Sunday November 30, 2014
Florida: Pat Forde reported this evening that Colorado State head coach Jim McElwain is a leading candidate at Florida. Forde cites a recent phone call between Mac and Jeremy Foley in his report. Update> SB Nation is reporting that Hugh Freeze has an offer in hand from Florida to be their next head coach. SBN says the offer is in the $4.2 - $4.3 million per year range...and notes that Ole Miss is pushing a "competing offer" that is near $4M. Here's the update.
SMU: Per source, App State wide receivers coach Justin Stepp will join Chad Morris at SMU. Stepp was Morris' GA at Clemson back in 2011.
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Washington State: Defensive coordinator Mike Breske and outside linebackers coach Paul Volero will not return according to Bruce Feldman. Sources confirm the same to us.
Buffalo: Per source, Wisconsin Whitewater head coach Lance Leipold will be the new head coach at Buffalo. Here is our story on the hire.
Southern Miss: Defensive line coach Derrick LeBlanc will not return according to Thayer Evans of Sports Illustrated.
Troy: Per Stacy Long of the Montgomery Advertiser, Neal Brown says that plans to keep three current Troy assistants (although not necessarily in the same roles); offensive coordinator Kenny Edenfield, quarterbacks coach Sean Reagan, and associate head coach / outside receivers / and special teams coordinator Shayne Wasden.
Auburn: Per source, defensive coordinator Ellis Johnson is leaving the staff. There are some big names that could be in play to fill this position.
SMU: Per the Dallas Morning News, Chad Morris' deal at SMU is worth about $2 million annually.
San Francisco 49ers: The 49ers plan to "trade Jim Harbaugh in the offseason for a draft pick" according to Jay Glazer of FoxSports. Harbaugh has one year remaining on his five year, $25 million original contract with the 49ers. Interesting timing here...
UAB: Athletic director Brian Mackin is being fired per Thayer Evans. Unfortunately, Evans is also reporting that UAB plans to shut down the football program this week. This is unreal surreal. USA Today is now reporting the same. Sources tell FootballScoop that Bill Clark is meeting with the President of the University tomorrow. Here is the latest.
UAB: Bill Clark stated this morning that he believes the administration is going to shut down their football program (h/t Joe Schad). "Unless something changes before the weekend ends, I think the odds are very high it ends this week." Completely unacceptable UAB. Completely unacceptable.
UNLV: Las Vegas Review-Journal columnist Ed Graney writes that Bishop Gorman HS head coach Tony Sanchez is the lead candidate. Sources tell us that Ed Orgeron should be a candidate and would be interested in hearing more about the commitment to the program. If anyone could breathe new life into the program it is Orgeron. We'll keep you posted as more becomes clear.
Nebraska: AD Shawn Eichorst says that Pelini is due about $7.9 million and the pool of assistants have about $4 million due under their contracts "which run another year". He noted that all of them include mitigation meaning that if the coaches accept other jobs, that new income will reduce payments due from Nebraska.
Indiana: You might recall two weeks ago Pete Thamel and Thayer Evans of Sports Illustrated saying that Kevin Wilson was going to be fired. You might also remember our response to that, "not what we are hearing". This morning Bruce Feldman reported that he hears Wilson will return. We checked with sources at Indiana who told us no indications of any changes. The team is meeting today and the staff is ironing out final plans for the recruiting trail. Tough season with the loss of their quarterback; but there is a lot of belief within the program that they are going bowling next season. Update> Brett McMurphy is now confirming that Wilson will return.
Nebraska: Bo Pelini has been let go. AD Shawn Eichorst has announced that he decided to make a change and informed Bo this morning. Nebraska will owe Pelini a $7.65 million buyout (offset by his next job), per his contract. Here's the story. As for candidates...media will jump to conclusion that Scott Frost will be the guy; and he makes sense; but plenty of others are candidates too. Could Craig Bohl by the guy? Jerry Kill? I've heard that Shawn Eichorst has looked into Jim Tressel even. We'll keep you posted as more becomes clear. Update> Per Sean Callahan, Barney Cotton will coach the team in their bowl game.
New Orleans Saints: Jason La Canfora of CBS Sports is reporting that change between Sean Payton and Rob Ryan is "inevitable" at the end of the season. We'll keep you posted.
SMU: Chad Morris is headed to Dallas. All will be officially official soon enough. We don't expect any full-time assistants from Clemson to join Morris at SMU. We hear his staff is likely have a heavy Texas influence (as it should). We'll keep you posted...
Illinois: Per source, Tim Beckman and athletic director Mike Thomas are meeting this morning. We hear that not only will Beckman be safe for another year (as we told you yesterday) but we understand he is expected to receive an extension now. Update> Athletic director Mike Thomas has confirmed that Beckman will return for 2015. Here's the story.
Troy: According to Sports Illustrated, Neal Brown's contract is expected to be a $3.5 million deal over five years. Larry Blakeney made $518,788 annually.