Afternoon Coaching Rumors

I found a good site that deals specifically with coaching rumors called The Football Rumor Mill. All of the quoted material in this post is from that site.

For a couple of days now we have been hearing there is a mystery candidate at Alabama. That candidate has been unmasked as Rutgers' Greg Schiano. Although Nick Saban would like to take the job, he feels is image would be too badly damaged to make the move. Alabama officials are still wooing him, but insiders expect he will ultimately not jump from the Dolphins. That said, expect a deal with Schiano to be done by week's end. Rich Rodriguez is the fallback candidate should the Schiano deal fall through. Behind him is Arkansas' Houston Nutt, though Bama officials do not expect to get that far down their list.

I find it hard to believe that Schiano would leave Rutgers right now. He had ties to Miami Univ. and did not have any interest in that job. And it has been widely speculated that Schiano really wants the Penn State job whenever Joe Paterno decides to hang it up. I really think he is going to wait for that to happen.

Rumor has it NC State has talked to Navy's Paul Johnson and Vandy's Bobby Johnson. In a surprising move, LSU OC Jimbo Fisher will not interview because we fully expect Boston College's Tom O'Brien will be the next head coach at NC State. If O'Brien backs out, Paul Johnson looks to be next in line.

Again I would be surprised to see Tom O'Brien leave Boston College to go to NC State. That seems more like a laterial move then a step up. I still honestly believe that Bill Cowher will be the coach at NC State. The Steelers will be eliminated from the playoffs either this week or next, plus there has been no word in Pittsburgh about a contract extension for Cowher. There was a big controversy about Cowher buying a house in North Carolina last summer and moving his family down there to go to school. His name value alone would bring the recurits flocking. And if you have watched the Steelers much this season, you can tell by his lack of emotions that it is his last year in the Burg. If Cowher does not take the job I believe Navy's Paul Johnson will get it.

It looks as if Miami is zeroing in on Texas Tech's Mike Leach, although TCU's Gary Patterson, DC Randy Shannon and a couple of others are still in the mix. Rumor has is Oklahoma's Bob Stoops has privately expressed interest. The Sooners expect sanctions from this summer's fiasco and Stoops feels the time may be nearing to explore other opportunities - including the NFL.

As Ron stated earlier, Bernie Kosar has expressed interest in the coaching job at "Dah U", but I do not think they would give it to someone with zero head coaching experience. I think Mike Leach and his wide open spread attack would work wonders in Miami. Especially if he had a good defense to go with it. He would have better athletes to work with there rather than at Texas Tech.