The detestable, inimical Mike Leach

As EDSBS points out, the detestable Mike Leach has a real issue with telling the truth, and the people (i.e. other highly paid coaches) are finally speaking out to put this outrage to an end.

It's been an incredible week for the head dread pirate of Lubbock, beginning with his reaction to the rumor, supposedly floated by the Cleveland Browns' Eric Mangini, that Michael Crabtree is a "diva."

"Michael Crabtree has been more successful as a receiver than that guy has a coach at this point," Leach said. " ... Part of the reason is he's (Crabtree) too shy to be like that."

Said Leach: "My definition of a diva is someone who's loud and self-absorbed. Michael Crabtree is the furthest thing from loud that I've seen."

[...]Leach described Crabtree as the "ultimate team player who would serve the 49ers well." As for Mangini? "Let's see how all those non-divas do up in Cleveland this year," Leach said.

Ouch. (Of course now it looks like that Graham Harrell might sign with Cleveland, though as of right now he has only a tryout.)

Then came Leach's comment about former Texas A&M quarterback Stephen McGee, who was drafted by the Dallas Cowboys in the fourth round. Now, McGee's career at A&M was, well, disappointing: he played in a triple option offense under Dennis Franchione, and then came Mike Sherman to go with a "pro-style offense" (that supposed holy grail for all potential NFL draftees), but he got hurt and finished his senior year as a backup. Asked about the Cowboys' pick, Leach said:

"I'm happy for Stephen McGee," Texas Tech coach Mike Leach said. "The Dallas Cowboys like him more than his coaches at A&M did."

Sherman, via official release, replied,

"I don't understand Coach Leach's comments about Stephen McGee," Sherman said Monday. "He was named our starter until he got injured. I've always believed in Stephen's character and I've always believed in his talent, and I always will. I see him having an outstanding NFL career.

"Coach Leach is in no position to comment about my relationship with Stephen McGee."

In the end, a perturbed Sherman addressed the issue two straight days. Leach, unable to not have the last word, fired back again.

"I never questioned the handling of the (A&M) players in any way and have always expressed the utmost respect for their coaching staff," Leach told The Avalanche-Journal.

"I’ve always said that it is truly exciting to play Texas A&M - the quality of coaches they have, the great team and great tradition and, above all, the quality of players they have," Leach continued. "I’ve always known A&M had great players. The fact that they have the luxury to put a third- or fourth-round draft pick on the bench, to me, identifies what a truly great team they are.

"It’s an honor for us at Texas Tech to have the opportunity to play them. There are numerous players on our team that will never get a look or play a down in the NFL, so you can imagine how exciting it is for me and them to go play a team the magnitude of Texas A&M and look over there on the bench and see third- and fourth-round draft picks."

And later:

"How can anyone not be shocked that they’re offended by this?" Leach told The A-J. "How is that possible? I mean, they’re the ones that keep issuing these official statements. I haven’t issued any official statement. I just answer questions when somebody asks me one."

Ah, great stuff. Sherman, of course, can't stay quiet either, so he has chimed in yet again as well.

Responded Sherman on Tuesday, "I'm not one to say that's just Mike being Mike. You're not going to get a free pass with me. I don't get a free pass. I would never comment about any of his guys."

McGee won the starting job last preseason, but was injured in the second game and never fully recovered. . . .

"That could have been taken as a shot at Stephen McGee that if he was so good then why didn't he play?" Sherman said. "Or it could have been taking a shot at the Cowboys, or at (former A&M coach) Dennis Franchione.

"Coach Franchione's job wasn't to try and make Stephen an NFL quarterback, it was to win football games. And if it was his feeling that running the football was his best choice, like it was when I was here (as an assistant) with R.C. (Slocum), then that's what he did."

