It’s almost Thanksgiving, meaning it’s that time of year again to break out the knives and carve up the performance of a half dozen college football coaches. However, this year we may be stuck only with turkey. The coaches whom I deemed turkeys in August have turned into swans. Well, east of San Diego anyway.
Below is a list of the five coaches I listed on the hot seat entering the season. Four of the five are safe. In fact, there is a chance that not one coach from the six major Bowl Championship Series conferences will get fired.
But then again, a couple weeks still remain. Stay tuned.
Gary Pinkel, Missouri. He put in a new offense to help quarterback Brad Smith play like Brad Smith and forgot about turning him into Joe Montana. The Tigers are 6-4 with Saturday’s game at last-place Kansas State and still have an outside chance at the Big 12 North title. At worst, they should land in the Independence Bowl.
However, Pinkel was probably coming back anyway. After all, not many schools can afford to fire the football coach and its men’s basketball coach in the same year. Or did you not notice Quin Snyder’s basketball team lost its season opener at home to Sam Houston State, 80-77?
Rich Brooks, Kentucky. Suddenly, all coaches have hope. He will be back for a fourth year despite a 9-23 overall record, 4-18 in the Southeastern Conference and 3-6 overall this year. But athletic director Mitch Barnhart, who himself has an ironclad contract, knows what Brooks was up against. Kentucky didn’t come off the three-year probation from the Hal Mumme era until January, leaving it with only 70 scholarships, 15 under the limit.
Brooks also lost 16 starters and key reserves to injuries totaling 63 games, but Saturday’s 48-43 win over Vanderbilt showed at least the offense has promise. OK, it’s only Vanderbilt. But then again, it’s also only Kentucky.
Joe Paterno, Penn State. Hot seat? Paterno’s merely the hottest coach in the country. He’s a win at 5-5 Michigan State on Saturday from a share of the Big Ten title and the conference’s Bowl Championship Series berth. His 2004 hiring of offensive guru Galen Hall finally paid off, as senior quarterback Michael Robinson lifted the Nittany Lions to the 11th-highest scoring team in the country.
Paterno finally broke down and started playing his young star recruits. Funny how his age never appears in Penn State stories anymore.
Gary Schiano, Rutgers. Blessed by one of the weakest schedules in creation, the Scarlet Knights are 6-4 and appear headed for the Insight Bowl, their first bowl since 1978. They haven’t had a winning season since 1992.
Unless they lose to Cincinnati at home next week and get blown out in a bowl game, look for Schiano to get an extension on the two years left on his contract.
Tom Craft, San Diego State. What is new athletic director Jeff Schemmel doing? Craft has only one year left on his original five-year deal. While recruits are visiting campuses all over the country, those visiting San Diego State have no idea whether the coach glad-handing them will be there on signing day.
Schemmel says nothing. Craft, 18-28 overall, is 4-6 this season and even with wins over Wyoming and at Hawaii won’t post a winning season. San Diego State remains the only Mountain West Conference school without a bowl appearance since the league was formed in 1999. The 30-10 victory at Colorado State last week shows improvement but Schemmel is wasting time.
And of the others …
Sure, Dirk Koetter could be in trouble if 5-5 Arizona State loses to Arizona and misses a bowl, and there are rumblings about John L. Smith, whose Michigan State Spartans are 5-5 and have lost five of their past six.
But the coach deemed most in trouble apparently isn’t. Despite Arkansas native – and unemployed – Butch Davis reportedly being spotted all over Arkansas, Razorbacks coach Houston Nutt is safe. He’s 3-6, 1-5 in the SEC and down to his fourth-string quarterback after the first three couldn’t cut it. However, AD Frank Broyles says Nutt is coming back, and if he is, Springdale (Ark.) High quarterback Mitch Mustain, ranked by some as the best prep QB in the country, will keep his commitment.
Kansas State derby
Here’s a list of candidates to replace Bill Snyder at Kansas State, in order of probability:
Brent Venables, 34, Oklahoma defensive coordinator. Former Kansas State player and assistant is a Salina, Kan., native and comes from the Bob Stoops stable that has produced Mike Stoops at Arizona, Mike Leach at Texas Tech and Mark Mangino at Kansas.
Jim Leavitt, 48, South Florida head coach. Former K-State assistant (1990-95) boasts 60-36 record as Bulls’ lone coach in the school’s nine years of existence. His $542,000 salary is fourth lowest among BCS schools and he has only a $50,000 buyout.
Gary Patterson, 45, TCU head coach. Former Kansas State walk-on from Rozel, Kan., and Dodge City (Kan.) CC, he has turned TCU into one of the top three non-BCS schools in the country.
Darrell Dickey, 45, North Texas head coach. Has four consecutive Sun Belt titles and four consecutive Sun Belt coach of year awards. Was K-State quarterback from 1979-82.
Dana Dimel, 43, Kansas State graduate assistant. Former Kansas State guard (1985-86) and offensive coordinator (1989-96) coached Wyoming to a 23-12 record (1997-99) and Houston to an 8-26 mark (2000-02).
Footnotes
Hawaii’s attendance has dropped every game this year, bottoming out at 22,456 for Saturday’s win over Utah State, its lowest since 1998, when it went 0-12 … USC coach Pete Carroll will hold a seminar about the NFL during bowl preparations. The Trojans could lose tailbacks Reggie Bush, LenDale White, offensive tackle Winston Justice, flanker Steve Smith and safety Darnell Bing, all juniors, to the NFL … Former NFL quarterback Jim Harbaugh, now coaching at Division I-AA San Diego, has been mentioned for the Temple opening.
John Henderson can be reached at 303-820-1299 or jhenderson@denverpost.com.
