Coaching Whispers  

A sampling of some of the hot coaching rumors running wild on Thursday..........

Alabama - Apparently the Tide are so desperate to return to prominence that they offered Nick Saban a 10 year $50 million contract with a $7 million signing bonus. He rejected the overture which should pave the way for a similar offer to be made to Rich Rodriguez.

random thought.......If 'Bama makes a generous offer to Rodriguez and he rejects it, one of the most storied college football programs will walk away from the table with egg all over their face. If there is truth that they are going to offer the position to RR, the contract will have to be too good for him to pass up.

Arizona State - The Sun Devils want Norm Chow and it seems to be a classic fit as he would follow two other offensive minded coaches in the desert (Bruce Snyder and Dirk Koetter). Other candidates receiving attention are Dennis Erickson (bad choice), Steve Mariucci (good choice), Mike Martz (good choice), Mike Price (great choice), and Mike Riley (bad choice).

random thought.......Frazier made a point yesterday that the Sun Devils seemed destined to be the same team over and over each year (good offense, no defense). Well, with that list of candidates he'd seem to be right. If Chow doesn't end up getting the job my money is on Martz who was a former ASU assistant under Snyder.

Stanford - A new entry on the list of major openings, but this one should rank near the top in terms of desireability. True the Cardinal have been abysmal as of late, but not long ago they were a fixture in the top half of the Pac-10. Word is that Stanford is very interested in Auburn offensive coordinator, and former Bay area resident, Al Borges.

random thought.......Palo Alto is beautiful all year long and my guess is Borges hasn't forgotten his days there. He'd make a terrific choice for Stanford, and is overdue for a head coaching position. His departure from Auburn could hasten Tommy Tubberville's as well (remember, I still predict he ends up in Miami).

Boston College - No early returns yet on who the Eagles will be looking at, but word is that they are unlikely to hire a coach that will cost substantially more than O'Brien. The sexiest name out there is former Notre Dame coach Bob Davie who played under Boston College AD Gene DeFellipo at Youngstown State. Still, Davie has a sweet TV gig and would probably command too high of a salary.

randome thought.......As I think harder about candidates, two local names jump out at me. First is Harvard coach Tim Murphy, who has been magnificent for the Crimson. He is very similar to O'Brien in many ways and certainly wouldn't cost the Eagles too much. He makes a lot of sense and would most likely keep with the tradition of going 9-3 every season. The second name is former UMass head coach, and current QB coach with the Pittsburgh Steelers, Mark Whipple. Whipple is an offensive mind whose schemes were instrumental in leading the Minutemen to the 1AA championship several years back. He is the type of dynamic and creative mind that the Eagles sorely need, and it wouldn't be the first time BC poached a coach from the NFL ranks (Tom Coughlin was a Bill Parcells assistant in NY before coming to Chestnut Hill).