I don't know much about Stephen McGee. I didn't see anything of him last year, though I saw him play a few times in Franchione's gun-option attack that never got off the ground. As far as NFL drafting quarterbacks, I don't have the data but it's hard to evaluate. Guys with talent who are late draft picks or undrafted have to get lucky to see the field, so there is a skew to high draft picks, and the NFL is big on measurables. Matt Stafford was projected as the #1 overall coming out of high school, and sure enough in college he neither got shorter nor threw the ball with less velocity, so he was there again. Leach is right that the NFL overvalues arm strength, and he is right that it is not nearly so scientific as all these NFL guys pretend. That said, where you get drafted is a pretty good predictor of what kind of career you will have -- on aggregate -- but there's a ton of noise, especially among quarterbacks.

But, if nothing else, we should all just be thankful we have Coach Leach to keep us entertained in the offseason. Maybe his next quarterback, Taylor Potts will get drafted: he's 6'5", 220 lbs.

P.S. I'll be out of pocket for the next few days at the Kentucky Derby. Betting suggestions welcome.

Meet American Actress: Femi Emiola

Femi Emiola
Femi Emiola is an American actress. She is best known for her roles in the TV series Wicked Wicked Games and in the web series "If Looks Could Kill".

Biography
Early lifeFemi Emiola was born in Iowa City, Iowa to a Filipina mother and a Nigerian father, then both PhD candidates at Iowa State University. Femi lived her early life in the Philippines and in Nigeria before returning to the United States as a teenager. "Femi" is prononuced "F-eh-mi" and means "love me" or "marry me" in Yoruba. Both her parents are chemists.She trained in Theatre Arts at Iowa State University, and studied in New York City with esteemed director and acting teacher, Wynn Handman, a former colleague of Sanford Meisner and artistic director/co-founder of The American Place Theatre in New York City.

Career
Emiola made her film debut in an award-winning short film "The Living Silence". Her performance in the film helped garner the filmmaker, Tanya Steele, a Directors Guild East Coast Student Filmmaker Award.Between 2006 and 2007, Emiola played "Lani Walker", the assistant to vindictive and psychotic Blythe Hunter famously portrayed by Tatum O'Neal in the My Network TV telenovelaWicked Wicked Games, which premiered on December 6, 2006 and aired to completion (65 episodes) in March 2007.

Emiola has also appeared on the television shows ER, Ghost Whisperer, Scrubs, Las Vegas, The New Adventures of Old Christine, Tyler Perry's House of Payne, and The Practice.In 2000, Emiola posed for the artist Meredith Bergmann and her profile became the foundation for Bergmann's Phillis Wheatley, which was part of the Boston Women's Memorial, unveiled in 2003 on Commonwealth Avenue Mall in Boston, MA. The sculpture also included Lucy Stone and Abigail Adams and is grafted from bronze and granite and is Bergmann's largest public commission.In June 2008, Emiola became the face of an innovative marketing campaign by Toyota for the Toyota Camry.

The campaign for the Toyota Camry launched on June 9, 2008 targeting affluent African-American women ages 25-40. There are no television commercials, but instead there is an interactive website, Iflookscouldkill.com, which includes a video series and an online game. The $5 million campaign centers on the website and a six-episode video series, promoted as "where espionage and high fashion collide." The target audience for the campaign is African-American women with an annual income of $70,000 and up.

The video series stars Emiola as "Bianca Turner" a fashion designer and Toyota Camry owner who becomes unwittingly involved in an espionage plot. Visitors can navigate within scenes and play along, picking up clues to assist Bianca as she tries to solve the mystery. Print and online ads on BET.com and Essence.com also support the campaign which runs June 9 through July 27, 2008. 42 Entertainment in Pasadena, California, developed the game and the site. Burrell Communications, Chicago, is Camry's agency.

Personal Life
Femi married Canadian musician and Internet professional, Kevin Edwards in 2006. They live in Los Angeles.

Miss World 2001: Agbani Darego

Ibiagbanidokibubo 'Agbani' Asenite Darego (born 1983), is a Nigerian model, best known for being the first black African to be crowned Miss World in 2001.Darego hails from Abonnema, Rivers, and was born into a family of eight children. At ten, Darego was sent to boarding school in a bid to shield her from her mother who had breast cancer. Darego's mother died two years later, and her daughter has spoken of how the loss prepared her for the future.

