Just when I thought things were calming down on the Rich Rodriguez front, more allegations against him are popping up. Just to get you up to speed; a few weeks ago when Rodriguez took the Michigan job, his former employer, West Virginia, filed suit against him for the 4 million dollar buyout in his contract. The buyout clause requires Rodriguez to pay $4 million to WVU over a two-year period, with one-third of the total due 30 days after his employment’s termination. His resignation was effective Dec. 19. Rodriguez claims the suit is bogus because West Virginia “did not maintain their end of the contract by not fulfilling all of its terms”. Obviously the University denies these claims.

Well now news out of The Charleston Gazette suggests that not only is the University upset about the money, now they have come to realize that Rodriguez has either destroyed or took with him to Michigan all the files he has on the players for West Virginia.

According to multiple sources, several people in the Puskar Center reported seeing Rodriguez and at least one member of his inner circle, video coordinator Dusty Rutledge, in Rodriguez’s private office shredding paperwork on Dec. 18. That’s the day he returned to clean out his office after being introduced as the Michigan coach at a press conference in Ann Arbor the day before. At the time, those who say they witnessed it either did not know what was being destroyed or paid it little attention to it until the files were discovered missing more than two weeks later.

While the files in Rodriguez’s office held a wide range of information, those that were discovered missing from the weight room office were more specific. Those included every aspect of strength and conditioning progress made by players under former strength and conditioning coordinator Mike Barwis, who along with most of his immediate staff followed Rodriguez to Michigan after the Fiesta Bowl. Those files included the progression made by each player in every specific area, from bench-press totals to 40-yard dash times. The files even included pictures of the players at different points in their careers.

If this is true then Rich has a ton of explaining to do. Those records are West Virginia University property, it is like you or I quitting our job and taking with us all of the documentation that our company PAID us to do over the number of years we worked at the place. I use to think highly of Mr. Rodriguez and thought he was an upstanding coach, but now the truth is coming out. And to think he is doing this to his own alma mater. What does that tell you? He’d sell anyone out for a few extra bucks and to climb up the ladder. Michigan…are you sure this is the coach you want?? Are you sure this is the guy you want representing your University or when something better comes along, will he spurn you like he did his own state, his own school? What I do know is if I were Rich Rodriguez, I would not step foot in the State of West Virginia ever again.

Time has come for JoePa to write his fairy tale ending

…and name a succession plan. I bet many of you thought I was going to say step down, well I won’t go that far just yet. Tomahawk Nation outlines some good and bad points from the recent release that will have Jumbo Fisher taking over for Bobby Bowden. That article got me thinking of another legend who is up there in age, and he should take some lessons from a fellow Hall of Famer.

At this point in the game, I feel that naming a succession plan is entirely necessary. First of all Joe Paterno is 80 years old, and it doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out that his years left as the head coach at Penn State are numbered. His age, healthy, and energy to continue this fast paced job are all working against him. It can be traced back to 1982 after winning his first National Title, he told the Penn State Alumni gathered in Pittsburgh to hear him speak that he will only coach another 4 years, so why 25 years later are we still without a definite plan for succession?

There are a lot of conspiracy theories out there as to why he hasn’t come out with a plan, most notably is the one where he wants his son Jay, current co-offensive coordinator, to succeed him. As much as I believe that a father loves his son, I don’t think this is a viable option since Jay has zero head coaching experience at any level. The other theory is that Joe is so full of himself that he thinks he will be coaching 2…4…6 years down the road. It is great for a man to think that, but if Joe truly loves the University, and cares for the well being of it, he should take a step back and examine how realistic that thought is.

So how would naming a succession plan be good for the University? First of all it would help in recruiting. There is no doubt that Joe’s age and his contract uncertainty (expires at the end of 2008) is working totally against Penn State. Kids are going to look at his age and realize that most likely, he will not be there when their career is over. I understand in this world of ever changing coaches that can be said for a lot of other teams, but I would be willing to bet that someone could foresee Paterno retiring a lot easier than most other coaches being fired right now. Recruits go to school because of their relationships with the coaches, so how does Penn State expect to keep pulling in good recruiting classes when they can’t sell the recruits on the notion that Joe will be there for them in the end. At least with a succession plan, that all can be laid out in front of the recruit which would ease the recruit that there is a plan in place.

