Big 12: Mark Dantonio
We started this series at the top of the alphabet, and it's time for the Tigers.
Missouri Tigers
Week 1 Opponent: Miami (OH)
Coach: Don Treadwell, first year
2010 record: 10-4 (7-1, MAC)
Returning starters: 17 (8 offense, 9 defense)
About the RedHawks: Miami was no doubt underrated last season when the Tigers rolled them in Columbia, 51-13. The Redhawks were unimpressive in nonconference play, but reeled off six consecutive wins to end the season to win the MAC, a quality league at the FBS level. The RedHawks' turnaround from a 1-11 season in 2009 to a MAC title was one of the best stories in college football, and earned second-year head coach Mike Haywood the job at Pittsburgh, though that already didn't end well.
The RedHawks will lean on new coach Don Treadwell this year, who helped guide Michigan State to a share of a Big Ten title last season as offensive coordinator and interim head coach after coach Mark Dantonio suffered a heart attack following an overtime win against Notre Dame on Sept. 19.
Could Treadwell be the next great Miami name in the program that's earned the moniker of "Cradle of Coaches?" Jim Tressel, Woody Hayes, Bo Schembechler and new Indiana coach Kevin Wilson, a former Oklahoma offensive coordinator, have all come through Miami.
On the field, the Redhawks return quarterback Zac Dysert, a junior, and Austin Boucher, a sophomore who played in seven games as a freshman. Dysert suffered a rib injury and Boucher led the team to wins in its final four games, including the conference championship and the GoDaddy.com Bowl, but fall camp opens with a competition between the two. Boucher completed more than 60 percent of his passes and averaged more than 300 yards a game in his final two starts.
Leading rusher Thomas Merriweather (921 yards, 12 TDs) graduated, but rising sophomore Tracy Woods carried the ball 94 times for 376 yards and a touchdown last season.
Leading receiver Armand Robinson (1062 yards, 12 TDs) is gone, too, but the RedHawks return four receivers with at least 25 catches last season.
The defense returns nine starters, including all eight of the team's top tacklers, led by linebacker Jerrell Wedge.
Random factoid: Illinois coach Ron Zook, whose Illini team has opened its past four seasons against Missouri, is a Miami (OH) alum.
Totally unscientific percentage chance Missouri wins: 81 percent. Miami clearly made big improvements late in the year, and the Tigers will be throwing out a first-time starter at quarterback, which comes with all kinds of unknowns. Missouri is better at every position, but if the offense sputters, anything could happen.
More Week 1 previews:
Two from Big 12 up for coaching honor
Fans can vote on the award's website for their favorite candidate, and the winner will be announced on January 10, 2011, just before the BCS National Championship Game.
Fan voting constitutes 20 percent of a coach's final score.
Various members of the College Football Hall of Fame will also vote on the award, and their votes count for 55 percent of a coach's score. Media voting constitutes 25 percent.
Here's Gundy and Sherman's competition:
- Gene Chizik, Auburn
- Mark Dantonio, Michigan State
- Rich Ellerson, Army
- Chip Kelly, Oregon
- Doug Marrone, Syracuse
- Tom O'Brien, North Carolina State
- Nick Saban, Alabama
- Jim Tressel, Ohio State
Gundy on Coach of the Year watch list
Gundy is the only Big 12 representative on the list, which also features Oregon's Chip Kelly, Boise State's Chris Petersen, Auburn's Gene Chizik, Michigan State's Mark Dantonio, Arizona's Mike Stoops and Iowa's Kirk Ferentz.
Saban helped shape Muschamp's coaching philosophy
Brian Bahr/Getty ImagesTexas defensive coordinator Will Muschamp attributes some of his success to what he learned under Nick Saban.While there, Muschamp met first-year LSU coach Nick Saban. Both of their lives changed from that moment.
The then-Valdosta State defensive coordinator was hired to join Saban's staff three weeks later as a linebackers coach after a vacancy appeared on the staff.
"He wanted somebody young, from the South and who had ties with people on the staff," Muschamp said. "They brought me in for an interview and we talked that day. That night, he offered me the job."
LSU won a BCS championship barely four years later. Muschamp then followed Saban to the Miami Dolphins, where at 34, he was one of the youngest defensive coordinators in recent NFL history.
