It was first known last week that Portland State added a new assistant coach, Richard Seigler, to its football staff. Since then, I’ve been wondering if anyone was going to write anything about the hire.

I like new PSU head coach Nigel Burton a lot. Seems like a very solid, intelligent and hard-working guy. I wish him the best. But Seigler has quite a past and I’m surprised the Vikings didn’t get out in front of the story immediately when they hired the former Oregon State linebacker. But there has been no mention of his past at all anywhere that I can find.

There is more on Seigler here and it should be noted that he eventually beat the rap. In fact, he may have been the victim of a very unfortunate circumstance in which he was accused of an unseemly crime that he didn’t commit. But this messy story was big at the time — come on, an NFL linebacker being accused of living off the earnings of a prostitute? — and the sad thing about tales like this is that people often remember the accusations a lot longer than they do the end result of a trial.

All that said, it was interesting to see the quote from Burton in the official Portland State press release about the hiring of Seigler:

“Our staff had a chance to watch Richard work our camps this summer. He showed great enthusiasm, rapport with the kids and a great deal of detail and knowledge,” Burton said. “In addition, I think he is a great story for our kids to emulate in that he was one of the last guys to receive a scholarship at Oregon State his senior year of high school. He went on to become one of the greatest linebackers in the history of the program, as well as winning a Super Bowl with the Pittsburgh Steelers.”

That part about “a great story for our kids to emulate” strikes me as an interesting thing to say, given the circumstances.

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I cannot believe how ridiculously disfunctional that group is.

After all the offending players and coaches are gone, the NCAA finally gets around to punishing USC? Great. The coaches and all the players involved plunder and pillage the joint, head for the hills and then someone else gets punished.

That’s like you embezzling money from your company, leaving for a better job and your replacement getting sent to prison. It’s a serious joke. They’re going to have to figure out a way to investigate and prosecute these things a lot quicker or why even bother?

We can investigate and prosecute murderers quicker than we can solve the riddle of a booster giving college kids money under the table?

And I love these penalties for lack of academic progress. Ken Bone coaches basketball at Portland State, uses it to get his dream job at Washington State and then Tyler Geving replaces Bone and has to pay the penalty for Bone’s lack of attention to APR.

Yeah, that makes sense.

Not that I buy into that APR stuff. I never have. I had a son go to college with financial aid for sports. Never, NEVER, would I hold a coach or an athletic director responsible for my son’s academic progress. Nope, we hand young people a scholarship, tutors, advice on which classes to take — and then we don’t hold them responsible for their own success or failure in school? That’s ridiculous.

Coaches are hired to win games. Period. And a whole lot of their “student-athletes” attend college only to play ball. So what? They have no choice, in many cases –it’s the standard, accepted path to their goal of playing pro sports.

Let’s climb down off that high horse and get real about how semi-professional these sports really are, OK?

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Nevada, where new Portland State head football coach Nigel Burton was the defensive coordinator, ranked just 88th in the country in total defense last season, allowing nearly 400 yards per game. Nevada also ranked 113th in pass efficiency defense.

Now part of that, I assume, is because Nevada’s high-powered offense — that “pistol” thing with the tailback deep behind the quarterback, who is in the shotgun formation — scores quickly and keeps the defense on the field a lot.

My understanding is that Burton is planning on bringing that offense with him to Portland State.

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I’m getting a bit of second-guessing lately about my sources and some things I’ve said that are going on. And certainly I have never claimed to get them all correct.

But I had this one right last week. After all these years in the business, I don’t go out on too many limbs without knowing how strong the tree is.

Doubt this blog at your own risk.

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I believe it’s Nigel Burton, defensive coordinator at Nevada — who is considered a hot property and dynamite recruiter. I wouldn’t be surprised if he’s named in the next two or three days.

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Jim Beseda has a very complete story up already right here. Included is a list of potential replacements. It’s a big hire for that athletic director — critical to that school’s athletic future. I hope he does his due diligence.

The name that interests most football people around here is Robin Pflugrad, a very experienced assistant coach in the Northwest and also a former Viking player. Be nice to get a Vik to head up the program. He might even invite Mouse back to help — as he should have never been pushed out of the program last summer. The offense wasn’t broke, the defense was.

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…  it’s worse than that. His pants are on fire. Really, he should be gone by the end of the day.

I thought it was the right move to hire him — but only with Mouse Davis as his offensive coordinator. When he started messing with Mouse’s offense, he had to know Mouse would walk. Bad move.

The result was that then they couldn’t play offense OR defense, because as we all have seen this season, the only thing Jerry knows about offense is that he can’t stop it.

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Will Portland State bring Jerry back next season? I keep hearing that it’s likely that he won’t be back.

Man, this is a guy whose football identity is tied into defense. He’s supposed to be able to stop people. That’s his thing. It was his thing throughout his entire National Football League coaching career. But his Portland State Vikings can’t stop anyone. Not even close.

I was a big advocate of hiring him in the first place. I admit that. I thought it was a great idea, particularly as a package deal with Mouse Davis. But Mouse is gone after walking away last summer when Glanville wanted to mess with his offense.

Now the Vikings not only can’t stop anyone, they can’t move the ball, either. The string of three-and-outs in the second half Saturday was an embarrassment at a home game.

I just don’t see how it can continue.

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Man, when you’re starting to get blown out of home games in PGE Park, in your third season as the head coach, there are problems.

But I’d also say the even larger problem is that when Oregon and Oregon State are in bye weeks and you’re the only big-school game in the state that day, and all you can draw is a crowd generously called in the 6,000 range, you’re in some trouble.

Glanville made a terrible move last summer when he forced Mouse Davis out of his job as the offensive coordinator because he figured that offense scored so quickly it put his defense in a difficult position. Glanville wanted to establish the run, take time off the clock and not have the poor defense on the field all the time.

That’s after Mouse installed an offense that was one of the best and most efficient in the country.

Now Glanville is stuck with a defense that is still on the field all the time, but now instead of scoring too quickly the offense is punting too quickly. And let’s face it, Glanville is supposed to be a defensive wizard. That’s his coaching strength.

But the sad fact of the matter is the Vikings haven’t stopped anybody since he got there and the problem seems to get worse instead of better.

I just don’t see any progress. In  fact, I see a lot of regression. And it’s becoming very clear, the wrong guy left the program last summer. And it’s a shame.

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Just a few thoughts before the games get going:

– Purdue is better than you think, Duck fans. If your team’s offense doesn’t get going, this one is going to be a real struggle. I do, though, expect a few first downs in the first half — no matter what.

– And Beaver fans, UNLV is better than YOU think, too. I expect a lot of points and a real shootout.

– Portland State fans, you’re not as good as you’re going to think you are after playing Southern Oregon this afternoon. Really, if you’re going to drop down and play a team at this level, at least play Linfield — so they’ll bring a large contingent of fans and make you some more money.

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