Let's start some rumors: plenty of coaching jobs open

In case you hadn't heard, Coach Pete is going to be the next coach at the University of Washington. Or something to that effect.

We can't really keep track of it anymore. One week, Coach Pete is rumored to be taking over for Tyrone Willingham at the end of the season. The next week, he's never leaving Boise, not for all the money in the world. We're pretty sure that today is one of the "Coach Pete to UW" days. Although, it might have been Wednesday.

What's worse is that there is very little evidence to support any of these coaching theories other than "Coach Pete wins football games and that appeals to a school like Washington." If this were how all job decisions were made, then we would be assistant manager at a Dairy Queen by now. Coach Pete may or may not even want to coach at the University of Washington. We're not even sure he's been asked.

Of course, you don't need facts and truth to speculate about coaching moves these days. All you need is blogging software or access to Brian Murphy's username and password. We have one of those two things! (We're working on the second.)

We found the following interesting story on a San Jose Mercury News blog; apparently, there could be quite a few job openings on the West Coast this offseason. And us being the dubios journalists that we are, it seemed like a good idea to make broad generalizations about how those positions might be filled.

Serious thought: might it be more likely that a Bronco assistant coach take a head coaching position this offseason than for Coach Pete to take one?

With that in mind, here are the potential vacancies at colleges in the West, and here are some Bronco coaching candidates about whom we'd like to start rumors. Tell your friends. That's what rumors are for.

• Arizona: If Bob Mike Stoops really blows the last four games for the Wildcats, he could be out. Similarly, if the Broncos keep destroying teams with their defense, DC Justin Wilcox could be a very hot coaching commodity. Let's jump to conclusions here.


• New Mexico State: What does Hal Mumme have that Boise State football administrative assistant Vicki Sullivan doesn't have? A series of instructional videos named after himself?


• San Diego State: The Aztecs are bad at everything. Bryan Harsin is really good at offense. That solves half of their problems right there.


• UNLV: Tom Scott is available, right?


• Utah State: It would take a crazy person to want the Utah State job. We think Jeff Choate is pretty crazy.


• Washington: If the Huskies can't convince Coach Pete to move to Seattle, we imagine they'll just keep going down the Boise State coaching staff until somebody says yes. They can stop with wide receivers coach Brent Pease.


• Wyoming: To prove his abilities as a recruiter, Viliami Tuivai could find no tougher test than Laramie ... or Jackson Hole ... or wherever the University of Wyoming is.

Read more: The coaching carousel: plenty of jobs open out West [College Sports Hotline]