Fresno State Football: Let the Pat Hill Rumors Begin

The college football season hasn't even ended and coaches are already jumping ship. It started with Cincinnati's Bryan Kelly taking the head coaching job at Notre Dame, could Fresno State head coach Pat Hill be next?

Hill is no stranger to the rumors that he's headed to coach elsewhere, but the rumors this year may take on a life of their own. Especially since Hill will be going into the 2010 season as a lame duck coach in the final year of his contract with the university.

Rumors surfaced last year of Hill's interest in not only the head coaching job at the University of Washington but also at Iowa State and with the Oakland Raiders. None of the three panned out.

Make no mistake, a lot of Fresno State fans want to personally drive him to wherever he's headed next so they can end the Pat Hill era. Then there are those that are more than happy with what Hill has been able to accomplish.

But when you talk about accomplishments, they're not just on the field but off the field as well. His players not only succeed on the football field, but Hill makes sure that they succeed in the classroom.

Unfortunately, what the players do in the classroom doesn't make up for the lack of WAC championships Fresno State has under their belt, only obtaining a share of the title back in 1999, before Boise State became the conference powerhouse, and then dropping a 17-16 decision to Utah in the Las Vegas Bowl.

It's no secret that Pat Hill has looked at the PAC-10 as a stepping stone for his team, but could it be a stepping stone for his own coaching career?

When Jim Harbaugh, currently the head coach at Stanford, was offered the head coaching job at the University of Kansas most thought Harbaugh would be on his way out the door. Knowing that, Hill could look at Stanford as a possible destination and his next stop of his coaching career.

But, according to KMBC in Kansas City, Harbaugh turned down the offer said to be in the neighborhood of $2.5 million. Harbaugh told news sources that he would not address the offer until after the Heisman trophy presentation, where one of his players, Toby Gerhart, is a finalist.

Another offer could open up for Hill, but not as a head coach. Mark Stoops, brother of Arizona head coach Mike Stoops, was hired as the defensive coordinator at Florida State under new head coach Jimbo Fisher.

Would Pat Hill take a step down to being a coordinator in the PAC-10 or is he only willing to take a head coaching position?

That question will remain until the rumors start to swirl around Hill and where he could possibly end up.

It's entirely possible that he could be the head coach at Fresno State in 2010 and have a good enough season where he's offered a contract extension for another 2-3 years. But it's also possible, depending on the outcome of Fresno State's bowl game against Wyoming on Dec. 19th, that Hill will not be asked back for next season.

Whatever decision is going to be made, we should see it made shortly after the bowl game next weekend.