Rumors coming from Auburn's SBNation blog that Charlie Strong interviewed at Auburn, rumors which were almost immediately denied with great fervor by Strong himself. Don't be surprised if there is some fire with this smoke, though. Strong may be keeping mum on the issue because he still has a high-ish ranked team that has bowl season and a conference championship game on which to focus.
Will bump with updates.
Wouldn't surprise me at all if he's lying.Coaches deny interviews all the time,until they get the job.
SCOTTC.
He has all the reason in the world to lie. He's got his own person Tebow in Bridgewater that he wants to go out and win the conference and a bowl game with. It would pretty dirty of him to just admit that he was taking off purely for the money (because Auburn is a full on dumpster fire), right in the heart of his team's postseason. He seems like a classier guy than that, but he still has to deal with his growth professionally.
I've said it in other threads, but I don't really know if it's a full-on dumpster fire or not. What is obvious is that Chizik can pull in top-tier talent and do absolutely nothing with it without one Cam Newton or Gus Malzahn. Auburn has the name and facilities (along with Strong's pull in the South) to court the top dogs in the South, and Stong's proven that he's a smart guy who can do more with less.
We know that they're being investigated, but as far as I've seen it only involves two assistant coaches. From that alone, Auburn will not get carpet-bombed; granted, my money says that the entire AD was probably involved--along with boosters. The key will be if the NCAA can prove any of this, if they can't we'll be looking at UNC part two.
Bottom line, Auburn's probably a top-15 job in the country; I couldn't blame Strong for taking it (and the sums of cash that will be heaped upon him). He'll obviously have a clause written in pertaining to the sanctions, and will be hailed as a hero for just being compotent--which will give him a few years to really be expected to compete with Saban's Buzzsaw of College Football Doom.
Strong has momentum right now. He knows it, and knows that such momentum can be a transient thing; best to take the money and run, build up an Auburn program, and then parlay that into a true top-tier job--in the SEC or elsewhere.
^^^^agree... Saban said he wasn't leaving the Dolphins.
Auburn knows they need to snag a coach quickly. The longer the search goes on the more time committed recruits have to look around. And I'm guessing that they'd want someone in place before, if any, sanctions come down.
Not just someone, but someone with the smarts, pedigree, and reputation to turn the program around. Strong is a perfect fit, I just assumed he'd be tentative to take the job, what with the investigations just now starting up, and their cross-state rival being at the top of their swing
Not really meaning to be nitpicky, but the Big East doesn't have a conference championship game as they currently only have 7 football schools. I'm assuming it's just a Freudian slip and you only meant conference championship or that the game this week between Louisville and Rutgers is a defacto championship game...oh well, just thought I'd mention it.
As for Strong leaving, I agree with the sentiment here. I think he's covering something up. It's been believed for awhile that the major head coaching vacancies (i.e. Auburn, Tennessee, Arkansas) would have his name thrown into the mix. Whether he actually interviewed remains to be seen but I wouldn't doubt that he has had discussions. Since that wouldn't technically be considered an interview, he can deny the "interview" label. We'll see though...
Yeah this week's game is the championship-y game, but I should've been more clear, since I referred to it directly haha
Not a problem at all, haha. Things like that happen. I think it'll be a good game though. Hard to figure who will win, but I'm thinking Louisville takes this one.
Paging Brian Kelly...
I remember when he done that to uc.. I'm not going anywhere and the next day he was gone.. That's y I find it hard to cheer for Irish..
Hey Dizzle, totally agree with what you're saying, but can you please write out in full english words and sentences? We're not limited by text character limits here, and it's so much more painful to read text-speak.
Our Basketball Coach did the same thing to Xavier. Pretty much quashed all the rumors, told the kids he was staying then jetted for Ohio State. I also never bought Urban's statement that the first time Ohio State contacted him was the week of The Game last year.
Definitely common practice for coaches to say one thing and do another when considering other jobs. It's a tough spot to be in. If you deny the rumors, people think they are true. If you give them false hope and/or lie about staying, you are crucified when you do leave.
And yeah, Urban was most certainly was in contact with OSU prior to the week of The Game.
Going a step further, I think contact was made with Urban Meyer right after Tressel left. Just my opinion but I saw a broadcast before the 2011 season where he said he had no plans on coaching "this year" and I truly think all the way back then - there had been some talks...
The world is full of kings & queens who'll blind your eyes & steal your dreams - it's heaven & hell - Ronnie James Dio.
Brian Kelly leaving UC wouldn't have been such a big deal if he didn't convince them to invest a bunch of money in their facilities to attract recruits so he could really make them a competitor. Kelly kept pressing the school to make all these investments, and gave the impression that's what it would take to keep him. So the school did, then he ran. That's what made the way he left so hard to swallow for UC. I'll never begrudge someone for taking off for a better job, but the way he did it was really shitty.
Nobody tells the truth anymore. Saban said the samething and the next day he was bama head coach.
When a good coach leaves for greener pastures, there are always hard feelings. I think most have good intentions to fulfill their contracts when they sign them, but some are always looking for the next job. Its unfortunate when these coaches convince their schools to spend big money on facilities with the implication that it will keep them there, but these admininstrations should know that if they are a lower-tier program they will not be able to keep a great coach forever.
I'd be interested to hear examples of coaches that elevated programs to the "next level" (however you may want to define it) and then stuck around long-term. I'm sure there are a handful, but I can't really think of any off the top of my head.
Bo Schembechler is an arguable example; depending on your view of the Michigan program circa 1950-1968. Michigan won no Big Ten titles over the course of, like, 18 years or something. He came in, restored the program's lustre (while Canham turned the program into a moneymaking bohemoth), and was making peanuts. He was offered an unprecedented $2.5 - $3 million dollars to coach Texas A&M (he was making $80,000 in salary--excluding bonuses--at UM) for 10 years, and turned it down.
Chip Kelly is a modern example, but he's always on the radar for an NFL job--and you could argue that Belotti really brought that program up. Schiano was once the gold-standard, though he left for Tampa Bay.
Here's one to chew on, Barry Alvarez. He took a terrible Wisconsin program and made them into the program they are today. I don't know if he was ever offered another job, though. It seems like this breed is becoming ever rarer in this age of stratospheric contracts, national recruiting, and NFL-calibre facilities.
There was a coach they called JoPa that hung around for quite a few years.
Sorry, your comment has been vacated by the NCAA.
It may have been vacated, but we all saw it and know what the result was anyway...
Nuh-uh! It never happened, the banners have been struck, and all memories of said events are currently being forgotten...
...y'know, since they're, like, not in writing anymore, man.
Was Woody ever offered a more lucrative deal? I kind of doubt it just because of the era he coached and later down the line he was too old when things began to change to be considered.