Things can change in a hurry.
Early this afternoon, Thayer Evans of SI.com reported Iowa State was trying to close in on a deal with Toledo coach Matt Campbell.
That's interesting, I thought to myself. Campbell's name had been floated as an up-and-coming coach and the type that could be a candidate at UCF, but the two were never previously linked. Shortly after that though, Bruce Feldman dropped a nugget on Fox Sports 1 to say he believes a "battle" was about to begin between Iowa State and UCF for Campbell.
That was significant. Was Feldman on to something? Was Campbell's agent posturing, looking for ISU to sweeten the pot?
As the afternoon and evening went on, I did hear from a couple different sources that there was indeed some contact made between UCF and Campbell. Was it an interview? I don't think so, but it seemed UCF had at least shown Campbell some level of interest to begin dialogue.
At the night games were getting into the second half, reports came out that Missouri was meeting with Campbell "late tonight" (and Mizzou would also meet with Temple coach Matt Rhule on Sunday). Okay, so now Iowa State (and potentially UCF) might have some serious competition from Missouri.
And now a couple hours later, shortly before 1 a.m., the Toledo and Ames, Iowa newspapers are reporting Campbell has agreed to be Iowa State's coach. ISU's move is being praised by national writers on Twitter, but some bewilderment why Campbell quickly jumped to what might be the worst Power Five job opening.
So back to square one. He's out. Frankly, I'm a little unclear regarding the level of courtship between Campbell and UCF but I guess it doesn't really matter now. He was Iowa State's No. 1 target from the onset and they made that known.
What I did hear - UCF is doing interviews in Atlanta on site at Parker Search. At least one interview was scheduled for Saturday with more to come on Sunday.
The initial rumor from earlier in the week was that Bowling Green coach Dino Babers would interview on Saturday.
According to a Bowling Green source, the Falcons did not have a practice today and Babers was said to be "out of town" so it certainly fits that he could have traveled to Atlanta.
And according to the same BG source, their "game week" schedule for Friday's MAC Championship Game begins on Sunday (today) so if any other schools wanted to have a face-to-face dialogue with Babers it probably had to be Saturday. (I suppose it's possible he could meet with someone in secrecy very late at night in the days to come, but you would think the focus would be on game preparation then).
My original information from a couple days ago indicated Florida defensive coordinator Geoff Collins and possibly UF co-DC Randy Shannon would also be interviewing on Sunday.
I got a report that Gene Chizik's candidacy may be a "longshot" now, but that could very well be a smoke screen intended to throw people off the trail.
As for the "final four" or the "mystery fifth candidate," I think the search may be a bit wider than that with other candidates that could have the potential to interview. That's more of a commentary that it's very hard to get information from the UCF side of things as only a handful of people truly know what's happening on that side of the search. That group is limited to Dr. Hitt, Danny White, Grant Heston and maybe a couple others.
In a late night tweet, Danny White seemed to confirm there was plenty of action on Saturday regarding the search. His first tweet came incredibly early in the morning (3:59 a.m.) so my guess is he was taking the 6:10 a.m. Delta flight to Atlanta.
I really wish I had more to share. We shall see what Sunday brings.
Early this afternoon, Thayer Evans of SI.com reported Iowa State was trying to close in on a deal with Toledo coach Matt Campbell.
That's interesting, I thought to myself. Campbell's name had been floated as an up-and-coming coach and the type that could be a candidate at UCF, but the two were never previously linked. Shortly after that though, Bruce Feldman dropped a nugget on Fox Sports 1 to say he believes a "battle" was about to begin between Iowa State and UCF for Campbell.
That was significant. Was Feldman on to something? Was Campbell's agent posturing, looking for ISU to sweeten the pot?
As the afternoon and evening went on, I did hear from a couple different sources that there was indeed some contact made between UCF and Campbell. Was it an interview? I don't think so, but it seemed UCF had at least shown Campbell some level of interest to begin dialogue.
At the night games were getting into the second half, reports came out that Missouri was meeting with Campbell "late tonight" (and Mizzou would also meet with Temple coach Matt Rhule on Sunday). Okay, so now Iowa State (and potentially UCF) might have some serious competition from Missouri.
And now a couple hours later, shortly before 1 a.m., the Toledo and Ames, Iowa newspapers are reporting Campbell has agreed to be Iowa State's coach. ISU's move is being praised by national writers on Twitter, but some bewilderment why Campbell quickly jumped to what might be the worst Power Five job opening.
So back to square one. He's out. Frankly, I'm a little unclear regarding the level of courtship between Campbell and UCF but I guess it doesn't really matter now. He was Iowa State's No. 1 target from the onset and they made that known.
What I did hear - UCF is doing interviews in Atlanta on site at Parker Search. At least one interview was scheduled for Saturday with more to come on Sunday.
The initial rumor from earlier in the week was that Bowling Green coach Dino Babers would interview on Saturday.
According to a Bowling Green source, the Falcons did not have a practice today and Babers was said to be "out of town" so it certainly fits that he could have traveled to Atlanta.
And according to the same BG source, their "game week" schedule for Friday's MAC Championship Game begins on Sunday (today) so if any other schools wanted to have a face-to-face dialogue with Babers it probably had to be Saturday. (I suppose it's possible he could meet with someone in secrecy very late at night in the days to come, but you would think the focus would be on game preparation then).
My original information from a couple days ago indicated Florida defensive coordinator Geoff Collins and possibly UF co-DC Randy Shannon would also be interviewing on Sunday.
I got a report that Gene Chizik's candidacy may be a "longshot" now, but that could very well be a smoke screen intended to throw people off the trail.
As for the "final four" or the "mystery fifth candidate," I think the search may be a bit wider than that with other candidates that could have the potential to interview. That's more of a commentary that it's very hard to get information from the UCF side of things as only a handful of people truly know what's happening on that side of the search. That group is limited to Dr. Hitt, Danny White, Grant Heston and maybe a couple others.
In a late night tweet, Danny White seemed to confirm there was plenty of action on Saturday regarding the search. His first tweet came incredibly early in the morning (3:59 a.m.) so my guess is he was taking the 6:10 a.m. Delta flight to Atlanta.
I really wish I had more to share. We shall see what Sunday brings.
