When several media outlets yesterday exposed Stanford Football Coach Jim Harbaugh’s interest in becoming the head football coach at Kansas, I had the same reaction we’ve all had to the sad cast of bimbos (allegedly) procured by Tiger Woods.

(Both now out of their Tree)

Okay, maybe that’s an unfair comparison considering Harbaugh’s confirmed interest in the Jayhawks would’ve been a lateral move at best, while Woods’ (alleged) conquests are akin to Harbaugh taking the UAB job. (Whoops, gave Jimbo an idea.)

Yesterday with several, credible Kansas City media outlets reporting that Harbaugh was strongly considering taking the Jayhawks job, the Stanford coach was suddenly unable to be reached by any media outlet. Likewise Stanford Athletic Director Bob Bowlsby, who two days earlier was machine-gunning denials to reporters when Harbaugh’s name popped up for the Notre Dame job.

Today Harbaugh emerged from his press embargo to proclaim his undying allegiance to Stanford and scold media members who had the audacity to report the truth.

“Though the rumor mill has been running full gear, my resolve and future proudly remains as head coach at Stanford University. The reports of the last 24 hours are untrue, though I respect the University of Kansas and athletic director Lew Perkins. I trust this puts an end to these rumors and reports, allowing the focus of fans and the media to shine a bright spotlight on Toby Gerhart today. I love Toby and our players and coaches at Stanford, and as Toby told reporters, I am a Stanford man.”

Harbaugh is a “proud Stanford man”? That must explain why he waited a full 24 hours to shoot down a  torrent of reports that his KU hire was imminent. As for Harbaugh’s availability Friday night, Bowlsby told Jon Wilner of the SAN JOSE MERCURY NEWS that, “he said he was traveling until late last night and couldn’t respond to my questions.”

So not only did Harbaugh not make clear his intentions to the media, but he blew off the Stanford athletic director who was also left to twist in the wind! Read more…

KCSP-AM in Kansas City is reporting that Jim Harbaugh has been offered the Kansas football coaching job and will accept it as soon as tomorrow.

2 Sources have told 610 Sports Radio that, barring any unforeseen circumstances, Stanford Coach Jim Harbaugh will fly to Lawrence following Saturday’s Heisman Trophy Ceremony to accept the deal to be the new Kansas Head Coach. He’s expected to have an annual salary of $2.7 million a year. In a statement, KU Athletic Director Lew Perkins said that the process is “ongoing” and “We have not offered the Head Coaching position to anyone.“

Kansas City ABC-TV affiliate KMBC is also reporting that Harbaugh has been offered the job. Read more…

UPDATE: ND AD Jack Swarbrick told the SOUTH BEND TRIBUNE late Saturday that he hadn’t started a coaching search.

“Any version of anything you hear in the contact with a coach are absolutely false. We haven’t talked to anybody. We haven’t authorized anybody to talk to anybody. It’s simply not true.”

Tony Barnhart of CBS Sports reported earlier Saturday that Bob Stoops would travel to South Bend on Sunday to meet with Swarbrick about the job.

Meanwhile Weis, in a classless move, blew off the media after the Stanford loss - as reported by Brian Hamilton of the CHICAGO TRIBUNE.

Not exactly a startling revelation, but Mike Florio of ProFootballTalk.com has fired the first shot in Charlie Weis‘ coaching execution at Notre Dame as he reported late Saturday night:

(Okay, wrong office)

And NFL source tells us that Weis already has cleaned out his office, in anticipation of being fired when the team returns to Indiana after the conclusion of Saturday’s game.

November 30 is the first day of a recruiting period for college football coaches, and ND has barred Weis from making overtures to prospective players starting tomorrow. I’m actually surprised an announcement about Weis’ ouster wasn’t made before the Stanford game.

What’s the point of waiting?

As for the Stanford game, are you thinking what I’m thinking?

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Saturday Tiger Woods was inducted into the Stanford sports hall of fame. As part of his induction, Woods gave a speech from midfield of Stanford Stadium at halftime of the Cal-Stanford game. That’s where he got a surprising, extremely vocal response from the fans in attendance.

(Reception so rude that Tiger stopped speech)

The boos were so loud that Woods actually had to stop in the middle of his remarks - as he was clearly taken aback by the reax.

