DULY NOTED

By Ron Kantowski (contact)

Saturday, Feb. 10, 2007 | 7:12 a.m.

BOTTOM JOB

So besides escorting Steve Spurrier to the middle of the field for the postgame handshake following a bitter defeat, what is the toughest job in college football?

Buffalo?

Duke?

Any Ohio state university not preceded by the word "The?"

Nope. According to Sporting News.com, it's UNLV.

"Consider the obstacles UNLV coach Mike Sanford faces," wrote the magazine's Matt Hayes. "It's not easy recruiting to UNLV and it's a tougher sell with the backdrop of three winning seasons in the past 20. Now add this: The chancellor for the Nevada System of Higher Education recently penned a memo that included thoughts of disbanding the program.

"Sanford is too good a coach to have to wade through this mess."

PANTS ON FIRE

Another Web site, Coacheshotseat.com, thinks Sanford is more likely to drown in the mess than wade through it. It has moved him up to No. 17 on its list of coaches to be fired.

Sanford is one of four Mountain West coaches whose trousers are getting warm, according to the Web site. It has Wyoming's Joe Glenn at No. 3, Colorado State's Sonny Lubick at No. 18 and New Mexico's Rocky Long at No. 27 on its hot seat.

San Diego State's Chuck Long (No. 39) and Utah's Kyle Whittingham (No. 55) are on the "Edge of Hot Seat."

New Air Force coach Troy Calhoun (No. 77), BYU's Bronco Mendenhall (No. 99) and TCU's Gary Patterson (No. 116) are "Safe for Now."

The most likely coach to be fired, according to Coaches Hot Seat, is Washington's Ty Willingham at No. 1. The least likely is Florida's Urban Meyer at No. 119.

REBELS VS. IRISH?

ESPN.com Bracketology update: UNLV, as a No. 8 seed (down one from last week), vs. No. 9 Notre Dame at New Orleans in the South Regional (with the winner going against No. 1 Florida or the play-in winner in the second round); Air Force, No. 5, vs. Villanova, No. 12, at Buffalo in the East Regional; Clemson, No. 8, vs. BYU, No. 9, at Sacramento in the West Regional.

UNR is projected as a No. 4 seed against Texas A&M Corpus Christi, a 13, at Spokane in the West.

CoachesHotSeat.com Top 20 coaches to be fired:

1. Ty Willingham, Washington

2. Al Groh, Virginia

3. Joe Glenn, Wyoming

4. Ed Orgeron, Ole Miss

5. Tommy Bowden, Clemson

6. Tommy West, Memphis

7. Karl Dorrell, UCLA

8. Phil Bennett, SMU

9. Randy Edsall, Connecticut

10. Ron Zook, Illinois

11. Ted Roof, Duke

12. Sylvester Croom, Miss. State

13. Dave Wannstedt, Pitt

14. Guy Morriss, Baylor

15. Mark Mangino, Kansas

16. Charlie Weatherbie, La. Monroe

17. Mike Sanford, UNLV

18. Sonny Lubick, Colorado State

19. Brady Hoke, Ball State

20. Mike Stoops, Arizona

43

Number of languages in which next Sunday's NBA All-Star Game will be broadcast, including Mandarin, Hungarian, Armenian and Swedish

NBA all-star Gilbert Arenas:

"A few years ago I was taking ballots from stores and filling them out myself. I probably filled out 50,000 of them and I had like 52,000 votes that year. So to be voted in by the fans is just unbelievable."

- upon being voted to the East starting lineup

THIS DOG DOESN'T BITE

Former Georgetown star Jerome Williams, known as "The Junkyard Dog" during his nine-year NBA career as a sixth man for the Pistons, Raptors, Bulls and Knicks, has moved to Southern Nevada, where he has become involved with NBA Cares as a community ambassador.

Williams will be making the rounds next week at various NBA Cares reading rallies and basketball clinics being held in conjunction with next Sunday's All-Star Game at the Thomas & Mack Center.