816 PM UPDATE: I asked our Cal publisher for the Berkeley viewpoint on this. Here's what he said:
"He's kept his assistants and folks within the program in the dark, for the most part. His assistants are all out on the road and clueless. He's playing things close to the vest, which could speak to this being real. You could also say that he has an extension offer from Cal on the table, which I've heard from two places."
I know that when I originally called him, he checked with people in the football office and they were under the impression Dykes was recruiting in California. He did this undercover all the way on his own. Not that that means anything necessarily, not that you're going to advertise an interview, but nobody at Cal seemed to know.
Well, today was a little wild. Again. And it's probably not over. Figure something or other is going to happen tonight. Because why wouldn't it.
Most of this, if not all, has been on the board in one place or another. But I wanted to consolidate for those that didn't have 12 hours to spend following it today.
Obviously last night Barry Odom was in Memphis being wined and dined by the brass down there. He was there all night and a plane returned to Columbia midday to drop him off. The job, as it has been for a while, is most certainly Odom's to turn down. There were indications at various times that Odom had signed a deal and agreed to be Memphis' head coach. That didn't happen, obviously. I can say with no doubt that Odom hasn't reached an agreement, at least at the time I'm writing this particular paragraph, to be Memphis' head coach. But there's a window. Our Memphis site reported the deadline to accept before Memphis will move on to other candidates (Oklahoma offensive coordinator Lincoln Riley) is Thursday. No idea if that means 12:01 a.m. or 11:59 p.m. or somewhere in between. But in the next 48 hours, if Odom hasn't taken the Memphis head coaching job, it means the chances go way, way, way up that he's going to be Missouri's next coach. If he hasn't received an assurance from Mack Rhoades that he's the guy by that point, I can pretty much guarantee you he's not going to wait around. So by the end of the day Thursday, we know Odom's destination, which means we know at least a little bit more about what's happening here.
We told you last night that Rhoades was in Toledo and we believe he interviewed Dino Babers. We still haven't had any absolute confirmation of that, but I'm pretty confident. We also told you Rhoades (and the others involved in this search) went to Colorado last night. We reported that they interviewed Matt Wells, the Utah State coach. Pete Thamel of Sports Illustrated reported today they didn't. I stand behind our information. Wells interviewed. I have heard varying reports of where he stands. From my parsing those reports, it's my guess that if they get to where Wells gets the job, it means they've missed on a few people (I want to be clear that I actually think of the names we know it would be a pretty good hire, but it would be a tough sell to the fanbase at large).
The Tigers also interviewed Sonny Dykes today when they were out West as first reported by Pat Forde. Dykes is in a situation where he wants to get out of Cal. He's not paid well, it's a tough school to get kids into (and standards were raised academically two years ago), I've heard the facilities aren't great. Cal is discussing an extension with him (he's got two years left on his current deal, so you either have to extend him or let him go) but I've got no idea if that's actually going to get done. Dykes would love to get out of Cal. He has roots in Texas, he's coached in Louisiana and Kentucky and he's got Power Five experience. From a check the boxes, sell it on day one hire, this is probably the best one of the list of guys we KNOW Missouri has talked to. Yes, he's 13-23 at Cal (they were 1-11 his first year, improved to 5-7 then 7-5). It's not a pretty record. But he did well at LA Tech, and he's got all the rest of the qualifications a lot of people have talked about. Also, Rhoades interviewed Dykes when he hired Tony Levine in 2011 and then made a call to try to interview him again last year before he hired Tom Herman. So there's definitely a connection.
Matt Rhule is out, which I think was news yesterday morning when we originally told you that and Matt Campbell is at Iowa State. That wraps up the guys we can verify (by our information) Missouri has talked to. So on to the guys they might have talked to.
Troy Calhoun. This is one of the people Pat Forde said Missouri might have talked to in Denver. I don't know if it happened or not. It could have. But I don't know. And honestly, I don't see him as a fit here. I don't think Calhoun's offense fits.
Mike Bobo. Again, maybe he interviewed. I don't know. But I do know he has a $5 million buyout. There might be guys you pay that for. Mike Bobo just isn't one of them. I think it would be a decent hire, but not at that price.
I've heard Larry Fedora might still be on the radar a bit, but he has a conference title game to coach and as I reported last week, I don't think this is a job he leaves Carolina for. I've also heard some talk that Willie Taggart at USF could get an interview. That's as much as I've heard on that.
Now on to the pie in the sky we want to think they're candidates but don't know if they're candidates candidates.
Mark Richt: As I said yesterday, I was told Missouri reached out. But he interviewed at Miami today, he's going to interview at Maryland and I'm told Virginia will "back up the truck." Based on what I've heard, I don't think Missouri can get him. And it's not about not trying or not being willing to pay him. I just don't think they can get him based on what I hear.
Tom Herman: The rumor has made the rounds all day. And yes it's true that Herman hasn't signed anything so he could technically get out of it. But I don't think it's happening for this job. I mean, if you go back after saying you've agreed to a deal in principle, you look bad. Spin it any way you want, but you look bad (read this board any time Mike Anderson's name is brought up for proof...and Anderson never even told anybody he'd agreed to anything). The other thing to think about is that Herman is at Houston and his AD (who would be the guy getting the knife in the back) was Mack Rhoades' No. 2. Is he gonna do that to him? Maybe. I don't think it would be a real good look, but business is business I guess. We're going to include Herman on our hot board because we still haven't had anybody say he's definitely out and not considering Missouri. But I don't think it's happening.
That's the latest we know (or can speculate on) at this point. As I said, things could very well change. We'll see. If they do, we'll pass it on. I think it's going to be Thursday at the earliest. And if Rhoades really does think he has a shot at Herman (or maybe someone else who is coaching this weekend) it's obviously not going to be that soon. But that's where we stand right now.
