I’ve spent all morning (and much of last night) on the phone and here is what I’m hearing on the coaching search.
I am going to stay away from the Sarah Fuller angle as it pertains to the coaching search. I shared some thoughts on that yesterday and there’s a thread where I’ll discuss that later, but they will not be aired on this thread.
I will talk about candidates later but I think some background about the process is in order.
THE PROCESS
People have asked me if anyone’s interviewed yet. I have not heard that anyone has, but to be clear I am not saying that someone hasn’t.
The week after a coaching change is generally a set-up week. Schools have search firms identifying candidates—they’ll know who the school is looking at and then suggest 2-3 more names as an “Have you considered these people?” suggestion.
But much of the firm’s work will be gathering information such as a coach’s contract, buyout amount, etc. There’s probably going to be a background check involved also.
In that process, the firm will probably talk to 8-10 candidates.
The way these things usually go is that a school will interview 3-5 candidates next week. These will be private meetings, probably at a hotel somewhere at a “neutral” location that’s neither Nashville nor where the candidate lives or works.
Generally, the SEC does not like schools announcing coaching hires the week of the league championship game. It’s not a rule but it’s a courtesy. They don’t want anything taking the spotlight away from that.
But you have complicating factors this year.
First of all, the title game is the 19th; National Signing Day is the 16th. So perhaps the league views that differently this year; I don’t know.
A school also isn’t going to hire a coach without face-to-face meetings and now you have COVD-19 complications. For example: Louisiana’s Billy Napier is a hot commodity but Napier contracted COVID-19 at the end of the month.
For example, the general belief seems to be that South Carolina is going to probably hire Shane Beamer. But Napier’s name has also come up. Is Carolina slow-playing a decision until it can talk to Napier? Maybe that’s a legitimate question; that’s just me speculating but my point is that situations like this could come into play for Vanderbilt or anyone.
THE MAIN THREE CANDIDATES
I’ve said from the beginning that I think the pick will probably be one of Jamey Chadwell, Will Healy or Clark Lea and I would still take that against the field. But that’s based on opinion as much as information.
I exchanged text messages with a contact at Notre Dame this morning and asked what this person had heard on Lea. I was told it’s quiet up there but this person’s suspicion is that Lea would take the job. But the source also admitted to not being very plugged into the situation. I’ll keep digging here.
As far as Healy is concerned: Healy’s energy is what attractive and that sells.
First of all, there’s no excitement around the program and Healy will bring that.
Second, you have a lot of older Belle Meade-type boosters with money who’ve been on the sidelines lately because they’re sick of the state of VU football. I was told that hiring Healy would get a lot of those guys back on board and make them willing to donate again. I don’t think that’s unimportant.
The problem with Healy—and I am not endorsing or denying what I am about to say, just reporting here—is the perception of his coaching acumen and his staff. As a source said to me this morning, “His staff is a big problem.” And we heard that a year ago when he was looking at other jobs.
I have not heard anything on Chadwell of late. That’s not to say he’s not a factor, he just hasn’t come up specifically as I’ve hit different sources.
WHO MAKES THE CALL?
The names I believe are on the committee: Daniel Diermeier, Tim Corbin, John Ingram, Tommy McClelland and (assuming here) Candice Lee (because how could she not be?).
I am not representing that as a complete list; it’s just what I know.
I believe strongly this will come down to Diermeier and Lee will not have much influence.
A source termed Diermeier “a wild card” and so that makes this “hard to predict.” But the source also said that Diermeier prefers a sitting head coach—and the source thinks a Power Five type—and of course Lee had mentioned that in Monday’s press conference that the school prefers an offensive-minded head coach.
WILD CARDS
I’m getting further confirmation that Buffalo’s Lance Leipold is very interested. I have reason to believe he’s on the “kick the tires on this guy” list, at least. How much of a serious candidate, I don’t know.
I continue to hear of USC offensive coordinator Graham Harrell’s interest. Harrell and McClelland have a connection and familiarity often leads to interviews, and so I would also not be surprised if he’s being considered.
And so with that, what about Billy Napier?
I don’t have anything solid to connect Napier to VU. However, Napier has some advantages over coaches in similar non-Power Five jobs that the others don’t.
He has the kind of private-school playing background that can be helpful (Furman).
He’s been on three Power Five staffs (Clemson, Alabama, Arizona State) and of course, that includes the two best programs in the country. That’s something Healy and Chadwell don’t have.
Napier is also from Cookeville, an hour and a half down the road.
So again, Napier is 100% speculative and I think he can/will end up at a better job. But I’m trying to cover all my bases here because in a coaching search, you never know.
If you want to get crazy speculative, I’ve heard names like Chris Peterson and James Franklin (and Steve Sarkesian, though that’s a different category) thrown around. I want to be clear that I am not reporting that any of these guys are candidates and think it’s crazy to think they’d come, especially without an announced facilities plan (Which, BTW, I don’t think is getting publicly announced this calendar year.) But I’ll throw that out there just to cover bases because there were many things I didn’t have on my 2020 Bingo card, and of course the school has massive financial resources if it so chose to offer someone $7 million a year or whatever the amount would be.
