People at UCF think there is validity to the talk. People at Mizzou tell me there’s nothing to it.
So there you go
1:45 UPDATE: At this point, this is definitely a story we're following. I've talked to quite a few people. There is some smoke here. Can confidently say UCF has at least expressed some interest. Can't say for sure that interest is mutual. Missouri people have consistently said today they don't think there's anything to it (but let's be honest, it's not like Sterk would go around telling people at Mizzou he was thinking about leaving).
But here's the thing for me: I have reached out for comment on this. The message I sent was "Any chance Jim wants to shoot this down?" I know I'm not the only reporter to reach out. So at this point, Sterk and the department are well aware it's out there. If there is no truth to it, I would think you would say (on or off the record) "Jim isn't a candidate at UCF. There's nothing to this." Nobody I know has been told that definitively.
The connection to the UCF job is obviously Alexander Cartwright, who is the UCF President and was previously the Chancellor at Mizzou. He and Sterk had and have a good relationship. Here's a quick rundown of pros and cons from my view.
WHY WOULD STERK TAKE THE JOB?
1) His connection with Cartwright. From what I'm told, that's a better relationship than the one with Mun Choi. I'm not saying Choi and Sterk have a bad relationship. I don't know that. I've heard from plenty of people on campus that Choi is hard to work for.
2) Money. Danny White was making $1.1 million at UCF. You'd think the salary is in that neighborhood for his replacement. Sterk is making $700K here. He has two years left on his contract. I've heard some chatter that he's interested in an extension and the reception to that has been lukewarm.
Edit: believe there is also some deferred compensation in Sterk’s contract that he would collect at some point for staying
3) What is the lasting damage from the way the coaching search went last year? Whatever your opinion is on WHY it went the way it did, the fact that it went the way it did didn't make Sterk look great. The Curators appeared to take over his search. They even went for the interview and the hire. That's not exactly normal. It gives an impression that the Board doesn't trust the AD to do his job. It's been a pretty consistent theme at Mizzou for 20 years or more that the BOC sometimes oversteps its bounds (remember when they were going to fire Mike Alden two hours before he hired Mike Anderson?) In short, what's the relationship and the trust factor between Sterk and the BOC?
WHY HE WOULDN'T TAKE THE JOB
1) The optics of going from an SEC AD to a G5 AD are odd. Sure, UCF has been very good in football the last few years. Yes, it's one of the better non-Power Five jobs in the country. It's still non-Power Five. The SEC doesn't have an exit fee for schools because it basically takes the attitude, if you want to leave us, leave us. Nobody does.
2) You're entering a job where you have to start a football coaching search Day One. I wouldn't think that's super attractive. Sterk has two coaches in place who are going to be in place for a while. He hired both of them. They're his guys. Sterk is in his early to mid 60s. He could probably finish out this contract and retire and never have to worry about hiring another coach. If he goes to UCF, he's hiring one his first month on the job. I don't know, maybe that's attractive to him. But I wouldn't think so.
3) Sterk is VERY close to the White family. Does he want to take a job replacing one of them? Maybe this should be more in the ambiguous category than the why he wouldn't take the job category, but it's at least something to consider.
Earlier today, I mentioned that Sterk's daughter works at UCF. I've since been told that her boyfriend actually took a job at Pittsburgh not that long ago and she is leaving UCF in the near future. So that's not really a factor at this point.
Conclusion: I don't know that Sterk will take the job, but I do think it's worth monitoring at this point. Some at UCF think it is pretty close to being done and could happen relatively soon. I have no idea if that's true. But we're at least paying attention and I do have a list of candidates to replace him ready to go if we find ourselves needing it. I would think we'll know one way or the other by the middle of next week. Either UCF will announce a hire (Sterk or someone else) or Sterk will come out with a denial that he's a candidate. Stay tuned.
So there you go
1:45 UPDATE: At this point, this is definitely a story we're following. I've talked to quite a few people. There is some smoke here. Can confidently say UCF has at least expressed some interest. Can't say for sure that interest is mutual. Missouri people have consistently said today they don't think there's anything to it (but let's be honest, it's not like Sterk would go around telling people at Mizzou he was thinking about leaving).
But here's the thing for me: I have reached out for comment on this. The message I sent was "Any chance Jim wants to shoot this down?" I know I'm not the only reporter to reach out. So at this point, Sterk and the department are well aware it's out there. If there is no truth to it, I would think you would say (on or off the record) "Jim isn't a candidate at UCF. There's nothing to this." Nobody I know has been told that definitively.
The connection to the UCF job is obviously Alexander Cartwright, who is the UCF President and was previously the Chancellor at Mizzou. He and Sterk had and have a good relationship. Here's a quick rundown of pros and cons from my view.
WHY WOULD STERK TAKE THE JOB?
1) His connection with Cartwright. From what I'm told, that's a better relationship than the one with Mun Choi. I'm not saying Choi and Sterk have a bad relationship. I don't know that. I've heard from plenty of people on campus that Choi is hard to work for.
2) Money. Danny White was making $1.1 million at UCF. You'd think the salary is in that neighborhood for his replacement. Sterk is making $700K here. He has two years left on his contract. I've heard some chatter that he's interested in an extension and the reception to that has been lukewarm.
Edit: believe there is also some deferred compensation in Sterk’s contract that he would collect at some point for staying
3) What is the lasting damage from the way the coaching search went last year? Whatever your opinion is on WHY it went the way it did, the fact that it went the way it did didn't make Sterk look great. The Curators appeared to take over his search. They even went for the interview and the hire. That's not exactly normal. It gives an impression that the Board doesn't trust the AD to do his job. It's been a pretty consistent theme at Mizzou for 20 years or more that the BOC sometimes oversteps its bounds (remember when they were going to fire Mike Alden two hours before he hired Mike Anderson?) In short, what's the relationship and the trust factor between Sterk and the BOC?
WHY HE WOULDN'T TAKE THE JOB
1) The optics of going from an SEC AD to a G5 AD are odd. Sure, UCF has been very good in football the last few years. Yes, it's one of the better non-Power Five jobs in the country. It's still non-Power Five. The SEC doesn't have an exit fee for schools because it basically takes the attitude, if you want to leave us, leave us. Nobody does.
2) You're entering a job where you have to start a football coaching search Day One. I wouldn't think that's super attractive. Sterk has two coaches in place who are going to be in place for a while. He hired both of them. They're his guys. Sterk is in his early to mid 60s. He could probably finish out this contract and retire and never have to worry about hiring another coach. If he goes to UCF, he's hiring one his first month on the job. I don't know, maybe that's attractive to him. But I wouldn't think so.
3) Sterk is VERY close to the White family. Does he want to take a job replacing one of them? Maybe this should be more in the ambiguous category than the why he wouldn't take the job category, but it's at least something to consider.
Earlier today, I mentioned that Sterk's daughter works at UCF. I've since been told that her boyfriend actually took a job at Pittsburgh not that long ago and she is leaving UCF in the near future. So that's not really a factor at this point.
Conclusion: I don't know that Sterk will take the job, but I do think it's worth monitoring at this point. Some at UCF think it is pretty close to being done and could happen relatively soon. I have no idea if that's true. But we're at least paying attention and I do have a list of candidates to replace him ready to go if we find ourselves needing it. I would think we'll know one way or the other by the middle of next week. Either UCF will announce a hire (Sterk or someone else) or Sterk will come out with a denial that he's a candidate. Stay tuned.
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