t’s coming. In fact it’s already started. A colleague of mine referred to the college football world between mid-November and January lst as ‘The Silly Season.’ It’s the time of year when many major college head coaches are fired. It’s as inevitable as death and taxes and a controversy within the BCS.
It already began. Tim Brewster of Minnesota and Todd Dodge of North Texas were the first two Football Bowl Subdivision coaches to be fired. Both came in mid-season which is somewhat unusual. There will certainly be more to follow. Last fall there were 15 FBS head coaches fired between Thanksgiving and Christmas. And that doesn’t include all the changes made at that time among FCS teams, Division II, Division III, NAIA, and at the junior college level.
Many changes are needed or become unavoidable. Often though, a coach on the bubble may be given another year to help turn things around. The other part of the ‘Silly Season’ is the coach that accepts another position while his current team is scheduled to play in a bowl game. Many presidents and athletic directors have made the decision to let the coach go right away and appoint an interim head coach just for the bowl game.
That was the case last year when Brian Kelly led the Cincinnati Bearcats to an undefeated 12-0 regular season. Notre Dame came calling and Kelly accepted the job in early December. Meanwhile, the Bearcats were scheduled to play in their second consecutive BCS Bowl, a January Orange Bowl date with Florida. Cincinnati relieved Kelly of all authority and duties and appointed Offensive Coordinator Jeff Quinn as the interim coach. While Kelly went on to recruit for the Irish, Quinn and the Bearcats were beaten by the Gators. Quinn was then passed over for the head job at UC, which was given to Central Michigan head coach Butch Jones.
Both are certain to happen later this fall—major head coaching changes among BCS programs and a head coach leaving for another school while his present team awaits their bowl game. It’s the American way.