Rosenbach named Montana's offensive coordinator

NCAA Football Betting Lines

02/22/2012 - Missoula, MT (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Former NFL quarterback Timm Rosenbach has been named offensive coordinator at the University of Montana, Grizzlies head coach Robin Pflugrad announced Wednesday.

Rosenbach, 45, also will serve as Montana's quarterbacks coach. The Grizzlies are coming off a Big Sky Conference co-championship and was a FCS semifinalist in finishing 11-3.

Pflugrad and Rosenbach coached together at Washington State for three seasons from 2003-05. Rosenbach played collegiately at WSU.

"Timm has a lot ties to Missoula," Pflugrad said "Timm's father was a football coach here at the University of Montana and went on to Washington State as an administrator. The family knows a lot of people from the state of Montana and a lot of people from the state of Washington. He should be a great asset for us not only on the field, but in the recruiting area as well."

Rosenbach was in private business last year and did not coach. He was the offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach at New Mexico State in 2009.

Prior to NMSU, Rosenbach was the quarterbacks coach at Washington State from 2003-07. He also was an assistant coach at Ambrose University in 1999 and then coached the next three years in the Big Sky at Eastern Washington, including the 2001 and '02 seasons as offensive coordinator.

In his first season as offensive coordinator, the Eagles led the FCS in total offense, averaging 514.5 yards per game, while scoring nearly 42 points per game.

Rosenbach entered the NFL as a junior in 1989 after finishing seventh in the Heisman Trophy voting in his final season at Washington State. He was selected by the Arizona Cardinals in the supplemental draft and played four years with the team.

He then spent the 1994 season with the Hamilton Tiger-Cats of the CFL. His career was ended by a ruptured disk in his back a year later.

"As we looked at our candidates, we did want someone who had some Big Sky ties, there's no question about that," Pflugrad said. "We had, in my opinion, some excellent candidates and a few of them rose above the others. When you do work with somebody I think that always helps in the selection process when you hire a coach, because we spend so much time together on an off the football field."

Wwwmegaplay NCAA Football Betting News

<< Alabama A&M to retire Mathis' jersey
Normal, AL (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Alabama A&M will retire the college jersey of Indianapolis Colts defensive end Robert Mathis in a ceremony on March 3. Mathis' No. 55 will be retired at halftime of Alabama A&M's annual spring game. M

<< Donald out, Woods survives at Match Play
Marana, AZ (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Top overall seed and defending champion Luke Donald was eliminated Wednesday in the first round of the WGC-Accenture Match Play Championship. Donald drew no ordinary No. 64 seed. Ernie Els, who only made

<< Royals C Pina leaves workout with knee injury
Surprise, AZ (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Kansas City Royals catcher Manny Pina injured his right knee during Wednesday's workout. Pina was catching when he caught his spikes and "tweaked" the knee, according to manager Ned Yost. The extent of the i

<< Durant added to 3-point contest
New York, NY (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Oklahoma City Thunder forward Kevin Durant has been added to the 3-point contest for this weekend's All-Star Game festivities in Orlando. Durant will take the spot of Atlanta Hawks guard Joe Johnson, who wi

<< Celtics' Rondo added to All-Star roster
New York, NY (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Boston Celtics guard Rajon Rondo has been added to the 2012 East All-Star team for this weekend's game in Orlando. Rondo will take the spot of Atlanta Hawks guard Joe Johnson, who will miss All-Star w

Angels sign Isringhausen to minor league deal >>
Tempe, AZ (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim have agreed to terms on a minor league contract with veteran right-handed reliever Jason Isringhausen. The 39-year-old Isringhausen appeared in 53 games last season for the

Notre Dame downs WVU, sets school record >>
South Bend, IN (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Jerian Grant scored 20 points and the 20th- ranked Notre Dame Fighting Irish set a school record for most consecutive Big East wins with a 71-44 victory over the West Virginia Mountaineers. Scott Martin a

No. 23 Indiana rolls over NC Central >>
Bloomington, IN (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Cody Zeller scored 17 points and Victor Oladipo netted 16 as No. 23 Indiana rolled over NC Central, 75-56, at Assembly Hall. Will Sheehey added 12 points and seven rebounds, while Derek Elsto

No. 2 Syracuse tops USF for 8th straight win >>
Syracuse, NY (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Scoop Jardine scored 15 points, C.J. Fair had 13 and No. 2 Syracuse had to overcome a slow start, then hold on to beat South Florida, 56-48, on Wednesday night. Kris Joseph added 12 points and nine rebounds fo

Blue Jackets activate Sanford from IR >>
Columbus, OH (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Blue Columbus Jackets activated backup goaltender Curtis Sanford from injured reserve on Wednesday. Sanford hasn't played since February 8 due to a lower-body injury suffered in a game against the Dal

SPORTS BETTING - Tennis is an underrated and under-utilized bettors' sport.