Secondly, for years we have heard that the next coach will come from within the current program. If that is the case, come out and name that coach. Whether it be Tom Bradley or Larry Johnson Sr…come public with that name. These coaches have been loyal to the program for a number of years, and this would add some stability to the transition which hasn’t happened at Penn State since the 1960s. Rip Engle announced that Paterno would be the next head coach, so Joe should do the same.

Right now there is a lot of uncertainty on the staff since nothing has been said. How does the University expect to keep coaches like Bradley or LJ Sr around if they don’t let them know the intentions of the program? If I were them, I would possibly be looking for another job. Say what you want about Sandusky and Ganter, but I think the two saw the writing on the wall and got out. They knew they were either not getting the head coaching job, or didn’t want to play the waiting game anymore so they took other avenues. If Penn State waits much longer, this could happen to a few more long time assistants.

Next I think it would allow Joe to retire with the fanfare that he deserves. I understand when many people say he is a modest man, and does not want the fanfare when he leaves, but allow him to have it. Whether it be 2008 or 2009, announce before the season that this is Joe’s last year, and let him get the proper send off.

This needs to be done soon or the football program is going to see another drastic downward spiral. Joe Paterno has done so much for Pennsylvania State University. In some aspects he is even bigger than the University itself. You can go anywhere in the country and ask people what is the first word(s) that come to mind when you say Penn State to them…I bet over 75% say, Joe Paterno. And they should, he has a library named after him and hundreds of athletes he has coached that have nothing but praise for the man. Let him still be involved with the University. But now it is time for Paterno to do one last thing for the University…make sure it is in stable hands when he departs.

It is Championship Week but that doesn’t mean jobs are safe. The ink has hardly dried on some team’s seasons and a lot of coaches are looking for a new job, while some are trying to get their foot in the door at those jobs.

Big 12

Baylor- Baylor fired Guy Morriss after five seasons. In those seasons Morriss went 18-40 and the Bears have had a losing season for 12 years straight. Baylor wanted to at least get Mike Singletary in for an interview but he pulled his name from consideration.

Nebraska- After losing to Colorado, it was not a surprise that acting AD Tom Osborne fired Bill Callahan. In his four seasons, Callahan went 27-22 and led Nebraska to their only two losing seasons in 45 years. The embarrassing loss to Kansas seemed to be the final nail in the coffin. I expect the Cornhuskers to look at Turner Gill from Buffalo, Bo Pelini from LSU, that is if he does not get the LSU job. That’s assuming Les Miles leaves for Michigan. The man who has the plus on all of Nebraska football is Corn Nation.

Texas A&M- The Aggies had a package laid out and Dennis Franchione accepted it to resign from the program even after leading the team in consecutive victories against Texas. In his 5 seasons, Franchione went 32-28. Yesterday the Aggies hired former Green Bay Packers coach Mike Sherman.

SEC

Arkansas- After a turbulent off season and in season, Houston Nutt resigned as the head coach of the Razorbacks. In his tenure at Arkansas, Nutt went 75-48 and in 2006 won the SEC West. A lot of names are being thrown around, but nothing of substance has come out yet. Tommy Bowden has expressed interest in getting back into coaching and other names I am hearing are Jim Grobe, Tommy Tuberville, and Brian Kelly seems to be the “hot” coach this offseason.

Mississippi - Only a day after losing to their rival Mississippi State, coach Ed Orgeron was fired as the Rebels coach. In this 3 seasons he went 10-25. Mississippi did not waste time as they hired ex-Arkansas coach Houston Nutt today.

ACC

Georgia Tech - Only one year after winning the ACC Coastal Division, Georgia Tech fired head coach Chan Gailey. Overall, Gailey’s record at Georgia Tech was 44-32, but he never beat their rival Georgia. A few names being thrown around right now are Rick Neuheisel, Randy Edsall, Paul Johnson, Jumbo Fisher, and Terry Bowden.

Duke- Ted Roof was fired yesterday as the Blue Devils coach. Roof has won just one game in two seasons and 6 overall in his years at Duke. This could be a job for Chan Gailey to get back into but other than that, I expect them to look at an offensive or defensive coordinator from a big name school.

Big Ten

Michigan- Immediately after the loss to Ohio State, Lloyd Carr did what everyone expected him to do a week earlier, he retired. Carr was 121-40 in his 13 seasons and that included a split national championship. It is rumored that Kirk Ferentz has been offered the job, but Iowa is denying that they were ask permission to speak with Ferentz. Other names being thrown around are the obvious Les Miles and Brian Kelly.

