Thoughts from the annual UB football Blue vs. White game last Wednesday:
Head Coach Jim Hofher reminds me a lot of former Kent State men's basketball coach Stan Heath. Heath spent one season with KSU, guiding the Golden Flashes to the elite eight of the NCAA tournament, before resigning to coach the Arkansas Razorbacks.
I got to know Heath at the Mid-American Conference basketball tournament in Cleveland, Ohio, although only through press conferences and never in a one-on-one setting like I know Hofher. Heath is a straight-up guy, focused on the fundamentals of good basketball. He respected every member of the media, whether they were from the Associated Press or some student publication, answering the sometimes-repetitive questions with a sly smile and a calm demeanor.
Heath took a group of players that he did not recruit, and pushed them to reach their maximum potential. Nobody picked the Golden Flashes to make it as far as they did (well, I did, along with several students who entered our "March Moolah" contest, but nobody of any major media significance), and yet when it happened, nobody seemed surprised. Heath certainly was not surprised; even back in Cleveland it seemed that he knew his team was destined to pull off something great.
Hofher is the same way, in every aspect I have mentioned. He has a group of players, many of whom he did not recruit, that would "run through a wall for him," as several people around the team have so bluntly stated. He is a man with a plan, spending the spring focused on fundamentals, saving the game plan for summer . and opening night against Lehigh.
Hofher carries Heath's qualities into a press conference as well. He looks you in the eye, and with a clam but authoritative demeanor answers your question . or pretends to. He is sharp; in my numerous attempts to get him to reveal some part of his game plan, I have failed every time . and I'm not the only one who has tried. Hofher is one of the only men I know who can talk for five minutes without saying anything, although Buffalo Bills General Manger Tom Donahoe also has this technique nearly perfected.
That's the sign of a good coach, and a good leader. Its Hofher's job to be two different people, one for the media room, one for the dressing room.
It is not quite as easy to turn around a football program as it is a basketball program. In hoops, two star recruits and suddenly you are a contender, while on the gridiron it's a bit more complicated . but I think Hofher will get there.
Now, will he get there and leave for a big name institution? Only time will tell.
Wednesday's Blue versus White game may as well have been called "The Blue/White Bore." I know that injury problems on the team forced them to play a controlled scrimmage rather than a real game, but it must have been downright painful for season ticket holders - who along with parents made up most of the crowd - to watch the defensively dominated contest.
I would have liked to see the offense go for it more on fourth down. Often they got into the defense's territory, only to reach a fourth and three situation, where they elected not to go for it and started a new series at their own 30 or the 50-yard line. I hope those who were in attendance did not need to operate heavy machinery after the game.
While it might not work every year for football, I would like to see the basketball teams have a Blue vs. White game at Alumni Arena, a men's and women's doubleheader. It would be a good way to get fans into the beginning of the basketball season - like Michigan's jam-packed Blue vs. Gold hockey game that I attended one year when I was in Detroit for a hockey tournament.
I was very disappointed in the play of Randall Secky, mostly because I know he can play better. Secky was throwing with the wind for much of the game, but his passes seemed to hang in the air too long - two of them were intercepted.
The MAC East division is full of great quarterbacks, many of which are quite young. Miami (OH)'s Ben Roethlisberger and Kent State's Joshua Cribbs immediately come to mind along with Marshall senior Byron Leftwhich, who is an early top-five projection in the 2003 draft. With six games each year against MAC East opponents, Buffalo will have to wait a long time before they become a factor if they can't find a quarterback.
I was impressed with kicker Dallas Pelz. During the pre-game warm-up he was really booming the ball from about 40 yards away - with the wind at his back, though. I don't know for sure if the kicks were good, however, because they were flying over the height of the uprights, making it impossible to tell from my press box view.
Add junior defensive end Demetrius Austrum and senior cornerback Dahnel Singfield to my list of players that made an impression.
Austrum was listed as a linebacker last season and moved over to end this season after the departure of seniors Chris Shelly and Duane Williams. He broke though the line for two sacks in the Blue vs. White game.
Singfield was stuck behind Craig Rohlfs last season at free safety. Like Rohlfs, Singfield showed a knack for making the big play, with an interception and a blocked field goal.