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• Titans owner Bud Adams gives the Bills a double-finger salute - and gets fined $250,000 for it.

• After Stanford’s stunning slaughter of ‘SC, Pete Carroll & Jim Harbaugh both want to know what the deal is. (And Pete won’t forget it.)

• But the real deal is Toby Gerhart. Just ask his swim team girlfriend, who says that the Cardinal RB is “one big muscle.”

• Speaking of girlfriends, Erin Dewes has been incorrectly labeled as Tim Tebow’s squeeze. But that’s not stopping her from covering her nude self in number 15’s body paint.

• Zack Greinke is a real winner this week. Not only did the Royals pitcher grab the Cy Young award, he’s also tying the knot with former Miss Daytona Beach Emily Kuchar.

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Pete Carroll guested on the (Steve) Mason & (John) Ireland show on ESPN 710 in Los Angeles this week. The coach attempted to hedge his comments about Harbaugh’s decision to go for two with his Stanford team already ahead of Carroll’s USC Trojans 48-21 last Saturday in L.A.. But instead, Carroll let slip smoldering resentment.

MASON: What do you think, now a couple of days removed, of Harbaugh going for the two-point conversion?

CARROLL: Well, really, even since the time that it happened, you know, I haven’t bothered with it, and I know everybody else has and taken a lot of time to kinda discuss it and all. I think, you know, it is what you think it is, you know, it’s a statement that you can take away that maybe they were trying to accomplish something that seems out of the ordinary, you know, I don’t really care, to tell you the truth, it doesn’t matter.

And when you look at it like, uh, they’re ahead in the game and they’re in command of it, they really get to do whatever they want to do, and it doesn’t bother me to worry about it anymore, you know what I mean? Jim came out and said what he wanted to say, you know, a couple different times about it and, you know, to me it’s dropped, I don’t care.

Will I forget it? No, I’m not forgetting it. But uh, you know, to me, it’s in the past.

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It’ll probably never get better for Toby Gerhart, a running back for Stanford who was largely anonymous until four days ago. But in the aftermath of leading The Cardinal to a 55-21 drubbing of USC at The Coliseum, he’s now a hot college football commodity.

Gerhart’s performance last Saturday and this season will almost certainly warrant an invitation to the Heisman Trophy ceremony in New York, and his NFL draft stock is on the rise. Not to mention he’s an accomplished baseball player who may choose to consider that sport after college.

So everyone wants to know more about Gerhart, beyond the pre-packaged pap produced by the Stanford Sports Information Dept. (Bless their hearts.) So I’m pleased to introduce the lovely girlfriend of Gerhart for the last two years: Stanford swimmer Meredith Ayres. Read more…

With it Cal-Stanford week, it should come as no surprise that Stanford has already fired the first volley. I was sent this photo of former Bear Thomas Decoud today by a Stanford alum. (I added the inset of Decoud as a Falcon.):

The photo is not manipulated or photoshopped.

Unreal. Read more…

Normally, the only thing I look forward to when attending a Stanford football game is the performance of the band. Last Saturday was a little different experience, as the team decided to show up too. But nice to know the band didn’t let us down either.

In front of 100,000 USC fans at The Coliseum, the Stanford band gave us a tribute to esteemed USC alumnus Joe Francis. Excerpt:

“That said, USC can’t take all the credit for the successes of its students. After all, it takes a special kind of man to be wanted for sexual harassment, drug trafficking, tax evasion, prostitution, child abuse and disruptive flatulence, but that’s just the kind of captain of industry that Joe Francis is.”

More fun after the break. Read more…

Jon Wilner of the SAN JOSE MERCURY NEWS had the obligatory news just hours after Stanford’s monster win @ USC Saturday that the Cardinal’s athletic admin was doing all it could to slap together a contract extension for coach Jim Harbaugh.

(Had ya fooled?)

The past 24 hours I’ve heard several media members say they thought the Palo Alto-raised Harbaugh would stay at Stanford because he had such a good situation. Likewise myoptic Stanford alums, who have been in my ear since Harbaugh extinguished the L.A. Coliseum’s victory torch on Saturday evening, claiming the coach has no interest in going anywhere.

Apparently those folks weren’t paying attention in January.

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