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Sounds more and more like three big-time college football jobs could be open after this season.

If not sooner.

Bill Callahan at Nebraska and Dennis Franchione at Texas A&M are almost certainly gone. Houston Nutt and Arkansas could be parting ways, too. That would leave the Cornhuskers, Aggies and Razorbacks without a coach.

Those are three of the more storied programs in college football.

But if you’re a hot-shot coaching prospect, which one do you go after? Who do you call and tell you’re interested? Who do you avoid like the plague?

Nebraska used to be a great gig. The Cornhuskers are not only the only show in town but also the only one within about a six-state region. With that comes all sorts of support, both financial and otherwise.

But Nebraska built its powerhouse on option football. The Cornhuskers of Bob Devaney and Tom Osborne would’ve rather done the chicken dance down Main Street in Lincoln than throw the ball. That worked then. But now, one-dimensional offenses are hard-pressed to win championships, whether just running or just passing. Defenses are too good now.

Can Nebraska win passing the ball?

It sure hasn’t looked that way under Callahan.

Plus, all the long-standing expectations of Cornhusker fans remain. They still want to win even though the days of dominant powerhouses are over.

So, what about Texas A&M and Arkansas?

The Aggies have a much bigger recruiting pool from which to draw. The state of Texas is ready pickings for college football recruiters. Trouble is, Texas A&M is always going to play second-fiddle to Texas. The Longhorns have more fans, more tradition, more luster.

Plus, trying to win in the Big 12 South is no picnic.

Then again, neither is winning in the SEC. That’s the biggest hurdle that the Arkansas job presents. But in a way, playing in the SEC might make it the most attractive of those three jobs.

Let me explain.

Like Nebraska, Arkansas is the only show in town. The Razorbacks have the entire state behind them. That is evident in the palace of a football stadium that they have built. And like Texas A&M, the Razorbacks are close to fertile recruiting ground. The state of Arkansas may not have an abundance of talent, but it borders Texas, Louisiana, and is only a hop, skip and jump from those abundant southern states. You can recruit big-time talent to Arkansas.

Because the SEC is so tough, titles will be difficult to come by. And frankly, I think every administrator, booster and fan of an SEC school understands that. Great teams will still have difficulty in the SEC. That’s just the way it goes in the meat-grinder that the conference has become.

So, if a coach wins nine or 10 games a year, keeps the program clean and stays on the good side of boosters, he can keep his job without winning a bunch of titles.

Look at Mark Richt. The Georgia coach hasn’t won a national title in his first seven years in Athens, but no one is asking for his head. He’s kept himself out of hot water and won a bunch of games every year. That’s been enough to appease folks at Georgia.

The same could happen at Arkansas.

Heck, Houston Nutt wouldn’t be in jeopardy if he’d stayed on the good side of Razorback fans. He’s on the hot seat because of what’s happened off the field more so than what’s happened on it.

Nebraska and Texas A&M would be good gigs for a coach, but when the coaching carousel starts turning, I say Arkansas is just a little bit better.

The NBA season starts tonight.

Sigh.

It wasn’t so long ago that the start of the NBA season came and went without so much as a blip in Oklahoma City. Now, after two years as the home of the Hornets, it feels weird that the season is starting and the city has no squad. The Ford Center will sit idle tonight, void of pregame pyrotechnics and in-game madness. 

Bigger sigh.

Who knows how long it will be before Oklahoma City celebrates the start of another NBA season here. Maybe next year. Maybe not.

But in the meantime, here are a couple videos to remember the past and maybe, just maybe, celebrate the future.

Justin Chappell wasn’t so sure he wanted to tell his story.

The Guthrie High School linebacker has myasthenia gravis, a neuromuscular disease that has attacked his eyes and affected his vision. Unless he takes eight pills a day, he sees double in crazy, wacky ways.

But when Guthrie coach Rafe Watkins let him know that yours truly wanted to talk with him about his disease, Chappell didn’t want to do it.

Then his mother, Sharla, reminded him of the power of his story.

“Maybe someone has your signs,” she said.

Maybe someone, then, could draw inspiration from him. 

Chappell, after all, got a big boost a few years ago when ESPN The Magazine profiled Auburn quarterback Brandon Cox. The Tigers’ starter has myasthenia gravis, too, and when Chappell saw his story, it made a huge difference in his battle with the disease.

“I was still having question marks here and there,” Chappell said. “I questioned even playing football and baseball.”

Seeing that Cox was not only playing but also playing at the Division-I level reassured Chappell. 

“It kind of lifted my spirits a little bit,” Chappell said.

His mother said, “That was such a blessing for us. That was another uplift for us. When a doctor tells you that your son has this and he’s on 12 pills and you’re thinking, ‘Are we doing the right thing here for son?’, then … I get a magazine with Brandon’s story in it.

“There are kids out there still playing with it. Let’s don’t lay down and die here. Let’s roll with it.”

Chappell has. He is the second-leading tackler for Guthrie, who defeated then top-ranked Carl Albert on Friday night. The Bluejays have now taken over the No. 1 spot in Class 5A.

