GO BIG DEAD

Two head coaches in college football got fired this year, despite having overall winning records: Akron’s Lee Owens (who has already landed another job) and Nebraska’s Frank Solich, who got whacked despite going 9-3 and finishing second in the Big XII North.

Granted, second might as well be last to the typical Husker fan, but still, firing your coach after a 9-3 season has a chilling effect on your entire program. It’s a move you don’t make unless you’ve got The Man on your speed dial, ready to step in when you give the word.

Nebraska AD Steve Pederson immediately named Huskers defensive coordinator Bo Pelini as the interim coach, and, once Steve Spurrier made it clear that he does not plan to winter in Lincoln, it appeared that “interim” was just a peel-off sticker on Pelini’s letterhead. Indeed, for the past few weeks, the Internet’s been rife with speculation that Pelini would get the permanent job soon . . . usually, “tomorrow.”

Well, and now there’s this. Oklahoma’s former defensive coordinator, Mike Stoops, just took the head janitorial job at Arizona; Pelini, the man who performed the Heimlich maneuver on NU’s defense, is perhaps the best possible choice to maintain OU’s high level of performance.

That’s if this report is true, which Pelini almost denies. “I wouldn’t say even if there was,” is how he phrased it. Great. So from now on, we can’t trust anything he says about the OU job.

Part of me thinks that this is a Machiavellian stance on Pelini’s part. He’s basically trying to force Pederson’s hand by pointing out that there are other, perhaps more attractive jobs out there if Pelini can’t be NU’s head man. Pelini appears to be calling Pederson’s bluff, knowing (perhaps) that Pederson is finding that candidates aren’t exactly lining up to coach a program that just dumped a coach who went 9-3.

Indeed, if not Pelini, then who? One site reports that Pederson interviewed Kansas City Chiefs offensive coordinator Al Saunders over the weekend. Butch Davis’ name has come up repeatedly. Spurrier we’ve already discussed.

I can think of one guy who’d be perfect for the job, having been successful on both the college and pro level. He’d make a great recruiter, he’s already proven himself as an effective big-game coach, and he can run an offense the likes of which has never been seen in the Big XII (except maybe in Lubbock). He’s even proven that he can coach at places with high academic standards (which isn’t what NU is known for, but hey, at least he can get his players to class).
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