This is For The Win’s daily newsletter, The Morning Win. Did a friend recommend or forward this to you? If so, subscribe here. Have feedback? Leave your questions, comments and concerns through this brief reader survey! Now, here’s Mike Sykes.
Goooood morning, folks! Welcome back to the Morning Win. Thank you for taking a bit of time with us today. We appreciate you being here.
Were you as caught off guard by Adrian Griffin’s firing yesterday as I was? What in the world are the Milwaukee Bucks doing?
It’s not even that they were firing Griffin that surprised me. It was shocking, sure. But it wasn’t unexpected. The Bucks are in championship-or-bust mode and it didn’t feel like Griffin — a first-year head coach — would cut it.
RELATED: These four moments were Griffin’s undoing in Milwaukee.
What’s more surprising, however, is the Bucks reportedly going after Doc Rivers (!!!!) as his replacement. Almost all the reporting on this connects the Bucks with the current ESPN analyst as their leading candidate to replace Griffin.
I’ve got to be honest with you, folks. I don’t know how this man keeps getting jobs. Rivers is just like the villain in a horror movie. No matter how many times you think you’re finally rid of him, he always somehow finds his way back for another sequel. Somehow. Someway.
Look, this isn’t me saying that Doc Rivers isn’t a good coach. I think he is pretty good. But that’s just it — he’s pretty good. Not great.
There are just so many reasons not to do this if you’re in Milwaukee.
It’s easy to see the Bucks want a proven coach with a championship mettle. But Rivers is only “proven” in the sense that he won a title a decade and a half ago. That might as well have been a half-century in NBA years. It’s a completely different time in basketball now.
These days he’s become most known for blowing playoff series leads. His most recent tenures with the Clippers and 76ers flamed out like dumpster fires. Both teams seem much better off without him.
The Clippers had more playoff success once Rivers left, actually reaching the franchise’s first conference finals. He leaves the 76ers and Joel Embiid looks as great as he ever has and he just won an MVP.
Look, man. I’m sure Doc Rivers is a good guy. He’s probably great. He seems like he’ll give you a million great stories about how basketball was in the 80s on the golf course. He’s probably got some riveting tales about coaching Kevin Garnett, too.
But it’s clear, folks — the man is cooked. I’m sorry to say that, but it’s true. He’s been through the gauntlet enough for us to know that he’s not getting it done in today’s NBA. It’s somebody else’s turn.
The Bucks need to see that. If they can’t, then they deserve everything that comes with it.
The coaching carousel continues?
For a second there I thought we were finally on stable ground in the college football world. Nope. Not at all.
It feels like any moment now Jim Harbaugh could be announced as the new head coach for the Los Angeles Chargers. On Tuesday, the NFL Network’s Mike Garafolo reported that there’s a deal between the two sides “within striking distance.” It seems likely that the coach who just won Michigan its first title since 1997 is about to walk out the door.
So who would replace him? That’s the question. Our Blake Schuster has five answers for you. But don’t get it twisted — the fit might not be as clean as you think, regardless of who it is. It’s a tough spot to be in.
“Anyone who takes this potential job would not only be following the footsteps of the man who brought Michigan its first championship since 1997, but also doing so amid an NCAA investigation into the team’s sign-stealing scandal. More problematic is the timing of the opening.
The coaching carousel has pretty much ground to a halt after the fallout from Nick Saban retiring. So who could Michigan turn to if Harbaugh leaves?“
Good luck, Michigan. Sounds like you’re going to need it.
Run it back
A few months ago, Coco Gauff won her first Grand Slam title and became the first American teenager since Serena Williams in 1999 to win the U.S. Open. To make that history, she had to topple Aryna Sabalenka, who was on her way to being ranked as the world’s No. 1 player. She did it. The rest is history.
Now, it’s time to run it back. Those two will meet again tomorrow in the Australian Open semi-finals for a chance to play for another Grand Slam title.
Sabalenka is glad. She says she wants revenge.
“I love it. After U.S. Open, I really wanted that revenge and, I mean, that’s a great match. It’s always great battles against Coco … I’m happy to play her and I’m super excited to play that semifinal match.”
Revenge won’t come easily. Gauff is on quite the run — she’s now won 12 straight Grand Slam matches going back to her run at the U.S. Open. She’s deep in her bag pulling off impossible rallies like this one.
The Great Wall of Coco 🎾@cocogauff • #AusOpen • #AO2024@wwos • @espn • @eurosport • @wowowtennis pic.twitter.com/atTliMI0EE
— #AusOpen (@AustralianOpen) January 23, 2024
Sabalenka is one of the world’s two best players, though. She’ll always have a chance — she’s just that good.
This is going to be a match for the ages, folks. Most of us will probably sleep through it considering that it’s at 3:30 AM ET, but still. This will be epic.
Catch it if you can.
Quick hits: Patrick Mahomes is…last?!?! … A fatal flaw for each Super Bowl contender … and more
— Christian D’Andrea just dropped his conference championship QB rankings and, well, let’s just say Patrick Mahomes isn’t where you’d think he’d be.
— Christian also gives us one fatal flaw for each of the Super Bowl contending teams left in the playoffs.
— Robert Zeglinski found this awesome mic’d up clip of Roquan Smith trying to play mind games with C.J. Stroud and it totally didn’t work.
— Here’s Prince Grimes on exactly how the title-or-bust mentality caused Adrian Griffin’s firing in Milwaukee.
— Here’s Robert on Dan Campbell’s Lions renaissance. We love to see it.
— Mitchell Northam has you covered on the Oscars odds.
That’s all, folks! Thanks so much for rocking with us today. Let’s do it all again tomorrow. Until then, be safe out here! Peace.
-Sykes ✌️
