Item: Jim Calhoun gets into it with a reporter over his $1.6 million salary while the state of Connecticut faces a massive budget deficit.

Comment: At first glance, this isn’t the conversation one wants to hear when hoping that Georgia will aim high for its next basketball coach. On the other hand, Calhoun’s right. How many other state employees have the ROI of a successful major sport coach?

Item: The Music City Bowl’s decision to invite hometown feel-good story Vanderbilt contributed to a $17 million decrease in the local economic impact of the game. "It was really a worst-case scenario," said Scott Ramsey, Music City Bowl president.

Comment: It’s refreshing to see Vandy draining money from someone other than the SEC for once.

Item: Will Georgia miss Stafford or Moreno more in 2009?

Comment: We’ll miss both at times, but I agree that Moreno is the slightly bigger loss. Georgia has had some good seasons without a standout tailback (2003, 2005), but the Georgia offense really clicked in 2002 and 2007 when Smith and Moreno got it going. The point about the offensive line is worth noting. Even though Searels and his troops did very well under the circumstances, Stafford and Moreno often made the line look better than it was. There were plenty of scary moments over the past two years. Now the tables are turned and the linemen will have more experience than the guys they are protecting and blocking for. A good line can make even a serviceable quarterback look like an all-conference candidate (right, JPW?).

Item: North Carolina is facing questions about its ability to present competitive counteroffers after three assistant coaches departed the program within a month. "There is a dollar difference, I can’t deny that,” AD Dick Baddour admitted.

Comment: No one is immune from the pressures of the marketplace, but Georgia twice dodged that bullet during the offseason. Rodney Garner showed that sometimes factors other than money come into play.

"The attraction of Georgia to me is Mark Richt," Garner said. "I’m going to be honest with you, I love the community and I love the institution, but I work for a great man and that’s the main reason I stayed."

Richt’s approach and way of doing things seems to work as well in the volitile world of recruiting as it does in retaining his best assistants.