So, hey, that happened pretty quickly. Two wins, six losses, and the unforgettable face of Toledo football is gone, and they’re accepting applications for a new head.

The news of Tom Amstutz stepping down immediately, like right now, certainly came as a shock because, well, they just beat Michigan, which was sort of monumental. Also, there’s kind of a nationally televised game against Akron on Wednesday night. The timing is just so … goofy. Imagine the boss saying this to you: “Good work on this PowerPoint, Brzkowski. You won’t have to do the presentation, though. You’re being laid off.” (Difficulty: you have to imagine your last name is Brzkowski.)

This goes against a TFP column I wrote last year, saying that Amstutz will probably be coaching the Rockets until he doesn’t want to anymore. Although maybe it’s exactly on par with those sentiments. Maybe he doesn’t want to coach anymore. Or maybe he was informed by UT’s athletic director that he doesn’t feel like coaching anymore. Either way, it helps me sleep at night that I might’ve been somewhat correct in my words last year.

But enough of my old thoughts. Three new thoughts came to mind Nov. 3 while trying to digest this sudden news.

The first was that Toledo wasn’t the only UT school who saw a lifer say “goodbye” to their beloved head football coaching position this weekend. The University of Tennessee announced that Philip Fulmer would not be returning as their head football coach next season. Fulmer won a national championship with the Volunteers in 1998 and kept a steady course of success since then, but this year the Vols are a horrific 3-6.

Like Amstutz, Fulmer bled his alma mater’s colors. Like Amstutz, Fulmer was able to leave with an honorable discharge, so to speak. But unlike Amstutz, Fulmer will have a shot at winning his last game. (Tennessee can still technically qualify for a bowl game.)

But Fulmer’s departure really gave perspective to Amstutz’s resignation, a tiny local story that became an ESPN blip yet will resonate stronger in Toledo. Being a local lifer sometimes isn’t enough to win football games and reach bowls. It’s a sad reality, but both UT football programs seem a little less stable with their mainstays not wearing a headset on Saturdays. (Or in Toledo’s case, Tuesdays and Thursdays.) Maybe this feeling of deprivation will subside once a new coach is named and they start winning again, but that’s not for months, and something must be blogged about today.

The second thought was about recently axed UT basketball coach Stan Joplin. Maybe I just have a thing for liking legacies coaching area teams, because after all, I thought Joplin was the right man to lead the UT basketball team. And, as is commonplace policy at all athletic departments, they did not exclusively listen to my advice before taking swift action.

Maybe Gene Cross will be a better coach than Joplin was. Maybe Amstutz’s replacement will outshine Toledo Tom. Who knows? But here were the differences: Joplin was not terminated mid-season. And although he, like Amstutz, had one year left on his contract, his final year will not be spent with an in-house job. (He does get paid either way, though, which I guess isn’t a horrible kick to the crotch.)

The third one — and this is the “elephant in the room watching you sleep at night” issue — is the point shaving scandal. Everyone murmurs about it, and investigative articles by fired Blade writers still don’t give us much of a conclusion, but the football and basketball program were involved somehow.

Now with Amstutz (and Joplin) gone, the athletic department can finally proclaim that the translucent gray cloud hovering over West Bancroft Street has dissipated, and a new era of energetic coaches is leading the ship. But if that’s the case, then they didn’t exactly clean house, they just repainted. Not every assistant coach, trainer and executive involved with the athletic department is gone from this mysterious cross-section of Rockets history. This leads me to believe either a damning crime like point shaving wasn’t rampant in the programs, or they’re hiding something. (Or something in-between.)

All of this means, obviously, that nobody really knows anything about how deep the point shaving tendrils stretched. Except that it wasn’t until after the allegations arose that both teams started scoring far fewer points.

And nobody except Amstutz and UT athletic director Mike O’Brien probably know the real reason he’s gone. (The Blade’s Maureen Fulton might be a distant third.) This uncertainty of the motives will probably lead everyone, including myself, to collect more thoughts as the season progresses, from Amstutz’s lasting impression on the Rocket football program for most of the 2000s, to what it would be like if your last name was actually “Brzkowski.”

Visit Matt Sussman’s sports blog at futonreport.net.

This entry was posted on Thursday, November 6th, 2008 at 8:32 am and is filed under Futon Report, Rocket Football, Sports, Uncategorized.
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