Brady and Patriots drifting apart-Apparently there is some concern on the Patriots side regarding Brady and his contract being up at the end of the season. They don't like the fact that he has spent the last few offseasons in LA with his son instead of in New England. Don't think anything will come of this but maybe Brady will make the move to the Niners in a year to be closer to his son as well as the place where he grew up.
New Airline Regulations from Department of Transportation -DOT coming out with new regulations that among other things raise compensation for passengers denied boarding oversold flights (as well as require the airline to give you the option of getting cash) and reimbursement of baggage fees and expenses if luggage not delivered on time
Moving Towards No More Plastic Bags in Cali-California Legislature at it again and the State Assembly passed a law where they ban plastic bags from pharmacies, groceries, convenience stores and liquor stores while also making retailers charge at least a nickel for paper bags. No idea if it will actually be signed into law.
NBA Scouts on Lakers-Celtics-Sports Illustrated asks NBA scout about the NBA Finals matchup. Scouts pick Lakers in 6. Scout think that Kobe should guard Rondo for short parts of games. Scout had an interesting comment that he thinks that Kobe doesn't get the calls that Lebron and Wade get.
June 3, 2010
May 10, 2010
New Links
The Post-Hispanic Hispanic Politician-talks about Julian Castro (Mayor of San Antonio) who some people think will one day be the first Hispanic President. Also of note, there is another George Bush (Jeb's son) in the pipeline who is Mexican on his mother's side and may be the great Republican hope.
Some liberals disappointed with Kagan-Basically the left is looking for a liberal Scalia or Roberts and Kagan is not it. Obama not really looking for that kind of fight though. Richard Primus quoted in article.
Should baseball merge leagues? -Discussion as to whether baseball should merge the AL and NL. Apparently the AL has been stronger the last few years and merging leagues would get the better teams into the playoffs (article argues that reason for this is DH rule). Also says should come up with uniform DH rule for entire league.
Post Spring Practice College Football Top 25-Bama number 1, Boise St 2. USC lowest I've seen them ranked in a long time. Michigan opening opponent UConn ranked 24.
How to build a Time Machine-Stephen Hawking on how to build a time machine in 3000 words or less. So he has moved on from talking about aliens coming to kill us all onto time travel
Some liberals disappointed with Kagan-Basically the left is looking for a liberal Scalia or Roberts and Kagan is not it. Obama not really looking for that kind of fight though. Richard Primus quoted in article.
Should baseball merge leagues? -Discussion as to whether baseball should merge the AL and NL. Apparently the AL has been stronger the last few years and merging leagues would get the better teams into the playoffs (article argues that reason for this is DH rule). Also says should come up with uniform DH rule for entire league.
Post Spring Practice College Football Top 25-Bama number 1, Boise St 2. USC lowest I've seen them ranked in a long time. Michigan opening opponent UConn ranked 24.
How to build a Time Machine-Stephen Hawking on how to build a time machine in 3000 words or less. So he has moved on from talking about aliens coming to kill us all onto time travel
May 3, 2010
Today's links
Obama interviews Kagan for Supreme Court spot-Apparently the list is currently down to 4: Kagan, Garland, Wood, and Sydney Thomas the surprise contender from Montana. Wood is probably the only one that Republicans would raise any fuss about.
3 Problems that Financial Reform Not Going to Address-Major concern that the new regulation is not going to address three things that were a huge part of the financial crisis. Specifically, reform of Freddie and Fannie, leverage and capital Ratio requirements, and credit runs on short term debt.
The Business of Owning a NBA team-Not alot of NBA teams doing very well financially. Team like Cavaliers who at the top of the league with most marketable player going to need long playoff run just to break even.
Andrew Luck, Stanford QB-profile of Andrew Luck one of better pro prospects in college football. Apparently unique because he actually takes real classes instead of general athlete stuff
Andrew Cuomo relationship with his father-Cuomo has kind of a different relationship with his father. Very businesslike and calls him Mario. Mario does call up all his boys and tell them they should support his son
Mexico trying to recruit American born players-Mexico wants to take any talented Hispanic Americans born get them to play for the Mexican national team in soccer. So far there have not been any.
