Looks like Rich Rodriguez of WVU may be starting to shop around. ESPN reports he had a meeting with Alabama's AD in New York. While there's nothing special about the meeting some papers are reporting that Alabama will be making an offer in the next 48 hours.

Coach RR was already in NYC for Senior LB Jay Henry's award presentation as he was a finalist for the academic Heisman Award. As its being said, RR is interested in what Alabama has to offer. Reportdly Alabama is said to be offering a 10 year 30 million dollar contract. Any of us would be tempted to "listen" with that type of money being thrown at us. However, expect WVU's administration to make RR one of the top paid coaches ( from 1.1 million per year to close to 2.0 per year), give significant pay raises to assistants, lure one of the nation's best defensive Cordinators ( from an ACC school cough cough), a nd improve what are already exceptional facilites, and lastly purchase the private jet he wants for recruiting.

The ball is in WVU's administation's court. RR and his wife want to be in West Virginia. Its time for WVU's administration to spend the money ( that they have) to make WVU elite.

They better offer him plenty of cash to get him out of WV....Alabama's a tough place to win, unrealistic expectations from a fanbase that still believes that it is a top five program.....He ought to stay where he is....but ......money.....money.....money......

And yet they're only #13 in the nation. What money can't seem to buy ... a shot at the national championship. Sorry for the ding but when colleges get so absurd in their attempt to win the game it bugs the hell outta me.

And yes, Texas' and Arkansas' sh*t stinks just as bad if not worse.

I hope that coaches like Rodriquez, Schiano, and Grobe stay at their respective schools. They've built their programs up and deserve to reap the benefits. I hate to see some schools, who fire their coaches after 6-6 seasons because the alumni are itchy, try to buy their way to success. Make Alabama and Miami settle for the 8th choice on their list....maybe that will make schools like that think more carefully the next time they fire a coach for not producing titles.

I hope you all at WVU enjoy the coaching expertise of Chuck Amato! I heard he's looking for a place to go.

I also think some of the paychecks college coaches are getting is pretty absurd. For any coach (yes, Frank Beamer included) who hasn't won a championship in the past term of his contract to be earning well over $1M is just ridiculous.

Poor Miami


Schiano at Rutgers tells Miami " Thanks but no thanks, I am staying at RU".

don't think that he would land in Morgantown

ESPN is reporting that NC State has hired Boston College coach Tom O'Brien. That doiesn't really seem like a step up to me. A lateral move at best.

You're right.....NC State is not a better program than Boston College....so the main reason for the move would have to be $$Money$$.

What I was implying went over Big Theta's head.

He's looking for a DC, not a former washed up head coach from the ACC.

Try Miami's DC Shannon.

North Carolina State's football program is a step up from BC and its not even close.

BC due to a small fan base and one that doesn't support its team is the red headed step child of whatever conference ( Big East and ACC). Regardless of BC's record, teams that would finish behind BC in conference standings always secured better bowl games.

BC has played against non-BCS competition more times than not in Bowl games over the last 15 years. Last year it tied for ACC division champs and was shipped to Boise. This year it was 9-3 and was demoted to playing Navy in the Tire Bowl in Charlotte. In the Big East it would play in the Motor City Bowl or sent out west to play in the Emerald Bowl or another obscure bowl game.


The city of Chesnut Hill has zoning restrictions from expanding BC's stadium. Also, BC is only permitted like one night game every two year as well. Take into account BC's academic restrictions and rectruiting is tough.


Also, BC's facilites are probably one of the worst in the ACC as they were in the Big East.

In Comparison, NC State's is located in a recruiting hot bed, has outstanding facilities, and has a rabid fan base.


This is a smart decision by Tom Obrien. He took BC as far as anyone could take them.

...its looking more and more like Rodriquez is leaving WVU....

http://sports.espn.go.com/ncf/news/story?id=2689783

and....apparently Alabama has offered him the job......

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. -- Alabama's search for a new coach appears to be picking up speed.

Miami Dolphins coach Nick Saban said Thursday he declined to meet with Alabama officials about their coaching vacancy, while media reports had West Virginia coach Rich Rodriguez being offered the job.

"I'm flattered that they may have been interested in me, but it never really progressed, because we just never let it progress," Saban said after practice in Davie, Fla.

The Press-Register of Mobile, citing unnamed sources, first reported the offer to Rodriguez from Crimson Tide athletic director Mal Moore on its Web site and said the coach was considering the offer.

