Just a week after being hospitalized with heart issues, Alabama athletic director Mal Moore has decided to leave his current post immediately.  The 73-year-old Moore has been the head of the Crimson Tide athletic department since 1999.

In a statement released this afternoon Moore said: “Due to factors related to my health, I am at a point I can no longer fulfill my duties as athletics director.”

Moore will take on the role of “special assistant” to UA president Judy Bonner.  Speculation over who will replace Moore in the athletic director’s chair will now commence.

From 2008 through September of 2011, Alabama grad Dave Hart served as the “executive director of athletics” alongside Moore.  From 2009 through his departure he was actually in charge of day-to-day operations of the UA athletic department while Moore turned his attention to fundraising.  Hart left Alabama to become the AD at Southeastern Conference rival Tennessee in 2011.

UPDATE — We have been contacted by the University of Alabama and asked to change the initial wording of our story.  We wrote that “Mal Moore has decided to resign from his current post immediately.”  Then we wrote that will he take on a new role of “special assistant” to UA’s president (which is unchanged).  Apparently saying he resigned one spot to take another was too much for Bama officials to bear — hey, a pun — so we’ve changed it.  Now we say he’s decided to “leave” his current post immediately.  Either way, health issues have forced Moore to step down from the top of the Alabama athletic department and take on a new advisory role with the school.

Tennessee defensive end commitment Jason Carr from Memphis (Tenn.) White Station High School took an official visit to Alabama this weekend.

Carr, who visited Tennessee last weekend, hasn’t spoken publicly in more than a week. White Station coach Devin Rutherford told TideSports.com he doesn’t know where Carr’s commitment to Tennessee stands.

“(Carr) told me he really enjoyed himself,” Rutherford said. “He told me he sees the difference in their program and everyone else.”

Carr, who’s ranked the nation’s No. 10 strongside defensive end by Rivals, will likely take a visit to LSU or Ole Miss next weekend, according to Rutherford.

UPDATE: Rutherford told TideSports Monday afternoon that Carr would prefer to not speak to the media following his trip to Alabama.

“Alabama is definitely in the thick of it,” Rutherford said. “(Carr) told me he liked it a lot down there. He told me he had a real good time on the visit.”

Carr remains committed to Tennessee, according to TideSports, but plans to make his final decision on signing day.

When the LSU Tigers take on the Clemson Tigers in the Chick-fil-A Bowl next week, they’ll do so without sophomore punter Brad Wing.  The New Orleans Times-Picayune reported this morning that a source inside the LSU athletic department had confirmed that Wing would not play in the game.

The website TigerRag.com is reporting that Wing’s suspension follows a failed drug test. Wing was fourth in the SEC in punting average this season at 44.8 yards per boot.  He was second in the league last year with a 44.3 average.

Backup punter Jamie Keehn — coincidentally an Australian like Wing — will likely take over for the Tigers in Atlanta.  He punted three times against North Texas this season for an average of 41.0 yards per kick.

UPDATE: LSU’s sports information director has confirmed Wing will not play in the bowl game. Here’s the school announcement.

According to VolQuest.com — the Rivals site covering Tennessee — UT athletic director Dave Hart flew to Louisville to meet with Charlie Strong, but he did not return to Knoxville with him.

Meanwhile, WKRN-TV in Nashville is reporting that Hart flew to Louisville to pick Strong up and bring him back as the Vols’ new coach.

Finally, long time Louisville sports media member Eric Crawford tweeted the following:

Meanwhile, Jimmy Hyams of WNML-AM/FM in Knoxville reports that two sources have told him Strong has turned down the Tennessee job:

Got all that?

UPDATE: Citing a Louisville source, Sports Illustrated’s Pete Thamel says Strong has turned down Vols contract offer.

Larry Fedora was believed to be on Tennessee’s list of potential head coaches.  Last Friday, an industry source told us his name was rising up the chart in Knoxville pretty quickly.  Fedora was even scheduled to meet with UT AD Dave Hart in New York yesterday, but there’s been very little talk about his candidacy today.

