FanHouse Jeremy Bates

Every Monday during college football's endless offseason, The FanHouse Walk will put last week's stories to bed and deliver the essentials to bridge that agonizing space between now and September.

Maybe They'll Twitter er Tweet Their Decision -- USC has begun spring practice, headlined by a four-man race for the starting quarterback job. They're doing this with SarKiffian 2.0, newly hired offensive coordinator John Morton and quarterbacks coach/playcaller Jeremy Bates. Bates departed Denver just in time to avoid the mess that is Cutler vs. McDaniels while keeping a low, low profile.

There's a lot going on, which leaves Pete Carroll skeptical if he can settle on the next American Idol quarterback by the end of spring. Our hunch is it'll be the slightly scrawny Aaron Corp, kid can move.

Jay Cutler recently found out that the Denver Broncos -- now under new management -- wanted to get in on the Matt Cassel shopping extravaganza (Cassel was apparently shopped to the Bucs, Lions and Chiefs) and allegedly tried to trade him.

And now, after saying he was done in Denver, Cutler is apparently rebuffing the team's attempts to have a sit-down/kiss-and-makeup session with the quarterback. Yes, there's drama. And yes, it's totally unnecessary.

Over his 14 years with the Broncos, Mike Shanahan gradually became the most powerful man in the organization. He forced out general managers, constantly reshuffled his coaching staff and held control over every personnel decision, something that surely contributed to his firing on Tuesday.

As a result, owner Pat Bowlen is now pitching a more diffuse power structure in which neither the coach nor the G.M., whoever they turn out to be, has more power than the other. The new coach will be hired before the new G.M. and both men will report directly to Bowlen. That seems like a situation destined for problems.

There will be disagreements in the course of any working relationship. If they get serious enough, Bowlen will be forced to choose to keep one or the other, which will make whoever stays the de facto power figure anyway. It would make a lot more sense to install the G.M., even if you just promote current V.P. of football operations and player personnel Jim Goodman, and then have him help with the coaching search to promote a unified organizational blueprint.

It's not surprising that Bowlen is approaching this in a different manner than many of his peers. Although he's owned the team since 1984, this is only the third time Bowlen has had to hire a head coach. Dan Reeves was already there when he bought the club, and Wade Phillips was briefly the coach before Shanahan rose to the position.

One of the hottest trends in the NFL is the move toward younger and younger coaches. Be it Eric Mangini and Lane Kiffin running the entire show or Josh McDaniels calling the plays for the Patriots offense, the young coach with responsibility is the bleeding edge of NFL coaching. Mike Klis of the Denver Post isn't missing out on this trend.

High above the Black Hole in a cramped coaches box, a kid named Jeremy Bates, young enough to be Mike Shanahan's son, will call down the Broncos' first offensive play of the 2008 season.

Now Bates, 31, certainly fits the bill as a young gun. Klis, however, misses the mark. For one thing, Shanahan's son is younger than Bates. And, for another, much more crucial difference, Kyle Shanahan is actually an offensive coordinator. He'll run that unit for the Houston Texans this season.

Bates will indeed call the plays down to Mike Shanahan's headset but that may have more to do a lyrical tenor voice fit for La Scala than actually being the guy choosing them. Bates is actually the quarterbacks coach in Denver (and has been for more than a year, sssshhh). He will help create the Denver game plan, obviously, but Rick Dennison is actually the team's offensive coordinator. But, gosh, Bates sure is young!

Other than the central premise being wrong, it's a fine article about the young coach movement. Well, except for the way it ends.

Plus, in the ever-changing NFL world, a bridge between Bon Jovi and Bow Wow can't hurt.

If you say so, buddy.