Day one of Coach Watch '08 is in the books with no huge news. I got a chuckle out of several of the responses from people who entered the blog contest, including the guy who suggested me as a candidate, a suggestion that isn't any less accurate than some of the suggestions that made it to my inbox.

I'll post some of them tomorrow.

Anyway I'll say this with confidence. UMass is not going to hire a coach who has been fired before. One of the interesting trends in coaching right now is that second chances are becoming much harder to come by. It's easier to energize your fan base with the hot young guy than anyone who has gotten canned before, so guys with considerable success in their past - Mike Jarvis, Pete Gillen etc. - have a hard time getting back in. 

That said I don't think UMass should hire either of those guys.

 If you want to read Travis Ford's remarks from his press conference at Stillwater today click here. I was amused by the following line: 

The Oklahoma State basketball program is a program I've always followed.

To listen to Travis, you'd think he was a fan of every team in America and admired every coach to pace the sidelines. His quotes from today sound an awful lot like his opening quotes at UMass with Coach Iba substituted for Coach Leaman.

That's all for now. I'm going to bed. Plenty more tomorrow.

...six days til Mike Fetterer's and Dan Markowski's birthday...