I am going to stay away from the Sarah Fuller angle as it pertains to the coaching search. I shared some thoughts on that yesterday and there’s a thread where I’ll discuss that later, but they will not be aired on this thread.
I will talk about candidates later but I think some background about the process is in order.
THE PROCESS
People have asked me if anyone’s interviewed yet. I have not heard that anyone has, but to be clear I am not saying that someone hasn’t.
The week after a coaching change is generally a set-up week. Schools have search firms identifying candidates—they’ll know who the school is looking at and then suggest 2-3 more names as an “Have you considered these people?” suggestion.
But much of the firm’s work will be gathering information such as a coach’s contract, buyout amount, etc. There’s probably going to be a background check involved also.
In that process, the firm will probably talk to 8-10 candidates.
The way these things usually go is that a school will interview 3-5 candidates next week. These will be private meetings, probably at a hotel somewhere at a “neutral” location that’s neither Nashville nor where the candidate lives or works.
Generally, the SEC does not like schools announcing coaching hires the week of the league championship game. It’s not a rule but it’s a courtesy. They don’t want anything taking the spotlight away from that.
But you have complicating factors this year.
First of all, the title game is the 19th; National Signing Day is the 16th. So perhaps the league views that differently this year; I don’t know.
A school also isn’t going to hire a coach without face-to-face meetings and now you have COVD-19 complications. For example: Louisiana’s Billy Napier is a hot commodity but Napier contracted COVID-19 at the end of the month.
For example, the general belief seems to be that South Carolina is going to probably hire Shane Beamer. But Napier’s name has also come up. Is Carolina slow-playing a decision until it can talk to Napier? Maybe that’s a legitimate question; that’s just me speculating but my point is that situations like this could come into play for Vanderbilt or anyone.
THE MAIN THREE CANDIDATES
I’ve said from the beginning that I think the pick will probably be one of Jamey Chadwell, Will Healy or Clark Lea and I would still take that against the field. But that’s based on opinion as much as information.
I exchanged text messages with a contact at Notre Dame this morning and asked what this person had heard on Lea. I was told it’s quiet up there but this person’s suspicion is that Lea would take the job. But the source also admitted to not being very plugged into the situation. I’ll keep digging here.
As far as Healy is concerned: Healy’s energy is what attractive and that sells.
First of all, there’s no excitement around the program and Healy will bring that.
Second, you have a lot of older Belle Meade-type boosters with money who’ve been on the sidelines lately because they’re sick of the state of VU football. I was told that hiring Healy would get a lot of those guys back on board and make them willing to donate again. I don’t think that’s unimportant.
The problem with Healy—and I am not endorsing or denying what I am about to say, just reporting here—is the perception of his coaching acumen and his staff. As a source said to me this morning, “His staff is a big problem.” And we heard that a year ago when he was looking at other jobs.
I have not heard anything on Chadwell of late. That’s not to say he’s not a factor, he just hasn’t come up specifically as I’ve hit different sources.
WHO MAKES THE CALL?
The names I believe are on the committee: Daniel Diermeier, Tim Corbin, John Ingram, Tommy McClelland and (assuming here) Candice Lee (because how could she not be?).
I am not representing that as a complete list; it’s just what I know.
I believe strongly this will come down to Diermeier and Lee will not have much influence.
A source termed Diermeier “a wild card” and so that makes this “hard to predict.” But the source also said that Diermeier prefers a sitting head coach—and the source thinks a Power Five type—and of course Lee had mentioned that in Monday’s press conference that the school prefers an offensive-minded head coach.
WILD CARDS
I’m getting further confirmation that Buffalo’s Lance Leipold is very interested. I have reason to believe he’s on the “kick the tires on this guy” list, at least. How much of a serious candidate, I don’t know.
I continue to hear of USC offensive coordinator Graham Harrell’s interest. Harrell and McClelland have a connection and familiarity often leads to interviews, and so I would also not be surprised if he’s being considered.
And so with that, what about Billy Napier?
I don’t have anything solid to connect Napier to VU. However, Napier has some advantages over coaches in similar non-Power Five jobs that the others don’t.
He has the kind of private-school playing background that can be helpful (Furman).
He’s been on three Power Five staffs (Clemson, Alabama, Arizona State) and of course, that includes the two best programs in the country. That’s something Healy and Chadwell don’t have.
Napier is also from Cookeville, an hour and a half down the road.
So again, Napier is 100% speculative and I think he can/will end up at a better job. But I’m trying to cover all my bases here because in a coaching search, you never know.
If you want to get crazy speculative, I’ve heard names like Chris Peterson and James Franklin (and Steve Sarkesian, though that’s a different category) thrown around. I want to be clear that I am not reporting that any of these guys are candidates and think it’s crazy to think they’d come, especially without an announced facilities plan (Which, BTW, I don’t think is getting publicly announced this calendar year.) But I’ll throw that out there just to cover bases because there were many things I didn’t have on my 2020 Bingo card, and of course the school has massive financial resources if it so chose to offer someone $7 million a year or whatever the amount would be.
