UMass football coach Don Brown has resigned to become the defensive coordinator at Maryland.

UMass athletic director John McCutcheon made the announcement Friday and said a national search will begin immediately for a new coach.

He replaces former Maryland defensive coordinator Chris Cosh, who left to return to Kansas State as assistant head coach and defensive coordinator.

Maryland finished the regular season ninth in the ACC in total defense (355 yards per game), 10th in rushing defense (149.4 yards per game), and eighth in scoring defense (21.4 points per game).

In his five seasons as head coach, Brown went 43-19 leading the Minutemen to two NCAA Football Championship Series (Division I-AA) tournaments, including the 2006 NCAA title game. In 2006 and 2007, Brown led UMass to a 23-5 overall record with a 14-0 mark at home. The Minutemen went 7-5 in 2008 and missed the playoffs.

Brown said he was proud of his time at UMass and that the school will always have a special place in his heart.

Before coming to UMass, Brown coached Northeastern and Plymouth State.

Labels: coaching changes

I heard some rumblings from Chesnut Hill that BC would fire Coach J if he interviewed for the Jets job. ESPN is reporting the same...

Labels: coaching changes

Tennessee and Lane Kiffin have reached a tentative agreement for the former Oakland Raiders coach to lead the Volunteers, according to multiple reports Friday. A formal announcement was expected early next week, a person familiar with the negotiations told The Associated Press. A "well-placed source within the program" told the Knoxville News Sentinel that an announcement is expected in the next few days.

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Labels: coaching changes

Southeast Missouri State fired athletic director Don Kaverman and placed men's basketball coach Scott Edgar on administrative leave on Thursday, three days after the NCAA notified the school of possible major violations.

The moves come three months after the women's basketball team forfeited 44 victories, and the women's and men's programs were placed on two years' probation for major and secondary violations.

"Given the serious nature of the allegations, we believed we needed to take immediate action in the best interests of the program," school president Kenneth W. Dobbins said in a statement.

The school said in a release that Kaverman was placed on administrative leave until Feb. 7, 2009, when his contract will end. Associate athletic director Cindy Gannon was appointed interim AD.

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Labels: coaching changes

It will be time for musical coaches soon, as any number of college and pro jobs will be open.

The biggest of them all might be Penn State, where Joe Paterno's continuing struggles with leg injuries could lead to the end of an era nearly 60 years long.

Many years ago, Paterno noted that most coaches had to retire when their legs went. He's also said he would get out when he no longer could lead his team out of the tunnel, which he did until this fall.

There are three theories on what will happen when Joe finally surrenders to age.

1. A current assistant, probably Tom Bradley, will be elevated.

2. A member of the "Penn State family," such as former Lions all-America Mike Munchak (now the offensive line coach of the Tennessee Titans), will be named. Former Paterno assistants such as Greg Schiano of Rutgers and Al Golden of Temple also fit in this group.

3. A person with no ties to the program, but a sufficiently "big name" to withstand the pressures of following Paterno, will be named.

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Labels: coaching changes

In order to keep track of the mad, mad world of college basketball coaching changes for 2008, we'll keep a table updated for you.

Updates:
Mississippi Valley St.: Sean Woods Takes Job
Bryant: Ohio's O'Shea Makes Shocking Move to Bryant

