Posted by: Pete Roussel on February 21, 2012

By my count, nineteen coaches have accepted two different jobs within a matter of weeks this off-season.  In most years, we see 10-12 different coaches fall into this category, but this off-season has proved to be an unprecedented off-season for coaching movement.

Most coaches in the profession understand the moves.  The pay increase for some of these coaches made decisions very easy.  For a coach such as Jim Turner, the decision was based on reuniting with his good friend, Mike Sherman.

Some people outside the profession are totally amazed by the lack of loyalty of these assistant coaches.  To those people, I'd like to provide a couple of examples.

A couple of years ago, Hugh Freeze left Lambuth University to accept the offensive coordinator job at San Jose State.  Freeze resigned a couple of weeks later to join the Arkansas State staff as the offensive coordinator.  If Freeze doesn't make the move to Jonesboro, he never would have become the head coach at Arkansas State, thus never having the opportunity to win and become the head coach at Ole Miss.

Pep Hamilton, likewise, resigned at New Mexico after a couple of weeks to join Jim Harbaugh's staff at Stanford.   If Hamilton didn't make the move, there's no telling where he would be.

Clay Helton left Arkansas State to join Lane Kiffin's staff at USC.  Helton is having the time of his life.  He's coaching Matt Barkley and USC has a legitimate chance to win the national championship next season.  If Barkley wins the Heisman, Helton will be a strong candidate for the Frank Broyles Award.

Here is the list of coaches this off-season that have accepted 2 different jobs: (initial job - second job - current job)

Bill Sheridan (Miami Dolphins - Ohio State - Tampa Bay Bucs)

Bob Bostad (Wisconsin - Pitt - Tampa Bay Bucs)

Chip Long (Illinois - UAB - Arizona State)

Chris Thomson (Abilene Christian University - Arizona State - Texas Tech)

Darren Hiller (Arkansas State - Ole Miss - Nevada)

Derrick Ansley (Alabama - UCF - Tennessee)

Eddie Faulkner (Northern Illinois - Pitt - Wisconsin)

Grady Brown (Southern Miss - Southern Miss (retained) - South Carolina)

Jim Turner (Texas A&M - Texas Tech - Miami Dolphins)

Joe Gilbert (Illinois - UAB - Indianapolis Colts)

Keith Patterson (Pitt - Arkansas State - West Virginia)

Kevin Corless (Out - Western Illinois - Georgia Southern)

Mike Smith (NY Jets - West Virginia - NY Jets)

Nick Rolovich (Hawaii - UMASS - Nevada)

PJ Fleck (Rutgers - Northern Illinois - Tampa Bay Bucs)

Ron West (Illinois - New Mexico - Arizona State)

Ted Roof (Auburn - UCF - Penn State)

Terrell Williams (Texas A&M - Texas A&M (retained) - Oakland Raiders)

Terry Price (Ole Miss - Texas Tech - Texas A&M)

Todd Sturdy (Washington State - Montana - Iowa State)

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