General

It’s Never Too Early To Hate Your New Coach

Dec 14, 2009, 8:15 PM UTC

Turner Gill finally landed a big BCS job over the weekend with Kansas. Reason to celebrate, right? Well, that was a short honeymoon, because FireTurnerGill.com already exists. It makes the folks in South Bend seem very reasonable and sane. Oh, speaking of Notre Dame, FireBrianKelly.com already exists, too, but it’s basically a placeholder for a message board.
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â†µâ†µThis got me to thinking: If these two guys, who haven’t even coached a game at their respective schools yet, have these URLs already out there, what about some of the nation’s top coaches? Let’s run down the latest AP top 10, while obviously skipping Cincinnati, which has no coach at the moment:â†µ

â†µâ†µNo. 1 Alabama: FireNickSaban.com
â†µStatus: Placeholder page.
â†µRegistrant: Domains by Proxy, Inc.
â†µCould very well be that Alabama snatched this one up via this proxy group, but they aren’t listed as the registrant. Tough to tell.â†µ

â†µâ†µNo. 2 Texas: FireMackBrown.com
â†µStatus: Placeholder page.
â†µRegistrant: Above.com Domain Privacy.
â†µSame situation as Alabama. Unclear who actually owns this, although unlike the Bama one, this is an overseas group.â†µ

â†µâ†µNo. 3 TCU: FireGaryPatterson.com
â†µStatus: Placeholder page.
â†µRegistrant: Domains by Proxy, Inc.â†µ

â†µâ†µNo. 4 Cincinnati: No Coach.â†µ

â†µâ†µNo. 5 Florida: FireUrbanMeyer.comâ†µ
â†µStatus: Placeholder page.
â†µRegistrant: University Athletic Association (aka Florida’s athletic department).â†µ

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â†µNo. 6 Boise State: FireChrisPetersen.com
â†µStatus: Available for purchase.
â†µRegistrant: None.
â†µI suppose things have gone so well, they'd never dream of wanting to fire the guy.â†µ

â†µâ†µNo. 7 Oregon: FireChipKelly.comâ†µ
â†µStatus: Up and running, albeit abandoned since early season turmoil.â†µ
â†µRegistrant: Ken Swartwoutâ†µ
â†µThis appears to have been formed in the aftermath of the Boise State debacle to open the season. It looks like a word hasn’t been written since maybe a week after the win over Utah. I mean, they are in the Rose Bowl.â†µ

â†µâ†µNo. 8 Ohio State: FireJimTressel.comâ†µ
â†µStatus: Up and running, but only as a preemptive strike against those who actually would want Tressel fired. (Great mocking line of “This domain is parked to keep it out of the hands of folks who shouldn’t be trusted with kitchen utensils, let alone web sites.”)â†µ
â†µRegistrant: Chris Stassenâ†µ
â†µDespite some groaning about the offense this season, they are in the Rose Bowl, and this fan seems to want to protect the honor of the Sweater.â†µ

â†µâ†µNo. 9 Georgia Tech: FirePaulJohnson.comâ†µ
â†µStatus: Up and running. Another fan defending his coach. The site reads: “Hopefully this site will never be active.”â†µ
â†µRegistrant: Domains by Proxy, Inc.â†µ

â†µâ†µNo. 10 Iowa: FireKirkFerentz.comâ†µ
â†µStatus: Redirects to Iowa’s official athletics page.â†µ
â†µRegistrant: University of Iowa Athleticsâ†µ
â†µSavvy to have it redirect to their site. Surprised that if other schools at the top do own their domains using that Domains by Proxy, Inc. that they don’t do the same.â†µ

â†µâ†µIn case you wondered, FireTurnerGill.com is registered to an individual in Athens, Georgia while FireBrianKelly.com was registered through a private proxy group earlier this year. When I reached Iowa Associate Athletic Director for External Affairs Rick Klatt by phone on Monday he described what the Hawkeyes do as “an act of courtesy” for a “minimal investment,” which makes perfect sense. As Klatt told me, it probably wouldn’t stop a disgruntled fan from just creating another site, but it’s a public show of support for the staff. â†µ

â†µâ†µAll registration information was pulled via whois.domaintools.com.â†µ

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

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