Wow, it's been a crazy four days to say the least. I don't know where to start.
I've barely had a moment to think about anything other than the coaching search since coming home on Saturday night. I took a couple thousand photos at the game, but honestly just haven't had the time to go through and edit them. I'll do that in the coming days.
I was contacting every potential source and lead I could think of in hopes of learning more about this search. Give credit to Danny White, he runs a tight ship. The Kevin Sumlin stuff was real, though I've yet to uncover the scope of the discussions. In retrospect, it might have been for the best. While he certainly has the name recognition, you really don't want a repeat of the Charlie Strong situation - a coach who feels he's above where he is and would love nothing more than to leave as soon as possible.
Maybe more will surface in the days and weeks to come, but Troy Walters was the only other interview I could confirm via a solid source. There are people who believe Toledo coach Jason Candle and Ohio State co-OC Ryan Day also interviewed, but that info is like third or fourth-hand so I can't be certain somebody is just repeating what they might have seen reported on Twitter.
In regards to Josh Heupel, Danny White finalized the deal last night. The circle was kept tight, only essential personnel were informed so they could make the necessary announcement preparations.
Around 9 a.m., I heard a deal was done and to be prepared for a forthcoming announcement. I then heard from team sources about the team meeting called for 11 a.m. I didn't realize at first the plan was to keep it under wraps until the meeting, but it soon became clear that was Danny White's plan.
In that two-hour span, I was glued to my computer and constantly on my phone, just thinking somebody would come through with a name. Agents love leaking these things to national media. You almost never see schools themselves scooping the news. It'll be a team site or some national guy like McMurphy, Feldman or Thamel.
About 10 or so minutes before the team meeting, I had like three people contact me with the Josh Heupel name. I made the post in the Dungeon, but refrained from making a more "public" post on Twitter because if the school had kept it under wraps this long, the players deserved to find out in the way Danny White intended.
From that point forward, it was a rush. All of a sudden we learn of a press conference at 2 p.m., so I've got to jump up, put on my contacts, get dressed, get my stuff packed, grab something to eat and head out to UCF. I was probably a little too excited because I got to the stadium like at 1 p.m. after a stop at Huey Magoo's.
Because we had no advance notice Josh Heupel was even in the mix as a candidate, I really hadn't done any homework on him. I remembered his playing career at Oklahoma and knew he was considered an up and coming coach. Some of these other coaches mentioned, I was watching Youtube clips, press conferences, etc.
The parallels are similar to Scott Frost - similar age and background as a Big 12 quarterback, coming up through the coaching ranks as an offensive coordinator and getting his first HC job at UCF. So to that end, press conference wise, I felt Josh Heupel handled himself better than Frost did two years ago, but you could see at times that Heupel was sort of in awe of the moment. Who wouldn't be?
I was seated up front in the press conference, so it was hard to turn and scan the room to see who all was there. I don't think many players were there, though I did see Otis Anderson sneak in.
I will do more research in Heupel's background in the coming days, but he seems genuine and real, not quite as stiff and impersonal as Frost was when he arrived. Frost improved A LOT over this past year, but you could always tell he didn't enjoy the media or schmoozing with boosters with aspect.
Danny said during the presser Heupel "killed it" in the interview. Was told later he blew the other guys away, had everything laid out, outlined his vision, etc.
Boosters at the function last night had positive things to say about him. "Great speaker to the crowd," one person said.
A few tidbits conveyed to me:
-Heupel plans to honor every prior UCF commitment. I know he was trying to reach out to as many guys as possible in between and after meeting boosters at the private function last night. A few of the more Twitter-active recruits posted about it and I caught up with a few.
-The $2.5M salary pool, according to someone who spoke to someone (LOL), apparently could go higher. $2.5M is a starting point.
-Like Frost, Heupel plans to run the offense and call plays, at least initially, until he can groom someone else to do it. Frost said the exact same thing when he was hired.
-Every commit who hasn't taken an official visit already will visit next weekend, Dec. 15. I'm sure other targets will visit then too.
-Heupel hopes to have most of the staff filled by this coming weekend.
A few more things:
-The DB coach will be Corey Bell, who most recently was at Florida with Shannon.
http://floridagators.com/coaches.aspx?rc=661
The OL coach is poised to be Brian Miller, who was an offensive analyst at Missouri and former OL coach at Georgetown and Kansas.
http://www.guhoyas.com/sports/m-footbl/mtt/miller_brian00.html
Both should be official soon.
I have heard Heupel will meet with both Troy Walters and Sean Beckton on Wednesday. Beckton was visiting with TE commit Justin McGriff last night. As I've said, both have offers to join Frost at Nebraska. Beckton would like to stay at UCF if possible. I would tend to think that will happen. Beckton and Shannon have already talked about a recruiting plan. Walters, I think it depends on who Heupel has in mind for an offensive coordinator and what role Frost might have for him in Nebraska. We'll see.
There's a lot of hires Heupel will have to make. Not just on-field assistant coaches, but strength coaches, football ops, recruiting office, etc. Last time, Ryan Callaghan was a recruiting office holdover who helped Frost devise an early recruiting plan.
That's all for now.
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