Is Mike Leach a fit at Arizona?

Arizona coach Mike Stoops could attempt to hire Mike Leach and give him autonomy. It would be a transaction that would set the Pac-10 on its ear. But Leach is tainted, he’s not exactly Mr. Chemistry, and Stoops has been reluctant to give freedom to his offensive coordinators. – Arizona Daily Star

ECU hires Ruffin McNeill

East Carolina University chose someone from its past to lead the school into its football future. A week-long search by the university for a new head football coach ended Thursday with the hiring of 51-year-old ECU alum Ruffin McNeill as the next man to lead the Pirates and the 20th football coach in school history. McNeill most recently was the interim head coach at Texas Tech, where he guided the Red Raiders to a victory over Michigan State at the Alamo Bowl on Jan. 2. Before that, McNeill served as Tech’s defensive coordinator under head coach Mike Leach. McNeill replaces Skip Holtz, who announced he was leaving ECU last week to become the next head coach at South Florida. – Daily Reflector

Texas Tech Hires Tommy Tuberville

Former Auburn head coach Tommy Tuberville has agreed to become the next head coach at Texas Tech. AuburnUndercover.com has confirmed that Tuberville will be named Sunday to replace Mike Leach, who was fired after being accused of mistreating a player. Tuberville resigned at Auburn in 2008 after winning 85 games in 10 seasons. He did not coach this season, dabbling in broadcasting with ESPN. Tuberville and interim head coach Ruffin McNeill were apparently the only candidates interviewed for the job replacing Leach, who won 84 games in 10 seasons at Texas Tech. Tuberville is 110-60 in 14 seasons as a head coach, four of them at Ole Miss. – AuburnUndercover.com

Could Louisville’s Next Coach be Mike Leach?

Well placed sources tell Football Rumor Mill that Texas Tech Head Coach Mike Leach and Louisville have a mutual interest in each other.

It is well-known in college football circles that Leach tried to bolt Lubbock after last year’s breakout season, but he’s still stuck at Tech.

Louisville will be looking for a big-name, splash hire when the Cardinals finally dump Steve Kragthorpe.

Could this be a marriage made in heaven? Stay with Football Rumor Mill for all the latest from the coaching carousel…

Mike Sherman Under Scrutiny at Texas A&M

If recent scores are indicative of the immediate future, Texas A&M will lose by 100 points on Saturday at Texas Tech. That’s not likely to happen, of course, but then nothing seems out of the realm of possibility after Kansas State led the favored Aggies 59-0 early in the third quarter on Saturday night in Manhattan, Kan., en route to a 62-14 victory. Only a week earlier, the Red Raiders had destroyed the Wildcats 66-14 in Lubbock. Meaning there’s a 100-point swing between the two games, with the Aggies set to pay a visit to Tech at 6 p.m. on Saturday. “We just didn’t handle the adversity in the game real well,” a mystified A&M coach Mike Sherman said in trying to pinpoint exactly what happened at KSU. “Things just snowballed on us.” And now Sherman, in his second season, is under severe scrutiny from a fraught fan base for an awful showing against a team that wasn’t supposed to be as talented as A&M. He understands as much, following the Aggies’ most embarrassing game since they lost 77-0 at Oklahoma in 2003 in Dennis Franchione’s first season. – Express-News

Texas Tech Coach Mike Leach Rips Lloyd Carr

Some Michigan men apparently aren’t being true blue enough to suit Rick Leach when it comes to supporting Rich Rodriguez’s program. Leach, the former quarterback and one of the greatest Wolverines ever, called an Ann Arbor radio station Thursday morning to point his finger at one in particular: Rodriguez’s predecessor. “I saw an article that said Lloyd Carr was at the game in Iowa,” Leach told WTKA-AM (1050). “… No. 1, whose ticket did he go on? Whose private box was he sitting in, and whose university staff was in the box with him? “As far as I’m concerned, as a former player that loves this program, I love our head coach, I love what they’re trying to do — our ex-coach flipped a huge middle finger right in our current coach’s face.” – Detroit Free Press

The Name Game: Leach Could Land at Tennessee

“The Name Game” at Football Rumor Mill focuses on active coaching searches around the country. The latest edition centers on the Tennessee Volunteers…

Texas Tech coach Mike Leach falls into the category of a successful coach at a program with fewer resources. In the most competitive conference outside of the SEC, he has made headway against the likes of Oklahoma and Texas. And his team plays in a stadium with about half the seating capacity of Neyland Stadium. A source told me that Leach is “very, very interested” in the UT job. Of course, Leach isn’t going to say that. In case you haven’t noticed, he’s currently preoccupied with trying to win a national championship. He’s also on the verge of having his contract renegotiated. So he’s probably happy where he is and committed to building a championship program at Texas Tech. But don’t cross him off your list – Knoxville News Sentinel

