Deal in place for a new coach?

[dog guy]

I also think SO has someone lined up. He has been very quiet about the whole deal, even when PJ went to GT.
Did I read somewhere that SMU hired a firm to run the coaching search, like Chuck Neinas' company? If so, there will be nothing said until the appropriate time (ie end of season).
One interesting thing I read about UNC's coaching search last year was that Butch Davis may have signed the contract before UNC had. Therefore he was locked in but it was not a"done deal" until the school signed the contract. Not sure if that is true or not but it sounds plausible. I doubt SMU is doing that with JJ (or anyone for that matter) but who knows.

[Longtime]

SMU hired Eastman and Beaudine....again. I believe Copeland used them to "find" Phil Bennett. Bob Beaudine, I think, is an SMU alum.

Here's a link to an old story about them: http://www.bizjournals.com/dallas/stori ... tory6.html

I really don't have a lot of faith in Eastman and Beaudine as an actual search firm. It's not that hard to identify coaching candidates, especially if your focus is on current head coaches. They're probably more of a go-between so that coaches and SMU can deny direct contact.

Still, they've made an awful lot of money helping schools find bad coaches.

[Big Hoss]

If SMU is waiting on announcing it's choice until after the coach's team is done with its bowl game, then June Jones is the only one that make sense to me based on what has been said above (biggest game ever in Hawaii's history). Otherwise, we messed up this year's recruiting class for nothing because many, MANY other schools get their head coaches prior to them coaching in their last bowl game. Are we that pathetic that we couldn't get our new coach (w/ exception of JJ) to agree to announcing it beforehand?

If it's a current coach in the NFL, then we have smaller cajones than UCLA and Texas A&M, who both got their new head coaches from the NFL ranks prior to the end of the NFL season. If it's an NFL assistant, and he has something in his contract that precludes an announcement (which I find hard to believe), how much would the penalty be, really? $1 million, MAYBE? Would that be worth screwing up getting your next job off on the right foot (recruiting) when you would be getting a sizeable pay raise to put the program on track?

All in all, I'm tired of speculation. I'm tired of rumors. I'm tired that everyone else seems to have their head coaching searches be shorter than ours (even if a deal is already done and it only appears to be taking longer). I just want the announcement to come sooner rather than later.

[BRStang]

If SMU is waiting on announcing it's choice until after the coach's team is done with its bowl game, then June Jones is the only one that make sense to me based on what has been said above (biggest game ever in Hawaii's history). Otherwise, we messed up this year's recruiting class for nothing because many, MANY other schools get their head coaches prior to them coaching in their last bowl game. Are we that pathetic that we couldn't get our new coach (w/ exception of JJ) to agree to announcing it beforehand?

If it's a current coach in the NFL, then we have smaller cajones than UCLA and Texas A&M, who both got their new head coaches from the NFL ranks prior to the end of the NFL season. If it's an NFL assistant, and he has something in his contract that precludes an announcement (which I find hard to believe), how much would the penalty be, really? $1 million, MAYBE? Would that be worth screwing up getting your next job off on the right foot (recruiting) when you would be getting a sizeable pay raise to put the program on track?

All in all, I'm tired of speculation. I'm tired of rumors. I'm tired that everyone else seems to have their head coaching searches be shorter than ours (even if a deal is already done and it only appears to be taking longer). I just want the announcement to come sooner rather than later.

Good post, Hoss. The only comment I have is that June Jones has now boxed himself in with a Saban-type statement:"I have not been contacted, I will not be contacted. I am not interested in the SMU job opening." Surely, coaches have learned their lessons about doing such a thing and then renegging. At any rate, I don't see Jones as being a Saban (bald-faced liar). And, even if he was, there are so many differences between the Bama job and the SMU job. I honestly can't believe SMU could or would be able to land Jones at this point. He also said he would only leave Hawaii for the NFL.

So, assuming Jones is not coming here...what scenario does that appear to leave us with under your analysis? Hmmmm....

[RushStPony]

The fact Orsini has waited this long indicates to me that he has to have a deal in place with someone to coach SMU. It is likely a guy coaching a bowl game or an NFL coach waiting for the season to end. If a deal is not in place then Orsini has a big set of balls on him to wait this long for someone when several qualified proven Div. 1-A winners appeared to be some-what interested in the job (Fran, Coker, Neuheisel, Bowden, Mason, Barnett, etc.). When SMU was the first school to announce a coaching change, I assumed (like many of you) that we would have a coach in place shortly after the season.....I sure was wrong on that assumption.

Good post and I hope you are right.

I'm not sure if anyone has posted this or not as I don't follow the board close enough to know, but Paul Johnson agreed to coach SMU. Nothing signed, of course, but he shook on it. In fact, a plane was sent to BWI (or whatever airport) to bring him back, but he never got on the plane. He was in Atlanta and the rest is history. Whether anyone wants to believe that or not, I don't care. The person who told me is a major donor to SMU and although not part of the $10m raised by Orsini, he and his son are well connected with SMU and SMU athletics and I tend to believe his account of how it went down.

This whole set of events set us back greatly. Even if BillyJoe is wrong, Francione isn't a bad fall back plan. Let's not forget that we are SMU and as the saying goes, " we can't be choosers."

[Ponyx2]

I'll bet there are a lot of interesting stories tied to this marathon. A shame we'll probably never hear them.

[Stallion]

RushStPony -that major donor either lied or is misinformed. Johnson visited SMU, left mid-morning and flew directly to Atlanta on the same afternoon for his second Georgia Tech interview. By his actions he had no intention of taking the SMU job. Who shakes on taking a job and then goes directly for a second interview at another school? I'm sure it makes the Orsini is a genuis crowd feel better but there was no deal. Or is Orsini not telling the truth when he said the job was never offered to Johnson. The job was offered he took the Georgia Tech offer instead. Thank God.