Ten years ago, at just about this time, I called Alan Boston in Vegas and left him a voicemail that went something like this (abridged version): "Hey Alan, Chad Millman from ESPN The Magazine calling. I want to do a book about wise guys, you in?"

A couple weeks later I got a message back (abridged version): "I don't know, maybe," Boston said. "Call me and we'll talk about it. But not later today. I got $1,000 on Andre Agassi to win the French Open at 40-1, and he's in the finals."

Here's what happened next (abridged version): Agassi won his tourney. Boston won his $40,000. I wrote sportsbook.

In the ten years since, how much has been wagered on the big-time tennis events? Put it this way: The Nevada Gaming Commission doesn't even track the number year by year because it's so small.

"Tennis makes up about one-tenth of one percent of our take," says Lucky's bookmaking boss Jimmy Vaccaro. "The last big golf major we probably had $100,000 worth of bets. In tennis, we might have written two big tickets."

Tennis' lack of popularity amongst the American bettoratti is no surprise, really. For starters, the biggest sports betting holidays -- the Super Bowl, the NCAA tourney -- are must see TV. People, at least the degenerates I know, plan vacations around watching those events in Vegas sports books.

But Wimbledon? Doesn't exactly reel in the whales. "Seriously, it's the nuts as an event," says Boston. "But who even knows when it's on?"

Here's another reason that helps explain why golf gets traction, something I call "The Bubbe Theory." My Bubbe is pushing 95 and has cataracts so bad that, to her, even the most crystalline Chicago day is mostly cloudy. But she still listens to the Cubs games, and she still calls me in a fit if she disagrees with something Rick Telander writes in the Chicago Sun Times. She's a sports fan. If she doesn't know you, you're just filling a niche. And niche players, even historically good ones like Roger and Raf, don't drive betting volume. Only the highest profile names attract square money, which inflates wagering totals like a shot of saline to the lips. Bubbe, and the public, loved Agassi, tennis' last cross-the-rubicon, mainstream draw. She also has a crush on Tiger. She's given me standing orders to put a sawbuck on the big cat whenever I walk through a sports book (or mistakenly tap into one via my Internet machine.) That explains why the Masters is getting $100K in action at some books while the four tennis majors might not get that combined this year.

This isn't a case of tennis being a difficult sport to bet. In fact, in Europe, it's probably the second most popular sport for gambling after soccer. Granted, as the WSJ football betting last week and The Mag's Shaun Assael examined in even greater depth last year, that might be because gamblers across the pond see it as an easy game to fix. But it could also be because, over there it holds the kind of sway the big two do over here.

Street corners in Spain are peppered with public courts and kids doing their best Raffy impressions. In some war torn parts of Eastern Europe poverty-stricken kids view tennis as an escape route, like football or basketball here. A couple years ago The Mag's Lindsay Berra wrote a great piece about Belgrade's Jelena Jankovic, Ana Ivanovic and Novak Djokovic. They learned the game as kids while bombs were raining down on their homeland. They practiced in drained swimming pools. Not exactly Nick Bolletierri conditions.

In the United States, casual fans think tennis is played four times a year. But on the tightly packed European continent, national interest in homegrown talent runs deep every weekend. Of the ATP's current top 20 players, only two, tennis betting and James Blake, are American. Fourteen are from Europe, representing six different countries.

No wonder fans from Lisbon to Bhudapest get jacked up for the net game, whether it's Wimbledon or a low-level tourney like the Estoril Open in Portugal (congrats to Spain's Albert Montanes for winning that one, btw). Chances are good that someone representing their flag will not only be playing, but have a shot at winning.

And that's all any bettor can ask for.

To visit this sports book go to MySportsbook.com for all your football betting needs.