Former AU Coach Dye Wrong On Rice
Jan 1, 2013; Pasadena, CA, USA; Stanford University alumnus Condoleezza Rice hugs Stanford Cardinal running back Remound Wright (22) after Stanford won the 2013 Rose Bowl game against Wisconsin Badgers 20-14 at the Rose Bowl. Mandatory Credit: Kirby Lee-USA TODAY Sports
Who should serve on the College Football Playoff committee always seemed likely to generate significant controversy.
Former Auburn coach Pat Dye made it clear he disagreed with at least one person reportedly included on the committee – former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice on the committee.
“All she knows about football is what somebody told her or what she read in a book or what she saw on television” Dye said on Birmingham-based WJOX. “To understand football, you’ve got to play with your hand in the dirt.
“I love Condoleezza Rice and she’s probably a good statesman and all of that but how in the hell does she know what it’s like out there when you can’t get your breath and it’s 110 degrees and the coach asks you to go some more?”
Defending Dye on his stance is difficult to stomach – at least to someone who didn’t play college football and has made a living reporting on it.
Not everyone gets the opportunity to play college football. It doesn’t mean they don’t love, enjoy and have an in-depth knowledge of the sport.
Rice, an avid football fan, seemingly could add credibility to a sport that far too often falls into the good ol’ boy network. Dye seems intent on keeping it that way, virtually hanging a “No Girls Allowed” sign on the door.
The College Football Playoff offers a new, optimistic future for a sport that leads the world in foggy pictures at season’s end. Why not allow a new era to be ushered in along with new, more sophisticated views on who can be included in the most important levels of college football?
Rice made a political career of living in national controversy. Off-handed comments from opinionated ex-coaches such as Dye are no more likely to shake her than being the focal point of the national media.
Considering the debates destined to unfold upon the announcement of the College Football Playoff field, perhaps nobody is better equipped to be on the committee than Rice.