It has been quite the coaching carousel this week in major college athletics.
The week began with the stunning news that Ohio State had ousted Thad Matta — easily one of the most successful coaches in Big Ten basketball history.
The in equally shocking developments, Oklahoma Sooners head football coach Bob Stoops stepped down a day later.
RELATED: Oklahoma Football: Adrian Peterson, Sam Bradford Lead All-Bob Stoops Team
Now the ripple effect of Matta's outsting is being felt across the college hoops landscape as it appears Butler's Chris Holtmann is headed to Columbus.
This sudden shifting of signal callers got us to thinking about the times a few select coaches bailed on their players and fans for greener pastures.
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Here are three of the most notorious.
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Nick Saban: Miami Dolphins to Alabama
If you've ever watched Pardon the Interruption or listened to The Tony Kornheiser Show podcast, you know the story about Kornheiser interviewing Saban before the Miami Dolphins 2006 appearance on Monday Night Football. Saban told the MNF analyst before his week 16 contest against the New York Jets that he was happy in Miami and wasn't going anywhere.
Saban reiterated this on December 21, 2006, by saying, "I'm not going to be the Alabama coach."
On January 3, 2007, Nick Saban accepted the position as head coach of Alabama.
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Bobby Petrino: Louisville, Atlanta, Arkansas, WKU, Louisville
Petrino's exit and eventual downfall at Arkansas makes Saban look like a saint.
First Petrino signed a 10-year deal on July 13, 2006, to remain the head coach at Louisville. On January 7, 2007, the Atlanta Falcons bought out his contract and signed him to a five-year, $24 million deal.
Now to be fair, Petrino thought he would be taking over a team quarterbacked by Michael Vick, but prior to training camp the dog fighting allegations came forth. With Vick off the team, Atlanta stumbled to a 3-10 record. And so with three weeks left still to go on the NFL docket, Petrino bounced to Arkansas.
But karma has a way of catching up to people — even head coaches making millions of dollars.
After completing his fourth year at Arkansas, Petrino was involved in a scandal after crashing his motorcycle with a woman riding on the back who was not his wife. The coach was fired quickly in April of 2012.
Western Kentucky gave the coach the second chance he craved in 2013. After leading the Hilltoppers to an 8-4 record, he rewarded the school that looked past his faults by returning to Louisville for a much bigger contract in 2014.
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Dennis Erickson: Idaho to Arizona State
After getting fired by the San Francisco 49ers in 2005, the University of Idaho gave Erickson another chance to resurrect his college coaching career.
When asked by The Spokesman-Review on February 9, 2006, if he planned to stay with the Vandals over the long haul, Erickson replied, "You want to look at the age on my driver's license? This, hopefully, is going to be my last job."
After just 10 months on the job and a subpar 4-8 record in the Western Athletic Conference, Erickson bailed to Arizona State.
Needless to say, Idaho fans were not pleased.
