The first round of the ‘Death March Madness’ tournament (full bracket here – background here). Here’s a printable version. Bobby Petrino (Atlanta Falcons v Ron Prince (Kansas State) As 5 and 6 seeded players, each is considered a longshot for the position. How they got on the list: Bobby Petrino elevated the Louisville football program to new heights last season and took his craft to the NFL, where his short tenor has been stunted by the off field activities of Michael Vick. He’s a longshot for the candidancy but he’s got ties to the Midwest via Lousiville, and they way that team collapsed this year you have to wonder if Petrino is worthy of the hype. Ron Prince is a name you probably haven’t heard of but his name has come up by a few pundits as someone that just might be a good candidate. One of a handful of African American head coaches, Prince got some major props last year for taking over for Bill Snyder and getting the Wildcats to a bowl. The highlight of the 2006 campaign was taking down mighty Texas. His pedigree ties him to Virginia, and a little school of which I’m not familiar named Appalachian State. His stock has dropped a bit in the wake of giving up 71 points to the Cornhuskers…

The first round of the ‘Death March Madness’ tournament (full bracket here – background here). Here’s a printable version. Larry Kehres vs. Paul Johnson An interesting match-up a two coaches you may know about but have caught the eye of several Michigan fans. In the September poll of potential candidates to replace Lloyd Carr I didn’t include either of these men, but Kehres received a bunch of write-in votes due to his great success at tiny Mt. Union. Navy headman Johnson has caught some notice for his work with the Midshipmen and especially his great win over the suffering Irish. Here’s a little more on each man: On Kehres from the Mt Union official site: Under Kehres, the Raiders have won nine Division III National Championships in the last 14 years (’93, ’96, ’97, ’98, ’00, & ’01, ’02, ’05, ’06). Since 1990, the Raiders have made 16 playoff appearances while posting college football’s most wins and best winning percentage (216-10-1/.954). During the last 15 regular seasons, his teams have posted a phenomenal 148-2 overall mark. For his efforts, Kehres (246-20-3/.920 at Mount Union) has been named the AFCA Division III National Coach of the Year eight times (’93, ’96, ’97, ’98, ’00, ’01, ’02, ’06) – voted on by the American Football Coaches Association. On Johnson, from the Navy…

Twenty minutes before Lloyd Carr’s tearful presser today I heard a caller into WTKA ask what the host thought about Miami Dolphins head coach Cam Cameron. As any sane person would do I started smashing my head against my steering wheel until I felt better. So continues the non-stop parade of radio talk show hosts & callers, punits, bloggers, journalists and anyone else with a pulse that will speculate on a replacement. This death march will drag Michigan fans through the holidays and most likely beyond the BCS Championship in early January. The beauty in all this is that no one really will have a clue what’s actually going on inside Bill Martin’s head until we get close, and maybe not even then. Have fun with those out of town relatives peppering you with takes on this. Prepare yourself man. To combat the stupidity of the next few months I’ve decided to fight fire with fire: a tired old radio show stunt to determine the next coach. It’ll be fought out in the blogosphere amongst my fellow nerds, which is where it belongs. The results will be as meaningless as the opinions of the talk show callers (except for maybe ‘Caller Marcus’). Should you chose to participate in Death March Madness you may actually feel yourself getting dumber as a…