The Tuscaloosa News also reported on its Web site that Alabama offered Rodriguez the job.

Alabama spokesman Doug Walker told The Associated Press the university did not have an announcement scheduled.

Rodriguez and his wife, Rita, met with Moore on Tuesday night in New York City before the College Football Hall of Fame induction banquet.

Those reports are inaccurate. COnsider the source. He is definetly interested. Howevever, he is going to discuss this tomorrow with his family. Many still believe this is an attempt to get WVU to pony up with a commitment to give WVU elite facilities, coaching salaries, and private jet for recruiting and using alabama in the process.

We will know tomorrow.

I reported this a long time ago. Nick Saban is a good guy and a good coach, but he's also an egomaniac. I assume you've read that Bama offered him $5M/yr plus a $7M signing bonus? Wouldn't surprise me if Saban ended up in Tuscaloosa. That's a lot of money. If the Saban deal falls through, Rodriguez will take the job. Everyone here knows this. When there's this much smoke, there's fire. Either Saban or Rodriguez will be the next Alabama coach. WVU will never pay Rodriquez more than Alabama (rumored to be nearly $2M/yr). When it comes to money, Alabama can and will out-bid WVU for Rodriguez. Alabama fans and boosters are determined to "restore the glory"; they will get their man this time, no matter what it costs.

As I suspected the entire time, RR has turned down the Alabama position and just signed a new contract at WVU which will make him one of college football's highest paid coaches. The new which runs through 2012 will have a 4 million dollar buyout, close to 2 million dollar salary, rasies for assistants, a new 2 million dollar academic center, and private jet for recruiting.


While some WVU fans were in serious meltdown, Coach RR worked this brilliantly. The Big East top 4 coaches have all made a commitment to staying in the Big East. Schiano laughs at Miami. Louisville locks Pertrino to a 10 year deal. USF's Leavitt told Bama 2 weeks ago he's not interested.



Great news for WVU and Big East fans!

Do you think Rich R. was ever truly interested in going to Alabama or was he just feigning interest to get more money our of WVU ??

Personally, I don't see what his lure to Alabama could have been (unless he really was just after the most money he could get). Alabama is not the program it used to be and all the instability of the past 10 years seems to be a big warning sign to potential new coaches.

of course he was using it to get more money out of WVU

I'm so sick and tired of these coaches putting guns to the heads of the administrators

I for one could have given a fuzzy rat's butt is RR had left

if he had, he would have shown himself to be a whore just like so many other college coaches

Well I, for one, don't think any less of Rodriguez for using Alabama to leverage a 100% raise from WVU. It might appear disloyal to WVU fans, but that's just how the game is played. I remember local radio stations playing excerpts of a Rodriguez comment claiming how much he admired the SEC and would appreciate the opportunity to coach in the SEC. I think he meant what he said. I think that if WVU hadn't upped his salary, he'd have followed the money into the SEC. That's what college coaches, and all professional athletes, do. Look what Pettite did to the Stros today; what Clemens did last year to squeeze the Stros; Abreu? Damon? Do you remember how Mourning robbed the Raptors? Look at what's going on in MLB these days. very average players demanding , and receving, way more money than they are worth. Did you see how much money everyday pitchers like Lilly and Eaton got this year? The list is long, and follows a common theme. We might not like it, but that's how the game is played. Rodriguez found himself in a position to squeeze WVU AD and boosters out of more money, and worked it to perfection. Greedy? Yeap. Opportunistic? yeap. Surprising? No. That's just the way it is. It doesn't make him a bad person or a bad coach; just greedy.

I think that being greedy when you're getting a base salary of $1.1 million is wrong

the average person does not make anywhere close to that; certainly not in West Virginia or Alabama

I know that football brings in millions of dollars to these schools every year and that a good coach is responsible for a good chunk of that but still I can't wrap my mind around the fact that he was willing to book

Hummm.... I odn't agree with your assessment that $1.1M is the going rate for a coach whose team is a perrenial conference championship contender, and, finishes in or just beyond the top 10 in the BCS rankings annually. Rodriguez was definitely underpaid; especially compared to what Petrino gets from Louisville. Also, according to USA Today's most recent listing of college football coaches' salaries, nine coaches in the SEC make more than the $1.1M Rodriguez was getting; meaning Rodriguez makes about the same as coaches at Missippi State, Ole MIss, and Kentucky. Yet his record is far sperior. Hell, even Mike Shula at Alabama was making $1.8M/year and his team went 6-6! So, the raise that Rodriguez got is reflective of his good coaching and team accomplishments over the last few years. I think he deserved the riase. I just think it's a shame he manipulated WVU AD, boosters, fans, and his players to get that raise. I wish coaches and ADs would simply sit down and discuss financial matters in private. I don't care to know every nasty little detail that leads to an increase in salary. Rodriguez handled this whole thing very poorly, but as bad as that seems, it's nothing compared to the supercilious, under-handed, and heartless way Alabama is treating Mike Shula, and, the undignified and shameless tactics they're using to find his replacement. None of the players involved in this fiasco can claim a moral high ground.