FDA plans to limit amount of sodium in processed foods-Americans eat too much sodium. FDA thinks we should cut down the amount of sodium in food by half over the next 10 years. Rationale is that something like 77% of sodium comes from the processed foods meaning that consumers are unable to self-regulate
3 Problems that Financial Reform Not Going to Address-Major concern that the new regulation is not going to address three things that were a huge part of the financial crisis. Specifically, reform of Freddie and Fannie, leverage and capital Ratio requirements, and credit runs on short term debt.
The Business of Owning a NBA team-Not alot of NBA teams doing very well financially. Team like Cavaliers who at the top of the league with most marketable player going to need long playoff run just to break even.
Andrew Luck, Stanford QB-profile of Andrew Luck one of better pro prospects in college football. Apparently unique because he actually takes real classes instead of general athlete stuff
Andrew Cuomo relationship with his father-Cuomo has kind of a different relationship with his father. Very businesslike and calls him Mario. Mario does call up all his boys and tell them they should support his son
Mexico trying to recruit American born players-Mexico wants to take any talented Hispanic Americans born get them to play for the Mexican national team in soccer. So far there have not been any.
FDA plans to limit amount of sodium in processed foods-Americans eat too much sodium. FDA thinks we should cut down the amount of sodium in food by half over the next 10 years. Rationale is that something like 77% of sodium comes from the processed foods meaning that consumers are unable to self-regulate
May 2, 2010
News Aggregation
It's been awhile since I posted anything on the blog but I think I am going to try posting more often and generally trying to get a post every day (this may be too ambitious) aggregating news from around the web that I thought valuable. So here is my first iteration.
Bankruptcy lawyers getting paid off from Lehman
High Fructose Corn Syrup maybe not so bad
Why the Senate is killing the judicial careers of up and comers like Goodwin Liu
Synopsis for penultimate Wheel of Time book
Has Ahmadinejad crushed the Green Movement?
Arizona not the only problem when it comes to immigration
White House Correspondent's Dinner (Obama funny, Leno not so much)
World's Worst Immigration Laws
Catholic Bishops come out against Arizona immigration law
Education Research not up to par
Bankruptcy lawyers getting paid off from Lehman
High Fructose Corn Syrup maybe not so bad
Why the Senate is killing the judicial careers of up and comers like Goodwin Liu
Synopsis for penultimate Wheel of Time book
Has Ahmadinejad crushed the Green Movement?
Arizona not the only problem when it comes to immigration
White House Correspondent's Dinner (Obama funny, Leno not so much)
World's Worst Immigration Laws
Catholic Bishops come out against Arizona immigration law
Education Research not up to par
November 1, 2009
Rich Rodriguez and other coaches
I have always felt that you really start to judge a coach on how their team does in their second season. I have had this in my head based on the performances of Jim Tressel, Bob Stoops, Urban Meyer, Nick Saban, and Pete Carroll during their second years and their current schools. I thought it would be a good idea to take a look at a number coaches record in their second years (and their schools records for the previous five before they were hired) and compare their performance to that of Rich Rodriguez.
This is not necessarily the fairest comparison because every situation is different and looking solely at record does not take into account of things like strength of schedule. Still I think that the examples listed are useful in evaluating the tenure of Rich Rodriguez. I put the down the records for the coaches listed above and put in a few others as well. Les Miles and Jim Harbaugh were both listed because they are Michigan alums who are head coaches at BCS conferences. I included Mike Leach because I wanted an example of a spread team. Tedford is in there because of the rapid improvement that Cal showed under him. Texas was included because they are one of the top programs in the nation and I included Michigan St so I could get a comparison from down the road in East Lansing.
