It's Not Looking Good!

[kentuckianacoach]

It is not looking good for BGSU for Coach Clausen staying for another season. FootballCoachScoop.com just posted the following:

East Carolina:
Sources tell FootballCoachScoop that Athletic Director Terry Holland has offered the Head Coaching position to current Bowling Green Head Coach Dave
Clawson.

I am hoping that as others have stated in other posts it is not correct. But that being said I am becoming increasingly concerned about a trend in college coaching that is taking place....staying for just one year and then leaving. It seems like, at least at the collegiate level, the players are being left out in the cold. Every college coach when recruiting is asking for a commitment from the player for four to five years...and then they can not even committ for over a year...I don't know about everyone else, but this does not seem right. And I believe, unless something is done it will have adverse affect on college football.

Please hear me when I say I realize college football is different than high school, but as the head coach of a high school program my goal is not wins my "goal is to help a young man be a better person when he walks off the field at the end of the season then when he walked on the field at camp." I truly believe when that becomes the focus of the program wins will come.

I will end with this...I really hope Coach Clausen stays...he has lit a fire into a program that was starting to die out.

[MarkL]

FWIW ... according to footballcoachscoop, Brian Kelly was never really a serious candidate at Notre Dame, Jack Del Rio was heading to USC, and Rick Stockstill accepted the ECU job and was set to be introduced by now.

[falconfan1]

This report is absolutely untrue. Coach Clawson has not been to ECU or spoken with ECU at this time. He was at the women's basketball game tonight and spoke to a number of fans and supporters in the Falcon Club area.

Go Falcons!

[Bleeding Orange]

This report is absolutely untrue. Coach Clawson has not been to ECU or spoken with ECU at this time. He was at the women's basketball game tonight and spoke to a number of fans and supporters in the Falcon Club area.

Go Falcons!

Thank you, FF1. It would have been an uneasy night's sleep without your voice of reason.

[MarkL]

Football coach scoop is a step above wikipedia as far as anybody being able to edit it. Exhibit A:

http://bluegraysky.blogspot.com/2009_12 ... 3071457519

Here's an object lesson in how rumors get started, and how quickly they spread in the internet age.

1. Friend of BGS decides (not at our behest, by the way) to email the rumor site FootballCoachScoop.com with a choice tidbit. FootballCoachScoop seems to post all kinds of unsubstantiated rumors, and said friend wants to see how easy it is to get something started.

2. Friend composes a very short, but specific email: I used to work in the athletic department at Notre Dame (a lie), and I have heard that Jack Swarbrick is interested in Bret Bielema, the head coach at the University of Wisconsin. This was at 6:56pm last evening. The email is sent from a free gmail account. There is no other email sent from friend, no attempt to "sell" the rumor beyond the initial communication, and nothing else to back up his credibility.

3. Meanwhile, friend has another buddy randomly tweet a few times about the Bielema rumors, and goes to bed.

4. FootballCoachScoop does not reply to the email. FootballCoachScoop does not ask any followup questions. FootballCoachScoop, to friend's knowledge, makes no attempt to verify emailer's bona fides in any way.

5. The next morning, FootballCoachScoop runs the rumor almost verbatim. Friend chuckles and shares the development with a few friends.

6. Later in the day, BGS notices a piece posted to "the Examiner", a Huffington Post-style blogging site that allows anyone with an email address to register as a "reporter." Joshua Burns picks up on the FootballScoop item and pens this:

Notre Dame AD to talk with Wisconsin head coach Bret Bielema this weekend
December 4, 2:15 PM Cincinnati Bearcats Examiner Joshua Burns

Another day, another new name has surfaced in the Notre Dame head coaching search.

According to FootballCoachScoop.com, Irish AD Jack Swarbrick is "very interested" in talking to Wisconsin head coach Bret Bielema, after the Badgers trip from Hawaii this weekend.

Bielema's name has not been mentioned in prior discussions about the Notre Dame opening. He joins a list of reported candidates that includes Jim Harbaugh (Stanford), Skip Holtz (ECU), Randy Edsall (UConn), and Brian Kelly (Cincinnati).

Bielema was an assistant coach at the University of Iowa from 1993 to 2001. He then became the co-defensive coordinator for Kansas State University from 2002 to 2003. He took the same position at the University of Wisconsin–Madison in 2004.

The Wisconsin coach joins a chaotic rumer mill surrounding the Irish head coaching void left by the firing of Charlie Weis. Most expect answers to many of the questions surrounding the search after this weekend, the last regular-season weekend before bowl games begin.

"Examiner" posts have sometimes popped up in my google reader, linked alongside legitimate news stories from legitimate news outlets. I wonder if it will show up.

UPDATE: voilà, there it is. This is now on a national newswire.

In the meantime, please know that to our knowledge, there is absolutely no truth to the rumor that Jack Swarbrick is in any way interested in Bret Bielema as the next coach for Notre Dame.

And please, most of all...don't trust the internet!

UPDATE II: John Taylor, blogging for NBCsports.com, picked up the rumor from FootballCoachScoop, but then realized it was a goof, and printed a pretty entertaining retraction.

UPDATE III: This is officially hilarious. A Madison.com reporter, Jim Polzin, picked up the FootballCoachScoop rumor and actually tracked down Bielema in Hawaii for a statement. He also called Wisconsin athletic director Barry Alvarez. Both men, of course, had no idea what Polzin was talking about and denied any contact between Notre Dame and themselves.

UPDATE IV: Polzin catches on, and updates his story with a link to this post. In the meantime, ESPN blogger Adam Rittenberg has also published the rumor but quickly retracted it.

Okay, enough rumor-busting for the evening. Have a great weekend, everyone.

