Those are all good nominees for coach of the year. If I had a vote, which of course I don't, it would go to Bill O'Brien of Penn State.

We are all interested in better opportunities so I don't begrudge Coach Bielema his decision (although I think he will come to regret it). The part that is rubbing me the wrong way is that he is leaving before the Rose Bowl. There must be a good reason for that but I don't like it. If you were a player on the team, working day in and day out since mid summer, how would you feel about your coach abandoning you like that?

>Everyone was surprised. Maybe he was tired of winter.
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>You probably saw Utah State moved up in the polls this week. Gary Anderson won WAC Coach of the Year and is a finalist for national coach of the year, but that will go to Urban Meyer or most likely Brian Kelley. I'm looking forward to their bowl game. I'm not going to be able to make the trip to Boise, but I'll have it on TV, but in black & white. I think the Aggies will beat Toledo.
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>>Since we have been discussing college football all season, I will drop in that the entire state of Wisconsin seems stunned by head coach Bret Bielema's announcement yesterday that he is bolting for the Arkansas job. He isn't even sticking around to coach the Badgers in the Rose Bowl. If anyone saw this coming they have kept it to themselves. AD Barry Alvarez, who is the one who really built Wisconsin into a perennial national power, not Bielema (although he did fine continuing the tradition), was among those who was surprised and sounded more than a little irritated about it. Like most bosses, he doesn't like surprises. Personally I don't get it at all. IMO being the head coach in Madison is one of the best gigs in college football -- great recruits, great fans, great city. And he wants to leave to get his head bashed in in the SEC? It's a mystery.