Michigan Monday: On to the Dance

Well, Michigan has made it into the Big Dance (and avoided the play in game in Dayton) as an 11 seed and will face Colorado State.  If they get past the Rams they will have a very difficult game against the SEC Tournament Champions Tennessee Volunteers.  The NCAA tournament streak is still alive and we don't have to go channel surfing for any NIT action!  Michigan tips at 12:15 on Thursday in Indy to kickoff the tourney.  

Tom Brady's retirement lasted 2 months and the GOAT is back and will suit up for Tampa again next season.   Shuffle board and golf just didn't stick for the Tommy!

• Its amazing you can have a coach cheating on FBI wire taps and they still have a job.  Or did have a job, as Will Wade was fired from LSU this weekend.  Coach O is amazed how long that took. 

• ESPN went off and bought Fox's top broadcast team for Monday Night Football as Joe Buck will join Troy Aikman.  Not sure if these guys are worth such a high price tag, but sports seems to be the only TV people are watching these days. 

Michigan Tuesday: Let's Look At The Schedule

Michigan Basketball missed 5 games during the athletics department quarantine.  They got a very good win on Sunday @ Wisconsin and now they have 5 games left, with a top 5 match-up against Ohio State this Sunday.  

(12-7) Rutgers at home on Thursday - late 9:00 tip. FS1

(17-4) @OSU on Sunday: 1:00 CBS

Seems to be an opportunity for a reschedule this week

(11-9) @Indiana 2/27 Noon Tip.  

(15-6) Iowa at home on 3/4

(10-8)@MSU on 3/7

It seems there is really only one spot to do a rescheduled game which is the week of 2/22. Finding an available Big Ten opponent might be a challenge.   The Big Ten could also extend the week of the season and not do the Big Ten championship tournament if they want to be safer. 

Michigan has a tough finish to the season with 3 of the last 5 games on the road.   If they get a reschedule I'm sure they are going to shoot for a home game.  

• A guy that was rumored to be a Michigan DC candidate and a great recruiter in the State of Michigan, PSU's Tim Banks was hired as Tennessee's new DC.   He will now have to recruit without the Happy Meal bags full of money. 

Michigan Tuesday: Kody and Taylor

I've seen Michigan pull in guys last minute to a class, I've seen surprise commitments, I've even seen Michigan sign the best player in the class.   What I don't believe I've ever seen is a new coach get hired and within two weeks already secure two commitments for the next class.   We need to be crystal clear here,  these players committed to Coach Mo Linguist and U of M.  Sure the football history, the Big House, and academic standing went into the decision but these guys wouldn't be in this class right now if it wasn't for Coach Mo.   That is some high level recruiting right there.  

Kody Jones:

Rivals: “I’m committing to Michigan because of the relationship I have with Coach Mo,” Jones said. “Really, it’s Coach Mo. The relationship we have is crazy. What we talk about and how we talk about it is real. I felt it in my heart. That’s where I want to be. I know it in my heart, so why wait?”

Kody is just under 6'0 and 180 pounds and could play many positions.  He is listed as an athlete on most sites, but all the sites agree he is a 4 star.  Michigan is recruiting him as a DB as there is a major need in that position room.  His 2020 season got cancelled so he hasn't seen the field for awhile.  

Kody's offer list is an good one which included the likes of:  Auburn, FSU, ND, Oklahoma, OK State,  ND, Oregon, PSU, Texas A&M, Tenn, and many more.  

Taylor Groves:

per Michigan Insider and Mgoblog:  “Coach Mo called and had one of the realest conversations I’ve ever had and then he offered me,” Groves told The Michigan Insider. “It was just really amazing. (He told me) that he can help me reach every goal that I want, including school, and how he loves every aspect of my game and wants to make me a Wolverine.

"I’ve only talked to him that one phone call, but I can already tell that he really cares and a coach that will do everything he can to make me the best man and football player I can be."

Taylor is the second Tennessee player to commit to the Wolverines and Coach Mo in the 2022 class.  He is 6'2 and 175 pounds and is the tall DB that the Michigan defense prefers.  He can play WR or DB and again Michigan wants him in the defensive backfield.  

Taylor has a similar offer list to Kody's: Baylor, UK. LSU, ND, MSU, PSU, TN, Ole Miss, Va Tech, Texas A&M, and many more.  

