Former UNO coach headed to the desert? Tim Floyd has been offered the job as men’s basketball coach at Arizona, according to a Phoenix sports radio station. Floyd, who has been the basketball coach at USC for the past four years, reportedly has 24 hours to consider the Wildcats’ offer. Before going to Southern Cal, Floyd coached for a number of pro and college teams, including the New Orleans Hornets, the University of New Orleans and the Chicago Bulls.
Dale Brown, you retired too soon: The $31.65 million deal John Calipari signed to take over the Kentucky basketball team is just the latest big-bucks contract for a SEC coach, says the Atlanta Journal-Constitution’s Tony Barnhart. Just look at Nick Saban’s $32 million contract with Alabama and the $3.75 million Les Miles earned last year with LSU. These lucrative deals come courtesy of the huge TV contracts the SEC has with CBS and ESPN, which will pump about $3 billion into the conference over the next 15 years. “It’s clear now that the league is going to spend some of that money on acquiring and retaining the best coaches possible,” Barnhart says. Read why this is a good and bad thing for coaches here.
Following in the footsteps: Throughout LSU’s years at the top of college football heap, the Tigers have featured strong defensive tackles. Chad Lavalais, Claude Wroten, Kyle Williams and Glenn Dorsey all dominated opposing offensive lines and played in the NFL. Junior Drake Nevis could be the next player to continue the tradition. Glenn Guilbeau of Louisiana Gannett News says Nevis reportedly dominated a weekend scrimmage. Read a profile of Nevis here.