Alabama (Nick Saban)
2003 7-5
2002 10-3
2004 6-6
2005 10-2
2006 6-7
After coaching change:
2007 7-6
2008 12-2
Ohio State (Jim Tressel)
1996 11-1
1997 10-3
1998 11-1
1999 6-6
2000 8-4
After coaching change:
2001 7-5
2002 14-0
USC (Pete Carroll)
1996 6-6
1997 6-5
1998 8-5
1999 6-6
2000 5-7
After coaching change:
2001 6-6
2002 11-2
Florida (Urban Meyer)
2000 10-3
2001 10-2
2002 8-5
2003 8-5
2004 7-5
After coaching change:
2005 9-3
2006 13-1
Texas Tech (Mike Leach)
1995 9-3
1996 7-5
1997 6-5
1998 7-4
1999 6-5
After coaching change:
2000 7-6
2001 7-5
Cal (Jeff Tedford)
1997 3-8
1998 5-6
1999 0-11
2000 3-8
2001 1-10
After coaching change:
2002 7-5
2003 8-6
Oklahoma (Bob Stoops)
1994 6-6
1995 5-5-1
1996 3-8
1997 4-8
1998 5-6
After coaching change:
1999 7-5
2000 13-0
LSU (Les Miles)
2000 8-4
2001 10-3
2002 8-5
2003 13-1
2004 9-3
After coaching change:
2005 11-2
2006 11-2
Stanford (Jim Harbaugh)
2002 2-9
2003 4-7
2004 4-7
2005 5-6
2006 1-11
After coaching change:
2007 4-8
2008 5-7
Texas (Mack Brown)
1993 5-5-1
1994 8-4
1995 10-2-1
1996 8-5
1997 4-7
After coaching change:
1998 9-3
1999 9-5
Michigan State (Mark Dantonio)
2002 4-8
2003 8-5
2004 5-7
2005 5-6
2006 4-8
After coaching change:
2007 7-6
2008 9-4
Michigan (Rich Rodriguez)
2003 10-3
2004 9-3
2005 7-5
2006 11-2
2007 9-4
After coaching change:
2008 3-9
2009 5-4
There were a few other coaches I could have listed who had success later in their tenure but didn't because showing their record during their second season would have been shown anything. In particular these coaches were Mark Mangino, Gary Pinkel, Greg Schiano, and Kirk Ferentz. Alot of people think that their wasn't alot of talent for Rich Rodriguez to work with, but I still don't think the Michigan situation was very comparable to Kansas, Missouri, or Rutgers. Kirk Ferentz went from 1-10 to 3-9 to 7-5 to 11-2 (and had two great seasons after that as well)
Charlie Weis wasn't there despite his decent record in his second year because of his sharp drop off later. I didn't include Brian Kelly because everyone is pretty familiar with his success and Mark Dantonio was started to do alright at Cincinnati before Kelly came. Paul Johnson was fairly successful his first year and I felt like there was no reason to look at him. Other than the exceptions mentioned, I could not think of any coaches who took over a program and really started to get it done in the third season or later (maybe Wake Forest, I am open to any suggestions). This is not to say that Rich Rodriguez will not be successful, just that our lack of progress in year 2 is a bit concerning.
Alot of these teams may not be the best comparison and it may be better to take a look at more spread teams that made drastic changes in their offense and that maybe an area for further research. Otherwise I think that the above numbers speak for themselves and don't really need much analysis. I think the most impressive jobs were probably done by Pete Carroll, Jeff Tedford, and Bob Stoops.
However, as long as Bill Martin is the athletic director Rich Rodriguez is not going anywhere. I mean Tommy Amaker was given six years to try and make it work. A new athletic director however is kind of an unknown quantity and it is unknown as to what standard he would hold a coach to.
This is not necessarily the fairest comparison because every situation is different and looking solely at record does not take into account of things like strength of schedule. Still I think that the examples listed are useful in evaluating the tenure of Rich Rodriguez. I put the down the records for the coaches listed above and put in a few others as well. Les Miles and Jim Harbaugh were both listed because they are Michigan alums who are head coaches at BCS conferences. I included Mike Leach because I wanted an example of a spread team. Tedford is in there because of the rapid improvement that Cal showed under him. Texas was included because they are one of the top programs in the nation and I included Michigan St so I could get a comparison from down the road in East Lansing.
