The Houston Chronicle Doing What Dohn and the Fiswrap Don't
Asking Questions -- Getting Answers -- Writing Relevant Stories

Yesterday, I posted some stuff from the Houston Chronicle sports page that used an analogy to Texas A&M that could have been written about UCLA.

In this morning's Chronicle, two articles touch -- both directly and indirectly -- on what's going on in Westwood.

First, the Direct Hit:  In a "Big 12 Notebook" Column written by Joseph Duarte:

Headline "Coaching fraternity could see a big shakeup."
Sub: "Leach's options may include UCLA position."

"One coach who is not on the hot seat but could find himself with employment options outside the Big 12 is Texas Tech's Mike Leach.

.... Leach, who is from California and went to law school at Peperdine, is believed to have interest in returning to the West Coast."

Leach is not my favorite candidate, I'm a Petersen supporter, but it's interesting to find a Texas newspaper writing stories that the fishwrap hasn't.

Indirect Hit: An article by Terrance Harris "A&M recruits are caught in the middle."

This interesting Chronicle story has to do with what is happening to Texas A&M's highly rated recruiting class -- during this time of uncertainty as to Dennis Franchione's future. (I think he is Toast II. He not only has a Dorrell like record, he's also gotten into a bit of trouble for taking private donations to support a private website that gives "insider tips" about his team, including injury reports. (I think CTS is in some trouble over Scott. There is a good chance he did not tell DG all he knew about Scott's past.)

Anyway, as one would expect, some kids are keeping their commitments -- they committed to a school and education not necessarily to a coach. Some kids are keeping their options open, watching to see what happens at A&M -- but talking with other teams. So far, to date, none have left for another school.

I post this because of those who feel it would be devastating to our next recruiting class to fire CTS, now. Most of us disagree, or simply don't care if we lose a few recruits as the cost of killing this cancer.

But, I also post it to show you what newspapers and reporters, out of LA do with their sports pages. No one would mention the Houston Chronicle in the same breath as the LA Times -- yet, in its little skinny sports page, it has reporters going after the stories, DOING EMPIRICAL RESEARCH/INTERVIEWING PEOPLE, day after day, digging in, asking hard questions and reporting from first hand knowledge sources as opposed to those who might be fictional or non-existent (such as "someone close to the program told me" -- which in my mind can be any fan sitting on a game day program at the Rose Bowl, or "an inside source" which can be anyone indoors at the time of speaking.

Dohn and the local fishwrappers are a disgrace. With so many angles to take on reporting the "coaching" story this year, they've chosen to go straight ahead -- to follow the party line.

Shame.