Coaching Carousel Comments

This is the time of year when the real estate agents are active, and the moving companies are busy. It's coaching change season, where coaches and staffs are fired, and others are hired to take their place. Some searches are more public than others. Alabama, for example, has been turned down by Steve Spurrier, Nick Saban, and Rich Rodriguez, thus far. The more accurate question is: Who hasn't turned down the Alabama job? The LSU guys at Tigerdroppings.com have a running thread on this that is hilarious.

There is no way I can comment on every hiring and firing. There are a couple, though, that come to my attention.

The Mean Green of the University of North Texas announced today the hiring of Todd Dodge as head coach. Dodge has lost one game in the last five years at Southlake Carroll High School, and stands two wins away from a fourth Class 5A state championship. There are those that will laugh at this move. However, if you're North Texas, what do you have to lose? The Mean Green are at the bottom of the worst Division I-A conference in the country. Any publicity they generate is good publicity, and this will generate a lot of buzz in the Metroplex. The hire cannot hurt recruiting, nor will his high-powered passing offense. There is a big difference between high school and college, even at the highest levels of high school football. However, a program like North Texas is well served by thinking outside the box. This move definitely does that. Do you believe in the Mean Green? Todd Dodge does.

Dennis Erickson has taken the job as the new head coach at Arizona State. This is his third stop in the Pac-10, after having coached at Washington State and Oregon State. He's now in his 60's, so it may be too late for him to try to coach at all 10 schools, but he's off to a good start. Erickson won two national championships at Miami, and has also won at other places such as Idaho and Wyoming. He is also a former coach of the Seattle Seahawks and San Francisco 49ers. Arizona State is a sleeping giant, located in a major metropolitan area with a large undergraduate enrollment and in reasonable proximity to recruiting in southern California. The area has grown so quickly that there is not the homegrown support for the program that other large schools enjoy, and there are now four professional franchises providing competition. However, the Fighting Sun Devils still have every reason to finish at or near the top of the Pac-10 consistently. This is a good move for both parties.