Alabama (Nick Saban)
2003 7-5
2002 10-3
2004 6-6
2005 10-2
2006 6-7
After coaching change:
2007 7-6
2008 12-2
Ohio State (Jim Tressel)
1996 11-1
1997 10-3
1998 11-1
1999 6-6
2000 8-4
After coaching change:
2001 7-5
2002 14-0
USC (Pete Carroll)
1996 6-6
1997 6-5
1998 8-5
1999 6-6
2000 5-7
After coaching change:
2001 6-6
2002 11-2
Florida (Urban Meyer)
2000 10-3
2001 10-2
2002 8-5
2003 8-5
2004 7-5
After coaching change:
2005 9-3
2006 13-1
Texas Tech (Mike Leach)
1995 9-3
1996 7-5
1997 6-5
1998 7-4
1999 6-5
After coaching change:
2000 7-6
2001 7-5
Cal (Jeff Tedford)
1997 3-8
1998 5-6
1999 0-11
2000 3-8
2001 1-10
After coaching change:
2002 7-5
2003 8-6
Oklahoma (Bob Stoops)
1994 6-6
1995 5-5-1
1996 3-8
1997 4-8
1998 5-6
After coaching change:
1999 7-5
2000 13-0
LSU (Les Miles)
2000 8-4
2001 10-3
2002 8-5
2003 13-1
2004 9-3
After coaching change:
2005 11-2
2006 11-2
Stanford (Jim Harbaugh)
2002 2-9
2003 4-7
2004 4-7
2005 5-6
2006 1-11
After coaching change:
2007 4-8
2008 5-7
Texas (Mack Brown)
1993 5-5-1
1994 8-4
1995 10-2-1
1996 8-5
1997 4-7
After coaching change:
1998 9-3
1999 9-5
Michigan State (Mark Dantonio)
2002 4-8
2003 8-5
2004 5-7
2005 5-6
2006 4-8
After coaching change:
2007 7-6
2008 9-4
Michigan (Rich Rodriguez)
2003 10-3
2004 9-3
2005 7-5
2006 11-2
2007 9-4
After coaching change:
2008 3-9
2009 5-4
There were a few other coaches I could have listed who had success later in their tenure but didn't because showing their record during their second season would have been shown anything. In particular these coaches were Mark Mangino, Gary Pinkel, Greg Schiano, and Kirk Ferentz. Alot of people think that their wasn't alot of talent for Rich Rodriguez to work with, but I still don't think the Michigan situation was very comparable to Kansas, Missouri, or Rutgers. Kirk Ferentz went from 1-10 to 3-9 to 7-5 to 11-2 (and had two great seasons after that as well)
Charlie Weis wasn't there despite his decent record in his second year because of his sharp drop off later. I didn't include Brian Kelly because everyone is pretty familiar with his success and Mark Dantonio was started to do alright at Cincinnati before Kelly came. Paul Johnson was fairly successful his first year and I felt like there was no reason to look at him. Other than the exceptions mentioned, I could not think of any coaches who took over a program and really started to get it done in the third season or later (maybe Wake Forest, I am open to any suggestions). This is not to say that Rich Rodriguez will not be successful, just that our lack of progress in year 2 is a bit concerning.
Alot of these teams may not be the best comparison and it may be better to take a look at more spread teams that made drastic changes in their offense and that maybe an area for further research. Otherwise I think that the above numbers speak for themselves and don't really need much analysis. I think the most impressive jobs were probably done by Pete Carroll, Jeff Tedford, and Bob Stoops.
However, as long as Bill Martin is the athletic director Rich Rodriguez is not going anywhere. I mean Tommy Amaker was given six years to try and make it work. A new athletic director however is kind of an unknown quantity and it is unknown as to what standard he would hold a coach to.
August 15, 2009
Nathan Wolfe on pandemics
Nathan Wolfe and his team found the origin of human malaria. Their methods may predict the next pandemic
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