Profiles In Plagiar-Ageism: Paul William "Bear" Bryant

Profiles In Plagiar-Agism is an offseason series being run to examine the history of exit plans. We will be analyzing some of the greatest football coaches of all time and determining any parallels between their final days and those that are facing Joe Paterno. [Title One Part RUTS, One Part MGoBlog, One Part The Office]

Paul William "Bear" Bryant

Coaching Years: Maryland 1945, Kentucky 1946–1953, Texas A&M 1954–1957, Alabama 1958–1982. Total: 37 Years.

Mythical National Championships: 4?* (Note, in two of these four years, the team went on to lose their bowl game. In said years,the MNC was awarded before the bowl game so they were allowed to continue to claim their #1 rankings in those years)

Conference Championships: 15

Backstory: Bryant grew up in Arkansas and earned his nickname from volunteering to fight a bear when the circus came to town. He later played college football at the University of Alabama where he was part of the (cough-cough)** 1934 National Championship Team. He was drafted into the NFL but never played.

Bryant landed several assistant jobs, including one at Alabama, but left to join the Navy at the start of World War II. After an honorable discharge he got back into coaching.

At Kentucky, he led the school to their first ever conference championship and then, after the “Junction Boys” summer during his first year at A&M, turned that program around and won the Southwest Conference championship two years later. The following season, however, things began to fall apart when a rumor of Alabama interest surfaced. He did, in fact, leave A&M for Bama and stayed there until this retirement in 1982.

Burn Out or Fade Away? Faded away on fire? Can I say that? He shared an MNC in '78, won outright in '79 finished 6th in the AP the next two years. He last year was nothing to print plaques about but it's still better than Penn State has finished the last two years.

Current Legacy:

Um, ya, they still like him there. Very much so.

Similar to Paterno's Situation?
Well they are tough to compare. Paterno was at Penn State his whole career. Bryant was HC at four schools. Paterno grew the program as an independent. Bryant played in the SEC. Paterno took a true cow college with no football history and turned into a national power. Bryant sure did turn the program around (the preceding coach had a wining percentage of .163), but from 1924-1946 the school won 81% of their games and had claimed (emphasis this word please) six national championships before he even got there.

So what did we learn?
Well Bryant didn't go out on top, but he came pretty close. Four of his last five seasons were rather impressive. What was his response to life after football? "I'll probably croak in a week." He was wrong, it took four weeks.

Paterno has made similar jokes about mortality, but he's also very healthy. But the point is the one thing these guys have in common is their total lack of hobbies. Joe has made it very clear that he doesn't golf or fish or do any of that old people stuff. He coaches football, period.

Joe still thinks he has it, Bryant thought he lost it, and that's why he retired:

After a disappointing '82 season, Paul Bryant announced he was retiring at seasons end. He said the decision had come because he wasn't pleased with himself anymore. "This is my school, my alma mater. I love it and I love my players. But in my opinion they deserved better coaching than they have been getting from me this year."

No one ask the Bear to leave, he felt it was time and packed up his office. If there is one thing we know about Joe it's that he has no such intentions. Bryant thought the program was bigger than him. I don't know if Paterno feels that way.


* Now Bama has a reputation for claiming MNC's they didn't acutally win. If they need this for ego reasons I'm not going to stand in the way. But when I look up the polls in '65 and '78 they finished #4 and #2, respectively. In those two year's they had two losses and one tie. I don't want the wrath of Bama, I've liked every one of their fan's I've ever met in person, but I simply don't get this.

** Ok, this is getting fucking ridiculous. Bama was ranked sixth, SIXTH, that season. Yes, they were undefeated but if you want to bitch about being snubbed by the polls get in the back of this very long line we are standing in.

The Legend of Link, aOSU edition.

Ohio State fans are sorry, they are sorry about their play, they are sorry about their coach, and they are sorry for embarrassing the Big Ten. They are not, however, sorry about James Laurinaitis stealing the Butkus from Dan Conner; besides being totally dominated statistically all year, he also kind of sucks.

So who were we suppose to root for, anyway? I think conference loyalty is a joke, so do many others. Despite my better judgement, I was in fact rooting for An* Ohio State University last night, and like waking up next to the ugliest girl at the bar, I feel dirty.

Jamarkus Russle was wearing a cosby sweater, I cosby sweater. And did Troy Smith actually get shorter? I guess the Ravens will do that to you.



The SEC has turned An Ohio State University into the Buffalo Bills of college football. aOSU was actually the faster team, but they were totally dominated up front. They were also outcoached. They were just plain bad...and why was the French Army playing the Ohio State fight song all night?

So the offseason begins, and we have a new 41-14, his name is 38-24. Yes, things could be worse, but please don't pull the Moral Victory card, now is not the time: two blowouts in two years is not good. Have fun with that USC game in eight short months.





*Look in comments, tOSU heron refereed to as 'aOSU'.

RichRod already making an impact?

The big question now that Rich Rodriguez has joined the Big Ten brotherhood is weather he will be able to successfully implement a true gimmick spread offense in a league that has traditionally rejected it. While is has shown some success at places like Purdue and Northwestern, weather it is because of lack of talent or lack of novelty, no one has been able to win consistently with that style of X&O's. People wonder that, if RichRod does pull it off, will the rest of the Big Ten be forced to follow suit? To make adjustments both of defense but also add a modern element of their own?

Well, the truth is this has already happened. No one expected JoePa to put Daryll Clark during the Alamo Bowl. I mean no one. Yet throughout the game Paterno sent in the mobile quarterback, who ended the night with 50 yards on the ground. Probably more important than the yards Clark gained, he forced A&M's defense to back off, and they were consistently caught off guard by our offense.

