The Pac-12 finally has 12 football head coaches, for now

When news broke that Mike Leach was leaving for Mississippi State, one of the first thoughts I remember having was “I wish this had happened before January.” Leach left on January 9 which is typically incredibly late in the hiring cycle to replace a coach.

By that time, the music for musical chairs has stopped and everyone has a seat. It turns out, WSU didn’t have anywhere close to the worst of it. More than a month later, Colorado found itself needing to launch a coaching search.

Mid-February coaching searches are challenging and difficult to do well. And well, Colorado ended up with Karl Dorrell. Yes, that Karl Dorrell. More than 12 years after he was fired following a 35-27 stint at UCLA, Dorrell is back as a head coach in the Pac-12.

Dorrell may end up being a fine hire - UCLA probably wishes it was 35-27 in the last five seasons - but initially it feels like a massive reach. Especially considering Colorado gave Dorrell a reported 5-year, $18 million deal.

As Craig Powers said multiple times during the coaching search, did Colorado know it could just name an interim coach for a season?

Dorrell spent most of the last decade in the NFL, coaching wide receivers and quarterbacks. He did have one season as the offensive coordinator at Vanderbilt, but that didn’t work out well.

Again, maybe this will work out and Colorado will get the last laugh. All I know is after watching this coaching cycle if you have to hire a new coach it’s best to do so when the music starts playing then well after it stopped.

*****

Basketball:

Jeff Pollard, the ‘Mayor of Pullman,’ is winding down his final term at Washington State | The Spokesman-Review
Since Jeff Pollard can’t drum up the right word to describe his four years at Washington State, the senior forward has another proposition.

Baseball:

WSU Rallies in Final Innings to Claim Series-Finale at Hawai’i - Washington State University Athletics
Washington State scored three times in the eighth inning and three more in the ninth inning to post a 6-5 comeback win in the series-finale at Hawai'i Sunday afternoon. The two teams split the four-game series.