It seems almost certain that Lovie will be fired at the end of this season, barring some sort of miraculous win streak or something equally unlikely.  Whoever the Bears bring in to be head coach after him will probably get to hire his own staff, which includes offensive coordinators.  That being said, Charlie Weis was recently fired from Notre Dame (if you haven’t heard).  Following his firing, he expressed interest in Ron Turner’s job:

A source close to Charlie Weis confirmed that the former Notre Dame coach would be interested in the Bears’ offensive coordinator position if it were to become available after this season.

Ron Turner has to go, even if somehow Lovie keeps his job.  While it is undisputed that Weis was a terrible college coach, his NFL resume is far different.  He was the offensive mastermind of three Super Bowl champion Patriots teams from 2000-2004.  The only real question is, was that a result of Bill Belicheck, or was it truly Weis’s own genius?  A lack of success as a head coach at any level, college or pro, does not necessarily mean that the person would be a bad coordinator.

What do you think?  Besides of course the old “anyone but Turner” refrain.

News coming out of South Bend is that Irish QB Jimmy Clausen received a black eye or two after getting slugged outside a bar early Sunday morning.  On the sabbath?!!

Anyway, it’s not completely clear whether this was a fight of any kind or if Clausen was just the victim of an idiotic angry fan.  I suppose it’s possible there was a double-dog dare involved too. 

Somehow this is the fault of Charlie Weis, but we’ll wait for the official news to come down from the authorities to figure out how to pass that blame.  The entire season has been one huge black eye for Notre Dame.  This was supposed to be the year that Weis finally shed himself of all those Willingham recruits and took his guys to a BCS game, or as Lou Holtz predicted, their seventh straight National Championship. 

Obviously, things didn’t go as planned and when things are down incidents like your star QB getting punched outside of a bar seem to happen more often.  Clausen was at one point this season discussed as a legitimate Heisman candidate and maybe even the front-runner, but that all seems very unlikely at this point.  Even though he has continued to impress, losses to Navy and UConn don’t help the cause. 

The Irish finish up their regular season Saturday night against Stanford before all the focus turns to whether Weis will get to stick around to coach ND in the bowl game.

Charlie Weis has to be smiling between bites these days.  A couple of weeks ago the Irish coach added “punches thrown after plays” to his long list of complaints after a loss at Michigan.  Following some YouTube spotshadowing and more whining from South Bend, Michigan linebacker Jonas Mouton was suspended by the Big Ten for one game. 

This past Saturday Purdue lineman Zach Reckman received another one gamer for a cheap shot at the end of the Boilermakers’ loss against Northern Illinois.  Michigan coach Rich Rodriguez didn’t do Purdue any favors by mentioning that the Big Ten better keep an eye on everyone in his press conference this week.  Anyway, Reckman will miss Purdue’s game against none other than Charlie Weis’s Fighting Irish.  Here’s the video.

Now, I’m not against suspending players for the cheap stuff.  Both of these guys deserved some punishment for their actions.  Rodriguez and Danny Hope should have been out in front of these, announcing anything from “we’ll handle it internally” to “he’s out for a quarter, a half, or a game.”  However, this is not the job of the Big Ten and they are setting a precedent with these suspensions that will get them in trouble and annoy the hell out of fans in the future. 

If only there was some kind of feature that would allow me to explain my displeasure in an organized fashion one by one.  Bullets!

• Problemo uno is that Mouton’s suspension came down on Thursday afternoon and Reckman’s sometime on Wednesday.  WTF Delaney?  Michigan had no time to prepare for a missing defensive starter, as most teams restrict Fridays to walkthroughs.  Purdue didn’t get much better notice, only getting one full day of practice for their backup. 
• A off-shoot of uno is that most of these situations likely are brought to the Big Ten’s attention by opposing coaches.  If you’re coaching against Ohio State and Terrelle Pryor pops a guy to defend Mike Vick’s honor, you better believe you’re sending that tape in as late as possible so they won’t be able to prepare. 
• That leads in to the biggest problem of all.  Coaches are going to comb the desert Spaceballs style for any evidence of foul play.  Not in their own games, but in the games of their upcoming opponent.  Then we’ll hear them mention it and complain in hopes that the Big Ten will bring the boom on some starter from their future opponent’s squad.  If you think coaches won’t do this, you’re crazy.  Any coach will do what it takes to give his team any competitive advantage.  Plus, it’s not like they will be taking advantage of the system, this is essentially what the Big Ten is asking for. 
• Finally, I can’t wait for a star to do something questionable the week before a big game.  Evan Royster gives a stomp to an opponent the week before the OSU game, or heaven forbid Terrelle Pryor reverts to his high school basketball days and gets in a fight the week before that game.  We’ll see if Delaney steps up when something like that happens, but hopefully the Big Ten realizes the overreaching arm of the law they’ve extended and stops. 

Again, I’m not saying that players who dole out cheap shots shouldn’t be punished.  Coaches should be responsible for suspensions though, with a failure to do so resulting in negative publicity for the school.  Sure, that’s not much of a punishment, but it beats the alternative of Wednesday suspensions and whiny coaches looking to get college kids thrown out of games.

• Jason Marquis led the Rockies to a win over the Cubs yesterday, that’s embarrassing.  Also, the Sox were blown out by the Tigers.  [Sun-Times: Cubs, Sox]
• The Big Ten announced some start times for this year’s football games.  The Illini have a couple of night games scheduled and will have a 2:40 start against Missouri to start the season.  [Tribune]
• Isiah Thomas was forced to answer some tough questions on ESPN last night after accepting the job to coach Florida International.  [Awful Announcing]
• Something crazy is going on with Duke basketball player Greg Paulus.  First he works out for the Packers, then meets with Michigan’s Rich Rodriguez.  Apparently he has a year of eligibility left and was a top quarterback recruit out of high school.  Hmm.  [Deadspin]
• Charlie Weis admits to talking to his family about possibly quitting Notre Dame.  Notre Dame admits hoping he does (not really).  [ESPN]
• Apparently the Louisiana State Bar Exam featured some Hornets players’ names in some of the questions.  That’s funny, because in Oregon you only get to solve legal problems involving Portland players after you pass the exam.  [Hornets247]
• The NHL playoffs started last night and the Blackhawks play their first playoff game since 2002 tonight.  Here is a look at the top ten plays from the regular season.  [Puck Daddy]
• Some high school kid threw three no-hitters in a row, but now you know we just jinxed him.  He’s going to Florida to play next year, so wait ’til he learns that Tim Tebow threw four no-no’s in one day when he was 12…while saving babies between innings.  [Slow Breaker]