Double-T Nation Daily Diatribe | 2011-03-11

The super-powerful SB Nation now has 300 different blogs, which is a pretty big milestone, one of those new blogs is Bill Connelly who also writes at Rock M Nation and will writing the new blog, Football Study Hall, for advanced college football statistics.  Go check it out. And for those of you who have an iPad, Flipboard is supposed to be awesome for SB Nation sites.  Let me know how it is.

Yesterday was the last scrimmage before spring break and in the post-practice press conference, you had Tuberville, Doege and Dees speak.  Here's my non-transcript:

Tommy Tuberville:  Didn't look good on offense, the defense played with enthusiasm.  Will use all 3 practices.  Need to have a good 5 to 6 weeks of off-season.  Like the idea of taking a week off and get everyone healthy.  Pushed them hard and they deserve a little time away.  Put our nose to the grindstone.  Darrin Moore played better.  Pass protection wasn't good today.  Running game is looking better.  Looked a little sluggish today on the offensive line.  Going to Florida with some alumni to help raise some money.  Weather looks great.  Blake dees has gotten a lot better, has a lot of knowledge and aggressive.  Him being a true freshman makes it tough.  Not trying to worry about 1st or 2nd teams.  All those true freshman, went after Jeremy Reynolds, he didn't have as good of a day, but he's been good over the spring.  Credit the true freshmen, it's amazing the attitude they have, will not be a big factor (this year), but will be.  This offense is only as good as the offensive line.  Mentally I like where Doege is at, physically it has to be stronger.  Karam has made a move and an improvement.  Tre' Porter, Derek Edwards, Pearlie Graves all got injured a bit, nothing serious.  Doege has more reps with the 1's, but Karam has made more improvements than anyone.  The reas race will be when they start two-a-days. 

QB Seth Doege:  Wasn't as long, but got some good work in.  Been working hard for a long time, excited to have this week off, enjoy the week, and go back to work.  Will stay in Lubbock and go fishing.  Karam is a good guy, playing well.  Smart guy and throws the ball well.  Want to play just as well or even better.  I feel that it is my job to lose, but I'm not going to say I'm the starter and not the starter until named.

LB Blake Dees: still getting reps with the 2's and 1's.  Some adjustments playing with the 1's, a little faster.  DC Chad Glasgow is intense and wants to make the defense intense.  Love playing middle linebacker.  Going back home and going to the beach.  All took cards home, and will hopefully study over the break.  There are a couple coverages that he needs to work on, but doing okay.  Surprised that he was running with the 1's.

LAJ's Don Williams writes that the defense got the edge in this third scrimmage and has quite a few updates, as well as some stats from the scrimmage and some news and notes, the most interesting is that Joe Carmical has moved from linebacker to defensive end.

There is some movement on the coaching search.  LAJ's Courtney Linehan wrote that (again, I can't see the article because I have viewed too many articles, but I can see enough) Bob Beaudine is the Dallas-area consultant to get the list of candidates.  SportsByBrooks (this is a FaceBook link, so you may need a FB account to read for yourself) claims that if a Parker Search Group is retained as the search consultant that this is not good news for those that want Billy Clyde Gillispie hired and also talks about the 180 of Nebraska's Doc Sadler:

People wondering why TTU hasn't hired search firm yet. I was told recently that boosters are behind BCG's bid for the job, and that Hocutt will cede to them. Perhaps that's a factor. If Hocutt does hire a firm, Parker would not be a good choice for BCG's chances. Trust me on that.

Snip.

On TTU: Earlier this week someone close to Sadler told me he was very, very interested in job. Borderline campaigning for it. Next day, main media reports came out that TTU was interested in Sadler. Now Sadler saying he's not interested. Might have something to do w/ him now knowing something, or that he's close friends w/ BCG, who wants the job badly.

So this feels like that Gillispie is the guy and until a search firm is hired, he's the only candidate.  Any one else feel differently about how this is playing out? The Chron's Richard Justice writes that if Texas Tech wants to create "buzz" then must hire Gillispie.  It feels like you've already read this opinion 1,000 times, so check it out if you want.

And this comes on the heels that Pat Knight endorsed Billy Gillispie, which feels strange.  Speaking of PK, he did a Q&A with Yahoo! Sports Jason King that's worth a read:

Q: Billy Gillispie’s name has been mentioned as a potential replacement. Any thoughts?

A: I think Billy would be great. Billy and I are friends. Billy can recruit Texas. He’s got a good personality. Plus, since (we’re friends), I know he’s not going to hammer me if he (struggles). That’s what I hate, when guys take over a job and hammer the old coach. So hopefully it’s one of my buddies. Billy won’t hammer me. I think Billy would be great. But not just at Tech, but anywhere in Texas. He’s a Texas guy.

Q: Do you think Texas Tech will be scared off because of his DUI arrest in Kentucky?

A: Jeez, give the guy a break. That was a couple of years ago. He’s cleaned up. I think everyone deserves a second chance. To me, I don’t think that’s a big deal.

Full and complete endorsement! 

Yesterday, Linehan talked with former Pat Knight player, Dark Cohadarevic, well, the DT has some good interviews with Cohadarevic, Charlie Burgess and Alan Voskuil that are worth a read. 

Last, but not least, LAJ's Courtney Linehan does inform us that PF Robert Lewandowski broke his collarbone, so think a good thought for Big Lew.

I'm running out of time this morning, so go check out DT's Jose Rodriguez preview of this weekend's final non-conference series against Iowa and Texas A&M-Corpus Christi.