rushing yards but could find running room to from corse178's blog
FRISCO, Texas -- Glen Gulutzan couldnt end the longest playoff drought in franchise history for the Dallas Stars and the second-year coach didnt hold the option on the remaining season in his contract. Kris Draper Jersey . When the general manager who hired him was dumped two weeks ago, Gulutzans firing looked like the inevitable next step in an overhaul of the staff and it came Tuesday in an announcement from new general manager Jim Nill. He nevertheless said the move wasnt a foregone conclusion in his mind. "Thats why this process took so long," Nill said. "I needed to do my homework. I needed to get to know everybody. Its tough when you come into a new situation. I wanted to be fair to everyone." The Stars missed the playoffs in both of Gulutzans seasons, making it five straight years without a post-season trip for a franchise that crammed 73 playoff games into a four-year stretch a little more than a decade ago. Joe Nieuwendyk was a prominent member of those Stars teams, winning the Conn Smythe trophy as playoff MVP when Dallas won the Stanley Cup in 1999. He didnt come close to replicating that success as general manager, finally getting replaced by Nill after four years of missing the playoffs. Gulutzan was the second of two failed coaching hires for Nieuwendyk, who fired Dave Tippett when he arrived and hired Marc Crawford, a Stanley Cup winner with Colorado in 1995. Crawford brought a tougher style than the player-friendly Tippett, but he missed the playoffs in both his seasons while Tippett took Phoenix to the post-season the first three years after the Stars let him go. The hiring of Gulutzan when he was 39 was seen as a move back to the players side. He was plucked from the Stars top affiliate, the Texas Stars of the AHL, after eight seasons as a head coach in the minor leagues. Dallas was in contention late in both his seasons, but faltered down the stretch. He was 64-57-9, including 22-22-4 in the lockout-shortened 2013 season. The Stars controlled their playoff fate with five games remaining each year under Gulutzan, but went 0-9-1 in those 10 games. Assistant coach Paul Jerrard also was fired, while assistant coach Curt Fraser and goaltending coach Mike Valley will stay with the club. The new head coach will inherit a playoff drought thats now two seasons longer than the previous record of three straight from 1973-76, when the franchise was in Minnesota. "Things have to change here," Nill said. "It hasnt been right. Were in the business to win here. Were going to put something in place to start that process." Nill said he met with Gulutzan about five times before delivering his decision Tuesday. "We had some good discussions," Nill said. "Its part of the business. Sometimes you have to go through peaks and valleys. In the end, this is going to make him a better coach." Nieuwendyk tried to get Dallas back to the playoffs this year by adding veterans Jaromir Jagr, Derek Roy and Ray Whitney, but ended up trading Jagr, Roy and longtime captain Brenden Morrow with the team languishing at the trading deadline. The Stars made an improbable surge to stay alive with a much younger roster, and many of those players -- led by forward Jamie Benn -- are likely to be part of the rebuilding under Nill, who spent 15 years as an assistant GM with Detroit. The Red Wings have the longest playoff streak in North American pro sports at 22 years. "The nice thing is the slate is clean," Nill said. "We dont have a lot of contracts that tie our hands. We know the positions weve got to get better in. Were fortunate in that we have a good young foundation. Were just going to continue to make that foundation stronger." Nill said he isnt in a hurry to hire a coach and wont necessarily swing back to a coach with NHL experience after Gulutzan couldnt translate his AHL success to the higher level. "Its going to be wide open," Nill said. "There have been some great young coaches that have come in and done some great things with teams. I need to be wide open to that aspect." Niklas Kronwall Jersey . With Parker having a quiet game for once, Nicolas Batum and Boris Diaw provided the scoring as France won its first major basketball title by beating Lithuania 80-66 on Sunday. It was a victory that ended a decade of frustration for Parker and a talented French generation, which lost the final against Spain two years ago and took bronze in 2005. Brendan Shanahan Jersey . -- About a third of the way through the regular season, the Washington Wizards are at . http://www.cheapredwingsjerseys.com/?tag=adidas-brett-hull-jersey . 