Man Up!

I like football. My wife would probably tell you that I love it - but I don't listen to sports talk, I can't tell you what local high school star is going to which college, and I can't even tell you who the local NFL team drafted last, whenever the draft was.

More specifically I like the University of Tennessee Volunteers. Why? Because my momma is from Tennessee and she bleeds orange. And since she's my momma I inherited it from her. It's that simple - I didn't pay the school for a degree, thus ensuring my everlasting love and allegiance to the school - but I dig the orange and white, I dig the checkerboard end-zone, the power T, the circle drill, the band playing Rocky Top, Smokie, the sound of 107,000 people in the stadium, etc., etc. When does football season start and when do tickets for the Tennessee - Oregon game go on sell!?

OK, so maybe "like" isn't a strong enough word. Maybe I do love football, just not as much as some guys.

But my Vols have kind of stunk it up the last few years. The last 2 years they've won 12 games and lost 13, and they didn't even go to a bowl game after the 2008 season. This past year they were humiliated by Virginia Tech in the Peach Bowl. And they're on their third coach in 3 years. The coach this past year left after only 1 year! 1 year! But I digress.....

What this is really about is the coach, or coaches. You see, after the 2008 season the university pushed out their long-time coach Phil Fulmer after a 5-7 season in which they lost to Wyoming(!) and didn't go to a bowl game. So they hired a young guy named Lane Kiffin as coach. Mr. Kiffin did OK, and led the team to a 7-6 season, still not up to UT standards but a step in the right direction. Lane Kiffin brought along his dad, Monte Kiffin, who'd been a top coach in the NFL.

Lane Kiffin took the team to a bowl game, and a winning season. And he did this with essentially the same team that Phil Fulmer had the year before. He used the same QB, the same offensive line, and the same running backs. He used the same resources as were available to the previous coach.

Ditto that for Nick Saban at Alabama. He got to the University of Alabama prior to the 2007 season. In 2006 their record was 6-7, in 2007 under Saban they finished 7-6 and won their bowl game. In 2008 they went 12-2, last year (2009) they finished 14-0 and won the national title.

Much the same for Urban Meier at Florida. He arrived in 2005. The year prior to his arrival Florida was 7-5. His first year (2005) they were 9-3, and the following year (2006) they were 13-1 and won the national title.

And now the Vols have a new coach. Derek Dooley is his name. I can only hope that his results are similar to the results of the guys at Florida and Alabama. Only time will tell though. And really, I liked Lane Kiffin and his dad and I hated to see them go (to Southern Cal of all places) because to me it looked like they were on the right path.

But what does this have to do with anything important? I'll tell you - a common mantra from these guys was "we're going to get the job done and turn this program back into a winning program." You never ONCE heard any of these coaches come out and say any of the following:
"the running back the previous coach recruited is too slow."
"the previous coach let the weight room facilities languish."
"we can't throw the ball because the previous coach didn't develop the quarterback to my liking."
You didn't hear anything like this because these coaches came in to town to get things done, not make excuses. They arrived, took stock of the situation, accepted that it was their responsibility to make things right, and then took to making things right.

Yet we have as a leader of our country a man who defers all responsibility to the previous coach, or previous President as it were. President Obama has laid the following at the feet of his predecessor:
the recession - George W. Bush's fault;
financial institution misdeeds - George W. Bush's fault;
global warming - George W. Bush's fault;
Muslim hatred of America - George W. Bush's fault;
the health care "crisis" - George W. Bush's fault;
the Gulf of Mexico oil spill - George W. Bush's fault;
illegal immigration - George W. Bush's fault;

Here's a tip for President Obama - MAN UP! You're the biggest boy with the biggest toys in the sandbox. Stop blaming someone who has not been in the sandbox for a year and a half for the mess the sandbox is in. If it's a mess, clean it up! It's your job now. And it's the job that you pursued.

Football is a silly game. Yet plenty of coaches have taken a team from loser to winner in one year by manning up, taking responsibility for a situation, and turning it around. Blaming a previous coach never works. But perhaps these coaches who wear funny visors, throw temper tantrums on the sidelines, and slap their players (who wear tights no less!) on the ass are more man than you.