The Monday Morning Wash

A slow weekend if you are a college football fan, but relax the bowl games start on Thursday and will keep us company almost every day through New Years. As far as recruiting goes the infamous dead period has begun where coaches get a little time to relax before everything picks back up after the first. Not much to report as far as Husky recruiting goes this weekend. Nobody popped the question but a few are getting close.

Since the dead period has started some Husky fans are eagerly awaiting word on if there will be additional changes to the coaching staff. The decision seems to be Ty's, and Ty's alone so something if it happens should be announced before the holidays.

Miami Northwestern

Did any of you get to watch the Florida 6A Championship game this weekend? Tough to find a better HS team in the country than these guys. Jacory Harris didn't finish the game after leaving with a left knee injury with 11:41 left in the fourth quarter. Harris completed 17 of 32 passes for 281 yards, two touchdowns and an interception. Harris who will visit Washington in January looked good to me. WR Tommy Streeter caught a TD pass. Miami NW won the game 41-0. Both Harris, and Streeter will be visiting UW in January. I'm not exactly sure what the connection is between those guys and UW since Miami is 3200 miles away from Seattle.

Coaching Carousel

Rich Rodriguez has decided to move on from West Virginia to Michigan as the new head coach of the Wolverines. Michigan is getting itself a new hot young head coach and they are also going to get a complete change in offensive philosophy as they convert over to the spread offense which just might be the tonic the program needs to get past Ohio State.

For West Virginia it is an official day of sadness as they loose a coach who has won at least ten games in the last three seasons. Rodriguez's West Virginia contract, which runs through the 2013 season, has a $4 million buyout clause if he leaves before next September. Look for one of Rodriguez's assistants to get the nod at WVU to keep the continuity going.

As retired WVU and College Football Hall of Fame Coach Don Nehlen sagely told the Detroit News: "I think it's a great, great, great opportunity for (Rodriguez). I think it's tremendous. There are very few Michigans.

"When you coach at West Virginia you walk on water in West Virginia, but when you coach at Michigan, you walk on water, period. There's a difference. Some people around here (West Virginia) don't want to believe that."

Scratch Gary Pinkel's name off other schools' wish lists. Missouri's coach has become a bit of a hot commodity in his seventh season, leading the Tigers to No. 1 before losing in the Big 12 championship game. But on Saturday, as the team returned to practice for the Cotton Bowl, Pinkel said he was staying put. "I'm going to stay at Missouri," Pinkel told The Associated Press. "I'm very committed here. We've made a lot of gains this year and I'm just going to try to keep working hard and keep building the program." Pinkel, 55, said he'd like to end his career at Missouri.

How about Bobby Petrino bolting from the Atlanta Falcons before the season was finished to take over at Arkansas? I think it caught most of the NFL by surprise. Petrino is becoming an East Coast version of Dennis Erickson.

Keep an eye on Paul Petrino who is joining his brother at Arkansas. Petrino will be the Razorbacks' offensive coordinator next season. If Pasul has some success over the next year or two look for him to be the next hot assistant. The Petrino's are Helena, Mont., natives who played football at Carroll College for their father, Bob Petrino, Sr..

UCLA isn't being very creative when it comes to finding a new head coach. Top UCLA coaching candidates that have been mentioned are, DeWayne Walker, John Harbaugh, Norm Chow, and Rick Neuheisal. Only Neuheisel has been a head coach before. Chow would be interesting, but I doubt he gets the shot. Walker is probably the favorite since he is keeping things intact during this process by saving the recruiting class.

David Cutcliffe molded quarterback after quarterback into Heisman Trophy contenders and prized NFL draft picks. Now comes an even tougher construction project, transforming downtrodden Duke into a winner. The Tennessee offensive coordinator and mentor to the Manning family of quarterbacks was introduced as the Blue Devils' head coach Saturday. Duke passed on ex UCLA coach Karl Dorrell. Think of this as an audition for the Tennessee job when it comes open next season.