By Bob Hertzel
MORGANTOWN — Trust us.
That’s what the American Football Coaches Association is saying as it turns USA Today’s football coaches’ poll as secretive as the nuclear program in North Korea.
Trust us, they say.
Sure, we’ll trust you … just as you trust each other.
There’s a reason coaches hold their practices on secluded fields, often with screens around them, sending student managers off after any suspicious-looking character who might be spying for an opponent.
Trust us.
Wasn’t that Rita Rodriguez’s red Mercedes-Benz down there at Marshall and a WVU football employee caught red-handed noting formations and the like a couple of years back?
Trust us.
Right.
How many schools have been put on probation due to cheating that was either done by a coach or done with a coach’s knowledge?
Why all of a sudden Memphis’ basketball program is being investigated for major violations that allegedly occurred under John Calipari.
Now isn’t that a surprise?
Trust us, say the coaches.
According to Grant Taeff, the executive director of the AFCA, the coaches went to the Gallup pollsters and asked them to study the poll and recommend ways to make it more accurate and credible. After all, the only thing riding on it is which team plays in the BCS national championship game, it being one of two human elements in the BCS rankings and counts a full one-third.
And now the coaches do not have to reveal how they voted.
“Gallup said, ‘Look, why do you think they have curtains and booths for voting?’” Teaff said. “They said it’s because you get the truest vote from an anonymous vote.”
It also would be pretty difficult, in a presidential election, to ask for a show of hands.
Leave it, though, to our dear friend from Michigan, Rich Rodriguez, to make the most absurd statement of all about turning the process into a secret ballot.
“By keeping things confidential, I think there will be less hidden agendas,” said Rodriguez, who is on the AFCA’s board.
Think about that statement for a moment, if you will.
By making it secret, there will be less hidden agendas?
Rich, baby, everything will be hidden.
See, the problem with this poll isn’t that it is open or secret. The problem is the poll creates a conflict-of-interest for the coaches.
Think about it. You think Dave Wannstedt is going to vote for West Virginia, his rival on the field and in recruiting, if he’s assured that it won’t come out that he passed them over or ranked them 10 places below where they belong? You think Bill Stewart will vote for Pitt? Alabama’s Nick Saban for Auburn? USC’s Pete Carroll for UCLA?
Honorable men would be challenged to make such votes and coaches, while talented, dedicated and educated, have been known to be ethically challenged on occasion. They rank slightly above the lawyers they hired when they skip out on valid contracts.
There is something else that gives the coaches reason to keep their ballots secret.
They probably know less about the teams they are voting for or against than your average 13-year-old.
For the most part, football teams play at the same time, which means that Coach X can’t watch Coach Y’s team on ESPN, because he’s appearing on CBS. And Coach Z, he’s playing on ABC.
Coaches are zeroed in during the season on their team and their opponents.
I’d almost bet that a coach from the WAC could not name the starting quarterback at all Big Ten schools.
He may not be able to name all the coaches.
Certainly, these coaches have no way to compare TCU to BYU unless they happen to have played them both.
Ask a coach on Saturday night after a game about his upcoming opponent, and the first thing he’ll tell you is he hasn’t had a chance to think about them yet. He’s not kidding.
The fact of the matter is this:
Coaches should coach. Period.
E-mail Bob Hertzel at bhertzel@hotmail.com.
