Good Monday Morning!

Chris Mack said ‘no’ this week. It was the right answer. You know Mack, young, local guy makes good head coach at Xavier. Maybe not the greatest player in his high school and college days, but played the game hard. A much better coach than he ever was a player.

Mack has it good right now. A traditionally strong program, great arena to play in and a big time recruiting class just about every year. There’s nothing that Butler is doing right now that Xavier can’t do. Similar stories, in a lot of ways.

Mack watched Skip Prosser take Xavier basketball to a whole new level. He followed Prosser to Wake Forest and got all the clippings, saw all the highlights about ‘X’ was doing under Thad Matta and Sean Miller. Came home to help Miller as an assistant.

Every one of those coaches, Miller, Matta, Prosser all left Xavier for better money in bigger conferences. He probably heard Prosser lament, once or twice, about leaving Xavier, a good deal with a nurturing community. He watched Miller leave for a school that never misses an NCAA Tournament. He knew all about Matta going to Columbus and the opportunity to excel at a school where basketball was an after thought to spring football.

He’s smart, Chris Mack. You don’t have to around him for five minutes to get that. He knew this week that Ohio State, Wake Forest and Arizona were all better situations than the one that was wide open to him at Tennessee.

Tennessee is a cess pool right now. Toxic by collegiate sports standards. Bruce Pearl thought so highly of his boss that, at the first sign of trouble, he lied to the man. The man Pearl lied to about the recruiting violations that ultimately got him fired, is the same man who’s responsible for the Lane Kiffin fiasco. It’s better than even money that the Tennessee athletic director, Mike Hamilton, is gone before the next basketball game. So why listen for a moment to any offer he, or his school had on the table.

Eight years, $16 million dollars, according to CBS Sports. That was the offer that Tennessee was dangling in front of Mack. Heady stuff for a guy who’s been a head coach just two seasons. Big time money, the kind that would take care of his family for life, even if he never earned another dollar after that deal.

Mack had the brains to say no. Or knowing Mack, the brains and the politeness to say “no thank you”

We’re all tempted by the greener grass on the other side of the fence. Sometimes, we jump over the fence to get to it. I did. Maybe you’ve done it once or twice yourself. I know when I got there, the grass I left behind looked pretty good. Maybe Mack had that figured out all along.

I asked a coach once, not long ago, when none of them seem to honor contracts anymore. Why a guy signs a five year deal at one school, and two years into it is moving on to someplace else. I told him it seemed sleazy to me. His answer startled me a little bit. He said coaches do that, because school presidents and athletic directors have no commitment to a coach beyond the piece of paper that both parties sign. One or two bad seasons, and all of a sudden the school starts looking for a new coach, because the boosters, the money guys who keep an athletic department afloat get antsy. If the school will do it, the coach reasoned, than he had to play the same game too.

Maybe that’s why Matta, Prosser and Miller took off. Probably not, Xavier doesn’t strike me as that kind of place. Maybe they didn’t think they could ever get to a final four with Xavier, let alone win a national title. Matta and Miller are still searching for that. Prosser, of course, is no longer with us.

Maybe Mack sees something at Xavier that they didn’t. Maybe that’s why he said ‘no’ this week. Other schools will come after him, maybe not this year, but soon. The right offer may bring a different answer next time.

But this time, Mack gave the right answer. This time, it wasn’t about the money. It was about the ‘fit’. If you’re a Xavier fan, your coach just turned down more money than you’d make in ten lifetimes. You oughta feel good about that.

This blog may not be reproduced, retransmitted or re-purposed in any manner, in whole or in part, without the written permission of Ken Broo

Have you seen this? Funniest thing I've seen in college basketball this season.

Apparently, the kid was OK

Random thoughts on an icy night in the 'nati.....

I really want to pick the Cardinals in this upcoming Super Bowl. But look at their record. Every time they've played a team with a better than average defense, they've lost. Dick LeBeau will simply not allow Larry Fitzgerald to beat his team. It's the Steelers defensive coordinator's track record. His game plan is to neutralize the other team's best player and make someone else try to make plays.

Steelers 23 Cardinals 13.

