How many ADs have had the ability to throw so much money and so many coaches at the problem in such a large, talent rich (and money rich) state?
OK, now that I'm done cooking/eating (west coast time), I'm going to forward a hypothesis. Before anyone gets wound up about that, a hypothesis is a conceptual framework that matches the empirical evidence available. A hypothesis is not a "sure thing", "done deal", etc. It's a plausible explanation based on the available facts, so here goes... Lets assume that Chip Kelly decided that he wanted to coach again vs be on ESPN The choice is NFL or college He's been fired from his last two NFL gigs, so college is the place to restart his career, and if it works out and he's interested, he can parlay that into another NFL shot Let's say he has intel that UCLA is going to fire Mora this year, as well as knowing some other cool openings will come up, so Chip sends out feelers to folks who would be potential coaches on his staff. In this case he expressly says "how'd you like to join me at UCLA?" That's the context Vilma and others start with. Then, Jim McElwain steps on his d!#& with the death threat comment before the UGA game, and Stricklin pounces to fire him for cause (or whatever they ended up calling it) and suddenly UF is in a position for SS to get us a new HC -- a totally unexpected development in the couching carousel for this year Stricklin has Frost as his top candidate, but can't talk to him directly until season end, but starts to do his research on him nonetheless Stricklin hits up Kelly to check on Frost and CK says "you know Frost is awesome, but I might be interested in coaching the Gators myself." Stricklin regroups and starts negotiating with CK right now since he's a home run hire, and not actively coaching and can negotiate directly SS knows he has a shot at a major coach who can dramatically change the trajectory of the program After getting the basics nailed down, SS and Fuchs fly up to CK and hand him a contract offer, and since neither SS or Fuchs has met Kelly, they need to look him in the eye before handing over the offer CK say's "nice to meet you, and in the meantime, here's my list of assistants if you want to vet them (the UCLA list put together previously), and if they all come back clean then I'd be in a position to say yes." UCLA hears about the UF trip and fires Mora early That opens the door to direct discussions w Kelly, but he already has has a very solid offer from UF that he's mostly happy with (remember that he indicated his interest in the role first, not UF), but there are a few things he's not on board with , like being forced to keep certain staff, and he's still waiting to hear back on the vetting of his staff. There are still some old school power brokers at the UAA who aren't keen on handing over total control of everything to a coach, given that that's now how they're used to operating with other UF coaches. CK then hits up Urban Myer for suggestions on additional counter-proposal items based their longstanding friendship Kelly uses the UCLA interest as leverage to push for the remaining concessions from the UF administration he wants, in terms of full control of the staff (like not being forced to keep Shannon or others) UF concedes and CK agrees in principle, and is willing to sign a deal Additional timing considerations come in to play, like the time still needed to finish vetting CK's potential staff, as well as the dynamics SS is managing in terms of maximizing media attention from an announcement. Timing of the final agreement is such that UF decides to cancel official visits for this weekend and will bring recruits back after a formal announcement As for CK having visited Gville before, it appears he's been here before based on his relationship w Urban Myer With the season wrapping up on Sat w FSU, and no official visits scheduled, recruiting is in a holding pattern for this weekend so no recruiting pressure is in place for either the lame duck staff or a new one CK's staff is fully vetted by Sat, and the deal is signed, with a formal announcement made Sun or Mon to maximize the news cycle CK and staff hit up the recruits and invite them to a Friday Night Lights - lite version to keep the class together and draw some additional interest If no CK announcement happens by Mon, I think Scoop Stripmine is off to plans B, C and D. Just some random musings based on what's been shared in the past 900+ pages...YMMV
Let me see if I understand you correctly: Nobody knows, but many of those who don't know think that it's UCLA, while the only people who don't know who think that it's UF are not independent, and thus, if they know we can't really trust them to know, thus, it's probably UCLA, but nobody knows and neither do I. Is that it?
Yeah cause Spurrier and Meyer had such humble personalities? Not saying Mullen is going to be as good as either, but lets not act like personalities matter. Winning matters!
Hmmm, I think you could take your pick from about a dozen schools that have had similar resources in the states of Texas and California, along with the national brands of ND, OSU, Mich. What Foley built is in now way deminished because he was at UF.
Not worried, only saying that as of tonight it doesn’t appear we would get him. Maybe preparing mentally a bit I guess.
Na Foley famously talked about not getting into the arms race. Completely missed the need to invest in our infrastructure. He did a lot of good but for the sake of football I'm glad he is gone
The only personality that i couldn't handle is Bill Currie. Don't believe the man has ever cracked a smile in his life.
So Jessie Palmer is going to do a piece after the Egg Bowl on which is the top SEC job available? Is that even a question? He’s gonna say something dumb like Tennessee I
I mostly agree with that hypothesis. That’s pretty much the way I’ve felt about for the last several days.