CSNbbs

Just to stir the pot a little.

Nehlen speaks at College of Law

Submitted Former WVU Football coach Don Nehlen spoke to WVU students on Tuesday.

By Brian Welch
Sports Writer

Recent College Football Hall of Fame inductee Don Nehlen dealt with his share of sports agents during his 21 years as the head coach at West Virginia University. Speaking at the WVU College of Law as an invited guest of the Sports and Entertainment Law Society on Tuesday, Nehlen offered some advice to those thinking of entering the profession.

"Some agents are good and some are bad," Nehlen said. "The good ones are honest, advise kids to stay in school and (once they turn pro) make sure they live on a budget like anyone else."

Nehlen cited the turbulent adjustment to the NFL that has riddled former WVU and current Tennessee Titans cornerback Adam "Pac-Man" Jones as the perfect example of how a sports agent can help a client. "Here's a guy who went from no money to over $10 million in no time. $10 million will buy you a lot of friends. He's having a heck of a time trying to get his head on straight. That's where his agent (Michael Huyghue, CEO of Axcess Sports and Entertainment) needs to help him out."

When the subject turned to the current state of college football, Nehlen did not hesitate to express his views. "The (current) drive to win at all costs scares me. Coaches making one or two million dollars a year scares me. That's too much for a doggone coach."

"It's a game, and we've made it like a religion," Nehlen continued. "If you look at the Southeastern Conference, I'm not sure it isn't a religion."
The role television has played in transforming the game into a business also worries Nehlen. "TV tells schools what to do and when to do it. We used to not play on Friday nights out of respect for high school football. Now we play on Fridays. It's like biting the hand that feeds you. If you play on a Wednesday, the athletes miss class from traveling on Tuesday and on gameday, and we all know they're not going on Thursday. But the NCAA says it's all about academics. It's not. It's about money."

Nehlen also expressed his skepticism concerning the perceived rebound of the Big East Conference in football.

"Say what you want, but it killed us to lose those teams," Nehlen said in reference to Miami, Virginia Tech and Boston College, each of which defected to the Atlantic Coast Conference since 2004.

"We'll be playing a lot more Wednesday games unless something changes. South Florida doesn't have their own stadium, and at Cincinnati games, the fans would rather talk about the start of basketball season.
"Louisville made their program go by taking Prop 48 guys. Now they can't do that, and it won't be long until they're average again. That's why we need Pittsburgh and Syracuse to rebound. They're the only two (Big East) schools with national name recognition. I never thought I'd root for Pitt to get better, but we need them to give our league some prestige."

In closing, Nehlen offered his prediction on Saturday's Coal Bowl matchup between WVU and Marshall. "I think it's good we're playing them, but I think at the end of the afternoon it will be clear that WVU is the superior team. For every 10 times we play them, they might beat us once."

brian.welch@mail.wvu.edu

http://www.da.wvu.edu/XMLParser/printsto...l?id=23392

I wonder what he thinks of the Big East now especially with Louisville and South Florida beating his old team in 2006. Especially with USF not only beating WVU but beating them up in Morgantown.

Yes, he sounded like a stupid old fool, didn't he! lmfao lmfao lmfao

Time to put ol' Don out to pasture lmfao The eight BE teams are doing the best they can, and if he doesn't support that, he ought to just get lost :banned:

Don Nehlen is many things but he is not a fool. Those kids didn't come to hear Nehlen give the company line on issues, they came to hear what he thought. The only thing I can find wrong in the article is the issue about Louisville. I have no idea what ULs history with props is, but it seems like a good bet that the will remain a quality football program. He mentiones UC has some fan issues which it certainly has. He didn't see USF acquiring that kind of talent so quickly but no one outside the most loyal USF homer thought they would accomplish so much this quickly

He mentioned that Syracuse and Pitt need to get their programs to the point where they once were. IMO, for our league to take the next step that is exactly what needs to happen. Can you imagine what the ratings would be like for a Syracuse/Rutgers game with both teams being ranked?

As for the other issues in the article, I don't think many would disagree with the idea that something needs to be done to mentor some of the younger players in the NFL, and that weekday games hurt football players in terms of missed class time.

Quote:"Say what you want, but it killed us to lose those teams," Nehlen said in reference to Miami, Virginia Tech and Boston College, each of which defected to the Atlantic Coast Conference since 2004.

