FanHouse KevinSumlin

HOUSTON -- Reclined way back with his feet kicked up on a table in the Houston Cougars' film room Tuesday and answering questions in a philosophical yet aloof way, Dana Holgorsen was channeling his inner Mike Leach without even realizing it.

The voice, the demeanor and delivery were all Leach -- albeit a younger, less clean-shaven Leach.

"I sat in the same room as him for many, many years," Holgorsen, the Cougars second-year offensive coordinator said when reminded of the similarity. "All of that stuff rubbed off, I guess."

HOUSTON -- It seems every football season there is the push to find the ultimate BCS buster.

And there have been some good ones to crash the "Members Only" party for the big boys of college football. The interesting thing is the club of little guys capable of breaking through has been even more exclusive than the club entry they seek.

Boise State. Utah. Hawaii. TCU.

As the coaching carousel keeps turning, the newly-available Ty Willingham might be expected to be bitter. After all, his record at Notre Dame was essentially the same as Charlie Weis' after three seasons. Yet Willingham got the gate from the Domers, while Weis got the dreaded vote of confidence from his athletic director this week. You wouldn't blame Willingham if all of a sudden he started talking like Yosemite Sam with a habanero seed stuck in his throat. Gibbering, barely coherent anger would seem to be an appropriate response to such a regrettable circumstance.

Whatever you may think of Willingham as a coach, he said the right thing about Weis, and about coaches in general.

"It's not just my issue, it's a college football issue - we have to give coaches a chance to do their job," Willingham said Thursday from Seattle, where he recently was fired as the University of Washington's coach after four seasons, the last of them winless.

"Because now we have coaches ... especially some of the minority coaches ... they are losing their jobs after 2 1/2 years. That's not right."

Indeed, it's not right, as I said earlier this year. The situation hasn't gotten better. Who's to blame?