Happy Holidays!  There's been a dearth of posts lately, but since there's really nothing going on with Notre Dame football right now (well, except for our most important commit in the last 5 years taking a visit to Florida), I thought I'd give you my review on other teams' coaching changes.  Enjoy!

Arkansas - Great hire for Arkansas and once they get Ryan Mallett to transfer from Michigan, they'll be set for the next few years.  Bobby Petrino has a bad rap, and probably deservedly so, but in an age where coaches are being fired left and right, I have little sympathy for programs and teams that get spurned by coaches.  It's the nature of the beast.  Petrino is a terrific college coach and it will be interesting to see how he fares in the SEC.  Grade: A.  He's that good.

Baylor - They're the Duke of the Big XII.  The only difference is that I actually feel like commenting on Duke's coaching search.

Colorado State - They named their stadium after Sonny Lubick.  Next thing you know, they're forcing him out as head coach.  Horseshit is what that is.  The guy built that program and that's how you treat them?  They will suck for the next 10 years.  Actually, I took a look at the guy who they hired (Steve Fairchild) and I have to say that I'm pretty impressed with his resume.  He's had two stops in the NFL as offensive coordinator and is a former CSU coach and player.  Not a bad hire, but what they did was terrible and I only want them to pay for it.  Grade: B

Duke - Only three years removed from resigning as the quarterbacks coach at Notre Dame (let's be honest, he would have been the best QB coach in the nation - including the NFL), David Cutcliffe took over as head coach of Duke and forced out the last ND quarterbacks coach (Peter Vaas), who was Duke's offensive coordinator this year.  Cutcliffe is a good get, but I'm not buying the hype completely.  He's only 53 but he's had a history of health conditions and Duke is not an easy place to coach football.  It will be interesting to see how he recruits, simply because one of the main reasons he was launched from Ole Miss was his poor recruiting efforts.  Still, this is a significant step-up from Ted Roof and I like that Phat Phil Fulmer has to find another OC.  Grade: B.

Georgia Tech - Paul Johnson returns to Georgia where he won two Division I-AA championships at Georgia Southern.  Johnson's been a terrific coach at everywhere he's coached but he's never really had to face top competition.  His teams are superb in technique and discipline but his offense is hard to sell to recruits and is considered a "thing of the past".  I still think the option can be run in college football (let's face it, people abandoned the option after Nebraska's loss to Miami in their last national championship visit) and I think this is a terrific hire for Georgia Tech, mostly because Chan Gailey was one of the worst head coaches I've ever seen.  Grade: B+.

Houston - They didn't hire Mike Haywood.  Screw them.  He deserved it.  Grade: Check plus.  I really don't care what Houston does.

Navy - After Paul Johnson left for Georgia Tech, Navy replaced him with offensive assistant Ken Niumatalolo.  Niumatalolo is "believed to be the first Polynesian head coach in college football".  Believed to be?  Is it really that hard to find out if that is true?  Their name's certainly stick out like a sore thumb.  Regardless, Navy probably did the best that they could do.  Johnson was about the best coach they could ever have, so any replacement will probably lack some excitement.  Grade: B.

Michigan - I can only laugh at Michigan.  There were many highs and lows during this coaching search and when they got a guy that no one even mentioned as a possibility, they rejoiced as if they were getting Bear Bryant.  Rodriguez has done a good job at West Virginia, but I'm a little skeptical as to what he can do against a top conference.  Let's face it, he was in a terrible conference and still managed to drop one or two games a year (he even lost to Dave Wannstedt).  If he can pull Terrelle Pryor to Michigan, the transition might be a little smoother but I still wonder if he has the pieces to win early.  The spread offense is all about the quarterback, but let's not kid ourselves, Michigan's offensive line is not built for that offense.  Grade: B+.

Mississippi - RIP, Ed Orgeron.  You were replaced by Houston Nutt, who is only a slightly better coach but better at convincing players in his own city to come to his school.  This is a decent hire for a program who should never have let Cutcliffe go.  They thought they were bigger and better than they actually were and then hired a guy who can't speak coherent English to coach their SEC program.  Nice trade-off.  They do gain Jevan Snead from Texas who might be the only white guy named Jevan.  Grade: B.

Nebraska - Nebraska fires Bill Callahan, a terrific move.  They hire Bo Pelini, average move.  If I were them, I'd bring on Jim Grobe as head coach and Turner Gill as offensive coordinator to take over for Grobe in a few years.  Win-win for everybody.  Instead, they get a decent defensive coordinator who has had trouble against the pass and who sticks with LSU during their bowl preparation.  This situation is similar to Weis sticking on with New England.  He could be out recruiting now, but he isn't.  He'll pay for it in the future, just like Weis did this year.  Maybe a step-up from Callahan, but I'm not entirely convinced.  Grade: C+.

Northern Illinois - Who.  Gives.  A.  Crap.

SMU - Southern Methodist still hasn't hired a coach.  I had to look that up.  No, not the fact that they haven't hired a head coach yet.  I had to look up the fact that they still have a football team.  Grade: Incomplete.

Southern Miss - Read my comments about Colorado State and Sonny Lubick.  It's probably not as egregious of a situation, but they had no basis for firing Jeff Bower.  They replaced Bower with OK State's offensive coordinator, Larry Fedora.  Last time I check, Oklahoma State sucked.  Good job Southern Miss.  Grade: D.

Texas A&M - Texas A&M is a tough spot because it has to undo one of the dumbest coaching moves in the last decade: firing R.C. Slocum.  It seemed like a good idea at the time given that they poached Franchione from Alabama, but it was disastrous from the start.  When Mike Sherman was named coach only a few days into the coaching search, most were familiar with the name but asked "What the hell?".  Sherman's got head coaching experience in the NFL but has never been regarded as a tremendous coach and has been out of the college game for a number of years.  A&M has some decent talent waiting for him so there should be no excuses from the get-go.  I'll say one thing, Mike Sherman is a better choice than Bob Davie.  Grade: B.

UCLA - They're reportedly deciding between their old defensive coordinator Dewayne Walker and former Colorado and Washington coach Rick "British teeth" Neuheisal.  Let's analyze coach #1.  He's a good defensive coordinator with a solid pro background, but has hiring an assistant from within the same program ever worked out when trying to find a replacement for a <u>fired</u> coach.  There's a reason the head guy was fired and I'm not sure the defensive coordinator is absent any blame.  The next coach is a guy who is a terrific coach, but grade A scumbag who would jeopardize the integrity of the entire school.  Just hire Norm Chow, damnit.  Grade: Incomplete.

Washington State - They fired Bill Doba (about time) and replaced him with Paul Wulff, who I doubt anyone has ever heard of.  He's a Washington State grad (1990) who's been the head man at Eastern Washington for the past 8 years.  He's a young coach with a decent track record at a small school and a million dollar smile.  Should be an interesting situation to watch.  Grade: B.

West Virginia - Boy do I feel bad for West Virginia.  Maybe I'm a different kind of fan, but I would never, ever leave my alma mater unless I was getting canned.  And to Michigan?  I don't know what could be any worse.  Anyways, they should look to bring in someone who is familiar with the spread offense.  There is no sense in trying to change the direction of the program.  I don't know who's out there, but they should take a look at Doc Holliday from Florida or Butch Jones from Central Michigan.  Grade: Incomplete.