Pac 10

Washington State - The Cougars fired Bill Doba after he had amassed a career record of 30-29. In his first season WSU did well going 10-3, but it was all downhill after that. Not much is being said about who is the front runner, but Ed Orgeron, John L. Smith, and Chris Petersen are names being thrown around.

Non-BCS Schools

Northern Illinois - After seven straight winning seasons, Joe Novak resigned from the Huskies’ job. In his career he went 63-75, but built this program into respectability. Scott Shafer, Mike Hagan, and Mike Locksley are names being mentioned for the job.

Southern Mississippi - Jeff Bower was fired from the Southern Miss job even though he led the team to their 14th consecutive winning season. He was 119-82-1 in his career with the Golden Eagles. Names being thrown around are Larry Fedora, Will Muschamp, and former Texas QB Major Applewhite.

SMU - Phil Bennett was fired way back on October 28 after going 18-48 in his years as a Mustang. This is another job where Terry Bowden could possibly get back into the coaching ranks. A good recruiter could really build this program with all of the talent that is in Texas.

Colorado State - Sonny Lubick announced he would not return next year. No word on possible candidates.

It is usually on Saturday where we have all the movement, but the BCS and the coaching world has shaken up a lot in the past two days. First on Thursday, USC woke up and looked really impressive in beating Arizona State. Even with that win they do not control their own destiny in the Pac-10. Oregon controls their own destiny, if they win their final two games they will get the Pac-10’s BCS Bid. USC needs an Oregon loss, and Arizona State is still alive, but they need a loss by both Oregon and USC. With Dennis Dixon out, I expect Oregon to lose one of their last two, and USC to take home another Pac 10 Title.

In the first shocker LSU was upset in 3OTs by Arkansas. I have been saying it all along in the podcast that the Tiger defense, which was suppose to be the strength of this team, has gone downhilll and would cost them a game down the line. Well it did, for most of the game Houston Nutt did not even use a quarterback in the game. They used Darren McFadden at quarterback. Speaking of McFadden, I will say this once and once only…he should get the Heisman and if he doesn’t, it is a real shame. The man is THE best player in the country, plain and simple.

With Arkansas winning their 5 of their last 6 games, that might have saved Houston Nutt’s job. Mark May was reporting last week that Nutt would be fired after the season, but after this win against LSU, that might not be the case. Nutt said he would not resign, and why would he? He would forfeit a lot of money that way.

Texas had a chance to lay claim to the Big 12 South title, but fell flat on their face against Texas A&M. Colt McCoy was built up as a Heisman Candidate in the beginning of the year, but in my opinion he has been nothing but a disappointment. His yardage and completion percentage look good, but when you only throw 3 more TDs than INTs, it is not a good year for a QB. A&M won for the second year in a row and after the game their head coach Dennis Franchione resigned. Rumors are flying that Tommy Tubberville is going to be sought out by A&M.

Colorado beat Nebraska, and once again Nebraska gave up a ton of points. After the game it is rumored that Bill Callahan resigned, and that is not a surprise to anyone. Right now, I can see LSU’s defensive coordinator Bo Pellini and Buffalo’s head coach Turner Gill being the leading candidates. Pellini will also be a top candidate for the LSU job if Les Miles gets the Michigan job.

Finally, Hawaii took a huge step forward toward their BCS Bowl hopes by beating Boise State last night. It wasn’t as much their offense, but the Warriors’ defense impressed me. They held Boise State and Ian Johnson at bay. The only black mark against Hawaii right now is that their schedule is ranked 118 in the country, but I believe they will get a BCS invite if they beat Washington in their season finale. If they get shut out because of a two loss team, it will be tragic.

Every year we come into the season wondering which coaches will not be around for the following season. A few lucky coaches get that big win against their rival at the end of the year to save their job for the next. Looking ahead, these are the 5 coaches that I think need to win now or they will not be around coaching their respective teams come 2008.

