As the drums beat in the backgroud calling Bob Davie to fade into history as the Notre Dame coach. Pat Hill the Fresno State coach is bound to be as Hot as any coach in the country if he pulls off a undefeated season. In looking into who he is and what he's all about I found the following. It seems like he gets it when it comes to academics. Which is strange to me, since I've somewhat assoc Fresno State with renegade programs since they took on Tarkanian, who's basketball teams have continued to be populated with criminals and other bad sorts. I figured football would be the same way. Apparently not. A couple of quotes from his BIO. When Hill was hired, he promised to shore up the team’s academic woes. He did that. In three years, the team GPA rose from a 2.21 to a 2.77. He produced the first Academic All-American in the program’s history this season, senior cornerback Payton Williams. In four years, the program has produced 30 Academic All-WAC selections, including 19 over the last two seasons. ALSO <b> One of the first projects he brought to the table is well underway with positive results coming in droves. Academic Gameplan, the brainchild of John Baxter, Hill’s associate head coach, was touted early in the building stages in the program, not as a quick fix all to placate university professors, but instead to make sure academics are first priority. In the fall of 1998, 16 football players were represented on the Dean’s List, posting a grade point average of 3.5 or better that semester. Thirty-four football players posted a semester GPA above 3.0 and 21 set academic personal records. In 1999, 31 players had cumulative GPAs above 3.0 and senior Payton Williams became the program’s first Academic All-American. "It’s like we say, it’s college football, not football college," says </b> I love that last quote!!! Terry Pat Hill
Terry I got to watch a little of the Fresno-Wisc. game. He's a little scruffy but the guy can coach. He reminds me a little of Mike Brey. He's a big talent in a smaller program. (not that Fresno St. couldn't beat us by 10.)
This is gunna sound REALLY stupid but I would honestly be shocked if the Irish could lure Hill away. He's a Fresno State guy. (I see he's also from the future cradle to coaches in all sports UCRiverside ) Anywho, this guy left a gig in the NFL to come back and take his "dream job"... Fresno is one of those growing areas that has so much to offer..Granted, it's also a huge ag area but the real emphasis there should be on HUGE...If he can keep home the talent just from the San Juaquin Valley, he'd be tough as nails... Toss in some kids from SoCal, No Cal and the surrounding states... It's a nice recipe... No way we get this guy... He's wants to build the next "Florida State" right there in the San Juaquin Valley and he wants to do it without the criminals and with far more academic AAs.....
Corey ...how do you think the Pres at Fresno State can justify having a guy like Tark the Shark who's had a string of bad characters on the basketball team but yet told Pat Hill he's got to get the Academic side of football up to snuff? Terry
Terry, I can only answer this honestly.. The guy's an idiot In sheer numbers, a football team that is on the up and up academically can REALLY help the profile of the athletic dept. IF (in a perfect world) half the basketball team makes the Dean's list as does half the football team, one would produce maybe 7 or 8 guys while the other would be producing 40 to 45. Ergo the school can boast of more Academic AA's or "Award winning" students etc.. Also... Jim Sweeney won a lot of football games at Fresno and AT Fresno they are damned tough to beat. That's always been the case.. But like a lot of WAC schools, they use a lot of JUCO guys and have to gamble on players who aren't always going to work out.. As you know, that just kills the grad rate. One final consideration... Tark (bandit though he may "allegedly" be) has attained a certain level of respect in his position around the country... Pat Hill is just coming into his own within his profession. They let Tark get away with just about anything up there because they wanted to lure a high profile coach there... If this thing with Pat Hill works out, I wonder how long of a rope they will give Tark. I am really pulling for the guy because he's showing them that they can win without doing it "the wrong way".
Terry, From what I understand about Hill I would have to agree with Corey. I originally dismissed him as not being ND's type but after what you posted I can see that he probably would fit the bill on the academics side. But Hill sounds like he has his "dream" job and I doubt if he could be lured away from there even if it was to ND or any other big school. I have been trying to think of who would be a good, legit replacement for Davie. I haven't thought of who I would like to have yet. Still not feeling very optomistic about this weekend. Tim