We reported earlier today that we had been told he did not want to anger his current boss at North Carolina just to be the #3 man in a three man race (behind Oklahoma State’s Mike Gundy and Louisville’s Charlie Strong).  If he met with Hart, it’s believed, that he made it clear he wouldn’t/couldn’t discuss the job unless he was a strong — no pun intended — candidate.

Well, now Fedora’s boss — UNC athletic director Bubba Cunningham — has responded to the rumors swirling around his football coach with a press release:

“This time each year there are a number of coaching vacancies in college football and yesterday several rumors included speculation about our own football coach Larry Fedora. Neither Coach Fedora nor I are going to address rumors about individual jobs that are bound to happen each year.

It’s been my policy since I have been a director of athletics not to comment or engage in discussions regarding a coach’s job until such time that there is a change in a coach’s employment status. Speculation about the future employment status of a head coach can be detrimental to an athletic program.

I frequently communicate with our head coaches about what they need to be successful at North Carolina. Whether a coach is highly successful or under inordinate pressure it has been my policy to keep those conversations confidential and I will continue my policy to not engage in any public discussion or speculation regarding employment. We work together to provide the best opportunities for our coaches and student-athletes.”

So what does that mean?  Like everything else, it’s open for interpretation.  Perhaps Fedora and UNC are okey-dokey.  Perhaps Fedora is talking to Tennessee, Wisconsin or some other non-SEC school.

But by saying something — anything — Cunningham has now turned Fedora’s status back into a hot topic.  Whether he meant to or not.

UPDATE: North Carolina recruit on conversation with Fedora: “He was just saying I don’t have anything to worry about, because he’s staying at UNC.”

And here’s why all the calls and texts and messageboard-studying and flight-tracking is really meaningless: Pat Forde of Yahoo! Sports is now reporting that Wisconsin’s Bret Bielema will be named Arkansas’ next head coach at some point today.

If true, so much for talk of Gary Patterson, Chris Peterson, Mike Gundy, et al.  Bielema has been so far off the radar on this one you’d have thought he was in the Bermuda Triangle.  Instead, the ex-Iowa player and seventh-year Badgers coach will head to Fayetteville fresh of a 70-31 win over Nebraska in the Big Ten Championship Game and three consecutive Rose Bowl trips.

If true, that’s an outside the box hire and one must wonder how far down on AD Jeff Long’s list Bielema was.  He has no strong recruiting ties to Texas or the southeast region so far as we’re aware at first blush.  Then again, Vanderbilt’s James Franklin (and his entire staff) had few ties to the south and he’s done pretty darn well.

Regarding recruiting, let’s not forget that this past offseason Bielema was pretty vocal about his dislike for Urban Meyer’s practice of dialing up Wisconsin commitments.  In fact, he said “We at the Big Ten don’t want to be like the SEC in any way, shape or form.”  (Think Bielema will be reminded of that one?)

If true — like how we keep throwing that out there? — the Razorbacks would have grabbed a “name” coach and that was clearly Long’s goal from the get-go… whether Bielema was first on his list or not.

Oh, and you can be sure Long will claim Bielema was his choice all along.  Again, if this one’s true.

UPDATE — Others are now confirming Bielema to Arkansas.  The 42-year-old Badgers’ coach was 68-24 overall in Madison.

Apparently the website — has pushed the “Fret!” button for some Alabama fans.  A writer for the site suggested that Nick Saban could be a target of new Cleveland Browns owner Jim Haslam.  The Haslam family — behind all those Pilot/Flying J Travel Centers you see on America’s interstates — has long been the booster family for the University of Tennessee.

So if Haslam could woo Saban to the Cuyahoga River he’d be a) landing Bill Belichick’s ex-defensive coordinator in Cleveland for his new franchise and b) get him out of the SEC and away from his favorite college team’s schedule.

