Kiffin takes Carroll's place at USC

After a year in Knoxville, Lane Kiffin takes the reins at Southern Cal.

It has been anything but a quiet start to the offseason in college football.

Pete Carroll leaving USC for the Seattle Seahawks headlines the head coaching movement with Tennessee’s Lane Kiffin replacing him after just one year with the Volunteers.

That’s drawn tremendous attention as has the leaving of three highly successful coaches bounced because of alleged mistreatment of players – Mike Leach at Texas Tech, Mark Mangino at Kansas and Jim Leavitt at South Florida.

But there have been other comings and goings among head coaches.

There have been at least two coaching changes in a number of conferences, including the Big East, Atlantic Coast, Big 12 and Conference USA.

Brian Kelly leaving Cincinnati for Notre Dame rated top headlines before Carroll’s announcement. Butch Jones takes over for Kelly after heading up the Central Michigan program. Jones also took over from Kelly at Central Michigan.

Two other Big East schools – South Florida and Louisville – will have a new look. Leavitt was the only head coach the Bulls ever had building the program from scratch starting in 1997. The school joined the Big East in 2005. Leavitt’s replacement has yet to be picked.

Steve Kragthorpe was fired at Louisville after going 15-21 in three seasons. The Cardinals named Charlie Strong, formerly defensive coordinator for Florida, as their new head man.

Louisville’s three previous head coaches – John L. Smith, Bobby Petrino and Kragthorpe – all had offensive backgrounds.

In the ACC, former Richmond coach Mike London replaces Al Groh at Virginia and Jimbo Fisher takes the place of retired Bobby Bowden at Florida State.

Virginia has been to just one bowl game since 2005. Bowden won 388 games, the second-most in college history, but his Seminoles were just 6-6 this past season. Fisher was the team’s offensive coordinator and coach-in-waiting the past two years.

Some people were surprised when Texas Tech hired former Auburn coach Tommy Tuberville to replace Leach. Leach installed a high-powered offense, while Tuberville is a defensive-minded coach. Tuberville is four years removed from a 13-0 record and national coach of the year honors at Auburn.

In Conference USA, there are new head coaches at Marshall and Memphis. Mark Snyder resigned at Marshall following a 6-6 season. Replacing him is Doc Holliday, who was a fullbacks/tight end coach at West Virginia and is known as a top recruiter.

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Larry Porter, LSU’s running backs coach, is the new head coach at Memphis replacing the fired Tommy West. Porter also has the reputation of being an excellent recruiter, although he has never been a head coach or coordinator.

The biggest number of head coach changes occurred in the Mid-American Conference where Akron, Buffalo and Central Michigan have new head men.

Headed to the NFL draft

Many top junior players have declared for this year’s NFL draft. Florida has been hit the hardest.

The Gators are losing cornerback Joe Haden, defensive end Carlos Dunlap, tight end Aaron Hernandez, center Maurkice Pouncey and safety Major Wright.

Dunlap could be among the first 10 players. So could Haden, considered the top cornerback prospect. Hernandez also could go in the first round. Pouncey was awarded the Rimington Trophy as the nation’s top center. He’s projected to be a second-round pick as is Wright.

Oklahoma took a hit, too, losing defensive tackle Gerald McCoy and quarterback Sam Bradford. McCoy is going as high as No. 2 overall in many mock drafts. ESPN draft guru Mel Kiper has Bradford rated as the fifth player taken.

Other projected potential top-10 picks leaving their respective schools early are Tennessee safety Eric Berry, Notre Dame quarterback Jimmy Clausen, Georgia Tech defensive end Derrick Morgan, Oklahoma State wide receiver Dez Bryant, who was suspended by the NCAA for most of the season, Alabama linebacker Rolando McClain and South Florida defensive end Jason Pierre-Paul.

Back to the futures

With the Alabama Crimson Tide still showing off its BCS hardware at places like Wal-Mart, books are already posting odds for the next BCS Championship, slated for Jan 10, 2011 in Glendale, AZ. The Crimson Tide and Ohio State Buckeyes are leading the way on the list.

Odds below courtesy of TheGreek (Jan 13, 2010).