Retroactive Vandy

Sports news is slow  and when I read that "Woody" Widenhofer, former Missouri(Big Eight-1985-88) and Vanderbilt(SEC-1997-2001) head coach, and Steelers assistant coach  died at the age of 77 due to a stroke, I got curious about Vanderbilt's football history and found that QPRS, a major selector in the NCAA Division I FBS Record Book, selected Vanderbilt, then a member of the Southern Conference, as champion based on retroactive analysis of the national 1921 and 1922 seasons.  I wonder if that type of analysis is a growing trend and am not sure if I'm buying it.

March 28

 Georgia leads the series 57–20–2 against Vandy

March 30

Arkansas  leads the series against Vandy 7-3. They played in 1949 and 1950 then  not again until 1978 .
For some years in the early part of the 20th century, Georgia and Clemson  were in the SIAA together.

April 2

 1892–1927: Vanderbilt went 19–2–3 against Tennessee. Vols lead the series with 76–33–5 record.

April 4

Maybe Jay Cutler wasn't the best QB to play at Vandy. It could've been Billy Wade, who played for the Rams and the Bears from the mid 1950s to the mid 1960s. Here's  snapshot of the possible best ten Vandy grads to play in the NFL .

april 10, 2020- I've always considered #PatToomay, a Cowboy, but he also played for Buffalo Bills, Tampa Bay Buccaneers, and the Oakland Raiders

april 13

 Ricky Anderson was a a consensus All-American  Punter in 1984 . He was  also Vandy's placekicker ^{. St Louis cardinals drafted him in round 11 in 1985. Some sites says hewas on the Atlanta Falcons in 1987, but I can't find any stats. Maybe he was on the taxi squad briefly}

^{april 16}

 ^{It's getting bumpy for Coach Mason with Vandy coming off their sixth straight sub-.500 season,and eight players have entered the transfer portal since the end of the 2019 season.}

^{april 20}

The Packers used the fifth overall pick in the 1960 draft to select #TomMoore. Packers also had Hornung and Jim Taylor. Zac Stacy, a former Commodore, was drafted in round 5 of the 2013 draft by the Rams.

april 21 

Vandy RB, #Ke’ShawnVaughn , who runs a 4.5 forty yard dash and rushed for over 1K last season, has moved up in the draft rankings

april 24

Bucs roll the dice on Vaughn in round 3 

april 27

 Mildly surprised #Jared Pinkney , TE, Vanderbilt. went undrafted. Nice signing by the Falcons.

april 29

While Vandy had only one player selected in the draft, Missouri, Tennessee, and TAMU each only had two players taken. 

May3

Because I've been chatting with a Buckeyes fan about the lack of sports news here's some minutia. Ohio St is 3-1 against Vandy. They haven't played each other since the Great Depression.

May 12, 2020

 Riley Neal, Vandy starting QB last season after spending a few years at Ball St (MAC), was signed as a FA by the Denver Broncos. He's a big kid 6'6 , 225 but his collegiate career  was so-so. Will Elway  give Cam a one year deal?

June 24, 2020

If you are driving around town and want to listen to your local team's game, a radio station change you forgot about can  piss you off. Vandy announced Cromwell Media as a new radio affiliate to broadcast football and men's hoops games. They will air on 93.3 in the Nashville area, or 101.9 in Robertson and Sumner Counties.. Games were previously aired live on WNRQ 98.3 FM and WLAC 1510 AM.

July 24, 2020

Hey it's a slow CFF news day. UConn  is playing Vandy on October 2, 2021, in Nashville in a one off. Vandy leads the series 2-1. Also UConn  will play a future home and home series against Georgia St.

Aug 3, 2020

Kyle Shurmur,  a former Vandy Qb who was recently waived by the Chiefs, is returning to Vandy as a volunteer Asst Coach.

His dad Pat , the former Giants HC, is the Denver Broncos OC.

Aug 5, 2020

Without a conference, UConn cancelled football in 2020. Vandy has already nixed it's OOC scheule.

Aug, 10, 2020

Speaking of Nashville, I saw this quote, from Phil Wood, a baseball writer who covered the Senators and Nats , and did a lot of baseball talkTV on MASN. “I kind of talked in general about what it is that I do and about the Nationals,” Wood said. “I also shared how I’m convinced that in 10 years there will be a baseball team in Nashville. It’s a great market. The research shows that in this part of the country, people have no issue driving two or three hours to a sporting event. " 

This quote was from late March, 2020 before the pandemic went boom.

sept 7,2020

Denver cut Riley Neal earlier this summer. Falcons cut Pinckney this week . Ke"Shawn Vaughn survived the cuts at TBay.