1. Karl Dorrell (UCLA) - Last year 7-6; UCLA Career Record 29-21. The Bruins’ fans in Westwood have grown weary of year after year of mediocrity under Dorrell. I really believe that the win against USC last year saved his job, and allowed him to have a one-year reprieve. This season all the cards are in place as he has all of his recruits and 21 returning starters. The Bruins should be able to win their first four games, but the next three against Oregon State, Notre Dame, and Cal should set the tone for the rest of the season. For Dorrell to keep his job I think he needs to finish in at least the top 3 of the Pac-10 and get 9 to 10 wins. But to get a real feel how Bruins fans feel about Karl Dorrell head over to Bruins Nation .

2. Al Groh (Virginia) - Last year 5-7; Virginia Career record 42-33. When Groh came to Virginia he revitalized the program and started bringing in big named recruits. But since 2002 where the Cavs had 9 wins; their win total has diminished since then. The 2006 season was the worst, only winning 5 games but with an experienced offensive and defensive line Groh has the hogs up front to set a solid base for a winning season. He will have to improve on an offense that was last in the ACC in passing, 11th in the ACC in points per game, and leading rusher with only 772 yards. Most of the yards came against the weak teams on the schedule. The first half of the schedule has 4 games the Cavs should win, but they end the season with Wake Forest, Miami, and Virginia Tech. Groh needs at least 8 wins this year to save his job.

3. Greg Robinson (Syracuse) - Last year 4-8; Syracuse Career Record 5-18. This will be Robinson’s third year as the coach of the Orange and he did improve from his first to his second, which wasn’t hard considering he won only 1 game in his first season. This year the Orange will have better personnel to run Robinson’s West Coast Offense scheme, but only return 10 starters from last year’s 4 win season. Syracuse opens with a winnable game against Washington but does not have another slam dunk until 7 weeks later against Buffalo. It might be a little early to think about using the hook on Robinson, but Syracuse was a once proud program and in the Big East today they should be going to a bowl game ever year. In their last 5 years, they have only gone to one bowl game (shared conference title in 2004 with 6 wins) and in total have 21 wins in that time span. For Robinson to keep his job, the Orange have to go bowling this winter.

4. Tyrone Willingham (Washington) - Last year 5-7; Washington Career Record 7-16. Right now Tyrone Willingham needs some luck. Last year he lost his starting quarterback in October, when it looked as if the Huskies were well on their way to a bowl game. In 2007, the team outlook does not look as bright as they will have to replace half of their starting core from last year’s 5 win team. The Huskies will be starting a 19 year old at QB with Jake Locker and have to improve on a rushing game that only averaged a little over 3 yards a carry. The defense has many holes in the secondary and linebacking core. For Washington to consider going bowling, they must win their first two games against Syracuse and Boise State because the only other games that look like winners are Stanford and Washington State. Willingham has a tough task ahead of him, and for him to keep his job safe he will need 5 or 6 wins this season. That might not seem like much, but with the schedule and what he has coming back, it will me a monumental task.

5. Ed Orgeron (Mississippi) - Last year 4-8; Mississippi Career Record 7-16. We all know that Head Coach Ed Orgeron can sell hummers, but the jury is out about his coaching. The Rebels have not gone bowling since 2003 when they had a young man by the name of Eli Manning behind center. Since Manning has left, the Rebels have won 11 games in 3 years and haven’t sniffed the postseason. There is a QB controversy right now between Seth Adams and last year’s starter Brent Schaeffer, right now Orgeron says Adams is the man. The strength of the offensive unit is the line and BenJarvus Green-Ellis is back after his 1000 yard season of 2006. Ole Miss optimistically could begin the season 2-2 before tough games against Florida and Georgia. After those two games I see wins against Louisiana Tech and Northwestern State. Orgeron will need to find two more wins to go bowling and save his job for another season. It is going to be tough.

Honorable Mentions: Phillip Fulmer (Tennessee) and Tommy Bowden (Clemson)

Indiana Hoosiers’ officials have announced that Head Coach Terry Hoeppner has died at the age of 59 after a long battle with brain cancer. Hoeppner has been battling cancer on and off for the past few years. He’s been an inspiration to many around the country during the past 18 months as he battled cancer while trying to continue to coach.

“Terry’s fight was courageous and will serve as an inspiration to those who have known him,” Indiana athletic director Rick Greenspan said in a statement released by the university. “This is a truly sad day for our community, and all of our thoughts and prayers are with the Hoeppner family and to those whose lives he has touched.”

Hoeppner is survived by his wife, three children: Amy, Allison and Drew; and four grandchildren. God bless and may you Rest in Peace Mr. Hoeppner.

