Sorry if this was posted: AP Article on SMU Coaching Search

[NewPonyFan]

Bowden taking the high road..

While Jones weighs options, SMU remains only team without coach

01/04/2008

By JEFF CARLTON / Associated Press


Barring more coaching changes, SMU will be the first Football Bowl Subdivision team to fire its coach this season and the last to hire a replacement.

Nearly 70 days into his search, athletic director Steve Orsini remains tightlipped on progress to find a leader for the floundering Mustangs — even as the agent for Hawaii's June Jones said Friday that SMU made an offer.

Leigh Steinberg said his client received permission from Hawaii on Dec. 24 to explore other openings. Orsini was in touch with Steinberg that day, the agent said.

Jones has received an offer from SMU and a counteroffer from Hawaii, Steinberg said. He did not discuss specifics. Under Jones, Hawaii went 12-0 and became the third team from a non-Bowl Championship Series conference to qualify for a BCS bowl before losing to Georgia 41-10 Tuesday in the Sugar Bowl.

"While he was focused on the bowl, I've been entertaining inquiries as to his services," Steinberg said. "Orsini and I have had a number of discussions since then. We've had a proposal from Hawaii. June is evaluating his future at this point."

Steinberg said a decision is days away.

If Jones stays at Hawaii or gets an NFL job, which Steinberg said he is also considering, it will be the latest setback in SMU's search.

It began Oct. 28, when Orsini announced Phil Bennett would step down when the season ended four games later. Since then, 16 schools have lost coaches and hired replacements.

Orsini originally targeted Paul Johnson, who left Navy for Georgia Tech. Other prominent names linked to the search include out-of-work coaches such as Dennis Franchione, Larry Coker and Terry Bowden.

The athletic director declined Friday to discuss Jones or any coaches, saying only that he is looking for someone who has been a successful head coach.

"The phrase I used right when I announced it is, 'We are going to aim high,'" Orsini said. "We are still on track to get a candidate that would meet that criteria."

Another phrase he used when he announced Bennett's dismissal was "time is of the essence." The length of the search suggests otherwise.

In the latest round of firings and hirings, the average coaching search lasted 14 days. The search at Navy lasted one day, while three days elapsed before Texas A&M and Mississippi hired new coaches.

The longest search, other than SMU, was at Michigan, which took 27 days to lure Rich Rodriguez from West Virginia to replace Lloyd Carr. UCLA took 26 days to replace Karl Dorrell with Rick Neuheisel.

Orsini said he spent the first three weeks courting boosters, who eventually ponied up about $10 million for salaries for a new head coach and his staff. Another reason for the delay, Orsini said, is that he is targeting head coaches of bowl teams.

"Three weeks into a search, most searches are done," Orsini said. "We are on the course that we charted from the very beginning, and I am pleased with the progress we are making."

Orsini said SMU's big donors are still on board. But judging by increasingly anguished postings on message boards and blogs devoted to SMU, the team's fan base is getting restless.

"I would be worried if they didn't give a damn and didn't say a word," Orsini said. "Then you have apathy and then you can't build a top 25 program. And I want to have a top 25 program at SMU."

One cause for concern is recruiting. Signing day for high school recruits is a month away. Most of December and January, however, are classified by the NCAA as quiet or dead periods in which little recruiting is permissible.

"It puts them behind the 8 ball," said recruiting expert Bobby Burton. "You are already fighting an uphill battle at SMU and now you want to increase the climb? Uncertainty is the No. 1 reason a player will head somewhere else."

Bowden, however, said SMU is correct to take it slow. While declining to say whether he is interested or a candidate, Bowden said the SMU gig would be a "jewel" for the coach lucky enough to land it.

"Two or three recruits won't make or break your program, but the right coach will," Bowden said. "Every program has its own process that seems to be totally unlike any other."

SMU is unique. It remains the only program to get the death penalty when the NCAA shut it down for the 1987 season because of egregious rules violations.

Now more than two decades removed from its glory days atop college football's polls, the Mustangs are coming off a 1-11 season four years after going winless. SMU has had one winning record since coming back: 6-5 in 1997.

Orsini, still confident, said the death penalty is ancient history.

"Until I get my guy, I may be a failure here," he said. "I'll only care about the perception when it's over."

___

AP Sports Writer Jaime Aron in Dallas contributed to this report.

[Corso]

.... said recruiting expert Bobby Burton. "You are already fighting an uphill battle at SMU and now you want to increase the climb? Uncertainty is the No. 1 reason a player will head somewhere else."

Bowden, however, said SMU is correct to take it slow. While declining to say whether he is interested or a candidate, Bowden said the SMU gig would be a "jewel" for the coach lucky enough to land it.

"Two or three recruits won't make or break your program, but the right coach will," Bowden said. "Every program has its own process that seems to be totally unlike any other."...

Curious slip from BURTON to BOWDEN.

[NewPonyFan]

Not sure what you mean. The writer talked to Burton and Bowden.