PRY TUMBLES 15 PLACES ... NOW ONLY TWO AHEAD OF ELLIOTT

 

Briefly told … just college football and hockey ...


Hot seat … is getting hotter for Virginia Tech’s

 BRENT PRY. In CBS’ 10th annual ranking of 

Power 4 football coaches, Pry landed 63d among 68 

in all. Virginia’s TONY ELLIOTT is 65th … 

“Things appear headed in the wrong direction in 

Blacksburg,” began the brief commentary … 

explaining why Pry, about to begin his fourth season, 

fell 15 spots from a year ago …. when the Hokies 

finished with “an uninspiring 6-7 mark, and there’s a 

bit of heat on Pry’s seat heading into 2025.” Just a 

bit? … The network uses a panel of media types 

(exactly how many it doesn’t say), with only two 

rules: You can only rank coaches from the four 

power conferences – ACC, Big 10, Big 12 and SEC 

– and you must rank every one of them. “Everything 

else is up to the voter.” … In other words, just about 

anything goes. If a panelist doesn’t get along with a 

coach, he can rank him 68th (last), and no one will be 

the wiser. Or care, for that matter … Former JMU 

coach CURT CIGNETTI, who proved as polarizing 

as he was successful in his first season at Indiana U., 

came in 21st … plus 22 from a year ago this time. 

Actually, the voters still do not know what to make 

of Cignetti … rating him anywhere from a high of 

ninth best to a low of 61 … the widest difference of 

all … Georgia’sKIRBY SMART remained 

unanimous No. 1, with national champion Ohio 

State’s RYAN DAY still No. 2, and DABO 

SWINNEY of Clemson continuing to hold on to No. 

3 … JEFF LEBBY was last (68th) after going 2-10 

(0-8 SEC) in his first season at Mississippi State ... 

Of Elliott, it was noted “… the Hoos took a step 

forward last year with a mark of 5-7 [but] you do 

have to wonder how much more patience Virginia 

will have if it fails to make a bowl game again …” 

… Oh, and North Carolina’s BILL BELICHICK

six-times Super Bowl champion about to coach his 

first college game, was seen as 54th best. He ran the 

gamut from 19th (Why? “Because he’s Bill 

Belichick.”) to 67th.



What the? In Game 1 of the NHL’s Eastern 

Conference finals, Carolina’s SHAYNE 

GOSTISBEHERE took a slap shot … targeting 

Florida’s BRAD MARCHAND, who was standing 

no more than a few feet away. Thankfully, the puck 

only glanced off his arm but, for some reason, 

Marchand didn’t like it, dropped his gloves and went 

after the Hurricanes’ defenseman … Only in hockey 

would starting a fight (in which no major blows were 

landed) be ruled worse than firing a very hard chunk 

of rubber at close range, deliberately attempting to 

inflict major punishment, eh? … In fact, despite 

gloves off, punches thrown, it was not worthy of 

being seen as a fight by the game’s referees. 

Gostisbehere got two minutes for roughing; 

Marchand four minutes, roughing, as well as a game 

misconduct … The defending Stanley Cup-champion 

Panthers won 5-2 on the road in Raleigh, N.C., and 

afterwards Gostisbehere admitted shooting at 

Marchand because … “He tried to take a run at me, 

and it [hacked] me off.” … None of the Panthers 

wanted to talk about it, leaving the impression 

Gostisbehere better keep his head up in Game 2.



As expected … Toronto Maple Leafs parted ways 

with team president BRENDAN SHANAHAN … 

but from the Dept. of Bad Scoops … the Hockey 

Hall of Fame winger did not join the New York 

Islanders to replace general manager LOU 

LAMORIELLO (fired). That job went to Tampa 

Bay assistant GM MATHIEU DARCHE.


Until next time …






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