November is the cruelest month for coaches. And since no one has been officially axed yet, here's a list of who will in the coming weeks.
GOOD AS GONE
-- Steve Kragthorpe, Louisville: At 14-18 in three disappointing-disastrous seasons, Kragthorpe was reduced to starting freshman walk-on QB Will Stein in Saturday's win over Arkansas State, where 21,479 barely half-filled Cardinal Stadium. It will be interesting to see if UL makes a run at one of the SEC's aging, unemployed Clydesdales (Phillip Fulmer or Tommy Tuberville) or simply goes cheap with an untested coordinator.
-- Al Groh, Virginia: Winners of eight of their last 22 games dating back to 2007, the Cavaliers hit rock bottom with Saturday's 28-17 home loss to Duke, their second straight loss to the lowly Blue Devils. Clear sign that Groh, 59-49 in nine years at UVA, is done? The Duke crowd of 41,713 was the smallest since Scott Stadium was expanded in 2000.East Carolina's Skip Holtz or Tommy Bowden look like good fits.
-- Mike Sanford, UNLV: Mike Sanford's 14-42 mark in five years pretty much says it all in this coaching graveyard. Saturday's 41-0 loss at No. 6 TCU saw the Rebels' offense come up with six first downs. A buyout of the final three years of Sanford's contract will only cost the school $225,000.
STILL A CHANCE
-- Mark Richt, Georgia: How is a guy with an 86-26 mark in nine years in trouble? Remember, this is the SEC -- a group that makes derivatives traders look kind. All that matters to Bulldogs fans is that 10-7 mark since October, 2008 that has seen UGA give up 30 points or more nine times. Richt knows that Fulmer and Tuberville both were run despite perfect seasons, something he's never done. Richt will need 10 wins next year and maybe a win over Florida to stick around.
-- Bobby Bowden, Florida State: Sure, FSU's brass said Bowden wouldn't be fired last month. But they didn't say he'd be back next year, either. Now, the Seminoles (4-4) may be without starting QB Christian Ponder Saturday at Clemson. The defense (last in the ACC, 109th in the nation in total defense at 428.9 yards per game) is laughably bad and Papa Bowden's 27-20 mark since 2006 won't highlight his obit. If FSU somehow gets to a bowl, the 80-year-old patriarch gets to coach the final year of his contract. A losing season means coach-in-waiting offensive coordinator Jimbo Fisher taking over or Richt a possibility to return to Tallahassee, where he was offensive coordinator in the 1990s.
-- Dan Hawkins, Colorado: Luring Hawkins from Boise State back in 2006 looked great. But it just hasn't worked as Hawkins' 15-30 record (2-6 this year) shows. But we just don't think cash-strapped CU has the $3 million buyout Hawkins would be owed. With only four senior starters, perhaps Hawkins' youth movement pays off next year. And it's cheaper for CU honchos to find out.
WHO KNOWS?
-- Rich Rodriguez, Michigan: Saturday's baffling 38-13 clunker at Illinois, which hadn't beaten a D-I team in nearly a year, dropped the Wolverines to 5-4 and "Rich Rod'' to 8-13 in two years. If UM can't avoid a second straight losing season (which hasn't happened since 1962-63), look out.
-- Bill Lynch, Indiana: Another tough call. Lynch, hardly overwhelming in eight seasons at Ball State (37-53), inherited the Hoosiers program when Terry Hoeppner died in June 2007. At 4-4 and leading No. 8 Iowa by 14 and inside the Hawkeyes 10 in the third quarter on Saturday, a huge win and likely bowl bid was within IU's grasp. Then it all fell apart with an avalanche of five Iowa TDs. Maybe a 2-1 finish could save Lynch (14-20 in three years in Bloomington). Does it matter that Tuberville's wife is from Indiana?
-- Mark Snyder, Marshall: Okay, we admit to enjoying "We are Marshall'' so much that we really want the Thundering Herd to get their mojo back. Alas, Mark Snyder (21-35 in five years) isn't likely the guy for the job. And MU (5-4) yacking up a 20-7 lead in the final seven minutes at Central Florida on Sunday really hurt.
UPSET PICK: South Florida improved us to 5-4 and keeps hope alive for that elusive winning season. We'll go with No. 15 Ohio State to upend 4-point favorite No. 11 Penn State Saturday in Happy Valley.
GOUGE AWAY: Unless you're Moe or Curley on "The Three Stooges,'' eye gouging isn't really an ideal activity. Sadly, Florida star LB Brandon Spikes didn't get the memo when he gave Georgia RB Washuan Ealey the business. Now Spikes, the Gators senior co-captain, will sit out the first half of Saturday's walkover vs. Vanderbilt. We won't waste time railing on Gators coach Urban Meyer's idea of law and order on this.
The bigger issue is exactly what's going on No. 1 Florida's mindset. Reports swirl of some sort of confrontation between Spikes and Tim Tebow last week after a sloppy win at Mississippi State, when Meyer closed the locker room for 15 minutes urging his team "stick together.'' Not exactly what you expect from a defending national champion riding an 18-game winning streak. Who knows? Maybe it's the pressure UF players feel to turn in the program's first undefeated season.
(E-mail John Lindsay at lindsayj(at)shns.com. Distributed by Scripps Howard News Service, http://www.scrippsnews.com)
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