Posted by Tom Fornelli

While the decision had been hinted at and rumored for over a week, Iowa officially announced on Monday that it had hired Greg Davis to be Kirk Ferentz's new offensive coordinator.

"We are thrilled to have Greg Davis join our staff" said Ferentz in a statement. "Greg has enjoyed great success during his career and I believe that can be attributed directly to the combination of his football expertise and teaching skills.

"Greg's units have demonstrated impressive production and they have done so using a variety of systems and styles - he has done an outstanding job of playing towards the strengths and abilities of the players with which he has worked."

Davis took the 2011 season off, but was last seen coaching at Texas where he'd been offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach for 13 seasons before being replaced by Bryan Harsin last year following a 5-7 campaign in 2010. While at Texas Davis helped put together a national championship winning team in 2005 and played a pivotal role in the development of quarterbacks like Vince Young, Colt McCoy and Chris Simms.

He will be only the second offensive coordinator at Iowa since Kirk Ferentz took over the program in 1999. Davis replaces Ken O'Keefe who left Iowa to take a job with the Miami Dolphins earlier this month.

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Posted by Tom Fornelli

Maybe if this whole football thing doesn't work out for Matt Barkley he can give journalism a try. The USC quarterback broke some news on Wednesday night by tweeting that Tee Martin was joining USC's staff as wide receivers coach.

News that CBSSports.com's Bruce Feldman was able to confirm on Wednesday night.

Tee Martin had spent the last two seasons in the same position at Kentucky, though he was also promoted to passing game coordinator before last season. Martin had been a popular target among coaching staffs across the SEC for his ability as a coach and his recruiting ability as well.

Though most college football fans likely remember Martin as the quarterback of the 1998 Tennessee team that won its first national championship in 47 years.

Now, ironically enough, Martin leaves Kentucky, a rival of Tennessee's, to take a job at USC. The same USC that lured Lane Kiffin away from Tennessee. A move that didn't exactly make Kiffin a popular name in Knoxville.

So next time Martin is in Knoxville, he might want to have that championship ring on display for self-defense.

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Posted by Tom Fornelli

Kirk Ferentz is the longest-tenured coach in the Big Ten, patrolling the Iowa sideline since 1999. Over that span, Ferentz has had only one offensive coordinator with him at the school, Ken O'Keefe.

That will no longer be the case.

According to the Cedar Rapids Gazette, O'Keefe is leaving a program to take a job with the Miami Dolphins. New Dolphins head coach Joe Philbin spent several years on Iowa's staff, coaching the offensive line from 1999 to 2002.

Ferentz confirmed the news in a release saying that "Ken O'Keefe has decided to leave our staff for another coaching opportunity."

All of which means there will be a lot of turnover on a coaching staff that hasn't had much at all ever since Ferentz was hired. Defensive coordinator Norm Parker retired following the 2011 season, and defensive line coach Rick Kaczenski left to take a job with Nebraska in December.

As for whom Ferentz will find to replace O'Keefe, it's still to early to know for sure. After all, Iowa still has to find a replacement for Parker to run the defense.

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Posted by Tom Fornelli

The staff turnover at South Carolina continues.

Safeties coach Jeep Hunter was fired on Friday morning. Hunter learned of the news while in an airport waiting to return from a recruiting trip. According to Hunter, he received a phone call from Steve Spurrier to inform him of the news.

"I just got a phone call from (Spurrier) saying he wanted to go in a different direction," Hunter told The State.

Hunter spent three seasons as an assistant at South Carolina. The 2011 season was his first year on the defensive side of the ball, as he spent the previous two seasons coaching tight ends and was an assistant special teams coordinator.

Hunter is the fifth assistant to leave the South Carolina program this year. Defensive coordinator Ellis Johnson, running backs coach Jay Graham, special teams coach John Butler, and strength coach Craig Fitzgerald have all left the program in recent weeks. All but Fitzgerald have been replaced.

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Posted by Tom Fornelli

Finally it seems that one of the strangest coaching searches I've ever seen involving an assistant coach has come to an end. After a night of speculation that saw people reporting that Brent Venables was doing everything but running for President, it's now being reported that Venables has indeed accepted the defensive coordinator position at Clemson.

And I think it's serious this time.

The Oklahoman's Travis Haney tweeted, along with others, that Venables had confirmed to him that he's leaving Oklahoma for Clemson. 

Which should be good news for a Clemson defense that can use a tune-up. The Tigers allowed 70 points to West Virginia in the Orange Bowl and gave up 29.3 points per game during the 2011 season. Since joining Bob Stoops' staff at Oklahoma in 1999 as a co-defensive coordinator, Venables' defenses in Norman have routinely been some of the best in the country, churning out NFL players and keeping the Sooners in title contention year after year.