April 11, 2021

Vandy baseball was hot until they played Georgia, and in a rare event , a Commodore , Scotty Pippen Jr, is leaving school early to enter the NBA draft. Meanwhile their new football HC, Clark Lea , who Jay Cutler handed off to a few times, has a daunting task in turning around the program.

April 27, 2021

#vanderbilt will invest 300M in Vanderbilt to improve football and basketball facilities. Good luck Clark Lea and Jerry Stackhouse.

July 8 2021

Hearing chatter Bosox at 4 have a decent shot #jackleiter

July 10, 2021

Another Vandy pitcher, Kumar Rocker is expected to go high in the draft. His dad, Tracy Rocker, played college football at Auburn and two years in the NFL for the Skins, and is the DL coach for the Philadelphia Eagles. 

July 12, 2021

Jack Leiter went to the rangers @ 2. Rocker went to the Mets @ 10 

Aug 2, 2021

Due to concerns with Rocker's right elbow and fruitless negotiations with Boras on a reduced signing bonus, the Mets and Rocker didn't reach a deal before Sunday's 5 p.m. ET signing deadline.   Because he was drafted this year, he is not allowed to sign with another MLB team until after the 2022 draft, but he can sign with an Independent team or return to Vandy.

Dec 7, 2021

Jared Pinckney has been bouncing around practice squads in 2021 and is now with the LA Rams. No updates on Kumar Rocker.

Jan 18, 2022

Ke’ShawnVaughn, a former player at Vandy, will probably return to the Bucs bench with the return of Fournette to the lineup.

May 13, 2022

Former Vandy right-handed pitcher Kumar Rocker has signed with the Tri-City Valleycats of the Frontier League, an Independent league  He was drafted 10th in 2021 by the Mets but not signed. He will be eligible to be re-drafted.  Valley Cats home is in Troy, NY.

July 18, 2022

Kumar Rocker got re-drafted and went 3rd overall to the Rangers.  He was 1-0 with a 1.35 earned-run average for Tri-City. He struck out 32 batters in 20 innings. 

Nov 17, 2022

Even Vandy can't escape social media messes. Vandy DB coach Jackson will step back and also apologized for a comment saying Ye was "two steps ahead of everyone else ". Ye= Kanye West

April 25, 2023

Heard this comparison at a few places today. Will Levis from UK /Jay Cutler. Big arm but questionable in other areas.

May 29, 2023

Vandy won the SECT for the automatic bid to the baseball field of 64. Commodores beat TAMU 10-4.

May 30, 2023

SEC 10 (Alabama, Arkansas, Auburn, Florida, Kentucky, LSU, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas A&M, Vanderbilt)

Ten seems high for one conference. Nashville Regional hosted by Vanderbilt #2 Oregon (37-20) vs. #3 Xavier (37-23), 1 p.m., ESPN+ #1 Vanderbilt (41-18) vs. #4 Eastern Ill. (38-19), 8 p.m., SECN

ACC 8 [Boston College, Clemson, Duke, Miami (FL), NC State, North Carolina, Virginia, Wake Forest] Big 12 6 (Oklahoma, Oklahoma St., TCU, Texas, Texas Tech, West Virginia) Pac-12 5 (Arizona, Oregon, Oregon St., Stanford, Washington)

July 23, 2023

Did those who gave Vandy preseason first place votes in the SEC poll think Jay Cutler was coming back?

March 18, 2024

Where does Vandy go after Stackhouse? Chris Mack, former Xavier and Louisville HC, is getting a lot of pub. So is Henderson of Princeton.

March 25, 2024

Vanderbilt is hiring James Madison’s Mark Byington as its next HC,- tough gig. Win over Wisky probably sealed the deal.

 

Iona basketball has lost its mind by hiring Pitino

Iona has lost its mind. MAAC HOOPS IS NOT THAT DEEP. I grew up following the MAAC because Loyola(Baltimore) was in that league . Loyola left it a few years ago for the Patriot League, and one reason given was that the Patriot was a better Lacrosse league.
It was exciting when  Coach Patsos  took the Greyhound to the Dance in March 2012 .
If Pitino manages to stay in the NCAA and not receive the 15-year penalty, he'll be looking a for a big time job ASAP.
I'll come back from time to time to see how Slick Rick is doing.

March 16

 ....and it gets better: " #RobertLaPenta , top Iona booster, formerly partnered with Pitino in ownership of racehorses.

March 24

  Pitino wants Iona to Play Kentucky, but he won't Play Louisville . He's still tight with Calipari.