1 position. The Mustangs (6-0), who beat Queens 50-31 last weekend, earned 17 first-place votes and 287 points in voting by the Football Reporters of Canada. Western was last ranked first in the country in October 2011. The first time San Diego State was nationally ranked this season, the Aztecs responded by playing their worst game of the season.San Diego State is now back in the rankings at No. 24 and will seek a better result when it travels to play Wyoming in Mountain West play on Saturday (3:30 p.m., CBS Sports Network).The earlier ranking marked the first time the Aztecs had been nationally ranked since 1995. Living up to the billing proved difficult as South Alabama rolled to a 42-24 win over San Diego State.The Aztecs quickly fell out of the rankings and have since responded with six consecutive victories. This time, the players feel more comfortable having nationally ranked tagged to their program.That was just a tough game. We had some bad luck in that one, senior defensive end Kyle Kelley said of the South Alabama loss at Tuesdays press conference. We dont take into account the rankings that much. Were just worried about the (Wyoming) game itself. I dont really care if we are ranked right now. It all depends if we are ranked at the end of the year. Thats my main goal.San Diego State (9-1, 6-0) has already clinched the Pacific Division of the Mountain West and will play in the conference title game. Continue to win and the Aztecs will have a chance at landing a spot in the Cotton Bowl.Aztecs coach Rocky Long said those goals mean more to him than being ranked.Our team wants to win the conference championship, Long said. Im sure they are happy that we are back in the Top 25, even though I told them that it doesnt matter until the end of the season.Our motivation is that we want to win the rest of the games because there are a lot of good things that can happen after the season if we can win them all. We might get to play in a New Years Day bowl game, wed be the conference champions. There are incentives out there.Wyoming has its own dose of incentive this week as it continues pursuit of winning the conferences Mountain Division.The Cowboys (7-3, 5-1) are tied for first place with Boise State and New Mexico but hurt their chances with last Saturdays 69-66 triple-overtime loss to UNLV.It was a game that came down to a play here or there, Wyoming coach Craig Bohl said. There certainly were a lot of plays in the ballgame -- some really good and some nnot so good. Sergei Fedorov Jersey. I think its important that we move forward and hang together as a football team. And as coaches, there are a lot of things that weve got to clean up within a short week.One area in which the Cowboys will need to be strong is defending the run as San Diego State rushed for a school-record 474 yards in last Saturdays 46-16 victory over Nevada.Aztecs senior running back Donnel Pumphrey leads the nation with 1,779 rushing yards and moved into fourth place in FBS history with 6,051 yards.Pumphrey needs 32 yards to move past third-place Tony Dorsett (Pittsburgh) and is also moving within range of second-place Ricky Williams (6,279) of Texas and record-holder Ron Dayne (6,397) of Wisconsin.He also is tied for ninth on the all-time rushing touchdowns list with 59.Pumphrey rushed for 198 yards in the victory over Nevada and wasnt even the leading rusher on his team. Junior Rashaad Penny topped him by rushing for a career-best 208 yards.Wyoming also features a standout back in junior Brian Hill, who ranks third in the nation with 1,417 yards. Hill stands third in Mountain West history with 3,844 career rushing yards but could find running room to be a challenge against the Aztecs, who rank second nationally in rushing defense (86.4 yards per game).Cowboys sophomore quarterback Josh Allen passed for a career-best 334 yards and four touchdowns in the loss to UNLV -- which was the third-highest scoring game in FBS history. Allen has passed for 2,218 yards and 21 touchdowns against 10 interceptions.Senior wideout Tanner Gentry is also having solid season with 53 receptions for 962 yards and a conference-leading 11 touchdowns.Sophomore free safety Andrew Wingard leads the Wyoming defense with 99 tackles. Sophomore strong safety Marcus Epps, sophomore cornerback Antonio Hull and redshirt freshman weakside linebacker Logan Wilson share the team leadership with three interceptions apiece.Standout San Diego State senior cornerback Damontae Kazee has five interceptions this season and holds the school career mark of 15.The Aztecs rushed for 293 yards while rolling to a 38-3 victory over Wyoming last season. Cheap Jerseys Wholesale Wholesale Jerseys 2020 Cheap NFL Hoodies Wholesale Nike NFL Jerseys Cheap NFL T-shirts Wholesale Throwback Jerseys Cheap Jerseys ' ' '
The Wall