Chris Childers
The Gulf Coast Athletic Club opened its October 25, 2021 meeting at Woodside Restaurant in Gulf Shores. President George Autrey welcomed the assembled crowd at 7:00pm.
George commented about tonight’s almost full house crowd and noted it’s growing a little every week. He commented on a wild weekend. Guests were introduced and Paul Rodgers introduced as a new member.
Woodside Restaurant remains very accommodating and Craft Farms remains up in the air.
GSHS Athletic Director Coach Kevin Tubbs gave us a Dolphins Football update, which included a big 10-0 shutout victory over Blount from Mobile, the first ever over Blount. One more game this week against Satsuma and a win gets them into the Playoffs. Senior Night is Friday evening. The Dolphins are 5-4 and is our best record since climbing into Class 6-A!! Volleyball Girls are in the Top 16 going into State Playoffs. Cross Country has kicked off. Wrestling, which just started a few short years ago (GCAC bought the first uniforms for the team), had 90 kids sign up to compete!! Amazing!! GO, DOLPHINS!!
Dr. Gaylon McCollough began the introductions of our second set of Scholar/Athlete Scholarship Nominees. Our Female Scholar/Athlete is Mackenzie Morrison. She has a 4.3 GPA and a 32 on the ACT. Mackenzie has started for four years on the Volleyball team and also plays Tennis. This National Honor Society member is planning on going to the University of Alabama with studies focused on Architectural Engineering and Interior Design.
Our Male Scholar/Athlete is Caleb Colvin who has a 4.14 GPA and a 31 on the ACT. He’s heavily involved in Cross Country, Swimming, and Tennis. He is the Senior Class President and was recently selected as the 2021 GSHS Homecoming King! He’s had perfect attendance since the Fifth Grade and planning on attending the University of Alabama with a major in Business.
Dr. McCollough reminded the Club that he has been doing this for 15 or so years and he has noted the GPAs, especially the ACT scores, have been steadily rising. He commended the Gulf Shores School Board, Administrators, and Educators for this excellent trend. GO, DOLPHINS!!
Our Pigskin Prognosticator Challenge is now into its ninth week with Bulldog Billy still leading the pack with a 64.4 winning percentage. GNTIGERS, our Fearless Leader, informed the assembled crowd that he has emerged from the cellar with an incredible 11-1 week last week. Sadly, even though it is the best weekend selection win-loss record in Pigskin Prognostication history, to the best of your Editor’s knowledge (the 2016 Season winner), George was tied by Bulldog Billy at 11-1!! Tough league!! Your Editor must note his bride, Cynthia Tunnell, won the previous week as well as also being a past Season PP winner. Bulldog Billy is followed by Andrew McKinney - Geronimo3509 in second, two games behind, 3rd is Gulfhusker, Jim Walker, followed closely by Professor (David) Lee in Fourth.
Team Reports – Chairman Dec McClelland began his bi-weekly rundown by noting 48 teams, at one time ranked in the Top 25 this season, have lost at least once this year. Just last week, 5 of the 19 Top 25 teams playing lost to unranked teams. Is this parity or just sloppy play? Georgia leads the bunch (maybe Miss. State Bulldog Billy might want to become Georgia Bulldog Billy) with Cincinnati (???) in second, Bama 3rd, and 6 SEC teams in the Top 25.
Crying Towel – As expected, Penn State received the CT after its 9 Overtime loss to Illinois. Tom Grabowski received the Towel – “Happy Valley to Hidden Valley, longest and most boring game ever!” Can anyone explain these new Overtime rules??
President George introduced our Guest Speaker, Chris Childers of ESPN Radio. This Nashville resident is one of the pioneers in satellite radio, starting in 2005. In 2010, he was picked up for Sirius/XM Radio, where he hosts “Full Ride” with co-host, former UCLA Coach Rick Neuheisel on Channel 84. George called Chris the “Show Pony”, and the Most Popular Host on ESPN Radio.
Chris said it was awesome to be here and proceeded to talk college football for a solid 45 minutes, touching on Mike Leech, Army football, Lane Kiffin (probably the next coach at LSU – probably the second-best program in America behind Bama), James Franklin, Les (is more) Miles, Coach Saban, and Coach Bryant. He noted Saban is a great CEO whereas Bryant actually coached his players.
He talked considerably about the Coach Analysts program at Alabama and how Coach Saban can take castoffs and recreate them as successful CFP program leaders, Kiffin, Sarkisian, Locksley, for example. He says the process works and creates great coaches, while Saban, who humbles himself at all times, picks the minds of all who come to work for him.
Chris is for Playoff expansion, using a regional concept. He says look at the Top 4 teams -Bama, Clemson, Ohio State, Oklahoma – all are recruiting nationally. Expansion will bring in more teams and a more diverse regional player base. The Transfer Portal has created big problems as well as NIL issues. Coaches are now expected to find business deals for their top players and recruits.
Quick notes – Notre Dame Coach Brian Kelley probably to Southern Cal (like Saban going to Auburn), Clemson QB throws too hard, no touch, Coach Harsin good, understands the SEC culture, Nix better as QB, can’t drop back, TX and OK won’t impact Tide, but probably TX A&M, NCAA has lost all its power, and OK QB Spencer Rattler, a pre-season Heisman candidate, will be somewhere else next year.
Upcoming programs:
11/8 Phillip Rivers: Former NFL All Star QB, future Hall of Famer, and now Coach at St. Michael’s.
11/22 Bo Bounds: ESPN radio host of The Out of Bounds Show.
The meeting adjourned at 8:30pm.
