Meyer moves quickly: LSU has not officially announced the hiring of Billy Gonzales as its passing game coordinator. But that hasn’t stopped Florida coach Urban Meyer from moving quickly to hire a replacement. The Gators hired Central Michigan assistant Zach Azzanni to be their receivers coach. Azzanni worked for Meyer at Bowling Green from 2001-02 and remained there four years after Meyer left for Utah in 2003. Azzanni returned to his alma mater, Central Michigan, as receivers coach in 2007. Gonzales’ apparent departure comes the same week defensive coordinator Charlie Strong accepted the head coaching job at Louisville. Meyer has lost seven assistants since the end of the 2007 season—Stan Drayton, John Hevesy, John Holliday, Greg Mattison, Dan Mullen, Gonzales and Strong have taken jobs elsewhere. Only Mullen, now the coach at Mississippi State, and Strong left for head coaching positions.
The pluck of the Irish: Brian Kelly was introduced as the new coach at Notre Dame this afternoon and says his dream job includes challenges that must be addressed to bring national championships back to the Fighting Irish. Kelly, a former Cincinnati coach who signed a five-year deal, says he is eager to take on the restoration of the Fighting Irish program—and that means national titles. Notre Dame has gone 16-21 over the past three seasons. “We don’t get a five-year plan. This is a five-minute plan,” he says. “We expect our football players to play at a high level immediately. Timetables, we don’t want to get into those—those are a setup.”
Interview reportedly today: Florida State offensive line coach Rick Trickett reportedly is interviewing today for Marshall’s head coaching vacancy, ESPN.com reported. Trickett, who is in his third season with the Seminoles, has strong ties to West Virginia; he played and coached at Glenville State and was a longtime assistant at West Virginia. He has worked at 11 schools during his 36-year coaching career, including LSU, Auburn and Mississippi State. The Web site reported other coaches believed to be under consideration by Marshall officials are Central Michigan coach Butch Jones, interim Marshall coach Rick Minter and Wake Forest defensive coordinator Brad Lambert.