Twenty-three Division 1-A teams made head coaching changes this past offseason. As we get toward the end of Spring football, I thought it might be fun to grade all of schools on their new hires. This will be far from an exact science, but the goal here will be to measure the new coaches against their predecessors to see what effect they can be expected to have on the present and future of their respective programs. With that in mind, a grade of “A” would indicate that I expect the new coach to significantly improve their program, a grade of “C” would indicate that the coach will likely maintain the program pretty well and provide a similar level of success, while a grade of “F” means that the school will probably regress under the new regime. Today, we will take a look at the first four schools, alphabetically, that made changes this past offseason.

Air Force (replaced the retiring Fisher DeBerry with former Denver Broncos Assistant Coach Troy Calhoun) — Coach DeBerry had a legendary career as the head coach at Air Force and retired as the academy’s most winningest coach with a career record of 169-107. In these days of big money and bigger conferences, it is hard to imagine a service academy head coach doing much better than DeBerry. With all that said, DeBerry had made some significant P.R. slipups in recent seasons and he is 68-years old. So, when we compare the two men, we have to look at present-day DeBerry versus present-day Troy Calhoun. Glancing over Coach Calhoun’s resume, we can see that he is of fine pedigree: former Air Force quarterback (under DeBerry), working as a collegiate assistant at Ohio University, Air Force, and Wake Forest, and then serving in a number of capacities (including assistant to the head coach) at the NFL level with the Denver Broncos under Mike Shanahan. An additional plus, in my opinion, is his age, 38-years old, should provide him the energy level, hunger, and desire to maximize the program he inherits. I give Air Force a “B+” for this hire, as it is difficult for me to imagine them finding a candidate that realistically fills their needs in such a strong way.

Alabama (replaced the fired Mike Shula with former Miami Dolphins Head Coach Nick Saban) – Mike Shula probably did not know it at the time, but he was, for all intents and purposes, a caretaker or loyal soldier for the school he attended as a player. Coach Shula took over a program that had grown into an embarrassment: the team he took over had been penalized with limited scholarships (from 2001-2005) for violations the team committed under former head coach Mike DuBose, lost Coach Dennis Franchione (in what most feel was, at best, a lateral move) to Texas A&M after just two seasons at Alabama, and then Franchione’s successor, Mike Price, was forced out in a very-well publicized scandal before ever coaching a game. Shula took over the program, with limited scholarships, in 2003 and was ousted before really having an opportunity to put his fingerprints on the program. He pretty much fell on the sword for his school. It appeared as if Alabama would again become an object of ridicule, as they whiffed on Saban and West Virginia head coach Rich Rodriguez during a lengthy period of time without a head coach, before Saban had a change of heart as the NFL season ended. Whatever. The Crimson Tide got who they wanted, a head coach with major conference (and SEC and NFL, to boot) experience and a national championship to his name, a charasmatic figurehead with the ability to schmooze with the best of them, and above all else, a big name. Alabama needed to hit a homerun with this hire, after seemingly firing Shula without an immediate successor in place, and Saban fits the bill. The expectations will be immediately become very high, but I give Alabama an “A-”, with the only knocks against Saban being that he is not one to stay in one place for long (never spending more than five seasons at one place during his 30+ year coaching career) and, at 55-years old, there could be some question as to how much gas he has left in the tank to “retool,” if not rebuild, this proud program.

