As the coaching carousel spins and the dominoes start to fall, we are seeing schools adopt a "Who's left?" kind of attitude.

The hiring of John L. Smith at Michigan State is clearly a case of athletic director Ron Mason saying "This is what it's come to". If MSU is going to spin this and say he is a guy who was in the back of its mind all along, why not name soon after firing Bobby Williams and let him get a head start on recruiting and everything else.

This just appears to be a panic move designed to save a recruiting class.

Michigan State's program has had problems with discipline both on and off the field, so it is curious that it brought on a guy who coached one of the most-penalized teams in the NCAA over the last few years.

ESPN.com's Jason Whitlock made some good points yesterday in addressing the hiring of Karl Dorrell at UCLA. We should celebrate the fact that an African-American coach has been hired, but one has to wonder why the Bruins didn't look for a bigger name.

The school should be applauded for looking in that direction and Dorrell is a guy who certainly has deserved looks over the years, but this is UCLA. The Bruins have a lot of tradition -- they play in the Pac-10 and the Rose Bowl is their home -- and it is interesting that we never heard a lot of other names surface.

Karl could very well win a lot of games and make everyone say what a great hire he was, but this caught a lot of people off guard. My colleague Mark May mentioned that Tyrone Willingham's success at Notre Dame had a part in this hiring and that may be true to some extent.

A bigger influence may have been the success NFL coaches have had coming back to the college game. Guys like Pete Carroll, Al Groh and Ralph Friedgen all bring a heavy pro influence to the game and have done very well since returning to campus.

Dorrell was an offensive coordinator at the college level for a while, but it comes down to the fact that he has ties to UCLA as a former player. He likely will not be a guy that can't wait to go to the next institution after a few successful seasons -- and that is something athletic directors think about these days.

Mike Price stayed at Washington State for 14 years before taking the Alabama job, and it is very strange that he is remaining on the job through the Rose Bowl. I understand his loyalty to the WSU players and him wanting to finish what he started but I disagree with him remaining in Pullman. As much as Price has meant to Wazzu he is no longer the coach there.

If you want to talk about loyalty, the university should be sending a message in that regard by telling Price to get out. He is one of them now.

New head coach Bill Doba could use the experience of preparing for and coaching in a big game. People can say he would have been hurt by most of Price's assistants heading to Tuscaloosa with him, but that is not the point. The point is Mike Price is the coach of the Alabama Crimson Tide, not the Washington State Cougars.

That being said, this is really not about Price. He is a good coach and a good man, but any coach who takes a job at another school before a bowl game should be out.

It is the reverse of the situation former Georgia coach Jim Donnan was in two years ago. He was fired before UGA played Virginia in the 2000 Oahu bowl but stayed on to coach his team to a 37-14 win, just as he should have.

Coaches who are fired or forced out should have that right, but anyone who leaves on his own accord should get out immediately.

This would not be an issue in any other business in the world. ESPN certainly would not let me hang around for a few weeks if I took another job, and WSU should have said to Mike Price "Thanks, but no thanks."

Tell him you know it means a lot to him, that you understand he has a lot of feelings for his former players, but you are disappointed he has chosen to leave. Make it clear that you have also chosen to move forward and Bill Doba will be the head coach from this day on.

I wish all of these guys success, but it is surprising that more college coordinators aren't getting looked at for head coaching positions. Guys like Oklahoma co-defensive coordinator Mike Stoops and USC offensive coordinator Norm Chow would have been just as solid a hire as any of these other coaches.

Trev Alberts is a college football analyst for ESPN. He contributes a weekly column to ESPN.com.