A source with knowledge of the search told ESPN.com that among the candidates on Tennessee’s preliminary list are Minnesota coach Tim Brewster, Cincinnati coach Brian Kelly, former Oakland Raiders coach Lane Kiffin and Texas Tech coach Mike Leach. Contact has already been made or will soon be made with representatives of all four coaches. Tennessee athletic director Mike Hamilton confirmed Thursday that the Vols’ initial list had already been forwarded to Chuck Neinas, who’s been hired to lead the search and will make the initial contact with coaches through their representatives. Hamilton said he would neither confirm nor deny any specific candidates. Neinas, who runs Neinas Sports Service, has been involved in several high-profile searches over the years, including Urban Meyer to Florida, Mack Brown to Texas and Butch Davis to North Carolina. Texas defensive coordinator Will Muschamp is another name that has been connected with the Tennessee job. Hamilton said someone with head coaching experience makes it easier to document that person’s success and record, but that it wasn’t a requirement… Some of the other names that could end up on the Vols’ list include Michigan State coach Mark Dantonio, TCU coach Gary Patterson, Air Force coach Troy Calhoun and Illinois offensive coordinator Mike Locksley. Others will emerge as well as the coaching dominoes start to fall around the country. – ESPN.com

Mike Locksley, the Illini’s offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach, is considered a possible candidate to replace Fulmer at Tennessee and is also a possible replacement for Syracuse coach Greg Robinson, whose firing has been long rumored. Locksley has been a part of Zook’s staff at Illinois and Florida since 2003. Zook said that Locksley’s departure for a head-coaching job of his own is only a matter of time. “I don’t think there’s any question, Locks is going to get a job. I think that’s something we all expect, and we all look forward to celebrating with him,” Zook said. “Do I want to lose him? No, I don’t want to lose him. But it makes you feel good knowing you had a guy the caliber of Locks, and he deserves that opportunity.” – Daily Illini

A little birdie says Tennessee could end up using the same football coach search firm that Minnesota did in finding Tim Brewster. – Pioneer Press

North Carolina football coach Butch Davis says he’s happy in Chapel Hill and committed to building a championship program there. His agent, Jimmy Sexton, also downplayed the Davis-to-UT rumor. So you immediately crossed Davis off your University of Tennessee coaching candidates list, right? Of course, you didn’t. Davis was hardly as emphatic in dismissing speculation connecting him to the UT vacancy. In fact, he might be the most reasonable rumor of all the high-profile candidates. A source told me weeks ago that “UT representatives had expressed an interest in Davis.” – Knoxville News Sentinel

Beyond that, it’s up to Hamilton to identify and hire Fulmer’s successor. He can’t afford to get this wrong or he’ll be the next person out the door. Personally, I’d gravitate toward Tim Brewster at Minnesota because of his live-wire personality and relentless recruiting style. If you can sign blue-chip recruits at Minnesota, you should be able to one-up that at UT. Meanwhile, UT figures to make richer men out of some of the names on its wish list. Because he now is perceived to be in play, Davis will cash in at North Carolina without having to switch conferences to the tougher SEC. Likewise, Mike Leach should parlay his success and the interest of other schools into a lucrative new deal at Texas Tech. – Tennessean

Tennessee athletics director Mike Hamilton has a long list of qualities he’s looking for in the next Tennessee coach but no timeline on which to hire him. “I’m more concerned about hiring the right candidate than I am about how quickly we get it done. I do think that we need to be expedient and go about our business as quickly as is possible,” Hamilton said in his last public comments before hiring someone to replace Phillip Fulmer. The right candidate, Hamilton said, is one who has a lot of integrity, is a proven leader, is good at recruiting and building a staff and can work as a salesman to promote Tennessee. – The State

What does what happened with Phil Fulmer at Tennessee say about the college football world right now? A: Well you know it’s sad for the profession, when a guy gets a new contract like that and then gets let go. Really it questions the leadership there when a guy is handling the money of the university and then five or six months later, not only do you have to pay him off, but the assistant coaches. You’ve got an $8 million payout. But at the same time, I can see the AD’s part, too. They’ve had a hard time winning against the teams they’ve got to beat and they’ve got to look to the future. But why give him that new contract? – Athens Banner-Herald

On Tuesday as voters flocked to the polls, coaches David Cutcliffe of Duke and Butch Davis of North Carolina took to the podiums. Their message? Tennessee athletic director Mike Hamilton shouldn’t waste a phone call gauging their interest in the Vols’ head coaching vacancy that’s effective at the end of the season. “So to put an end to any speculation, I’m staying at Duke,” said Cutcliffe, the former Vols offensive coordinator who was lame-duck coach Phillip Fulmer’s right-hand man for most of Fulmer’s career. “(Tennessee) is not even a thought process.” And Davis? “The long and short of it is that the administration and I are completely, firmly committed to building a championship football program at North Carolina,” he said. “And my family and I are very happy in Chapel Hill.” – Commercial-Appeal

Leach Wants Out at TT, Bradley Wants in at Penn State?