Arizona State (replaced the fired Dirk Koetter with former Idaho Head Coach Dennis Erickson) — The change at Arizona State will be one of the more intriguing scenarios to watch over the next several seasons. In Koetter, they basically had what every mid-tier BCS conference school looks for in a head coach: he had youth (he came to ASU as a 41-year old in 2001), he had experience (he built the Boise State program from virtually scratch and had a 26-10 record in his three seasons there), and he was steadily improving a program that had always had the “potential” label attached to it (a 40-34 record with three consecutive bowl appearances and four in the past five years). And then, 2006 happened. Last season, Koetter was “lucky” enough to return two experienced, quality quarterbacks in sophomore Rudy Carpenter and senior Sam Keller. When Koetter chose Keller as the starter following training camp, Carpenter reportedly threatened to transfer and some of his offensive players approached him about changing his mind, which he did 48-hours later when he named Carpenter the starter. Keller later transferred to Nebraska, Arizona State took a step backwards with a 7-5 regular season record, and Koetter’s promising career at Arizona State ended with an unceremonious loss to Hawaii in the Hawaii Bowl. Looking to improve the situation, the Sundevils hired former head coach Dennis Erickson, the Ted McGinley of football coaching. Erickson has some good coaching qualities, in that he is experienced (college head coaching jobs at Idaho, Wyoming, Washington State, University of Miami, Oregon State, and Idaho again AND NFL head coaching jobs with the Seattle Seahawks and San Francisco 49ers), two National Championships (’89 and ‘91 with Miami), and NFL ties (always handy to use when recruiting). He also has some major deficiencies in that he, like Saban, does not stay in one place for long, and that he will be 60-years old at the start of the 2007 season (an ongoing theme here is that there are not a lot of 55+ year old coaches that have had success rebuilding football programs–it is more of a young man’s game). But, the big red flag here is that was at the helm when Miami got busted for paying players, failing to properly institute a drug-testing plan, lost 31 scholarships over a two-year period, nearly got the “death penalty” for “losing institutional control over the program” in the mid-90s. So, to recap here, we have a program that was moving in the right direction but had not gotten over the hump yet (re: good, but not good enough), that is taken over by a coach whose career is in its twilight (re: quick fix), that has a history of committing major rules violations in order to win. I think Koetter, who is now employed as the offensive coordinator of the Jacksonville Jaguars, ends up the big winner in this deal–he will cut his teeth in the NFL, enjoy the big severance he got from ASU, and probably return as a college head coach in a year or two. Arizona State will likely push into top 2-3 of the Pac-10 for a few seasons before a.) Erickson retires from football or b.) Arizona State ends up with the NCAA breathing down their necks for improper actions. I give Arizona State an “F” on the Erickson hire. I think that, even though it would have been an unpopular move in the short term, keeping Koetter would have been the smart long-term answer. Yes, Koetter badly mishandled the Keller-Carpenter controversy and the team did backslide a bit in 2006, but consider where the program could be, at its best, five years from now under 48-year old Dirk Koetter versus 60-year old Dennis Erickson.

Army (replaced the retired Bobby Ross with Army Offensive Line Coach Stan Brock) — I touched on this move earlier in the year, so I won’t spend a ton of time on it today. As we all know, Ross was classy and had been very successful throughout his career, both in the NCAA and in the NFL. Like the Air Force comparison, we are not comparing Stan Brock to Bobby Ross during Ross’s prime. Bobby Ross is 70-years old and it seemed apparent that he was having a pretty tough time getting the most out of the program at Army. Stan Brock has a respectable resume, as he spent 15-years as a player in the NFL, was a head coach in the AFL for three seasons, and served the past three seasons as an assistant under Ross. At 48-years old, Brock will be able to bring a higher level of energy to the USMA players and, I suspect, he may be better able to relate to 18-23 year olds than the 70-year old Ross. Ross is a class act and had an excellent career, but I think Stan Brock will be able to provide a long-term gameplan for the Army program and be there to see it through successfully. As with Air Force, there are limits (funding, recruiting, exposure, etc.) to the Army head coaching job, so taking that into consideration, the only negatives that I see in Brock are that his experience is pretty limited, particularly on the defensive side of the ball, and that, despite his NFL career achievements, he does not bring the same name recogntion as a Bobby Ross. Still, I like the Stan Brock move and I think he will almost certainly be able to improve a pretty down-trodden program, so I give Army a “B” with this hire.

Next time, we will take a look at Boston College, Central Michigan, Cincinnati, Florida Internation, and Idaho.

Please feel free to leave your questions and/or comments.

Pete Carroll cannot get out of the spotlight. Whether it be for winning games, bringing in huge recruiting classes which he totes the line of fair and unfair, and now his name is surfacing for the job of the San Diego Chargers. A month ago remember that the Dolphins’ owner flew to Costa Rica to talk to Carroll about his interest in that job, but nothing came of it.

Now Pro Football Talk outlines what they might think could be Carroll’s ticket to San Diego and back into the NFL.

After it was announced that Schottenheimer would return to the Chargers, John Czarnecki of FOXSports.com reported that the Chargers would have cut Schottenheimer loose if they could have lined up the guy that they wanted to take his place. Czar didn’t name the mystery candidate, but our guess was/is that it is/was Carroll.

