After three days of contemplating whether Rob Smith made the right call in Humboldt State’s 17-16 loss to Western Oregon University on Saturday, I haven’t changed my mind.
Continue reading "Upon further review: From HSU to the 49ers and Raiders, a few quick hits" »
When the Humboldt State softball team packed their bags and headed for Houston, I warned pitcher Lizzy Prescott to beware of the Texas heat.
But a funny thing happened. The Jacks seemed to take a piece of Arcata with them.
What do I mean?
Continue reading "National Champ Jacks take Cabs home? Are you kidding me?" »
Nothing is going to stop the Humboldt State women's softball team from attaining the 2008 NCAA Division II Softball Championships.
At least, that's what it looks like up to this point.
A new-look HSU opened spring football on Wednesday. The big question is, will it give the Jacks a new view in the standings?
Say, from the top? Heck, with the cards HSU dealt itself heading into the 2008 season,
any view that's not at from the bottom will do.
HSU lined up in a brand new offense on Wednesday, one that has been catching on like wild fire throughout the college ranks. It's a shotgun offense that is predicated on play action. Oregon ran it, so did West Virginia, Ohio State, Florida, LSU, Illinois and plenty of other schools that had lots of success recently. It's too tough to guard the run, especially if your quarterback is mobile, and the pass.
Compared to HSU's single-back and spread offense, it's light years ahead. Let's hope HSU can catch on.
The Division II Football Committee wants to adjust the “earned access policy” used to select teams for the championship bracket. Wouldn't it be nice if Humboldt State fans were actually concerned with this?
The change concerns the highest-ranked team from a particular conference in the final regional rankings. Committee members at their February meeting in San Diego agreed that six teams from each region would continue to earn access into the championship. In past years, though, if a conference had a team represented in the top 10 in the final regional rankings (but not among the six highest-rated teams), that conference and institution could “earn access” to the playoffs by bumping one of the other more highly rated teams within the top six.
Under the committee’s proposal, teams would now have to be ranked among the top eight in the final regional rankings to be considered for earned access.
In concert with the change, the committee agreed to produce a top 10 weekly ranking instead of the current top 12.
It was more than a little bit of an overreaction when people started wondering out loud if HSU could possibly drop out of the West Region Tournament. Sure HSU lost to Pomona by 3 in the first round of the CCAA touranment. Sure Pomona was the No.8 seed in that tournament.
SO WHAT.
The Jacks won the regular season title—OK, they shared it—but, like Coach Wood said "It would be a slap in the face" if they didn't let a conference champ into the Regionals. In fact, it's crazy that the only automatic bid the West Region gives is to the winner of the CCAA tournament, the only conference in the West Region that actually hosts a post-season tournament.
Here's some criteria they should think about:
1) Conference champs should get automatic bids even if it's a co-championship.
2) If conference tournament winners get automatic bids, every conference should have one.
1a) If all three conferences create touranments and all three have ties for regular season champions, or more than two are tied for any one regular season champion, put all their names together and throw darts.
3) make sure, absolutely sure, you only use eight darts.
After four seasons of holding down the paint and grabbing more than his share of rebounds in a Humboldt State uniform, Cy Vandermeer is hoping to latch onto something more important this week — good news.
What is HSU really going to do for him?
Will the administration make sure he gets enough scholarship dollars to compete? If they promised him that, where are they going to get the money from? A.D. Dan Collen has told me several times that the community is "tapped out." Where else can HSU go?
Then there's the issue of whether HSU was honest with Smith before hiring him. A former coach told me Doug Adkins was promised the world — six recruiting scholarships from the school and he could fund raise to maybe 12. Turns out the admin, according to the coach I spoke with, meant he could fund raise to SIX TOTAL SCHOLLYS. Big difference.
Would Adkins have taken the job if he was under that impression the whole time? Who knows. Who knows if the coach is even telling me the truth.
One thing is certain, though. Considering the way HSU has handled the hiring process — from taking nearly 2 1/2 months to shutting out the media after taking some critricism to forming a search committee that was nothing more than the good ol' boys network — there is a disconnect between administration and athletics. The administration has shown they do not know, or have not been serious about doing what it takes to make football a serious contender at the D2 level.
Please share with me your thoughts and experiences.
Representatives from HSU are down at the American Football Coaches' Association Convention this weekend holding "informal interviews" with candidates who could fill the school's head football coaching vacancy. Here's a list of five questions that HSU should ask them.
