Rice's head coaching search

Rice is currently scrambling to find a head coach after Tulsa yanked the rug that is Todd Graham out from under them. They have put together a short list according to their message board and the Houston Chronicle. Interestingly, if I were to put together a short list of people I would consider hiring, Rice has put together a largely similar list.

Bo Pelini: DC & LB Coach LSU; was interim HC after Solich was fired at Nebraska; under 40.

Charlie Strong: Assistant Head Coach-Florida; Co-Defensive Coordinator & LB; interim HC Florida (coached Peach Bowl).

Chris Hatcher: HC-Voldesta State.

Larry Fedora: OC Oklahoma State; former OC at Florida; former HC Garland HS.

To that list, the Houston Chronicle also adds Denver Broncos defensive line coach Andre Patterson, Georgia defensive coordinator Willie Martinez and Arizona defensive coordinator Mark Stoops. Also, there is current Rice defensive coordinator Paul Randolph.

I can't imagine Rice doesn't have a coach by the end of this week. If I am Rice, I go hard after any one of those first four.

Weekly roundup

SMU barely beat Brown and lost a buzzer-beater to open conference play against Southern Miss. Here is the DMN's version.

Bennett received the American Football Coaches Association's 2006 Academic Achievement Award on behalf of SMU. SMU recorded a 100 percent graduation rate when all members of its freshman class of 2000-2001 earned a degree.

The picture is a little hard to make out, but did Bennett shave the 'stache?

The big football news is coming out of Tulsa and Rice today after former Tulsa Defensive Coordinator Todd Graham became the former head coach of Rice today, just a couple of days after receiving a contract extension. The Rice folks are apoplectic.

Key to BCS title?

From the DMN Colleges Blog:

Key to BCS title? Recruit Denton Ryan D-linemen


Florida DE Jarvis Moss, who spent much of last night harrassing Heisman Trophy winner Troy Smith, became the second Denton Ryan alum to win a BCS
championship. Moss played next to Texas DT Derek Lokey, a contributor on last
season's national championship squad, in high school.

This trend with Denton Ryan D-linemen is great news for SMU fans. Ryan DL Ben Goldthorpe orally committed to the Ponies last week, so it's fair to expect a crystal football in a Ford Stadium trophy case in a few years.

Key to BCS title?

From the DMN Colleges Blog:

Key to BCS title? Recruit Denton Ryan D-linemen


Florida DE Jarvis Moss, who spent much of last night harrassing Heisman Trophy winner Troy Smith, became the second Denton Ryan alum to win a BCS
championship. Moss played next to Texas DT Derek Lokey, a contributor on last
season's national championship squad, in high school.

This trend with Denton Ryan D-linemen is great news for SMU fans. Ryan DL Ben Goldthorpe orally committed to the Ponies last week, so it's fair to expect a crystal football in a Ford Stadium trophy case in a few years.

Coaching Carousel, Round II

Just when you think the waters of college football have calmed, a seemingly irrelevant act causes ripples throughout college football. The Atlanta Falcons hire Louisville coach Bobby Petrino. Now comes word that Louisville will hire Tulsa's Steve Kragthorpe. This is important for SMU because, obviously, SMU plays Tulsa every year and second, Tulsa and SMU compete for the same recruits (more often than they should, IMO). Tulsa AD Bubba Cunningham is not the AD that selected Kragthorpe or wojcik; this, to my mind, will be Cunningham's first substantial hire.

Second, Alabama's hiring of Nick Saban may cause even more ripples. Saban apparently contacted Rice offensive coordinator Major Applewhite about the offensive coordinator position at Alabama. Major was all too happy to comment on it to the Houston paper. The fact that Major was so quick to admit interest tells me Major is not going to get this job; Major is marketing himself more than anything else. More likely, Saban goes after Paul Petrino at Louisville for the offensive coordinator, unless Paul follows his brother to Atlanta.

The week that was

Well, I went a week without talking basketball. I missed a troubling loss and a decent win over a bad team (wait, maybe that means it isn't a decent win). Not really sure what happened in the loss to North Carolina A&T.

Win or lose, I was far more interested in this in today's DMN:

SMU, riding a two-game losing streak, suffered through a "horrible" practice Wednesday, coach Matt Doherty said.

Team captain Jon Killen warned Doherty that the Mustangs' confidence was down.

"We've got to change our course of action," Doherty said he realized. "We've got to build 'em up."

So Malcolm Farmer, director of operations, quickly put together a highlight video. The team sat down in Moody Coliseum's bleachers after Thursday's walk-through to watch it.

"It got the guys fired up," junior Derrick Roberts said. "We chose to come out and make a difference on the court."

This is what, by most accounts, Doherty didn't do at North Carolina. At UNC he pushed harder and harder got more negative and negative. Now, he is builiding players back up. I think there was some concern that he was headed down that same path a few weeks ago. What we can't forget is that Doherty is a good coach and a demanding coach. He is going to be hard on his players.

So, over at the Orsini blog, where he doesn't post pictures of USC cheerleaders, Orsini is inviting "guest bloggers." Now we have a post from Head Football Coach Phil Bennett. At the end, Bennett says he will be back with more insight, but for the life of me I didn't read anything in his post that couldn't have come from nearly any coach in Division I. It really isn't fair of me to criticize; the guy is in the middle of recruiting. It isn't like he has much he can comment on.

In other news, Chuck Faucette is rumored to be gone.

Why I root for USC from time to time

I did summer school at USC one summer in high school. Yes, I was that kind of nerd. But the real reason I root for USC every now and then is ...