National Championships - 0
Conference Championships - 7
Record � 198-72
Winning Pct - .733
Playoff Record - 12-8
Bowl Record - 4-4
THE MAN
Greener10: Hello and thanks for taking the time to do this interview. I am gonna start out with some questions about you as a person, and then we will get into the coaching aspects of moranis. Lets start out simple, what is your name and how old are you?
Moranis: David, 28
Greener10: Alright David, where are you from?
Moranis: Ohio, born in Columbus, grew up in the Toledo area, now live in the Cincinnati area
Greener10: Do you have a family?
Moranis: I am married, my wife is on active military duty in Iraq at the moment, which sucks as one can imagine. We don't have any kids yet. As far as other immediate family, I have two sisters, one niece, both parents are alive and well, but all my grandparents have passed on.
Greener10: If you could talk about what its like to have a wife in the army, i think people owuld find it very interesting.
Moranis: Not much to tell really. She signed up for the Army Reserves under the Clinton administration as a way to help pay for college. Of course no one expected 9/11 and then for the U.S. to go to war in Iraq thereafter. As a reservist we were hoping she wouldn't be activated, but it was looking more likely and alas happened last year. She has been gone since early summer of last year and overseas since last fall. She was just home for leave for two weeks (I took off of work) and should be home for good sometime towards the end of the year. Obviously separation is not a good thing, but we are both growing as people, which is never a bad thing.
Greener10: So your wife works, do you work?
Moranis: As little as possible, lol. I'm corporate counsel for a construction company.
Greener10: With a wife in the military, you obviously need some time to relax. What are some of your hobbies?
Moranis: With my wife away, I tend to play a lot of computer games and watch a lot of sports in my free time. In the summer I play a lot of golf.
Greener10: What are your favorite computer games?
Moranis: Warcraft III, Rome Total War, and yahoo card games (spades, euchre, etc.)
Greener10: Interesting. I am a big video gamer myself, but I stick to the systems. Anyway, where did you go to college?
Moranis: U. of Cincinnati for both undergrad and law school
Greener10: So you grew up and went to college in cincy. We all know you are a huge buckeye fan, so, if they were to play, who do you root for? cincy or the bucks?
Moranis: OSU, unless a Cinci win would lead to a national title and not an OSU title
Greener10: I see, so you don�t have a true �favorite team� as much as you do a couple of teams. Do you have any favorite types of music?
Moranis: At the moment I have been listening to Akon and similar music (you know the hip hop/pop blend)
Greener10: Akon is quite an artist. Is he your favorite of all time, or just recently?
Moranis: More recently really, if you are going old school Metallica, U2, and Madonna. Yes I said Madonna, her older stuff is classic.
Greener10: Being from detroit I too love old Madonna. On a completely different note, what is your favorite food?
Moranis: steak
Greener10: favorite sports?
Moranis: to watch football, to play basketball and golf
Greener10: I am a basektball and golf player myself? what is your handicap and do you play in any bball leagues or do you just screw around? are you any good at bball?
Moranis: I just started golfing in law school. I figure any decent attorney should play golf, therefore I'm not what you would call a good golfer at this point (ok I'm downright bad). I'm lucky if I break 100 over 18 at this point. I am however improving, which is a good thing.
I don't play in leagues of any kind. I'm an average bball player. My focus as a kid was much more on soccer and tennis, though did play in the youth leagues for basketball. I was an excellent soccer player. I was a bit burnt out and was planning on just sitting out my freshman year of high school. to stay in shape I ran cross country, I liked it so much I stuck with it and ran cross country and track all four years and never really went back to soccer (I did play it intramurally in college).
Greener10: favorite sports teams?
Moranis: Ravens, Braves, Celtcis, Bruins/Blue Jackets, Crew. My dad grew up a Boston fan and that was who he talked about hence the Celtics, Bruins, and Braves (yeah my dad is that old). The Blue Jackets are obviously a newer team and being an Ohio native it makes sense to follow them, same with the Crew though most people don't watch soccer. I grew up a Browns fan, but by the time they moved to Baltimore I was in Cincinnati and left in a bind (a good browns fan would never follow the bengals or steelers). Since I knew all the players I still followed them. When the Browns came back I was still in Cincinnati and thus it wasn't any easier to follow them so I stuck with the Ravens. Not ever living in Cleveland, it wasn't that difficult a decision. As mentioned above I follow the Buckeyes and Bearcats in college.
Greener10: favorite athletes?
