Wyoming is putting a mountain range on its new field
Graphically bold playing surface designs are a new trend that has spread quickly through college basketball. Palm trees at Long Beach State. The beach at Florida International. Pine trees at Oregon. The Rocky Mountains at the Mountain West tournament. It was a trend solely contained to college basketball, until now.
Wyoming is installing a new field at War Memorial Stadium and decided to remind opponents they were competing on a field that lies more than a mile and a quarter above sea level. While they're sticking to the traditional green between the goal lines, the Cowboys will be the first team to depict a mountain range in the end zones. And if any NCAA personnel are reading this, don't worry, there are no hashtags to be seen on the new surface.
"It's great that we are getting a new surface, and it will be nice to have our gameday gold incorporated in the new design," head coach Dave Christensen said in the school's official release.
(H/T Eye on College Football)
Two coaches elected to College Football Hall of Fame
Two more coaches joined college football's ultimate shrine Tuesday as Wayne Hardin and Bill McCartney were chosen to the College Football Hall of Fame.
Coached by one of the true masters of the game, Hardin played for Amos Alonzo Stagg at Pacific before his retirement in 1946. Hardin carries the rare distinction of being the best coach in the history of two FBS programs. From 1959-64, Hardin led Navy to 38 wins, coached two Heisman Trophy winners and beat Army five times in his six seasons. The Midshipmen registered a No. 4 final ranking in 1960 and a No. 2 spot in 1963, concluding those seasons with trips to the Orange Bowl in 1960 and the Cotton Bowl after the 1963 season.
Hardin then matriculated to Temple, where he became the Owls' all-time wins leader with 80 victories from 1970-82. His 1979 team became the first and only Temple squad to win 10 games, punctuated by a Garden State Bowl win over Cal and a No. 17 final ranking. In all, Hardin carried a 118-74-5 career record.
McCartney guided Colorado to its lone national championship in 1990 and won national Coach of the Year honors the year prior when he led the Buffaloes to an 11-1 record and a No. 4 national ranking. McCartney's career ended with a finishing kick most coaches can only wish for, with a 58-12-4 record (36-3-3 inside the Big 8) to go with three conference titles, three second place finishes, six top 20 rankings including a trio of top four final rankings, six bowl trips and the aforementioned national championship in his final six seasons.
Whereas most life-long coaches close up shop with a dozen or more stops throughout their career, McCartney was fortunate enough to spend his college career at just two stops. He became the only high school coach hired by the legendary Bo Schembechler in1974, where he remained as an assistant until getting the head job at Colorado in 1982. In his 13 seasons leading the Buffaloes, McCartney totaled a 93-55-5 career record.
Hardin and McCartney are joined in the 2013 College Football Hall of Fame Class by Ted Brown (N.C. State), Tedy Bruschi (Arizona), Ron Dayne (Wisconsin), Tommie Frazier (Nebraska), Jerry Gray (Texas), Steve Meilinger (Kentucky), Orlando Pace (Ohio State), the late Rod Shoate (Oklahoma), Percy Snow (Michigan State), Vinny Testaverde (Miami), Don Trull (Baylor) and Danny Wuerffel (Florida).
A sincere congratulations are in order to both coaches, their families and the Navy, Temple and Colorado programs. Tomorrow, we'll take a gander at what College Football Hall of Fame coaching classes may look like in the future.
Alabama spent over $3.4 million to bring the crystal ball home
The cost of bringing the crystal ball home to Tuscaloosa was anything but cheap for the Crimson Tide.
According to the bowl expense report obtained by AL.com, the trip to the national championship game in Miami this past January ended up costing Alabama $3.4 million. When you factor in the football bonuses the University paid out, the Tide spent around $4.9 million, making it the most expensive national title of their past three trips to the big game.
That's some serious dough.
AL.com also put together an interesting chart detailing the Bama's last three trips to national title game, and their expenses, which can be found below. Pretty interesting numbers in the chart, including how many people were accounted for on each trip, and the money it took to help bring the trophy to Tuscaloosa.
(H/T to AL.com for the well done chart)
If you're looking for a vacation home, Saban's place is for sale
The guys over at DeadSpin got ahold of an interesting real estate listing recently. As it turns out, Nick Saban has put his North Georgia vacation home up for sale.
The price tag for the 9,609 square foot house, sitting on 11 acres, is just $11 million.
According to the information that DeadSpin gathered, the property has 700 feet of waterfront footage, and includes 6 bedrooms, 6 full bathrooms and 3 half baths. The house also includes a custom boat house, four car garage, and a Cape Cod style lighthouse.
Yes, a lighthouse.
Since Saban and the Tide show no signs of slowing down when it comes to winning national titles, it's time someone else enjoys this gem. Take a look at the impressive property below, and for a complete list of the specs, take a look at the original article.
The only Ohio State video you'll need to see for the next few months
We're just over 113 days until college football season kicks off again, and once we came across this Ohio State / Nike promo video we knew we were watching something special.
Trust us when we say that this is the only Ohio State video you'll need to watch over the next 113 days. Save it and play it over and over, because this one has it all; history, tradition, Urban, Woody, highlights, nostalgia, and plenty of famous faces of Buckeye past.
Enjoy!
Texas high school is looking to add $1 million scoreboard
Weslaco ISD's Bobby Lackey Stadium is looking to add the largest digital scoreboard of any high school stadium in the country, and if they do, it's going to be a sight to behold.
Their current scoreboard would be dwarfed by the one that they're looking to add. The current screen is 14 feet x 18 feet and the new screen will be 27 feet x 48 feet. Both Katy and Carthage high school have 43 foot screens, and Humble ISD has a 50 foot screen, but Weslaco's would still be larger in terms of square footage.
The Valley Morning Star points out that the scoreboard would take 10 years to repay, and Steve Valdez, Weslaco's director of instructional television, estimates that they can make over $105,000 in annual advertising revenue on the new screen. That would mean that the marketing revenue generated over a decade would pay for screen by itself.
The largest high school scoreboard in the country is currently at Humble ISD's Turner Stadium (pictured below), so if Weslaco ISD can get the plans approved for the 27x48 board they'll take the crown and have fans, and opposing teams, in awe for years to come.
Or at least until another Texas high schools decides to upgrade and steal the crown.
Excellent off season high school workout video
The staff at Timberland HS in Wentzville, Missouri holds their off season workouts at 6am. Holding workouts that early means that there is no excuse for their kids to miss, and the staff has seen some impressive results when it comes to attendance.
In just his second season as the head coach, Edward Gilreath and his staff averaged 70 kids at their early morning workouts, including four separate occasions where they broke the 80 kid mark. That's pretty impressive.
Take a look at what they're doing before most of their competition rolls out of bed. These guys make the most of the space that they have, and most of their drills revolve around competition.
Arizona reveals 13 new uniform combinations
After a brief teasing last week, Arizona released their new look for 2013 today.
13 new and improved uniform combinations in all, including helmet colors of Cardinal, Navy, White, and of course Copper. Pictures can be seen below the video (and a few more pictures can be seen here).
What are your thoughts on the new look?
