Poll hopes to influence college football world

[cviller]

By DAVE POE

Sports Editor

PARKERSBURG — Like nearly every college football fan in America, Andy Curtin long ago recognized its process for selecting a national champion is fatally flawed.

Unlike most other fans who complain year in and year out, Curtin decided he was going to do something about it.

A former sports agent, Curtin had enough connections in the college football world to get a sounding board for his idea. And once anyone heard Curtin’s idea, they quickly endorsed it and got involved with it.

What is Curtin’s idea? Rather than having sports writers or current college coaches or some guy hidden in a cave with a computer that he says can accurately predict what an oblong ball is going to do rank the nation’s college football teams, Curtin decided it was time to put together a polling group that would have such great credibility, no one could challenge its legitimacy.

That’s exactly what he has done. Curtin is the executive director of the Master Coaches Poll, which has been in existence for two seasons and is about to begin its third.

Its 16-member polling board reads like a Who’s Who of retired college football coaches. Representing the Big East are West Virginia University coach Don Nehlen and Syracuse coach Dick MacPherson. Representing the Pac-10 are USC coach John Robinson, UCLA’s Terry Donahue and Washington’s Don James. The Big Ten pollsters are John Cooper of Ohio State, Hayden Fry of Iowa and Bill Mallory of Indiana. Vince Dooley of Georgia, Gene Stollings of Alabama and Pat Dye of Auburn represent the Southeastern Conference.

The list —and the impeccable credentials of each member —goes on and covers each of the major conferences. When Bo Schembechler passed away, the group was concerned about who it could get to replace the Michigan legend. It will be announcing this week the addition of Tom Osborne, who led Nebraska in its glory days.

But it isn’t just the credentials of the panelists that makes the Master Coaches Poll so special. It’s also the way the poll is conducted.

Each week, the members of the polling board receive in the mail DVDs of the major college games played the previous weekend. Each is responsible for assessing certain teams. For example, coach Nehlen and coach MacPherson watch all the Big East teams plus Virginia Tech. Others concentrate on the teams in their areas.

Once everybody has had ample time to evaluate the teams for which they are responsible, all the involved coaches get together for a long conference call in which each goes over their teams, clinically analyzing their strengths and weaknesses. Only after the conference call takes place do the coaches cast their votes for that week’s Master Coaches Poll.

You say you haven’t seen the poll yet this season. You’re right and there’s a good reason for that. The coaches won’t be voting until the third week of the season. They don’t believe in preseason polls, which give preconceived notions of who is good and who is not. Rather, they want to base their judgments solely on what takes place between the sidelines, not what takes place in the national media.

One of the major reasons Curtin says he founded the poll was the situation that happened to Auburn University in 2004. The Tigers were ranked No. 17 in the preseason poll and even though they went undefeated, they never could manage to get higher than No. 3 and were denied the right to play for the national title.

“If you look at the other polls, teams will only move one or two spots each week,’’ Curtin said. “Our guys aren’t afraid to move a team up or down five or six spots if they decide that’s the right thing to do.’’

Curtin is hoping the Master Coaches Poll catches on. He believes it would be the perfect replacement for the Harris Poll, one of the polls used to determine which two teams will play for the national title and which six other teams play in the Bowl Championship Series games.

He’s hoping to get the poll officially recognized by the college football powers-that-be. He certainly has a persuasive argument. Not only are the polling members present or likely future members of the College Football Hall of Fame, but they actually have the time and the opportunity to watch all of the teams play before casting their votes.

“There’s no poll that’s ever going to be perfect,’’ Curtin says.

“But we’re the best poll out there.’’

Contact Dave Poe at [e-mail]

[cviller]

Here’s a poll with lots of credibility

by dave poe

PARKERSBURG —Former West Virginia University football coach Don Nehlen knows all too well the impact of preseason polls on college football.

When Nehlen had his best teams at WVU, the Mountaineers seldom would begin the season ranked among the nation’s elite.

Rather, WVU had to scratch and claw its way into and through the top 25, moving ever so slowly up the ladder. Even a big WVU win might not have any impact on the Mountaineers’ standing, unless one of the teams above West Virginia lost.

After all, those teams had been anointed as being better than West Virginia in the preseason poll.

