Dec 28th, 2009
Let me get this straight: A fellow named Dabo just won a bowl game as Clemson’s head coach. Someone called Jimbo will become a head coach at Florida State in a week. And a guy named Joker probably will be Kentucky’s head coach. Dabo, Jimbo and Joker – the rhythm of college football in the south.
Brian Kelly said he would have stayed at Cincinnati for a national-championship game -- Associated Press photo by David Kohl
Let me get this straight: Brian Kelly left undefeated Cincinnati to coach at Notre Dame, which was 6-6, but will not coach Cincinnati in the Sugar Bowl game. However, if Texas had lost to Nebraska in the Big 12 title game and Cincinnati had moved up to No. 2 in the BCS, Kelly would have stayed at Cincy to coach in the national-title game and Notre Dame probably would have hired someone else. Meanwhile, the current Cincinnati head coach, Jeff Quinn, has taken another job, too, being hired by Buffalo before he coached a single game at Cincinnati. Nonetheless, Quinn will stay on to coach the Bearcats in the Sugar Bowl, which will be his first game as a head coach and the biggest game in Cincinnati history. So in a matter of 11 days, a 12-0 team that has a chance to finish ranked No. 2 has had two head coaches leave to take the same jobs at schools that did not go to bowls. On the Cincinnati website, it says Cincinnati’s head coach is Butch Jones, but he will not be on the sidelines in the Sugar Bowl and will not take over until Quinn officially becomes head coach at Buffalo on Jan. 2. If Cincinnati wins, the postgame celebration may be a bit awkward, with Quinn saying something like, “This is the best moment of my football life, and now it’s on to Buffalo.”
Let me get this straight: The head coach for Cincinnati’s Sugar Bowl opponent, Florida, will be Urban Meyer, who said one day the Sugar Bowl would be his last game as a head coach and the next day said he expects to be the Gators’ coach again next season. In the meantime, Steve Addazio will become the head coach at what is considered the top college football program in the country, but if things go according to plan, he will never be Florida’s head coach in a game. So Addazio’s resume will read something like this: Head coaching experience – seven years at Cheshire High School (1988-1994), nine months at University of Florida, record 0-0.
Let me get this straight: Bob Stoops is head coach at Oklahoma, whose Sun Bowl opponent is Stanford, which lost to Arizona, coached by Bob’s bother Mike Stoops. The Wildcats’ defense coordinator is brother Mark Stoops, who next year will be defensive coordinator at Florida State. But he won’t be working under the current head coach, Bobby Bowden, whose final game as the Seminoles’ coach will be Jan. 1. Bowden’s downfall may have started when he made his son, Jeff Bowden, his offensive coordinator. Jeff Bowden resigned at Florida State in 2006, and is now an assistant coach at North Alabama, where the head coach is brother Terry Bowden. Their brother, Tommy Bowden, is now a commentator who has analyzed games involving his father at Florida State, which next year will be coached by a guy named Jimbo (Fisher). Last year, Tommy Bowden was head coach of Clemson and was replaced by a guy named Dabo (Swinney). On Sunday, Swinney’s Clemson team beat Kentucky, whose head coach, Rich Brooks, says he’s 80 percent sure he will retire, leaving the head coaching job to a fellow named Joker (Phillips).
OK, I think I’ve got it now.
