The NCAA’s desire to be fair to Penn State football players has unintended consequences. We now have “Free Agency” at Penn State. You’ve probably heard stories all week about coaches from teams all over the country “stalking” Penn State players, who are free to transfer under the NCAA’s punishment of the program. It’s created a unique dynamic, with head coach Bill O’Brien trying to remain classy and yet keep his program together. Linebacker Michael Mauti has become the de facto spokesperson for the Nittany Lions that want to stay. Illinois head coach Tim Beckman has become the unintended villain in this drama, as critics focus on the fact that his coaches are in State College. Beckman says his coaches are not on campus and are only talking to PSU players that have contacted them.

How did the NCAA not see this coming? I mean, were none of them alive when the NCAA gave SMU the Death Penalty in the late 1980s and the same exact thing happened? Coaches waiting for players in parking lots and following them to class?

The NCAA sought to be fair, but it ended up creating a situation that tests players’ loyalties rather than allowing them room to make an informed decision. Perhaps the NCAA should have taken a cue from a high school experience that we all know – a career fair. Yes, that’s right. Just invite any FBS school that wants to recruit a PSU player, give them a booth and one day on campus so they can make their pitch. Then give the players some time to make their decision. That would have been far more organized and far fairer than preparing players like Silas Redd for NFL free agency rather than fall workouts.

More on the NCAA’s slippery slope, Jimbo Fisher and Twitter, Knile Davis and the locked-in Mountain West after the jump.

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So why on earth did the Big East boil over in the form of John Marinatto’s resignation?

Well, he was asked to resign by the conference’s school presidents, which is basically a vote of no confidence. I think the school presidents were sick of being reactive, instead of proactive, during the conference realignment process. But part of that falls on them, honestly. In an article published on CBSSports.com earlier this week, the writer pointed out a decision by the presidents of the Big East in 2011 that probably dug Marinatto’s grave. That decision? To turn down ESPN’s offer of $1.4 billion for its football TV rights. That’s billion. As in boneheaded. It’s been nothing but downhill from there. This is why university presidents should never be allowed to make athletic decisions, and vice versa.

Give Marinatto credit for doing all he could to create a viable football league. Sure, the name “Big East” is a joke now geographically, but he did the best he could under the circumstances. According to Mike Tranghese, it was Marinatto who ensured the league survived after Miami, Boston College and Virginia Tech left.

And now? I’m sure the presidents will bring in an outsider and expect gargantuan results that can’t be delivered. I would be stunned if ESPN offered the Big East the type of money for TV rights that it did last year. And in the bloodlust to stay in the BCS – which, by the way, is going away from automatic qualifier status for conferences – they’ve effectively dismembered the best basketball league in college sports.

I’d be stunned if Marinatto’s successor is able to hold this league together for another five years. I’d give it three.

Why is ODU dragging its feet with Conference USA, who will win the Big Ten and why shouldn’t you feel bad for Luke Fickell? Find out that and more after the jump.

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I took the time after the final hiring of the offseason to put together these FBS head coach hiring rankings, from No. 27 to No. 1 (yes, there were 27 job changes after the 2011 season, which eclipses the totals in both 2011 and 2010. It’s been an insane offseason, to say the least). Today, we dip into the Final Five, and my No. 1 might surprise you a bit.

First, let’s be clear – this is my opinion, and I base it on a number of factors, including the experience and reputation of the coach, the current state of the program, the perceived ability for the program to be competitive early and how the coach’s hire relates to the overall reputation of the program. In other words, did the school get it right?

Second, this is not a best to worst list of coaching hires. I would not say that hires that I have ranked toward the bottom of these rankings means they’re bad coaches. I feel like you have to show you’re a good coach to be a head coach somewhere. Rather, the coaches ranked near the bottom of this survey all have something working against them, such as taking over a bad program, their own lack of experience, issues they have no control of off the field, etc…

And, finally, this is not scientific. Much of it is how I feel about the hire in my gut. I don’t have a formula for determining if a head coach is the right head coach for that school, and neither does anyone else. At the end of the day, it comes down to your gut. And 27 athletic directors went with their guts this winter.

