Quick Hitch  

The coaching carousel goes round and round and round and round...........

Quick, knee jerk reactions to some of the coaching vacancies.

1) Arkansas
Who's out?: Houston Nutt
Who they should hire: Butch Davis
Skinny: The Razorbacks fancy themselves a major program, even though they are probably in the middle of the pack at best in the SEC. Davis is a MONSTER name, and probably the only coach who can instantly elevate the entire program. Plus it don't hurt that he's an Arkansas alum and former standout defensive end for the Razorbacks.

2) UCLA
Who's out?: Karl Dorrell
Who they should hire: Rick Neuheisal
Skinny: Whether Karl Dorrell got a fair shot or not is a discussion for another time. The bottom line is that there simply is no excuse for a Los Angeles school not challenging for a national title every year (just ask USC). Neuheisel, a UCLA alum, is a proven winner and has the offensive mind required to compete in the Pac-10. Neuheisel's firing from Washington was disgraceful and he deserves another shot.

3) Washington State
Who's out?: Bill Doba
Who they should hire: Ryan Leaf
Skinny: Just kidding (although Leaf is currently a collegiate golf coach). But seriously, this is an easy one. Mike Price has already shown he can win at Wazzou. He's available and would love to come back. Like Neuheisel he's paid his price, and deserves another shot.

4) Michigan
Who's out?: Lloyd Carr
Who they should hire: Bob Stoops
Skinny: I simply don't understand Michigan's obsession with Les Miles. Miles is a nice coach, but he hasn't exactly lit the world on fire since taking over Nick Saban's talent laden roster at LSU. This is MICHIGAN!!!! The Wolverines are the winningest program in the history of college football, have a fertile in state talent base, and has a leg up on everyone in their weak conference outside of Ohio State every year. Basically, Michigan is one of the best coaching jobs on the planet and it would be a waste on a tier 3 coach like Miles. If I am the Michigan AD, I make a list of the 10 best college football coaches on the planet. Then I start down the list making calls. Stoops, who would probably rank around #5 or so, is a former Big-10 player (at Iowa) and would fit in perfectly. There is no doubt he would do at Michigan exactly what he did at Oklahoma......return a mighty program to glory.

Quick, knee jerk reactions to some of the coaching hires.

1) Nebraska
Who's out?: Bill Callahan
Who's in?: Bo Pelini
Skinny: BAD hire. Callahan needed to go, but Pelini is an uninspiring choice. Pelini was a nice d-coordinator for the Huskers, but he has underachieved big time since taking over once of the 3 most talented defense rosters in the nation at LSU. More importantly, though, Nebraska really needed to make a splash looking towards the future.....not the past. Just like with Miami's Randy Shannon hire, Pelini was part of the steady decline at Nebraska. The Huskers needed to go in a different direction. I would have placed a call to a guy like Paul Johnson, the one man who could have brought the power running game back to Lincoln.

2) Georgia Tech
Who's out?: Chan Gailey
Who's in?: Paul Johnson
Skinny: On paper a great hire, but I wonder how Johnson is going to tweak his triple option to compete in the ACC. Georgia Tech is not Nebraska. They don't have 300 pound farm boys around every corner. Johnson's schtick would have worked well in Lincoln. I don't know how well it will work at GT.

3) Ole Miss.
Who's out?: Ed Orgeron
Who's in?: Houston Nutt
Skinny: Great hire. Nutt did a superb job at Arkansas, even if the school administrators didn't realize it. Nutt is used to recruiting in the SEC, and has shown a tremendous ability to lure some superstar talent (see McFadden, Darren and Mustain, Mitch). Ole Miss. has themselves a keeper.

4) Texas A & M
Who's out?: Dennis Franchione
Who's in?: Mike Sherman
Skinny: What??? Mike Sherman??? Really? Something tells me the rest of the Big 12 isn't shaking with this hire. Sherman is a decent, repeat decent, NFL coach. Hardly the big name we expected from an Aggie program that has as big an inferiority complex as any in the country. A & M is admittedly a miserable coaching job. The expectations are too high, and it's murder trying to compete with the Longhorns and Sooners for recruits. But the Aggie boosters have DEEP pockets. They definitely could have gotten someone with a whole lot more cache. Why not call Butch Davis? Or if you wanted someone with more experience in Texas why not TCU's perrennially underrated Gary Patterson? Or if you were hell bent on an NFL name, why not give former Aggie Gary Kubiak a shot (his Texans are going nowhere fast)?