A Grip on Sports: It’s time, actually past time, to stop fretting over any coach’s departure for greener pastures

A GRIP ON SPORTS • Our Sesame Street word of the day is hypocrite. Or is that too hard for college football fans to absorb? We’ve come to believe everyone associated with the sport is one. That or just outright liars. You choose.

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• Ten days ago, give or take an hour or two, Arizona head football coach Jedd Fisch went on Jim Rome’s radio show – yea, it still exists – and told the world he had “no interest in going anywhere else.” Now he’s Washington’s head football coach.

Of course he is.

He had about $50 million reasons, give or take a million or two, to make the change.

Don’t say it’s the state of college football these days. That would be myopic.

You know, Mr. Magoo-like. Lacking in vision. If you are blind, you may not see the game has always been this way.

Heck, the winningest college football coach of all time, John Gagliardi, left Montana’s Carroll College for a more lucrative contract at Minnesota’s Saint John’s in 1952 for goodness sake. We understand the Johnnies threw in a low-mileage 1949 Packard to sweeten the deal.

Bear Bryant? He went from Texas A&M to Alabama in 1958. To think, Tuscaloosa was his fourth head coaching stop.

Pop Warner, the guy whose name adorns youth football all over the nation? He topped that number easily, coaching at seven colleges, including Georgia, Pitt and Stanford. You don’t think he told someone in 1924 when he arrived in Palo Alto that he was there to stay? Sure he did.

It just wasn’t broadcast by ESPN.

Nick Saban, whose retirement began this week’s mess? Toledo. Michigan State. LSU. The Dolphins. Alabama. The GOAT of college coaches certainly wasn’t fired by any of those universities. He moved on. Up. After seemingly becoming a permanent part of their communities.

Folks, no one is permanent when it comes to being a head football coach. They are either moving up if they are good, being moved out if they are not or retiring someday. The last one? That’s the rarity.

Which is why we are always – always – amused by a fanbase’s resentment – to use a nice word.

Kalen DeBoer departs Washington and Husky fans get all indignant.

“But he said …”  Sorry, that’s a crutch. What do you expect your coach to say? Any coach? “Yes, I love it here at Whatsamotta U, but if a better job opens up, with more money, I’m out of here faster than Rocket J. Squirrel.”

Wait a second. Maybe that’s coming soon. After all, everyone is doing it, from the head coach to the lowliest assistant, from the best player in the lineup to the last guy on the bench, from the athletic director to the janitor. Heck, you think, if Harvard calls, Kirk Schulz wouldn’t take the call?

Of course, he would. So would Ana Mari Cauce, Carol Folt and even Richard Saller. Despite Stanford being the Harvard of the West. The actually one, not a joke one.

Which is all to say the hand-wringing is a waste of time. And makes the entire fanbase look hypocritical. You think the Huskies were going to promote another assistant after their recent Jimmy Lake fiasco? Offensive coordinator Ryan Grubb learned otherwise. The only option was to, quote, steal, close quote, someone from another school. And leave their fanbase in tears, railing against the unfair nature of the sport.

That inevitability was locked in last week when DeBoer walked out the door in Montlake for the final time.

The wheel spun. And stopped on Fisch’s name.

In between the cries of anguish about the whole deal could be heard from Cape Alava to Asotin, from Mt. Pleasant to Metaline Falls. And everywhere in-between.

The only noise to rival it? Oh, that came yesterday as the news broke Fisch had decided he did have interest in someplace else. UW. And the Huskies’ financial considerations. You know, something north of $50 million.

Now the wails of the discarded are coming from Tucson. And will continue until … hello San Jose. We’re guessing you’re next on the list. Sorry.