Coaching Openings & Potential Candidates

SCHOOL	OLD COACH	POTENTIAL CANDIDATES

Filled Positions

SCHOOL	OLD COACH	NEW COACH
Alcorn St.	Samuel West	Larry Smith - WNBA Sparks assistant Others Considered: Luther Riley - Provine (HS) coach, Thomas Billups - Lanier (HS) coach
Arkansas-Pine Bluff	Van Holt	George Ivory
Arkansas St	Dickey Nutt	John Brady - former LSU coach
Brown	Craig Robinson	Jesse Agel - Brown assistant Others considered: Tim O'Shea - Ohio University coach, Paul Fortier - Washington assistant, Mike Brennan - American assistant
Bucknell	Pat Flannery	Dave Paulsen - Williams coach Others considered: Tim O'Shea - Ohio coach, Bill Courtney - UVA assistant, Nathan Davis - Bucknell assistant Others: Carl Danzig - Scranton coach, Tom Herrion - Pitt assistant, Brett Gunning - Villanova assistant, Sean Kearney - Notre Dame assistant, Robert Burke - Georgetown assistant, Gary Close - Wisconsin assistant, Dave Paulsen - Williams coach, Tim Welsh - former Providence coach,
Bryant	Max Good	Tim O'Shea - former Ohio coach Others considered: Deshon Gaither - Bryant assistant, Dwayne Pina - Bryant Assistant
California	Ben Braun	Mike Montgomery Others Considered, Mentioned, Rejected Offers: Mike Dunlap - NBA assistant, Randy Bennett - St. Marys coach, Mark Fox - Nevada coach, Tony Bennett - Washington St. coach, Jaime Dixon - Pitt coach
Centenary	Rob Flaska	Greg Gary - Duquesne Assistant Others considered: Steve Payne - Tennessee Tech assistant, Charlie Schaef - Ouachita Baptist, Larry Bagley - former Centenary assistant, Mark Slessinger - Northwestern St. assistant No Longer Candidates: Happy Osborne - Georgetown College, Chad McDowell - LSU-Shreveport
Detroit	Perry Watson	Ray McCallum - former Indiana assistant Other: Brad Soderberg - former SLU coach, Mike Jackson - Michigan assistant, Kevin Mondro - Detroit interim coach Others: Barry Hinson - former Missouri St. coach, Gene Cross - Notre Dame assistant
Drake	Keno Davis	Mark Phelps - Arizona St assistant Runner-up: Gary Close - Wisconsin assistant One-time Potential Candidates: Chris Davis - Drake assistant, Matt Woodley - Wash St. assistant, Greg Lansing - Indiana assistant, Steve Forbes - Tennessee assistant,, John Groce - Ohio St. assistant Others: Dan Monson - former Minnesota coach, Sean Sutton - former OSU coach
Florida Atlantic	Rex Walters	Mike Jarvis - former St. Johns coach Former Candidates: , Mike Balado - FAU assistant, Brad Soderberg - former SLU coach, Dan Hipsher - South Florida assistant, Mike Jaskulski - UCF assistant, Lewis Preston - Florida assistant Others: Jorge Fernandez - Miami assistant, Jeff Price - Georgia Southern coach, Perry Clark - Tx A&M - CC coach, Tom Schuberth - TX Pan American, Stan Jones - FSU assistant
Grambling St.	Larry Wright	Rick Duckett - former South Carolina assistant Other Candidates: Cameron Dollar - Washington assistant, Robert Kirby - Mississippi St. assistant, Roman Banks - Southeastern Louisiana assistant Others: Michael Lyons - Grambling HS coach, Dale Zimmerman - Wossman HS coach No longer candidate: Tic Price - North Texas assistant
Idaho	George Pfeifer	Don Verlin - Utah St. assistant
Indiana	Kelvin Sampson /Dan Dakich	Tom Crean - Marquette coach Others Considered, Mentioned, Rejected Offers: Tony Bennett - Washington St., Dan Dakich - Indiana interim coach
Jacksonville St.	Mike LaPlante	James Green - Mississippi Valley State coach Others considered: Philip Pearson - Alabama assistant, Timothy Maloney - UMass assistant, Charles Burkett - Hoover High coach
James Madison	Dean Keener	Matt Brady - Marist coach
Kent State	Jim Christian	Geno Ford - Kent assistant
Loyola Marymount	Rodney Tention	Bill Bayno - Portland (NBA) assistant Others Considered, Mentioned, Rejected Offers: Gib Arnold - USC assistant, Bob Burton - Cal-Fullerton coach, Mike Dunlap - NBA assistant, Brett Gunning - Villanova assistant, Brad Soderberg - former SLU coach
LSU	John Brady	Trent Johnson - Stanford coach Others Considered, Mentioned, Rejected Offers: Tavis Ford - UMass coach, Tony Bennett - Washington St. coach, Oliver Purnell - Clemson coach, Paul Hewitt - GA Tech coach, Mike Brey - Notre Dame coach, Andy Kennedy - Ole Miss coach, Butch Pierre - current interim coach, Johnny Jones - N. Texas , Anthony Grant - VCU coach
Marist	Matt Brady	Chucky Martin - Memphis assistant Others considered: Pat Sellers - UConn assistant, Joe Jones - Columbia head coach, Steve Masiello - Louisville assistant , Fred Quartlebaum - St. John's assistant Longshots: Paul Lee - Northwestern assistant, Garland Mance - Detroit assistant, Brian Nash - St. Francis coach No Longer Candidate: Brett Gunning - Villanova assistant, Danny Hurley - Newark's St. Benedict's Prep, Robert Burke - Georgetown assistant, Tom Herrion - Pitt assistant