Later, Saban returned to Alabama and Muschamp became the defensive coordinator at Auburn. Muschamp eventually was hired at Texas, where his strong work has earned him the designation of Mack Brown's successor when he leaves coaching.
Back in the LSU days, Saban had a reputation as a taskmaster who was difficult for many assistants to work for.
But in Muschamp, he found a kindred spirit who enjoyed grinding away at the job as much as he did.
"Nick never asked me to do anything he wasn't doing himself," Muschamp said. "From a work standpoint, a recruiting standpoint or a coaching standpoint, if you didn't want to work it wasn't a good place to be. But I enjoyed work and I like coaching football.
"I like evaluation and I like recruiting and that's why we got along philosophically and schematically. We believe the same way in coaching and motivating. I think that's why we got along."
Today, Muschamp's players say the apple hasn't fallen too far from the tree in terms of Muschamp's dedication for work.
"I always want to try to beat him into the office," Texas defensive tackle Kheeston Randall said. "But it's hard to do. He's the first one there a lot and the last one to leave. You look out and see (Muschamp's) that white truck out there all the time."
Saban is proud of Muschamp's ascension in coaching like the development of former assistants like Michigan State head coach Mark D'Antonio, incoming Florida State coach Jimbo Fisher or Louisiana Tech head coach Derek Dooley.
"To put it into perspective, (it's like) when one of your children does something that makes you proud," Saban said. "That's how you feel when coaches on your staff go on and do bigger and better things and have success in what they do. I'm really proud and want to see them all do extremely well."
Because of their dedication to coaching, Muschamp estimates that he and Saban talk less than once a month. They haven't exchanged pleasantries since the Texas-Alabama matchup was set when Texas beat Nebraska in the Big 12 championship game and Alabama defeated Florida in the Southeastern Conference title game earlier that day.
"It's tough during the season," Muschamp said. "He knows they are playing us and I know we're playing them. He's busy and I am, too."
Both coaching staffs have a lot of connections other than the Saban-Muschamp association. Current Alabama defensive coordinator Kirby Smart was Muschamp's secondary coach at Valdosta State when Muschamp was hired at LSU. Alabama associate head coach/linebackers coach James Willis worked as Muschamp's linebackers coach at Auburn. And Texas running backs coach Major Applewhite worked on Saban's staff as his offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach in 2007.
Saban faced a similar challenge at Miami when he faced his old mentor, Bill Belichick, when he was coaching the New England Patriots.
"I'm really proud and want to see them all do extremely well," Saban said. "We're good friends and you compete and play against each other, but you don't dislike each other and it's not you don't have the same amount of respect and admiration for them.
"You want to be helpful to those guys if you can. And even if you compete against somebody in that moment in time, you're trying to do the best you can for your team."
Muschamp learned a lot during his time with Saban. While he jokes there will be a lot of "wasted ink" written bout their relationship over the next few weeks, he remains grateful for the opportunity to join Saban's staff nine years ago.
"When you get there and get exposed to a lot schematically, that appealed to me," Muschamp said. "And that's obviously where I formed my ideas about how you play and the things you needed to do to be successful."
Why the coaches' poll votes must be made public
Posted by ESPN.com's Tim Griffin
The realization came a few years ago, early one morning in the Lubbock airport, when I thought nobody could have cared what I was doing.
After a long night of covering Texas Tech, I was scheduled on the first flight back home the following morning. But before I left, I knew I had to take care of something.
As I went to a bank of pay telephones back in those pre-cellular phone days, I mumbled off my list of 25 teams to the Associated Press desker in New York City. I usually tried to get my vote in by 9 a.m. -- always settling on them the night before but always looking at them one more time the following morning before I submitted them.
The teams tumbled out in my order for the week. After I finished, I tried to relax for a couple of minutes before my flight left until an elderly man tapped me on my shoulder.
"Excuse me, sir," the man said. "I think you had Michigan ranked too high this week. And West Virginia, they were way too low."
How the fellow passenger had determined I was a voter, I had no idea. But he -- as do most college football fans at that time of the year -- had his own idea how the polls should be voted. And fans don't hesitate to tell you about it, either, in person or by e-mail.
