Chris Mortensen reported that (allegedly) the University of Texas has A LIST of coaches they want to head up their program, and on this list are Chip Kelly, Mike McCarthy, and Pete Carroll. That, in turn, led to reporters asking Kelly if he is a candidate for that job, with zero mention of his still-in-progress show-cause penalty, giving ESPN another story to post.
With those three names, plus Jim Harbaugh and Mike Tomlin, and the previously-rumored Nick Saban -- none of whom will leave their current jobs for the Texas post -- ESPN reveals itself as an idiot-monkey-hype outlet. Yes, an idiot-monkey-hype outlet. The only reason to name those names is to make Texas sound like it's the kind of place those coaches would consider going to coach.
ESPN isn't the only one playing the idiot-monkey-hype game. Check out this jaw-dropping tweet from Bruce Feldman, of CBSSports.com.
Names I think could be in play for #Texas vacancy: Jimbo Fisher, Jim Harbaugh, Jim Mora, James Franklin & Mike Tomlin.
— Bruce Feldman (@BFeldmanCBS) December 15, 2013
The aforementioned Harbaugh and Tomlin! JIMBO FISHER, aka the Dude Who's Coaching Florida State in the National Title Game Less Than A Month From Now! For what it's worth, Mora's unlikely to leave a pretty solid situation at UCLA, and Franklin is absolutely the kind of coach who could jump at the chance to coach UT, but naming the others is nothing short of ludicrous.
Let's all agree: anyone who offers up an established NFL head coach as a possible candidate to jump to Texas without specifying the reason why said NFL head coach would want to flip his life around like that is playing the idiot-monkey-hype game. ESPN doesn't even know how to play this game all that well, it seems, since it doesn't realize that Kelly would require NCAA pre-approval to take the reins at Texas, even if he wanted to leave a promising situation in Philadelphia.
Seriously, if you're going to name Saban and act like he's not just using Texas the way the NFL uses Los Angeles (for contract leverage), or name Jim Freaking Harbaugh, Chip Kelly, and Jimbo Fisher as if it's realistic that they might leave their current positions for the Texas job, then you may as well name every good coach in America. Urban Meyer! Bill Belichick! Brian Kelly! Sean Payton! Kevin Sumlin! Steve Sarkisian! They'd all be FOOLS to turn down the Texas job!
Prediction: Texas will finally settle on a competent coach with a track record of success, but no national championships, and perhaps not even from the top tier of college teams. That is to say the most prominent coaches who could conceivably land the Texas job are Ed Orgeron and Bill O'Brien. After them, we're in James Franklin territory. And after him, we're looking at current NFL assistants, such as Ken Whisenhunt, or promising coaches at non-power-conference schools. David Bailiff, at Rice, would be perfect if he was 10 years younger (he's 55).
This is how it is at every school, and how it will be at Texas. I have zero inside information. But I can smell bullshit when it's presented to me. Don't play the idiot-hype-monkey game.
(Image cc-licensed: "Texas Longhorns" by Katie Haugland)