As a teenager, Darego longed to be a model. Although her conservative father was against the idea, she entered the M-Net Face of Africamodelling competition, but failed to make it past the first round. She achieved greater success when she was crowned Most Beautiful Girl in Nigeria in 2001. Contrary to popular belief, Darego did not replace Valerie Peterside after the latter was dethroned - Peterside had won Miss Nigeria. Darego managed to divide her time between her official duties with her education at the University of Port Harcourt where she was studying Computer Science, and she represented Nigeria in the 2001 Miss Universe competition, held in Bayamon, Puerto Rico. She placed among the top 10 semi-finalists, finishing seventh. She was the only black semi-finalist that year - and the only finalist to wear a maillot swimsuit

Miss World
In November 2001, Darego traveled to South Africa to compete in the Miss World competition, beating Miss Scotland and Miss Aruba in the final round. Her victory in the pageant, hosted by American talk show host Jerry Springer, was widely welcomed in her home country, and her reign as MBGN was continued by Ann Suinner.Her one year tenure included goodwill trips and scheduled appearances on behalf of the pageant.

In addition, the organizers of the competition began preparations to host Miss World 2002 in Nigeria.One week before the 2002 pageant, erupted in Kaduna and other cities in northern Nigeria after small protests against the competition inflamed simmering religious tension between Muslims and Christians. Several hundred died in the violence that ensued. The 2002 Miss World competition was moved from Nigeria to the United Kingdom, where it was staged in London that December.

Post-pageant career
Darego left the University of Port Harcourt after her reign as Miss World ended in 2002. She is signed to Next Model Management, and is currently pursuing a modelling career in Europe.She has modelled for L'Oreal cosmetics.In 2006, it was reported that Darego had posed topless at a fashion show; her actions caused an outrage in Nigeria

Meet Nigerian singer-songwriter: Bukola Elemide "Aṣa"

Aṣa (pronounced "Asha") (born in 1982) is a Nigerian singer-songwriter and recording artist. Her stage name "Aṣa" means "Hawk" in Yoruba

Early life
Born Bukola Elemide, Aṣa was born in Paris, France to Nigerian parents. She was two years old when her family returned to live in Nigeria. Aṣa grew up in Lagos, in the south-western part of Nigeria. She states that the city is "buzzing with energy but also home to a deep-rooted spirituality. Islam thrives shoulder to shoulder with Christianity in an atmosphere of tolerance, and the turbulent city moves endlessly in an infernal and yet harmonious ballet of love and hate, laughter and violence, poverty and wealth."

However twenty years later Aṣa returned to Paris, which is where her life as an artist took wing. Aṣa was twelve when her mother sent her to one of the best schools in Nigeria. But educational excellence had a bitter taste : five years of studies and hardship. When she came home, she discovered Erykah Badu,D'Angelo, Raphael Saadiq, Lauryn Hill, Femi Kuti and Angelique Kidjo, in whose footprints she dreamt of following.

At 18, Asa was very familiar with frustration. The university was on strike, the choirs were snubbing her. During these frustrating times, Asa used to lock herself in her room and sing; this she said was very comforting. Nevertheless, she managed to get her voice heard on a few radio talent shows and her first applause brought her boundless pleasure. She then signed up, in secret, for the Peter King’s School of Music and learnt to play the guitar in 6 months

Background
Aṣa was the only girl in the family and had to share her parents with her three brothers. At a tender age she began to look after the house during her father and mother’s frequent absences. That is when Aṣa started to sing. The desire to sing came to her and didn’t go away, carving out a permanent place in her soul. She preferred singing to talking, improvising endlessly until her mother made her stop.