That idea infused me with the thought of how important some considered my vote. As such, I knew the kind of diligence the poll deserved if I was voting.
And the idea that my vote was being made public each week made me take even more care in trying to get things right in my mind. Because, I knew I would hear something if it was skewed.
This is why I think the American Football Coaches Association's decision to keep their final votes private is so wrong.
Horribly wrong, in fact.
Not making the votes public robs the poll of its greatest attribute -- its credibility. When that is stripped away, the poll loses its relevance.
AFCA executive director Grant Teaff argues differently.
"Why do you think they have voting booths," Teaff told the Tulsa World. "Why do you think they have curtains around voting booths? Experts believe that's the truest way of getting the purest vote. That's what coaches are after."
Teaff is wrong in his thinking. Horribly wrong, in fact.
USA Today Coaches' poll raises a few eyebrows
Posted by ESPN.com's Tim Griffin
One of interesting items that always comes up this time of year is the release of the ballots following the final regular-season balloting of the USA Today Coaches' poll. It provides you a good handle of what some coaches really think about other teams.
And it also could lead you to wonder if coaches might remember grudges or occasionally vote their friends or conference teams a little too highly -- or lowly.
There's nothing at all wrong with this, of course. But it does provide some interesting day-after conversation, particularly when the vote ends up being as close as Oklahoma's one-point victory over Florida for first place.
Take a look at how the coaches considered the Big 12 teams in the poll.
Oklahoma: The Sooners claimed the title at the end of the year by one vote, claiming 31 first-place ballots to 26 for second-place Florida.
Most of the Big 12's coaches held firm with the Sooners as the best team. It's no surprise that Gary Pinkel would vote them that highly less than 12 hours after his team had been thumped 62-21 by the Sooners in the Big 12 championship game. Art Briles, Dan Hawkins, Mike Leach and Bo Pelini all voted for Stoops. And in the spirit of full disclosure, it should be noted that Leach and Pelini both worked as assistants under Stoops and Briles worked under Leach, making him a second-generation descendant of the Stoops coaching tree.
The Sooners were listed fourth on UCLA coach Rick Neuheisel's ballot and third on 11 others, including the ballot of Texas coach Mack Brown.
Texas: Four first-place votes helped push the Longhorns to third place. One of them didn't come from Brown, who voted with his conscience rather than giving his team the maximum number of points. He voted his team second, behind Florida and in front of Oklahoma.
Texas' four first-place votes came from Gene Chizik, Todd Dodge, Neuheisel and Mike Price of UTEP. Chizik coached under Brown before taking the Iowa State job. Dodge played for Texas. And Price played against the Longhorns earlier this season, losing 42-13 in a game that was considered the biggest home football game in the Miners' history.
The Longhorns' lowest votes were fifth, given by four coaches -- Briles, Leach, Rutgers' Greg Schiano and Michigan State's Mark Dantonio.
Texas Tech: The Red Raiders finished in eighth place, two points behind Utah. Their highest votes were the second-place ballot cast by Leach for his own team and a third-place vote delivered by New Mexico State's Hal Mumme, whom Leach worked with at several jobs earlier in his career.
Nobody else had the Red Raiders higher than sixth. Among the 12 coaches who had Tech at sixth place were Briles, Chizik, Pelini and Pinkel. Brown had the Red Raiders eighth.
But their lowest vote was 11th, cast by TCU's Gary Patterson. The Red Raiders delivered a 70-35 whipping to the Horned Frogs in 2004. It remains the most points ever allowed by a Patterson-coached team and the worst defeat in his head-coaching career.
Oklahoma State: The Cowboys finished the regular season 14th. The voting wasn't as varied on them as some others. Their highest vote was 11th, provided by Briles, Pinkel and former Oklahoma State and current LSU coach Les Miles. Their lowest was a 20th place vote from Florida International's Mario Cristobal. I have no explanation for that.
Missouri: Despite losing by 41 points in the Big 12 championship game, the Tigers fell only six spaces in the coaches' poll. They had fallen six places the previous week from 11th to 17th when they lost to Kansas.
Interesting, the highest ranking the Tigers got was an 11th-place vote from departing Washington coach Tyrone Willingham. Maybe there was a show of loyalty for Pinkel, a one-time Washington offensive coordinator under Don James. Other than that, the Tigers' highest votes were three 18th-place votes cast by Pinkel, Schiano and Patterson.