Michigan has had little success in Tennessee which is clearly in the middle of the SEC recruiting world, for them to pull 2 guys in one day is very strong.   Its also a new recruiting philosophy, there would be a time under Harbaugh that he would tell recruits to consider waiting to commit so they could do things like visit Ann Arbor, meet the coaches in person, see the Big House, etc.   That strategy hasn't worked well enough to be an elite program.  Nick Saban and Urban Meyer would only be good coaches at other schools.  When you add 5 star players they become great.  Jimmy and staff are missing that elite talent to become an elite program.  

Welcome guys!  I hope you end up like hall of famer Charles Woodson! 

• Michigan athletics is finally out of quarantine and it seems the game at Wisconsin is on for Sunday.  The 6 days should be good enough to get the Wolverines legs back in practice.  

• RIP Marty Ball - Marty Schottenheimer

Michigan Tuesday: Like a Good Bottle of Wine, Gone To Fast

24/7

It's hard to know what really is going on inside Schembechler Hall and why things turn out the way they do.   Michigan for example has some weird problem turning highly ranked RB's into college football stars.  The lower ranked guys seems to perform better then the 5 stars, Michigan's new RB coach is a clear example and so is Haskins on the current roster (who was originally going to be a LB at Michigan). 

This situation is why it isn't surprising that Zach Charbonnet is leaving Ann Arbor and in the transfer portal.  Michigan fans fell in love with the talented RB last year has he ran for over 700 yards and scored 11 TD's as a freshman.  He was known has a hard worker in the weight room and great teammate.  

Then the shorten 2020 season happened.  He started off with a bang with a long run against Minnesota and then we never saw him again.   Was it the too crowded RB room?  Was it an injury? Was it something else?  As he only had 19 rushes for 124 yards for the entire year.   With that lack of production and Donovan Edwards coming in, it was a given he was going to jump into the portal and look for another school.  

If I had to guess, he is probably going back home to UCLA or USC.  I wish him nothing but the best and hope he gets a 1000 yards next season in the PAC 12. 

• Speaking of Michigan's crowded RB room: Christian Turner is transferring to Wake Forest.

• If those two items didn't ruin your Monday, maybe this bit of news will:  Zavier "Flash" Worthy is not enrolling early.   There seems to be an issue with his paperwork.   The internet does not believe its a grade issue.  He is still expected to enroll this summer. 

• More good news?  OSU WR Chris Olave will be coming back to Columbus next season as there is a crowded WR Draft class. 

• Tennessee has fired Jeremy Pruitt for breaking NCAA Rules Violations.  Seems are old friend Eric Gray was part of some illegal activity.  Also Aubrey Solomon says Hi.   Seems Pruitt's learned activity at Alabama didn't translate to UT, as he broke the first rule of Fight Club. 

• There are reports that Michigan is hiring George Helow as its new Safeties coach.  If this is confirmed, we will go deeper into his background later this week. 

• Michigan will not be adding Jesse Minter from the Ravens (will be Vandy's new DC) and Christian Robinson who is staying at Florida with a new role and a jump in pay. 

Michigan Friday: Jimmy Roasts Butch Jones

Jimmy got a bit upset at Tennessee's Butch Jones over twitter yesterday:

Suggestion to my Rocky Top colleague, rather than lunch in Florida you might spend your time and focus attending to your present team.

— Coach Harbaugh (@CoachJim4UM) March 3, 2016

Butch might want to pay more attention to the Title IX lawsuit and the recent information where he told a player he was a "traitor" for helping one of the female victims.   On the other hand he might have learned a few things from getting lunch and watching practice at IMG.  

Jimmy seemed to let this guy off the hook on twitter (so far):

• The Tony Tuioti hire to Jimmy's staff was confirmed yesterday.

• Sid Hartman for the Star Tribune wrote this yesterday in an article: This week Kill spent time with his close friend, TCU coach Gary Patterson, and could wind up on his staff. Kill has always been close to Jack Harbaugh, father of Michigan coach Jim Harbaugh, and rumors around the Big Ten are that a job on the Wolverines staff is his if he wants it.  I know Jerry is well liked and a good coach, but I'm not sure he would be a great fit on Jimmy's staff.   On the other hand, I love the name Sid Hartman as it sounds like a delicious sandwich at your favorite deli.   Give me a Sid Hartman with a side of chips!  :)

• Here is a good practice run down from Nick at Mlive.