Over the years her father had built up a fine collection of records featuring soul classics and Nigerian music, including Marvin Gaye, Fela Kuti, Bob Marley,Aretha Franklin, Sunny Ade, Ebenezer Obey and Lagbaja and went on to draw inspiration from them. Aṣa said "I was a tomboy and when I was a teenager I became very shy because people made fun of me in my own way, I was already attracting attention ! I got in the habit of never doing anything like everyone else. People didn’t understand my low-pitched deep voice, the choirs didn’t want anything to do with me. I had to get to church first if I was to have any chance of getting near the mike"

In 2004 Aṣa met her manager, Janet, who introduced her to Cobhams Emmanuel Asuquo, who in turn became her musical partner. He enabled Aṣa, the free spirit, to find her bearings : songs in English and Yoruba, music falling somewhere between pop and soul, inspired by her musical heritage — with particular care paid to the melodies — and reflecting the feeling she puts into it. Her texts talk about her country, the things in life, the things in her life, all delivered with feigned naivete and real irony. She states "I like writing or thinking about my texts on the bus, or the molue, as we call it. 49 seats, 99 passengers standing up, as Fela described it. Everyone’s squashed up together and mini-dramas break out all the time. And, at the end of the day, we still manage to laugh, that’s where our strength lies..."

It was at this stage of her life that Aṣa finally returned to Paris. This was her chance to test out her talent on the French musical scene, playing with artists such as the Nubians, Manu Dibango, Doctor L and Tony Allen. In the meantime, back in Nigeria, her first single, Eye Adaba, then Jailer, were beginning to get airtime. MTV chose her as the ambassador for South Africa. Her popularity became big, that when she came back to Nigeria she opened for Akon, John Legend, Beyonce and Snoop Dogg amongst others.

Aṣa soon signed to the 'Naive label'. Partnered by Cobhams, and with the new involvement of Christophe Dupouy, she produced a magnificent debut album, ASA. R&b rubs up against pop, with reggae also making an appearance on 'Fire On The Mountain', the first track released from the album, an impertinent and barely-disguised metaphor for an ignorant and indifferent world. "Jailer", another highlight of the album, reinterprets the old adage “you reap what you sow”. This emblematic song with its irresistible refrain opens the album by denouncing modern slavery in all its forms.Aṣa's song Eye Adaba featured in the 3rd episode of series 3 of the E4's teen tv show, Skins, in which congolese youngster Thomas is forced to return to Congo from Bristol, where he was living in a flat owned by Johnny White, and made new friends in Pandora, Effy and the rest of the cast. The song is used for the scene in which Thomas is told be pack his bags by his mother and he is upset at having to leave.



Track listing
"Jailer"
"360"
"Bibanke"
"Subway"
"Fire on the Mountain"
"Eye Adaba""No One Knows"
"Awe""Peace"
"So Beautiful"
"Iba"

Meet The Sexy Nigerian Model: Oluchi Onweagba

Oluchi Onweagba (born 1982) is a Nigerian model. She had come into modeling after a family friend had persuaded her to enter M-Net'sFace of Africa competition. She ended up winning the competition.

Biography
Onweagba's first name in her native Igbo language means "God's Work". Her father was a civil servant, and her mother was a nurse. She and her siblings (two brothers and a sister) lived on Ayilara Street, Ojuelegba, in Surulere, a low-income area of the sprawling Lagos (theNigerian commercial capital) metropolis. She spent her high school years as a good student, and enjoyed playing tennis and ping pong. Supposedly, she was discovered while she was selling bread on the streets of Lagos in order to make ends meet.

In August 2005, she married her longtime companion, Italian fashion designer Luca Orlandi. On April 25 2007 their son Ugochukwu was born.

Discovery and Breakthrough
Oluchi Onweagba was urged by a family friend to enter into the M-Net Face of Africa preliminary screening at the M-Net office in Victoria Island, Lagos which she scaled through. The agency immediately groomed her to be one of Nigeria's entrants for a model competition, the M-Net Face of Africa (now called the Nokia Face of Africa). This despite the fact that, growing up, she had maintained a relative ignorance towards fashion andmodeling. With the support of her family and friends, she decided to compete in the inaugural edition of the Face of Africa in 1998.

This was the first-ever continent-wide model competition, as opposed to a mere beauty pageant, and was organized by the South African subscription television channel M-Net in collaboration with Elite Model Management. With her slim, tall figure, and her natural beauty, she captivated the judges, and she handily won the competition. She was just seventeen years old. Elite Model Management awarded Onweagba a three-year modeling contract, and a whirlwind life as a highly-sought-after fashion model began.

