Somebody Has To Coach Baylor, After All

Baylor is the wild bronco every cowboy thinks he can break. The latest sucker coach to think he's up to the task is Art Briles, who until today was the head coach at the University of Houston. Briles takes over for Guy Morriss, who we all thought was nuts back in 2002 when he left Kentucky for Waco. Morriss was coming off Kentucky's first winning season since 1998 and one of only four they'd had since 1977. He would not experience a winning season at Baylor.

Enter Briles, who has done just about everything at Houston except win a bowl game. He has never coached outside the state of Texas. Makes sense. Baylor's coach needs to be Texan to the core, because there are a lot of big dogs recruiting the Lone Star State. Not only that, but he'll have to slug in out in the Big XII South, where there are no weak teams except, historically, for the one he'll be coaching. I mean, the only coach who's had any sort of success at Baylor is Grant Teaff, and even he had to eat worms to make it happen. Good luck, Art; you're gonna need it.

Meanwhile, now the Houston job is open, and one of the early names being kicked around is Alabama offensive coordinator Major Applewhite. However, a vocal contingent of Texas Longhorns fans are insistent that Chris Simms should get the job instead.