Wolverine Wednesday: They Gone

As expected, sophomores Nik Stauskas and Glenn Robinson III will leave Michigan early to enter the NBA Draft.   It's hard to argue with these decisions.   Nik is the Big Ten Player of the Year and GR3 has an upside that the NBA loves.   It's funny because Nik is probably close to his ceiling and GR3 is expected to have plenty of room to develop. 

I never thought we would have a basketball program sending guys to the NBA at the rate John Beilien has put together.   He really has a great eye in recruiting and developing kids into NBA caliber talents.

It will be fun to see who Michigan brings in during the spring signing period to fill the spots left by Stauskas, Robinson and Horford.   Let's hope McGary isn't on the list.    Coach is on record saying he will start looking for bigger/shot blockers type of kids with the new defensive rules that are now in place.

Here are a couple names to watch:  Ryan Taylor, Muhammad Ali Abdur-Rahkman and Aubrey Dawkins.  Muhammad is expected in this weekend for a visit and Aubrey is the son of Stanford coach and former Duke assistant Johnny Dawkins ( I wonder why he isn't going to Stanford to play for his dad?).   Aubrey is also expected to visit Ann Arbor at some point.  The great thing about basketball recruiting is there is a ton of talent out there and limited scholarships.   The Michigan coaching staff could can easily go out and find a Spike or Caris this late in the cycle.

• When Michigan plays Tennessee in the NCAA Tournament, there is a good chance the Volunteers will lose their head coach.   First Bruce Pearl and now Cuonzo Martin has taken the CAL job.

Arnett To Get His Full Release

Per Bruce Feldman, Dooley is going to give DeAnthony Arnett his full release including Michigan and MSU. 

Congratulations to DeAnthony and good health to his family. 

Death, Taxes and Tennessee Football

I always respected the Tennessee Football program.  They have big stadium, passionate fans and Payton Manning.  I didn't enjoy when they whined about losing the Heisman Trophy to Charles Woodson or when laid down in 1997 to Nebraska so Michigan had to share the National Championship but maybe that is just my problem.

They were a solid football team in the 90's and early 2000's and had some great games against Florida.  Then in 2009 they decided to fire their long term legendary coach Phil Fulmer after going 5-7.   They hire Lane Kiffin who was there for a cup of coffee and about 20 NCAA minor violations.   Lane skips town and takes the next flight to the West Coast and the Tennessee Athletic Department scrambles to hire someone and they only person they find available is Derek Dooley, the son of legendary Georgia coach Vince Dooley.

On a side note, Tennessee Basketball is now a tire fire (6-6) with their former coach lying to the NCAA and then getting embarrassed by the Wolverines in the first round of the NCAA Tournament and then gets fired right after that loss. 

Back to the Football Program.  Derek is trying to rebuild his program in the very competitive SEC.  So how's that been going?

2009: 7-6 (Kiffin)
2010: 6-7
2011: 5-7

Dooley hasn't had a winning season yet.  To be fair, those that live in glass houses with RR shouldn't throw stones.  .

Great, Bob what is the point of this post then?  

The point is recruiting.  Every good coach knows they are only as good as the athletes they put on the field.  Tom Brady makes Bill Belichick look like the best NFL coach ever.   Recruiting is the life line for any major college football program.  Tennessee has been doing decently in recruiting and has even ringed in a couple State of Michigan recruits.  Last year they pulled in 4 star WR DeAnthony Arnett and this year they have pulled in 4 star DT Danny O'Brien. 

DeAnthony played as a freshman at UT and had 24 catches for 242 yards and 2 TD's.   Not bad for a true freshman.  A couple things have happened since the season ended.  DeAnthony's father has gotten seriously ill and UT's WR coach retired.  Those two events have DeAnthony's rethinking being in Knoxville and wants to be closer to home as his father illness doesn't seem to be getting better.  

Arnett asked for his release from UT on Wednesday, so he could be closer to his family in Michigan.  The NCAA has been known to grant in similar situations a "hardship waiver" that could allow him to transfer to a D1 school with out sitting out a year due to his family illness.

