A sillier silly season than usual

Autry Denson was eating at Chick-fil-A with his wife and four kids some 48 hours after national signing day. The entire family had just relocated from Ohio to Florida, as Denson had switched assistant-coaching jobs from Miami (Ohio) to USF. The movers were set to arrive with the family's furniture in two hours.

And then, as they say, Momma called.

Denson, the all-time leading rusher in Notre Dame history, learned that the Fighting Irish's running backs coaching job had come open. The 38-year-old could not resist the opportunity. But he knew that, given the timing, this would be no easy ask of his wife and kids -- assuming he would even gain serious consideration for the job.

"I had to say a couple quick prayers first before I kind of told her, 'Guess what? Notre Dame just came open,'" Denson said, laughing. "She was looking at me like" -- he paused to imitate his wife's surprised face -- 'All right.' I said, 'All right, we'll just pray on it and see.' So we actually prayed as a family. ... We got in a huddle, did our thing, and I had their blessing from the beginning."

Silly season has at times seemed even sillier, and longer, than usual this offseason, with a rash of high-profile post-national signing day coaching moves forcing staffs to reshuffle, spring practices to be tweaked and incoming signees to wonder what exactly their future holds.

But have the comings and goings been all that out of the ordinary this winter?

Power 5 schools have seen 23 assistant coaches leave for other posts since Feb. 4, according to FootballScoop.com. That's 11 more than the 12 assistants who moved elsewhere during the same time period last year after national signing day. And that does not even account for someone like Denson, whose move from USF to Notre Dame was one of the bigger leaps of the past month, along with those of Irish colleague Mike Sanford (from Boise State) and Missouri's Ryan Walters (from Memphis).

But perhaps last year was the outlier: In 2013, 22 Power 5 coaches left for other jobs during that same time frame. In 2012, 25 left. In 2011, 15 switched posts.

Depending on whom you ask, the reasons vary.

"I think it's an anomaly. I do. I really do," Northwestern head coach Pat Fitzgerald said. "I also think when there's one, there's two and there's: 'Oh my gosh, we have an epidemic.' That's the way it happens."

Miami head coach Al Golden, who lost a pair of assistants to the NFL, had a simpler explanation.

"I can't speak for other places, but when you're in the market for coaches you pay attention to what's going on a little bit more, and there were a lot of guys going to the NFL, so that was unique," the fifth-year Hurricanes coach said.

Seven new head coaches were hired in the NFL this winter, which is not particularly notable. (There have been seven or eight in each of the past five years.) But of those seven hires, five came from staffs whose teams made the NFL postseason, which often delayed the hiring processes. That number is the most since the turn of the century, save for 2009, though one of those five hires from postseason teams, the Colts' Jim Caldwell, was part of a succession plan.

Throw in the fact one of the five new NFL hires this year -- the Atlanta Falcons' Dan Quinn, the former Seattle Seahawks defensive coordinator -- came from a team playing in the Super Bowl, which was just three days before national signing day, and the domino effect becomes easier to see.

In 2012, for example, Greg Schiano's late-January move from Rutgers head coach to Tampa Bay Buccaneers lead man was alone responsible for seven of the 25 moves that year after national signing day, either directly or indirectly.

This year, Golden lost defensive line coach Jethro Franklin to the Oakland Raiders two days after national signing day. Days later, he saw receivers coach Brennan Carroll join his father, Pete, on the Seahawks' staff.

"Mine were out of left field to be honest," Golden said. "Jethro, him and [new Raiders defensive coordinator] Kenny Norton are really close, and I think he knew [new Raiders head coach] Jack Del Rio from the past, as well. His family is from up there and everything. That's something he wanted to do.

"And of course Brennan has an opportunity to go back with his dad. If I'm sitting in his chair and his dad has however many more years left of coaching, if you're going to do it, you've got to do it now. I was able to fill it with two quality people and two quality coaches and they've adjusted well. We're asking them to do a lot in a short period of time."

That timing has been the most strenuous element for college programs.

"That's the part of it that stinks," Golden said. "The recruiting cycle is year-round now so if those places stay vacant you just get beat up in terms of your competition, whereas back in the day it was: take your time, fill it and then whoever you hire will then go ahead and recruit. But you're in the middle of the recruiting cycle constantly."

The other element, of course, is the players, many of whom saw their main recruiters or expected position coaches leave after national letters of intent were signed.

Denson's Notre Dame job, for one, opened up because Tony Alford left for the Ohio State running backs post. And that job had only opened up after Stan Drayton left for the Chicago Bears' backfield post, a day after national signing day.

"I think it is an issue," Nebraska head coach Mike Riley told ESPN.com's Mitch Sherman recently. "I think it is unfortunate for the student-athletes. I think they feel somewhat deceived, and I think that's bad for our game in general."

Riley saw defensive backs coach Charlton Warren leave shortly after national signing day for North Carolina. He was replaced with Brian Stewart, who had been Maryland's defensive coordinator.

Does something need to be done -- such as a circumstantial out clause in an NLI -- to allow prep prospects recourse in the event specific coaches leave?

"I really don't understand that, to be quite honest with you," Notre Dame head coach Brian Kelly said. "If you're choosing to go to Notre Dame because of 'John Smith,' you shouldn't go to Notre Dame. I mean, really? I don't really understand that. You're making a decision for the next four years of your life and you're deciding on your position coach? It doesn't make any sense to me.

"You need to decide on the academics, you need to decide on the best opportunities that you'll have as a football player and what it's going to do for you for the rest of your life. If you're deciding on the position coach, that doesn't make much sense to me. So that doesn't fly, as far as I'm concerned."

Kelly's point is a valid one, as talented assistants are obviously more likely to be courted with better offers.

The program-builders, it would seem, have in some ways had it the easiest this past month, despite all of the interviewing, hiring and transitioning -- which in Notre Dame's case meant pushing the start of spring practice back 16 days to help the new staff get acclimated.

The Irish can likely withstand the turnover given their national standing, whereas a place like USF is not hiring a replacement running backs coach until after spring practices, during which head coach Willie Taggart will oversee the position.

Stability, in many cases, is the bedrock of program-building. Look no further than Michigan State, which has been revived under Mark Dantonio, who, along with five assistants, crossed the 100-game mark together in East Lansing last fall.

"That is extremely, extremely beneficial -- extremely hard to do nowadays," said third-year Syracuse defensive coordinator and MSU alum Chuck Bullough, who returns his entire defensive staff with the Orange for a third straight season. "Obviously I went to Michigan State, my nephews [Max and Riley Bullough] played for Michigan State. They had the same staff together for [eight] years until this last year. That's when you have all this knowledge, you're all talking the same language, you're all seeing it. When game day hits, they throw something at you, you go: 'Hey, remember we did this.' So it's really, really beneficial."

Fitzgerald has had similar steadiness at Northwestern, with three assistants who have stuck with him through his 113-game tenure and no newcomers in the past four years.

Such cohesiveness has become all the more notable in an age when coaches are coming and going later in the offseason than usual.

"The whole process needs to be looked at," said Fitzgerald, who has advocated abolishing national signing day and who has a strict visit policy for verbally committed Northwestern prospects.

He added: "And how it impacts a prospective student-athlete, their family, high school, high school coaches and our assistant coaches, and their quality of life, and probably us last as head coaches. That's a big part of our role, with our assistants, it's a crazy deal right now. And for the kids it's the same way. So I think it's definitely got to be looked at."