FanHouse Mike Haywood

Miami of Ohio -- not to be confused with Miami Florida, which also has a black head coach in Randy Shannon -- has hired Notre Dame "offensive coordinator" Mike Haywood to run its program. He succeeds Shane Montgomery, who stepped down after a 2-10 season.

Color us a little confused if encouraged by this hire. Just today we wrote about Notre Dame coach Charlie Weis' continued decision to call plays for his offense instead of his, you know, offensive coordinator, who just so happened to be Haywood. It's very likely that speaks to Weis' own massive control demands, but it may also speak to Haywood's abilities. Regardless it's nice to see another black head coach among the ranks.

For a while, the prospects for minority head coaches in D-I-please-don't-call-it-the-Football-Bowl-Subdivision looked grim, as their numbers shrank when Washington canned Tyrone Willingham, Kansas State parted ways with Ron Prince, and Sylvester Croom stepped down at Mississippi State.

What has happened since has been a needed surge of black /minority coaching hires.

It appears that Charlie Weis may have finally come to the realization that he can't do everything by himself anymore, and that sometimes you have to swallow your pride and ask others for help. That's why Notre Dame has brought in Jon Tenuta as it's assistant head coach for defense, and it's also the reason behind Charlie's latest move.

He's not going to be calling plays this season.

Weis said Friday he will begin severing the ''umbilical cord'' between himself and the offense during spring practice and will relinquish play-calling duties to offensive coordinator Mike Haywood this fall.

'Play-calling is my greatest strength, OK, but I'm the head coach, and when you're play-calling on offense, you might not necessarily be the best head coach,'' Weis said. ''So what I'm trying to do is I'm trying to be a better head coach.''

Weis said he will use the time he once devoted to scripting plays and fine-tuning game plans to make himself more available to young players. He hopes forging better relationships with them will ease and hasten their adjustment to the college game.

Weis also plans on spending his newly found free time to help the Irish with their special teams. Notre Dame didn't have a special teams coach last season, instead using all nine assistants to help out. This season Brian Polian, who coached the inside linebackers last season, will be focusing full time on the special teams units. Weis is also planning on visiting with Frank Beamer for advice as well.

It's not going to grab the headlines like the coaching vacancies at Michigan, Nebraska, or Arkansas, but Northern Illinois will be starting a search for a new head coach today as well. Joe Novak has retired as head coach of the Huskies.

"People have always said you'll know when it's time and I promise you, I know it's time," Novak said at a news conference. "Selfishly, it's time for my wife and I. It's been a great, great ride but it's time."

I'm sure a 2-10 record isn't how Novak wanted to go out, but it's not what he'll be remembered for. Novak took over as head coach of the Huskies 12 years ago, and during his tenure he turned a perennial doormat into an actual program.

The Huskies had seven consecutive winning seasons under Novak from 2000 to 2006, and also made two bowl appearances, going 1-1 in those two games. They were also ranked as high as #12 in the AP poll back in 2003 after consecutive wins against ranked opponents Maryland and Alabama.

As of now the leading candidates to take over for Novak in DeKalb are current Notre Dame offensive coordinator Mike Haywood, Illinois offensive coordinator Mike Locksley, and former Cincinnati head coach and defensive coordinator at Notre Dame, Rick Minter.