As Michigan fans, we know about transfers.   Ryan Mallett, Sam McGuffie, Justin Boren, JT Turner and the list goes on.  As we know to well,  Boren even transferred to Michigan's biggest rival.   Michigan released those guys without any conditions, because that is the right thing to do for the kid.   Even when it was clear the former Michigan coaching staff was "poaching" Michigan kids to Pitt.  (that practice is illegal via the NCAA so that is purely speculation on my part, but there was plenty of smoke).  Now those coaches are at Arizona and those kids are still at Pitt.  There is also a Big Ten rule that you can't transfer within the conference and still be on scholarship.  This is a good rule because you don't want kids taking their playbook from one school and taking it to another conference school.

Yesterday, Derek Dooley and The University of Tennessee Football program released DeAnthony from his LOI and scholarship BUT he put conditions on the release that he could not attend U of M or MSU.   Tennessee public relations director Jimmy Stanton said on Thursday that Arnett was being released and can continuing playing division one football closer to his family but that Dooley is continuing to hold to his policy of not releasing players to schools that Tennessee competes with on the field and off the field in recruiting.

I would have no problem with this policy if Michigan or MSU was on their schedule in the next 2-3 years.  They are not.  Which leads me to the other part of the statement: off the field in recruiting.  Who doesn't UT recruit against?  You could make that statement against any BCS school in the country.    This is the biggest BS decision I have seen in awhile.  Dooley is acting like a kindergartner that just lost his Popsicle.  I know losing kids hurts your program and I know you want guys that are 100% committed to UT Football but you are making a huge "bush league" mistake here.

Let me explain, the football community is a very tight group.  High school coaches and other D1 coaches have long memories.    Coaches will use this against Dooley every time a school is in a battle with UT for a kid.  High school coaches will now consider this policy when one of their kids ask them if they should go to UT or not.   Dooley, you have made a terrible decision here and you better right the ship or you will go down with it.    Forcing a kid to not attend a BCS close to home is just a childish  decision.  Arnett choices are now Central, Western or Eastern Michigan. 

Some may ask why would he do this?  Your guess is as good as mine.   

My guesses include:

•  Michigan 75 Tennessee 45, March 18, 2011
• 2012 4 Star OT Recruit from Nashville, Tennessee Blake Bars  
• They still couldn't be holding a grudge from the 1997 Heisman Trophy, could they?

Way to take it out on a 19 year old kid, Dooley.    

Edit: Brian at Mgblog's post today says, Dooley has a history of making life difficult for kids that want to leave his program.   How this guy ever gets another kid to commit to Tennessee is beyond me. 

Arnett emailed out a statement:
Coach Dooley, myself or anybody doesn't know what the future holds for my Father and I feel that I represented the University of Tennessee the best way I can on and Off the field and I feel I have earned the right to be released unconditional to all schools in Michigan. Especially with The University of Tennessee not scheduling any program from the state of Michigan on their current or future schedules. Coach Dooley has singled two programs that I cant get a unconditional release to and that's the University of Michigan and Michigan State University. He told me I can attend any Mac school that I want and if I wanted to attend The University of Michigan and Michigan State University then I would have to pay for school instead of be on the scholarship. I dont know whats next my family cant afford to pay for school and my father health reason isn't good enough excuse for me to attend a BCS school close to home. (According to coach Dooley). Therefore as a student athlete i feel coach Dooley is trying to hinder my success by not allowing me to compete at a bcs level! And he's neglecting the fact that my father is severely ill.

Pearl Out - Which is a Bad Sign for Tressel

Let's just discuss the facts and how they are similar:

Sept 10th:  Pearl admitted he lied to the NCAA about recruits being at his house for a BBQ.

Sept 13th: Ironically, Tressel signs an NCAA Document stating he did not have any prior knowledge of his players selling their gear for extra benefits. 

(for some reason, not a good week for high profile coaches telling the truth to the NCAA)

March 8th, 2011: Tressel admits to lying to the NCAA and making mistakes

University or Conference Penalties:

Pearl:  $1.5M fine from his salary over 5 years, no off campus recruiting for a year, his contract was terminated and an 8 game suspension by the SEC.

Tressel:  $250,000 out of his contract, 2 game suspension against 2 MAC Teams, suspension has been increased 3 more games to 5 games for the 2011 season.

Pearl had some other secondary recruiting violations and so does Tressel and staff.   Tressel also misled Ohio State investigators in December of this year about knowing who he got the tip from and if any items had been seized. 