"He's kept his assistants and folks within the program in the dark, for the most part. His assistants are all out on the road and clueless. He's playing things close to the vest, which could speak to this being real. You could also say that he has an extension offer from Cal on the table, which I've heard from two places."
I know that when I originally called him, he checked with people in the football office and they were under the impression Dykes was recruiting in California. He did this undercover all the way on his own. Not that that means anything necessarily, not that you're going to advertise an interview, but nobody at Cal seemed to know.
Well, today was a little wild. Again. And it's probably not over. Figure something or other is going to happen tonight. Because why wouldn't it.
Most of this, if not all, has been on the board in one place or another. But I wanted to consolidate for those that didn't have 12 hours to spend following it today.
Obviously last night Barry Odom was in Memphis being wined and dined by the brass down there. He was there all night and a plane returned to Columbia midday to drop him off. The job, as it has been for a while, is most certainly Odom's to turn down. There were indications at various times that Odom had signed a deal and agreed to be Memphis' head coach. That didn't happen, obviously. I can say with no doubt that Odom hasn't reached an agreement, at least at the time I'm writing this particular paragraph, to be Memphis' head coach. But there's a window. Our Memphis site reported the deadline to accept before Memphis will move on to other candidates (Oklahoma offensive coordinator Lincoln Riley) is Thursday. No idea if that means 12:01 a.m. or 11:59 p.m. or somewhere in between. But in the next 48 hours, if Odom hasn't taken the Memphis head coaching job, it means the chances go way, way, way up that he's going to be Missouri's next coach. If he hasn't received an assurance from Mack Rhoades that he's the guy by that point, I can pretty much guarantee you he's not going to wait around. So by the end of the day Thursday, we know Odom's destination, which means we know at least a little bit more about what's happening here.
We told you last night that Rhoades was in Toledo and we believe he interviewed Dino Babers. We still haven't had any absolute confirmation of that, but I'm pretty confident. We also told you Rhoades (and the others involved in this search) went to Colorado last night. We reported that they interviewed Matt Wells, the Utah State coach. Pete Thamel of Sports Illustrated reported today they didn't. I stand behind our information. Wells interviewed. I have heard varying reports of where he stands. From my parsing those reports, it's my guess that if they get to where Wells gets the job, it means they've missed on a few people (I want to be clear that I actually think of the names we know it would be a pretty good hire, but it would be a tough sell to the fanbase at large).
The Tigers also interviewed Sonny Dykes today when they were out West as first reported by Pat Forde. Dykes is in a situation where he wants to get out of Cal. He's not paid well, it's a tough school to get kids into (and standards were raised academically two years ago), I've heard the facilities aren't great. Cal is discussing an extension with him (he's got two years left on his current deal, so you either have to extend him or let him go) but I've got no idea if that's actually going to get done. Dykes would love to get out of Cal. He has roots in Texas, he's coached in Louisiana and Kentucky and he's got Power Five experience. From a check the boxes, sell it on day one hire, this is probably the best one of the list of guys we KNOW Missouri has talked to. Yes, he's 13-23 at Cal (they were 1-11 his first year, improved to 5-7 then 7-5). It's not a pretty record. But he did well at LA Tech, and he's got all the rest of the qualifications a lot of people have talked about. Also, Rhoades interviewed Dykes when he hired Tony Levine in 2011 and then made a call to try to interview him again last year before he hired Tom Herman. So there's definitely a connection.
Matt Rhule is out, which I think was news yesterday morning when we originally told you that and Matt Campbell is at Iowa State. That wraps up the guys we can verify (by our information) Missouri has talked to. So on to the guys they might have talked to.
Troy Calhoun. This is one of the people Pat Forde said Missouri might have talked to in Denver. I don't know if it happened or not. It could have. But I don't know. And honestly, I don't see him as a fit here. I don't think Calhoun's offense fits.
Mike Bobo. Again, maybe he interviewed. I don't know. But I do know he has a $5 million buyout. There might be guys you pay that for. Mike Bobo just isn't one of them. I think it would be a decent hire, but not at that price.
I've heard Larry Fedora might still be on the radar a bit, but he has a conference title game to coach and as I reported last week, I don't think this is a job he leaves Carolina for. I've also heard some talk that Willie Taggart at USF could get an interview. That's as much as I've heard on that.
Now on to the pie in the sky we want to think they're candidates but don't know if they're candidates candidates.
Mark Richt: As I said yesterday, I was told Missouri reached out. But he interviewed at Miami today, he's going to interview at Maryland and I'm told Virginia will "back up the truck." Based on what I've heard, I don't think Missouri can get him. And it's not about not trying or not being willing to pay him. I just don't think they can get him based on what I hear.
Tom Herman: The rumor has made the rounds all day. And yes it's true that Herman hasn't signed anything so he could technically get out of it. But I don't think it's happening for this job. I mean, if you go back after saying you've agreed to a deal in principle, you look bad. Spin it any way you want, but you look bad (read this board any time Mike Anderson's name is brought up for proof...and Anderson never even told anybody he'd agreed to anything). The other thing to think about is that Herman is at Houston and his AD (who would be the guy getting the knife in the back) was Mack Rhoades' No. 2. Is he gonna do that to him? Maybe. I don't think it would be a real good look, but business is business I guess. We're going to include Herman on our hot board because we still haven't had anybody say he's definitely out and not considering Missouri. But I don't think it's happening.
That's the latest we know (or can speculate on) at this point. As I said, things could very well change. We'll see. If they do, we'll pass it on. I think it's going to be Thursday at the earliest. And if Rhoades really does think he has a shot at Herman (or maybe someone else who is coaching this weekend) it's obviously not going to be that soon. But that's where we stand right now.
Last edited:
