dooley assistants to leave Knoxville this offseason — one has retired — left for similar reasons.

So who might be willing to join a staff that could be blown to smithereens at the end of the season?  Let’s see:


* Conklin gets a big step up in moving from The Citadel to Tennessee.

* Sal Sunseri went from linebackers coach at Alabama to SEC defensive coordinator with his jump.

* Derrick Ainsley is a former Alabama grad assistant under Sunseri who had been in his first full-time job (at Central Florida) for less than three months before joining the Vols.

* Special teams/tight ends coach Charlie Coiner coached at North Carolina during their troubled 2010 season before sitting out the 2011 campaign.

* Offensive line coach Sam Pittman was also on North Carolina’s staff, but he stuck with the Tar Heels until the whole group was blown up at the end of this past season.

* Defensive line coach John Palermo has coached at some big name programs, but he moves to UT after a two-year stint at Middle Tennessee State.

* Finally, new running backs coach Jay Graham made the move from South Carolina to work at his alma mater.


It’s quite clear the top names in the biz weren’t too keen on climbing aboard the SS Dooley as it sails into a make-or-break 2012 season.  That’s not to say the current crew can’t win, but it’s understandable if Vol fans are a little underwhelmed at the moment.

Since a season-ending loss at Kentucky last November, the Tennessee football program has hemorrhaged some seven assistant football coaches from a staff that only runs nine-deep.  Former Vol tight ends and special teams coach Eric Russell — who left UT to join ex-boss Mike Leach at Washington State — undoubtedly spoke for many of his former co-workers when he said an uncertainty in the staff’s status contributed to his departure:


“I think at Tennessee, it was going to come down to how many games you won the next year, and unfortunately nobody’s got a crystal ball.  I tried to take the sentimental stuff out of it.  A chance to be an assistant head coach and concentrate purely on special teams was a little bit of a unique situation.”


Let’s play a little game.  Let’s say you’re an assistant football coach.  You can either:


A.  Stay in your current job on a one-year contract knowing that if your squad doesn’t win seven or eight games for some reason, you’re a goner at year’s end.

or…

B.  You can re-start your coaching clock by going to another school and getting more guaranteed time (or money should you be blown up after a year).


I think it’s pretty clear that Option B is the safest, smartest bet.  Which explains — in part — why several Derek Dooley aides have vamoosed to other schools for job titles that would have to be considered even.

The fact that Dooley — like Alabama’s Nick Saban, his old boss — has a reputation for not being the best guy to work for likely also added to the mass exodus from Knoxville.  Of course, in Saban’s case, his assistants are paid handsomely and have plenty of security via their tremendous success. 

That’s not been the case at Tennessee under Dooley.

Add another open coordinator spot to the list of SEC vacancies.  ESPN is reporting that Tennessee defensive coordinator Justin Wilcox and linebackers coach Peter Sirmon have both agreed to join the staff at Washington.

Wilcox — in his second year at UT — managed to lead the young, thin Vols to a Top 35 national ranking in total defense.  He and Sirmon both played football at Oregon.  Wilcox was the defensive coordinator at Oregon before joining Tennessee’s staff.

Derek Dooley is also in need of a replacement for Eric Russell, the Vols’ special teams coordinator and tight ends coach who left for Washington State last month.

Content provided by Swamp Things – Gators Blog.

Offensive coordinator Steve Addazio has drawn much of the criticism for the offense's struggles. (Orlando Sentinel photo)

In his second season as offensive coordinator, Steve Addazio has taken a lot of the heat from fans for the Gators’ offensive struggles. But coach Urban Meyer said Monday that right now he anticipates Addazio staying in that position next season.

“I am expecting that to happen,” Meyer said. “I’ll have further updates as we get closer to the bowl game. Like I said, everybody’s out recruiting and doing their business.”

Florida ranks 79th in total offense. The best team in the country in pass efficiency a year ago, the Gators are 85th this season. And only four teams in the country rank lower than the Gators in red zone offense – Wyoming, Florida Atlantic, Washington State and Buffalo.

Meyer said he’s still in the evaluation process, but the Gators will have at least one position to fill with defensive line coach Dan McCarney’s departure for North Texas. GA Tony Weaver is filling in in the interim.