Saturday, November 27, 2010

A Proper Send Off for Coach Caldwell

Like many Commodore fans, I was unable to attend Saturday's game against Wake Forest. Between the disappointing result and the rampant speculation as to who will be the new head coach, something has been overlooked: a proper send off and "thank you" to Coach Caldwell and the rest of his staff. Despite Saturday's result and the two incredibly frustrating years, this staff is responsible for Vanderbilt's first bowl win since the Eisenhower administration. Respect should be paid.

Here's what I suggest. The Vanderbilt men play a game Wednesday night against Western Kentucky, a very good opponent who beat the Commodores when they faced off last season, in Memorial Gym at 8pm. The students will have returned, and the game is likely to be well attended. At some point during the game, preferably halftime, Coach Caldwell should be honored. It doesn't have to be much (here, less is certainly more), but he is certainly entitled to a small sign of Commodore fans' gratitude for the work he did. Coach Caldwell inherited an incredibly difficult situation when he took over for Bobby Johnson 7 weeks before the season began. Despite these difficult circumstances, Coach Caldwell never made excuses and comported himself with class and dignity. That this season was disappointing is, at this point, besides the point. Coach Caldwell deserves one final opportunity to appear before the Vanderbilt community and he thanked. I really don't think that's asking too much.

12 comments:

Anonymous said...

Guys, there was a basketball game today.

Bobby O'Shea said...

Yeah. We beat Grambling State in front of about 1,500. What's your point?

Anonymous said...

Coaching Search: Insider information has said Navy's Offensive Cordinator will be named coach. He is an African-American who does a great job of recruiting good, yet smart athletes. He has also led Navy to being one of the best running programs in the nation. With Warren and Zac, this could be huge. Also though, Randy Shannon has just been fired from Miami, Fl. Since I've heard, no racism intended, David Williams wants an African American coach. Randy Shannon looks like a good fit. Pretty soon, we will all know. Maybe in the next week.

AD said...

likes this post

Anonymous said...

Annapolis, MD media report states nobody at Navy has been contacted yet regarding a VU opening.

See VandyMania for details.

parlagi said...

I like this idea very much. Caldwell tried as hard as he could, even though it didn't work out for him.

The only thing I'd change is maybe do it at the 12:00 or 8:00 timeout in the first half, since the game's on ESPN GamePlan. They'd probably show a quick clip of it coming out of the ad break, and that's not so likely to happen if it's done at halftime.

Anonymous said...

I would have been ok with the gesture thanking Robbie the cable guy at halftime of the basketball game until the pathetic showing against Wake last night who was 2-9 and ranked below us in various power polls. We were actually favored to win the game, not get blown out 34-13.

Maybe help him rent a U-Haul to move his stuff out of McGugin Center. That might be the last gesture the school owes him.

Anonymous said...

Randy Shannon? Are you kidding me? The former bagman for 2 Live Crew founder Luther Campbell bag in the '80's? I seriously hope that he is not an option.

Anonymous said...

If VU wants to hire an African-American coach, Mike Haywood at Miami (OH) is having a good year and Sumlin at Houston has had a good run there.

The only candidate living in South Florida that needs to be considered is Mike Leach - and should be #1 on the list anyway and along with Malzahn, probably is.

Anonymous said...

It is also possible that some of the existing staff remain. As David Williams stated, that is completely up to the new coach. I would think that it is very possible that someone like Dez Kitchings remains b/c he is young and has a relationship with the players. How about any Pac-10 OC's (Oregon/ Cal/ Stanford) looking for a promotion?

VandyDru said...

Bobby, I think anonymous was eluding to the App State game Saturday. Grambling was Wednesday. We won by 13 but the game was close until the very end. App State could have very well beat us. I'm actually surprised at the lack of discussion on it as well.

Anonymous said...

If there is a salute to Caldwell Wednesday night I will scream with the rest of you, but watching the game on television, despite all the dignity in the world, he had the air of a man who drew his breath in pain. He might had rather just be gone.