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Who is Jeremy Bates?

| January 6th, 2010

The Orange County Register tells his story.  You should read the whole thing here.  This part made me laugh:

And Bates does sweat. With Carroll-esque energy, Bates animatedly
instructs quarterbacks and receivers, his arms often flailing, his mind
constantly churning.

“The guy’s 100 miles per hour, non-stop,” No. 3 quarterback Mitch Mustain said.
“He’s on the details and makes sure we have our stuff. Especially for
him coming in this semester, we’re way ahead of where I ever thought we
would be.”

Bates conceded that he was still learning the offense and the players’ names in spring. Now?

“I
understand the concepts,” he said. “It’s like dating somebody for seven
years. Her name’s Laurie. Then all of a sudden you’re dating someone
else, and her name’s Kim. You’ve got to get adjusted to calling her
Kim.”

Before calling his first game for USC in 2009:

“This is a game of entertainment,” Bates said Wednesday. “The fans pay
a lot of money to go to the games and they’re going to have their
opinions. . . . But we’re focused. We can’t deal with distractions and
things outside of the building, so we’re not going to worry about that
stuff.””This is a game of entertainment,” Bates said Wednesday. “The fans pay
a lot of money to go to the games and they’re going to have their
opinions. . . . But we’re focused. We can’t deal with distractions and
things outside of the building, so we’re not going to worry about that
stuff.”

Scott Reid believed Bates to not be fit for the USC coordinator job:

Carroll further compounded the foolishness of his endless promotion
of Barkley by then placing Barkley’s future, and to a large extent that
of the USC program, into the hands of someone just as in over his head
as Barkley — Bates.  Barkley needed to be eased into the starter’s job. Instead, Carroll billed him as the next Palmer-Leinart-Sanchez-Elway-Unitas.

Barkley needed a teacher who would smooth his rough edges and elevate his game. Instead, Carroll handed him over to SlingBates.

Aside from Bates’ obvious shortcomings as a play-caller, his failure
to develop Barkley alone should be enough for Carroll to help him find
a job elsewhere.

So after a few hours of research, here’s what I’ve deciphered.  Bates is a wonderful offensive mind, earning the respect and praise of both Mike Shanahan and Pete Carroll.  He’s energetic, passionate and animated.  He’s a character.  But he also likes to chuck the ball around and USC wasn’t equipped to do so with a freshman quarterback.  The more I read about him, the more I understand why Cutty likes him.  The more I read about him, the more I think this is a chance the Chicago Bears should take.