USC football was very different this year and it goes beyond the change in coaching staff.  The energy around the team was different..had a different vibe. Let’s face it, we expected a tough season. For the first time in a long time, we went into games such as Oregon and Stanford and expected to lose and would be happy if it was a close loss. It goes beyond the change in coaching staff because USC still had and has a ton of talent but very little depth. The players were poorly coached the last couple of season prior to 2010 and thus we knew they would struggle.  Compound that with a new coaching staff and you have the 2010 season. I wonder if coach Kiffin would have taken his “Dream Job” if he knew then what he knows now. Pete did him no favors with his lazy recruiting and poorly selections in assistant coaches the last couple of years in his USC coaching career. The lack of depth falls directly on coach Carroll.

Offense:

The offense started off pretty good and seemed to get better each week. Barkely was playing much better and the running game was strong. The offense was getting yards in big chunks and putting up alot of points. They were doing so well that in the Oregon game I thought the offense could actually keep up with the ducks. Well, the offense did keep up with the ducks for about 2.5 quarters and then it hit a wall….Hard….and never recovered. Barkely regressed big time. The Notre Dame game was the low point of the season for the offense. A bad defense looked like the Steelers Iron Curtain. It got to a point where I thougth a turn over by the defense was not enough….they needed to get the turn over and score because the offense could do nothing. 5 false starts in that game! The offense needs alot of work and it starts with the play calling. Coach Kiffin needs to make mid season adjustments. The players need to play to their potential an execute the game plan.

Grade: C

Defense:

The defense started off as bad as any defense I have ever seen in my life. There was poor tackling  and poor decisions. The worst part was the play calling and schemes. Guys were WIDE open, the hole for the running backs were HUGE. The middle of the field was always WIDE open. This unit improved immensely and was actually pretty good towards the end of the season. They were forcing a ton of turn overs. Unfortunately, they could still not stop a game winning drive. This unit has a ton of depth issues. The front seven needs alot of bodies. I was happy to see the improvement but I am nervous about the future.

Grade: C

Special Teams:

They had some great moments with Woods returning kicks but the kicking game is bad. Your kicker cannot make a field goal past 25 yards. The two point conversions were BAD! Why go for so many? The two point attempt against ucla was embrassing. Up and down season for special teams.

Grade: C-

Coaching

Coach Kiffin and his staff came into a tough situation. For the first half of the season I thought they did an outstanding job considering the circumstances. Keeping the team motivated and playing hard the whole game. Last season you saw players give up Pete Carroll. The standford game comes to mind in particular. That team gave up. However, the 2010 team that had less to play for never did. The closet they came to giving up was the Oregon State game. For the most part these are the same players from last season. That says alot about the coaching staff and the great job by  coach Kiffin. That being said, I think coach Kiffin still has a long ways to go as a coach. He is a young guy and lacks the experience of coaching in different situations, it goes beyond X’s and O’s. It is a feel for the season, the players and moods. That only comes from experience, so we might have to suffer through his maturing process. However, he needs to get an experienced OC. Someone that knows about midgame, midseason adjustments.

As for the defense, the jury is still out on Monte. Yes, he is a legend in the NFL and re-invented defense with his tampa 2 scheme. The key word is “NFL”. Alot of NFL legends came down to the collegiate level and did not display the genius they displayed in the NFL. Bill Walsh comes to mind at Standford. We have seen 2 season of Monte on the college level. One at Tennessee and one at USC.  Neither season was impressive. Obviously it takes time to adjust to the college level and for the players to learn the system. The question is…is the NFL Tampa 2 defense suitable for the college level? Can a 70+ year old coach adjust his schemes and coaching methods and make the transition from dealing with men to dealing with kids???

Grade: B

…Last Note on Carrol

The ESPN 30 for 30 episode on the Pony Express (SMU) and the story of how that school got the death penalty was very good. I though it was funny that right after it debuted ESPN showed the Heisman ceremony with Cam Newton winning considering all the allegations around him. However, I was disappointed that when the show finished and was rolling the credits they were showing clips of more recent pay for play scandals….and of course USC and Reggie were featured. Pete Carroll did not look good in those clips. I thinking it goes to show that his tenure will be forever tarnished. He was great and will be remembered for this great accomplishments but his legacy will be tarnished. The longer USC takes to bounce back from sanctions the more his legacy will be tarnished. Carroll should be Kiffin’s biggest supporter to save that legacy.  Carroll went from the Tom Osbourne, Ara Parseghian realm of coaches to the Barry Switzer realm of coaches. Sad really. A friend of mine who is a fanatical support of Carroll refuses to lay the blame of the scandal on Pete and instead insists that it was Garretts fault. I do not take any of the blame away from Garrett but the Carroll is the man in charge of the football program. The scandal falls at his feet.

