One possible destination for both Petrino and Rodriguez–the two coaches competing in the Resume Bowl on Thursday night–that keeps popping up is Florida State. Why? Bobby Bowden, short of stunning and quick death, isn’t going anywhere, so firmly entrenched is he in Tallahassee. Boosters haven’t been able to get rid of his nakely inept son at offensive coordinator, so why anyone thinks he’s going anywhere will be left to the realm of fever-dream hallucination.


Will not go to Florida State, but will likely go.

In fact, the emergence of Xavier Lee at quarterback–who can take Jeff Bowden’s Crayola plays, fight out of their collapse with his scrambling ability, and then either run or make something happen off the broken play–will only bolster Bowden’s case for Jeffy the Unready.
Thus cue the sequence: Miami takes Petrino, Rodriguez either stays and gets better facilities and more money at Morgantown, or takes big money to go to UNC or elsewhere. Realistically, Florida State will miss out entirely on the duo and keep trucking toward an eventual Kevin Steele/Bowden Nepotism pick successor.

And as bravoed as the Big East has been thus far in the media, consider that both coaches in “the biggest game in the history of the Big East” this Thursday could be gobbled up by larger programs in the offseason. The Big East may be much improved, but they’re still where coaches go to try out for bigger gigs. That’s no slam on the league, that’s just economics. Until they tap a few more cashlines, they’ll lose coaching talent upward to the big money leagues.