[Globetrotter]

The real problem is that we pay our coach 1/3 or 1/4 of East Carolina. Thats ridiculous.

[Redwingtom]

I don't know what you supposedly coach, but to come on here and post a story about our coach leaving while MISSPELLING HIS FREAKIN' NAME does not provide yourself much credibility.

[Sidejudge]

From today's Senitnal-Tribune:

BGSU officials say they've had no contact on Clawson
WRITTEN BY BY SENTINEL STAFF
WEDNESDAY, 20 JANUARY 2010 07:05
Dave Meyer, the football contact for the Bowling Green Athletics Communication Department, said Tuesday afternoon that Falcons’ head football coach Dave Clawson had not been contacted by East Carolina about its head coaching vacancy. Clawson was 7-6 in his first season at Bowling Green in 2009.
Meyer also said that Greg Christopher, BG’s athletics director, said that no one has contacted him for permission to speak with Clawson about any coaching vacancies.

Let's hope it stays this way and Coach Clawson stays with BG!

[Falconfreak90]

From today's Senitnal-Tribune:

BGSU officials say they've had no contact on Clawson
WRITTEN BY BY SENTINEL STAFF
WEDNESDAY, 20 JANUARY 2010 07:05
Dave Meyer, the football contact for the Bowling Green Athletics Communication Department, said Tuesday afternoon that Falcons’ head football coach Dave Clawson had not been contacted by East Carolina about its head coaching vacancy. Clawson was 7-6 in his first season at Bowling Green in 2009.
Meyer also said that Greg Christopher, BG’s athletics director, said that no one has contacted him for permission to speak with Clawson about any coaching vacancies.

Let's hope it stays this way and Coach Clawson stays with BG!

AMEN. I like his style and he did a very solid job this year. Next year will be a challenge...we lose a loooot of starters but the man has proven himself as a HC in my book.

[kentuckianacoach]

Mr. Redwingtom and the rest of the Falcon Nation...I humbly apologize for the typo on Coach Clawson's name. It was late when I posted it. That being said, Mr. Redwingtom...Coach Clawson is my coach. I have followed the Falcons for several years and I am such a huge fan that I made the trip to the Humanitarian Bowl in Boise, ID. As I stated in my post I hoped that Coach Clawson would stay because I believe he is the right coach for the Falcon program.

But let's look at some facts:

1. The reason you are seeing newspaper articles on Coach Clawson is that it is "out there" that he is a possibility. I am also convinced that some of the players were hearing the same thing and needed assurance he was staying.

2. What made this scary situation is that for the 2010 season, BGSU football will be on their 4th offensive line coach in five years. Although Mr. Redwingtom may feel otherwise, I have coached football long enough to know that has an adverse effect on the line when you go through that many coaches.

Also besides addressing the possibility of Coach Clawson leaving the reason for the post is that I am becoming increasingly concerned about the direction of coaching in college football. I really feel the NCAA needs to step in and put in place some type of rule preventing coaches from leaving after just one year or just one season. It amazes me that (like the Tennessee situation) a coach can sit in front of a recruit and ask him for a five to four year commitment to his program and then jumps after one year.

I can not express how glad I am that Coach Clawson will be leading the Falcons this upcoming season and I hope for many years to come. I believe he is on the right track and soon the Falcons will be champions of the MAC. Go Falcons and I will see you in the stands this fall.

[daspollak]

The real problem is that we pay our coach 1/3 or 1/4 of East Carolina. Thats ridiculous.

So they pay their coach $1.2-1.6 million. I highly doubt that, especially since the Boise State coach doesn't even make that kind of money.

[TG1996]

The real problem is that we pay our coach 1/3 or 1/4 of East Carolina. Thats ridiculous.

So they pay their coach $1.2-1.6 million. I highly doubt that, especially since the Boise State coach doesn't even make that kind of money.

http://www.usatoday.com/sports/college/ ... tabase.htm" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[Dayons_Den]

The real problem is that we pay our coach 1/3 or 1/4 of East Carolina. Thats ridiculous.

So they pay their coach $1.2-1.6 million. I highly doubt that, especially since the Boise State coach doesn't even make that kind of money.

Holtz was under contract through the 2013 season and had only a $100,000 buyout. He made $605,000 in base salary this year, though that figure rose to nearly $900,000 due to several incentives.

From this article http://www.witn.com/home/headlines/81210177.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

So in fact we do pay our coach 1/3 of what Skippy made in Greenville.

[daspollak]

I stand corrected. It still amazes me that Skip made more than Petersen.

[BGSU33]

Sources: Clawson's staying at BG
East Carolina headed different direction

Updated: Wednesday, 20 Jan 2010, 3:49 PM EST
Published : Wednesday, 20 Jan 2010, 12:50 AM EST

Howard Chen
FOX Toledo Sports Director
BOWLING GREEN, Ohio - Sources in Greenville, North Carolina tell FOX Toledo that Bowling Green football fans can rest easy - Dave Clawson is not expected to land in East Carolina.

According to the sources close to the situation, ECU is expected to go a different direction, with one of the candidates coming from within the program. An announcement of the hiring could come as early as tomorrow.

Clawson was mentioned in several articles as maybe being a leading candidate for the open head coaching gig at East Carolina to replace Skip Holtz, who left last week for South Florida.

However, BG officials said on Tuesday and Wednesday that no contact had been made with either Athletic Director Greg Christopher or Clawson himself.

The rumors had intensified in the last 24 hours, seeing that the job was turned down by Middle Tennessee State's Rick Stockstill.

Clawson just finished his first year as Bowling Green's head coach. He led the team to a 7-5 regular season record and a berth in the Humanitarian Bowl, where the team fell 43-42 to Idaho.