Wake-up Call: Pete Carroll, Brett Favre, Dallas Cowboys, Kings

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First things first: Pete Carroll was on the Colin Cowherd show this morning and was asked about the allegations made by his assistant coach Ken Norton Jr. about Rick Neuheisel’s recruitment tactics. Neuheisel denied the allegations. Carroll told Cowherd that he actually doesn’t know Neuheisel very well. Hmmmm. Asked if the recruitment tactics get fierce, Carroll said one time a few years ago he was recruiting a player, arrived at the house and was sitting in the living room. In the kitchen, refusing to leave, was the UCLA coach (whom he did not name and Colin failed to ask) who had gotten there first. But it rarely happens that way, Carroll added. TJ Simers has a good take on the whole controversy.

All fired up: Of all the NFL coaches fired in the last 36 hours, the biggest surprise may be the Jets’ Eric Mangini. Why not fire Brett Favre instead? It wasn’t Mangini who threw those three interceptions Sunday. Or those 22 interceptions for the season. One person who isn’t surprised by the firing (or by any of Monday’s firings) is Phil Simms, who said he’s not surprised when anyone gets fired. Simms, who was a guest on the Dan Patrick show this morning, pointed out that if the San Diego Chargers can fire Marty Schottenheimer when he went 14-2, then anyone can get fired. Simms also said the Jets would have gone 10-6 with Chad Pennington. Now some are mentioning Schottenheimer as the guy who might replace Mangini. Here is a replay of Favre’s final interception of Sunday’s game.

Add NFL I: Meanwhile, Bill Cowher’s name, understandably, keeps coming up. ESPN.com early this morning said that the former Pittsburgh Steelers coach told the Jets he was not interested for a number of reasons. But then the New York Post said uh, not so fast. But what the Post’s unnamed source said -- that Cowher and the Jets want to talk -- seemed mere wishful thinking. Until ESPN.com reported later this morning that uh, wait, we were wrong, we think. This time ESPN’s Chris Mortensen, no doubt having seen the Post’s report, got to his sources and, yeah, apparently the Jets want to talk to Cowher. Stay tuned on this one.

Add NFL: What is Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones thinking? Keeping Wade Phillips -- who is by all accounts a great guy -- as head coach is driving Cowboys fans crazy. Phillips says he will change, but some say it is too late. Meanwhile, what happened with Tony Romo collapsing after the game?

Rose Bowl: Chris Dufresne today profiles Penn State’s Lydell Sargeant, whose life has been all about change. He campaigned for Barack Obama, and helped get Penn State into the Rose Bowl. The senior cornerback is key to the Nittany Lions’ defense. But his lasting memories from this year may well be politics, not football.

Tough loss: Watching the Kings lose 2-0 last night was tough. As Helene Elliott points out in her column today, goaltending sure wasn’t the problem. No, they seemed to have figured that out at last. It was a weak offense and, as she puts it, a ‘curiously inconsistent work ethic.’ I’ll bet Coach Terry Murray will get that fixed in a hurry.

-- Debbie Goffa