So let's recap:  Pearl had recruits to his house for a BBQ then lied to the NCAA about it and tried to cover it up.  The ironic bug keeps popping up as one of the BBQ recruits is Aaron Craft who now plays for Ohio State.

Tressel gets tipped off his players are selling gear by a former player in April 2010.  Tressel responds to the email but never lets anyone know about the issues.  He then signs a document from the NCAA that states he had no prior knowledge of this in September 2010.  He then misleads Ohio State investigators in December before the Sugar Bowl regarding the situation and then admits to the mistake in March of 2011.   While his players played the entire 2010 season and in the Sugar Bowl, when he knew they were ineligible.  A case could be made he lied at least 3 times. 

The NCAA is further along it's investigation with Tennessee and the Volunteers are scheduled to meet with the NCAA in June.   The Notice of Allegations has yet to be sent to Ohio State but expect similar language and allegations.  (don't forget Jim is now a two time offender with a similar situation at YSU) 

Pearl was fired today after getting beat by Michigan by 30 points.

Tressel remains the head coach of Ohio State because he has only lost to Michigan once in 10 years. 

That's the difference isn't it.    At some point, Ohio State will not be able to talk themselves into keeping him.  Tressel being fired or resigning is inevitable.   It has to be.

  

Michigan Football Random Thoughts

• With Devin enrolled now, what do you do with Denard? Let's take this question in two parts. First Devin: It's really good news that Devin was able to work out graduation from Inkster High School early and enroll yesterday at Michigan. Having Spring Ball will give him 14 extra practices to learn the system and work on his mechanics. I can pretty much guarantee that the Michigan coaches don't want another Freshman starting for the Wolverines for the third year in a row. The best scenario would be for Devin to back up Tate and Denard in 2010 and learn. If there is an injury all bets are off and probably a redshirt as well.

• Denard? After watching Steve Breaston these past two weekends, I think about what he would have been in Rich Rod's offense. Steve had a nice career at Michigan but it could have been great if they found a way to get him the ball more often. Can Denard be a Steve Breaston type of player? Maybe there are some similarities, both were high school QB' and both have an extra gear. I would say Denard's might be a turbo though. It would be great for Denard to return kicks, get some time in the slot, run the Wild Wolverine, and even get some hand offs from Tate. The problem is, Michigan is still very thin experience wise at QB if Tate goes down. So maybe we see Denard more in the offense but I don't expect him to return kick offs anytime soon.

• Is Jake Ryan a good pickup? Off course it's too early to say. He seems to have the size and speed to play LB in college. What I see out of this class is a lot of outside linebackers and defensive ends. I don't see a lot of middle linebackers. In my opinion, it would be nice to have Jake in that role. Michigan last year had very athletic LB's, what they needed is a guy with great football knowledge. A middle LB needs to be able to read plays before they are run and fill the proper holes. Dhani Jones success in Cincinnati came after they moved him to the middle LB. Dhani said that he was getting bored at the outside position and that the middle position takes alot of knowledge and on the field thinking. As we all know, Dhani is a thinking man's linebacker. Let's hope Michigan finds a Dhani type LB soon.

• Be careful comparing Lane Kiffin to Rich Rodriguez: I have seen a number of articles on what's wrong with college football and mentioning the situations with Lane and Rich leaving their last jobs. I really see these as two different situations: Rich has had two jobs since November 2000. Lane has had two different jobs since November 2009. Rich has an overall head coaching record of 113-78, Lane is 12-21 including the time in the NFL.

• Is West Virgina mad at someone else now? I'm sure Rich Rod is still #1 on that list, but there is a new sheriff in town and he is starting to make some noise. As Brian from Mgoblog points out, Doc Holliday who left the WVU staff to become the head coach at Marshall, has been fishing recruits from WVU's pond. Doc has been able to pull 3 Florida recruits away from WVU to Marshall. Which is pretty big news, since West Virgina is in a BCS conference and Marshall isn't. To top it off, West Virgina's favorite son, Rich Rod has recently taken WVU former verbals Richard Ash and Davion Rodgers from the Mountaineers. Don't feel too bad for WVU they still have the 25th rated class on Rivals and 23rd on Scout. They also have $500,000 new reasons to feel good as well. Thanks to a Mgoblog reader, Morgantown way out searches Ann Arbor on Rich Rod topics on Google. So yea, he is still #1 on the list.