Moranis: I wouldn't say I have a favorite athlete, though the best player on my favorite teams are usually near the top of that imaginery list. From a pure entertainment standpoint, I find Shaq absolutely hilarious.
Greener10: So right now your favorite is probably Ted Ginn and Troy Smith. Going back to your Shaq point, we all love Allen Iverson's practice media conference. Any personal favorites of yours?
Moranis: "You play to win the game" - Herm Edwards, "Washington is my dream job" - Jim Mora Jr., "I'm not going to Alabama" - Nick Saban
Greener10: Word got out that I was interviewing you and user jeffkhaleb had a few questions for you, so I turn the interview over to his questions. how often do you chekc the site now adays?
Moranis: Once a month before getting offered a free baseball team and Hoops Dynasty team, so now I'm on here all the time checking and tinkering with my teams.
Greener10: why do you check the site?
Moranis: Before, I used to check on how guys I used to play with are doing, see what's going on by a quick glance in the forums. Now, as mentioned above check on my baseball and HD team.
Greener10: are you stalking him?
Moranis: Nope, better things to do with my time. Sorry Jeff
Greener10: Alright, in the next few questions, we will do a fill in the blank round. Ohio State lost the football NC because ____________.
Moranis: "it lost the battle on the offensive line. The Florida defensive line was just too quick, which forced quick and bad throws and seriously hampered the running game (though I think the Bucks went away from the run a bit early). This in turn gave Florida's offense great field position. Unlike a good portion of Buckeye nation, I do not blame the Buckeye defense as it only allowed one drive over 50 yards. The loss was entirely on the ineptitude of the Buckeye offense and a large portion of that blame falls on the offensive line just getting beat time and time again by the defensive line. The Buckeye coaching should have tried more short passes and screens since time was an issue all game, but at the end of the day it wouldn't have mattered if they couldn't block the defensive ends and tackles."
Greener10: Ohio State will finish _________ in the Big Ten because_________
Moranis: "2nd or 3rd because it has way too many young players and lost a lot of talent. If Michigan doesn't win in Ann Arbor this year, Carr will and should be fired. Michigan had a lot of its talent return and having Henne and Hart and a much more experienced defense if it doesn't win, bye bye Carr. The Bucks always struggle in Happy Valley and the week after Wisconsin comes to town, both of those games will be tough. At Purdue is also a potential loss. I figure the Bucks will lose at least one of those games and possibly two of those leaving them at 6-2 or 5-3 in conference. Unless of course Beanie Wells runs for 2500 yards, then all bets are off and they might win the Big Ten."
Greener10: The big ten is the ________ conference in college football.
Moranis: "2nd Best. From a historically standpoint. Occassionally it is the best conference and occassionally it is 3rd or 4th, but for the most part it ranks at #2. Last year was a strange year, I mean OSU and Michigan got whooped in the bowl games, but Wisconsin and Penn State beat the third and fourth teams from the SEC so it really is difficult to rank. I guess I would go SEC #1 since they won the big game and the Big Ten #2. The Pac Ten had a successful bowl season, but for the most part they were playing worse teams, i.e. Pac Ten #1 vs. Big Ten #2, Pac Ten #2 vs. Big 12 #3 or 4, etc. so I would put that conference at 3rd last year."
Greener10: The big ten is the _________ conference in college basketball
Moranis: "3rd best. Again from a historical standpoint. The ACC and Big East are historically better and both were this year. The Pac Ten was also a stronger conference this year and IMO was the best conference this year (Big East 2nd and ACC 3rd). The SEC goes in spurts, but seems to be in a bit of a down cycle (aside from Florida of course, Tennessee and Vande are also on upswings). It was close between the SEC and Big Ten this year, but I think from top to bottom I would go the Big Ten with the slight edge making it 4th this year though anyone putting it 5th behind the SEC wouldn't be crazy or anything."
Greener10: Former Defensive Coordinator Mark Dantonio will _________ the Michigan State football program.
Moranis: Do well with
Greener10: I hate Michigan because __________.
Moranis: I hate Michigan because I am a Buckeye fan. It sort of comes with the territory. If you like one you have to hate the other.
THE COACH
Greener10: How did you find out about whatifsports?
Moranis: friend from lawschool
Greener10: how did you come up with your username?
Moranis: nickname growing up, apparently the kids in my high school thought I looked like rick moranis. I had a similar hairdo and glasses, but that is where the similarities ended, but what can you do, high school kids are just so mean ("wink"). The name just stuck, so I used it in this alternate reality.
