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http://www.tampabay.com/blogs/bucs/cont ... -dismissed

JUNE 18, 2012
Case against Bucs' Aqib Talib was dismissed

The case against Bucs cornerback Aqib Talib has been dismissed, according to his attorney, Frank Perez.

Talib was scheduled to stand trial on charges of assault with a deadly weapon June 25 in Dallas County, Tex.

Police said that Talib pistol-whipped and fired shots at Shannon Billings, the live-in boyfriend of Talib's sister, who resides in Garland, Tex. However, Billings is currently jailed as a repeat sex offender.

Perez said that in reviewing the case, prosecutors did not believe their chief witness would be credible.

"I guess the district attorney, in preparing for trial, had a chance to evaluate the case,'' Talib's attorney told the Times Monday. "The bottom line is that the complaintant is sitting in jail as a repeat child molester and has prior cases of the same nature.''

The dismissal of the second-degree felony, which could have carried a maximum sentence of 2-20 years, if convicted, means Talib's legal problems appear to be behind him for now. It also enables Talib to begin a 2012 NFL season under new coach Greg Schiano with a clean slate.

"We felt strongly the whole time that this would be resolved in Aqib's favor,'' Perez said. "He's very excited he can resume his career and have a fresh start with no problems.''

Read the full story here.

-- RICK STROUD, Times Staff Writer

Did anyone see Kellan Winslow dump on Schiano once he went to Seattle? Made it sound like another college rah rah guy that isn't gonna relate well to grown men getting paid to play. Really who was the last successful jump up coach?

Short term? Some dude named Harbaugh.
Long term? Coughlin 15 years ago.

I think Winslow's comments were more sour grapes. Because wouldn't his current coach (Carroll) be described the same way?

I can't say what Schiano's long-term success iwll be because a large part of that will depend on how well the team drafts, and whether or not his coordinators wind up being good (that IMO is the biggest current question mark for the Bucs). But I do think he shares more traits with say a Mike Smith than he does with a Bobby Petrino or Nick Saban.

Fair enough, but still odds are that most don't work I think. I do agree on Schiano and his coord's being key. I still view Tampa like you do Carolina, with holes that is. I still think this is an either Atl or NO division, and the mess in Nawlens keeps on keepin on!

Tampa has made some really smart moves as of late. I don't think they will contend this year, but next year watch out. They have allot of young talent.

I think the reason why it doesn't work for many is because of the different environments in the NFL vs. college.

1) I think the first thing that hurts college coaches making the jump is the perception that is out there. It's harder for pro players to buy in because of that perception that college coaches can't adjust.

2) A big part of it is the business-like approach in the NFL. It's a bottom line business. And while that is often the case at a lot of the major college programs, there isn't nearly as much scrutiny at the major of college jobs as there is in the pros.

3) Similarly, coaching in college is a fairly insulated position. You don't get the media/press scrutiny that you do in the pros. For example, Mike Gundy's infamous "I'm a Man, I'm 40!" was generated over what he saw as a local media member criticizing one of his young players. And while we all laugh at most of those great soundbites from coaches, there is a correlation that often those guys don't have jobs the next year after making some of those statements. You also have at college, your primary support base, the student body that will back you for the most part do/die, that you don't get in the pros. And with many coaches living on campus, they are thusly insulated by 15,000 co-eds that back them. You don't have that in the pros.

4) Coaching is a networking/fraternal system, which means the more people you know, the better off you are. And college coaches unless they have extensive pro experience, don't know as many pro coaches. It's hard to build a staff, especially if you're hired as late as someone like Schiano (late January, February). The ideal time to get a job is early in January, because it usually takes coaches about 10-15 days to fill a staff. And assistants prioritize job security, plus by a certain point (late Jan/early Feb) most other head coaches are going to block their assistants from leaving because they've already filled in the gaps in their staffs.

5) I also think the mistake that a lot of teams have made with hiring successful college coaches is giving them too much power over personnel. I think that is part of the drawback because someone like a Pete Carroll at USC, or Urban Meyer at OSU, Kirk Ferentz at Iowa, Frank Beamer at Tech, etc. have the college equivalent of complete control. And thus to make it worth their while to make the jump to the pros, they need to have the same thing. They're not going to make the jump up and share power with some GM that they've never really worked with or for.

And one of the hallmarks of the college coaches making the jump with too much power is bad drafting. Look at Dennis Erickson on his 2nd stint in SF, their 2 #1 picks were Kwame Harris and Rashaun Woods. Same thing with Butch Davis in Cleveland, and the plethora of other guys that didn't make it rarely had what most would consider strong drafting records.

I think success in the pros boils down to good coaching and good personnel decisions. Which is similar to college, which is good coaching and good recruiting. But in college and recruiting, you often get 2 or 3 years with a player that you can spend developing him because he is supposed to impact as a junior or senior. You don't have that grace period in the pros. You can probably get away with "redshirting" guys for a year, but by their 2nd or 3rd year if they aren't playing at a very high level, you're pretty much screwed.

And that might be the biggest obstacle to overcome from college to pro.