The Coaching Carousel goes round and round

First of all I wanted to clairify some things I said.
Yes I was very surprised by Joe Gibbs' sudden resignation and I did hint that the impetuous Dan Snyder might have been behind it. I was unaware that Gibbs had a seriously ill family member. That may have been an underlying cause to his sudden departure. I still think that Snyder may have pushed, but given the situation and stress Gibbs may have been under it wouldn't have taken much cajoling for him to leave. In any case, I still think Gibbs is a class act and he left the Redskins in a much better shape than he found them. Prayers and good wishes come from this side of the keyboard to him and his family.
The rumors are spinning wildly that the Falcons have put out feelers for one Pete Carroll. This is a disaster waiting to happen. Yes, Carroll has pro coaching experience, but the Falcons are a major rebuliding project. I fail to see the reason why Carroll would leave the empire that he has built at USC. I remember when Carroll got to SC and the Trojans were a joke. Now USC is about as close to a pro team as one could have in LA. Carroll owns that city and as dispassionate as Angelinos are about...well everything, they love Carroll and the national power he has built in SoCal. If I'm in his position, I'm staying and continuing to fortify my empire. Name me one former college coach that isn't named Jimmy Johnson that has succeeded in the pro game? No, you ninny Barry Switzer don't count (I was 21 when Switzer was hired as the Pokes coach and I could have coached that team to a Super Bowl win.) Carroll should stay at SC, but you know as well as I do how this story will end. Carroll wil get seduced by the supposed power and prestige of the pro game and be introduced as the Falcons head coach within the next 7-10 days. This after denials that he is leaving.
Meanwhile in Baltimore and Miami, the Tuna and Ozzie respectively are carefully sifting through the candidates. Rumors run rampant that Tony Sparano (I want so badly to call him Soprano) and Jason Garrett of the Cowboys are at top of the wish list. Either way both teams are major rebuilds. Washington is a playoff team and a coach like Bill Cowher could step in like he did in Pittsburgh and keep this veteran team really sharp. Though he steadfastly denies it, I have a feeling that he covets the Carolina Panthers (I laughed out loud when old senile Woody Paige called them the Carolina Cougars, the old ABA team, on ESPN's Around the Horn.) job and is just waiting for Panthers owner Jerry Richardson to ax John Fox.
Ok, I'm getting dizzy on the carousel. Lets step off here and check out the Phat Dap/Head Slap of the Week

PHAT DAP
I have a couple to give out this week. I know its piling on, but one has to go to the LSU Tigers who ignored the hype surrounding the BCS title game and the oh poor us bleatings of Ohio State to roll to a convincing win. Knock Les Miles as a riverboat gambler all you want he had his Bayou Bengals ready to play. They shrugged off the initial punch by Ohio State to score 31 points on their next five possessions to win. Too bad Miles is staying at LSU I would have loved to see him coaching Michigan to give old sweta (sic) vest a run for his loot. Not like Rich Rodriguez won't but you know if Miles was on the opposite sideline every year it would eat at Tressel.
An additional dap goes to Xavier University. No, I haven't been smoking anything and yes Xavier is still my alma maters crosstown rival in basketball. But when Rivals.com gave talented point guard Drew Lavender its "Mid-Major Player of the Week Award" Xavier told Rivals.com to keep the award that it didn't want it. Atlantic 10 commish Linda Bruno backed Xaviers stance. Xavier though a small school (actually its bigger than a couple schools in so-called power conferences) has always been a tough team to deal with. Its response that to Rivals.com that "People who come here and see us and what we're about and know what we've accomplished in 25 years would struggle to put any 'mid' label on us," Xavier athletic director Mike Bobinski said. "We've been to 17 NCAA Tournaments. We've had 20 20-plus win seasons. Our arena has been filled to 96 percent capacity. We've had 11 BCS conference home-and-homes in the last six years. That's not 'mid' anything." Growing up in Cincinnati, I've always thought of Xavier as a team on equal footing with UC both teams are solid basketball schools and have been for a while. I say bravo to Xavier's resistance to being pigeonholed into a label and refusing a "pat on the head" Rivals.com said it wanted to recognize a player from a smaller school. Here's an idea just give a player of the week and do your homework on all the schools not just the glamour or power conferences.

HEAD SLAP
There are usually a number I cold give out. First to media that is blowing this whole Tony Romo-Jessica Simpson thing way out of proportion. So they are dating, so they went to Cancun over the Cowboys bye weekend. Who cares? I know I'm stoking the fire, but what or who Romo does is none of my concern. I'm not a Cowboy fan and it irritates me that some in the media are trying to lay blame on Simpson for having Romo (allegedly) sprung so much that his play has suffered. Give it a bleepin rest...
But I'll give this weeks award to the Savannah State basketball team. They weren't supposed to give Kansas State much of a fight, but to score 4 points TOTAL in the second half??? They trailed 37-21 at the half and then went absolute zero cold. The Tigers went 1 for 23 shooting in the second half. This team was actually coming off a win to a known opponent having beat Southern Miss (dont they feel like idiots now) 61-56. El Bandito is sending this team some shooting drill videos and a head slap.

The NFL Divisional previews are coming and will be posted Friday. The subplots are many and the matchups will be good and your humble scribe will be happy to break them down for you. Until Next Post Fellow Sports Fans!