Career Trajectory
Moving to New York City, where she is currently still living, she began to make an impact. Onweagba graced the covers of Italian Vogue, i-D, ELLE, Untold, and Surface, and she also was featured in Nylon, Marie Claire, Allure, and other national editions of Vogue around the world. She also became the face of the campaigns for Gianfranco Ferre, Victoria's Secret, Gap, Express, Banana Republic, and Ann Taylor. Onweagba's runway experience has been with John Galliano, Christian Dior, Costume National, Chanel, and Giorgio Armani, amongst others, in London, Milan, Tokyo and Paris.

Oluchi Onweagba has worked with such high-caliber photographers as Steven Meisel, Nick Knight, and Patrick Demarchelier.As her career took off, she did not forget her roots and attempted to give back to society. As one of the most high profile international models of Nigerian origin, she tries to serve as a role model for other aspiring talents in the west African country, especially young girls. She volunteers her time and her image for such NGOs as LEAP Africa (an entrepreneurship incubator) and NIPRO. She also is continuing her higher education, having studied for an associate's degree in the New York City educational system.After her three-year contract with Elite expired, she signed with DNA Model Management. A highlight of her career so far was when she was featured in the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue four times, from 2005 to 2008.

In 2008, Oluchi Onweagba launched a modelling agency in South Africa, OModel Africa, with offices in Johanesburg and recently in Cape Town. The 2008 winner of M-Net Face of Africa, Kate Tachie-Menson, was awarded a US $50,000 modelling contract by OModel Africa.In 2009, Onweagba is expected to host the inaugural West Africa's Next Top Model.

OK St.'s Gunter Brewer on four verticals and the seam-reader

Heard an anecdote relayed from Oklahoma State's offensive coordinator (good coach, entertaining speaker). He was talking about the four verticals concept, which I and Dan Gonzalez recently explored in depth.

As Dan explained, the key to this whole concept is the "seam-reader" -- the slot receiver who reads the deep coverage and can run a post, seam, or square-in. And as I explained, even if you don't give that player a full panoply of options, at minimum you tell one slot guy to read middle of the field open (two deep safeties) or closed (one deep): against middle of the field open the guy splits the safeties to streak down the middle void; against middle of the field closed the receiver stays up the hash to put the free safety in a bind between the two slot players.

In Okie State's terminology, they call this player the "beater." One thing Dan and I didn't talk much about was how do you decide which guy you want to be the "beater" or "divide route" -- the "get open" guy.

The first diagram shows it with the slot:



And the second shows it with the tight-end here (it could also just be the other slot):



So how do you choose who you want running it? Typically, as Dan draws it up, he likes his best receiver to line up in the slot and to drill that down. You also can do it just to the field: if the ball is on one hashmark you can have the receiver to the wide side run it because he has more freedom.

Brewer addressed this question, and talked about that for him it is often a matter of personnel. Specifically, if you get in three-wide gun (as Okie State often is), the defense often subs in a nickel defensive back for a linebacker. But the problem there is that the defensive back is better than the linebacker: he doesn't go for all the fakes and moves that the seam-reader or "beater" player uses to get open.

To illustrate what they did he told an interesting anecdote. Brewer used to be an assistant and offensive coordinator at Marshall back in the Bob Pruett days, where he coached Chad Pennington (and some guy named Randy Moss). They decided to run the "beater" to the side where the linebacker was and away from the nickel back.

But the problem was that the other teams would often shift this. Fortunately, Pennington was a pretty bright guy, so they let him determine who was going to be the beater pre-snap.

And how did they communicate it? Pennington would get to the line, turn to the side where the linebacker was and not the nickel defender (and hence the also the slot he wanted to run the "beater"), and would just clap in that general direction. Everyone knew what it meant, and off they went.

Best offensive staff poll: Urban's way

The poll for best offensive staff turned into a two-man race between Mike Leach and Urban Meyer, but Meyer ran away with it with 28% of the vote to Leach's 17%. A distant third was Oklahoma with Stoops and Wilson at 8%, along with "other" at 8% as well. Not a total surprise, but I have to wonder how the poll would have been if I'd constructed it better: I left off Georgia Tech's Paul Johnson.

Feel free to comment on the votes.