So who occupies the top shelf in our FBS head coach hiring rankings? Find out below.

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For the past couple of days, Big Ten coaches and administrators have been quite vocal about their distaste for how Urban Meyer put together a recruiting class ranked No. 3 in the nation by most services.

The problem, according to people like Wisconsin’s Bret Bielema and Michigan State’s Mark Dantonio, is that Meyer went after their guys. Or, in this case, one guy each. According to CBSSports.com, Meyer ended up signing 10 players after he took over as head coach. Eight of them were previously committed to other schools. That includes one for Wisconsin and one for Michigan State.

Apparently that rubbed Bielema and Dantonio the wrong way. Let me try and find a way to sympathize.

Nope, can’t find one.

This happens all the time. Recruits change their minds days, sometimes hours, before the signing period begins. Some turn it into a production with team hats and dramatic choices. College coaches are at their mercy in a system that compels them to repeatedly call recruits to make sure they’re still in the fold.

This system makes it easy for a persuasive coach like Meyer to convince a player to change their mind.

Oh, perhaps there’s something less sinister at work here. Bielema and Dantonio have a grand total of no national championships. Meyer has two. Perhaps these players just wanted to play for a coach that had actually proven he could win a national title?

Just Sayin’.

So does that mean Meyer and the Buckeyes were the big winner in the Big Ten? Read on after the jump to find out.

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Well, National Signing Day has come and gone. So it’s time to consider the 2012 recruiting winners and losers.

Know that this isn’t a complete list. I’ll have something witty to stay about both BCS and non-BCS conferences over the next couple of days. These are just my impressions of who I think won and lost on signing day.

Recruiting is a huge deal. In fact, in the next couple of months you’re going to start hearing members of the Class of 2013 commit after taking spring visits to some of the nation’s best schools. Heck, the University of texas – which always seems to win this time of year – will have most of its 2013 class locked up by May. Or as locked up as it can be when you consider “locked up” means that a 17-year-old boy has told a local reporter that he’s verbally committed to texas, but can’t sign for eight months. But that’s for another story.

That said, I don’t follow recruiting that closely until we get to a week or so before signing day because, well, again we’re dealing with kids. They change their minds. A lot. Especially if Gunner Kiel is any indication.

Part of me thinks that Stefon Diggs of Olney, MD, has the right idea. Diggs didn’t sign on Wednesday. He decided to wait. He didn’t participate in the pomp and circumstance or rush his decision. He’ll keep no less than 13 schools on the hook until he does. That’s how many schools Scout.com says he’s interested in. He’s also a Top 10 recruit, so something tells me these 13 schools are willing to wait a bit.

So after pouring over the final rankings, as compiled by Rivals.com, Scout.com, Sports Illustrated (which used Rivals.com’s rankings but wrote its own stories), ESPN.com and CBSSports.com (which uses Maxpreps.com’s rankings), here’s who I think won and lost on signing day.

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Well, a few weeks ago I thought we had all of the head coaching changes in FBS locked down. Then Greg Schiano accepts the Bucs job and we’re on the coaching search train again.

Schiano accepted the Tampa Bay Buccaneers job on Thursday, which smells like he was the third of fourth choice. The Bucs interviewed coaches like Marty Schottenheimer, Mike Sherman and Wade Phillips. They also interviewed Oregon coach Chip Kelly and Kelly pretty much took the job, but then reversed course and stayed in Eugene. A couple of days later, Schiano had the job.

Schiano did coach for three years in the NFL as an assistant. But the majority of his career was spent in the college ranks. He spent more than a decade in Piscataway building Rutgers into a Big East contender. He’s had interviews for top college jobs but never got them. Now he’ll tackle the NFL.

