In the past I've questioned The Sporting News' Tom Dienhart's love affair with TOB. Well now he has come out with his ACC coaches ranking. Guess who he ranked last? This is how he gushed about TOB: "...O'Brien is a great coach. He worked for too long in anonymity at Boston College, where he never was fully appreciated." Something is up here.
Every writer (including this one) has biases and agendas. Mine are pretty obvious. I want to see BC win and will lean pro BC in most of my work. I don't know anything about Dienhart's relationship with TOB, but there is an angle. Take this article. First, you could argue that putting Shannon and Jags (two new coaches) at the bottom is unfair. But why is Shannon ahead of Jags? Jags was a coordinator in a BCS conference a decade ago. He just left a coordinator position in the NFL. Shannon has been on hand as Miami self destructed. What makes him a better coach than Jags? Then Dienhart closes with this little jab: "...But can he run the whole show? The jury is out. But know this: Jags inherited a loaded deck and needs to win big this fall. And if he tastes success, will he bolt back to the NFL." In those few sentences he raised expectation for Jags, set him up for a fall and then hedged by saying (paraphrasing) "if he wins, he's gone." TOB couldn't have said it better himself.
Why do I care? I guess I shouldn't. Tom Dienhart doesn't matter. He is a no-name columnist for a struggling brand. What bothers me is that I anticipate more shilling for TOB in the future and a few more digs at Jags.
One day Jags will give us plenty to rank, grade and discuss. In the meantime give the guy a chance to do something on the field and ignore this TOB mouthpiece.
Thanks to BCDee for finding this gem.
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2 comments:
What a hack that guy is. I tried to find some background indicating an animus towards BC, but I couldn't.
Anyway, I think it's pretty clear that you should not have a job writing about college football if you refer to Chan Gailey as a noted "tactician."
Also, a brief nitpicky note about Randy Shannon. I think he's a damn good coach, and Miami's defense has never been their weak link--let's say he had some connection to BC, I don't think anyone would be dissapointed to have him as our coach. I also think it's amusing that he's at #11 on the list and the Hen is at #3, considering that...well Shannon DOMINATED O'Brien and his offensive coaches (read: the current NC State coaching staff) last year, and over the past few years. So I'm not sure how that checks out.
Also, he makes a completely unfounded assumption about Jags bolting back to the NFL, but confidently writes that Butch Davis is in the college ranks for the long haul. Hilarious stuff.
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