did Kramer get fired because of the last arrest or was it all the trouble PLUS academics? i wish someone at MSU would set the record straight because obviously the press has their slant...
i'm less and less impressed with stuber....
http://www.helenair.com/articles/2007/1 ... 707_01.txt
By TOM STUBER - Independent Record - 11/27/07
Logic dictates that Montana head football coach Bobby Hauck will seek a head coaching job at an FBS university out west.
It makes sense, since Hauck has an on-field track record that would wow even the most cynical critic. Five straight conference titles and playoff appearances, no less than eight wins in any season, a championship appearance and a semi-final appearance. A year ago Hauck was a finalist for the Stanford job.
Tom Deinhart of The Sporting News lists Hauck as a possible candidate for the Colorado State job.
A lot of folks thought the same thing about Montana State's Mike Kramer, but Kramer, like Hauck, was fresh off a spate of legal issues surrounding one current and five former players. Hauck has seen six players arrested in the past five months.
Kramer received overtures from Idaho, but the two sides mutually agreed that Kramer should stay at MSU. A few months later Kramer was terminated after another former player was arrested on drug-trafficking charges.
Carroll College head coach Mike Van Diest heard his name mentioned when Kramer was a finalist in Idaho and Hauck was being interviewed at Stanford. Van Diest then applied and was a finalist at MSU when it sought a replacement for Kramer. Should the UM position come open, Van Diest will be one of the logical candidates for those speculating on such things in Missoula.
Once again folks around Helena would be left with no choice but to wonder who a logical replacement for Van Diest would be. Such is life in the coaching carousel.
Another coach with Helena ties is perpetually in the mix this time of year when coaching changes are made. This year is no different for one Bobby Petrino, Jr., a star quarterback at Capital High and Carroll College.
According to another column by The Sporting News' Deinhart, "There is a murmur about Atlanta Falcons coach Bobby Petrino being wooed, as the situation he inherited has changed markedly with the Michael Vick saga."
Deinhart is talking about a scenario that would send Auburn's Tommy Tuberville to Texas A&M to replace Dennis Franchione. Petrino was the offensive coordinator at Auburn under Tuberville and was courted by the Tigers when he was head coach at Louisville.
"I haven't given it one bit of thought," Petrino said Monday in trying to quash the rumors, but not completely ruling them out. "I certainly don't want to get into any speculation and rumors and having to deal with that. I'm focused on our football and focused on playing the Rams this week."
Petrino signed a lucrative contract with Atlanta reportedly worth nearly $5 million per year.
Academic Progress Rates (APR), the NCAA's measuring stick to ensure schools are recruiting student-athletes rather than the other way around, will be in the news again in a few months. The system, shown to favor programs from BCS conferences, is likely to raise more eyebrows after schools that could pour money into academic resources fared well the first time penalties were doled out.
NCAA vice president Kevin Lennon acknowledged that in a Sports Illustrated article saying the NCAA understands the predicament and dispersed $1.6 million in grants to underfunded schools.
"Some BCS programs have additional resources to put into the academic support system," he said.
Montana State's football team was one of many low-budget NCAA programs nailed by the APR on the first go-round and is expected to fall below the 925 again this year. However, the Bobcats and other teams may catch a break since the NCAA has recognized the disparity inherent in its system.
The NCAA has long been trying to get the academic side of its programs in control. Back in the 80's the running joke was, "The NCAA is so mad at Kentucky, it's going to give Cleveland State three more years probation." That same line applies today.
ESPN's Pat Forde, who covers college football, said, "There is an obvious gap between the academic success and support between the high end and low end of Division I. And taking away scholarships from the little guys only deepens the caste system."
Reporter Tom Stuber: 447-4070 or irsports@helenair.com
