I Have Bad News, Ty

Urban Meyer, Utah's football coach, has an interesting clause in his contract. Here are the details I found most enlightening according to Matt Hayes of The Sporting News and Fox Sports.com:

Let's flip the reality switch: When his contract was restructured after last season, one of the tradeoffs Utah included was a significantly lower buyout clause (to $250,000) for Meyer. He is allowed to leave for any of three schools (Notre Dame, Ohio State and Michigan) without adhering to the clause, and -- here's the key -- he can change one of those schools during the length of the contract. Agents don't add such stipulations in contracts without an eye on the future.

Now, I don't think Jim Tressel is going anywhere soon, so the OSU job is not an option. There is a rumor that Lloyd Carr might be thinking of retirement. Well, lots of people, some of them in their twenties, think about retiring. Doing it is another thing. The odds of Michigan's job opening up soon would seem like 10% tops. However, there is one other school on that list that seems far more likely.

I realize Ty Willingham's Irish have looked better this year, but Willingham's on the hot seat and we all know it. He knows it, too. The Michigan win bought him some time, but the Purdue thrashing at South Bend will rekindle the "Ty Must Go" talk. Would anyone be surprised if come January 1 or sooner, the Irish are looking for a new head football coach? Would there be any better choice than Meyer, who has ND on his dream job list?

He could do for Notre Dame what Bob Stoops has done at Oklahoma or Pete Carroll has done at USC. He could re-energize the entire program. He could make ND a national power once again. However, Notre Dame is not alone. There are a number of schools, including a few dormant super powers, that could use Meyer right now. Can you say Penn State?

I suspect a few movers and shakers at traditional powers that are still playing well, like Texas and maybe even Michigan, allow themselves a second or two to ponder what Meyer would do at their program.

Meyer's desire to move up will put pressure on coaches at big time programs to succeed and force school administrators to consider firing their current coach in order to land college football's hottest coaching prospect before someone else does.