Now there is a tremendous question.

Gene, you win these picks at Santa Anita tomorrow: Yankee Bravo and Polonius in the SA Derby; Western something or other and Captain Sparrow in the mile and three quarters third; Golden Balls in the seventh (in all seriousness).

But your question is a beauty and probably goes beyond Self -- and might preclude anybody loyal to Eddie Sutton from going for the bread in Stillwater.

Jeff,

Was Blake worried about taking the OU football job after Schnelly only got one year? How about Stoops a little over two years later. You can rest assured that Holder will let any candidate know that Sean's dismissal was about more that wins and losses (even if it wans't).

And besides, if a coach gets a guaranteed contract with the numbers that are being talked about would getting fired after a couple of years be a bad thing?

John Blake was worried about nothing because he figured the ringing edorsement Switzer gave to Donnie Duncan meant he'd be untouchable. Problem is, Blake was the worst coach in the history of the program, of those who coached more than one year. Blake was fired for lack of results. Sutton was as well, but his results were leaps and bounds better than Blakes.

As far as Schnellenberger goes, his problems were myriad. From DUIs to drinking on the job to Ms. Schnelly giving herself the five-finger-discount at Norman department stores to refusing the players water at practice, his firing was simply trying to right a wrong as quickly as possible. There's no doubt in my mind Howie would have done better than Blake given the three years Blake was given.

But here's what's different about the OU football issue from the OSU basketball issue. Stoops was hired by a new athletic director whom was just hired himself. And Castiglione didn't hire Blake, who never should ahve been hired in the first place (how many head coaching jobs has he had since? Zero. The guy would change playbooks on Wednesday of game week. Come on...Sutton is easily more credible than John Blake).

I get your point, though. But Stoops is not alumni to OU. He's from Iowa. OU was his first head coaching job. OSU should be just as elated to be in a similar situation. Get either a top-flight assistant from a top-flight school (unlikely) or get a go-getting up-and-comer from a mid-major.

If you believe the damage by the Suttons, Holder, and Pickens was not done overnight, you have to beleive it won't be fixed overnight as well. OU didn't hire Spurrier - they hired his assistant. Stoops was eager when he came to OU.

Danny Manning would be a great hire for OSU. Or if they want more experience, Bennet from Wazzu would be a good one.

OH YEAH! I forgot about this! Some analyst on ESPN today mentioned OSU as a possibility while talking about often retired Kansas/Pistons/Knicks coach Larry Brown. He (I think it was Woody on Around The Horn, who is half crazy!) said that he "might like to get back into the Big 12 where he won a National Championship." I guess Coach Brown has been talking about wanting to get back into coaching. I have a feeling that this coaching search is going to be interesting to watch.

I find all this talk about "loyalty" to be completely ridiculous. Millions of dollars are involved here, coaches negotiate at great length by and through their attorneys to get the best deals possible. Allowing a head coach to designate his son was the real problem here. Arrogance and nepotism rarely if ever works. OSU should never have allowed it. Can't compare OU football to OSU situation. But here goes, I see more of a Gary Gibbs set-up, coach "loyal" to university, good assistant, puts up good wins-loss record, has a Dan Quayle "deer in the headlight "look whenever a microphone is shoved in his face, doesn't meet way overblown expectations and is canned. End of story.

Congrats on nailing KU over Carolina. After Davidson I thought KU (remember ORU?) was in way over their heads, turns out NC just another overrated east team. No brainer on Memphis clobbering UCLA (overrated west team).

Oh, I forgot to tell you, I suck donkey balls!

Picker:

Will Self be pressured/encouraged by other big-time coaches to take the OSU money, thus raising the bar for said coaches? A rising-tide-lifts-all-boats thing? Wouldn’t Calipari, Williams, etc., want Self to make $4 mil a year so they can go back to their AD and say…

Gene: Your Denis of Cork just now finished.

All I said about sports talk radio is most of it is self-absorbed junk, and that the ratings are next to zero.

Facts both.