Marquette	Tom Crean	Buzz Williams - Marquette assistant Others considered: Chris Lowry - SIU coach, Brad Brownell - Wright St. coach, Bob McKillop - Davidson coach Others: Jim Boylan - Chicago Bulls coach, , Sean Miller - Xavier coach, Brian Gregory - Dayton coach, Lon Kruger - UNLV coach, Kevin Stallings - Vanderbilt coach, Brad Stevens - Butler coach, Rob Jeter - University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee coach, Larry Krystkowiak - Milwaukee Bucks coach Others: Steve Lavin - former UCLA coach Claims not to be a candidate: Rick Majerus - SLU coach
Maryland - Eastern Shore	Meredith Smith	Frankie Allen - UMBC assistant
Massachusetts	Travis Ford	Derek Kellogg - Memphis assistant Others interviewd: Tim O'Shea - Ohio coach Tim Maloney - UMass assistant Pat Sellers - UConn assistant Longshots: Bob McKillop - Davidson coach Tom Moore - Quinnipiac coach Fran McCaffery - Siena coach Mike Rice - Robert Morris coach Brett Gunning - Villanova assistant Steve Masiello - Louisville assistant Kevin Willard - Iona coach Claim to no longer be a candidate: Tony Barbee - UTEP coach
Mercer	Mark Slonaker	Bob Hoffman
Mississippi Valley St.	James Green	Sean Woods - former TCU assistant Others considered: Lacey Reynolds - former Grambling coach, Harvey Wardell - Tougaloo College assistant,
Missouri State	Barry Hinson	Counzo Martin - Purdue assistant
N.J.I.T.	Jim Casciano	Jim Engles - Columbia assistant
Norfolk State	Dwight Freeman	Anthony Evans
Ohio University	Tim O'Shea	Jim Groce - Ohio St assistant Others considered: Mark Montgomery - Michigan St. assistant, Buzz Peterson - former Coastal Carolina coach, John Rhodes - Ohio associate head coach
Oklahoma St.	Sean Sutton	Travis Ford - Umass coach No Longer Candidates: Bill Self - Kansas coach, Chris Lowry - SIU coach, Billy Gillespie - Kentucky coach
Oregon St.	Jay John	Craig Robinson - Brown coach Others Considered, Mentioned, Rejected Offers: Bill Grier - San Diego coach, Randy Bennett - St. Marys coach
Pepperdine	Vance Walberg	Tom Asbury
Providence	Tim Welsh	Keno Davis - Drake coach Others considered: Tim O'Shea - Ohio coach, Fran Frashilla - former Providence assistant, Will Browne - Albany coach, Kevin O'Neill - former Arizona assistant, Larry Shyatt - Florida assistant Longshots: Larry Brown - former Knicks coach, Dave Leitao - UVA coach, Jim O'Brien - former Ohio St. coach, Longshot: Phil Martelli - St. Josephs coach, Bob McKillop - Davidson No longer Candidate: Jim Larannaga - George Mason Coach, Craig Robinson - Brown coach, Travis Ford - UMass coach
Rice	Willis Wilson	Ben Braun - former Cal coach Others Considered, Mentioned, Rejected Offers: Kevin O'Neil - former Arizona assistant, Gene Cross - Notre Dame assistant, Steve Hensen -UNLV coach, Bob McKillop - Davidson coach, Ben Braun - former Cal coach, Rick Byrd - Belmont coach
Sacramento State	Jerome Jenkins	Brian Katz - San Joaquin Delta College Others Considered: Cameron Dollar - Washington assistant, Tony Marcopulos - Cabrillo College coach
San Francisco	Jessie Evans / Eddie Sutton	Bob Burton - Cal-Fullerton coach Bill Carr - San Diego assistant, David Carter - Nevada assistant Others: Steve Lavin - former UCLA coach, Rodney Tention - former LMU coach, Longshot: Sean Sutton - former Oklahoma St. coach
South Carolina	Dave Odom	Darin Horn - WKU coach Others Considered, Mentioned, Rejected Offers: Jeff Capel - Oklahoma coach
Stanford	Trent Johnson	Johnny Dawkins - Duke assistant coach Others considered or mentioned: Larry Krystkowiak - former NBA coach, Blaine Taylor - ODU coach, Doug Oliver - Stanford assistant, Eric Reveno - Portland coach, Doug Wojcik - Tulsa coach, Others: Randy Bennett - St. Marys coach, Mike Dunlap - NBA Denver assistant, Mark Fox - Nevada coach, Ken Bone - Portland St. coach, Bill Grier - San Diego coach Not a candidate: Mike Montgomery - Cal coach, Keno Davis - Drake coach, Larry Brown - former NBA coach
St. Francis (PA)	Bobby Jones	Don Friday - Lycoming College coach Others considered: Matthew Driscoll - Baylor assistant, Mark Bass - St. Joseph's assistant Others: John Mahoney - Michigan assistant, Kurt Kanaskie - Penn St. assistant, Bob Rukavina - Pittsburgh@Johnstown
TCU	Neil Dougherty	Jim Christian - Kent coach
Toledo	Stan Joplin	Gene Cross - Notre Dame assistant Others Considered: Brad Soderberg - former SLU coach, Ray McCallum - former Indiana assistant, Tim Welsh - former Providence coach,, Dan Peters - Ohio St. assistant, Will Browne - Albany coach No longer candidates: Buzz Peterson - former Coastal Carolina coach, Ben Braun - former Cal coach
Texas Southern	Ronnie Courtney/Robert Moreland	Tony Harvey
Texas Tech	Bob Knight	Pat Knight - Texas tech assistant
Western Illinois	Derek Thomas	Jim Molinari - former Bradley coach Others Considered: Ray Harper - Oklahoma City coach, Barry Hinson - former Missouri St. coach, Matt Margenthaler - Minnesota State-Mankato coach , Joe O'Brien - Idaho State coach, Brad Underwood - Kansas State assistant
Western Kentucky	Darin Horn	Ken McDonald Texas assistant Others Considered, Mentioned, Rejected Offers: Leonard Hamilton - Florida St. coach, Kurtis Townsend - Kansas assistant

