Vote for the Most Classless Act of the 2009 Season

The Wiz is back with the most classless acts of the 2009 season. What is a classless act, you ask? It's any attempt to degrade an opponent, player or the game. It's the stuff that isn't in the summary but often gets mentioned years later after somebody extracts retribution. As they say, what goes around comes around.

At the bottom of the post, readers can vote to select the most classless act. One vote per IP address, so give it careful consideration.

Let's get to the finalists:

1. Chip Kelly, Oregon

Oregon leads punchless Washington State, 45-0, in the third quarter of an Oct. 3 game at Eugene, when the Cougars recover a fumble at the Ducks' one-yard line. It takes three plays, but quarterback Marshall Lobbestael sneaks in for a touchdown, cutting Oregon's precious lead to 45-6.

Kelly should have other things to worry about — like keeping his players out of trouble. Instead, he decides to challenge the touchdown call. Although he loses the challenge, the Ducks somehow hang on for a 52-6 victory.

Washington State's Paul Wulff says afterward, "We'll have plenty of motivation moving forward, believe me."

2. Randy Edsall, Connecticut

Connecticut defeated Syracuse, 56-31, on Nov. 28, but the Orange won't forget what happened in the final minute. The Huskies led, 42-31, and were facing fourth and 11 at the Orange 28 with 53 seconds remaining. Syracuse was out of timeouts.

Instead of calling a run play to help bring this to a merciful end, Edsall calls for a pass. Zach Frazer throws a touchdown to Marcus Easley, putting Connecticut ahead, 49-31. The Huskies would return a fumble for another score with eight seconds remaining.

Syracuse's Doug Marrone didn't comment afterward, but his postgame handshake with Edsall was described as being "uncomfortable." Orange safety called Frazer's pass "a little cheap shot."

3. Lane Kiffin, Tennessee

The first-year Volunteer coach's body of work was a classless act, from accusing Urban Meyer of cheating to his one-minute farewell press conference, featured above. But with his 4-4 team entertaining an overmatched Memphis on Nov. 7, Kiffin made several jackass decisions.

After taking a 14-0 lead less than six minutes into the first quarter, the Volunteers tried an onside kick.

Leading 35-0 late in the first half, Tennessee called a timeout when Memphis faced a third-and-eight play at the Tigers' 14.

The Volunteers went for it three times on fourth down in the first half.

The take-no-prisoners approach paid off. Tennessee built a 49-7 lead and held off a late Tiger charge for a 56-28 victory.

A smug Kiffin said afterward: "It came to me during the week that I had to make sure they felt my intensity — we're really going after this thing."

4. Jim Harbaugh, Stanford

The Nov. 14 "double nickels" game. The Cardinal were steamrolling USC, 42-21, when Toby Gerhart rumbled into the end zone. Instead of kicking the extra point, Harbaugh decided to go for two — probably because he couldn't go for three. The try failed, but Stanford tacked on one more score for a 55-21 bludgeoning of Pete Carroll's Trojans.

Carroll was not happen with Harbaugh, asking him in the postgame handshake, "What's your deal? What's your deal?"

Harbaugh retorted, "What's your deal?"

Carroll, when asked about Stanford's try for two, said: "I don't know what they were thinking with that."

Harbaugh offered this: "I thought it was an opportunity, the way we were coming off the ball, the way our players were playing — that it was the right thing to do."

5. Pete Carroll, USC

One would think Carroll would have learned a lesson about being a good sport after what Harbaugh did to him, but USC's coach failed to rise above it in his team's next game on Nov. 28. With the Trojans holding a 21-7 lead over UCLA with 52 seconds remaining, Carroll decided to stick it to the Bruins, calling for Matt Barkley to throw deep to Damian Williams. The play worked for a 52-yard touchdown and Carroll celebrated like a 13 year old at a Miley Cyrus concert.

The benches emptied and the teams nearly went at it. When things settled down, USC held on for a 28-7 victory.

Carroll and USC said afterward that Rick Neuheisel and UCLA deserved it because they were using timeouts with the verdict already decided. Of course, Carroll didn't feel the same way two weeks earlier when Stanford rolled it up on USC.

6. Max Hall, Brigham Young

The Cougar quarterback let his feelings be known after a 26-23 overtime victory over rival Utah.

"I don't like Utah. In fact, I hate them. I hate everything about them. I hate their program, their fans. I hate everything. It felt really good to send those guys home."

Video later surfaced of Hall landing a cheap shot to a Utah player after his winning touchdown pass.

7. Mike Leach, Craig James and Texas Tech

Plenty of blame to go around. Leach allegedly put receiver Adam James in an electrical closet off the press room at Jones AT&T Stadium. That resulted in a complaint by James' dad, Craig, an analyst for ESPN. Leach was suspended and eventually fired, a day before he was due an $800,000 bonus. Leach then said Adam was a slacker and that Craig was a always calling and acting like a LIttle League dad.

Craig said he was merely protecting his son, but documents suggest he threatened the university with a lawsuit for improper treatment of a student-athlete, i.e. his son, who was recovering from a concussion. The only winners here are Tommy Tuberville, the new Tech coach, and attorneys. The fans? The heck with them! Tech just announced a hike in ticket prices for 2010!

Leach's appearance on "Friday Night Lights" was filmed in Austin on Sept. 18, the night before his team played Texas and lost, 34-24. No wonder he lost control of the team in midseason.

