There have been so many changes in the coaching ranks since the regular season ended. I’m a little behind the times with a few, but I figured it’d be OK with lumping the current coaching changes into one post. I’ll try & touch on a few and, of course, each of these is only my opinion. As always, your thoughts are appreciated and please feel free to leave comments on your way out.

First, I’d like to start with Urban Meyer. I know there are those who think Urban is trying to gain headlines with taking a leave of absence. I felt it hasty to say the least when he at first said he was retiring. The nature of the coaching beast is first & foremost competitive. And, of course, there’s an ego synonymous with many if not all coaches. With that line of thinking, I felt there’s no way heir Meyer could stay away forever.
The other side of his issue is coaching burnout which I can understand. I believe any coaching job in NCAA or NFL is year round. With that comes travel and long hours. I think there comes a time when a coach can find himself coming & going at the same time. Hence, the stresses increase and can have a direct impact on health. I think Urban’s mind & body was worn out.
I read somewhere that it served Meyer right; he makes a ton of money. Yes, that is true, but making tons of money does not correlate to the amount of stress. Sure, we can argue coaches are overpaid, but I don’t see the similarity when we can argue the amount of stress a coach can have; only the stressed out coach surely knows.

Next up is new USC coach Lane Kiffen. Frankly, I’m surprised at the hire on the basis Lane has been a NCAA head coach for one season. He’s leaving Tennessee with some NCAA violation allegations in his wake. From what I’ve read since Lane was the Raiders head coach, it appears Kiffen is an abrasive and dishonest person. I read he told Volunteer players not to worry about going to class since they’d follow him to Southern Cal. Seriously? How full of himself is this guy? Of course USC is a fine school and a great football program, but to dismiss Tennessee like that is appalling. 
TSN's Hippi-Kat likened the hire to that of ND’s Charlie Weis. At a moment’s notice it looks that way. I don’t know who the other candidates were at USC, but it took one day to hire Kiffen so the list couldn’t have been that long. If Lane is the dishonest smarmy character he appears to be to me, it will only be a matter of time before he comes crashing back to earth.

Then there’s the recently departed Trojan head coach Pete Carroll. Another surprise to me; I thought Pete had it made. Yes, this past season was a down year for USC but Coach Carroll brought the Trojans back to prominence. They certainly belong in the talk of teams of the last decade. I don’t know what kind of pressure came to Pete’s doorstep with a down year, but I’m guessing it had something to do with his leaving.
My feeling on Pete is he’s not a Pro Football coach. He’s a vibrant personality and at least in USC’s case, he had a passion in him that players and coaches bought into. I don’t think the same animal exists in the NFL ranks. I could be wrong, but at the very least he has his work cut out for him in Seattle. Plus, Pete couldn’t make it at 2 NLF teams.

I already talked about the new Notre Dame caching hire and you can check that out here. The bad thing was Kelly left Cincinnati fans and players very upset over his choosing not to coach the Bearcats in the Bowl game. I mention my thoughts on recruiting in that blog also sure check it out if you wish. (I don’t want to repeat myself with my next lines of thinking.)

So here we are, coaches departing for their own benefit. Again (as I mention in my Kelly blog), but what of each program left behind? I think a portion of their contracts should be given back to their departed schools. Sure there are buy outs and I don’t know what Meyer’s, Kelly’s or Carroll’s were. I did see Kiffen had an $800k buyout. I heard on the radio a college coaching contract is passé; it should be called a money agreement. The real people that suffer are the lost coach’s recruits. With the move, there should be money given back and maybe scholarships given up from the new school to the old school.
Sure each recruit has an education if used to its fullest. However, the new coach may have different schemes that might change a recruit’s ability to fit into the program. Also, stretching that thought, is what if there’s personality conflicts with the recruit and the new head coach? Imagine getting recruited by a coach that you really like and maybe playing for him. Then here comes Mr Jerk coach from hell and you’re stuck with either no playing time or being miserable with your experience. (I know, I know…we all have to learn how to deal with jerks, but the recruiting coach is why you went there in the 1st place, right?)

Thanks for reading.