Michigan followed suit a couple days later. Carr, coaching the last gave of his career, used what many considered aspects of RichRod's offense, albeit in small doses, to keep the Gator defense from keying in on Hart.



Now, leading up to the MNC Game tonight, there is a lot of talk about Ohio Stat using mobile backup QB Antonio Henton in much the same way Clark was utilized. So much so that Miles actually commented on it during his press conference:

"We saw all of his early tape and we kind of got a decent feel for his abilities," said Miles. "I think we have a nice plan ready to go once he steps on the field."

It will be interesting for sure. This type of thing does not come naturally to Tressel, he has historically kept things very clear and efficient. Adding an entirely new aspect of offense, one that has not been used much at all during the season, is not his style. But then again, you can say the same thing about JoePa, ten fold.

Either way it will be interesting. And maybe RichRod will change the Big Ten. Then again, maybe this is all for Terrelle Pryor.

Damn, that went fast.

So the Mythical National Championship game is tonight, meaning tomorrow we all give up college football cold turkey and struggle through the off season the way Johnny Cash was forced to give up amphetamines.


(Don't look now, but we may have found a saving grace. Is sounds like our basketball team might not suck this year.)

So about the game, it was a hard decision: who the hell do I root for? On one hand, I'm tired of Ohio State. I'm tired of them winning. I'm tired of them dominating us in recruiting. I'm tired of their old-ass annoying president.

On the other hand, who wants to hear about "SEC Speed" for another 12 months? I sure as hell don't. Nevermind that Michgan manged to beat Florida, no one will give a damn unless Ohio State wins this game. While I don't usually buy the "you have to root for your conference" nonsense, this might be an exception. If the Big Ten gets into the MNC for the second straight year, and gets blown out for the second straight year, there might actually be a backlash. If a Big Ten teams lands on the bubble next year after the final week of the season, you can bet your ass the outcome of the game tonight will be brought up over and over again by the 'experts'.

Because of all of this (and I'm not proud to admit it), I will be rooting for Ohio State in the MNC Game tonight. Go Buckeyes, please don't embarrass yourself again.

LSU has won the National Championship, I think.

That's right, I know the actual game isn't until Monday, but honestly it doesn't matter...or so everyone seems to be saying*. The SEC is 6-2 in bowls, while the Big Ten is a lowly 3-4.

Nevermind that the SEC was favored in 75% of their matchps while the Big Ten drew a tougher lot; they were dogs in 71% of their games. Nevermind that the hottest team in the SEC played a WAC school, or that Kentucky played a Florida State team that was down 35 guys, or that the SEC runner-up was matched up against the 5th best Big Ten team. Nevermind that MSU, who finished 9th in the Big Ten, was lucky enough to play the ACC runner-up. Or that Penn State, Illinois and Michigan played what equate to away games. These things don't matter, what matters is the raw record, and that is why LSU has won is going to win the Mythical National Championship.

It'll be ok guys.
Oh, and Ohio State is 0-8 against SEC teams in bowl games. That's trouble right there. This stat is relevant, seriously. And USC wins Rose Bowls because Pete Carroll has never lost a swimming race against Will Ferrell. It's science.

Ok, enough sarcasm. If there is one thing we know about this season, and, really there is only one, it's that you cannot compare teams to the second degree. App State beat Michigan, Michigan beat Florida. Stanford beat USC, then Notre Dame took down Stanford. Pitt beats WVU, then WVU goes out and owns Big XII champ OU. I can go all day. I know for a fact that the outcome of the Purdue-Central Michigan game has absolutely no impact or relation to the Mythical National Championship game.


*To be totally honest, this guy actually gets it. The shame is that ESPN has to sell his story by trying to start another played out Big10-SEC fight (or maybe it was his idea, who knows).

Sunday Morning Thoughts

So the BCS final standing are out this afternoon, and while I usually don't mind waiting until Monday morning to laugh at what all the sportswriters try to make out of the season, this week obviously counts for something.

Two top-two losses means Ohio State is in, and I think this is a dangerous precedent, one that will continue the trend of crappy out of conference games. Why play anyone when you could lose? Sure LSU is going to get into the Mythical National Championship game, and despite what the 'experts' say its not because of SOS...it's because all those morons picked LSU there in the first place and now they can sleep at night. LSU has been in the forefront of this discussion all year, even after their second loss. People just don't want to accept that they aren't the best team in the nation.

Now I'm not saying they aren't, just that the reason they are getting in has a lot more to do with the preseason polls than with SOS. I may be wrong in just a couple of hours but there is no way we are watching anything but an OSU-LSU MNC Game.

Finally, I was reminded to refrain from "drinking and thinking" yesterday after my 10th beer of the afternoon. I thought I saw something along the ESPN bottom line saying that Nebraska was going to the Alamo bowl...the way those things work I rarely read an entire sentense as my attention isn't usually drawn until the end of the bit, but naturally I grabbed by buddies laptop and looked it up.

Ya, this dumb.

I found this link, and so without think or checking any other sure, I called everyone I knew and drunkenly explained how excited I was for the "Lost Powerhouse Bowl". I was actually pretty excited. I forgot a couple of things: this for starters. Nebraska isn't even bowl eligable, so for them to be selected over 8-4 Texas Tech or 7-5 Texas A&M would be, well, difficult. That is, unless the Alamo Bowl selection committe was a drunk as I was around 4:00 pm yesterday.

Anyway, now that Michigan is a lock for the Cap One against a likely Florida, and the Zookers are probably playing USC in Southern California, we can all rest assured that, even if OSU manages to beat a much more talented LSU in the MNC Game, the Big Ten Sucks chants aren't going away anytime soon.