USC Hired Who?

January is becoming College Football's most exciting month. You have News Years Day, The BCS Bowls, Recruiting, and now the Head Coaching Exchange.

What is going on? Is this the NFL?

Pete Carroll leaves for the NFL because it was time or the NCAA is going to come in with a hammer and smack down the Trojans. There have always been "rumors" around the Trojans program with recruits and shopping trips. There is much more to this story then OJ Mayo and Reggie Bush. Still, USC is a top tier college program and losing it's coach is big news.

So USC, goes after Mike Riley, he says no. Then they go after Jack Del Rio and he declines. Steve Mariucci has been out of the game too long and heck even the Detroit Lions quit on him.

So whose next? Lane Kiffin at Tennessee. Are you kidding me? He is a walking recruiting violation. I'm sure the NCAA will look kindly on this hire. Isn't Tennessee being investigated by the NCAA regarding the practices of some weekend "hostess"?

Congratulations USC! I'm pretty sure a recruiting class isn't as important as selling your entire program down the river. Don't get me wrong, Lane can coach, knows the X's and O's, can recruit with the best of them and is a Pete disciple but what if the NCAA finds major violations at USC? Then does this hire make any sense?

The LA media from what I have read, loves this hire. Really? Why? Because he coached with Pete? I feel sorry for Tennessee, which is a major program in the SEC. They have lost most of their coaches and now under the gun to get a good coach and save their recruits.

USC moved fast to save their recruiting class. They should have taken a step back and thought about the entire University's reputation first, a different type of Class.

This has been one wild month and were not even half way done.

Michigan isn't the only school that losses players due to a Coaching Change

Last year Michigan lost a few high profile players off it's team due to the retirement of Lloyd Carr. They lost a 5 star QB (Ryan Mallet) and an offensive lineman (Justin Boren) that would rather pay his own way at Ohio State, then face Mike Barwis in the weight room everyday. Justin even threw a blast as he was heading out the door at Rich Rod and staff by saying, "Michigan had lost it's family values". Which is funny because some may question that Justin choose to pay his own way at Ohio State so his lower rated brother could get a scholarship in Ohio State's 2009 recruiting class.

Anyway, this post isn't about Justin Boren, it's about player losses when a new coach takes over a program. Over the past two years, I have counted 11 Wolverines that have "left the program" for one reason or another: Zion Babb, Justin Boren, Artis Chambers, Avery Horn, Jason Kates, Ryan Mallett, Sam McGuffie, Quinton Patilla, Marques Slocum and the recent departures of Stephen Threet (Transfer Hall of Fame) and Toney Clemons.

There were 22 coaching changes in division 1 NCAA college football last year. Out of those 22 new jobs; 17 of them were hires outside the current coaching staff. So I thought I would take a look a few high profile schools (Tennessee, Syracuse, Auburn, & Washington) and see how many players they have lost so far this Spring.

We have all heard by now the "unique" coaching style that Lane Kiffin has brought to the Volunteers and none of us are surprised that he has lost the most players to date with 11. Lane is just going to be Lane and will continue to sign players with past rape charges and say "no thanks" to 5 star quarterbacks that had already verbally committed to his school. I thought Rich Rod got a lot of attention in his first few months. Lane has taken the media attention up a couple of notches. Keep up the good work Lane! The SEC needed some more coaches with strong personalities.

Next is Syracuse, where former Orangemen and New Orleans Saints offensive coordinator Doug Marrone took over the reigns from current Michigan defensive coordinator Greg Robinson. It seems Michigan and Syracuse worked some type of trade in the off season where Syracuse sent Michigan it's un-successful head coach and Michigan traded their un-successful defensive coordinator (Scott Shafer) to the Orangemen. So far the change in management in northern New York has caused at least 5 defections that we know of so far. We will see how the rest of the summer plays out.

Auburn who made one of the most controversial hires this past off season by hiring Gene Chizik, the former Auburn defensive coordinator and now the former head coach at Iowa State. Gene was an un-impressive 5-19 in two seasons leading Iowa State's rebuilding process. So did Aubrun get a guy on the verge of becoming one of the hottest candidates out there (if he turned Iowa State around in a year or two) or did they get a guy that really doesn't know how to be a head coach yet? Only time will tell, but being a good coordinator doesn't mean you will be a good head coach. Not everyone has leadership skills. So you ask, how many players have left the Auburn program so far? The list comes in at 4 at this point. Which is not too bad for a new head coach.

