College football coaching rumors: Syracuse's Doug Marrone, Rutgers' Kyle Flood not going anywhere

There are not a lot of bad things that come out of the holiday season, but it is hard to argue against Black Friday and the days after the end of college football's regular season needing to be eliminated.

Sure, Black Friday has its perks but wouldn't it be easier and less dangerous if we all just stayed home for cyber Monday?

If we can't get rid of Black Friday then the firing and hiring spree of head coaches among college football the days after the regular season need to go.

It is easily the worst time of the year, as many school administrators fire a head coach, which more than likely couldn't live up to unfair expectations, and then scavenge the nation for the next-best replacement.

The recruited head coaches then drop all their loyalties to their program and its players for a bigger paycheck, then the cycle starts all over again as the program the coach left behind now needs to find a replacement and plucks its new head coach from other school.

The only time the cycle ends is when a program fills its position by promoting from within, and that doesn't happen often, or hires an assistant coach off another staff.

So far, 21 FBS head coaches have retired, fired or left their school for a "better" job.

The biggest stories have surrounded around: former Wisconsin Badgers head coach Brett Bielema leaving for Arkansas, Derek Dooley being fired at Tennessee, Mark Stoops replacing Joke Phillips at Kentucky and Gene Chizik being let go at Auburn which hired Gus Malzahn.

The snowball will continue rolling down the hill, as Wisconsin, Tennessee, California, Colorado, Kent State (which lost head coach Darrell Hazell to Purdue), Temple (which lost Steve Addazio to Boston College) and South Florida all need head coaches and will target other lower-level programs for a replacement.

Meanwhile, the football programs of the Syracuse Orange and Rutgers Scarlet Knights aren't worried about where their head coaches -- Doug Marrone and Kyle Flood -- could end up because they're not going anywhere.

That's the beauty of hiring a head coach who has deep ties to a program - they have a sense of loyalty to the school, the fans and administrators that hired them.

Marrone is a Syracuse football alum - he was an offensive lineman from 1983-85 - who worked his way through the NFL as an assistant and took the SU head coaching job in 2008 claiming he had "accomplished a dream".

After leading Syracuse to 7-5 overall record, including winning five of the last six games, and a second bowl invitation in three seasons, there were rumors NFL executives wanted to talk to Marrone.

However, its seems to be too early for Marrone, who still has a lot to learn about being a head coach, to get a strong look by NFL teams.

Currently, the only college football job Marrone might slightly sniff at is University of Tennessee's head coaching position. However, nothing indicates that Tennessee is interested and back in 2010, when the job was vacated after Lane Kiffin left for USC, Marrone said this to The Post-Standard's Bud Poliquin about the Tennessee position.

"People have come up to me -- friends, even -- and have asked about Tennessee," he confessed Thursday morning. "And I say, ‘If I have to answer that question, I haven’t done a good job in my time here. If I have to answer that question, the direction of the program is not going in the right way.’

"I don’t respond to the question. I hear it and I say, ‘Wait a minute. Haven’t you been listening to me since I got here? Come on. Do you realize what we’re trying to accomplish here?’ With everything I’ve said and with everybody knowing how I feel about this place, I don’t think I have to release any kind of statement."

SU athletic director Daryl Gross recently spoke about Marrone's future saying, "We've solidified our relationship with Doug Marrone and Syracuse football for a long time and we're very excited about that."

Meanwhile, Flood earned his promotion from offensive line coach to head coach last February because he bleeds Scarlet Knights red; of course, Mario Cristobal turning down the job helped too.

(Note: Cristobal decided to return to the FIU Panthers, who went 3-9 this season and fired him on Wednesday.)

Flood, a Queens, NY native, has done an outstanding job of continue the F.A.M.I.L.Y. ("Forget About Me, I Love You") tradition former head coach Greg Schiano instilled during his tenure at Rutgers.

The former Delaware and Hofstra assistant helped lead the Scarlet Knights to a 9-3 overall record, collect its first ever share of the Big East Conference crown and was, maybe, one fake field goal touchdown away from earning a trip to a BCS bowl game.

Yet, despite his early season success, which should include help saving the best recruiting class in program history, Flood still has a lot to prove according those who cover the program, especially since he blew a big chance against Louisville Cardinals last Thursday.

Because of that, Rutgers will not have to worry about Flood going anywhere. Though, they might need to think about his job status after next season if he doesn't meet expectations.