their only response has been to "not pursue" not realy wanting any of the above, but any heard different? would make my Baylor brotheren feel better if you did--
If we are hiring Strong then everyone else must have passed. If he was the guy originally, then the announcement would have been last week.
It's also a possibility that when a coach decides to make a change he talks it over with his wife, maybe a consultant or PR person and factors in things like kids, quality of life (other than just money) and factors leading to helping him succeed long term. Giving thought to reaching out to coaches he may want to bring with him to gauge who he may have on staff or who would go with him. Giving the people he currently works for the respect of telling them about it, letting them counter an offer and things like that. Unless a coach throws out a "yes" before the question is asked. There are many things going on here. More than I think we can imagine. Well, not imagine. A lot gets imagined.
PH, I was just stating that if Strong would have knocked Patterson's socks off, he would have been hired right away. (See MB). Maybe he did and all the reports of talking to other candidates wasn't true and he was the first choice. Just doesn't appear that way...
Briles is older and hasn't recruited that well--neither does Gundy BTW, with even more resources. Neither also wins many of their big games nor produces much defense. Mora has lots of positives (recruiting well, turned around UCLA), but also has lead the nation in penalties since he arrived. That is my only wart on him, but it is not small IMO. Unless I found UT didn't interview or at least inquire with Shaw/Swinney/Saban/Meyer--I saw the 1st two more plausible and my top realistic choices honestly. Strong has about equal resumes as the rest, and I assume all due diligence was done.
We were going to offer Fisher, but Disney nixed it after this. You can't disrespect the Mouse like that, it pisses off our LHN owners ESPN/Disney.
I wonder if the fact that the Miami head coaching position had just became vacant hastened the agreement with Strong, who certainly would have been at the top of the list for that job. If Patterson was already pretty sure Strong was the man, he may have just moved to make it happen faster.
I agree with PH, crazy assumptions out of left field. Additionally, who cares? If he was our first choice and flops, will it make you feel any better? If he was our 10th choice and wins 3 NC's would that make him any less exciting?
It cost some political capital for Mora and Briles to show interest in the UT job. If they weren't going to get it, the humane and professional thing is to allow them to say "I really like staying where I am," and recoup some of that capital that would be unavailable once the public knows Strong has the offer. From Dallas Morning News Reports, it's clear that Strong had an offer in hand on Friday. It takes longer to say "Yes" honorably (which Strong still has not done according to reports) than to say "I'm committed to staying where I am." Kudos to Patterson on this. Last time we hired a coach, Gary Barnett was clearly identified as the second place finisher. If it reamains ambiguous for Briles, Mora, etc., than we shown potential new hires we can do business the right way.
I think Jon Madani on the zone had the most plausible explanation. Briles and Mora, were told friday that they were not in the mix, that UT had its guy. That's why both of them came out around the same time saying they are staying (Mora even got a raise). That's likely what happened.
CB on OB indicated that Mora pulled out of consideration because his family wanted to stay. Art pulled out because he did not want to go through the interview process. So it would sound like neither of these guys was officially offered. It sounds like they were invited to participate in the process and for one reason or another declined. texas.rivals.com/content.asp?CID=1594101
According to what I read today, we haven't "officially" offered Strong. More or less, we have an offer to make an offer.
So really, nothing officially has been released from the UT Athletic department, to announce who was or was not offered a job, or was interviewed. Just a "leak" or two unofficially. I think I will just sit tight and wait this out. Anything else is just speculation.
Finebaum alluded to briles, at least, that his comments most likely meant he was not offered the job. Not that we care what he says....
The announcement will be tomorrow and the presser on Monday. Even LHN is running this along with all the others.
