FanHouse Pat Sullivan

Rasheed Wallace's anger with the refs began to boil over shortly before the video (courtesy of Need4Sheed) picks up -- he was tagged for his first tech with 8:22 left in the fourth, and after a few trips up and down the court, he earned his second tech for flinging a towel into the stands after being whistled for a shooting foul.

Soon after the Pistons were eliminated in the Eastern Conference Finals for the third year in a row, Joe Dumars fired Flip Saunders and announced that he intended to make major changes to his team's core.

At the time, it certainly seemed like Rasheed Wallace was about to receive a ticket out of town. He was painfully inconsistent when the Pistons needed him most and showed a marked lack of focus during the ill-fated playoff run.

But while Dumars is willing to make drastic changes, parting with Wallace may prove to be difficult, especially if he's determined to get equal value in return. As infuriating as Wallace's reluctance to stay in the paint on offense may be, the fact remains that he's one of the best post defenders in the league, and on a team without another legitimate center to take his place there are only a small handful of trades that'd make sense for Detroit.

As expected, former Auburn Heisman Trophy winner Pat Sullivan accepted the head coaching job at Samford (AL.) on Friday. The surprise was that he apparently turned down the head job at UAB hours earlier.

It appears that UAB made a play to keep Sullivan and offered to move current head coach Watson Brown to athletics director and make Sullivan the head coach. Indications on Thursday were that Sullivan was leaning toward the UAB job.

In the end, it seems that Sullivan didn't want to work for Watson Brown any longer. He served as offensive coordinator until this past season when Brown stripped him of those duties and began calling plays himself.

The results were disastrous. UAB limped to a 3-9 record this year. Watson Brown's job is very much in jeopardy this morning. Many close to the situation believe that changes will be made. The leading candidate surprisingly, is LSU offensive coordinator Jimbo Fisher, who's reportedly interested. Why he would want it is anybody's guess.

Meanwhile, Sullivan, one of the truly great guys in college football, takes over a struggling Division I-AA program. However, word is the administration at Samford is first rate and is willing to give him the tools needed to win.

It looks like the perfect fit. Sullivan gets to remain in Birmingham and do what he loves most - coach. Don't be surprised to see him turn the program into a national power. He should be able to hire qualified coaches and be a strong recruiter. Let's all hope for the best for one of Auburn's all-time greats.

Former Auburn Heisman Trophy Winner Pat Sullivan has emerged as the leading candidate to take the Samford (AL.) head coaching job. The former Auburn quarterback has served on Watson Brown's staff at UAB for the past seven years, with the majority of that time as offensive coordinator.

Sullivan, 56, recently battled and overcame a very public bout with throat cancer as a result of smokeless tobacco use. Despite nearly losing his life, Sullivan missed only a handful of practices during his treatment period. His story became an inspiration to college football fans across the country.

You may remember that Sullivan served as head coach at TCU from 1992-97 and was responsible for recruiting and coaching future NFL star LaDamien Tomlinson. Perhaps his best work was developing former UAB quarterback Darrell Hackney into one of the best passers in Conference USA history.

Sullivan was within an eyelash of taking the LSU head coaching job in the mid 1990's. Also in the running for the Samford coaching job is Dallas Cowboys assistant coach Mike MacIntyre.

Samford athletics director Bob Roller plans to move fast. All indications are that the job will be Sullivan's by the weekend. It couldn't happen to a better person.