More updates to come, Stay tuned.

Labels: coaching changes, college basketball, ncaa

Mike Montgomery is the obvious choice to be the next Cal coach. Montgomery has passed on other college positions, some quite prestigious, because he didn't want to move from the Bay Area. Cal takes care of the problem for him. But what if he turns down the job? Pittsburgh's Jaime Dixon is a name we hear often. Dixon and Cal vs. Howland and UCLA...could be exciting. But the Oakland Tribune and others have brought up a good name: Randy Bennett. He's a great coach and certainly deserving of step-up in salary to a MWC or WAC program as well as some PAC-10 schools. But Cal is big time and they need to swing for the fences with guys like Montgomery before going after the steady Bennett.

Labels: coaching changes

Castleton State College hired Rich Alercio on Thursday to build its new football program, which will begin play in 2009.

An assistant at The College of New Jersey, Alercio beat out more than 150 others for the job, said Deanna Tyson, associate dean of athletics and recreation. Alercio will start July 1, and will have to hire a full-time assistant and help plan a new Spartan Stadium.

"The five candidates we interviewed on campus were all well qualified to coach at Castleton, but Rich Alercio is the best fit for our athletic program," Tyson said. "He is going to be a tremendous role model for our male athletes."

Castleton will play in the NCAA Division III North Atlantic Conference, which includes Becker College, Gallaudet University, Husson College, SUNY Maritime College, Mount Ida College and Norwich University.

Labels: coaching changes

Former Pepperdine head coach Tom Asbury will get a shot at the same job again, starting next season, a source close to the situation told ESPN.com.

The school will hold a Wednesday news conference to announce the hiring.

Asbury, 62, will take over a program in flux. Former coach Vance Walberg resigned Jan. 17 for personal reasons. Walberg was 6-12 when he resigned, 0-2 in the WCC. Assistant Eric Bridgland stepped in and, according to the source, will continue to coach the team the rest of this season. Pepperdine lost to Saint Mary's Monday night, falling to 3-8 in the WCC, 9-18 overall.

Asbury coached the Waves from 1988-94 after serving as an assistant for nine years. He went on to coach Kansas State for six years before going to Alabama as an assistant in 2003. He resigned after last season to retire to Tucson to tend to his wife, who was ill at the time but has since recovered.

The source said that Asbury will take a recruiting test as soon as he is hired so he is cleared to recruit under NCAA rules. Since Walberg resigned, a position has remained open on the staff. Assuming Asbury passes the test, he can go out on the road this season and recruit for next year. He is expected to observe practices and games, as well as interview the current staff.

The source said Asbury was chosen by Pepperdine athletic director John Watson because of the stability he would bring to the program after the brief tenure under Walberg, who was hired in 2006.

Watson looked mostly at older, former Division I head coaches with ties to the West Coast to replace Walberg.

Filling the Pepperdine opening leaves a handful of coaching vacancies: San Francisco (Jessie Evans took a leave of absence, and Eddie Sutton is interim coach), Oregon State (Jay John was fired and assistant Kevin Mouton is interim), South Carolina (Dave Odom will resign at the end of the season) and LSU (John Brady was fired, and assistant Butch Pierre is interim).

Labels: coaching changes

Plenty of rumors out there thus far and changes planned at Pepperdine, South Carolina and now Texas Tech. Jeff Goodman put together an interesting list:

LSU’s John Brady
St. John’s coach Norm Roberts
Northwestern’s Bill Carmody
Oregon’s Ernie Kent
Maine’s Ted Woodward
Sacramento State’s Jerome Jenkins
Jacksonville State’s Mike Laplante
Mount St. Mary’s Milan Brown
Florida State’s Leonard Hamilton
Rice’s Willis Wilson


Ernie Kent is the most interesting name. He was considered for the Michigan job that John Beilein. Fast forward and now Oregon is struggling behind the traditional Pac-10 powers from the past 5 years, but now USC has joined the club. Add into the mix that Oregon is planning a $200 million basketball arena. Oregon and it's powerful boosters will want to make a big splash. The guy who could do that is Mike Montgomery. It might be tough to get him away from the Stanford athletic department, but it's worth a try.

Labels: coaching changes

There's been a disturbing trend of late in college sports and it has to do with coach hirings. You probably think I'm about to write about the lack of ethnic diversity in the hiring process, but I won't. I'll save that for someone else's agenda. Mine problem are the decisions being made to crown an heir to a program, sometimes years in advance.

This past week we saw Kentucky decide that offensive coordinator Joker Phillips will take over for Rich Brooks once he retires in 2011. Note that this is the same Kentucky football program that has suffered for years, finally getting a boost this past season under Brooks.

Last month we saw Jimbo Fisher named the future coach at Florida St. This was hardly news since Fisher unofficially had been promised the position when he left LSU for the same position at FSU, rather than take other head coaching jobs that were considering him.

In basketball, we've seen something even more disturbing: straight forward nepotism. At Drake we had Dr. Tom Davis announce he would retire and his son Keno would take over. At Washington St., we had the same with Dick Bennett and his son Tony. And at Texas Tech, Pat Knight has been named the successor to his father Bobby Knight.

So what's the problem?

Simple. Why lock yourself into a decision? If you have confidence in an employee that years down to road you would consider them for the head coach position, why not allow them to explore head coaching positions and let them know that you want them to be in your programs future. If they feel the same away about your school and program, simply urge them to include a single clause in their contract (if they did leave your program) that has an out clause to return to that single program.

With these delayed coronations we've been seeing, it's putting your future into an unknown entity. Two factors: 1) you don't know how they will perform as a head coach and 2) who knows what other options are out there.