-- It a credit to the ADs, coaches and players in the leauge that this didn't happen. That's what makes the current Big East so appealing to me. What has happened to the football league is little short of miraculous


Jackson

Don Nehlen is WVU's Adolph Rupp, without the national championships of course. They have to roll him out ever so often to keep some of the aging alumni happy and take the chance of him uttering something stupid like this every time they do.
This would be like Denny Crum, with the national championships saying we need to get Cincinnati, Syracuse and UCONN back up to championship level because schools like WVU have ZERO national basketball tradition. Of course Denny would never say something like that because he has too much class.
Bottomline is the best thing fans of the 7 other Big East football programs, and those of us living in the 21st century can do, is consider the source. Lets all just collectively roll our eyes, pat Don on his head, feed him his strained peas and prunes, change his diaper and put him back to bed. Then we can all get back to the business of making Big East football better. Until of course WVU drags Don's ol' wrinkled senile azz back out again and we have to go through this all over again.
CJ

CardinalJim Wrote:Don Nehlen is WVU's Adolph Rupp, without the national championships of course. They have to roll him out ever so often to keep some of the aging alumni happy and take the chance of him uttering something stupid like this every time they do.
This would be like Denny Crum, with the national championships saying we need to get Cincinnati, Syracuse and UCONN back up to championship level because schools like WVU have ZERO national basketball tradition. Of course Denny would never say something like that because he has too much class.
Bottomline is the best thing fans of the 7 other Big East football programs, and those of us living in the 21st century can do, is consider the source. Lets all just collectively roll our eyes, pat Don on his head, feed him his strained peas and prunes, change his diaper and put him back to bed. Then we can all get back to the business of making Big East football better. Until of course WVU drags Don's ol' wrinkled senile azz back out again and we have to go through this all over again.
CJ

Don also picked West Virginia to beat Louisville by 20 in Papa John's this past year in a interview with Don James. It was the weekly Master Poll conference call during this past season. What was he thinking, WVU beating a team by 20 points that hasn't lost a home game in over 3 years. Final score Louisville 44 West Virginia 34 with Louisville becoming the 2006 Big East and Orange Bowl Champions.

But CJ, I would not compare Nehlen to Rupp. I highly doubt he was a racist pig like Rupp.

You UL guys are taking the comments of an old coach who hasn't coached a down in 6 yrs entirely to personally. Reporters and media consultants, who by the way are in the position to change minds, have made far worse criticisms of the Big East on national TV

Jackson

everything Nelhen said was right on. College FB is alot bigger than just Louv.

templefootballfan Wrote:everything Nelhen said was right on. College FB is alot bigger than just Louv.

And just what the hell dose that mean?

Jackson1011 Wrote:You UL guys are taking the comments of an old coach who hasn't coached a down in 6 yrs entirely to personally. Reporters and media consultants, who by the way are in the position to change minds, have made far worse criticisms of the Big East on national TV

Jackson

Agreed. Why rehash this stuff when everyone has already hemmed and hawed over it when the article was originally released. We already know that the old coach was wrong on pretty much everything that he said about the BE and Louisville. I still like and respect the guy, even though he pretty much did not have a clue concerning several predictions.

Nehlen is just a hard-headed, old school man that, along with some fans from the old Big East, will never accept the new BE arrangement with the ex-CUSA schools.

Wasn't this from before this last season even started?

aa

EnterSandman Wrote:

templefootballfan Wrote:everything Nelhen said was right on. College FB is alot bigger than just Louv.

And just what the hell dose that mean?

Just ignore him. Temple has a hard-on for anything anti-UofL.

Jackson1011 Wrote:Don Nehlen is many things but he is not a fool. Those kids didn't come to hear Nehlen give the company line on issues, they came to hear what he thought. The only thing I can find wrong in the article is the issue about Louisville. I have no idea what ULs history with props is, but it seems like a good bet that the will remain a quality football program. He mentiones UC has some fan issues which it certainly has. He didn't see USF acquiring that kind of talent so quickly but no one outside the most loyal USF homer thought they would accomplish so much this quickly

He mentioned that Syracuse and Pitt need to get their programs to the point where they once were. IMO, for our league to take the next step that is exactly what needs to happen. Can you imagine what the ratings would be like for a Syracuse/Rutgers game with both teams being ranked?

As for the other issues in the article, I don't think many would disagree with the idea that something needs to be done to mentor some of the younger players in the NFL, and that weekday games hurt football players in terms of missed class time.

Quote:"Say what you want, but it killed us to lose those teams," Nehlen said in reference to Miami, Virginia Tech and Boston College, each of which defected to the Atlantic Coast Conference since 2004.

