The End Zone: Knuckleheads, losses equal pink slips

12/3/2008

This will be the final time we publish this End Zone feature this year. I feel it s important to emphasize that so when our shiny faces don t grace your sports page next week, you won t think we had been fired by Greg Christopher. BGSU s athletic director isn t fooling around, is he? On Saturday he handed walking papers to sixth-year football coach Gregg Brandon, hours after the Falcons throttled rival Toledo 38-10. Two days later, Christopher swung the axe at men s soccer coach Fred Thompson.

Check that. The press release issued by BG s athletic department states Thompson resigned. Going out on a limb here, but his 18-69-8 record may have been brought up in the exit interview.

Christopher had a multitude of reasons for letting Brandon go. Players were behaving like knuckleheads away from the field and the NCAA imposed its power and revoked scholarships from the program for its low APR score. Oh, and the product on the field wasn t all that swell either.

So yes, Christopher had his reasons and I agree with the AD s decision. But he wouldn t have endured a public outcry had he turned the other cheek and let Brandon (44-30 overall) stay on. Christopher wants to be proactive, and he should be lauded for that. But if he s going to make moves, they better not be incomplete moves. The pressure is on him to make a great hire because what he just expelled wasn t all that terrible.