At Kentucky, the program is locking into Rich Brooks for another 3 seasons and then handing off to Phillips. So much could happen between now and then. An up-an-comer with ties to the area could become available. Say there is a former Kentucky assistant who is from the area who leads a WAC, MWC, CUSA, MAC or Sunbelt team to consecutive BCS Bowls? and what if THAT COACH would be willing to bypass openings at the other SEC and Big XII schools because he simply wants to come home and take the Kentucky program to that next level? Too bad. You decided on Phillips 3 years too early.

At Florida St., Bowden is clearly in the twilight of his career. Florida St. is slowly becoming a non-factor in the ACC and a change will be coming. So here comes Fisher to save the day. He's been the offensive coordinator, but the head coaching and recruiting has taken a step back. So what happens if in a season or two, a guy like Steve Spurrier announces he's considering leaving South Carolina. Spurrier could be a home-run at Florida St., knowing the state inside and out for recruiting. Or what if an NFL coach from the area decided that he wants a college job in Florida. So Tony Dungy, Jon Gruden and Steve Spurrier all have interest, and you're set on Fisher.

On to basketball...

Billy Gillespie is struggling at Kentucky. Perhaps his long term plan is to return to the southwest and coach in the state of Texas. UTexas isn't an option, nor is his former job at Texas A&M. The CUSA , MWC and Sunbelt jobs might not have the prestige Gillespie wants. Texas Tech is the perfect option. Too bad. Texas Tech is handing the job to the kid.

Sometimes it works. Washington St. hasn't missed a beat, and perhaps even improved under Tony Bennett. Drake is looking strong as well. And perhaps all the scenarios I mentioned above will work out for the programs. But why lock yourself into a promise and a position? Coaching has a success rate even lower than marriage. Eventually your coach will fail, leave or retire. Why not line up the best options rather than settle?

Labels: coaching changes

F.O.CSI (Friend of CollegesportsInfo) Jeff Goodman is throwing a few names out there for the Pepperdine and South Carolina openings for next season.

At Pepperdine, he says to expect Gib Arnold of USC, Brett Gunning of Villanova and Eric Musselman to surface as candidates.

At South Carolina, Tulane coach Dave Dickerson, a SC native and Gregg Marshall of Wichita St. should be candidates.















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Labels: coaching changes

Pepperdine coach Vance Walberg has resigned.

A fairly sad story.Vance Walberg was a JUCO legend as a coach. His Fresno City College teams went 133-11. In less than 2 season at Pepperdine, he's 8-23. Yet at the same time, HIS offense which he taught to John Calipari at Memphis, has Memphis as one of the best teams in recent history.

There should be more to this story other than the "family reasons". Once we know the severity of the "self-imposed sanctions" Pepperdine has placed on it's program, there should be some light.

Labels: coaching changes

SCHOOL	PREVIOUS COACH	NEW COACH
Alcorn State	Johnny Thomas (November 19)	Ernest Jones (December 11)
Arkansas	Houston Nutt (November 26)	Bobby Petrino (December 11)
Ark-Pine Bluff	Maurice Forte (November 19)	Monte Coleman (November 19)
Baylor	Guy Morriss (November 18)	Art Briles (November 28)
Colorado State	Sonny Lubick (November 27)	Steve Fairchild (December 12)
Duke	Ted Roof (November 26)	David Cutcliffe (December 15)
Eastern Washington	Paul Wulff (December 11)	Beau Baldwin (January 4)
Florida A&M	Rubin Carter (November 20)	Joe Taylor (December 30)
Georgia Tech	Chan Gailey (November 26)	Paul Johnson (December 7)
Hampton Hawaii Houston	Joe Taylor (December 30) June Jones (January 7) Art Briles (November 28)	Jerry Holmes (December 29) Greg McMackin (January 16) Kevin Sumlin (December 14)
Indiana State	Lou West (September 24)	Trent Miles (December 4)
Michigan	Lloyd Carr (November 19)	Rich Rodriguez (December 16)
Mississippi	Ed Orgeron (November 24)	Houston Nutt (November 27)
Navy	Paul Johnson (December 7)	Ken Niumatalolo (December 8)
Nebraska	Bill Callahan (November 24)	Bo Pelini (December 2)
Northern Illinois	Joe Novak (November 26)	Jerry Kill (December 13)
Rhode Island	Tim Stowers (November 19)	Darren Rizzi (December 18)
Savannah State	Thelo Lemon (November 30)	Robert Wells (December 22)
Southern Illinois	Jerry Kill (December 13)	Dale Lennon (December 28)
SMU	Phil Bennett (November 24)	June Jones (January 7)
Southern Miss	Jeff Bower (December 22)	Larry Fedora (December 12)
Southern Utah	Wes Meier (November 19)	Ed Lamb (December 20)
Texas A&M	Dennis Franchione (Nov. 23)	Mike Sherman (November 26)
Texas Southern	Steve Wilson (November 8)	Johnnie Cole (November 30)
UCLA	Karl Dorrell (December 3)	Rick Neuheisel (January 4)
Washington State	Bill Doba (November 26)	Paul Wulff (December 11)
Western Carolina	Kent Briggs (November 17)	Dennis Wagner (January 2)
West Virginia	Rich Rodriguez (December 16)	Bill Stewart (January 3)

Labels: coaching changes

Two names have surfaced for the soon to launch University of South Alabama football program. University of Alabama defensive coordinator Kevin Steele and Auburn University running backs coach Eddie Gran both interviewed on Wednesday according to the Birmingham News.