-- It a credit to the ADs, coaches and players in the leauge that this didn't happen. That's what makes the current Big East so appealing to me. What has happened to the football league is little short of miraculous



Jackson

The ratings and buzz surrounding a matchup of Cuse and Rutgers when both are ranked and highly regarded will be astronomically high. And then this little rivalry of ours takes off to heights never seen before.

CollegeCard Wrote:

EnterSandman Wrote:

templefootballfan Wrote:everything Nelhen said was right on. College FB is alot bigger than just Louv.

And just what the hell dose that mean?

Just ignore him. Temple has a hard-on for anything anti-UofL.

Temple shouldn't be since we are one of the few BCS schools that actually gave them a home game.

As for the article yes it was from before the season. Just stirring the pot a little. Like someone said Nehlen is just a OLD SCHOOL Football coach who really did not or could not look outside the box. He thought when the 3 left for the ACC that the Big East was dead. Nothing could be further from the truth and the current Big East Football league is as good from top to bottom as it has ever been. This league never had 3 of the Top 12 teams in the country before.

I am just glad that Louisville, USF and Cincinnati has proved him wrong. I was watching the ESPNU Recruiting Special and they gave good reviews on the Big East this past season. Mike Gottfried said something in which I agree with, USF in a few short years is going to be the Top team in this league. They have way too many factors in their favor and they are starting to bring in top notch talent.

There have been a whole lot more people in the media with a whole lot worse things to say about Louisville than Don Nehlen could ever utter.

So he is an old school coach who does not like the ACC raid or the changes the Big East was forced into making. Do y'all think he is the only person who feels that way?

So he got some facts wrong about Louisville and Prop 48 recruiting. Do y'all think he is the first and last person in the whole wide world who will ever make that mistake?

So he is an unabashed West Virginia homer who thinks the Mountaineers will crush everyone they play. What do y'all expect from someone who coached there so long?

There are some ridiculous comments here. Adolph Rupp? Strained peas and prunes? Please try to express yourselves in more intelligent ways.

Quote:There have been a whole lot more people in the media with a whole lot worse things to say about Louisville than Don Nehlen could ever utter.

Media we can forgive, but coming from a Hall of Fame College Football coach he should know better. Denny Crum our Hall of Fame coach would not say that about a school in the same conference as Louisville. Plus unlike Don at least Denny has won a pair of National Titles in his sport.

Quote:So he is an old school coach who does not like the ACC raid or the changes the Big East was forced into making. Do y'all think he is the only person who feels that way?

No

Quote:So he got some facts wrong about Louisville and Prop 48 recruiting. Do y'all think he is the first and last person in the whole wide world who will ever make that mistake?

The problem is WVU was also one of the schools that was against the new Big East academic standards, that is pot meets kettle. Also we only have one player that would be considered a Prop 48 on our roster and that is Bobby Buchanan and he will likely be a nickle back this year. But according to him that is why are are good.

Quote:So he is an unabashed West Virginia homer who thinks the Mountaineers will crush everyone they play. What do y'all expect from someone who coached there so long?

Well I guess we are use to our Hall of Fame coach calling it like it is. Denny actually will tell you that it will be tough for us to beat someone or UofL will lose the game and usually he is right.

Quote:Media we can forgive, but coming from a Hall of Fame College Football coach he should know better. Denny Crum our Hall of Fame coach would not say that about a school in the same conference as Louisville. Plus unlike Don at least Denny has won a pair of National Titles in his sport.

-- Hall of fame coaches can't have their own feelings on certain matters? He preferred the old BE as opposed to the new one. I don't see anything wrong with that. I'm sure a lot of Pitt, Syracuse, WVU and Rutgers fans feel that way.

-- What I don't undestand is that Coach Rod is basically the de facto spokesman of the football league these days. He always goes out of his way to promot UL, RU and the league in general when he does interviews. However, instead the UL fans find an obscure article from the WVU student newspaper where WVUs FORMER coach made some comments on WVUs campus. One sentance from that talk where he questioned ULs ability to sustain its success in football and the Cardinal fans are upset. Now suddenly UL fans think the man is senile, crazy or just very bitter. This man acted with class on and off the field and effected the lives of 100s of young men, not to mention building the current Mountaineer football program from the ground up.

Y'all need to grow some thicker skin. This isn't a big deal and was not widely reported by the media.

No Maize... I ain't forgiving the media either.

And, yes, Nehlen is right about our attendence, unfortunately. I'd like to see the attendence catch up with the on-field product. I think Kelly will be a great promoter to that end.