Firing line: Welcome to Black Sunday, Monday ...
You thought Black Friday was bad? Try Black Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday.
That is, if we make it past Black Sunday.
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| Mark Mangino's fate appears sealed at Kansas. (Getty Images) |
Weis' departure is probably the most imminent with the school having to move to courting its top candidate -- whoever that might be. The South Bend Tribune reported last week that Oklahoma's Bob Stoops might be the No. 1 choice. Judging by comments from Cincinnati coach Brian Kelly, he would be more than willing to come to South Bend.
Groh turned in another Groh-like performance during a 42-13 loss to Virginia Tech, then reading a poem to reporters, "The Guy in the Glass".
The guy in Charlottesville is 59-53 at Virginia and is a two-time ACC Coach of the Year, but is 1-8 against Tech. Temple's Al Golden or Richmond's Mike London are likely candidates to replace Groh.
Mangino botched the end of the Missouri game, then solemnly walked out of Arrowhead Stadium with a seventh consecutive loss.
Kansas officials could bypass all that nonsense about alleged physical abuse of players and nail its coach for fumbling away the season down the stretch and a bowl bid in the final game.
Mangino's firing might not come this week, but it will come. It's just a case of the lawyers getting involved to figure out a settlement. Buffalo coach Turner Gill has been mentioned by numerous outlets as a top candidate.
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Akron and Louisville got a jump on things by firing J.D. Brookhart and Steve Kragthorpe during the holiday weekend. Louisville AD Tom Jurich took much of the blame for the Kragthorpe situation. Back in 2007, Krags was one of the hottest coaches in the country at Tulsa.
"The thing I feel worst about is I took him out of a great job, I took him out of a great city, I had him turn down bigger jobs than Louisville to take this one," Jurich told reporters. "That's something that will haunt me the rest of my life."
The grass isn't always greener, kids. Kragthorpe is a great guy and good coach but Louisville resembles a program run into the ground. Attendance fell off drastically and Kragthorpe went 15-21 in three seasons.
The coach and AD were friends going back to their days together at Northern Arizona in 1990s. Now one is in the unemployment line.
Brookhart, a former Pittsburgh assistant, was 30-42 with the Zips and was MAC Coach of the Year 2004. But that was sooo five years ago.
Then there is the issue of the two hot free-agent candidates: Tommy Tuberville and Phil Fulmer. Once on the hot seat, both would like to get in a seat again.