The Trojans lost another heart breaker last night. The offense played great and has improved significantly since the start the first game of the season. Matt Barkley has followed his poorest games of the games of the season with two of his best. The penalties on the offense side has been becoming less of an issue as the season progress. Most importantly I think Kiffin has grown as an offensive coordinator. He has taken what the defense gives him. Against Washington…he decided to ride Bradford and he had a career day. Knowing Stanford was better against the run he decided to ride Barkley and Woods and they had a career day.  That is smart coaching. The biggest evidence of Kiffins maturity as a play caller came on a play that was not successful.   Kiffin ran the wildcat over and over again…sometimes with success and sometimes with no success. However, in a crucial part of the game…he went into the wildcat formation and passed to an open Havilli. He dropped it but it was a great call set up on game long.  The offense has played well enough to be 6-0…the defense..huh! not so much.

The problem with the defense is not so much lack of depth or poor tackling. Sure that plays a part..but the biggest issue is lack of being in the position to make the play. The other team is not breaking tackles or running past tired players…they are making plays with guys WIDE OPEN….with defensive backs breaking containment so bad that a simple off tackle play goes for 20 yards..why because the DB bit on the inside handoff fake… and left his area of containment completely open. That is poor coaching. Your job as a coach is to put your players in position to make a play. Monte Kiffin is not doing that at all. Couple that with poor tackling, lack of depth and lack of discipline and you have a defense that is as bad I can remember.  Dumb penalties by #17 and #54. This defense gives up yards in huge chunks.  An offense always has the upper hand because they know what they are going to do…a defense has to react and guess correctly. As a defense your job is to make the offense predictable and one dimensional. That is why the goal of the defense is getting an offense to 3rd and 5 or worse. That makes the offense predicable. However, with this defense..the offense can tell you the play they are going to run and they would still get the first..

The defense is clearly confused..Monte needs to make the defensive scheme as simple as possible. Take advantage of the speed and quickness of the players..don’t make them think so much.

Final note….In 2000 a coach came to USC and brought with him a “genius” offensive coordinator. He let that genius run that part of the game plan. The head coach took care of the defensive side.  We saw the defense get better and better as the season progressed. We also saw offense progress into LAST place in the pac ten..all with the same personal that was FIRST in offense the year before..We all know what happened the following season..

Sound a little like this season only with the roles of offense and defense reversed??? Maybe…I hope so and I hope the story repeats itself..( grasping as straws? Hey I have to try and see the positive!)

I think that the penalties were very harsh considering the evidence. The question was did USC know or should have known. Maybe they should have known when they saw Reggie’s parents at the bowl games staying in expensive hotels…the NCAA says that high profile athlete’s require that much more attention but has always said that every athlete should be treated the same. I will point out that although USC gets compared to Miami and Alabama in punishment…those schools involved boosters which are directly tied to the school. Charles Woodson who won the Heisman at Michigan..and Chris Webber who played basketball at UM admitted in court under oath that they took over 300k in payments from boosters while at UM..the punishment was not even close to USC.
However, in the end I think it was USC arrogance that did them in. Garrett’s comments just typified USC  attitude towards the NCAA investigation…They thought and acted as though they were above the law…this really tarnishes Pete’s stay at USC…did he know? I don’t know but his move to the NFL looks very suspicious. Reggie gets a new car and registers it with USC compliance and no one asks where he got it.  Joe Mcknight gets a new car from a dealer who registers the domain joemcknight.com…this time USC sits the player out as they figure out where and how he got the car…Pete on the other hand insists…he plays in the bowl game…practically calls out Mike Garrett in the post game interview. Pete says he knew nothing of the Micheal’s and Lake’s deals and yet he requests 10 internships at the new company…did he know??? maybe not…but to me it seems maybe he did not want to know..so he closed his eyes to the obvious..USC basketball has issues with Rodney Gilroy in the past and when the #1 HS basketball player comes knocking at USC with Rodney in tow…you would think that would send out HUGE red flags…Yes…I realize I just contradicted my opening statements..I am not sure how I feel about the sanctions and Pete…I feel terrible with the kids…I felt terrible for Taylor Mays,Matt Barkley, Stephon Johnson, Allen Bradford and Arron Corp before this because I feel Pete really did them a dis-service this past season…now I feel for all the current players who were in junior high when this all happened….Was it worth it?? Yes because it was an awesome time and Pete showed what can happen…I just wish I had more respect for Pete…in the end the standard continues to be McKay..Thanks for the memories Pete..USC football will recover…sooner than most people think…Fight On!!!

vs

… The Los Angeles Lakers face off against the Boston Celtics in the 2010 finals. Although it will be a tough series I cannot see anything but a Laker victory. Here are the reasons why the Lakers will BEAT the celtics:

• Gasol will eat up Garnett…

You read that correctly. Garnett is not the player he once was. He makes mean faces and grunts and shouts when he grabs a rebound or blocks a shot…but Kendrick Perkins he is not…Not now and not ever. KG has always been an athletic big man who had great footwork, quickness and could hit a 15 footer. Hmmm that sounds like #16 on the Lakers. Only now KG is older and slower…relying more and more on the 15 footer than any inside presence. People always bring up the fact the Gasol got bodied up in the 2008 finals….that is true. Only it was not KG that bodied up Gasol. It was Perkins and PJ Brown that did that. KG is a poor man’s Gasol….and the Lakers have the real Gasol…

• Bynum will be big in the series

I do not expect Bynum to play big minutes or put up monster stats…all he has to do is take up space. Occupy the biggest body on the Celtics that would allow Gasol to work the Celtics other big man.  Bynum just has to make an effort to get rebounds and clog the middle on defense. Points are a bonus.

• Rondo will be just another great point guard the Lakers will face in the playoffs this year

Rondo is playing awesome..no doubt. But the Lakers just finished playing against Westbrook, D Williams and Nash. Where would you rate Rondo among those point guards..Right above Westbrook and below D Williams and Nash. That’s what t I thought. The Lakers have already played the best point guards in the playoffs..Rondo will be welcomed relief. That  is not to say the Rondo will not play great…but he will not have the impact so many in the media are saying he will

• Artest will eat up Pierce

This was exactly why Artest signed with the Lakers and why the Lakers wanted to sign him. Pierce was huge in 2008. Mostly because he was being guarded by VRad…not this time. Pierce saved the Celtics in 2008. It was a younger and hungrier Pierce. It was the Pierce that went toe to toe with Lebron James in the ECF. This Pierce was non factor against Lebron. This Pierce gets tired and becomes passive when another big body is banging him on defense. This Pierce will be swallowed up by the defense of Artest.

• Kobe

Kobe is on a mission…you heard that in 2008. But truth be told that Kobe was just happy to make it to the finals. He was asking for trade the summer before and all of the sudden they are in the finals? It was James Posey…a big guard with quickness that gave Kobe problems in 2008. Posey is gone…along with hope of containing Kobe in this series. Kobe has never played better and he knows what a victory against the Celtics means…he knows what avenging the embarrassment of 2008 means. Kobe gets one step closer to joining the Magic,Bird and Jordan circle.

• Roster changes

The Celtics lost alot of key role players from 2008…Posey, PJ Brown, Eddie House, Leon Powe and they replaced them with Wallace, Robinson and Tony Allen, a much better Rondo

The Lakers lost Vlad, Luke Walton, Ariza, Jordan Farmer…I know that Lakers did not lose Walton or Farmer but they no longer rely on them as much as they did in 2008. They replaced them with Bynum, Artest, Brown and Lamar off the bench.

I will take the Lakers improvements any day…

The Boston fans will witness another championship celebration on their home court….As Kobe joins Magic Johnson in being only the second team to celebrate the championship on the Boston home court…

Lakers in 5

As I sit down to write this poem

I wonder of where I may roam

But before I can look ahead

The past of me must be read

And I must take you there

For how much you mean to me with you I must share

All those times you came home tired

It was you I always admired

You provided so much for me

That half the man you are I can only but wish to be

Material things were only a small part

For the greatest thing you gave came from your heart

You always showed that you cared

And whenever I needed you, you were always there

Dad…I know that I am not a very good son

And I know that I don’t make your life much fun

I know that you give me much more than I earn

And I am sorry if it is the hard way I had to learn

There isn’t much I can do to repay you

But offer the one thing I can do

So whenever you feel like being repayed

It is only the words you have to say

So listen carefully to what I offer to do…

Dad…you mean so much to me

That I would die for you!

—Juan M Chavez Jr 1993

Join us at SC Village to celebrate Frank’s 15th birthday!!

March 28th, 2010. 10am

It will be followed by Dinner, Cake and Pinata at Mom’s.

It has been roughly 6 months since I left Dassault Systemes or should I say Dassault left me. I was very excited when I left and felt it was time to move on with my career. I learned alot about myself and where I want to go not only in career but in my life.

I was approached and continue to be approached for many projects. Some dealing with hardware and some dealing with software. I am still acting CTO for a chain of nutritional centers. I take care of all the technical needs which are hardware issues for the most part.

I was involved in various software projects from video editing to the auto part rebuilder industry. Along the way I learned some tools of the trade. I learned to read technical blogs like I read the morning paper. I learned to network. To always carry my business card. I learned that I love learning about new technology. I learned that I have so much to learn..

There are many personal lessons I learned as well.

I am coaching the Covina national little league Braves.  I started my own adult basketball team with my friends that has become a year around affair. I also play basketball Monday, Wednesday and Friday at 5:30am with a bunch of old guys at the gym and I really look forward to it. I learned that I enjoyed spending time with my family, my extended family and my friends much more then I remembered.