If he can bring that same kind of success to Clemson and the Tigers combine it with their potent offense, the school could become quite a force in the ACC.

As for why Venables would suddenly leave Oklahoma after spending the last 12 years there, it all started when Mike Stoops was brought back to the Sooners from Arizona. Rather than share defensive coordinator duties with Stoops, Venables decided he'd rather start somewhere new. He'd also been mentioned as a candidate at West Virginia since the announcement of Stoops' return.

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Posted by Tom Fornelli

The Brent Venables Saga is no longer a saga and has now become The Brent Venables Variety Hour.

According to multiple reports on Twitter Wednesday evening, Oklahoma defensive coordinator Brent Venables was all set to become Clemson defensive coordinator Brent Venables. He had interviewed for the position last weekend, and after a few days of speculation, it seemed a decision had finally been made.

Turns out nothing is settled yet.

After Twitter was set ablaze with "Venables to Clemson" tweets, Venables texted the Tulsa World's Dave Sittler to let him know that he was staying at Oklahoma.

Shortly after that tweet, Sittler tweeted again, saying that he may have misunderstood Venables' meaning. Venables later texted to the Tulsa World's John Hoover that he was "working through some details" and that "nothing was final either way."

In other words, in the last week Venables has gone from West Virginia, to Clemson, back to Oklahoma, to Clemson once again, followed by a return trip to Oklahoma, but could still finish his trip at Clemson. Confused? Don't worry, so are we.

At the moment it seems that people jumped the gun on Venables taking the Clemson job because the school wasn't finished doing a background check on him, and that no official contract offer had been made. However, the prevailing feeling at the moment is that once the background check is complete, the offer will be made and that Venables will accept it.

So that's where things currently stand as of now. Where will they stand in another five minutes? Nobody knows. The only thing I know for sure is that I've got a headache from watching this story go back and forth.

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Posted by Tom Fornelli

Another day has come and gone and Brent Venables is still at Oklahoma. There's been a lot of speculation about Venables' future since Mike Stoops joined the Oklahoma staff, as he was mentioned as a replacement for Jeff Casteel at West Virginia, and he's interviewed at Clemson as well. Following the news on Tuesday that Chris Cosh had left Kansas State to become defensive coordinator at South Florida, plenty of people did the math and wondered if Venables would move to Manhattan.

He is a Kansas State graduate after all.

It seems that speculation can be put to rest. The Tulsa World's Dave Sittler tweeted on Wednesday that Venables is "absolutely not interested" in taking the defensive coordinator job at Kansas State. Which does come as a bit of a surprise. As mentioned above, Venables did go to school at Kansas State, and with Bill Snyder being 72 years old, you have to wonder how much longer he'll be sticking around to run the program.

So it's possible that Venables could take the job at Kansas State as the "head coach in waiting." A position that hasn't had a lot of success at other schools recently -- hey, Bill Stewart, how you doing? --  but Venables has shown plenty of interest in becoming a head coach before. Maybe his priorities have changed, or maybe he's just not sure how much success he could have at Kansas State.

After all, there's a lot more defensive talent at Oklahoma than there is in Manhattan.

Whatever the case is, it seems that Venables has narrowed his choices down to staying at Oklahoma or going to Clemson. We'll likely find out his decision soon enough.

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Posted by Tom Fornelli

Tim Beckman has finished filling out his staff at Illinois. The school announced on Wednesday that it had hired Tim Banks to be its defensive coordinator.

"Tim Banks is a great fit for the University of Illinois," said Beckman in a release. "He led an outstanding defense at Central Michigan and made a great improvement at Cincinnati this past season. Tim and I worked together at Bowling Green and I consider him one of the brightest young coaches in the nation. Tim will run a very aggressive defensive system that will work very well with our personnel."

Banks has spent the last five years of his career as a co-defensive coordinator, with the last two coming at Cincinnati and the previous three at Central Michigan. He helped turn around a Cincinnati defense that had a lot to do with the Bearcats success in 2011.

The Bearcats defense finished the season rated 42nd in total defense, but it was ranked 6th against the run, allowing only 96 yards per game. The unit also led the country in tackles for loss with 111 and finished 2nd in sacks with 45.

A trend Tim Beckman and Illinois would like to see continue. While Illinois struggled on offense over the last half of the 2011 season, its defense remained one of the best in the country. If Banks is able to keep the defense on the same level, it will make the transition on offense that much easier.

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