sterlingice
05-26-2005, 03:09 PM
American Football Coaches Association to reveal votes
http://sports.espn.go.com/ncf/news/story?id=2068994
Members of the American Football Coaches Association will make their votes in the final coaches' poll public starting this season, executive director Grant Teaff said Thursday.
Teaff said the group believes it was the best decision for the game.
"Our coaches were under no obligation to do this," said Teaff, a former coach at Baylor. "The good news is that somebody out there thinks that transparency is good for the system and our coaches said 'OK we hear you and we're going to join in and do our part.'"
Teaff said most coaches did not want to release the votes because of the scrutiny it would bring, but decided to vote for the change to quell any "uncalled-for controversy." He said there are no circumstances where the group would allow their in-season voting to be made public.
"The in-season polls are just a barometer," Teaff said. "The final poll that determines the two teams that play in the national championship seems to be the one every wants to know about."
Teaff said the coaches have unanimously supported the concept of a championship game because they do not want to go back to the old system where there was a "so-called mythical championship which did not have the two best teams playing."
He said the group discussed the issue at its meeting in January and then voted in a survey sent out in late February.
Kevin Weiberg, the Big 12 Conference commissioner and Bowl Championship Series coordinator, has said voting by coaches has taken on greater importance since The Associated Press pulled its poll out of the standings formula.
However Teaff said that viewpoint had no effect on their decision.
"We didn't mention it at the meeting," he said. "None of that has any control over what we do."
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Granted, it's really easy for them to fall back on the "well they were #1 going into the week so we weren't going to drop them". But at least it will make it a little harder for some strongarming to take place.
SI
http://sports.espn.go.com/ncf/news/story?id=2068994
Members of the American Football Coaches Association will make their votes in the final coaches' poll public starting this season, executive director Grant Teaff said Thursday.
Teaff said the group believes it was the best decision for the game.
"Our coaches were under no obligation to do this," said Teaff, a former coach at Baylor. "The good news is that somebody out there thinks that transparency is good for the system and our coaches said 'OK we hear you and we're going to join in and do our part.'"
Teaff said most coaches did not want to release the votes because of the scrutiny it would bring, but decided to vote for the change to quell any "uncalled-for controversy." He said there are no circumstances where the group would allow their in-season voting to be made public.
"The in-season polls are just a barometer," Teaff said. "The final poll that determines the two teams that play in the national championship seems to be the one every wants to know about."
Teaff said the coaches have unanimously supported the concept of a championship game because they do not want to go back to the old system where there was a "so-called mythical championship which did not have the two best teams playing."
He said the group discussed the issue at its meeting in January and then voted in a survey sent out in late February.
Kevin Weiberg, the Big 12 Conference commissioner and Bowl Championship Series coordinator, has said voting by coaches has taken on greater importance since The Associated Press pulled its poll out of the standings formula.
However Teaff said that viewpoint had no effect on their decision.
"We didn't mention it at the meeting," he said. "None of that has any control over what we do."
--------------------------------
Granted, it's really easy for them to fall back on the "well they were #1 going into the week so we weren't going to drop them". But at least it will make it a little harder for some strongarming to take place.
SI