May 5, 2020

And the hits keep coming: Louisville received a notice of allegations from the NCAA that included one Level I allegation and three Level II allegations, including one against former Louisville and current Iona head coach Rick Pitino. Pitino was hit with a Level I allegation, which includes charges against former assistant coaches Jordan Fair and Kenny Johnson, involve the $100,000 offer that was made to former signee Brian Bowen Jr in 2017

May 13, 2020

Fallout continues:  Lasalle let Kenny Johnson, an Asst Coach and  a key figure in the NCAA's infractions case against Louisville , go.

Jan 21,2021

I'm revisiting Iona(5-3, 3-1 MAAC) since the Gaels recently played two Baltimore  city schools  that play in the MEAC. They beat Coppin St but lost to Morgan St. Iona's other losses are in conference to Fairfield and a blowout loss to Seton Hall (Big East)

#ISAIAHROSS is the Gaels leading scorer at 22.2 PPG

Feb 21, 2021

Iona shut down its regular season on Feb 21 due to Covid, but the Gaels, who are 6-3 in MAAC  play, are expected to return for the MAACT, which begins on March 8 in Atlantic City. Crazy season!

March 10

Isaiah Ross had 15 points as ninth-seeded Iona easily defeated eighth-seeded Quinnipiac 72-48 in a rd1 MAACT game.

March 21, 2021

At halftime of the Bama/Iona game, Barkley kept telling  the rest of the TBS panel that Bama will increase its one point lead and win by 12 or 14, and they kept telling him Pittino will find a way to win. Bama went on an 11-0 run late in the second half and won 68-55. Isaiah Ross scored 19 points for Iona and Herb Jones scored 20 for the Tide.

May 19, 2021

Pittino may have left Louisville , but the basketball program still has issues. #DinoGaudio, a former assistant coach for Chris Mack, was  federally charged for an attempt to extort  the Louisville program for 17 months of salary. He threatened to inform members of the media of alleged NCAA violations.

Also,  the NCAA case against Pittino is still being adjudicated through the Independent Accountability Resolution Process.

Nov 26, 2021

Wow, Pitino took Iona to Bama and won by curtailing their 3 -point shooting

Jan 26, 2022

Slick Rick is probably smiling this morning. Iona is undefeated in conference play and 17-3 overall including its upset win @  Bama earlier this season. Louisville is working on buying out Coach Mack who is facing some turbulence including players not buying in, etc. Furthermore, Louisville hasn't replaced its school President since since Neeli Bendapudi left for Penn State.

Feb  18, 2022

Pitino again denied knowledge of a $100,000 payment via Adidas made to Bowen to lead him to Louisville, and denied  knowing his accuser Merl Code, who's going to jail for nine months on corruption charges. NIL has made this kind of activity legal.

March 4, 2022

Pitino denied interest in the Terps job and his Iona(24-6, 16-3 CONF) squad went out and lost Manhattan(15-14, 8-12 CONF) in MAAC play. I doubt if Maryland was going roll the dice that much.

March 10, 2022

 I don't think Pitino is dancing this season. Rider 72 Iona 71 in the MAACT. Win over Bama earlier in the season won't be enough.

March 17, 2022

Iona gave FLA a he!! of an NIT game  but lost 79-74. NELLY JUNIOR JOSEPH scored 18 for the Gaels. Pittino   understands how to play SEC teams.

March 18, 2022

St Peters, who won the MAACT, Pitino's conference, knocked off Kentucky.

April 16, 2022

Pitinos arrange a home/home series. Iona travels to The Pit @ New Mexico during the 2022/23 season, and the Lobos will travel to New York during the 2023-24 season.  Lobos were terrible last season in the MWC so I'm guessing Dad's Iona squad wins on the road next season.

Dec 23, 2022

I was wrong on my April 16th hunch: Dad's team Iona lost at The Pit to his son's Lobos 82-74 on Dec 18.  Then Dad had a double-digit lead in Hawaii against SMU(AAC) and lost.

March 20, 2023

Wow, Pitino gets the St John's gig after taking Iona to to the Dance two out of three seasons. ST Peters got the MAAC ticket in 2022. I guess Iona got something out of his time there and weren't as crazy as I thought in my original post. Slick Rick has a daunting task with the Johnnies who have been to just three Dances since 2002.

Jan 20, 2024

After Pitino IONA 8-9 3-3(MAAC), Griffins beat Canisius 70- 58 last night. Meanwhile, the Johnnies are 4-3 in the Big East. Losses to UConn, Creighton, and Seton Hall

Iona's HC is Tobin Anderson who took FDU to the Dance last spring.