FODDER: Nevada might right hire, but questions remain

Sports fodder for a Friday morning . . . The Nevada Wolf Pack football program made absolutely the right hire by naming Andy Buh as its new defensive coordinator. Buh is a rising star in the coaching profession. He's a guy who came from nowhere (a Wolf Pack linebacker in the mid 1990s) to become a co-defensive coordinator at Stanford before the age of 40. He's young (36), bright, full of energy and passion. And he's as tough as they come. Buh is also a guy who knows what Wolf Pack football is all about and could very likely become a head coach at Mackay Stadium someday. The Pack is fortunate to get him.

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There are, however, a few areas of concern with the Buh hiring. Why would he want this job? Why would he leave Stanford, where he was a co-defensive coordinator, to come to Nevada for basically the same job? Also, why was he so active in looking for a new job this off-season? He even accepted the defensive coordinator's job at Western Kentucky before Chris Ault lured him to Reno. Also, the Wolf Pack defense is a mess right now and is, quite simply, a coach killer. Why wouldn't Buh wait until a coordinator's job with a BCS conference school opened up? He didn't really have a good answer to any of those questions, repeating a "I bleed silver and blue" and "I'm happy to be back" response over and over. OK. Great. Glad to have you back. Now stop the bleeding on this defense.

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Wolf Pack athletic director Cary Groth admitted Thursday that the "community and our fans have an indifference with our football program." Yeah, no kidding. Groth should understand that it's not only football. There is a disconnect between the community and the university's entire athletic program that seems to get larger and larger every year. How can this problem be fixed? Well, the first step is admitting there is a problem. Groth did that on Thursday. The second step is admitting you had a hand in creating the problem.

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Groth, it seems, never fails to take advantage of an opportunity to lecture the media. She defended her head football coach Thursday, told everyone that most schools would be thrilled to be 8-4, that the 2010 schedule offers a great opportunity and reminded us all "that we will do what is best for this athletic department and this football program." Strange. Why does Ault need defending? Doesn't the bowl loss count, making the team 8-5? Didn't the 2009 schedule offer a great opportunity, too? Is it the media's fault the team lost another bowl game and had to fix its defense again?

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We can't argue with Andre Dawson's election into baseball's Hall of Fame. The Hawk should have been voted in years ago. But who were the 140 or so idiots who left Roberto Alomar off their ballot? Alomar is one of the top five second basemen ever. Is it because he spit in the face of an umpire? Just wait. Randy Johnson, arguably the best left-handed pitcher ever, won't get in on the first ballot when he's eligible in five years. He scowled at the media too much.

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What, exactly, was former Wolf Pack center JaVale McGee doing with the rest of his idiot Washington Wizards teammates before a game this week, laughing and joking as Gilbert Arenas shot off imaginary guns with his fingers? Arenas is a guy who just doesn't get it. McGee could be on the same path. It is obvious now that the out-of-control disaster that is the Wizards organization was a horrible place for McGee to end up in the NBA. McGee, who seems to be on a fast track to Europe, needs to stop fooling around, stop making ridiculous YouTube videos, stop tweeting his every thought on Twitter and stop acting like he's done something in basketball other than grow to be 7-feet tall.