News-Record.com

It now appears that Jim Grobe's name is being bandied about for every job in the land, tossed as indiscriminately as a McDonald's paper bag onto Business 40 near Kernersville.
Nebraska? Yeah, you could see that one. But UCLA? Here are a few considerations:
** Grobe doesn't have many Pac 10 ties. He recruited Spokane, Wash., and Sacramento, Calif., and a few other places in Pac 10 land while an assistant at Air Force, but that was a while ago. Offensive coordinator Steed Lobotzke is a California native and associate head coach Billy Mitchell worked with Grobe in Colorado Springs. Other than that, it's hard to find serious links between the current staff and anywhere west of Oklahoma.
** Money. Jim Grobe has never been about money, but unless UCLA changes its unofficial policy of financial restraint, it won't be able to provide him the same standard of living he has in the Triad.
The last firm numbers of his compensation say he made $1,021,000 in the FIscal Year ending June 30, 2006. He has since gotten a raise. Let's be conservative and say the new deal pays him $1.2 million. OK. Now let's check out the cost of living difference between Winston and Westwood. In order to have the same buying power in the UCLA neighborhood, he'd have to pull in $2.2 million.
Keep in mind that UCLA paid the recently deposed Karl Dorrell a maximum of $1,355,000 annually.
** This column makes two additional points: UCLA hasn't hired an "outsider" in nearly 60 years, and a $2 million package for a football coach would trigger the curiosity of one Ben Howland, who is apparently going to keep his Bruins relevant for years to come.

Would you move all the way across the country to an entirely new place and take the equivalent of a pay cut to do it?