I did an interview with Reds General Manager, Walt Jocketty today. He's convinced the team will contend this season and won more than it loses. It's a far cry from Bob Castellini's guarantees. But if the Reds win six more than they lose, that'd be an 84-78 record, and a legit Widl Card contender. Can they do it? I don't see how a team can go from a 'power' team to a 'pitching, defense and speed' team overnight and became a contender. Maybe it's happened before. But I can't remember when. The Reds are banking a lot on their pitching this year. And while the back end of the rotation is better than most team's, the front end (Aaron Harang and Bronson Arroyo) has to pitch as billed, something it didn't do last season.

Jocketty says he's a Homer Bailey fan. Well, that's one. Bailey has been nothing but a disappointment since his big league arrival two summers ago.

If you watch the Super Bowl only for the commercials...get a life. But if you watch for the GAME as well as the commercials, well here's a taste of the new Coke ad. It's an update on the ad Coke did over 30 years ago with former Steeler, Mean Joe Green.

Loved what I've seen of it so far...pretty much 'spot on'

I was reading an issue of Sports Illustrated from late December, the other night. I always read this stuff weeks after publication, just not enough hours in the day. In the magazine was a story about how Dick LeBeau developed the 'Zone Blitz' defense as he prepared to take over the Cincinnati Bengals defense in 1984. He spent time at LSU discussing it with then LSU head coach, Bill Arnsparger. On my radio show last Sunday, on 700 WLW, former Bengals head coach, Sam Wyche confirmed the story. Wyche said it wasn't known as the 'Zone Blitz' back in '84. But from then until LeBeau and Wyche left the team in '92, several key elements of today's top defense were implemented. Down linemen were dropped back into pass coverage. Linebackers rushed the passer. Often times, only two players lined up in a 'two point stance'. And since the late Bill Walsh admitted that his self designed "West Coast Offense" was really formulated when he was with the Bengals back in the early 70's, you have two of the most effective football schemes ever diagramed and implemented here in Cincinnati.

I often wonder if Paul Brown had to do it over again, if he would have given the head coach's job to Walsh and not his long time friend and assistant coach, Bill Johnson.

How can a Xavier basketball team be this good and not generate any 'buzz' in Cincinnati? Radio sports talk host always complain about it? Is it that 10,000 people watch the Muskies play at the Cintas Center and, in reality, they're the only people who really care about the team? I hope not, but I wonder about that.

All UC basketball fans want to do is grumble about Mick Cronin and Nancy Zimpher. Get over it. Bob Huggins isn't coming back. Zimpher might leave, but don't bet on it. And Cronin inherited a program in complete disarray, with recruiting three to four years behind every other Division I school.

9 Big East teams will make the NCAA Tournament and 14 may wind up playing in post season tournaments. Now, we have a 16 team event, just announced last night, called the CollegeInsider.com tournament. That goes with the CBI, the 16 team tournament that debuted last season for non-NCAA and NIT teams. So, if you're scoring at home, 113 Division I NCAA teams will get to play in a post season tournament after this season.

Just booked for my Sunday morning radio show on 700 WLW: Mike Lombardi, former NFL general manager now with the nationalfootballpost.com. I'm on from 9am-Noon EST. If you don't live in the greater Cincinnati area, and you have a Sirius-XM radio, I'm on channel 173.

Ramblings on a Thursday night, getting ready for the 11p sports....If the Bengals are going to win their first game of the season Sunday in New Jersey, they'll have to be able to run on a very good Jets front seven. If the Bengals can't do that, they'll be less than successful throwing against a weak Jets secondary....Brett Favre throws 3 touchdown passes Sunday vs Bengals....I keep hearing that Carson Palmer's inflamed elbow is 'getting better'. But he continues to get limited practice time....The fine UC Bearcats 'beat' writer from the Cincinnati Enquirer, Bill Koch, raises an interesting question this week: what if Brian Kelly coached the Bengals. Koch's angle is the way Kelly merrily approaches his job compared with the almost always dour Marvin Lewis. Nice thought, good column, it'd never translate. Coaches who come from the college ranks into the NFL fail miserably. Why? Because they don't have the same kind of control in the NFL they have in the collegiate ranks. Want a list? Bobby Petrino, Nick Saban, Steve Spurrier, even Lou Holtz.....

