Yesterday after Urban Meyer’s resignation, Florida Gators athletic director Jeremy Foley said the hiring of Meyer’s replacement should take “two weeks, two-and-a-half weeks.” Two-and-a-half weeks from yesterday would be Christmas Day, so somebody’s getting a multi-million dollar contract in his stocking.
Assuming Mississippi St. Bulldogs coach Dan Mullen is firm in his denial of interest, the top two candidates remain Arkansas Razorbacks coach Bobby Petrino and Louisville Cardinals coach Charlie Strong. Petrino also coached at Louisville back in the day, so let’s throw in Rick Pitino. No?
As ESPN’s Bruce Feldman shares, you can get pretty good odds at Bodog.com on just about anybody but Mullen. Oklahoma Sooners coach Bob Stoops is listed second, followed by Strong, Utah Utes coach Kyle Whittingham, Boise St. Broncos coach Chris Peterson, Auburn Tigers offensive coordinator Gus Malzahn, TCU Horned Frogs coach Gary Patterson, and South Carolina Gamecocks coach Steve Spurrier.
That last one would be a great story, but it’s definitely not happening. For the most part, that’s the same set of coaches you’d see speculated about for any open job, minus Stanford Cardinal coach Jim Harbaugh. For whatever reason Petrino’s odds are longer than Spurrier’s 15/1, which means I and my wallet will be right back. It's gonna be a good Christmas for everybody!