Cowher, Holmgren, Gruden, Shanahan Could Cash In

But owners looking to win the press conference and cover their behinds will be looking to the big four – Bill Cowher, Mike Holmgren, Jon Gruden and Mike Shanahan (and maybe their cheaper, slightly less desirable brother, Brian Billick) — this December. All have hoisted the Lombardi Trophy. All will want salaries in excess of $5 million per year. But if Eric Mangini makes $3 million from the Browns, shouldn’t Cowher or Holmgren ask for at least twice that? If you’re team owner whose season may be all but over now, aren’t you going to think about turning to someone who has done this thing before? – National Football Post

Carroll, Kiffin Rumors Swirl

Pete Carroll
USC coach Pete Carroll said Monday he did not want to answer questions about the San Francisco 49ers coaching situation because it would only lead to more questions from the media. The 49ers fired coach Mike Nolan on Monday and assistant coach Mike Singletary is expected to take over for the rest of this season, although no official word has come from the NFL team. Carroll, a former 49ers assistant and Bay Area native, said in 2003 he was offered the job but turned it down. Carroll said five years ago the organization changed from the one he worked for under the late coach Bill Walsh. But speculation immediately rose after Nolan was fired. “There’s no reason to respond,” Carroll said. “I’m even going to respond to anything.” – LA Daily News

Lane Kiffin
Today it feels better to help than to hurt, so today I will help Clemson and Tennessee and Syracuse — well, maybe Syracuse can’t do any better than Lane Kiffin — by telling them to kindly, but swiftly, pull your head out of your ass and understand who Lane Kiffin is. And who he is not. Who he is: A terrible NFL head coach. Bill Callahan, not Bill Cowher. True, the Raiders are poisonous. But Kiffin didn’t do anything to make them better. The Raiders sucked before he got there, and the Raiders sucked while he was there, and the Raiders suck now that he’s gone. Lane Kiffin had no impact. Zero. So if Kiffin’s time with the Raiders was a complete zero, who else is he? He’s a former offensive coordinator at the most talented program in college football. That’s all he is, and if that sounds flippant, good. – CBS Sports

Report: Cowher Could Land at Penn State

With Joe Paterno’s health in question, there are several media reports speculating on who may replace the Hall of Famer should be step down at season’s end…

There are three theories on what will happen at Penn State when Joe Paterno finally surrenders to age. 1. A current assistant, probably Tom Bradley, will be elevated. 2. A member of the “Penn State family,” such as former Lions all-America Mike Munchak (now the offensive line coach of the Tennessee Titans), will be named. Former Paterno assistants such as Greg Schiano of Rutgers and Al Golden of Temple also fit in this group. 3. A person with no ties to the program, but a sufficiently “big name” to withstand the pressures of following Paterno, will be named. Bill Cowher long has been the favorite of those who want to go outside, but Lane Kiffin, fired last week by the Oakland Raiders and a onetime assistant at Southern Cal, would also would be a vastly popular choice. – Philadelphia Inquirer

Joe Paterno’s physical health has declined to the point where it could cause him to do something no one expected: retire of his own accord. There is some mystery about the exact condition of Paterno’s right knee, but he is hobbling badly and looked like a man who will be 82 in two months when he made a brief appearance on the field before the game Saturday against Purdue. The injury is said to have occurred three days before the season opener when Paterno was demonstrating a kicking technique. It appears to be getting worse instead of better, not all that surprising for someone his age. Some have speculated he has a ligament injury that will require surgery. A more authoritative source has said the problem is with his hip and that Paterno will require hip-replacement surgery after the season. Paterno was on a golf cart at practice this week, a further indication that he is not getting better. – Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

The football is going to get kicked off on Saturday night. On Tuesday afternoon, Joe Paterno can’t say where he’s going to be when that ball soars end-over-end through the air. Call it the start of a storyline that may linger throughout the second half of Penn State’s football season. Arthritis pain in his right leg caused Paterno to coach the entire game against Purdue from the Ross-Ade Stadium press box last week, and it might lead him to do the same this week when his sixth-ranked Nittany Lions take on desperate Wisconsin. Although he said his leg was “a little better” Tuesday than it was on Saturday, Paterno said he is reserved to the fact that the pain comes and goes. Which means, he might be coming and going from the sideline. “I’m going to have to live with it for a few weeks, and it might be more than that,” Paterno said during his weekly teleconference on Tuesday. “But hey, that’s why I get that big money.” After the Nittany Lions’ 20-6 win over Purdue, Paterno trumpeted being in the coaches box and what he perceived as the benefits of working with a bird’s-eye view of the action. – Citizens Voice