$2M???? Private jet for recruiting??? $2M academic center??? And you call all this great news for WVU???

Just goes to show the game of college sports has gotten as out of hand as pro sports. Why don't you guys at WVU just spin the team off as a private venture and let's quit trying mask it under the moniker of college?

I guess that's what you'll do to get to the National Championship game. Wait, I forgot, you guys came in 13th in the BCS standings, just under my Hawgs who were unranked at the beginning of the year.

Once again, sorry for the ding but quit calling outrageous coaching deals as "good news." Remember, I also lump Texas and Arkansas into the same game and don't like it either. The only reason they keep getting these kind of deals is because alumni think the only way their school can be notable is because their team is in the national championship game. Thank God Texas at least has a strong academic program and academic endowment.

show me a coach in any sport that is worth $2 million in the grand scheme of things

WVU isn't alone in setting up their football program as the NFL minor leagues; it's disgusting

Stanford's looking to the NFL for a couple of possible head coaching candidates. Ex-Ravens coordinator Jim Fassel has already interviewed and Chargers WR coach James Lofton will interview with the team as well.

There's another job opening-Fisher DeBerry has retired after 23 years as the Head Coach at Air Force. He was the winningest coach in the academy's history with a record of 169-109-1 and was the third-longest tenured coach at one school behind only Joe Paterno and Bobby Bowden.

He was an amazing coach. Time to step down though I think. Solich (from Ohio) could be a candidate.

Rob Akey former WSU fball defensive coordinator will be hired at the University of Idaho.

It appears that Nick Saban is definitely looking to get back into college football and back into the SEC. If the rumors out of Miami are true; that the Fish could be sold soon, this could jeopardize Nick's control over player personnel decisions and hasten his exit from the NFL.

Everybody in the SEC is sure that Nick Saban will take the Alabama job. If Saban wasns't interested in the Alabama job, he could have shot down those rumors months ago. He hasn't. Most SEC fans believe that Saban is waiting until the NFL season ends to begin serious negotiations with Alabama reps.

Here's another interesting tidbit about Nick Saban. His wife has been spotted this week by several reporters in Baton Rouge. That's not unusual in itself, but her companion is a well known Baton Rouge real estate agent. Nick's wife loves Baton Rouge and doesn't want to live in Tuscaloosa. This news has prompted talk of a Les Miles buy-out and a Saban return to LSU. Yeah, I know the real estate agent could be nothing more than a friend, and her visit this time of year could be nothing more than visiting old friends, but people in Baton Rouge are thinking Saban could return to LSU.

If Saban does leave Miami and return to college football, it will undoubtedly be at Alabama or LSU. Of the two, he's far more likely to choose LSU. The Tide's program has fallen on hard times recently with respect to recruiitng top notch players (even WVU is stealing kids from under their noses; that never used to happen in Alabama), but LSU is loaded with talent at every position for years to come. The biggest advantage Alabama has over LSU is money. Bama is reportedly offering a 10 year/$35M contract with a $5M signing bonus. I doubt LSU would match that. So, we're counting on Saban's wife to change his mind and bring him back to Baton Rouge, where he belongs.

Nothing against Les Miles; he's a good coach and he's learning and adapting. I just don't like his passive approach to football. There's nothing passive about a Nick Saban defense.

Another opening after Minnesota fired Glen Mason following the Gophers historic loss to Texas tech in their bowl game. The Gophers blew the biggest lead in bowl game history allowing Texas Tech to come back froma 31 point deficit.

Saban is going to Bama. It's official. Roll Tide!

roll Tide into the poor house!

they're paying Saban $4M a year plus how much to Shula for his contract?

