"I'm Hearing" could trend on Twitter when it comes to head coaching searches in college football. Everyone thinks they know or has a source as to who their team is going to hire. It's fun, right? You make up names you want to get the job. A friend tells you he has a source who knows someone in the know that was told this person is getting the job.
Stop it! And in regards to the UCF search. THERE IS NO LEADING CANDIDATE AT THE MOMENT!
Why? Because the search process has not even started so how can someone be a leading candidate?
Former UCF QB Coach Jeff Lebby has gotten a lot of play on social media. I really liked Jeff during his time and UCF and if Jeff is interested, he is someone that could/should get the chance to sell himself to those in the decision making process at UCF. If Gene Chizik wants to return to coaching and thinks UCF is the perfect place to return, he too can get an audience to showcase what he can do.
But UCF just hired a search firm to sort through the many interested in their job. That same group will vet candidates and present UCF with a list of candidates based on what UCF and its new AD is looking for.
Yes, there's AD hire part of this as well. Remember that job? The one not filled at the present time. The position that will play a role in the hire.
So settle down. Keep having fun on social platforms. UCF is just starting a timeline that has been sped up and likely will take about 3-4 weeks to conclude with the hiring of a new AD and football coach...
Before Danny White bounced ("bounced" it's what the kids use when you say someone left to go somewhere else) to Tennessee, he was among the ADs in the AAC discussing if the league should expand. Not because it would make more media money. ESPN is not in the mood to give anyone more money right. But there is a belief by some in the American that the addition of Boise State, and possibly BYU, that the College Football Playoff group would then recognize the conference as a Power 6 league in any expansion plan on the horizon. That could mean a guaranteed spot in a playoff that grows to eight teams or more. And with that expansion, could the American get the same automatic chunk of cash the current Power 5 leagues get every year just because the playoff exist. That current amount is $66M per Power 5 league. That figure would project to increase in an expanded playoff field. Does the addition of just Boise State do that? Would you need both Boise State and BYU? Can you stay at an odd number of schools? What would Boise St do with all other sports since the buzz has been football with the AAC? A story to follow and maybe just one of the items that led to that frustration Danny White was feeling before he bounced. The American is trying to figure out how to grow and make more money in a world where other leagues really control what you can make and how you can grow...
The ACC is moving forward in 2021 without Notre Dame as a member. The Fighting Irish stay was temporary for 2020 because they needed games in the Covid world of college football. But some insiders believe the one year partnership has established the idea of this becoming permanent in the future. Notre Dame calls the ACC home for all other sports. There would be issues to resolve like the school's NBC deal which Notre Dame has no plans of giving up. But would other ACC schools hold up any deal over that? I doubt it. And if the ACC and the Irish found a happy place would the league look for a 16th member? Hello...UCF? Just saying...
Stan Van Gundy's first year in New Orleans is off to a rocky start. The Pelicans are 6-10 and have lost 8 of their last 10. They are 14th in the west. But Zion Williamson is starting to show flashes of greatness. The second-year start is averaging 24/8 and shooting 59% from the floor. In addition, Zion is averaging over 33 minutes a game and his playing shape is much improved from his rookie year...
Bruce Arians is 68-years old and coaching in his first Super Bowl. Tom Brady has openly talked about how much he wants to win a title for Arians, a well respected coach in a league he has worked in since 1989. But did you know Bruce Arians was a wishbone quarterback in college? Arians ran with the wishbone at Virginia Tech. In 1974, the Hokies went 4-7 and Arians for 952 yards while adding just 3 touchdown passes and 7 interceptions. He completed 45% of his passes. Times have changed for Arians as well as offensive philosophies...
Final thought: The potato chip was created in 1853 when a customer at a restaurant in Saratoga Springs, New York complained the french fries were not thin enough. The chef trimmed the fries so much it could not be eaten with a fork but only needing a hand...and so the potato chip was born.
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