Missouri was left off the ballots of 12 coaches, including those of Brown and Leach.
It's always intriguing to look at these votes. The transparency provides some interesting fodder and a more interesting way to determine how coaches look at their opponents -- and their rival coaches.
While developing a list of the top 12 non-conference matchups Thursday, I began thinking about ideal matchups for different schools across the conference.
If I were king of college football and could mandate opponents for different Big 12 teams, here are some of the choices I'd make and my reasoning. Let me know what you think, and if you could come up with better ones.
Baylor -- How about Vanderbilt? What could be better than watching two schools that face similar difficulties from the nation's toughest conferences? Both are private schools and have the benefit of strong coaches. It would be an entertaining game.
Colorado -- I originally thought Air Force would work because of the geographical proximity. But a better choice, I think, is UCLA, so we could watch Rick Neuheisel squaring off against his old team. And the two programs are relatively equal, which should make for some real competition on the field.
Iowa State -- You could argue for Florida and a return of Dan McCarney to Ames. But a better, more entertaining game would be to match the Cyclones against Minnesota. The two schools are relatively close and are at about the same levels in their respective conferences. You could bet that Mack Brown would be watching the matchup of his old protégés Gene Chizik and Tim Brewster.
Kansas -- ESPN has liked matching the coaching wiles and offenses of Mark Mangino and Toledo's Tom Amstutz in the past. But a better matchup would be to let Mangino call plays against Joe Paterno and Penn State. Jayhawks fans are still grouchy about how the 1969 Orange Bowl finished up. It would be kind of neat to see a rematch -- even if it's nearly 40 years later.
Kansas State -- Give me the Wildcats and Fresno State, the school they ducked earlier this season. I don't know what Ron Prince is afraid of. His Wildcats would match up very favorably with the Bulldogs.
Missouri -- There was a lot of bluster emanating out of Iowa City a couple of years ago when the Tigers and Iowa abruptly cancelled a series of upcoming games. But things have changed since then. The Tigers are white-hot and the Hawkeyes have taken a big step back. Let's see them finally play.
Nebraska -- It's hard to think of many for the Cornhuskers, who have played virtually every great national program in the past. I'd like to see them challenge South Carolina right now. I know that Steve Spurrier hasn't forgotten that 62-24 bludgeoning his Florida Gators endured at the hands of the Cornhuskers in the 1996 Fiesta Bowl. And the coaching battle between Spurrier and Bo Pelini would be delicious.
Oklahoma -- I used to think seeing Bob Stoops match wits with Spurrier would be neat. But a better matchup might feature the Sooners against Florida -- a game between two of the nation's most talented programs in recent history.
Oklahoma State -- It might be kind of cool to see the Cowboys square off with Les Miles' LSU team or the Southern Mississippi team now coached by Larry Fedora. But a better game -- and definitely more anticipated media scrum afterward -- would be to see the Cowboys meet Michigan State and Coach Mark Dantonio. The game would be close on the field and the fireworks after the game with Mike Gundy and Dantonio might be better than the game before it.
Texas -- After watching a BCS title game that lived up to the hype (and more), I could watch Texas against USC every day for the rest of my life. These two programs really should play more often, even if Vince Young and Reggie Bush don't have any eligibility remaining.
Texas A&M -- The rivalry for recruiting in East Texas is pretty intense and I think it would be kind of fun to see the Aggies hook up against Les Miles and LSU. The two old rivals played 49 times between 1899 and their most recent skirmish in 1995. It would be good to see them playing again.
Texas Tech -- Mike Leach once roamed the sidelines at BYU, where he intently watched coach LaVell Edwards' practices as a student. Those early sessions enabled him to glean some of the bedrock principles for his passing offense. Who says you can't go home again? A game between the Red Raiders and the Cougars would provide the kind of offense that fans dream about.
Let me know what you think and suggest some other potential dream non-conference games. I'll let others know about your choices.
ABOUT THIS BLOG
David Ubben
Ubben joined ESPN.com in March 2010 after covering Big 12 football for two seasons at the Columbia Missourian and The Oklahoman. Ubben, a native of Springdale, Ark., lives in Dallas.
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