[NU Sports] Coaching News (Big 10 related)

[SjT (Stephen J. Truog)]

Man - if this is true, then Urban Meyer is my new hero!:)

Seriously, though, I think it does show that the luster is off the Golden
Dome ... and the final glitters of hope may have been taken off by ND's own
trustees with their ill-handled firing of Willingham while trying to do the
doublespeak about Notre Dame being different.

This really puts the pressure on in South Bend, though. They fired a guy
mid-contract who did everything right "between Sunday and Friday" and
hadn't gotten a chance to work with his recruits in the new system yet ...
it was pretty obvious the move was in an attempt to get Meyer before he
slipped away to Gainesville.

Now that it's backfired ... what's plan B? I really don't see Ferentz
leaving. Cal's coach? Perhaps. Butch Davis? Gruden? Weiss?

Whatever it is, this is looking to blow up in the DOH!mers face more than
the silly O'Leary flap ever did. They gotta pull off a hail mary and get
someone big-time to sign up quick.

As for those other Big Ten openings ... the Trib had a big feature today on
Zook at Illinois ... and if Solich heads to Bloomington, those are two
pretty big-name coaches for those two schools. It would be -- on the
surface at least -- a committment to football from two administrations who
haven't committed much lately. Indiana's looking to already feel some pain
from their move -- the local all-state tight end (Roy had a link to the
Times story on Harangody) in NWI was a Hoosier verbal but had a big story
on the sports cover today about changing his mind. He said there's no one
to even talk to at IU or get any answers, so the Hoosiers bettter get
someone in quick or all that work DiNardo did with the high school coaches
in the state could go to waste (and it was a huge undertaking - make no
mistake - and a big step for IU).

And as for our little experiment ... I should add that what would have been
really nice for experimentation would be to have a program that has enjoyed
a similar rags-to-riches story in the mix. I guess Stanford is as close as
we'll get there, with Nebraska, ND, Florida, etc. all having more history.
I'd like to see what would happen at K-State or VaTech ... they rose up in
the mid-'90s like NU ... but they were able to keep their miracle worker
coach and establish consistency.

But I never thought I'd see Notre Dame spurned for the Mighty Gators by a
coach who started at South Bend ... times have indeed changed in the
college football world.

GO CATS!!!
-SjT


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