Pac 10 Coaching

Well, it looks like there are going to be some coaching changes. The Washington State job is interesting - there are a whole bunch of people who are interested in it and they are interested in them. Dirk Koetter, both of our own Coordinators (Gregory and Michalczik), Mike Price, and a host of others, including the current offensive coordinator for Missouri.

The one thing I would say is that this is a job that will go to a coordinator. Koetter fits the bill, currently the offensive coordinator for the Jaguars. So do our two guys. I guess the thing that is interesting is that Washington State will not have a ton of money to give to the new coach, and certainly not the new assistant coaches. So it will either be a re-tread (a la Tony Bennett with the basketball team) or a young guy trying to make his mark. All of the assistants have been let go at this point. So the cougs are out almost three million this year. The new guy will be paid probably about the same as Doba was, which is about half a million per year. While that is a step up for most college assistants, for another College Head coach, or a pro assistant, it is not a big financial upgrade. I do not think that Koetter is making significantly less at Jacksonville than he would be in Washington, and frankly, I think if he does a good job, he may be setting his sights on a NFL slot. So he may not want to leave. Besides, it is a lot warmer in Florida.

So, if you look at Mike Price, he may fit the bill, but I bet it is not a huge increase in salary from the UTEP job. While Washington State is a big BCS school, it is still in the middle of nowhere with a problem with recruiting from urban areas on the west coast. It has lost some of it's appeal as the maid draw from Idaho and Utah, with the continued strong teams from Boise and BYU, so it is not an easy project. At least at UTEP, you have a much larger pool to recruit from, and you ought to be able to make some headway there.

The best candidate for the cougars would be Dave Christensen, who is the offensive coordinator for Missouri. He is a three time Broyles award nominee, and will probably win it this year. He is in his 7th year at Missouri, and was 7 years prior to that at Toledo. He has been a coach and player in Washington State and Idaho, before moving to Toledo. He is clearly not afraid of the cold miserable weather in Eastern Washington, since that is the same, cold miserable weather he gets in Missouri. He may miss the barbeque,. But clearly he runs the type of high volume passing attack that washington State needs to be successful, like they run at Boise. Having that type of coach there would be fun for all those recruits who may be too small to play elsewhere, but are fast and could be a good fit for Washington State. If I were the athletic director that is who I would take.

The only issue is, Missouri is going to be playing until January 8, so he may miss out on some of these coaching opportunities. But Washington State is the place where I think he would fit in best.

The guy at Boise makes more than Doba did, and I do not see him moving to what is essentially a lateral position (although going 11 - 1 and not making a BCS game has to be a little frustrating). He has already said he is not leaving.

But there are our two guys out there as well. It sounded like Gregory (who is a Broyles award guy himself) is a candidate for the job, and Michalczik threw his hat in the ring. Both are Washington State grads, so there is a degree of loyalty there. I think Gregory is probalbly the leading candidate, since he has been a coordinator longer, but Michalczik has been the assistant head coach at Cal for a few years, and is well regarded.

I can see a lot of scenarios where either of those guys go. Frankly, I do not think that that the salary is a big deal, but they would probably get a fairly significant bump up. But we do pay our assistants well. So the biggest thing would be, do you want to be a head coach. And clearly, these guys do. i think either would be gone in a flash if they were given the opportunity.

The other thing that will happen is that UCLA will have a bunch of assistants who are going to be leaving, along with a head coach. One of the most interesting thing that could happen is if Washington State picks up Dorrell. They are very interested in hiring an african american coach and Dorrell clearly has the experience. Also, he has the recruiting connections in Southern California that they would love to have. And, frankly, he is cheap - he was making only $900,000 at UCLA. He would go for about $600,000 to Washington State. And he could bring in a staff ready made.

Now, the issue is, is Dorrell a good coach. Well, he is good enough. If he can bring his defensive coordinator with him, and get a good spread offensive guy, I think that they would be a strong team. DeWayne Walker would be a strong candidate as head coach as well.

Another option would be for Gregory to move to Washington State. How fast do you think Tedford would be on the phone to Walker after he gets let go on Saturday at 8:00 PM?

It will be interesting to see what happens. i think these changes will move along pretty quickly next week. I frankly do no see Christensen moving before the Championship game. If it was just another BCS game, maybe. But this is a once in a lifetime thing. So if he does not Washington State is frankly in a tough bind. They need to move quickly to get the recruits in house, which is the main reason they canned Doba.

Also, surprisingly, Harbaugh is being brought up as coaching material. You have got to be kidding me! But he is on the list for the Michigan folks. I suggest we do the nice folks from Michigan a favor and crush the Furds this weekend, so they do not get the idea that he can coach. The Mouth that Roared maybe is what those guys need after a few years of the walking dead. Who knows.

My guess is that Washington is still OK with Willingham, although losing to Washington State had to hurt. If they take Hawaii out of the BCS this year, preserving the Pac 10 second slot for sure, he deserves another shot.

And the idiots at Arizona have already given Stoopid another vote of confidence. They will probably name the town after him if they be Arizona State.

Anyway, it will be fun to watch. If we do not lose someone right away, then I assume that we will wait until we make any changes in our staff until after the bowl game.

GO BEARS!!