Labels: coaching changes

It goes without saying that the entire situation is quite sad. A program on the rise, a coach pleas for better conditions for the team. In the end, the coach leaves a place he loves for another mid-major program.

Before leaving though, June Jones made a few recommendations for his successor:

Duane Akina - Texas assistant coach
Norm Chow - Tennessee Titans offensive coordinator
Kevin Gilbride - New York Giants offensive coordinator
Dick Tomey - San Jose State
Cal Lee - Hawaii linebackers coach

One person not on that list that is rumored to be a candidate is former Boise St. and Arizona St. coach Dirk Koetter, now the Jacksonville Jaguar Offensive Coordinator.

Labels: coaching changes

A flurry of coaching changes are underway today:

Arkansas: Houston Nutt will not return
Colorado St: The school and coach sonny Lubick are discussing a buyout that should be finalized within two days.
Duke: Ted Roof has been fired
Georgia Tech: Chan Gailey has been fired
Indiana: Bill Lynch has recieved a 4-year extension
Northern Illinois: Bill Novak is out
Southern Miss: Jeff Bower is out
Texas A&M: Has hired Mike Sherman as head coach
Washington St.: Bill Doba won't return



COLLEGE FOOTBALL COACHING CHANGES ( 2008 SEASON)

Team: Outgoing Coach
Arkansas: Houston Nutt
Baylor: Guy Morriss
Colorado St: Sonny Lubick
Duke: Ted Roof
Georgia Tech: Chan Gailey
Michigan: Lloyd Carr
Mississippi: Ed Orgeron
Nebraska: Bill Callahan
Northern Illinois: Bill Novak
SMU: Phil Bennett
Southern Miss: Jeff Bower
Texas A&M: Dennis Franchione replaced by Mike Sherman
Washington St.: Bill Doba

Labels: coaching changes

Houston Texans assistant Mike Sherman was introduced today as the new football coach at Texas A&M.

Read More...

Labels: coaching changes

The Houston Chronicle is reporting that Guy Morriss won't be back next season as head football coach at Baylor.

Morriss, who has not had a winning season in any of his five years at the helm of the Bears, will coach the final two games of this season. He has one year remaining on his contract.

Former Baylor star and San Francisco 49ers assistant head coach/defense Mike Singletary is said to be the leading candidate. University of Houston coach Art Briles and Boise State's Chris Petersen could also be in the mix, the Chronicle said.

This is the second FBS coach change since Phil Bennet was fired from SMU last month. Rumors continue to swirl that Texas A&M coach Dennis Franchione and Nebraska coach Bill Callahan could be out after this season as well.

Labels: coaching changes

Wake Forest is going to name assistant coach Dino Gaudio the successor to the late Skip Prosser at a news conference Wednesday, multiple sources have told ESPN.com late Tuesday night.

Sources have told ESPN.com that Gaudio will not have the interim tag and that both parties are close to agreeing on a three-year contract.

He was a big part of Wake Forest's recent renaissance with current NBA players Josh Howard and Chris Paul. Gaudio was a big part of the staff that recruited a potential for a top-five recruiting class in 2008 if all the commitments hold.

Prosser, the congenial coach who led the Demon Deacons for six seasons, died July 26 of an apparent heart attack at the age of 56, shocking the college basketball world and leaving the university in disbelieving grief.

Two other Prosser staff members were believed to be among the top candidates to replace him: associate head coach Jeff Battle and assistant Pat Kelsey.

Gaudio -- a longtime assistant to Prosser on both the high school and college levels -- has seven years of college head coaching experience. He was 36-72 in four seasons as Army's head coach and 32-52 at Loyola of Maryland from 1998-2000.

The announcement could cap a tumultuous 13 days in Winston-Salem.

Shortly after Prosser returned from his noon jog July 26, he was found unresponsive and slumped on his office couch by one of his assistants. Medical personnel performed CPR and used a defibrillator, but Prosser was pronounced dead after being taken to Wake Forest University Baptist Medical Center.

During the funeral, Prosser was remembered by Gaudio for having "unwavering" integrity, and the veteran assistant said during his eulogy that "those of us that were blessed to be under his charge will carry that with us for the rest of our lives."

Under Prosser the Demon Deacons won the Atlantic Coast Conference regular-season title in 2003 and reached the NCAA tournament in his first four seasons. Wake Forest reached No. 1 in the poll for the first time during the 2004-05 season.

Prosser was head coach at Xavier for seven seasons and at Loyola of Maryland for one.

He had a career record of 291-146 as a head coach, including 126-68 with Wake Forest. He is the only coach to take three schools to the NCAA tournament in his first season at each.

Labels: coaching changes

Ball State's coaching uncertainty has come to an end.

The school has hired Lehigh's Billy Taylor as the new head coach, filling the vacancy created by the departure of Ronny Thompson.

"It was clear that Billy Taylor wanted to be the head coach at Ball State University," athletic director Tom Collins said in a statement. "Billy has head coaching experience, Midwest roots ... and was highly successful in a great league."

