Butch Jones a candidate at Louisville, Marshall and Virginia

Central Michigan’s Butch Jones has recently been mentioned as a potential candidate for openings at Louisville, Marshall and Virginia, to name a few. The third-year coach of the Chippewas addressed the rumors during Monday’s MAC Championship teleconference. “It is absolutely no distraction at all,” Jones said of the coaching rumors. “I think it is a compliment to our football program, to our players, and to our coaches. It’s been absolutely no distraction. I don’t read the internet. I don’t read the papers so (the reporter) probably know more than I do, and no, I have not spoken to any other schools. My focus has been Central Michigan University, these players, and our football program.” – Morning News

Butch Jones in line at Marshall

Is Marshall football on the brink of similar success? It depends on this hire, of course. My ideal candidate would somebody from the offensive side, though it would be ludicrous to rule out James Madison’s Mickey Matthews, the Herd’s defensive coordinator under Jim Donnan. The candidate would know his way through the Florida/Georgia recruiting jungle, with Virginia a definite bonus. I wouldn’t mind somebody not previously connected with Marshall, though I wouldn’t rule it out. Would you turn down Matthews or Gunter Brewer, for instance? A current major-college head coach wouldn’t be bad, but there are few you would want and could get. If you can land Central Michigan’s Butch Jones, shoot, I’m interested. – Charleston Gazette

A turn for the worse at Michigan

For those who think Michigan’s slide since September has hurt coach Rich Rodriguez in Ann Arbor, it’s about to get much, much worse. The Detroit News reported that the Michigan program in 2008 failed to file required logs used to keep track of how many hours players practiced and worked out. An internal university audit revealed the CARA (countable athletically related activities) logs—which the university uses to stay in compliance with NCAA rules—were missing. The NCAA, of course, is investigating allegations made by players that Rodriguez and his staff worked players beyond the NCAA’s 20-hour limit. The missing logs won’t bode well for Rodriguez—with the NCAA or the university. Connect the dots, and it starts to look ugly for Rodriguez—a lot worse than the six losses in the last seven games. When he left West Virginia two years ago, he and his staff were accused of shredding player personnel documents. Here’s the problem: In his contract with Michigan, it specifically states that if Rodriguez commits an NCAA violation, he can be fired for cause. And that means Michigan owes him nothing. Now how big does the Ohio State game look? Win, and the joy of beating your rival for the first time since 2003 salves the wounds. Lose, and Rodriguez might not make it to his third year in Ann Arbor. – Sporting News

A person familiar with the process says that Michigan’s compliance department might be to blame for failing to monitor the filing of practice logs. The Detroit News reported Monday that Michigan coaches failed to file the required monthly logs that keep track of time spent practicing and working out. Michigan is being investigated by the NCAA for possible violations of the maximum 20-work week for football players. The person, a veteran major-college administrator, said that it is typically the duty of a compliance person to keep track of each players’ time spent playing, practicing and working out. “That’s on compliance. If it’s Auburn, LSU, Florida or some other school if you didn’t have practice logs filed then that’s on compliance,” the person said. “It’s compliance’s job to make sure to get them in.” The person said that he was personally responsible for counting the individual hours of each player, by month, then turning the documents into the compliance department. – CBS Sports

Pac-10 Shedding it’s Loser Image?

After two weekends in 2009, the Pac-10 is 13-4 in nonconference games. Not all of those victories were racked up against directional schools like Eastern Washington (which Cal routed on Saturday) and Central Michigan. USC’s 18-15 win at Ohio State was the highlight. UCLA’s 19-15 victory at Tennessee and Oregon’s 38-36 win over Purdue at home showed others can beat major Football Bowl Subdivision teams. Even in the losses, once-hapless Washington gave LSU all it could handle before falling two weeks ago, while Wake Forest topped Stanford on the final play. Last season, the Pac-10 was 10-10 in nonleague games during the first three weekends. And the rap against its defense? Pac-10 teams allowed 15 points or less in nine of their 13 nonconference victories this year. – Sacramento Bee