I've criticized Stricklin a lot in the past but this NC was all him and Golden. He made no effort to keep Mike White (and rightly so), and as soon as he left went after Golden. Three years later it proved to be a brilliant decision. Enjoy it, Scott. You earned it.
I just posted a question about Scott on Swamp Gas. Curious what some of the "football only" guys have to say.
To the OP: I recall something about a blind squirrel telling the correct time, but I forgot what it is. Anyways, yes, Todd is a true jewel.
He may be a blind squirrel, but he had a PLAN to have the right type of people to find that nut, and demonstrated it wasn't happenstance (any more than the usual 'everyone needs a break' luck to get to the championship.)
He got booed badly today, according to my daughter. Honestly kind of surprised by that. He hand picked Golden. I guess people are still fixated on football being mediocre for the last 3.5 seasons.
I think I’ll be speaking with Scott next week, for the purposes of a GC column. It will be about how he identified, targeted and hired Todd. If any specific questions or angles you are interested in…. Let me know.
Like the guy or not, I thought it was ridiculous to throw out that energy while our champs were sitting right there with him. There’s more appropriate opportunities to be petty.
IF this is true and Bruce was honest and sincere about it….wow. Good human being right there. If he did so with insincere intentions, it blew up in his face worse than a Looney Tunes dynamite.
I don’t think it’s entirely true. I think bruce gave an endorsement, but it wasn’t persistent persuasion. I do know Scott was very excited about the potential hire very quickly after meeting.
If he does choose that route, we’ll wish him good luck and go find another young whippersnapper coach. Let’s enjoy what we have now.
I would not love living in Chicago, but Billy is from up North, so maybe he doesn't mind the weather so much.
Maybe ask him about hiring a full offensive coordinator who can keep the chains moving consistently and sometimes even blowing out teams. Billy the kids like him and he needs to concentrate on what he does best, of course we have seen his trouble scoring and then our defense wears down before we can score enough points to pull away and force the opposing teams to become one dimensional which would help the defense defend.
I love Chicago. The winters suck but it is a very cool city. I grew up on the Southside which has a bad reputation (The US version of Shameless gets some things right) but Beverly, Hyde Park and Kenwood are totally awesome neighborhoods. The Obama's have a house in Kenwood and not Hyde Park. South Shore was nice back when I lived there but I haven't been there in ages. The Gap (east of the Dan Ryan from 31st to 35th) was the most crime ridden area in the city when I attended IIT in the early to mid-1970's but now it is mixed race middle class and very desirable. Young professional blacks turned that neighborhood around. Lots of old houses with great bones gotten on the cheap. But Billy D would probably live on the North Shore somewhere.
Took our oldest Grand there for a week for his 10th Birthday trip. Stayed at the CAA right on Michigan Ave. It was a first-time for all of us and we had a great visit. Chicago made QUITE the impression on an stute young man. A rich history in that city...entirely American.