Fresno Players Mourn Coach

Hundreds of family members, friends, players and colleagues filled the church’s main hall to honor the longtime Fresno State defensive coordinator. Coach Brown, who died Friday at the age of 50 after a two-year battle with brain cancer, was remembered as a man dedicated to his faith, family, friends and his football team. … Many spoke during the service, including Fresno State football head coach Pat Hill and NFL assistant coach Kevin Coyle, a former Bulldogs defensive coordinator. Former Fresno State head coach Jim Sweeney sang “Danny Boy,” per Coach Brown’s request. Sweeney remarked before he began that Coach Brown had a great sense of humor. “After you hear me sing, you’ll know why,” he said. – Fresno Bee

NCAA Looking at Saban, Kiffin?

In Tuscaloosa, Alabama is expected to bring on former Virginia offensive coordinator Mike Groh as a graduate assistant. In Knoxville, Tennessee is reportedly set to make former Minnesota and Syracuse offensive coordinator Mitch Browning a graduate assistant. In Auburn, Gene Chizik brought in his tight ends coach and recruiting coordinator from Iowa State, Scott Fountain, as Football Operations Coordinator. And the NCAA is wondering, “What gives?” Not just at Alabama, Tennessee and Auburn, because there is nothing illegal in any of these moves. And these three teams are not the first programs to do things like this. It goes on all over the highest levels of Division I. But NCAA officials can’t help but wonder if all of this isn’t becoming another case of football coaches punching loopholes through rules that are designed to bring some measure of competitive balance across a broad range of very economically unbalanced Division I football programs. The position of “graduate assistant” was created for young coaches just starting out, kind of like an internship. It’s not supposed to be for veteran college coaches with years of experience who find themselves temporarily unemployed. – Birmingham News