Is it possible to be saddened by the death of someone you barely knew? Well that’s where I find myself today when my brother texted me with the following message.. “dude coach hep died.” soon after, my mom called me, with a lump in her throat to break the news to me.

Coach Hep died in Bloomington from brain cancer. Everyone who cares about IU knew that Hep was pretty sick when we heard he wouldn’t be coaching in the spring and we feared the worst when told that Bill Lynch would lead the Hoosiers this year and not our beloved Hep. But no one was ready for this.

In January, I got the opportunity to talk to Hep about the National Championship game. Having coached against Urban Meyer during his brief tenure at Bowling Green and coaching almost annually against Jim Tressel, I thought Hep could give me some insight into what the matchup would be between the two. Hep patiently answered every question I had with insight and thought. And then at the end of our almost 20-minute interview. I threw my professionalism out the window. You see I’m a general assignment reporter who occasionally gets my editor to let me out of the office and do what I love: Write about sports. As an IU alum, I told Hep what a fantastic job he was doing and rebuilding our program and that I was proud of the work he’d done. He told me that he wished I could have been there for the win over Michigan State and Iowa this year and how crazy “The Rock” got after the wins. Today, as I sit here, I’m glad that I took that moment to be a fan.

Coach Hep will always be remembered by this reporter, this alum and this fan as a man who loved Indiana University. He said it was his dream job and he treated it as such. Indiana University and IU football is better for having had Coach Hep.

He will be missed by those who knew him and those who wished they had.

I realize now that I’m not saddened by the loss of someone I barely knew, I’m saddened by the loss of a member of the IU family.

The Orlando Sentinel is reporting that the Orlando Magic expect Florida head coach and Widows’ Peak advocate Billy Donovan as their new head coach.

What does this mean for the Gators? It’s a little late in the offseason to be looking for a new head coach. Any idea who the candidates could be? Will Jeremy Foley continue the widows’ peak trend in Gainesville and hire Eddie Munster or Ahman Green?

The Honolulu Advertiser is reporting that Hawaii’s senior quarterback (and Heisman longshot) is lobbing grenades at the Hawaii Athletic Department over Hawaii’s piss-poor facilities including a lack of soap in the team’s locker rooms.

“‘We spent all spring with no soap in our showers,’ Brennan said. ‘Half of the soap dispensers are broken. How hard is it for us to have soap in our lockers? Isn’t that something that should be a health issue?’

According to the article, a janitor has been trying to recycle empty shampoo bottles to use as soap dispensers.

Apparently, there is also a problem with parking near the team’s facilities. Brennan said that players pay between $3-$6 per day just to attend practices, workouts and practice sessions.

The tow truck driver has been in contact with players so much that coach June Jones is considering making him an honorary Rainbow Warrior. Brennan estimates that the 20 percent of the team has amassed parking fines of $200 - $1,000 in parking fines and tow truck fees. Brennan himself has accumulated $800 in fines in his two years at Hawaii.

The most hated man in the Philadelphia area (and throughout Eagle nation) today is Houston quarterback Kevin Kolb who the Eagles inexplicably took with their first pick in this weekend’s draft.

I just don’t understand. I agree with the Kolb pick or picking any quarterback for the future because McNabb’s health is questionable and Kelly Holcombe and career backup A.J. Feely are not the future of the Eages but to take him there is puzzling. The pick is especially frustrating given that the Eagles took him with a pick they got from a trade with the Cowboys. I hope that Donovan McNabb likes the sight of Demarcus Ware and Anthony Spencer flying off the edge because that’s a sight he’ll be enjoying twice a year.

When any Eagles fan looks at the roster there are glaring weaknesses, most of which are in the secondary. Sean Considine is a nice player but he’s not a starting strong  safety in this league and behind Lito Sheppard and Sheldon Brown, there’s not a whole hell of a lot (sorry Joselio Hanson and Will “James” Peterson) and don’t even get me started on our wide receiver depth. So you would think with that first pick the Eagles would take a d-back right? No. They took Kevin Kolb, a kid that was listed by most scouts at the 6 or 7th best quarterback in the draft, depending on how good you thought John Beck, Trent Edwards or Drew Stanton were.

I’m unbelievably frustrated.

Looking at the Eagles draft, I’m honestly puzzled. I think that the only good pick they had on day 1 was Tony Hunt, who had a great Senior Bowl week and will be a great big-back to spell Brian Westbrook in short yardage situations and the Victor Abiamiri pick isn’t a terrible pick but doesn’t speak to any of the needs the Eagles have right now. I think Josh Gattis could be a nice player and their selection of Brent Celek shows their dedication to L.J. Smith.

Ok so my draft news boycott lasted about 24 hours but I couldn’t help myself when I saw this column on Yahoo! Sports by Charles Robinson. The article is rare for a couple reasons:

1. It’s not AP. Almost everything that lands on my news reader from Yahoo! Sports is AP and not written by staff.

2. It is the first column I’ve seen that has used the word “bad” in connection with anything that JaMarcus Russell has done.

I don’t disagree with Robinson though. I think that Russell is not a slam dunk as many have hailed him as being but I think the Raiders don’t want to be the organization that passed on JaMarcus Russell. Taking Calvin Johnson is a great pick, if not a considerably safer pick, but it won’t sit too well with the members of the Black Hole that know that their teams most pressing need (besides a new owner) is quarterback. I think what the Raiders are hoping is that the Dolphins will pull the trigger on the Trent Green deal and cut Daunte Culpepper but I doubt that will happen before Saturday.