Nick Saban is in for a very big surprise. The new NCAA recruiting is demonstrating a balance-ofpower shift... the power of cable contracts and exposure for once-small teams like Rutgers, Louisville, West Virginia, Wake, Boise State, and so on. Old powerhouses Alabama, Notre Dame, Miami, Penn State, FSU, are all in disarray and are going to have a hard time recruiting like it's 1999, and Saban is about to learn this. Meanwhile the Bama "fans", the most dysfunctional college football fans in America, are going to have a pretty quick honeymoon with Saban if they don't get their championship within two years, and the revolving door will keep on rolling. They HAD to offer that kind of money because they knew a) no one wanted that job and it would have been a public relations disaster had he not taken it. He could have even asked for twice that. So Saban spends another few years at his new stop and gets ready for the next. As for the SEC, they'll continue to feast on another "program in transition" (and still on probation) as the sound-bites Saban specialized in for so long continue to pur forth. Niiiiiice.

One day, I hope to understand the hatred/envy/ill-will toward the SEC. Since I have so many favorite teams from other conferences (Wisconsin, Michigan, Louisville, USC, OSU, Cal, etc.), I just assumed that everyone else did too. But I was wrong. People are entitled to feel anyway they want, and write anything they want about the SEC; but I also get to respond anyway I want. I don't understand why so many feel the need to diss and dump on a conference that many football analysts consider the best football conference in America.

You clearly don't know much about Nick Saban. While at LSU, Nick was recognized as the best and most agressive Defensive College Football Coach in America. Nick also won a NC at LSU in 2003. He is also one of the hardest working coaches in all of football. Nick will make Alabama a better football team; that's certain, but it won't happen immediately. If anybody in America possesses the brains and balls to withstand the public scruitny and unrealistic expectations from the wild-eyed BamaNation, it's Nick Saban. Dude is one honery SOB. Noone intimidates Nick Saban; not fans, not college ADs, not college presidents; not the media. Dude is the most cold-hearted and myopic footballer I've ever seen....hard as nails. He runs his football team like a military boot camp. And the Univ. of Alabam football team could use some discipline right about now.

Nick has his flaws: he's egostistical; arrogant; power-hungry; a control freak; a media nightmare; money hungry; and can be a complete ass at times (e.g.; won't sign autographs; won't do community speaking engagements), but he's a brilliant football mind and that will get reflected and manifested in the play of the kids he coaches at Alabama.

It is true that Alabama Univ.'s coaching search was handled badly; a public relations nightmare; and Nick Saban sold his soul to get the Alabama job, but he is right for Bama football. Afterall, Tommy Tuirberville swore that the only way he would leave Ole Miss was in a pine box, but that didn't stop him from taking the Auburn job a week later, did it? Coaches lie...that's how the game is played. All of us in the SEC knew Saban was taking the Bama job after the NFL season ended, so his decision came as no surprise to us.

Nick Saban is also a very good recruiter. He'll find Bama a good QB, along with O-line deficiencies, the Alabama football team's most glaring weakness right now. And in a few years, that anemic Bama defense we saw in 2006 will morph into one of the best in all of college football. I don't know about a NC and/or a return to the glory days; much of this is up to the voters and pollsters, but Nick Saban will make Alabama a respected and competitive football team again. That's a fact.

Was he overpaid? I don't think so. Charlie Weiss gets $3.4M/year for coaching Notre Dame (in my mind, a very good football team, even if people want to ridicule them for losing to three teams ranked in the top five this season), and is scheduled to reach $4M over the next couple years. But the University of Alabama boasts the richest and most generous benefactor/booster network in the SEC. The money they pay Saban won't bother them one bit. Nick Saban won't leave Alabama anytime soon. He's got complete control of that team; its facilities; its coaches; his coaches salaries. Plus, his contract is fully guaranteed throughout its lifetime, and he can't be bought out. He's got Bama by the balls. Why would he leave? For the NFL? Not likely; not after the stunt he pulled in South Florida. He's stuck with Bama, and Bama is stuck with him.....for life. It's something both Nick and Alabama Univ. need to turn that program around.

So I don't agree with you. Nick Saban is an excellent coach. Alabama, like Notre Dame, USC, Michigan, Penn Sate, Texas, and Miami, is still one of the most storied and respected football programs in America. The acquisition of Nick Saban is just the first of several steps in shoring up a football tradition that, lately, has failed to represent Alabama football in a manner befitting that tradition.

Some fun news from Minnehaha: Mike Tice is interested in the job! Big problem is there isn't any potential to make money from scalping their tickets.

Well, so much for that Petrino 10 year commitment to Louisville...



