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Tuesday Boys Hoops — Dunsmuir at Mercy, 7 p.m. Boys Hoops — Sutter at Corning, 7 p.m. Girls Hoops — Dunsmuir at Mercy, 5:30 p.m. Girls Hoops — Shasta at Red Bluff, 7:30 p.m. Girls Hoops — Yuba City at Corning, 7 p.m. Soccer — Corning at Yreka, 3:15 p.m. Sports 1B Tuesday January 11, 2011 Frankencoach Auburn wins BCS Last week the Red Bluff Spartans boys basketball team almost pulled off an upset over defending sec- tion champion Chico. No knock on the Spar- tans, but there were proba- bly few in attendance who thought Red Bluff would be holding a fourth quarter lead before the game tipped off. However, we should have expected this. It’s hard to think of another coach around here who gets more out of his players than coach Stan Twitchell. There haven’t been many Red Bluff games I Rich Greene covered where the Spartans didn’t lack some- thing physically the other team had — speed, height, muscle. But it seems as if no opponent can ever match the Spartans’ motivation. While some players with great hearts have gone through the program — a lot of this atti- tude has to be pegged on what Twitchell and assistant coach Andy Redfield do with their players. It’s not that they get kids to believe in them- selves — they get them to do things they didn’t believe they could do to begin with. It’s when you teach a kid that lesson enough times that they then start believing in them- selves on their own. Twitchell's ability to motivate got me to thinking about what are the best attributes our local coaches have. What if I could build the perfect coach? Of course I’d take Twitchell’s motivation to start and I might as well take his height as well, because we have a lot of parts to fit in. Sticking with Red Bluff basketball, we’re going to go ahead and pluck Lady Spartans coach Kathy Brandt’s ability to talk up refs. Those who have ever sat behind the Lady Spartans’ bench know what I’m referring too. From Mercy boys basketball coach Steve Shellabarger we’re going to take two things — his experience and sense of humor. It’s hard to find anyone to match the first and the second is important for keeping players, parents and referees on our side. From Lady Spartans softball coach J Howell we’ll take the ability to trust. Howell puts his players in positions where they can succeed and then trusts them to do it. That’s how he wins titles with underclassmen filling his lineup. Our perfect coach will need a strong rela- tionship with his players so we’ll pluck that ability from Corning football coach John Stud- er. From Red Bluff football coach John Miller we’ll take the trait of optimism — something that served him well through his first year. We’ll also take his appearance. The guy just looks like the coach. Miller’s good friend, wrestling coach Dave Rottenberg would supply our ultimate coach’s memory. Some more parts to take include Corning volleyball coach Mike Albee’s determination and Lady Cardinals basketball coach Kurt Eller’s knowledge of local talent. I would want our super coach to have the approach of Red Bluff baseball coach Joe Gal- laty. A piece of Red Bluff American Legion base- ball coach James Bonomini is needed. I don’t know what piece, but I’m pretty sure any piece would help. There’s at least a dozen more coaches I could borrow something from and that’s not even dip- ping into youth coaches like Al Skaggs or for- mer varsity coaches like Kim Wheeler. I hope I left enough parts for someone else to build their own super coach because I’m going to have one competitive monster on my hands and it’ll need something to compete against. The one part I didn’t grab was an ego. Among the group of coaches we have around here, it’s hard to fine one. High school coaches don’t need a half dozen suitors wooing them as they jump from job to job. All a good high school coach ever wants is a half dozen players who will listen to him. If the coach gets that, they’ll give away all the credit for the wins and take the blame for the losses. But every once in awhile, it’s nice to step back and credit a coach for making even a loss seem like a win. ******************** I know not everyone gets paid to attend games, but the crowd for the Red Bluff-Chico game seemed smaller than it should be. Whether it was that mid-winter hibernation, school just getting back in session or something better on tv that night, I know Red Bluff can and will support it’s teams better. E-mail your ultimate coach recipe or any other delicious recipes to Daily News Sports Editor Rich Greene at sports@redbluffdailynews.com or call him at 527-2151, ext. 109. Courtesy photo The Red Bluff Jr. Varsity Lady Spartans won the West valley New Year’s Hoops tournament over the weekend by defeating Anderson, Lassen and Shasta. The team is (from top left): Taylor Wood, Laura Schreter, Sarah Brown, Jessica MacDonald, Shelby Keeler, Laurel Shoop, Maggie Hansen, Rachel Ward, Alex Dahnke, Haley Harris, Janay Ortiz and Kaytlynne Deardorf. The varsity Lady Spartans fell 63-49 to Central Valley in the consolation final. Cori Schatz had 18 points and Roxy Luppino hit five 3-pointers on her way to 17 points. Raiders begin interviews for new coach Oakland Raiders ALAMEDA (AP) — The Oakland Raiders began interviewing can- didates Monday to fill their vacant head coach- ing position less than a week after deciding not to bring Tom Cable back for a third full season. Owner Al Davis decided last week not to pick up a a $5 million, two-year option to retain Cable. He spent much of last week reviewing the 2010 season, when the Raiders went 8-8 for their first non-losing season since winning the 2002 AFC champi- onship. Now the attention turns to finding the team’s sixth head coach since Jon Gruden left for Tampa Bay following the 2001 season. ‘‘The interview process has begun,’’ senior executive John Herrera said. ‘‘No candi- dates will be named at this point.’’ While offensive coor- dinator Hue Jackson is believed to be a favorite for the job, Davis likely will take advantage of the opportunity to inter- view candidates from outside the organization to gain insight into how other teams are operat- ing. Jackson came over after last season and assumed the play-calling duties from Cable. The improvement on offense was the biggest reason why the Raiders won three more games than they had in any of the previous seven seasons. Led by quarterback Jason Campbell, a breakout season from running back Darren McFadden and big plays from rookie receiver Jacoby Ford, the Raiders finished sixth in the league in scoring with 410 points. That was the sixth-most points scored in a season in franchise history and more than doubled the 2009 scor- ing output. Jackson already is under contract for next season as an assistant. He interviewed for the San Francisco job last week before the 49ers hired Jim Harbaugh. Cable lasted longer than any Raiders coach since Gruden, posting a 17-27 record since being promoted from offensive line coach to interim coach early in the 2008 season after Lane Kiffin was fired. The Raiders made big strides to improve under Cable but fell short of making the postseason for an eighth straight season. Oakland became the first team since the 1970 merger to win all of its division games and not make the playoffs. The Raiders went just 2-8 outside the AFC West this season, with five of those losses com- ing to teams with losing records. Auburn 22 Oregon 19 GLENDALE, Ariz. (AP) — Auburn running back Michael Dyer never heard any whistle, so he just kept running — past the tackler who thought he had him down and deep into Oregon territory. Dyer broke stride, then took off on a once-in-a-lifetime run in the final minutes, setting up a field goal on the last play that led No. 1 Auburn over the No. 2 Ducks 22-19 in the BCS championship game Monday night. The freshman running back upstaged Auburn’s Heisman-win- ning quarterback Cam Newton with a 37-yard run, in which he appeared down but wasn’t — his knee never hit the ground — as he rolled over Oregon defender Eddie Pleasant to put the Tigers in scoring position. Three plays later, Dyer ran 16 yards to push the ball to the 1 and set up Wes Byrum’s 19-yard field goal with no time left. It was his sixth career game-winning field goal — the one that capped off a perfect, 14-0 season, brought the title back to Auburn for the first time since 1957 and left the South- eastern Conference on top for the fifth straight year. ‘‘Fifty-three years, baby,’’ coach Gene Chizik said to the cheering crowd. ‘‘This is for you. War Eagle!’’ A classic sequence to close out a wild finish — five crazy minutes of football that made up for the first 55, which were more of a bruising battle than the offensive master- piece everyone had predicted. The craziness began when Casey Matthews, son of the former NFL linebacker Clay, knocked the ball from Newton’s hands while he was trying to ice a 19-11 lead. Oregon’s offense, shut down by Nick Fairley and Company for most of the night, moved 45 yards over the next 2:17 and Darron Thomas threw a shovel pass to LaMichael James for a touchdown. Thomas hit Jeff Maehl for the tying 2-point conversion with 2:33 left and the game was down to one possession. And that possession will be remembered for one incredible play. Dyer took the handoff from Newton and ran off right tackle for what looked like a 6- or 7-yard gain. Nothing routine about this one, though. He never heard a whis- tle, wasn’t sure his knee hit the ground, so he popped up and kept going. Almost everyone on the field had stopped playing, but the referee never blew the play dead. Dyer made it to the Oregon 23. An offi- cial’s review ensued and the replay showed that, indeed, his knee had never touched the turf. ‘‘I was going out there, trying to make a play. I just kept my feet moving,’’ he said. The freshman finished with 143 yards and was named Offensive Player of the Game — no small feat considering he had the Heisman Trophy winner, Newton, playing well on the same offense. Newton threw for 265 yards and two touchdowns and ran for 64 yards, most in short, punishing bites. It was a good performance, but not spectacular — par for the course in a game that was projected as a possible 60-55 shootout by Steve Spurrier and a 74-point touchdown-fest by the oddsmakers who set the over-under. Wearing white jerseys, green pants and DayGlo shoes and socks, the Ducks got only 49 yards rushing from James. An offense that had been held under 37 points only once all year managed just the two touchdowns. The last one came on a simple shovel pass from Thomas, who finished with 363 yards — 81 of which came on a long pass to Maehl that set up the first touch- down. JV wins West Valley tourney