I am traveling out to Southern California today. Can't wait to take in that ocean breeze. I will pop in every now and then and put some posts up via my BB. But I am sure rest of my compadres will keep this place humming. Again I don't have much interest in our actual game this weekend. I just don't care enough or can muster up the enthusiasm to compile notes or read about the Sun Devils. If are dying for a scouting report use the links to paid sites on our blogroll or check out Pitchfork Nation, a pretty cool blog dedicates to all things ASU.
Heading into a long weekend I wanted to keep highlighting the only issue that really matters wrt to our football program, which is who will be the next football coach.
Tom Dienhart from the Sporting News becomes the first reporter from the traditional media to toss in BYU's Bronco Mendenhall's name in the Bruin coaching mix:
Change is Bruin
Two names keep coming up should a coaching change occur at UCLA: Boise State's Chris Petersen and BYU's Bronco Mendenhall.
And I wouldn't be shocked if Texas Tech's Mike Leach becomes a player for the UCLA job if he opts to leave Lubbock on his own accord. But if Mendenhall left BYU for UCLA, would Leach be interested in going to BYU, his alma mater?
HT to FullertonBruin for posting the link to that story. Everyone of course have been talking about Peterson for a while. I think Mendenhall could be a very interesting pick for UCLA. I'd rather have someone like him, than some retread, reject coach, who will bring a whole lot of baggage from other another program.Two names keep coming up should a coaching change occur at UCLA: Boise State's Chris Petersen and BYU's Bronco Mendenhall.
And I wouldn't be shocked if Texas Tech's Mike Leach becomes a player for the UCLA job if he opts to leave Lubbock on his own accord. But if Mendenhall left BYU for UCLA, would Leach be interested in going to BYU, his alma mater?
Well there are other names that keep coming up. 66 is tracking the Leach mentions in Texas. Meanwhile, John Wilner, Brian Dohn's predecessor at DN who now writes for the San Jose Mercury News posted this on his blog earlier in the week:
Tough to see Karl Dorrell keeping his job with UCLA experiencing another second-half collapse. It's not the number of losses (yet), it's the caliber of teams the Bruins are losing to: they're bad.
And with ASU, Oregon and USC left on the schedule, there's a good chance the Bruins (5-4) won't win again, in which case firing Dorrell would be a no-brainer.
There's already speculation in Westwood about the next coach: Rick Neuheisel's name has surfaced (he's an alum), but that's a dance-with-the-devil thing. Another way-way-to-early-to-call-him-a-candidate is Boise State's Chris Petersen.
If the Bruins want to scare coaching staffs throughout the conference, they'd place a call to Kansas? Mark Mangino.
I am jittery about Neuhisel because of the baggage he brings. And Mangino I am not totally sure about. But he is an interesting candidate, who I cannot see being the "right fit" in Westwood.And with ASU, Oregon and USC left on the schedule, there's a good chance the Bruins (5-4) won't win again, in which case firing Dorrell would be a no-brainer.
There's already speculation in Westwood about the next coach: Rick Neuheisel's name has surfaced (he's an alum), but that's a dance-with-the-devil thing. Another way-way-to-early-to-call-him-a-candidate is Boise State's Chris Petersen.
If the Bruins want to scare coaching staffs throughout the conference, they'd place a call to Kansas? Mark Mangino.
This takes me to another point that we have been collectively making here on BN for a while. UCLA's next head coach has the right here, the "perfect fit" just like Coach Howland was for our basketball program. Dave Curtis from the Orland Sentinel has a pretty interesting article on that topic, in which he also notes this:
UCLA's Karl Dorrell's team shook last year's national championship chase by upsetting Southern Cal on the regular season's final day. Inconsistency would lead to his downfall -- a 44-6 loss to Utah has tarnished the 2007 season -- but the next coach inherits a team with decent talent.
Isn't that interesting? I am sure the fact that despite having a Doofus like CTS (for those who are still wondering: CTS stands for "Coach Toledo's Successor," a phrase coined by our Fox71 who go sick and tired of uttering his name) UCLA has the second or third most talented team in the Pac-10, and could wrap up a top-5 recrutiing class with a high profile coaching hire, will not be lost on coaches such as Spurrier, Peterson, Mariucci, Petrino et al should they be interested in coaching at a sleeping giant of college football.Oh and by the way, it looks like our Spurrier discussion is ... uhm ... what can I say ... provoking a lot of reaction: on CNNSI, SportsbyBrooks and all over the SEC messageboards/blogs (here, here, here, here, here, and here). And those are just links from the last couple days that popped up a few hours after we bumped the Spurrier mention to the front page. There have been a few others.
Hmm. Sheesh. If our Spurrier to UCLA posts are just speculation on the `internets,' then why all the strong reaction?
Maybe we are on to something that Guerrero should take note of (if he hasn't already)?
GO BRUINS.