Maybe the most impressive job of keeping your players in tact is at U of W, where Steve Sarkisian replaced Tyrone Willingham and the win-less Huskies in 2008. Steve has manged to only lose 2 players, one to academic reasons and the other was to injury and not wanting to play football anymore. Those departures could be seen as a normal occurrence to any program across the nation. Well done Steve on keeping your guys in the boat, now let's see if they can all row in the same direction.

The moral of this story is that when you make a major change in leadership in college football or in any organization you are going to lose people. These changes could be good or they could be bad, but thinking that everyone is going to be happy with change is not realistic. Everyone will have their reasons, for Mallett and Threet it was because they didn't fit the system, for Boren it was because he didn't have Carr has his security blanket anymore.

I'm sure each player that leaves Kiffin's closet will have their reasons as well. I just hope for the boosters that are helping pay these million dollar salaries that these changes equal more wins and championships or these fellas are going to have a short lease.

Lane Kiffin is a Walking Recruiting Violation

Lane joked about getting 29 out of 30 on his NCAA recruiting test. I wonder which question he missed? Because he is a walking talking Recruiting Violation, even UCLA head coach Rick Neuheisel thinks Lane is out of control and has had too many violations in just a few weeks.

If your keeping score at home, Lane's first two violations came when he called out Florida head coach Urban Meyer for cheating when he called a recruit while he visited Tennessee, then he used a fog machine and faked a press conference when some recruits visited Knoxville. Now his third violation came when he mentioned un-signed #1 ranked running back Bryce Brown by name on the radio. Kiffin was talking about the growing trend of high school prospects waiting until after signing day to choose a school and made a reference to "great players like Bryce Brown" while appearing on WNML Radio. Those comments came after the host of the show, Dave Hooker, couched the question by reminding Kiffin that he couldn't talk about specific recruits.

Lane has been on the job since December 1st and has seemly can't get out of his own way when it comes to recruiting. Maybe old man Al Davis was right, this guy might be a little unstable?
I know the NCAA doesn't usually come down hard when programs self report minor violations, but they might have to send a message to Lane with all these violations.

Keep it up Lane! Your bringing some much needed spice to usually a slow time for college football news. I'm really looking forward to watching the Vol's this year, mostly when they meet the National Champions Florida Gators!

College Coaching Carousel Continues

That Big wheel keeps on turning, winning coaches keep on earning.

Well, another final week of the season has come and gone and we have filled two jobs with many more opening up. Let's take a look at the jobs I predicted would get filled first.

Tennessee picked Lane Kiffin which we predicted last week. Lane is a good young coach that could be a Volunteer for the next 20 years. There are two surprises out of that hiring, the first one I will save for later in this the post the second one is that Lane will be bringing his father in to coach the defensive. As many of you know, Monte Kiffin is the current Tampa Bay Buccaneers defensive coordinator and the designer of the defense that won the Bucs the Super Bowl. Monte is a young 68 years old.

Clemson took the interim tag off Dabo Swinney on Sunday and will announce him as the head coach on Monday or Tuesday. Dabo was clearly the players choice as they won their last 3 games and was carried off the field by his players this past Saturday after beating South Carolina and "the old ball coach".

Wyoming made a solid choice in picking Missouri offensive coordinator Dave Christensen this weekend as well. Dave was also rumored to be a canidate for the Washington job.

The new jobs to come open this weekend include:

• MAC Teams: Miami of Ohio (The Cradle of Coaches) and Bowling Green. Toledo still remains open.


• Sylvester Croom resigned from Mississippi State this weekend after becoming the first African American to be a head coach in the SEC 5 years ago.

High Profile Jobs that could still come open:

• Auburn: After a 36-0 loss to Alabama in the Iron Bowl and a 5-7 season record, many have wondered how long Tommy Tuberville will be at Auburn. "I've got a contract here. I'm working," Tuberville said. "There's no doubt that we can get this thing turned back around. I didn't turn into a bad coach overnight. I know this program better than anybody. "I know what it takes. I know the type of people that you can get to come in. I know our strengths and weaknesses. And I'm fully committed to doing it. I'm going out and selling that." Tommy has a contract through 2013 that pays him $3.3m a year, a buyout would cost Auburn about $6 million.


• Notre Dame: After a 38-3 loss to USC this weekend, Charlie Weis status as head coach remains "shaky" after the Golden Domers finished their season 6-6. Some close to Weis family have speculated that Charlie will be heading home to the East Coast next week and that the ND gig is a lost clause. With that said, Charlie currently remains employed by ND and even stayed on the West Coast to do a little recruiting after the USC game. Coach Weis and Notre Dame athletic director Jack Swarbrick have a meeting set up for December 8th. Now for the 1st surprise I mentioned earlier. Some have speculated that Brian Kelly from The Big East Champions Cincinnati Bearcats turned down the Tennessee job because he wants to wait and see what happens at Notre Dame. When asked today on the Jim Rome show about it, Brian Kelly politely wouldn't answer the question. If I had to speculate, here is what has happened. Tennessee was very interested in Brian Kelly and wanted to make an offer, someone from ND reached out to Brian's agent/lawyer and said that they want Brian as the next Notre Dame coach but it would make a few days/weeks. Brian then turned down Tennessee and they went off and hired Lane Kiffin. Of course this is pure speculation by yours truly, but it makes sense, mostly after ND lost out to Florida in the Urban Meyer sweepstakes in 2005.

University of Washington and Mississippi State you are now on the clock!

U of W Update: UW interviewed Fresno State headman Pat Hill this weekend and sources close to the program have said they hope to interview Brian Kelly and Texas Tech's Mike Leach. Utah's Kyle Wittingham remains high on the list.

College Coaches: Hired to be Fired with a Golden Parachute

Is Phillip waving goodbye or waving down a group of bankers for his buyout? His wife might need a bigger purse to carry it.

So you want to be a head coach at a major University? Not at bad gig if you can get, it's also not a bad gig when you get fired.

They say head football coaches in college or in the NFL are "hired to be fired". There was never more of a true statement. These poor guys spend hundred of hours a week breaking down film, dealing with student athletes, recruiting, and keeping the high profile alumni happy. They don't get to spend time with family, friends, or even get a chance to play a round of golf.

So why would you want one of these high profile coaching gigs? Because someday you will be fired!

Dude, I was with you until you made being fired a good thing.

In a time where the automotive industry is bankrupt, the financial industry is almost gone, retail is way down, and many Americans have lost their jobs or will be losing their jobs with zero severance pay, being a head football coach who has just been fired from a top university is a pretty good deal.

Take a look at these numbers: Tommy Bowden is due $3.5M from Clemson and he reportedly resigned (do you get a package when you quit? mmm maybe he didn't quit?), Bill Callahan got $3.1M from Nebraska last year, and Phil Fulmer gets $6 million to ease his pain of no longer being the head man at Tennessee. Even San Diego State spent $1.2 million to buy out Chuck Long who went 9-27 as head coach. Are you kidding me? $1.2 large at San Diego State?

So now we come to Notre Dame who signed "Good time" Charlie Weis to a 10 year contract after they were afraid the NFL would come calling for the one time "mail reading" football genius. Reports out of Chicago, ESPN, and everywhere now says that Charlie's buyout as one prominent alumni put it as "pocket change" (I'm pretty sure Bill Gates went to Harvard and not Notre Dame, either way those are some big pockets!) is reportedly between $4 -$5 million.

Wow? How many of us would take that kind of firing? That doesn't even include their 401K! No more long days, you can get introduced to your family again, gone are the crazy recruiting trips to find the next super star, and no more "everyone and their brother" over looking your every move. Seems pretty good to get fired from one of these high profile gigs these days. I wonder how much a History teacher gets if they have to be let go?

Hired to be Fired. College Football is becoming the NFL without the convenient playoff system of course.

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Update on the Tennessee Coaching Search: Many outlets are reporting that Tennessee and Lane Kiffin are in negotiations for Lane to become the next head football coach. Of course, Tennessee is saying they haven't hired or offered the job to anyone and the search continues. In my opinion, they are just stalling so that Phil Fulmer can coach his last game at Tennessee on Saturday against Kentucky which they have coined "Fulmer appreciation day". Look for the rumors about Lane to become official on Sunday.

They don't want to lose any recruits during this coaching change.