Earlier in the day, Ron Hunter withdrew from consideration for the opening, telling ESPN.com he had decided to remain as the head coach at IUPUI.

Taylor interviewed for the Ball State job a year ago when the school hired Thompson. He was to be introduced as the new coach during a news conference on Wednesday at the Muncie campus.

Thompson resigned three weeks ago after an internal investigation discovered that he and his staff violated NCAA rules two years in a row by attending voluntary offseason workouts. The coaches also lied about their involvement in that infraction in May, the school has said.

Thompson's Washington-based attorney, Matthew Keiser, said on Monday that Thompson denied breaking any NCAA rules. Keiser also said Thompson, who is black, did not quit because of the investigation and that his resignation letter told Ball State officials of the "racially hostile work environment" he had faced. The school said it is investigating his claims.

On Monday, the NCAA asked Ball State to investigate more possible violations, including allegations that the women's volleyball coach was fired for reporting a possible men's basketball violation, and that extra benefits were provided to current players and a player from another university whom Thompson was recruiting as a transfer to Ball State. The new allegations were first reported by the Muncie Star Press.

The new allegations, which were revealed Monday afternoon, were a major factor in Hunter's return to IUPUI, according to a source close to the situation. Both Hunter and Taylor are black, and Hunter said on Tuesday that he was also aware of Thompson's claims about the racial climate.

"I did look into it a little bit, but that wasn't the reason I made the decision," Hunter told The Associated Press. "I was a little concerned about the NCAA problems."

Taylor has an 81-69 record in five seasons at Lehigh. His greatest success came in 2003-04 when he led the Mountain Hawks to their first-ever Patriot League regular-season and tournament titles and an NCAA tournament berth. He is a two-time Patriot League coach of the year. Lehigh went 12-19 last season.

Taylor graduated from West Aurora High School, which is southwest of Chicago. The Ball State campus is in Muncie, Ind., also relatively close to Chicago. Recruited by Digger Phelps at Notre Dame, Taylor played for the Fighting Irish and graduated in 1995.

Hunter had been the front-runner for the Ball State opening.

He will receive a new contract to stay at IUPUI, where he has coached for 14 seasons, he said Tuesday. His old contract was signed through the 2012-13 season. His new contract, which will boost his annual base salary of $120,000, will run through the 2014-15 season. His new salary is commensurate with the money that would have been available at Ball State.

With Hunter returning to IUPUI, Ball State athletic director Tom Collins interviewed Taylor in Indianapolis on Monday night, according to a source close to Ball State.

Lehigh faced some rules troubles under Taylor and decided to officially forfeit 13 games from the 2004-05 season because of an ineligible player. The school said it misinterpreted an NCAA rule concerning a player for whom it did not accept some transfer credits.

According to the Ball State source, three other candidates were considered for the job: South Florida assistant Dan Hipsher, former St. Louis head coach Brad Soderberg and Texas Tech assistant Stew Robinson, a native of Indiana and a three-year starter for former Indiana coach Bob Knight.

Labels: coaching changes

University of South Carolina officials say they're willing to work with football coach Steve Spurrier -- but they won't completely rewrite the school's admissions policies to do so.

School officials defended the university's admissions standards a day after Spurrier harshly criticized the school for denying admission to two would-be football players who met minimum NCAA standards.

"Every student that's NCAA-qualified is not necessarily going to succeed and shouldn't be accepted," Bill Bearden, South Carolina's NCAA faculty athletics representative, told The State newspaper of Columbia.

Bearden and three other tenured professors make up the university's special admissions committee, which, according to provost Mark Becker, reviewed more than half of the Gamecocks' football signees. The committee denied admission to three of the players, one of whom was eventually admitted on appeal, The State reported.

Spurrier was angered that receiver Michael Bowman of Wadesboro, N.C., and Arkee Smith of Jacksonville, Fla., were cleared by the NCAA to enroll, yet were turned down by the university.

"Hopefully, I truly believe this is the last year this is going to happen, because I can't operate like that," Spurrier said on Sunday. "I can't operate misleading young men."

Spurrier signed a contract extension, which included a raise of nearly a half-million dollars, that ties him to South Carolina through 2012. However, he said if things didn't change on admissions "then I have to go somewhere else, because I can't tell the young man that he's coming to school here," then not have him admitted.

Bearden told The State that the special admissions committee thoroughly reviews each applicant, including grades, records, test scores and classes taken, and admits students who have a realistic chance of succeeding.

Athletic director Eric Hyman said university president Andrew Sorensen is agreeable to "tweaking" the school's athletic admissions process, and Hyman anticipates bringing proposed changes to the university's board of trustees, the newspaper reported.

But Hyman also told the newspaper that the school must remain mindful of the NCAA's academic progress rate -- a measure of how well schools retain athletes and keep them academically eligible to play sports. Schools that fall below minimum standards are subject to scholarship reductions.

"It's a heightened sense of concern, so therefore you have to have people who can ultimately make it," Hyman said, according to the newspaper.

Labels: coaching changes

Ron Hunter withdrew from consideration for the Ball State job Tuesday morning, telling ESPN.com he had decided to stay as the head coach at IUPUI.

