Coaches Votes Will No Longer Be Public

As most of you already know, I'm a fan of the BCS, but do have one issue with the way the standings are calculated. I am not a fan of having the coaches, who have jobs directly relying on their performance and schools who profit heavily on making BCS Bowls, have a say in any BCS formula calculation.

I've heard the arguments on how the coaches are the most qualified because they see the game at field level, but how many games other than their conference teams do they see on a regular weekly basis? I'm pretty sure it is very few. Not only that, but the fact that getting an extra team from their conference can make their team and conference a lot of money which can get better facilities or a bigger recruiting budget is a little added bonus for the coaches to follow conference lines when voting. Then you have coaches who are fighting for a spot in the BCS title game, rank teams that are jockeying for the same spot, much lower than they should.

In the grand scheme of the this poll, which is one-third of the formula, it might not be huge, but ethically and from a public relations it isn't right. So one would think that the BCS would try and either push out coaches who "take advantage of the system" or yet one better, publish the results from each coach, which they do one time a year at the end. That sounds grand doesn't it? Well unfortunately for us, the fans, the BCS decided that they will no longer publish any of the detailed final votes starting in 2010!

The BCS has been taking a PR hit lately, with all of the controversy surrounding Utah's undefeated season, and no share of the BCS title, along with the government wanting to force college football to ditch the BCS and go to a playoff. This would have been a great time for the BCS to legitimize itself but publishing all votes by the voters each week. Hold each person and coach accountable but here is what they said:

Revealing the ballots has caused some awkward situations for the coaches' poll. Former Florida coaches Steve Spurrier (now at South Carolina) and Ron Zook (Illinois), for instance, took some heat last year when they ranked the Gators second behind Oklahoma in last year's final regular-season poll.

Well too bad for Ron Zook and Steve Spurrier! Take their votes away! Of course when asked neither coached actually cared that their votes were published, but I'm sure they felt a little relief now that they know they won't have to suffer the same ridicule if they do it again in 2010. The Harris poll will continue to release its voters' final ballots. Harris voters include former college football players, coaches, administrators and media members. So if the Harris has to do it, why not the Coaches? Sounds like a double standard to me!