Heads Are Rolling, and It's Not the Economy

Dennis Felton should've been fired last year, but Georgia made a miraculous run into the NCAA Tournament after winning the ACC tourney. He's one of two big-name coaches that are out this year; Mark Gottfried was the other.

The SEC is tanking, so it shouldn't surprise people that the first two casualties of the 08-09 season came from that league.

There will probably be more.

But now comes the best part of all of this: Speculating on who will replace the removed coaches.

Apparently Minnesota's Tubby Smith is a hot topic for Alabama. VCU's Anthony Grant isn't really in the running. But Alabama has some cash and a willingness to make a splash. Andy Katz gives us some good insight, too.

I can't really find much speculation on Felton's replacement because that firing was so recent, but don't expect Jim Harrick to walk through that door ...

Another coach who is practically cloaking the sky with the smoke coming off his hot seat is Maryland's Gary Williams. Not only is his team struggling, he's also involved in a tit-for-tat with some school officials. Not good, despite what he says.

And we can fully expect the Arizona job hunt to make the biggest news. I saw in a chat on ESPN.com that Michigan State's Tom Izzo is suddenly the frontrunner. I don't know what to make of that, but we'll have to wait and see, won't we?