ESPN College Football

Posted by ESPN.com's Ted Miller

Eighth in a series of Pac-10 thoughts that might come from unusual angles.

Don't be surprised if ... No coach loses his job after the 2009 season.

That's a big deal. It's happened just once -- 2005 -- over the past eight seasons. [Editor's note: There were no Pac-10 coaching changes heading into the 2000 and 2006 seasons, but to keep things consistent with the above assertion, as a reader noted below, we changed 2006 to 2005 here].

The life expectancy of a head coach in the Pac-10 isn't long. Washington has had four different coaches since 1999. Heck, Stanford, a school that prizes stability, has had four since 2001.

Only California, Oregon, Oregon State and USC have changed coaches just once since 1999.

Every Pac-10 media day, associate commissioner Jim Muldoon introduces the conference's "Dean of Coaches." Used to be Washington State's Mike Price (14 seasons until he bolted for Alabama -- whoops! -- after the 2002 season). Then the title went to Mike Bellotti (14 seasons at Oregon until he became athletic director this year).

Guess who's the new dean? Pete Carroll, who heads into his ninth season this fall. (Oregon State's Mike Riley also could lay claim to the title because 2009 will be his ninth leading the Beavers, but his tenure is divided by a foray into the NFL from 1999-2001).

Last fall, Arizona's Mike Stoops and Washington's Tyrone Willingham were on very hot seats.

Stoops led the Wildcats to their first bowl game in a decade -- an impressive Las Vegas Bowl win over BYU -- and earned a contract extension that probably means he's safe this season, barring a complete collapse, which is unlikely.

Willingham? Well, everyone knows how that one ended.

But heading into 2009, Pac-10 coaches are either too new to fairly judge or too established to get the hook if things get ugly.

Sure, some Washington State fans might get antsy with another terrible season under second-year coach Paul Wulff, but Wulff inherited a major rebuilding project and AD Jim Sterk is not the sort to make a rash decision based on a few grumbling boosters.

Of course, sometimes coaches leave for other reasons than being fired.

Lots of folks might be interested in how things pan out for USC with the NCAA, and whether that might cause Carroll's eye to wander back to the NFL (the odds on that are probably lower than most folks think, by the way).

Or maybe a guy like up-and-comer Jim Harbaugh gets an offer he can't refuse.

Still, the feeling here is the Pac-10 will get something at the end of the season that is always good for a conference: Coaching continuity.