My name is Brent. I am the Executive Producer of the Bubba The Love Sponge® Show, heard on Sirius XM Satellite Radio (Howard 101), and on terrestrial radio for Beasley Broadcasting and Cox Radio, Inc. I appreciate Tucker Carlson giving me this opportunity to speak with you about my passion — NCAA Football and NCAA Basketball.
I am a real Libertarian, so nobody listens to me about politics. Besides, Tucker has plenty of talented people here to handle politics for you. In the interest of full disclosure, I am a fan of the Florida Gators and the U.S. Naval Academy. Most people that do sports talk shows or columns will never tell you what their bias may or may not be.
The college football season this year was not controversial in that nobody thinks there’s a team more deserving than Alabama to be No. 1. Nor is there anyone more deserving of the Heisman Trophy than Alabama running back Mark Ingram. It seems the excitement and controversy started after the season ended.
The first shocking statements came when coach Urban Meyer announced he was stepping down as Gator’s head coach due to health issues. After the pasting of Cincinnati in the Sugar Bowl, Gator Nation was relieved to hear Urban tell Fox Sports’ Chris Myers, “I’ll be coaching the Gators next year” live on television.
Texas Tech coach Mike Leach was summarily dismissed for allegedly putting wide receiver Adam James in a shed after James reportedly had a concussion. And there’s more. Leach and Texas Tech fans claim that James’ famous father Craig James – through his relationship with the provost marshal at Texas Tech – was instrumental in the firing of Leach.
In another alleged abuse case, Jim Leavitt the coach of the South Florida Bulls was fired for choking and slapping walk-on sophomore Joel Miller. Miller first denied the reports on ESPN. Yesterday, however, I attended a press conference in which Miller’s attorney asserted that he initially lied to protect Leavitt. Now Miller is seeking an apology with the threat of litigation if he doesn’t get said apology. South Florida has moved on and hired Skip Holtz, the son of coaching great and ESPN analyst Lou Holtz. It’s a great hire for the Bulls.
Then there’s the anomaly of coaching, Lane Kiffin. Again, in the interest of full disclosure, I used to cover the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and his father, defensive coordinator Monte Kiffin, was someone I spoke with often. I do like Monte. Lane, however, was hired at 32 to be the head coach of the Oakland Raiders. He managed to rack up a 5-15 record before cantankerous Raiders owner Al Davis fired him during the season, calling Kiffin a “flat out liar.”
Kiffin was then hired for what many consider one of the best jobs in the NCAA, head coach of the Tennessee Volunteers. Kiffin ruffled the feathers of all the Vols rivals before his team took the field once. Then, faster than you can say charlatan, he ends up 7-6 and packs up his circus and heads for USC. From Pete Carroll to Lane Kiffin, USC is in big trouble. The Ducks, Bears, Wildcats, Sun Devils, Huskies and the rest of the PAC-10 are licking their collective chops.