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After seeing the EXTREMELY disappointing hiring of Todd Graham at Arizona St., I was put into an (un)inspired mood. The Q is this:

Why does the ASU FB program suck?

Think about it. These guys should be able to recruit with anybody in the country. It’s warm weather. I’ve seen two polls that ASU co-eds as the best looking in the country (and based upon what I’ve seen compared to other parts of the country, I won’t disagree). They also have a huge winning tradition that was built under Dan Devine and then Frank Kush. Phoenix is a big city without the relative concomitant big city problems of others.

Well, here is my politically incorrect answer.

They have a female AD (Lisa Love).

Now, I have met and briefly spoken with Ms. Love. I found her to be amicable and personable and have also observed her to be one who is sincerely interested in furthering Sun Devil athletics. Alas, these are traits which are likely necessary, but not sufficient, conditions to ensure success for CFB.

So, my hypothesis then becomes the following-

Having a female AD means you will have unsuccessful CFB DI-A program.

To test my hypothesis, I will look at empirical evidence after a presentation of anecdotel reasons.

A couple of specifications-

1. There are not that many “successful” DI-A programs in CFB. I think successful can be defined in various ways.

1. You win your conference championship more frequently than the average # of schools in your conference (ie, 12 team conference, you should be winning at least 1 in 12 years)
2. How does your conference record rank compared to the other schools?
3. Do you win your “rivalry” game more than half the time, or perhaps more frequently than what you did before you showed up?
4. Note that I am NOT defining it by season tickets sales, attendance and hype. That is a fundraising/promotion issue. That is not an on-field performance issue.

2. I am NOT addressing any other college programs. Just FB. Let’s face it, with a few exceptions, the “success” or the visibility of the college is defined financially by how the FB program does.

As we have seen from the latest conference re-alignments, the ONLY thing that appears to matter is the FB program. I have long stated that due to Title IX, the athletic budget is funded by the CFB program (again, some minor exceptions).

I argue that Title IX is the real reason that we have had an accelerated rush for more money in the last few years by schools. Budget constraints and school deficits eventually speak, people. However, that is a different blog.

Now, let’s talk about the anecdotel evidence. There isn’t a lot but it centers around one argument-

A woman never has played football.

Please don’t insult me by telling me that a backyard FB game- even tackle at the park- is playing FB. Unless you are out there in pads and knocking serious bodies, get lost on that. I will give you some slack if you played in a women’s tackle football league (and of course if you played in the Lingerie Bowl, I will ask for photos- just for verification purposes only).

The central argument has two applications.

1. Because a woman hasn’t been close to the game, she can’t understand the game in a way that it needs to be understood. She doesn’t understand the passion of the game, the “warrior” mentality and Code of the Gladiators that are present; the willingness to play with pain and broken bones b/c you don’t want to let your teammates down.
2. What self-respecting football coach (or football player) wants to take orders from a woman? In the most macho of team sports, how will this do?

Regarding #A. There is an “inside the locker room” mentality. I never was very good at FB (b/c I didn’t like pain- the best players actually get a rush from it I’ve concluded); but I’m glad I played (even on crappy teams) b/c I understand the Code. A woman has never been exposed to this Code, and I can tell you that the Code is different than the Code in hoops or baseball which I also played.

This would most likely show up when the AD does not agree with the HC on how players are disciplined or should be handled, the methods of motivation. This can happen with male AD’s also, but it would more likely occur with female AD’s. They’ve never experienced the culture as a participant.

Regarding #B. Right or wrong, men are men. We have been wired certain ways either by nature or by millennia of social/cultural programming. Plenty of us testosterone laced guys have enough problems with women in authority, much less one in authority in a culture they were never a part of. This only gets aggravated if the woman is an outsider to the culture.

As a personal example, I’ve had two women bosses. I thought they were two of the best bosses I’d had. The bosses I chafed against the most were the ones who had no experience in my field of expertise- they were just professional managers. Well, in this case a woman, by definition, has no experience in the FB field of expertise.

Again, I’m making the hypothesis, I’m not saying it is good….. or bad.

Look at Arizona St. No way they should’ve had to settle for a 6-6 guy from a lesser conference.

Now, let’s go to the empirical side of this.

I show that there are 4 female AD’s at DI-A CFB programs. I’m going to rate them from best to worst.

#1. Deborah Yow, NC State

Held position since: 2010

Previous experience:

AD, Maryland 1994-2010

AD, U of St. Louis 1990-94

Conference Championships: 1 in 18 yrs

Conference Record: Maryland 59-77, 10^th out of 12 schools

NC State, 4-4, 7^th out of 12

Yow clearly belongs at the top of the list. First of all, SHE IS THE ONLY AD WHO HAD AD EXPERIENCE BEFORE TAKING ON THE TASK AT A DI-A SCHOOL.

When she took over, the Terps were a forgotten program. Long gone were the glory days of Claiborne Pell. She then made two astute hires. The most significant one was hiring Ron Vanderlinden for the 1997 season. Vandelinden was really the key to the conference championship in 2001.