The Reds front office says it's not going to pursue free agents Paul Bako and Corey Patterson. Hallelujah!....If Walt Jocketty wanted to blow up the entire roster, save for Joey Votto, Brandon Phillips, Jay Bruce, Aaron Harang, Johnny Cueto and Edinson Volquez, fine by me.....Dodgers win the NLCS, Red Sox win the ALCS. Great story lines: Manny back to Boston, Joe Torre managing against the Sox again...Wondering tonight if this miserable economy we're mired in will affect the amount of money teams will toss at free agents this off season. Tough time to be Adam Dunn....I heard it's so bad around the greater Cincinnati area, car buyers (car buyers, not home purchasers) can't get financing. They want to buy, dealers want to sell, banks can deliver the note...

By the way, I'm over all of this political advertising. I know it's keeping a lot of television stations floating. But honestly, have you heard anything from the two principals running for US President that gives you any hope they actuall now how to fix our economy? Me neither....

You've got one player to build your NFL franchise around, only one. Who would it be? Might be a topic for me this Sunday morning, at 9am EDT on 700 WLW....

Tomorrow morning, when you check back here, I'll have a couple of nuggets for you. I'll have the latest Bengals Report Podcast posted. Marc Hardin and I preview the Bengals vs Jets game this Sunday. And, I'll also have my latest video podcast posted, as I pick my two 'locks' for this week in the NFL.

I really, really want to get into the NBA this season. But that has to be the second toughest sport to follow if you don't live in an NBA franchise city. The toughest is hockey. But I'm an NHL freak. I've got the best one-two goaltending in my fantasy league (yes I play fantasy hockey, 14th consecutive year for that) Martin Brodeur and Marc-Andre Fleury.....Detroit wins the West again this year. I'm not quite there yet on the East....I kinda like the Devils.....Tough admission for a life long and former season ticket holding Rangers fan...

I can't believe college basketball begins this weekend. Midnight Madness will be held at a number of schools around the USA. I have a sneaking suspicion Xavier, here in Cincinnati will be very good again.....I think Mick Cronin will have UC in the upper tier of the Big East and will qualify his 'Cats for the NCAA Tournament....I really believe Indiana will be good. I know all about the sanctions and defections....I think Tom Crean knows what he's doing....He'll be the best basketball coach at IU since Bob Knight's prime (which was a long time ago).

Is there anything better than high school football at this time of the year, particularly here in the greater Cincinnati area. Shameless plug for the best high school sports web site on the planet: www.highschoolplaybook.com.

I'll see you tonight at 11p on News 5 and tomorrow night 'live' from the Hamilton at Oak Hills game. It's the latest stop on the now, seemingly mythical High School Tailgate Party....I made that 'seemingly mythical' stuff up....It's only mildly mythical...

Anyone who doesn't believe, now, that this will be a long, long season for the UC basketball team is in self denial. Tonight, the Bearcats lost 91-90 to a team from the Southern Conference, Wofford.

I'm sorry. If you're a Big East team, you do NOT lose to a Southern Conference team, at home, any time. Period.

Tonight, the Bearcats inside game was so sorry, they only got eight trips to the free throw line. Wofford went 29 times, converted on 23. If you don't have the smarts to challenge a mid-major (stretch) inside on your home court, you don't deserved to win. Period.

Deonta Vaughn turned in a brilliant game. He's only a freshman. But Vaughn dropped in nine three pointers. However, he also committed a foul with five seconds to go that allowed Wofford to take the lead. And worse, Vaughn had the ball for the final shot, needing only a two, and pulled up to take a three. Again, if you don't have the smarts to challenge a mid-major (stretch) inside on your home court, you don't deserve to win. Period. If Vaughn takes it inside, he may have a chance to draw a foul, go to the line and win the game. We'll never know.

UC is 3-1. It has played NOBODY in it's first four games. When the "somebodies" start showing up (e.g. UConn, Syracuse, Georgetown, etc.)it could get real ugly.

Ken