Rich Rodriguez has apparently been fired as head coach at Michigan.
I say “apparently” because there hasn’t been an official announcement yet; Lawrence sent me a link earlier, but that link is no longer active, and appears to have been replaced by this link.
Edited to add 1/5/2011: Now it looks like the decision will come sometime today.
Edited to add 1/5/2011 2: Looks like “This time for sure!” Hey, Rocky, watch me pull a head coach out of my hat!
Edited to add 1/5/2011 3: Yep, he’s done.
I’m running a bit behind today due to a personal matter this morning, so here’s a quick roundup of some things I felt were worth rounding up.
Day after coverage of the Kubiak situation from the HouChron. Kubby stays, four assistants get the axe. And it looks like the Wade Phillips thing is moving closer to happening.
Fire last night in one of our downtown condo complexes. A close friend of WCD and many of our readers (who shall remain nameless here to protect his privacy, but the people who know him know who I’m talking about) lives in that condo one floor above the fire. He’s fine, and his condo suffered what he describes as minor smoke and soot damage.
Local gun store (McBride’s) robbed. This is the second break-in at McBride’s that I can remember; I have it in my head that the perps were caught in the act the first time, but I can’t confirm that now. It struck me as odd that they only stole “several” handguns, but this KXAN article describes them as high-end .45 autos. I think I know which guns were taken, as I’ve seen them in the display case. My recollection is that they were Wilson Combat and Les Baeur 1911s. Nice to know that our local crooks have good taste, but I don’t think they’re going to be able to move those easily. Assuming that they want to move them, as opposed to using them personally…
The Macy’s store in Highland Mall is closing. I’m thinking this is probably the end of Highland Mall. I haven’t been there in…I can’t remember how long. And I haven’t been to that Macy’s since shortly after they dropped the Foley’s branding. (I miss Foley’s.) Highland Mall attempted to file for bankruptcy last year, but had the petition dismissed. The mall itself has been in decline for several years; there are a lot of allegations that it has become a hangout for gangs, and a hotbed of criminal activity. The more recent Statesman articles avoid discussing those issues, but you can pick up on them by reading the discussion and this older Statesman article.
Question: if you level the mall, what do you put there as part of the redevelopment process?
First Monday after the end of the NFL regular season, and the firings have begun.
Mangini out as head coach of the Browns.
More coverage from the Cleveland Pain Dealer.
Watch this space for updates. Thanks to Lawrence for the heads-up.
Edited to add: Looks like Kubiak is staying on as Texans head coach, but Frank Bush is out as defensive coordinator.
Little snark here, because I find this kind of sad and disturbing.
Mike Haywood is out as head football coach of the University of Pittsburgh, two and a half weeks after being hired, and before he even coached a game. I’m not sure if that’s a record, but if not, it comes pretty darn close.
Haywood’s firing stems, at least in part, from an arrest on felony domestic violence charges in Indiana. According to the Post-Gazette, Haywood became involved in a domestic dispute with a woman he has a child with; the charge was upgraded to a felony because the alleged domestic violence took place in front of the child.
The ESPN story linked above and, to some extent the Post-Gazette story, also seem to suggest that Haywood’s hiring was somewhat controversial; Haywood didn’t have an extensive record as a head coach before he was hired, while the Post-Gazette suggests the hiring process was rushed and driven entirely by athletic director Steve Pederson.
That’s the thing about being a leader; what you do doesn’t just have an effect on you, but on the people around you as well. It disturbs me that the assistants are getting the shaft, and it bothers me a little that Haywood was let go that quickly (without the university waiting for the legal system to take its course). I’m a little hesitant to go along with some of the speculation that Haywood was an unpopular hire, and the university saw a chance to cut their losses and bring in someone else, because that makes me sound like I’m condoning thumping on one’s woman. (I don’t.) It does make me wonder.
(Hattip: FARK.)
Neither do panthers. In what I expect to be the last sports firing of 2010, John Fox is officially out as head coach of the Carolina Panthers.
(Hattip: FARK.)
One HouChron writer says “Fire him now; don’t let him coach the final game.”
Another HouChron writer says “Firing him now is pointless.”
Meanwhile, the fans are restless and organizing a “Fire Kubiak” rally for Sunday.
And in today’s bulletin from a failing chain of restaurants desperately crying out for relevance, T.G.I. Friday’s is apparently lobbying to have their particular style of bartending (which has a name that I will not dignify by giving it here) made an Olympic sport.
Wait, did I say “singularity”? I meant “Singletary”. As in Mike Singletary, out as 49ers coach.
In other firing related news, Gary Kubiak has lost Richard Justice. Not just “fire him”, but “fire him now, before next week’s game”.
I had heard that Mike Leach was being considered for another coaching job. What I didn’t realize was that he was being considered because Maryland fired Ralph Friedgen on Monday (effective after the Terrapins play in the “Military Bowl presented by Northrop Grumman“).
Friedgen had a 74-50 record, and went 8-4 this year (better than UT did: at least Maryland is going to a bowl), though he also went 2-10 last year. I haven’t checked, but I wonder if the 2-10 record was caused by circumstances beyond Friedgen’s control.
The Onion A.V. Club published a review of Genius, Isolated: The Life and Art of Alex Toth
There’s just one tiny little problem: the book hasn’t been published yet. (Amazon shows it as scheduled for July 12, 2011.)
The A.V. Club actually handled this in a pretty classy way; a public apology, and the unnamed writer has apparently been fired.
(Hattip: Jimbo.)
This reminds me of something else I’ve been meaning to link: “Regret the Error”‘s 2010 year in review. Guess who’s number one on their list?
(I wish I could link directly to the “apology of the year”, but instead I’ll link to this.)
Josh McDaniels. No longer a Bronco, perhaps still a gentleman.
The Statesman is reporting that two UT football coaches (offensive line coach Mac McWhorter and defensive line coach Mike Tolleson) are retiring, and offensive coordinator Greg Davis has resigned.
The Statesman is also reporting that Greg Davis states he has not resigned, that he says he’s still in discussions with Mack Brown, and that he expects those discussions to resume on Wednesday.
Oh, yes, please! Having Leach coach at Miami would be awesome! However, current speculation seems to be that they’re going after Jon Gruden. Which would leave an empty space in the MNF booth.
My reaction? I was somewhat amused that I was listening to Was (Not Was) when I found this out. As I’ve said previously, I think the major problem that Childress had was his failure to walk the dinosaur.
And Scott Gordon is no longer coaching the New York Islanders.
I think I speak for many people when I say, “They still play professional hockey?”
The University of Colorado (the one at Boulder) has fired football coach Dan Hawkins.
Hawkins was hired in 2006. His record? 2-10 in 2006, 6-7 in 2007, 5-7 in 2008, 3-9 in 2009, and 3-6 before he was fired this year.
Ever think about just packing it in, guys?
(Hattip: FARK.)