And, hasn't WVU lost a couple of assistant coaches? I think I read that somewhere...

I'm still shaking my head over Petrino's decision to take the Atlanta Falcons job. Petrino is an offensive-minded guru of the girdiron. It's hard to imagine that he will be able to utilize Vick any better than Mora did. Michael Vick is very out-spoken; is not a pocket passer; and hasn't mastered the West Coast offense that Petrino likes to run. So, I think Petrino will have many of the same problems with Vick and Dunn that Mora experienced. Atlanta's passing game is structured around a tight end; they simply don't have the WR personnel to stretch the field. Even if they did, they would still an accurate QB to make it work. Even though I like Michael Vick and get excited watching him play, the Falcons, as is, have no passing game. Without some personnel changes, I just don't see how Petrino, as intelligent as he is, can execute his vision of offensive football in Atlanta.

Good one Bucky!

I also heard that Larry Coker is also interested. Minnesota should look no further if Coker wants the job

You read correct Penn State.

WVU's has 2 assistant coaching vacancies.


OL Coach Rick Trickett who is considered by some to be the best OL coach in America is heading to Tallahassee. Trickett was the OL coach at LSU before WVU. He's a former Marine and has the military MO of moving every 3-5 years as he's done throughout his college coaching career. He'll be missed in Morgantown.

WR coach Butch Jones accepted the head coaching position at Central Michigan.

I don't think Petrino is a West Coast Guy, unless you mean the WCO in the Gilman/Croyell sense.

I think Vick may be on his way out in Atlanta

I read somewhere that would free up something like $23M in salary cap

never did quite care enough to learn about the salary cap thing in pro sports

There is a lot of disagreement and discussion about the terminology surrounding the West Coast Offense, Spread Offense, and the classic Run and Shoot, but what I saw in watching two Louisville games this season definitely utilized a West Coast offense (one back sets; no tight end; four and five receiver sets; etc) with lots of dinks and dunks. You are right however; Louisville also utilizes a classic Air Coryell offense as well when they want to stretch the field.

Here's some examples. WVU utilizes a spread offense, but they don't utilize it to set up the pass; they run out of it; e.g.; employing a spread option to set up runs by White and Slanton. They run out of their spread set. Florida, on the other hand, utilizes their spread sets very differently. Yeah, they will run the option out of the spread set (with Leak or Tebow running), but more often than not, they pass out of it. Hence, the University of Florida runs a classic passing West Coast offense; because they dink and dunk short passes on quick slants across the middle, quick passes out into the flat, and multiple WR screen sets (e.g.; the bubble screens you saw against execute to perfection against OSU tonight). If you watch the University of Hawaii, a very fun team to watch, you will see a classic and old style Run and Shoot offense; the recievers and QB must read and react to what the defense does and make immediate adjustments accordingly. It's very difficult to run because it requires that the QB and WRs think as one. But the Run and Shoot is difficult to defend because not many teams utilize the Run and Shoot, either in college or the Pros, so defenses don't get to play against it very often.

Of course not all of college football elites run the West Coast Offense. Pete Carroll at USC and Nick Saban at LSU both utilize a classic Pro Formation (2 RBs, one TE, and 3 WRs), and run multiple schemes out of it, including the WCO. Both have been very successful with it. And both won National Championships with it.

The point I'm making here is that you could be right; I don't know which games you based your comments on, and I only saw Louisville play twice this season. Louisville utilizes multiple offensive formations, and without having seen more from them, I can't really argue the point. I am sure though that the Louisville Playbook contains a WCO offense in the traditional Bill Walsh sense, since I saw them use it. But as I said at the outset, everybody utilizes different terms to describe football formations on both sides of the ball, so it might be possible that we are discussing football purisms and semantics, in which case everything gets reduced to a point of view. It is also possible that one offensive formation (Pro, Ace, Power I, etc) could be utilized to execute plays that contain elements of the WCO, Air Coryell, or even the old three yards and a cloud of dust. For example, I once saw the Alabama QB throw the ball out of a Power I set. So, an offensive formation is just that; a formation; it's what teams do out of that formation that matters, and gives the offense its name.

P.S. Air Coryell? Gilman? Don't see those names mentioned very much these days. Dude, you're either in your forties (like me) or a student of the game.

Minnesota hired Denver Broncos tight ends coach Tim Brewster to replace Glen Mason.



Not sure what to make of this. Can a guy go from being a TEs coach to a head coach? Larry Coker had apparently expressed an interest. Why not go after the big name?