That’s the story that keeps popping up in my email inbox anyway (from fearful Alabama fans and a hopeful Tennessee fans).

But it ain’t gonna happen.

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Hear that?

It’s the sound of crickets chirping and it’s emanating from Columbia, South Carolina.  After a 2-14, last-place finish in the SEC this season, it was expected that Gamecock coach Darrin Horn would be getting the boot.

If that’s going to happen, there’s no sign of action yet.  And, heck, USC president Harris Pastides blabs about everything.

Horn is under contract to make $1.1 million through the year 2015.  But his buyout is expected to drop from $2 million to $1.25 million in April.  So maybe Carolina is just waiting a few weeks so they can save themselves $750,000.

We think that’s unlikely.  USC would be firing a coach — at the earliest — right smack during the Final Four.  Schools like to can coaches earlier than that, hire their search firms, make under-the-table contacts with prospective coaches, and then meet with those interviewees while at the Final Four site.

If Carolina waits til April to blow up Horn, the Cocks will be slow out of the coach-searching chute.  So as long as silence continues to envelop the Palmetto State, we’re gonna think that Horn’s safe.  Amazingly.

Horn’s four-year basketball record at Carolina is 60-63.  Since a 21-10, NIT season in his first year, Horn has gone 6-10 then 5-11 and now 2-14 in the SEC.  This year’s team was young.  But two league wins and a mausoleum of a new arena would get most coaches canned.

UPDATE — Jay Phillips of WNKT-FM in Columbia tells us Horn’s actual buyout numbers go from $2.4 million  to $1.6 million on April 1st.

So it’s an $800,000 difference, not $750,000 as reported in the piece we linked to. Obviously, that $50,000 difference doesn’t change our thinking on Horn’s status.

It appears most folks took Super Bowl Sunday off as there’s just not much going on around the league today.  We’ll jump into a few headlines to kick off the day…


1.  There were seven ex-SEC winners in last night’s Super Bowl (and 12 ex-SEC losers).  Congrats to Eli Manning and the G-men.

2.  Alabama’s football program has an NFL feel that appeals to recruits.

2.  Auburn’s 2012 roster will offer talent, more youth.

4.  Ole Miss isn’t taking advantage of opportunities to build its NCAA tourney resume.

5.  The Rebels face Mississippi State on Thursday and they’d better be wary of hot-shooting Jalen Steele (who’s hitting 40% from three-point range).

6.  Florida’s Mike Rosario is making an impact outside of scoring.

7.  If Kentucky’s ever going to be tested, it’s going to be this week against Florida and then at Vanderbilt.

8.  Cuonzo Martin says Tennessee has “the necessary pieces” to be successful this year (despite a 3-5 SEC record).

UPDATE #1 — These aren’t happening, but someone decided to have a little fun by Nike-ing up the SEC’s football helmets.  If you like any of them, I’ll be you’re under the age of 30. 

UPDATE #2 — The SEC has named its Player of the Week (Kentucky’s Anthony Davis) and its Freshman of the Week (Florida’s Bradley Beal).

UPDATE #3 — ESPN.com’s Andy Katz ranks the SEC’s hoops teams from 1 through 12… and that would be Kentucky through Carolina.

1. SB Nation report: “The Rebel head coach was informed that he would not be retained beyond the Egg Bowl and will, perhaps, be dismissed as early as Monday.”

2. Parrish Alford: “There’s no confirmation that Ole Miss coach Houston Nutt has been fired.”

3. Here’s what Nutt had to say last night after the game when asked if he would be back next year. “I don’t know. I don’t know. That’s not for me to decide. I’d like to be. I plan on being. But that’s not for me to decide.”

4. Ron Higgins: “(I)t’s time to write the check for Nutt’s $6 million buyout, say “next” and move on.”

UPDATE: Nutt hasn’t talked to school about job status.