Along the way I also interviewed quite a bit. I am looking for team lead or a management position and truth be told I may have talked my way out of some developer positions. However, I remember driving home from downtown LA or El Segundo after an interview and asking myself how I ever drove from Covina to Woodland Hills everyday for 5 years?

How would I ever make the 4:30 practice for my little slugger? How would I ever make the 6:30 basketball game in Alhambra?

In the end I learned that I want a job that supports everything I leaned in the last six months.

What to do? Find the perfect job or find the perfect office for my business….

USC welcomed Lane Kiffin as the new head coach of USC yesterday. If he wasn’t coming with that all-star staff I would be very disappointed. However, with Coach O, Monte Kiffin, possibly Chow and Davis…WOW how can you be against it? I would say that a veteran offensive coordinator will be very important. I do not think that play calling will be an issue if Kiffin is the one calling the plays. Rather it is the lack of experience in big games and a young coach tendencies not to break tendencies and thus becoming predictable to experienced defensive coordinators.  Young Kiffin still needs to grow in this area.

In terms of recruiting, often times when Kiffin was here he was regarded as the second best closer next to Pete. All this talk about recruiting violations is a little bit premature.I do not remember any allegations against USC or Kiffin in particular while at USC in terms of recruiting. My take is that Kiffin needed to make a splash in the SEC because he was regarded as young coach in a tough conference. He went over board to show that he was more than able to complete in what regarded as the best football conference in college football. He went overboard…granted. Somehow I do not see that being an issue in the Pac X. If anything I feel that this signals that USC is pretty confident that the NCAA will not come down hard on the program in terms of violations.

The thing that I find interesting is that Chow and Davis are even considering coming back and being under Kiffin. I heard that Kiffin and his style and appointment to OC directly led to Chow and Davis walking away. I heard they could not work under a brat like Kiffin….The more and more we found out about Pete the more it seems Pete had more to do with it than Kiffin.

In the end I think it is a great hire as a whole.This would be a top tier staff. If Chow, Davis and Dat come in to round out the staff I would call this a HOME RUN by USC.

Although it is not official yet all signs point to Coach Carroll leaving my Trojans for the Seattle Seahawks. Alot of trojan fans and alumni are upset and disappointed. I for one… am not.  Pete Carroll will go down as the greatest USC coach in history. He had an amazing run and it was awesome to be a trojan during the Pete Carroll era. However, I felt that Pete got bored and started to look for challenges and many times to the demise of the team. After USC dominated 2004 he cleaned house in the coaching staff and wanted to prove he could do it with rookies coaches. After that successful run he decided he wanted to do it with even a weaker staff and an 18 year old at quarterback. For the first half of the season it looked like he was going to pull it off. Does Barkley start given an open competition for the QB position? Does anyone from the current staff stay with a new coach? The answer to both is most likely no. Yet it looked like Pete was not going to change anything for next year. So other than the timing in regards to recruiting I think the parting is good for both parties. USC was beginning to slide and Pete was too bored to do anything to prevent it. USC got everything out of Pete and Pete got everything out of USC. I just hope he never coaches at another college and I really hope he NEVER coaches against USC. Thanks for the memories Pete. The Trojan family wishes you the best of luck.

As for the next coach…. USC has NEVER been in a better position to attract an Elite coach….NEVER…..I HOPE Fisher and Del Rio are not serious candidates. I doubt that they are. The Titans were the hottest team down the stretch and Del Rio has a 15 million buyout if he is fired. Riley is a great coach no doubt but I hope Mike G remembers what made Pete so great at the beginning. It was his burning desire to succeeded. He wanted it bad. Now….obliviously Pete wanted to prove he was a good coach and exercise some demons but surely Mike can find a young hungry coach….an Urban Meyer before he got to Florida. I kind of like Harbaugh…a young hungry badass coach…who is not afraid to kick your ass and will not apologize for it later….I dig that kind of coach….

I  don’t make resolutions but rather I set goals for myself at the start of the year. I do not always achieve them all but this year I am determined to get to as close as 100% as possible.  I am making these public so that I can have more accountability….Here we go with the goals for 2010…

Professional:

IEEE CSDP Certification – Took the test in Dec…Find out the results in Feb

Sun Certified Java Programmer

Sun Certified Web Component Developer

Microsoft Certified Professional Developer (MCPD)

Maybe – Microsoft Certified Database Administrator (MCDBA)

ACE ColdFusion -

Ambitious I know but I think definiatly doable. I feel this will certify my “Application Architect” Title

Sports:

Pasadena Tri in March

WildFlower Half Ironman in May

Mudrun in June

Tri in August

Muddy Buddy in November

Wildflower is the big one….

There it is…wish me luck!