Texas Tech

A Lubbock radio station is giving out “Keep Mike Leach at Tech” shirts this week, and many worry that this cult hero of a coach could bolt for Clemson, Washington or one of the many other openings expected in the off-season. One reason for the concern is that Leach has just two years remaining on his contract, the shortest length of any coach in the Big 12. Leach has gone 73-37 in his nine years here, and with an 8-0 record this season, he has secured the program’s ninth consecutive bowl berth. Coaches with that kind of track record typically have at least a five-year contract cushion. For instance, the contract for Oklahoma Coach Bob Stoops expires in 2013, and Mack Brown’s deal at Texas ends in 2016. Leach’s expires in 2010, which opposing coaches can use against him in recruiting. He is earning $1.75 million this year, meaning he is not among the five highest-paid coaches in the Big 12. The situation has raised eyebrows around college football, where Leach is respected for his quirky but effective style. His pass-based system has helped turn quarterback Graham Harrell into a Heisman Trophy contender. Harrell leads the N.C.A.A. Football Bowl Subdivision in passing yards with 3,147. The system also helped Michael Crabtree evolve into one of the nation’s most productive receivers. He is tied for first in the F.B.S. with 14 touchdown catches. By whipping the ball around the field and making defenses dizzy with his team’s aerial antics, Leach has thrived in a place with a small local recruiting base and little history of top-line football success. That is why other coaches are puzzled that Tech has not bent over backward to keep Leach. – New York Times

Penn State

Defensive coordinator Tom Bradley has been Penn State’s stand-in coach the past month while an injured Joe Paterno watches from upstairs. But will Bradley still be the man patrolling the sideline if the 81-year-old Paterno retires? Former Nittany Lions’ All-American linebacker LaVar Arrington, a three-time Pro Bowl performer who played seven years in the NFL with the Washington Redskins and New York Giants, thinks that would be the right call. Penn State has no succession plan in place, so if Bradley is the Lions’ coach-in-waiting, no one in the Graham Spanier administration is saying. – Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

The Firing Line: Leach Among Candidates at Washington

“The Name Game” at Football Rumor Mill focuses on active coaching searches around the country. The latest edition centers on the Washington Huskies…

Coach Mike Leach and the Huskies? Don’t laugh. Word on the street is Leach is ready to get out of Texas Tech and would be highly interested in the UW job. The bigger issue is whether Washington would be interested in him. Its last experience with sort of a nontraditional coach got them a sweater-vest-wearing, job-coveting, NCAA-pool-playing guy, five weeks in a courtroom and the loss of a couple of million bucks for it. – Seattle Times

As the coaching dominoes begin to fall, the highest high and the lowest low of the profession are just miles away from each other in Seattle. On the low end, you have Tyrone Willingham, fired Monday by Washington, at 0-7, in the midst of what will no doubt be the worst season in school history. On the high end is Jim Mora, Seattle Seahawks assistant head coach, signed to replace Mike Holmgren as head coach next year for $4 million a year for five years but mulling overtures from Washington, his alma mater. Mora hasn’t said a word all week, leading to speculation that he will indeed listen to the Huskies, for whom he played linebacker from 1981 to 1983 and where he may find more security. No. 2 on Washington’s wish list reportedly is Missouri coach Gary Pinkel, a Huskies assistant from 1979 to 1990. However, Pinkel is from Ohio. He wouldn’t be coming home, and he has finally closed the recruiting border around Missouri. He has it going. Fired Raiders coach Lane Kiffin and USC offensive coordinator Steve Sarkisian have expressed interest. However, a more realistic option may be Boise State coach Chris Petersen or Texas defensive coordinator Will Muschamp. – Denver Post

Seattle Seahawks assistant coach Jim Mora insists he has just one focus right now, even though many Seattle football fans are wondering whether Mora is taking a serious interest in what’s happening a few miles away on the University of Washington campus. Three days after Washington fired head coach Tyrone Willingham, effective at the end of the season, Mora spoke briefly Thursday, although he did not address the raging speculation about his possible interest in the Huskies’ job. Mora was allowed to talk on condition he only discussed the Seahawks’ secondary. When asked why he wouldn’t take questions about the Washington job, Mora, who has a contract believed to be worth almost $5 million annually to become the Seahawks head coach next season, held firm. – AP

Leach, Carroll on the Move?

Mike Leach

Texas Tech coach Mike Leach will be a wild card in any coaching searches. He has augmented his already impressive résumé by putting together what has been a spectacular 2008 season. Leach was denied a contract extension in the offseason; the Tech brass told him to wait until after the season. Now, Leach’s stock is rising even higher and he figures to become a hot commodity. If Tech wants to keep Leach, it likely will cost a lot of money. Even if Tech ponies up, don’t be shocked if Leach still leaves after nine seasons in Lubbock. – Rivals.com

Pete Carroll

With the San Francisco 49ers’ coaching job open, some may start to speculate that USC’s Pete Carroll will be a player for the post. Don’t believe it. The 49ers aren’t structured to fit Carroll’s demands of total control. – Rivals.com

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