Yep, I'll take Chaney over any Plan B. Pay him $1.5 million, hire top notch guys on D and see what happens. Hugh Freeze and Dan Mullen are interesting, but I'm not sure they're better than Chaney. As a point of comparison I definitely don't think any Plan Bs are better than Freeze or Mullen.

I'm with you. I applaud Hart for going after big names, but here's where I think he messed up. If you go after a big name you have to be prepared to offer the job immediately. You can't interview two big names and tell them you'll get back. That doesn't work.

You have to understand where the power lies, and that's with any coach who is currently in a good situation. If they have the power you can't act like you do. I think Hart did and that cost him. My guess is if he goes to Strong with an offer instead of just to interview UT has a coach now.

In the previous five years he had an affair and then hired his fling. That's immoral, but I'm not disqualifying him as a football coach for that.

Davis is a huge no. Have you seen his record at UNC? For crying out loud Dooley beat (in my book) his 4th squad with a bunch of freshmen in the Music City Bowl.

You've got to look at the totality of Petrino's work.

1) Everyone agrees he wins BIG. Remove the personal stuff and we're probably pretty much in agreement no one is a bigger homerun hire. For crying out loud Arkansas finished #5 in the country last year.

2) Everyone agrees he would be super cheap.

3) You can't bring up the Falcons incident without noting a more recent one. Namely that he would have just finished year five at Arkansas were it not for the motorcycle/woman/whatever deal. That might be the profile of a reprobate, but it's no the one of a job hopper. How many of you reading this have as many or more job changes than Petrino in the last five years? I do. He's got one, and in that case he was relieved of his duties (admittedly for cause).

I'd rather hire Chaney than any of the fallbacks, BUT the good news is my top two names from the start are still available: Petrino and Patterson.

Clay Henry (Arkansas' version of Brent Hubbs) says it is not Gundy.

I have no idea who that is.

Congratulations! That is huge.

My initial list was Petrino, Patterson and Strong. I'd pretty much wail as an AD.

Wow. Costas just used a horribly reasoned  screed by Jason Whitlock on Sunday Night Football. I just lost a ton of respect for him.

I'm praying for a complete and speedy recovery.

Welcome to the Dark Side my friend. At some point perhaps Pirate will grudgingly join us. Now let's all join hands and say "I love winning big at a bargain price without incuring the wrath of the NCAA."

I don't take investment advice from my aunt, but I'd listen to hear about cooking fried chicken. Most people aren't great sources for everything, but are useful for some information. There are a lot of things I wouldn't listen to Clay on, but he's as good as they come on conference realignment and I think he's correct about the Gruden situation. His information passes the sniff test and matches what a couple of other seemingly in-the-know folks have said.

Yeah, Pittman is an absolute keeper. I shouldn't have overlooked him.

As a tagent I disagree on Turner Gill. He turned around a moribund Buffalo program and got only two years at Kansas because (conjecture coming) the Jayhawks thought Weiss could coach. That was a horrible move on their part.

I don't know if Strong would be a homerun (only about three guys are guaranteed to be), but he would at least be a significant upgrade. I think we can do better, but no one riots if he's hired like some would if any ACC options are the choice. If he keeps Graham and Chaney that's a good start.

That couldn't be a bigger non-issue. Dropping back-to-back games is a drawback, but that's the only knock.

[Money isn’t the reason coaches switch jobs now.]

Back in the Dark Ages coaches jumped schools for financial security. Less than 10 years a head coach at a small school might not be financially set. Now even lousy schools are paying $1 million+. If you've been a head coach for 5 years chances are your house is, or could be paid off and you've got a decent start on the nest egg.

Money isn’t the reason coaches switch jobs now. It’s got to be ego or they don’t like something at their current school. If you've got a contract worth $4 million and are already in pretty good shape chances are you're going to be selective. Most guys on our wish list (Strong excepted to some degree) are in that position. 

I don't care about interest. That's why you sell. Patterson has a game tomorrow AND he may also assume the UT job is locked up and not want to go through the process just to be told no. Most of us don't want to be interviewed if there's no shot.

What Woodstock said

The moral of the story is there's a really stong candidate pool available and many are coaching this weekend. Hart may mess up, but as I type this we're in good shape.

1a) Some guy who has taken two different schools to BCS games and is currently unemployed. He could be had for cheap.

1b) Gary Patterson

2) Gundy

3) Fisher

4) Strong

5) No one else deserves consideration though you could make an argument for Mullen. Lots of guys are o.k. I want a guy who is proven to be very good and those are available.

Good Bob Stoops is a home run. Tired Bob Stoops is Phil Fulmer without the years of good rapport built with fans. Give me a guy who has been close to the top of the mountain, but not summited. 

If, and that's a big "IF", Hart has sowed misinformation (different from withholding information) he's made a lot of enemies he didn't need to make in the media. Deliberately making enemies rarely helps.

That doesn't affect this search, but it's not a plus down the road. Please the above is simply a steam-of-consciousness rambling based on my view from afar.