Chappell is helping them win ballgames, but who knows how many other folks he may be helping with his story?

Should the Sooner Schooner ride again? Listen to my video commentary or read here: 

The RUF/NEKS as we’ve long known them are gone.

I say, “Hoorah.”

But I’m also happy that the Oklahoma spirit group that has been around since 1915 isn’t going away entirely.

No doubt you’ve heard the news: earlier this week, the University of Oklahoma banned current members of the RUF/NEKS from official university events. An investigation determined that members had abused alcohol and hazed pledges this semester.

Alcohol abuse.

Pledge hazing.

In my mind, those are two of the biggest problems facing college campuses today. Of course, I’ve never understood what it proves to publicly humiliate a freshman or to do a keg stand. Does that make the tormentor or the guzzler more of a man?

I’d say the opposite.

The sad truth is, drinking and hazing are not going away on college campuses. Not even the ban on the RUF/NEKS at OU will change that. But that doesn’t mean the university should’ve just stood by and allowed it to happen. It had to take action.

Frankly, I think it did right by banning the members but not the group.

The RUF/NEKS will now be under the direction of the athletic department, something that frankly should’ve happened years ago. Maybe that would’ve kept the group from recent embarrassment.

The RUF/NEKS were harassing Nebraska players before a game three years ago at OU. A Cornhusker lineman ran into one of the RUF/NEKS, knocking out his teeth. A trial ensued. The lineman was cleared, but the damage was done.

Damage to the RUF/NEKS.

They need to be held to the same standards as every other on-field representative of the school. And even though they’ve shown themselves incapable of that in recent times, they can change. They can drive the Sooner Schooner and fire their shotguns and even carry their paddles without acting like a bunch of knuckleheads.

While some people would rather do without the shotguns and the paddles, I say the RUF/NEKS are one of the things that makes Saturdays at OU unique. They make the stadium feel more like a Wild West corral. They add to the environment.

I wouldn’t want to see the Schooner go away. Heck, I wouldn’t even want to go without those shotguns, even though they still scare the bejesus out of me.

I’m glad the RUF/NEKS have been given a second chance, a chance to clean up their act and remain a part of game day.

Sports has been plagued by all sorts of bad news.

Scandals. Steroids. Scoundrels.

Feel like you need some good news, sports fans? Steve Kime is your guy. On Saturday, the Oklahoma City resident will run the Tulsa Run for the ninth consecutive year to raise funds for Special Olympics. And he doesn’t just run. He dresses up like Forrest Gump.

Plaid shirt. Khaki pants. White Nikes. The whole nine yards.

Kime even carries a suitcase and a box of chocolates with him. I don’t know about you, but just thinking about running a 15K while carrying those props wears me out.

But Kime does it, and he loves it. Other folks love it, too. Now, people are not only giving him pledges but also giving him goodies to use as incentive. Steve Owens, Pat Jones, Billy Sims, Jason White and others have donated autographed items that will be given away to a few lucky donors.

Want to get involved? Go to www.sook.org and click on the “Forrest Gump” link on the left.

Want to read more about Kime? Check out my column Thursday.

Oklahoma has added another top-three finish to its storied sports history.

In bass fishing.

Bass fishing?

You read right. Last weekend, two-man teams from 36 colleges competed in the Under Armour College Bass National Championship on the Arkansas River near Little Rock.

Who knows what’s more amazing, that there’s a bass fishing national championship or that it’s sponsored by Under Armour.

Of all the things for Under Armour to sponsor, it sponsors a bass fishing tournament. Maybe I’m wrong, but I don’t see a lot of fishermen revving up the boat and hitting the water wearing Under Armour.

Anyway, Virginia Tech won the national championship, but the team from OU finished tied for second with Louisiana-Lafayette. Chip Porche and Matt Pangrac represented the Sooners. (Are they technically called the Sooners? For our purposes, they will be.) They lost a tiebreaker to La.-Lafayette to finish third.

Again, I have questions.

What kind of tiebreaker are we talking about? For some reason, I imagine these two teams having a race to see who could bait a hook faster. Probably not the tiebreaker they actually used, but man, that’d be fun.

I’m poking fun, but the truth is, I have all sorts of respect for bass fishing aficionados since I don’t know the first thing about the sport. So, a hearty attaboy to Virginia Tech, Louisiana-Lafayette, OU and every other team that competed in the national championship. 

Go, fight, fish!

Got an e-mail from a reader this week who said Brody Eldridge isn’t getting near enough love.

Here’s some — the Oklahoma tight end is turning into a heck of a blocker.

At fullback. 

Eldridge has been lining up in the backfield more and more. A week ago, he led the way on three consecutive Chris Brown runs, the third of which was the touchdown that gave the Sooners the lead back against Missouri. And now today at Iowa State, he was in when the Sooners scored their first touchdown. Brown walked almost untouched into the end zone.

Eldridge may not get much glory, but here’s a little love.