Nehlen, who is a member of the Master Coaches Poll — a group of retired football coaches who watch and study all the major teams in America before casting their votes — doesn’t believe in preseason polls.

Nor do the other members of the Master Coaches Poll, which doesn’t take its first vote until the third week of the season and then only considers the performances of the various teams rather than their preseason reputations.

Nehlen recently released his tongue-in-cheek preseason poll: 1. Don’t Know; 2. Have No Clue; 3. Haven’t The Foggiest; 4. ?; 5. Who?; 6. Your Guess Is As Good As Mine; 7. Heaven Knows; 8. Anything’s Possible; 9. Only The Devil Knows; 10. How About This Guess? He continues the facade down to No. 25. Duke (If Spurrier can do it, so can we).

His point is well taken. How can a group of sports writers, most of whom cover one team, or a group of active coaches, who are consumed with their team and their team only, decide before a game is ever played that USC is better than LSU or Georgia is better than Washington? Obviously, they can’t.

Nehlen used to be a member of the AP coaches poll. He would spend Saturday coaching his team and Sunday morning when his ballot was due he was worried about who was injured and getting ready for the next opponent. The poll vote was little more than an afterthought.

The coach often would tell Sports Information Director Shelly Poe where to rank the Mountaineers and to fill out the rest of the ballot. Rest assured, he wasn’t the only one who did that.

Twice I’ve been a member of the Associated Press poll. My qualifications? Zero. I spend Saturdays either at Mountaineer Field —watching West Virginia and whoever provides the opposition —or in the office laying out pages, writing headlines and wrapping up the high school action from Friday night.

The only thing I know about the other games around the country are the final scores. Most of the other AP pollsters are in the same position.

That’s what makes the Master Coaches Poll —outlined in detail in a story on this page —so special.

Its members are former college football coaches who either already have been enshrined in the College Football Hall of Fame or have the credentials to soon be included in that elite group.

Plus, they get to watch films of all the college games and discuss the merits of the various teams among themselves before voting.

By the time the 16 members cast their first votes the third week of the season, they have watched more than 80 games with their trained eyes.

And they’ve held several long conference calls with each other dissecting the top teams.

As long as we determine our championships and major bowl participants by polls, the system is going to be flawed. We all know the only way to decide a true champion is on the field, which is the method virtually every other sport except college football employs.

But if we are going to use polls, why not significantly elevate the status of the Master Coaches Poll? It’s easy to see it has much more credibility than any of the other national polls, yet it isn’t being used as part of the formula to determine the major bowl participants.

The Parkersburg News will be receiving the Master Coaches Poll this season. It’ll be interesting to compare it with the other numerous polls that are available, especially those where some guy claims to have a computer that can accurately rank football teams and predict the outcome of games. There are several such guys who are included in the BCS rankings, which makes them a virtual joke, even though college football treats those rankings as the gospel.

It’s time to spread the word there’s a relatively new poll around, one whose members not only possess great credibility, but also are willing to put in the time and the effort needed to be as accurate as is possible.

Let’s hope the Master Coaches Poll catches on and becomes a major player in the college football world, which certainly could use a credibility boost.

Contact Dave Poe at

[e-mail]

[wvumaryjane]

Very Interesting.. I'd really be interested in seeing this poll..

David Poe is still on my good side.. I think this is a record Glen.

When the season gets rolling, can ya make sure we keep track of this poll Glen?

[cviller]

You Got it Mj. I'll keep an eye on it for all of us!
I'm interested in seeing who the rest of the voters are?

[mountaineerinpa]

Yea it wil be interesting to see who these so called experts are.

[smurph]

I don't know why people put so much importance on Polls. Why should their opinion matter more than the opinions of Russians or Irish or Serbians? In Chicago, we have more Polls than any city in the world (except Warsaw). I value their opinion, but not more than other groups.

[dehayes35]

LOL...nice, smurph...

[WVUfanPHILLY]

smurph said:

In Chicago, we have more Polls than any city in the world (except Warsaw). I value their opinion, but not more than other groups.

I told Dehayes once about my cousins we would visit in Elk Grove Village, IL when I was young. The wife was Polish, her name was Sonja. The two daughters were BEAUTIFUL!!! The most vivid memory from those trips is laying in bed and listening to the planes decending to land at the airport.