1. Given HSU's difficulties to draw top-flight talent, how would you convince a prospect to come here, especially on a non-scholarship?
- HSU is not going to outspend anybody when it comes to scholarships. It would seem to have a big advantage with California recruits since it is the only D2 football program in the state, but it's still an extremely tough assignment to bring quality players here. Personnel can make all the difference.
2. How important do you think it is to attract local recruits?
- It's unrealistic to think HSU could have kept Rey Maualuga or Maurice Purify (both Eureka High grads) around, but what about guys like former Del Norte quarterback Cody Leslie or Ferndale guys like John Thurston and Chris Hubbard or Jeff Hindley? Word is current Del Norte QB Chad Freeman wants to go to HSU. Will they bring him on? Any chance Saxon Schultz, Cody Hoffman, Roger McCovey will go there in the coming years? Greg Allen, anyone?
Continue reading "Five questions to ask potential HSU football coaches" »
The HSU women looked awful on offense through the first half on Saturday night against UCSD, but their rebounding and solid second half gave them the win.
The offense hardly ever got into a rhythm in the first half, with a ton a their plays ending in poor shots or turnovers, 22 of them to be exact. HSU struggled dribbling and penetrating the lane, and for some reason seemed to fancy the long, cross-court passes.
Luckily, they have Kayla Henry and Brittany Taylor, who dominated the glass. In the second half, HSU cleaned up its act and finally started draining shots, looking like the HSU team they could be.
Trisha Alaba is a fantastic point guard who can distribute the ball well and HSU has weapons that can produce points from anywhere on the floor.
It was a big win over UC San Diego, but the big question is whether they can play well on a consistent basis.
The HSU men, on the other hand, are consistent as long as their lineup is, too.
With Devin Peal out, HSU played awfully against Sonoma earlier this week. With him in, the offense went inside and out and the team was aggressive on both ends of the floor.
In all the hoop-la surrounding Peal's decision to play despite a torn ligament in his thumb is Grayson Moyer and Will Sheufelt.
Moyer has led HSU in scoring in key games, including Saturday night and on Dec. 22 when they beat then-No. 7 Seattle University. Sheufelt fuels the offense and is a force on defense.
Did you see him sky to get that rebound late in Saturday's game? He snatched it up near the rim even before 6-foot-9 Cy Vandemeer could touch it! Sheufelt is listed at 6-2, though he's probably at least an inch shorter than that.
We had to wait 20 minutes, but after halftime HSU finally looked like the team we all expect to see.
The Jacks hammered Willamette in the second half Friday, scoring 57 of their 95 points after the break. HSU went into the post and defended Willamette better in the second half, which gave them a huge edge.
Cy Vandemeer and Devin Peal were dominant in the post and Grayson Moyer's shot was perfect — literally. Moyer went 5-5 from the field, including 2 3s.
It's gotta concern HSU fans though that Wood is saying the Jacks are still looking for an identity. And it's showing on the court.
HSU had to switch, again, from its full-court press, hi-tempo style, to a zone defense Friday. They managed to get 14 steals — a good stat by any measure — but what happens when they play a team that has players who can hit the outside shot all game, or one that has a good post game.
We'll see tonight when Seattle takes the court. Seattle's deep and talented, and you can bet they'll take any advantage they can get.
If HSU can't force turnovers or get out into transition, it'll be a tough game for the Jacks to win.
Anyone else curious why HSU didn't announce Doug Adkins' resignation earlier? I wish Adkins all the luck in the world, but in terms of HSU's future, it would have been better to announce it a month prior.
They could have had a new guy in there before the new year. Merry Christmas, HSU.
As it stands now, HSU will announce a new coach in late January. If you're at all familiar with the recruiting game, that's like getting onto the field with a minute left and you're down four touchdowns. National signing day is early in February. Yes, HSU will not get any top-flight recruits, but it's still hard to pitch to a head-less program to even second-tier guys.
HSU is saying a selling point for the position, like any head coach, is that person's ability to attract talent. Well, scratch the first year for whoever takes the job, and when HSU's record suffers, it will put him in a hole for the next season, too.
Should it factor into HSU's decision that they can bypass some of these issues by promoting someone from the current coaching staff? They've been recruiting all along, not to mention it could save HSU a boatload of dough.