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On Basilio's show, Hargis is refusing to back down from his report. He said "we knew we were gonna get hammered for it but we ran it anyway. I stand behind it 100%."

On Ainge's show a little earlier Hargis said that his source is someone who would be on Gruden's staff. If that's the case, he isn't being fed info directly from Thornton, which is what I would've otherwise assumed.

Btw, Hargis no longer sounds confident that it will be Gruden. His take is that UT is spreading misinformation because they've botched things.

I don't know whether to believe the notion that this is the boosters vs. the AD, with the boosters wanting Gruden and the AD not wanting Gruden and both sides playing the media to try and gain leverage. If it's true, I hate it. Because we're screwed. We'll wind up with another Dooley.

What other coach that is being considered would not take a look at this all out UT battle in Knoxville today and just think "maybe where I am is not so bad afterall!".  You have the local media bashing each other, you have outside media coming in saying  they are lazy, and then you have the mass of UT fans and their overall disappointment towards this fiasco.  The casualties of this botched Gruden flirtation/discussion/offer could be more than the UTAD can withstand. It appers that there is a battle between the boosters that wanted this and Hart.  The AD needs to get out in public and put a final nail in this today.

Conventional wisdom says that the AD does not speak, period, until the coaching search is completed. At this point, though, Hart almost has to do something. Regardless of how serious talks got with Gruden, regardless of how close they were to a deal, regardless of whose fault it was that it didn't happen, this has become a PR nightmare and that nightmare is 100% on Hart.

I don't think that's going to happen.  I think Hart is going to keep going forward as he is and will speak when he's done.

Do you really see this as a nightmare?  I guess maybe I don't take this stuff seriously enough.  Again, once a coach is hired this will all be meaningless IMO.  Coaches who have been around the block a time or two won't give a rat's behind about how the press and fans are reacting.  They've seen or been through it all before.

Absolutely I do. Even if it doesn't cost UT a chance at a good coach -- and I'm not convinced that it won't -- at this point there will be more than half the fanbase who would be pissed even if Hart hired God himself to coach this football team. They're going to blame Hart for letting Gruden slip away, whether it's his fault or not. And then if the coach, whoever he is, doesn't win at least 8 games next year (and, let's face it, if everyone goes pro who is currently considering it, bowl eligibility will be a struggle next year), that's only going to fuel the flames. The university is going to continue to lose money on ticket sales, the fan base is still going to be at Hart's throat, and the coach is going to have a much harder row to hoe as a result of all that. The ONLY way that this ends well for Hart is if he hires a coach who is a master of the PR game, sorta like Pearl was.

I tend to think the fans and boosters will ultimately get behind the new coach before the 2013 season starts and give him at least a couple years to show something.  And, if he's a Pearl type PR wiz, all the better.

In this search there are candidates and then then there is Jon Gruden.  Being silent on the rest is fine.  I understand that.  Gruden is just a totally different animal in this search that is suddenly picking up a lot of press.  He chose not to have the search firm and do this himself.  This is one of those rare casualties of handling this alone.  

Co-sign

Let me add, while it's very possible, even likely, that prominent supporters wanted Gruden, it almost certainly is not a 'boosters vs. Hart' thing.

It's a "Gruden isn't going to be a college coach because he makes more money now" thing and even a "Gruden is even unlikely to go the NFL" thing. 

Based on what?