Ye olde notebook:
There ya go, Conference USA. I hear ya.
Just as our Dr. Smock called for in Monday's Gazette-Mail sports pages, Florida Atlantic went out and hired Alabama offensive coordinator Lane Kiffin.
Good for the school. But, moreso, good for the league, which includes the Mountain State's Marshall University.
In case you haven't noticed, Kiffin is the second marquee coaching name of late to be hired. Florida International inked ex-University of Miami, Cleveland Browns and North Carolina coach Butch Davis.
The hires are significant in many ways. Yet the one that jumps out at me has to do with eyeballs on television screens.
In case you've forgotten, C-USA was cut at the knees in its most recent television deal. The former $15.4 million package was sliced to $2.8 million via four TV partners. Each league school's income dropped from $1.1 annually to around $200,000 for 2016-17.
Now, though, the league can point to Kiffin. It can point to Davis. It can point to real TV draws, which translate into leverage.
Which should be C-USA's game plan going forward. It gambled on bringing in smaller programs with potential. But that hasn't translated into conference strength or a good TV deal in troubled network times.
Too, though, it gambled on shorter TV deals. That may pay off if the league can hire and maintain brand names like Kiffin, Davis, Louisiana Tech's Skip Holtz and even Marshall's Doc Holliday. (Yes, Holliday's team had a down year, yet his name resonates nationally.)
Keep seeking - and paying - those brand coaching names. The league and schools could recoup the financial outlay down the road.
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It will be interesting to see how Holliday, known for his recruiting in Florida, as well as West Virginia University's coaches now fare in the Sunshine State after the recent round of coaching hires.
Consider for a moment the head coaches in Florida now: Florida State's Jimbo Fisher, Miami's Mark Richt, FAU's Kiffin, FIU's Davis, UCF's Scott Frost and South Florida's Charlie Strong, in addition to Florida's Jim McElwain, whose team is No. 20 in the Associated Press Top 25 poll.
The cracks some players used to fall through are closing fast.
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It's been fun voting in the Associated Press Top 25 men's basketball poll through the chaotic start to the season.
If you haven't noticed, I'm one of six voters who currently have Baylor, not Villanova, ranked No. 1.
The reason? The Bears deserve it. They've defeated five nice or ranked teams in Oregon, Florida Gulf Coast, Michigan State, Louisville and Xavier.
Oh, and a tip. Keep an eye on Florida State in hoops. I threw the Seminoles all the way up to No. 17 this week. Good team.
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And finally...
While on the subject of voting, I can now divulge my Heisman Trophy votes, which went to No. 1 Stanford's Christian McCaffrey, No. 2 Oklahoma's Baker Mayfield and No. 3 Clemson's Deshaun Watson.
Again, because the players were deserving. Go to the NCAA stats and click on the first individual one you come to: all-purpose yardage. Lo and behold, No. 1 is McCaffrey, who not only led the nation, averaging 211.55 all-purpose yards for the Cardinal, he was 16 yards per game ahead of the next player: Oklahoma's Joe Mixon. And in case you're partial to players on better teams, Stanford is 9-3 and playing North Carolina in the Sun Bowl.
I liked Mayfield, who finished No. 1 in passing efficiency and No. 10 in passing yards a game, and Watson, who finished high in many statistical categories, for their abilities to lead their teams.
That written, I can't argue too much against the winner, Lamar Jackson of Louisville. I didn't like the way he finished the regular season, but you have to give the man his due. Also, I wouldn't have complained of Oklahoma's Dede Westbrook, Washington's Jake Browning or Texas' D'Onta Foreman would have taken home the hardware.
Jackson and Watson, by the way, blew away the rest of the field in voting with 2,144 and 1,524 votes respectively. Mayfield was next with 361, followed by Westbrook, Michigan's Jabrill Peppers, Alabama's Jonathan Allen, Foreman and McCaffrey. Florida State's Dalvin Cook and San Diego State's Donnell Pumphrey tied for 10th.