ponies ahead of duke? gtech didnt go well

[huskerpony]

Here's a few thoughts on why we may actually be leading the pack on the Johnson hire:

1) His interview with us was overnight (close to 20 hours in total,) while the other two could not have been more than a few hours.

2) We actually flew him into the campus, while Duke's AD went to Baltimore or Annapolis for a short meeting (couldn't have been too long because he was getting on a plane to come here.) True, he visited GT, but his agent is also based there, so we don't know how long he actually met with school officials.

3) His wife came with him on this interview. No word on whether she went to Atlanta, but neither of them went to Duke.

4) He is clearly our top choice. After interviewing him, GT made an offer to the UCONN coach and got turned down. Even though the job may be better, he may be put off by not being the first choice (if they are even offering him the job.) They certainly would at least have to match our offer after that (not that GT can't--it's just would they for a coach who is no flashier than the coach they fired for not being flashy enough.)

5) He's friends with our AD and Assistant AD.

6) SMU offers the easiest road to be successful and win conference championships. Tough to do out of Duke, and GT fans have an over-inflated sense of where their program should be at.

From what I know of these coaching searches (and we've been through a few at Nebraska lately) these would all be good signs.

Other good signs from the rumor mill indicate that the interview at GT didn't go well and our offer was larger than Duke's.



Don't fret everyone, there is a good possibility we might actually have this locked up. We should at least realize we are under strong consideration (or his wife wouldn't have come.) The Miami flight may not have anything to do with a Plan B, but even if it does, it may just be intended to nudge him along in the decision-making process.

[huskerpony]

Question...and Darth has no idea what the answer is...

Anybody think that Turner refused to give PJ complete control over football, i.e., admissions in this morning's meeting? And that is what stopped the deal?

Another thing...if PJ was coming here wouldn't a Navy team meeting be scheduled by now to give them the info?

Or is PJ waiting to see if Navy will match our offer?

Could be any number of those things, but I doubt the admission standards has anything to do with it. No coach would be given that latitude by a university. Every university has some bend in their rules for the athletes, it just depends on how much. From the football players that I knew during my SMU days, we have a lot! I don't think we can take any Prop 48's or anything, but I think that any football player that can get accepted to a state university is welcome at SMU.

[Cadillac]

Anybody think that Turner refused to give PJ complete control over football, i.e., admissions in this morning's meeting? And that is what stopped the deal?

No.

-CoS

[QuikSStang]

but I think that any football player that can get accepted to a state university is welcome at SMU.

have you met some of these state players or heard them talk? i think we can have some standards above 900 SATs and 2.0 GPA

[huskerpony]

but I think that any football player that can get accepted to a state university is welcome at SMU.

have you met some of these state players or heard them talk? i think we can have some standards above 900 SATs and 2.0 GPA

Sorry, meant anyone that can get into a state university as a regular student. (And I don't know that for sure, just a guess.) But yes, the state schools can all take Prop 48 athletes and others who don't qualify to get into college at all.