Greener10: did you play any other WIS games besides GD?
Moranis: I played every game WIS had until I stopped spending money on the site (that was prior to clutch and hardball so I never played them). I had my most success in hockey winning two championships and making the playoffs every year until my last season when I was experimenting. The experiment obviously didn't work since it ended my post season string. Sometimes experimentation is good, sometimes experimentation is bad. I should have just stuck with what worked and went for that third title, but oh well.
Greener10: Eh, it was still fun, so it doesn�t really matter. How would you like to be remembered in the GD world?
Moranis: I really don't care how people remember me. I just played because I enjoyed the game.
Greener10: Recently, jconte has been getting a lot of heat in the moranis-less forums. Do you have any advice for jconte?
Moranis: get more help. when I played (it's been a year now), the game could have been so much better than it was, but the updates were just so slow. A quick glance of the forums and the site, seems to indicate that is still a problem.
Greener10: What was your favorite part of the game?
Moranis: winning, lol. I liked recruiting the best.
Greener10: Staying with the favorites, what was your favorite moment as a coach?
Moranis: when I finally beat pinnacle. the bastard beat me in DIAA in the playoffs a couple of years. then I get the job at BYU and he follows me to the Pac Ten and took me out two years, then we ended up in the Big Ten me at Ohio State and him at Penn State and he beat me like the first four years.
Greener10: Who was your favorite coach to play against?
Moranis: I enjoyed pinnalce and kobo since it was a struggle to beat them and thus was a challenge.
Greener10: You played against plenty of talented coaches in your day. Who was the toughest coach you ever played?
Moranis: kobo. I never beat him. The bastard.
Greener10: Even being a great coach like you (and me), we all have our good and bad skills in the game. What part of the game were you the best at?
Moranis: Recruiting
Greener10: elaborate on why you were best at recruiting
Moranis: I think in part because I liked it the best and in part because it was easy for me to recognize what skills were most crucial. I also had a pretty good recruiting strategy and found the right mix of what to spend and when to spend it as time went on.
Greener10: You created the �New? Start Here� thread in the forums a long time ago that served as a guide to many new coaches. Now that you are no longer around to post, what are the best 3 tips you would give new players?
Moranis: read the help menu, read the forums, and go slow the first season with everything as the best way to learn is just play (remember don't shoot your recruiting wad on the first cycle).
Greener10: what is your worst part of the game?
Moranis: There are so many things that could be so much better. The penalty on a kick off resulting in a rekick, comes to mind as something that should have been an easy fix that was never corrected. Other things like poor timeclock management (where are the 3-4 second out patterns in the two minute drill). The lack of an in depth play by play and seemingly poor logic for tackles. The relative inability of the defense to stop the offense. And on and on. I think this goes to my point about what should JConte get, and that is help. there is just so much that could be done to make the game great that just isn't.
Greener10: This is a question I have been wondering for a long time. Why did you quit GD?
Moranis: that is an incredibly long story. the short of it is, I believe TK (the head admin/owner), is an arrogant prick that treats GD and the customers of GD as the ugly red-headed step child (so to speak), and generally lacks integrity. I chose to no longer fund him, so I stopped doing it (in much the same way people don't shop at a certain store because they were treated poorly, dicked around, etc.). I can certainly get into it in much greater detail if you wish, but it would be a novel.
Greener10: What do you miss most about GD, or do you not miss it?
Moranis: I enjoyed the game. It was a lot of fun. I miss the debates in the forums, WIS banned me from posting in one of their long list of childish immature acts, otherwise I would still post on occassion.
Greener10: What was your favorite forum to post in and why?
Moranis: Obviously the gridiron dynasty forum. I also was a regular in the NBA and College Football sports discussion forums. Back when I actually played HD I posted their regularly, but I dropped that long before I dropped GD.
Greener10: Are there any chances of a return to GD?
Moranis: not unless a lot of things change that will never change (or I get a free team like with baseball and hoops dynasty). so no.
Greener10: Last question, can I get a go blue out of you?
Moranis: Even though they are awful and pose no real challenge to OSU, you will not ever hear me say it (unless of course you want to pay me, then maybe).
Greener10: Ouch! I think that was a shot below the belt. Besides, we both know Michigan is gonna take the game this November. Well moranis, it has been great talking with you and I am so glad I was lucky enough to catch you when you checked your sitemail. I think I speak for the GD community when I say you were a great coach and we would all love to see you come back into coaching. Thanks for taking the time to do this interview and good luck in any and all future endevors.