8. Rich Rodriguez, Michigan

You can't do this list without Rich Rod, who continues to drag this storied program to new, embarrassing lows.

No stranger to litigation (see West Virginia), Rich Rod was sued for allegedly defaulting on a real estate loan to build condominiums near Virginia Tech's Lane Stadium. One of his business partners in the failed venture is facing five felony counts and possibly 50 years in prison.

Michigan has gone to 33 consecutive bowl games until Rich Rod arrived. Now they've missed the postseason two years in a row. If that's not bad enough, the NCAA alleges that Rich Rod's program committed five potential major rules violations. Somehow, he's still the coach.

9. Mike Locksley, New Mexico

Nothing quite like punching your receivers coach in the face after a coaches meeting. That's what Locksley did, landing a blow to Jonathan "J.B." Gerald in September.

Locksley showed more fight than his team, which finished 1-11 and ranked near the bottom in nearly every NCAA offensive and defensive category.

Comments

[HenryFTP]

Kelly's classless act is almost in a category by itself, as he tried to show up the game officials, not just the opponent. Edsall's performance, coming just a week after his melodramatic peroration after the upset of Notre Dame, is pretty lame -- apparently UConn called a time-out in that final possession rather than letting the clock run. Harbaugh was being childish (unimaginable that Bill Walsh or John Ralston would have pulled such a stunt). As for the UCLA game, I think Neuhisel had it coming -- if you call time-outs to prolong the game because you're still trying to win, don't cry when the other team continues playing hard (particularly when they had taken a knee on the preceding play, and lined up normally for the touchdown play). Carroll's (and USC's) celebration, though, were thoroughly classless (although I well remember USC scoring a similar touchdown against Cal in Berkeley in the waning seconds, so by the standards of the USC program this was pretty much normal behavior).

[dfobare]

How is it that LeGarrette Blount isn't on this list?

[Ryan]

Max Hall speaks the truth.

[joe zack]

what about Urban Meyer's press conference...and about face ...

that's number 1.

[Jeff Roberts]

This list is way too long and somehow it leaves out even bigger "Classless Acts". Try again, this poll was DeeDeeDeeee.

[Ray]

Max Hall is in a class of asshole all his own. A microcosm of the culture at BYU. Easily the worst.

Kelly's would have seemed more classless if they call had been reversed, but you don't just let the other team have touchdowns, especially if you think the incorrect call was made.

Neuweasel got what he asked for.

And I don't even need to talk about the issues at michigan or lane kiffin. Those places have always been secretly classless.

[Robbie G]

The hypocrisy with Pete Carroll is what made him land at #1 for me. Carroll had been running up the score on teams for a long time and was finally seeing it happen to him. Then he cried about it because it was the second time that a Pac-10 team had made him look foolish. Then once the season was over he bailed and forced USC into hiring a douchebag.

Kelly's move seemed classless but when your team is fighting for you, you have to fight for them. Challenging the ruling on the field is not classless. There's no feeling sorry for teams in football. LeGarrette Blount's punch and meltdown should've landed on this list and would probably win (or lose, based on how you look at it).

Any of the running up of the scores (within reason) is ok in my books. I wouldn't have minded Carroll's if he hadn't whined about it happening to him in the game prior.

Rich Rod and Lane will probably be on this list each year for doing something classless...though the past year for them should be enough classless moves to last a career.

Punching another coach is classless.

Cheap shots are always bad, but I have no beef with a player hating everything about his rival, that's the way a rivalry should be.

[Touchdown Tony]

You got #5 all wrong, it was Neuheisel that created that - Neuheisel is the classless one.

[bob cuomo]

A tough one to pick...all all worthy of being No. 1, but I went with Lane Kiffin because he's a bad guy...and a jerk. I almost went with Chip Kelly, though. Jeez, you're leading, 45-0, leave it alone. And I gave Randy Edsall a lot of consideration.

[Nathan]

There is nothing as classless as physical violence in the workplace (Locksley gets my vote hands-down.)

[Danny]

Max Hall made Utah his b*tch. Can you blame him? I'd hate a school that assaulted my wife and kids, too.

[The Wiz]

LeGarrette Blount isn't on the list because his act was classified as a cheap shot. He is the runaway winner in our Cheap Shot of 2009 poll. View the cheap shots and poll at this link:

http://tinyurl.com/yahtzrx

[G B]

Neuheisel never once complained about the TD, and said that it was their right to throw if he was trying to extend the game with his TO's. It was Carroll's behavior that was classless. His hypocrisy, after whining like a baby when Stanford ran up the score on him, followed by his ridiculous "celebration" when he did the same thing, that puts him over the top.

So maybe that means that we should blame Harbaugh for #4 and 5.

And get ready for Kiffin to become an annual candidate in this poll.

[coach sale]

Your life only lasts for a few decades, Laugh or cry as you like, and it‘s meaningless to oppress yourself. so be sure that you don't leave any regrets.

[Rosacea Pictures]

Harbaugh was being childish (unimaginable that Bill Walsh or John Ralston would have pulled such a stunt). As for the UCLA game, I think Neuhisel had it coming -- if you call time-outs to prolong the game because you're still trying to win, don't cry when the other team continues playing hard (particularly when they had taken a knee on the preceding play, and lined up normally for the touchdown play). Carroll's (and USC's) celebration, though, were thoroughly classless (although I well remember USC scoring a similar touchdown against Cal in Berkeley in the waning seconds, so by the standards of the USC program this was pretty much normal behavior).