When Vanderlinden suddenly left to become LB coach at Penn St., Yow then hired Ralph Friedgen. He won the conference championship his first year with Vanderlinden’s players. However, while they did not win a CC, the Terps did go to 6 other bowls over the next 9 years going 5-1.

Yow was brought in primarily as a financial administrator. The Terp debt in the athletic program shrank from 51 mil to 7 mil. She gets an “A” there.

1. Yow is the younger sister of legendary NCSU coach Kay Yow.
2. She had a female Assistant AD at U of Maryland. Some argue that this arrangement caused Gary Williams (who won the 2002 NCAA hoops title) to leave.
3. She did NOT fire Ralph Friedgen after going 9-4 to bring in Randy Edsall. That was a guy.

Overall CFB grade: B-

Maryland is not a traditional CFB power. She did a pretty good job there. I won’t go higher though b/c the program still reeked during her tenure overall. However, there have been periods of relevancy.

#2. Kathy Beauregard, Western Michigan

Held position since: 1997

Previous experience: A WMU graduate, she has been with WMU her entire professional career, which started in 1988.

Conference Championships: Zero in 15 yrs

Conference Record: 69-52, 4^th best out of 13 schools

Beauregard has had an acceptable, but not stellar, program at WMU. First of all, some people will argue that it is college hockey that drives the fan base at this school. That might be true, but it doesn’t raise the money like CFB can.

She gets good marks for making only two coaching hires in her tenure. She hired Gary Darnell for the 1997 season and then hired current HC Bill Cubit. Both have done decent jobs. You need to remember though the expectations of the fan base are mediocre at best.

Central Michigan is the main rival, but they don’t meet necessarily at the end of the year. WMU’s record is 7-8 against a MAC power.

WMU is 0-2 in bowl games under Beauregard’s tenure and the Broncos have NEVER won a bowl game. They have a shot this year against Purdue in the Little Caesar’s Bowl.

Overall CFB grade: C

I would say “satisfactory” would describe her CFB reign. You might be able to argue for a higher grade b/c the program has been competitive in the MAC, but they never excelled either. Zero conference championships and zero bowl wins hurt. She also fired her hire in a mid-major conference (Darnell). He wasn’t hired away by anybody else.

#3. Sandy Barbour, California

Held position since: 2004

Previous experience: Assistant AD, Notre Dame

Conference Championships: Zero in 8 yrs (1 tie, no Rose Bowl)

Conference Record: 39-24, 4^th out of 10 (5^th out of 12 incl 2011)

Barbour was the very first hire of the incoming Cal President. She took over at a time when expectations of the fan base were rising for the program. Jeff Tedford had been there two years previously and had beaten Stanford twice. This was after only 4 wins in the previous 20 years. Tedford is 5-3 against the Cardinal under Barbour’s reign.

She’s made no HC hires for CFB as Tedford has been at the school before she came on.

Cal is 4-2 in bowls during Barbour’s reign, 5-2 under Tedford.

The problem that Cal has is an apathetic fan base (fan82?). Sports are not as important there as many other schools in the conference. That tone is set though by the President, not the AD.

Overall CFB grade: C

Pretty tough to issue a grade here. Barbour has not really made a HC hire. You can argue the best thing Barbour has done is not fire Tedford. That is not insignificant as Cal was pretty irrelevant on the CFB for years before Tedford.

She appears to be playing a “safe” hand. Cal now has a respectable program, but not a very good one. I think that is a function of the school admin- just run things without a loss and have a decent level of success. That is not though a successful program.

Think about it, what one word comes to mind about Cal FB over the last several years: disappointment.

#4. Lisa Love, Arizona State

Held position since: 2005

Previous experience: Assistant AD, USC

Conference Championships: Zero in 7 yrs

Conference Record: 29-33, 7^th out of 10 (7^th out of 12 incl 2011)

Sorry, this is a program that has gone into the tank under her reign. She has made two major gaffes regarding CFB during her tenure.

First, she inherited Dirk Koetter as HC in 2005. Fair enough. Mistake #1 was extending him though at the end of the 2005 season and then buying him out (firing him) at the end of the 2006 season. HUGE mistake.

Second, she brought in Dennis Erickson. Now, this initially appeared to be a good hire, but it was not. Her hire, Erickson, was bought out this year (fired).

ASU fans easily have the highest expectations of any of the previous fan bases. They’ve had the most success of any of the four programs.

The Territorial Cup is the big rivalry game for ASU v UoA. They are 4-3 there and 1-2 in bowl games in the Love era. However, they are 0-1 with Erickson.

Overall CFB grade: F

What should arguably be the second best program in the Pac 12 has now become a joke under reign. The cost of the buyouts for her dismissals equals the cost of her entire salary for her seven years.

At the end of the day, I will stand by my hypothesis. 1 outright Conference Championship in 48 overall seasons with a woman as an AD.

These schools should wise up and use the model at the UT’s (Texas and Tennessee). There is a woman’s AD and a man’s AD.