Four weeks later, Carroll was able to lock up another class of recruits, who signed their letters of intent on February 7.

Also, remember how Steve Sarkisian abruptly pulled out of the running to coach the Raiders? He said at the time that he wants to be a head coach at the college level, prompting speculation that he’d been given a wink-nod of his own that, if/when Carroll leaves, Sark will get the Trojans’ gig.

And that might have prompted USC co-offensive coordinator Lane Kiffin to look elsewhere so soon after Sarkisian said “no thanks” to the Raiders.

Then there’s the looming Reggie Bush mess, which could eventually cause serious problems for USC. But it’s generally accepted at the college level that the NCAA doesn’t come down as hard on a program if the coach who presided over the mess is gone when the poop hits the propeller.

Those are all good points but I think it would have to take a lot more to get Carroll out of USC. His Trojans are going to be the #1 ranked team come this fall and they have every recruit in the country wanting to come to his school. So unless he knows of some impending sanctions that the NCAA might slap him with he will end up staying at USC. But if he has done some shady things like some are speculating, he can leave USC and have another coach clean up his mess.

Ross retires after 3 years at Army

70-year old Bobby Ross, the head coach of the Army football program, retired today. As with most things Bobby Ross-related, the move was done quietly, with little fanfare. Ross was hired three seasons ago to rebuild Army’s program, but he struggled with a 9-25 record with the Black Knights losing their final six games of the 2006 season.

Ross is one of the more underrated football coaches of the past 30-years. He is the rare breed of head football coach that saw success in both the NFL and the NCAA. His finest coaching achievement was in 1990, when he lead Georgia Tech to a share of the national championship. He left Georgia Tech in 1991 to become the head coach of the San Diego Chargers. And in 1995, he did what many “big-time” college coaches dream of doing (I’m looking at you, Steve Spurrier and Nick Saban), as he lead the Chargers to a Super Bowl Appearance. In all, Coach Ross was the head man at The Citadel (1973-77), Maryland (1982-86), Georgia Tech (1987-91), San Diego Chargers (1992-96), Detroit Lions (1997-00), and Army (2004-06). Overall, he held a career record of 180-169-2.

Ross had a distinguished career. My only commentary on him, is in regards to his most recent job at Army. Hiring a 67-year old coach, that had retired four years before due to poor health, was a pretty poor decision at the time, and in hindsight looks even worse. College football coaching and, in particular, program building is a young man’s game. If you look at the older men that are still coaching successfully, they are the coaches that built their programs from scratch and have maintained success–think Penn State, Florida State, or Virginia Tech, OR they took over programs that were already functioning at a pretty high level and just needed some fine-tuning–think Oklahoma, Texas, USC, Florida, or Ohio State (and look for Miami and Alabama to get back in this category soon). And, if you think about the programs that have truly elevated themselves in the past few season, they have done it through the long hours of their young head coaches–think California, West Virginia, Rutgers, Utah, or Boise State. I will stop short of saying that the evidence is there (since I have not done a long-term study), but the conventional wisdom appears to be that, if you want to rebuild (or even just “build”) a program, you should go with a younger coach, rather than an experienced, older one.

Big Ten officials and coaches might be glad to see Carr leave

In Lloyd Carr’s 12 seasons at Michigan he has gone 113-36 overall and 75-21 in the Big Ten with 5 Big Ten titles. Yet there are still a few of the Michigan faithful that want to see Carr off the sidelines. Well they might get their wish.The Ann Arbor News is reporting that the language in his contract was altered, making it easier for him to retire after the 2007 season.

Signed by Carr on Dec. 21 of last year, the addendum calls for the school to set up a deferred compensation account worth $300,000 within 15 days of July 1, 2007. Carr will collect his money approximately a year later if he remains employed by Michigan “in any capacity, until July 1, 2008.”

There have been rumors flying around for a few years that Carr was thinking about retiring, but this is the most definitive proof to date. Carr has done a great job at Michigan during the regular season, but lately he has been struggling against his rival Ohio State and in bowl games. He has won only once against Jim Tressel and has lost his last 3 bowl games. Personally I am not a huge Lloyd Carr fan, mostly due to the fact that he kicks Penn State’s butt each year, but I think it is a big mistake if the University is some how forcing him out. He does well on the recruiting front and won 9 or more games in all but 3 of his seasons at Michigan.