Like It Is

Some coaches nervous about Black Friday

Texas head coach Charlie Strong walks the sideline during the first half of an NCAA college football game against Kansas in Lawrence, Kan., Saturday, Nov. 19, 2016. (AP Photo/Orlin Wagner)

It's everywhere. Black Friday, which to the vast majority means bargain Christmas shopping.

Everything from cars and clothes to appliances and appetizers are on sale.

For some college football coaches, though, Black Friday could have more to do with their careers than Christmas.

It is the last Friday before the final weekend of the regular season -- where did it go after waiting eight months for it to get here -- and changes are going to be made.

Charlie Strong has been on the hot seat so long he'll probably feel better once he is outside the state of Texas.

If the Batesville native gets fired, the Texas Longhorns just gave him three years to fix a bunch of problems that were worse than anyone knew. But a loss this Saturday against TCU would be his third consecutive sub-.500 season, and in Austin that's like substituting Thanksgiving turkey with tofu.

Strong is the most talked about because he's still in the biggest job, but there are plenty of other head coaches under intense scrutiny, too.

Brian Kelly at Notre Dame and Rich Rodriguez at Arizona are about as popular as dogcatchers right now.

Kliff Kingsbury at Texas Tech is probably in what Nolan Richardson called the drive-thru phase. You drive through to get your food, clothes and anything else, and there you might meet an unhappy football fan.

Last year, several notable coaches were fired, stepped down or retired during the football season, but so far LSU has been the only headliner to pull the plug early -- on Les Miles.

Look for that job to finally go to Florida State's Jimbo Fisher, who appeared to leave the Tigers at the altar last year, forcing them to embrace Miles for a few more months.

Now, a year later, Fisher's messy divorce is finished and LSU has a fleet of jets available for his visitation rights.

Rumor is money won't be an issue, and if they have to, they will give Fisher the recipe for chef Paul Prudhomme's bread pudding.

One reason Fisher seems more logical is he has been there as an assistant and was wildly popular, although the favorite flavor of this football season has been Tom Herman at Houston.

Herman most likely would choose Texas over LSU. The Longhorns only play Alabama in bowl games, the Tigers play the Tide every year.

There will be several openings next week for head coaches, but also look for there to be a lot of turnover in the assistant ranks.

If one listens to talk radio -- and who doesn't -- Arkansas defensive coordinator Robb Smith should be in trouble.

That's not to say he is, or that is being recommended, only that it is a rumor, although it would cost the Arkansas Razorbacks a little more than $1.5 million to buy him out of the two years remaining on his contract.

Seems to this observer that the personnel may have been more the problem than the scheme, but big losses to SEC Western Division brothers Texas A&M, Alabama, Auburn and LSU seem to outweigh victories over TCU, Ole Miss and Florida.

Giving up 533 yards to Mississippi State, which is 4-7 this season, was not good either.

Of course, that has brought all kinds of speculation as to who would take Smith's place -- again, that decision will be left entirely up to Bret Bielema, and it should be -- and some seem to think Strong would be a candidate.

Charlie Strong proved at Louisville that he is a head coach, and with his buyout he could afford to wait a year to get another job, because this time next year Black Friday will once again mean something entirely different in the world of perspiring arts.

Sports on 11/23/2016