Hunter was the front-runner for the Ball State opening. The position has been vacant for more than three weeks since Ronny Thompson resigned after an internal investigation discovered that he and his staff violated NCAA rules two years in a row by attending voluntary offseason workouts. The coaches also lied about their involvement in that infraction in May, the school has said.

On Monday, the NCAA asked Ball State to investigate more possible violations, including allegations that the women's volleyball coach was fired for reporting a possible men's basketball violation, and that extra benefits were provided to current players and a player from another university whom Thompson was recruiting as a transfer to Ball State. The new allegations were first reported by the Muncie Star Press.

The new allegations, which were revealed Monday afternoon, were a major factor in Hunter's return to IUPUI, according to a source close to the situation.

Hunter will receive a new contract to stay at IUPUI, where he has coached for 14 seasons, he said Tuesday. His old contract was signed through the 2012-13 season. His new contract, which will boost his annual base salary of $120,000, will run through the 2014-15 season. His new salary is commensurate with the money that would have been available at Ball State.

With Hunter returning to IUPUI, Ball State athletic director Tom Collins interviewed Lehigh coach Billy Taylor in Indianapolis on Monday night, according to a source close to Ball State. Taylor played at Notre Dame and has coached Lehigh to a Patriot League title and an NCAA Tournament berth in six seasons there.

Taylor had interviewed at Ball State a year ago when Thompson got the job.

According to the source, the other three candidates are South Florida assistant Dan Hipsher, former St. Louis head coach Brad Soderberg and Texas Tech assistant Stew Robinson, who is a native of Indiana and was a three-year starter for former Indiana coach Bob Knight.

There is currently no timetable to hire a coach at Ball State, the source said.

Labels: coaching changes

Wake Forest basketball coach Skip Prosser died Thursday, apparently from a heart attack. He was 56.

Prosser was found slumped on his office couch and unresponsive by director of basketball operations Mike Muse shortly after returning from his noon jog, athletics director Ron Wellman said. Medical personnel performed CPR and used a defibrillator on Prosser, who was taken to Wake Forest University Baptist Medical Center and pronounced dead at 1:41 p.m.

Labels: coaching changes

Cal assistant coach Joe Pasternack was named the next head coach at the University of New Orleans.
Pasternack, who is from New Orleans, replaces Buzz Williams who abruptly resigned last week to take an assistant's coaching position at Marquette. Williams was the second head coach in as many seasons to leave UNO for an assistant's job. Monte Towe left in 2006 for his alma mater NC State.

"I was really torn last year between Buzz and Joe, and it's very rare that you get a chance to correct a mistake," Privateers athletic director Jim Miller said.

Pasternack interviewed after Towe resigned, but UNO went with Williams, who was an assistant at Texas A&M.
Pasternack has always been one of the more energetic assistants and the hope is that he will bring same type of energy to the UNO program.

The Privateers are still recovering two years after Hurricane Katrina.

"I told every candidate last year that it might get worse before it gets better and you better be prepared for it," Miller said. "Obviously the previous head coach wasn't prepared for it. I feel really good about hiring Joe."

Pasternack is 30 years old and was a manager for Bob Knight at Indiana.

The July recruiting period began last Friday.

Labels: coaching changes

Ball State coach Ronny Thompson resigned after one season, BSU assistant athletic director Joe Hernandez told ESPN.com.

An official announcement is due later Thursday with a news conference Friday.
Hernandez said he was unsure if there was a buyout of any kind.

Thompson, the son of Hall of Fame coach John Thompson and brother of Georgetown coach John Thompson III, lost a school record 22 games last season. Ball State is awaiting word from the NCAA after commiting a secondary violation for the second year in a row for conducting offseason workouts.

The resignation comes two days after Collins told ESPN.com that there will be no change in men's basketball by the school or the coach.

"I'm committed to Ronny Thompson and his staff he's got and the great recruiting class he has coming in," Collins said Monday afternoon. "I'm committed to Ronny Thompson, and Ball State is committed to him. We want to see this thing through, and we're all behind him 100 percent. I'm here to help him be successful."

Throughout the first weekend of the July evaluation recruiting period, Thompson's job status was the source of intense speculation by colleagues. Rumors swirled at various coaches camps, and in the Muncie, Ind., area, that Thompson would resign after his staff was caught committing offseason workout violations for the second time in as many years.

Late last month racist letters were slipped under Thompson's door. According to the Muncie Star-Press, racial slurs, along with words "cheaters" and "liars," were written on notes left in the basketball offices in a "break-in" on June 24.

Ball State University police officer Gene Burton told ESPN.com Wednesday that the case should be resolved next week.

The suspense intensified when Thompson went on vacation the first weekend of the July evaluation period while the majority of coaches were on the road.
Thompson and his staff were cited for the second year in a row for violating NCAA rules by being present at voluntary offseason workouts. It has been reported by the Star-Press that the staff lied about the violations, too.

Ball State athletic director Collins said the school is waiting to hear back from the NCAA.
"We filed them as secondary violations and now we'll wait to hear from them," Collins said. "We have no idea how long the response will take."

Collins said Thompson and the staff have gone through rules education and understand "the consequences" and what "the issues are and are now working hard on the recruiting trail."

Labels: coaching changes