While Russell looked impressive against Notre Dame, let’s remember — THEY WERE PLAYING NOTRE DAME and it’s laughably bad defense. I’ve heard LSU fans on sports talk radio shows talking about how good Russell looked against bad defenses and how he struggled in the big games against the likes of Florida and Tennessee.

When a team drafts JaMarcus Russell, whoever that team is and I’m pretty sure it will still be Oakland, they are drafting completely on upside. They are drafting that rocket arm and seemingly effortless throwing motion, they are not drafting his complete body of work at LSU.

In an article today in the Philadelphia Inquirer, Jevon Kearse said his rehab is going well and he’s excited to get back on the field.

THIS JUST IN: Jevon Kearse stepped out of his ride at the NovaCare facility and suffered a stress fracture in his foot. He’ll miss the first 6 weeks of the season.

In all seriousness, this is  a guy who Eagles fans were excited about when the Eagles signed him in the offseason before the 2004 season but what kind of production can we really expect from ‘The Freak?’ He’s very much a shadow of the guy he was when he had 14 1/2 sacks in his rookie season but he showed a flash last year when he came out and had 3 1/2 sacks in two games before getting injured.

I think that Kearse could be a very vital part of a rotation at defensive end for the Eagles that could include Trent Cole and Juqua Thomas (sorry Jerome McDougle).

Reading some of what Kearse had to say yesterday, you gotta love his enthusiasm and how ready he is to get back on the field but you have to wonder whether or not he can play a full 16-game season plus the playoffs and how soon it will be before Trent Cole or Juqua Thomas is starting opposite Darren Howard. Staying healthy all year isn’t something The Freak has done since he’s been with the Eagles but boy, they sure need him to.

About two months ago, I was intrigued.

Curious.

I couldn’t get enough.

I just couldn’t read enough about the NFL draft. And now?

I’m ready for it to be over.

Today my news reader was inundated with stories from seemingly every major newspaper across the country speculating on what their regional team was going to do on Saturday and Sunday. Of course, there are those ever interesting features on the various prospects.

Did you know that Amobi Okoye was only 19? Yes. Yes, I did. I knew this in February at the Senior Bowl when writers there were writing about the outstanding defensive tackle from Louisville.

With the exception of Peter King’s piece on Wisconsin tackle Joe Thomas and yesterday’s New York Times piece on UTEP’s Jordan Palmer, I have read nothing that has enhanced my life as it pertains to the draft. So enough is enough.

For the next four days, I will read NOTHING about the NFL draft, save breaking trade news, etc. I’m done.

I’m excited for the actual draft but I’m tired of the build-up and meaningless speculation from any number of “experts.”

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution is reporting that Falcons quarterback Michael Vick missed a meeting with members of Congress regarding concerns about lack of funding for after school programs.

Before anyone, myself included, starts in about Vick’s lack of class and so forth, it should be noted that flight delays in Tampa caused him to miss the meeting. Apparently he played in Warrick Dunn’s golf tournament in Tampa and was scheduled to fly to Washington but due to flight delays in Tampa, he missed his connection in Atlanta.

But this is the quote that I thought was particularly telling, it comes from Vick’s publicist, Susan Bass.

“‘It honestly was not his fault,’ Bass said. ‘He was trying to do the right thing.’

This is a guy who is such a mess off the field and has such questionable character that his publicist has to defend him when HE MISSES A FLIGHT.

In other news, Vick is so concerned about the lack of federal funding for after school programs (just like he was so concerned about the families of those killed at Virginia Tech last week) that he made a generous donation — whatever cash he had in his pocket ($234 to be exact) and 50 Aquafina bottles with hidden compartments for “jewelry.” And don’t worry about throwing those bottles away kids (especially at airport security checkpoints), they’re biodegradable.

In one of the classiest acts in recent memory, the Penn State student section staged a pretty touching tribute to Virginia Tech at the annual Blue and White Game this weekend. Below are some of the pictures I pulled from the PSU Athletic Department website. My hat goes off to the kids at Penn State.

The Worldwide Leader’s Andy Katz is reporting that sources close to Ohio State center Greg Oden have told Katz that the freshmen will declare for the NBA Draft. And I died with shock.

What irritates me about this announcement isn’t that he’s going to the NBA. I can’t begrudge this kid the opportunity to make a life for himself and if the door is open then he should take it. What irritates me is that he was pretending and mugging for the press like he was actually entertaining the thought of staying in school. Come on. Everyone knew that as soon as Ohio State was bounced from the tournament, it wouldn’t be soon after that Oden would declare for the draft. There’s just too much money on the line. But the real question is who was the money too much for? By all appearances, Oden was seemingly happy living the college life. Was it the people around him that have wanted to cash in  Oden’s abilities from a very young age? I certainly wouldn’t discount that as a possibility.

On other Buckeye news, freshmen guard Daequan Cook has also announced that he will test the NBA market. Yeah, the same Daequan Cook who came off the bench for Ohio State to average about 10 points and 4 boards for Ohio State. Whoever is in this kid’s ear, telling him that he’s ready for the NBA is doing him a serious disservice. Stay in school, young man.