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WSU: While the celebration of a new football coach was taking place nearby, the Washington State women were seething in their Hec Ed locker room. No, not because of Fisch. The Cougars had revenge on their mind. After all, it was the Huskies who had started WSU’s recent downturn, winning the Pac-12 opener against their rival in Pullman a few weeks ago. Now, in the last regular season meeting as Pac-12 foes, Washington State had a chance to make a statement. The Cougars did, winning 72-59 in a game WSU dominated after the first quarter. … John Canzano is well aware of Kyle Smith’s circumstances this season. Of the defections. Of the stress of the conference implosion. All of which comes into focus in Canzano’s column from Sunday, as he and Smith talked about the Cougars’ upset of Arizona and the season thus far. … Elsewhere in the Pac-12 and the nation, there is no bigger news than Fisch’s hiring at Washington. Not even the Huskies losing at Pauley Pavilion once more, which we will get to in the basketball section. Nope. Fisch leaves Arizona, doubles his possible salary and takes over a UW program with holes to fill. How many of them will be patched by former Wildcats? We have to wonder if Fisch talked with quarterback Noah Fifita, the Pac-12 freshman of the year, before deciding to say yes. Is that against the rules these days? Are there any rules these days? …. Jon Wilner has his thoughts in the Mercury News on Fisch’s hire by UW and what Arizona must do. … The Wildcats are hamstrung a bit after the schools multimillion-dollar accounting errors. Which makes San Jose State’s Brent Brennan the perfect choice. … As expected, Grubb will join DeBoer at Alabama. … Oregon received more good news for its 2024 offensive line. … How about the secondary at USC and UCLA? … In basketball news, the loss to reeling UCLA was the Huskies’ ninth-consecutive one to the Bruins in L.A. It seems like it might have been the worst. After all, Mick Cronin’s team has been terrible lately, losing by 46 points to Utah (fixed from earlier) the last time out. This time? A 73-61 win. … Wilner looks back in the Mercury News at that Bruin loss as well as the big wins from WSU in this weekend rewind. … Utah has yet to win on the road in conference play after is loss Sunday at Stanford. … Colorado has a chance to get its season back on track when it next plays conference leader Oregon. … Tommy Lloyd is contemplating changes for road-weary Arizona, which has split its last eight games. … Stanford’s Tara VanDerveer saw her first shot at breaking Mike Krzyzewski’s all-time wins record melt away in Boulder last night. Colorado’s fifth-ranked Buffs topped her eighth-ranked Cardinal 71-59. … The second sold-out showdown in Los Angeles finished the same way. The home team won. In this case it was No. 9 USC, which handed No. 2 UCLA its first loss of the season. … No fans? No problem for Oregon State, which blew out Arizona State 92-55 in an empty arena. … Same with Oregon, who held off visiting Arizona 70-68 despite committing 27 turnovers. … Utah got back on track by walloping California. … We can also pass along power rankings for the women and men. … Finally, did you watch Kansas City’s NFL playoff win the other night on Peacock? A lot of people did. Maybe the Pac-12’s deal with Apple TV would have been more successful than the myopic – yes, we are using that word twice today – conference CEOs thought.

Gonzaga: Kelly Olynyk did a nice thing the other day. A really nice thing. It is our favorite story of the day.

EWU and Idaho: Around the Big Sky, Weber State had another shocking Saturday, with the men losing at Portland State and the women finishing off a 2-0 weekend with a home victory over the Vikings.

Chiefs: At least Spokane will return home from its seven-game road trip on a high note. Shea Van Olm scored two goals and the Chiefs topped Edmonton on Sunday to snap a five-game losing streak. Dave Nichols has the story.

Seahawks: Sure, Green Bay defeated Dallas yesterday. Embarrassed the Cowboys in their own stadium. And made everyone in sports-talk land discussing whether Jerry Jones was going to hire Bill Belichick. But that’s not the game we wanted to watch. We wanted to see the Rams at Detroit. We expected a great game with great stories. For once, we got what we expected. The Lions won 24-23 in a great game. … The Hawks’ former players are going to miss Pete Carroll. But his replacement need not worry. He just has to win games to keep everyone else happy.

Kraken: Halfway through the season, how should we think of the Kraken? Contender? Or what?

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• Yes it will be warming soon. Just in time for a snowstorm of Buffalo-like proportions to blanket the Inland Northwest. We exaggerate for effect. And to send you into your week laughing at the daily tests that is winter in our area. If you are somewhere warm, good for you. And also, well, words we can’t really type here and keep our job. Until later …