Who in his right mind would be interested in taking over Iowa State? Well, since you asked, some mighty big names. Yessir, mighty impressive. Perhaps you've heard of one Mr. Phillip Fulmer? That's right: Big Phil might be interested. How about the 1993 Walter Camp Coach of the Year? You heard that correctly: Terry Bowden himself might be interested.

I guess if you're looking to fill a potentially career-killing gig, it only makes sense that most of the interest comes from coaches whose careers are already dead. In the meantime, guy with jobs -- like Turner Gill, Pat Hill and Mike Stoops -- seem slightly stunned they're even being asked about ISU.

What about Tommy Tuberville? Tommy Bowden? Have we asked Gary Barnett? How does Glen Mason feel about it? Dennis Franchione, Gerry DiNardo, Mike Shula, Sylvester Croom, Jim Donnan, Guy Morriss, Lloyd Carr, Joe Tiller, John L. Smith, Frank Solich, Ron Prince, Dan McCarney, Larry Coker, Mike DuBose, Fred Goldsmith, Fisher DeBerry, Chuck Amato, Dirk Koetter, Hal Mumme, Ron Vanderlinden, Woody Widenhoffer, Tyrone Willingham, Rip Scherer, Jackie Sherrill, Chan Gailey, Walt Harris, Bob Davie, Barry Alvarez, Lou Holtz, John Cooper, Hayden Frye, Marv Levy, Mike Ditka, Lee Corso, John Wooden, Craig T. Nelson, Gene Hackman, Walter Matthau's character in The Bad News Bears, Jerry Tarkanian's mouth towel, a vat of ethanol and the repressed memory of annual assaults by Nebraska from 1961-2001 could be good fits. At this stage of their career, they're all looking for a challenge. Oh, and of course, we have to call Bobby Petrino.

A waste of time? How so?

Some folks in Iowa, remembering AD Jamie Pollard's ability to keep both the basketball and football hires completely under wraps in 2006, are convinced all the names are bogus. It doesn't seem to be that so much as the realistic names just happen to be ones nobody cares about, and that don't get OMG! posts from local radio hosts with an affinity for caps lock.

The smoke around Jay Norvell, co-offensive coordinator at Oklahoma and a candidate for the ISU job in 2006, for example, makes sense. The smoke around head coach Todd Graham and/or offensive coordinator Guz Malzahn at Tulsa makes sense. They're young, upwardly mobile, offensive-minded and not so in-demand that they can snub an opportunity at Iowa State in hopes of an A+ gig opening up this time next year.

The "splash" with a hire like this comes in three years, when the guy nobody ever heard of and mostly ignored has the Cyclones in a bowl game and everybody wonders, "Where'd they get this guy?" While radio hosts and dumb bloggers like me are panting about Phil Fulmer, that's when you get the guy.