This is the time of year where you can literally spend all day on Twitter just watching the rumors refresh over and over again. This coach is going here, that coach is going there, when the carousel stops who knows who will get off and who will take a ride. It's a crazy time of year and the firing of Mario Cristobal by FIU and the hiring of Bret Bielema by Arkansas are just two examples. A couple of days ago we looked at the coaching carousel. You can click on the link but most of that information is probably out of date so let's see what's going on right now (depending on how quickly you can read)….
Auburn
Unless you live under a rock, you know that Tigers hired Gus Malzahn. Click here to read my thoughts on the hire. Since I wrote that piece around 24 hours ago, Malzahn has hired Ellis Johnson as his DC. I really like that move unless Johnson has some sort of weird lingering effect of getting curb stomped in his one year run at Southern Miss.
Tennessee
Right now it's three strikes for Tennessee. No Jon Gruden, no Mike Gundy and now no Charlie Strong. That's tough news for a program that has really been turned on it's head since it made the decision to turn the reigns over to Lane Kiffin. Since Fulmer was fired, the Vols have gone 23-27. I never really agreed with the decision to hire Derek Dooley as he never had proven he could win at the college level (17-20 at La Tech in three years) but he did provide the program with some stability, compared to Kiffin's era, that the next coach might be able to turn into something with a couple of strong recruiting classes. So where do the Vols turn now? UNC's Larry Fedora, who has only been on the job for the Tar Heels for one year, has interviewed for the job.
Boston College
The Eagles hired Steve Adazzio. I've been critical of Adazzio before but he did a good job at Temple. Sure he only went 4-7 this season but I think long term he could be a solid hire.
California
Cal has grabbed Louisiana Tech's Sonny Dykes. It's is certainly a fit for the Pac-12 in terms of high powered offenses. It's not as flashy a hire as last year's Mike Leach, Jim Mora or RichRod but I think it could work out well. Will he bring OC Tony Franklin with him or will La Tech give Franklin a chance?
Colorado
The Denver Post reported that Cincinnati's Butch Jones was the new head coach but that report was disputed. Was it the timing or the report? This will be an interesting wait and see….
Purdue
The Boilermakers have themselves a coach. After going after Butch Jones of Cincinnati, they have landed on Kent State's Darrell Hazell. The B1G sure does love raiding the MAC, doesn't it? Jerry Kill from NIU to Minnesota, Tim Beckman from Toledo to Illinois and now Hazell from Kent State to Purdue. Hazell has only been a head coach for two years but he quickly turned around the Golden Flashes and has a background with Ohio State so he knows the Big Ten. Looks like a good hire to me but we will see how it turns out.
USF
After giving Skip Holtz the boot they are looking at WKU's Willie Taggart and it looks like Houston Nutt is willing to hire himself for the job if the Bulls are interested.
As it stands right now here is who still has an opening at the head coach position (don't blink though, this could change as you are reading): Arkansas State, Colorado, FIU, Kent State, Louisiana Tech, Southern Miss, Temple, USF, UTEP, WMU and Wisconsin but as jobs are filled sometimes it opens up others (see also: Arkansas/Wisconsin, Cal/La Tech). Interestingly enough the best opening that is left might just be Wisconsin. Bret Bielema left for Arkansas but that was a lateral move and Wisconsin is in a better position right now in the Big Ten than Tennessee is in the SEC, that's for sure.
Oh yeah, Idaho hired Paul Petrino. How did we not hear about that one?
Just remember that the carousel spins so quickly that by the time you read this, most of these teams will probably have coaches and we will be discussing the openings those hires have created.
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