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.