OPINION

By Matt Hayes

updated 12:09 a.m. ET Oct. 25, 2006

John Bunting's firing at North Carolina has put the Tar Heels at the head of the Chow line. And although that's an enviable place to be, two other teams — perhaps you've heard of them: Miami and Florida State — are bearing down.

It won't be long until the NFL's Titans clean house and the staff is fired. That means $1 million a year offensive coordinator Norm Chow will be out of a job — and looking to get back into the college game.

Chow won't talk about scenarios today, but he made it clear to me when he left USC after the 2004 season that his first choice was the college game. The NFL, he said, was a way to take the next step.

"Another challenge," Chow said.

What he really meant was BCS teams look more favorably on assistant coaches when they've had NFL experience.

Now, back to North Carolina, Miami and Florida State. It's becoming increasingly clear that each could be searching for a head coach at the end of the season. At a minimum, UNC and Miami.

Bunting's firing allows North Carolina to get a head start on pursuing Chow, the college game's best offensive mind this side of Steve Spurrier. Miami also will be interested in Chow, who would leave Nashville for the right college job even if the Titans' staff weren't dismissed after this season.

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Now, the X-factor: Florida State. If I were FSU president T.K. Wetherell, I'd pay Chow $1 million a year to be my offensive coordinator with the understanding — contractually — that he would be FSU's coach when Bobby Bowden retires. But that would mean Chow would again be forced to wait -- and he has been waiting for a college job for more than 30 years.

Chow's patience, understandably, is gone. He's not going back to the college game unless it's with a head coach title. That leaves North Carolina and Miami in the ever-loving driver's seat.

Unless, that is, Florida State makes an intriguing move.

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Wetherell, who played for Bowden at FSU in the 1960s when Bowden was an assistant, is tied to the man he reveres. He won't fire him, and Bowden knows it. But at some point, he'll have to find a way to allow Bowden to retire with the class and dignity he deserves.

That way is bringing Chow in to run the offense, get FSU back to a BCS game and allow Bowden to gracefully step away. Then the wait — for Chow and FSU fans — will be worth it.

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