SURPRISE, SURPRISE
For whatever reason, college football programs are becoming accustomed to firing head coaches during the season.
First it was Lane Kiffin at USC. Then came Paul Pasqualoni’s firing at Connecticut.
Sunday, Miami added Don Treadwell to the party after the coach led the RedHawks to a dismal 0-5 record to start the year.
Enter Mike Bath, who began the 2013 season as a quarterbacks and receivers coach. He was promoted to interim coach of his alma mater Sunday.
“I would be lying if I said this doesn’t mean much,” Bath said during the weekly Mid-American Conference teleconference. “This is my alma mater, and it has a great tradition.
“It’s exciting to take this program day-by-day and make it what it should be.”
Bath, who found out about his promotion after getting out of the shower on the way to church, now has the opportunity to jump-start Miami to its first victory this Saturday against also winless Massachusetts.
Treadwell took over at Miami after its 2010 season, which ended with a MAC title and GoDaddy.com Bowl victory.
The former coach was 8-21 during his stint at Miami’s helm. Miami also ousted offensive coordinator John Klacik.
SHUTDOWN COULD MEAN SHUTOUT
Another storyline to emerge from the MAC this week is the status of Saturday’s matchup between Eastern Michigan (1-4, 0-2 MAC) and Army.
With the government shutdown, there is a growing fear that the game might get cancelled. Last week the same issue arose for Army, but all the games featuring service schools ended up playing their respective games.
“I’m not even going to raise the topic that the game is not going to be played,” Eastern Michigan coach Ron English said. “Hopefully the game will be played. They’ve put in a lot of time and effort to help serve our country.”
23, 23, 23
The number 23 has been thrown around a lot lately in DeKalb, Ill. at Northern Illinois.
The Huskies (5-0, 1-0 MAC) are listed this week as the No. 23 team in the nation in both the Associated Press Top 25 and the USA Today Coaches Poll.
Northern Illinois will host Akron on Saturday in hopes of winning its 23rd-straight home game.
Their streak of 22 current victories ties Marshall for the MAC’s consecutive wins record, according to the Daily Chronicle in DeKalb. The Thundering Herd held their streak from 1997-2000, the Daily Chronicle reported. Marshall has since left the conference and is in Conference USA.
For the record, even though the Zips are coming to town, there was no mention of a certain No. 23 from Akron, unless it has to do with him playing one-on-one against Michael Jordan.
gh181212@ohiou.edu
@charliehatch_
