Coaching carousel keeps turning

"Excuse me, Mr. Smith, you have a phone call."
"Give me a minute, I need to call the next play."
If there's one thing that the off-season carousel of college coaching changes has shown us, it's that nothing is guaranteed.
Not even the opportunity to coach your last game in peace, as the aforementioned John L. Smith discovered Wednesday night at the GMAC Bowl.
It's got to be a little disconcerting when your quarterback meets you outside the locker room at halftime and asks not about play selection but whether you're going to be on the sidelines in the second half.
Needless to say, Smith's Louisville Cardinals team got smoked by Marshall, whose minds were more focused on the immediate task at hand, namely, saving the skin, or at least the left leg of quarterback Byron Leftwich.
The bizarre story out of Mobile, Ala., was just the latest in a series of tales, half-truths and innuendo's that has pock-marked the month.
Franchione tops them all
The topper remains Dennis Franchione's exodus from Alabama to Texas A & amp;M. Franchione spent two years convincing the players at 'Bama to stay through the period of NCAA probation. One day, Franchione was telling a booster club he had no contact with Texas A & amp;M; the next, he was standing before a media gathering in College Station, Texas, sporting an Aggie hat.
'Bama faithful were understandably upset. Franchione left one of the elite programs in the country for one that is, while highly-regarded, widely considered a half-notch below.
It was a move comparable to Jim Tressel leaving Ohio State for say, North Carolina.
Most disturbing to Crimson Tide fans and players was that Franchione didn't have the courtesy to address his team in person. He left that awkward moment to defensive coordinator Carl Torbush.
Then there was Urban Meyer, leaving Bowling Green for Utah. To many outsiders this was considered, at best, a lateral move. Meyer had the Falcons in the top 25 at one point this season; while Utah, the state university, is considered a basketball school.
However, we learned through discussions with writers close to the Bowling Green program that Meyer has several ties to the Rocky Mountain area. He coached there, at Colorado State under Earle Bruce, and it was widely speculated that his wife was anxious to return to that region.
There was also a monetary factor; Meyer will quadruple, give or take, his income from Bowling Green. (But I'm sure it's not about the money. It never is.)
Kehres, Heacock swept up
Interestingly, the rumor mill hit close to home following Meyer's departure from B.G. While the Falcon players pushed for offensive coordinator Gregg Brandon to be promoted -- which ultimately was done -- early rumors included Youngstown State coach Jon Heacock and Mount Union coach Larry Kehres.
The Smith situation Wednesday night was almost laughable; at one point the sideline situation drew more attention from the announcers than the game itself. ("Another cell phone is ringing over here, it's been answered ... Leftwich throws a touchdown pass ... now back to phone call.")
It reminded me a little of the telecast of the I-AA championship game in 1993, when CBS sideline reporter Jim Gray told a national television audience that Tressel was leaving immediately after the game to take the Cincinnati job.
It wasn't true, of course, and Tressel later recounted the bulk of his conversation with Cincinnati officials.
"I asked them, 'Where do you want your football program?' " Tressel said. "They answered, 'Top 25.' Then I asked them, 'Where do you want your basketball program?' They answered, 'Final Four.'
"So I told them, 'When you want your football program to be Final Four, give me a call.' "
Thank you, Cincinnati.
XRob Todor is sports editor of The Vindicator. Write to him at todor@vindy.com.