Headlinin’: Another year, another high-profile landing for a Boise State coordinator
Making the morning rounds.
• The price of success. The annual winter poach is underway at Boise State, which lost its third coordinator in as many years Tuesday when Brent Pease agreed to head up another offensive overhaul at Florida. Hey, the Broncos know the drill: In 2010, they bid adieu to Tennessee-bound defensive coordinator Justin Wilcox (now en route to Washington), and last year they wished offensive coordinator Bryan Harsin well on his way to Texas. In fact, the market for Boise-bred coaches is so fertile that it's creating bidding wars — before he accepted the Florida gig, Pease was also being pursued by Alabama for the same position. (For the record, the picture above has not been altered by optimistic Crimson Tide fans: Pease is actually wearing a houndstooth fedora on the sideline during Boise's spring game.)
Pease does have SEC experience, as quarterbacks coach and offensive coordinator of a pair of middling attacks at Kentucky in 2001-02, which didn't exactly inspire confidence in his former starting quarterback:
At this point, frankly, Gator fans may not be able to tell the difference: The attack Pease inherits in Gainesville just finished 105th in total offense, posted the worst turnover margin in the SEC and failed to score more than one offensive touchdown in five of its last six conference games. [Associated Press, Gainesville Sun]
• Getting the band back together. In other coordinator shuffling: Longtime West Virginia defensive coordinator Jeff Casteel is on his way to Arizona, where he'll reunite with his old boss, Rich Rodriguez, and import the unique 3-3-5 scheme that helped propel WVU to three straight top-10 finishes and a pair of BCS bowl wins on Rodriguez's watch from 2005-07. Casteel was the only Mountaineer assistant who turned down an offer to follow Rodriguez to Michigan after the 2007 season, a rejection that loomed over the collapse of the Wolverine defense over the next three years.
In Tucson, he'll reunite with at least four other familiar faces: Offensive coordinator Calvin Magee, quarterbacks coach Rod Smith, wide receivers coach Tony Dews and safeties coach Tony Gibson, all of whom coached under Rodriguez in both Morgantown and Ann Arbor. [Tucson Citizen]
•We hardly knew ye. Wisconsin offensive lineman Peter Konz wrote a letter to Badger fans Tuesday explaining his early departure for the NFL Draft, where he could be the first center off the board after picking up all-conference and All-America notices as one of the anchors of the Big Ten's best offense. His departure — along with seniors Josh Oglesby and Kevin Zeitler — means Wisconsin will be replacing three All-Big Ten starters up front who have paved the way to back-to-back Rose Bowls, as well as the starting quarterback (Russell Wilson), leading receiver (Nick Toon) and offensive coordinator (new Pitt head coach Paul Chryst). So... good luck with that, Montee Ball. [Wisconsin State Journal]
• Marcus Coker update. Iowa has yet to confirm the reason for now-former running back Marcus Coker's suspension from the Insight Bowl, but new reports Tuesday revealed that Coker was the subject of a sexual assault investigation by campus police in late October — eight weeks before his suspension and subsequent departure from the team. According to a police report, an officer was dispatched to the University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics on Oct. 28 for an alleged sexual assault that occurred at Coker's residence earlier that day, though the report doesn't go into further detail. Coker was not arrested and has not been charged in the case. [Iowa City Press-Citizen]
• Hitting 'reset.' Former Florida cornerback Josh Shaw — once hyped as a borderline five-star prospect out of Palmdale, Calif., in 2010 — is now planning to transfer to USC, where he hopes to play this fall under a hardship waiver from the NCAA. (If the waiver is rejected, he'll have the option of redshirting with two years of eligibility remaining in 2013-14.) Shaw's return to SoCal coincides with the departures of two other ex-blue-chips, receiver Kyle Prater and running back Amir Carlisle, who found themselves buried on the Trojan depth chart. [Orange County Register]
Quickly… Brian Kelly gets a two-year extension. … Knile Davis is coming back to Arkansas, fueling high expectations for 2012. … Louisville picks up a wide receiver transfer from Tennessee. … Miami's new quarterbacks are already on campus. … And it wasn't a boycott, but the BCS Championship Game wasn't exactly a boon to ESPN's ratings, either.
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Matt Hinton is on Facebook and Twitter: Follow him @DrSaturday.
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