College Coaches have really nice severance packages

Rivalry weekend – one to be Thankful for! The best game was the Iron Bowl. I went over to Jason’s and watched the first half with he and Marye. It turned out to be a glorious day for the War Beagles from Auburn, as they not only beat their RIVAL Bama, but took down their 2nd #1 ranked team in 3 weeks. The Noles beat the Gators, in a fairly anticlimactic game. FSU is playing LA Monroe this week (cancelled or postponed from earlier because of the hurricane) in hopes of keeping the 36 year bowl streak going… Rumor has it that Jimbo is off to Texas A&M. Good for him. Despite winning a national championship, he never felt like a good fit to me…he was the guy to follow the GUY, coach Bowden. That usually is complicated at best. No idea who FSU might go after if he does bolt. The best coaches in the country are Saban, Dabo and Urban, with James Franklin and Gary Patterson not too far down the list. Chip Kelly took the UCLA job, which left the Gators trying to land Scott Frost into the boat. It appears that the UCF coach will go “home” to Nebraska instead of Gainesville. BTW, the UCF vs USF game was tremendous. Clayton and I watched the very exciting finish.

Back to the Florida Gators. After casting towards Kelly and Frost, they hired Dan Mullen. Very good coach with UF ties, and a safe hire (unlike Tennessee). I think they may be “settling” a tad, but who else is out there really? Stoops? Dream on… Dan will do well, but he better bring his AAA game, because Kirby Smart is building Georgia into the beast of the East…another BTW, nephew Coach Baker played a significant role in Georgia’s dismantling of Georgia Tech. He was a consultant on the triple option, which he knows intimately from his o-line coaching at GA Southern. Way to go Coach Baker/Nate!

What else is there to mull over? Miami lost to Pitt, so they have no margin for error in their ACC Championship game against Clemson, but it has still be a great season for the Canes …boo. Oklahoma and TCU in the big12 which has the silliest CCG…always will be a rematch with on 10 teams. Ohio State took down Michigan, so they face off against Wisconsin in the big10 (another academic sports conference that ridiculously math challenged). Stanford and Southern Cal play in the Pac 12, but unlikely that the winner cracks the “final four” playoff berth. Auburn and Georgia go at it again in Atlanta this time, should be a dandy as we say down south.

My Bulldogs could not beat St Augustine, so a fantastic season comes to an end. Great run with lots of young players to look forward to next season. Going to Tenn Tech on Saturday to watch Friendship Christian play DCA for the private league level 1 championship. Finally, the coaching circus at Tennessee is hard to fathom. The new AD appears to be so out of the loop with this fan base (or under the power of the Haslam’s) that he really thought SChiano would be a good fit. He would not have, but the bringing up “possible” link to Sandusky was disgusting. We convict folks now a days without any due process, just social media burnings. So, Mullen – NO. Gundy – NO. Doeren – No. Brohm – no! And all of these rejections are just eating at my UT fan neighbors, as I think it would me as well. Mike Leach, is the most interesting college coach of them all. A lawyer (like Terry Bowden at Akron) who does not filter his comments at all  He is risky, but a terrific offensive football mind! One can hope  BTW, Kevin Sumlin is a very good football coach. Did not deserve to be fired by A&M and will have done better than Jimbo over the same time period, if Fisher goes to College Station – just my prediction. If Jimbo thinks the ACC is rough, wait until he gets SEC West every week.

The debacle has given Jason Rowell, Mark Plumb and I plenty to text about! Also, cold blooded treatment of Eli. It is a business in the NFL, but still harsh. I was at the Swamp when Eli brought a mediocre Ole Miss team in and he single handedly (slight exaggeration) beat UF that day.