ShareThisSo now that thousands of politicians find themselves out of work, college football coaches can certainly empathize.The cruel November winds blew on Monday, when Tennessee's Phillip Fulmer announced he was stepping down at the end of the Vols' hideous 3-6 season. Fulmer will join Larry Coker as coaches with national titles in the Bowl Championship Series era now out of work. Clemson also sent Tommy Bowden packing last month while Washington's Tyrone Willingham got to finish the year before checking out, his team then responding accordingly in a 56-0 shellacking at USC Saturday.The sport's win-now mentality has multiplied in the last 10 years as three coaches (Oklahoma's Bob Stoops, Ohio State's Jim Tressel and Florida's Urban Meyer) won it all in their second year at their schools.Tennessee, Clemson and Washington fans yearn for that kind of quick turnaround. They believe big names will swoon if they focus their attention. Reality is a bit different, however. Remember this is a world where Jim Grobe turned down Nebraska and Arkansas to remain at Wake Forest.Tennessee fans throw out names like North Carolina's Butch Davis, Texas Tech's Mike Leach, Boise State's Chris Petersen or even Tampa Bay Bucs coach Jon Gruden. All four will probably say no thanks to coaching at a place where Fulmer's 35 years (including a player and assistant) and 150-51 head-coaching mark (including 96 SEC wins) is considered not good enough, unless you're counting his $6-million buyout package.Many Clemson folks simply want good-old-boy Danny Ford, architect of the Tigers' only national title in 1981 and subsequent NCAA probation. Never mind that he's 60, hasn't coached in 11 years and now spends his time framing pictures. The Washington program has faltered so badly that an up-and-coming coordinator type (Missouri assistant and UW alum Dave Christensen?) may be their only choice.So it is fitting that the next to go will be from the SEC. Only in Dixie coaches are canned days after beating the nation's No. 1 team (Arkansas Houston Nutt), given guaranteed $32-million deals (Alabama's Nick Saban) or welcomed with open arms after abandoning their current job in season (Arkansas' Bobby Petrino).Which brings us to Auburn's Tommy Tuberville. Back in 2003, Auburn was about to fire Tuberville to hire Bobby Petrino, even flying to Louisville to woo him while Tuberville was preparing for the last two games. Word of this nefariousness leaked and embarrassed Tigers officials gave Tuberville another year.Of course, he then came up with a beautifully timed 13-0 season and eventually leveraged that success into a seven-year, $18-million contract complete with a $6-million buyout. Sound familiar?Like Tennessee, the Tigers were a preseason top 20 team that stands 4-5, thanks in large part to a popgun offense (113th in the nation in scoring offense, 17.6 points per game, one spot ahead of the inept Vols), which already resulted in Tuberville canning offensive coordinator Tony Franklin (Auburn's fifth O-coordinator in Tuberville's 10 years) after just five games.Tuberville's 84-38 mark sounds good, until you factor in a 12-9 mark the last 16 months that includes losses to South Florida, Mississippi State, Arkansas and Ole Miss.Yet Tuberville hasn't crapped out yet. Having beaten Alabama six straight times (the most in Iron Bowl history), a lucky seven Nov. 29 in Tuscaloosa could save him. A loss means curtains.Money also plays a big factor elsewhere. Iowa's Kirk Ferentz, once a hot commodity, is a disappointing 17-17 (8-13 in the Big Ten) since the start of 2006. Yet his base salary of $3 million, with four years left on his deal, makes a change unlikely. Given his disastrous debut at Michigan (3-7 ending UM's record bowl streak at 34), Rich Rodriguez is lucky he's not facing a referendum from agitated UM fans, already miffed at having to pay West Virginia $4 million to hire Rodriguez.The great mystery is how Fulmer, Bowden and Willingham can be let go midseason while Syracuse sticks with Greg Robinson (9-34 in four years at Syracuse including 3-22 in the Big East). You know you've got friends in high places when you're winning percentage (.264) isn't even a good batting average.UPSET PICK: Pitt got us to 4-6 with a first-ever winning season still possible. So let's go to what used to be the Bowden Bowl with Clemson, a 6-point underdog, to knock off Bobby and No. 24 Florida State Saturday in Death Valley.LINDSAY'S LOSER: Remember when Prairie View A&M was the gold standard of college football losers with an unfathomable 80-game losing streak from 1989-98? Times have indeed changed as the Panthers are 7-1 and in second place in the SWAC West Division. Aside from a 40-16 loss at Grambling State, Prairie View has outscored its foes by a combined 230-75 and might even make the I-AA playoffs.(E-mail John Lindsay at lindsayj(at)shns.com. Distributed by Scripps Howard News Service, http://www.scrippsnews.com)
Tennessee joins college football's coaching carousel
Submitted by SHNS on Tue, 11/04/2008 - 17:47
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