General

Bob Stoops To ND Is ‘Ridiculous,’ But Mike Leach Is Crazy Enough To Bolt Tech

Nov 18, 2009, 10:00 PM UTC

â†µNeither of these batty rumors even approaches last year's "Les Miles to Washington!" rumor, for my money â†µthe grand champion insane coaching-move rumor of the past half-dozen â†µyears, but they're both in the conversation for this year's trophy. â†µ

â†µâ†µDoor #1 is Bob Stoops to Notre Dame:â†µ

â†µâ†µâ‡¥If athletic director Jack Swarbrick decides Weis’ Notre Dame career â†µâ‡¥is over after his fifth season, a source said Oklahoma coach Bob Stoops â†µâ‡¥and Iowa coach Kirk Ferentz will be in the mix to replace him. The â†µâ‡¥source said Stoops has told confidants he would be interested in talking â†µâ‡¥to the Irish.â†µâ†µâ†µThat’s right: “if.” â†µ

â†µâ†µDoor #2 is Mike Leach to Louisville:â†µ

â†µâ†µâ‡¥Anybody else hear that Texas Tech coach Mike Leach is the flavor of â†µâ‡¥the day in the University of Louisville football chatter?â†µâ‡¥
â†µâ‡¥
â†µâ‡¥That was the name that was buzzing Monday. Pass-happy coach who â†µâ‡¥worked with Hal Mumme at UK before he went to Oklahoma with Bob Stoops. â†µâ‡¥Michael Crabtree played for him as well as Graham Harrell. Knows how to â†µâ‡¥score. Has a law degree.â†µâ†µâ†µLater, this guy breaks new ground by eschewing the one-sentence â†µparagraph in favor of the one-fragment paragraph. Too much Twitter.â†µ

â†µ

â†µAnyway, which of these rumors is more clearly insane? It's got to be â†µStoops to ND. Yes, shock, a Notre Dame coaching rumor is preposterously â†µgrandiose. â†µ

â†µâ†µLeach to Louisville, though unlikely, at least seems plausible. â†µOklahoma and Texas Tech are in the same division in the Big 12 and â†µOklahoma is constantly in the BCS because they out-recruit Leach â†µsomething wicked. Leach has a ceiling as the third-best team in his own â†µdivision. Also, while Stoops has publicly â†µderided the rumors … â†µ

â†µâ†µâ‡¥â†µâ‡¥“That’s ridiculous, though, some confidant, huh,” Stoops asked? â†µâ‡¥“I have no idea what you’re talking about. Notre Dame doesn’t have â†µâ‡¥a job, and I haven’t spoke to any confidants about anything outside of â†µâ‡¥trying to beat Texas Tech, so, â†µâ‡¥you guys, you know, that’s some guy making something up. I’m not â†µâ‡¥answering stuff like that. There’s not even a job at Notre Dame, so â†µâ‡¥that’s ridiculous. I don’t know. You guys believe [there’s a] confidant. â†µâ‡¥What’s that?”â†µâ‡¥

â†µâ†µâ†µ… Mike Leach has not, has no buyout and is totally insane. Also he constantly fights with his athletic department â†µbecause they think he spends too much. Leach has a pretty good thing â†µgoing at Tech, and it’s always risky to take over a bomb site of a â†µprogram that has nothing in the way of a local recruiting base — Kentucky â†µand Tennessee are not great football states and you get strictly â†µleftovers from Ohio with eleven Big Ten teams and Cincinnati combing â†µit — but after the Harrell/Crabtree year he’s got to be wondering if he’ll â†µever get past the two big dogs in his own division. â†µ

â†µâ†µIn the Big East, he’s got to deal with Brian Kelly for however long â†µhe’s at Cincinnati (hint: not very long) and then … um … Bill Stewart? If â†µthere’s a place where a gunslinging, pirate-obsessed coach can putter â†µaround with meh recruits and use a wacky system as a springboard to BCS â†µglory, it’s the Big East. Subtract the pirate bit and you’ve got Rich â†µRodriguez, after all. â†µ

â†µ

This post originally appeared on the Sporting Blog. For more, see The Sporting Blog Archives.

See More: