Coaches Play Waiting Game

‘Tis the season to fire college football coaches. From North Carolina to Alabama to Arizona State, schools have sent their coaches packing.

USC is expected to join that group, letting go of Coach Paul Hackett, after the Notre Dame game at the Coliseum on Saturday.

With so many positions opening up, coaches rumored to be candidates were keeping mum on Monday. A lot of the movement could depend on who leaves where to take new jobs.

Meanwhile, it has been reported that one of the hottest prospects, Dennis Franchione, is close to signing a contract extension with Texas Christian that would pay him more than $1 million a year.

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When USC resumes practice today, one of Hackett’s priorities will be to bring his team down to earth after defeating UCLA.

“It was pretty hard to get them down from the high of beating Arizona State,” he said. “So I’m concerned.”

The week after the Arizona State victory Nov. 4, the Trojans came out flat in a loss to Washington State. A slow start could be disastrous with No. 11 Notre Dame coming to the Coliseum.