His odds of success are long. Most college coaches that make the move to the pros don’t fare that well. Schiano heads to a young Bucs team that may actually buy into his college ways, but can he overcome what became the Bucs’ comical coaching search to achieve success? We’ll see.

PigskinU.com has the list of all of the old and new coaches in FBS for the upcoming season after the jump. We’ll release our head coaching hiring rankings soon, so stay tuned.

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With the hiring of Bill O’Brien, the FBS coaching changes for the 2012 season are complete. With 26 openings filled, FBS coaching changes are happening like never before. In fact, 70 of the 120 FBS coaching changes have been made in the past three offseasons. Absolutely staggering instability.

PigskinU.com has the list of all of the old and new coaches in FBS for the upcoming season after the jump. We’ll release our head coaching hiring rankings soon, so stay tuned.

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If you’re the athletic director of a BCS school and you have a head coaching opening in the future, you have another problem if you want to lure Chris Petersen away from Boise State. Chris Petersen is being paid like a BCS coach.

Or at least he will be once the Idaho State Board of Education puts the rubber stamp on Petersen’s new five-year deal. That contract will start paying Petersen $2 million in 2012, according to ESPN, and escalates to $2.8 million by the end of the deal. It also comes with retention bonuses starting the second year.

This offseason alone, Petersen has already told both UCLA and Penn State thanks but no thanks.

I mean, thanks but no thanks to two of the nation’s glamour programs. What is Petersen thinking?

Well, if I were in his shoes, I would be asking, “Why do I need UCLA or Penn State?”

Boise State already has a national reputation, thanks to Petersen’s work in the wake of the departure of Dan Hawkins. The Broncos are part of the yearly conversation when it comes to national championship contenders. Do you know how hard that is when you’re in a non-BCS conference? And the Big East just took care of the one hurdle BSU needed to make its life easier when it comes to the BCS – an invitation to the Big East starting in 2013.

So Petersen has the money, the prestige, the national notoriety and starting in 2013 he gets to play with the big boys.

When you think about it, it’s not that hard a decision to make.

Other things on my mind as I wonder if Dabo Swinney had several adult beverages after that Orange Bowl debalce …

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Penn State may have a bigger problem than not having jhired a head coach.

The Nittany Lions don’t appear to have a quarterback either.

I saw Penn State play Houston in the TicketCity Bowl on Monday and found myself wondering how they won 10 games with that rag-tag group of signal-callers. Rob Bolden completed just seven passes and threw three interceptions in the 30-14 loss. Nearly half of his 137 yards passing came on his touchdown pass. Watching this team pass the ball was, at times, painful.

I know the Nittany Lions are built on defense and that will win you a lot of games. But Houston had no trouble figuring out how to beat PSU – stop the run and dare them to pass. It’s a dare that the Nittany Lions need to meet with their next coaching hire. He not only needs to be able to recruit quarterbacks but nurture them into effective players. Like Houston’s Case Keenum, who threw for an incredible 532 yards against the Nittany Lions in that same game.

Penn State’s next coach – whoever he has – should put that at the top of his list.

Other things on my mind as I wonder whether the Alamo Bowl is still going on …

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Well, the 2012 FBS coaching openings are down to Penn State’s coaching search. We think.

Penn State is the only FBS opening that remains, and the candidates are myriad – Mike Munchak, Bo Pelini (a rumor he’s denied), Tom Clements and Tom Bradley. But none of them get you excited, do they?

The other 25 open positions are filled, with the most relevant hire coming in Akron, of all places. The Zips managed to wrestle Terry Bowden away from the Division II program Bowden has helmed the past three years at North Alabama.

The Zips get immediate name recognition. Bowden gets a chance to redeem himself at the FBS level, more than a decade after his forced removal at Clemson.

PigskinU.com’s chart of FBS coaching changes for 2012 is after the jump. We will update it as needed and we’ll rank the hires once the carousel stops spinning.

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