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The carousel spins 'round and 'round every year at this time. Wil Muschamp just left his spurs and hat in Texas, leaving his Defensive Coordinator post under Mack Brown to take over the storied program in Gainesville at the University of Florida. Miami (Fl.) just chose Temple's Al Golden to run things after firing Randy Shannon in a bit of a shocker. Schools all over will follow suit and file the same type of press releases in the weeks to come.
What does this mean about a winning program like Missouri? Better yet, what does it mean for a leader like Gary Pinkel?
The Tigers Head Coach had his name tossed out about Pac-10 openings a couple of years ago and Pinkel seems to enjoy his current tenure, staying even when it'd be easy to leave alongside a talented senior class for greener pastures.
So there's no truth to anything here, only conjecture that someone like Pinkel should (and could) be a hot coaching candidate for some of the larger openings available.
In fact, it's surprising Pinkel's name didn't even surface for either Florida based job given Pinkel's incredible run at Missouri, taking a program with middling success (and none recently after the jobs of Larry Smith and Bob Stull through the '90s) and bringing it to double digit wins in three of the last four seasons. Pinkel has raised up NFL prospects, watched them leave and then reloaded again this year with another 10-win (possibly 11-win) season. In the process, he's forced the Big 12 to make room for one more program near the top.
The University of Florida was looking for an SEC guy, and that certainly took Pinkel out of even early consideration. On the other hand, Miami hired a questionable choice from Philly, showing they were only looking at the candidate himself. Why then would Pinkel not even have his name thrown in the ring?
Of course, that's good news for Missouri fans that their coach seems happy and settled in a world where the Bobby Petrinos and Nick Sabans and Lane Kiffins of the coaching ranks abandon one ship for another faster than Captain Jack Sparrow. Still, the rumor mill churns constantly and it's surprising Pinkel's name isn't on a list of some type. Perhaps that day will come, but for now it seems Tigers fans and alumni can rest easy.