Good morning, Bunk.
I wanted to give you a morning briefing to keep you abreast of what's happening out there.
Athletic director John Cohen recently has spoken with a variety of potential candidates whom you won't like. Among them has been Dave Clawson from Wake Forest, who is 17-7 overall and 9-5 in conference games during the past two seasons.
Another coach with whom he's spoken is Philadelphia Eagles assistant Brian Johnson, who served as a Dan Mullen assistant at both Florida and Mississippi State. He also played for Dan Mullen when The Gang (led by Urban Meyer) was at University of Utah all those years ago. Johnson is a popular, young figure in NFL coaching circles and may be headed that way professionally.
With that said ...
I am steadfast (at least so far) in my belief that Lane Kiffin from Ole Miss is the primary target. That doesn't mean he'll remain the primary target, but he's been in that spot for a period of time now.
I have a number of people telling me that Liberty coach Hugh Freeze is right there, but my gut tells me that's only partially accurate. My belief is that a group of guys is in the second tier — with Freeze being one of them. I don't think Freeze is No. 2 per se.
In the interest of full disclosure, I have heard that Auburn is looking into Cincinnati coach Luke Fickell, Clemson coach Dabo Swinney, TCU coach Sonny Dykes and Ohio State coach Ryan Day during the past few days. They are alleged to be involved in this search to some degree. I remain very skeptical; I view this as the result of enterprising agents doing what enterprising agents do.
If I come across a reason to highlight one of those guys as a "legitimate candidate at Auburn," I surely will.
(It's at least plausible that Fickell — and Dykes/Swinney to a lesser degree — would see a strong SEC operation like Auburn's as a meaningful step up. The SEC and the Big 10 clearly are separating themselves from a long-term, financial perspective when compared to other conferences. As a result, I'm not fully discounting those names.)
Thank you for reading and subscribing to AuburnSports.com!
I wanted to give you a morning briefing to keep you abreast of what's happening out there.
Athletic director John Cohen recently has spoken with a variety of potential candidates whom you won't like. Among them has been Dave Clawson from Wake Forest, who is 17-7 overall and 9-5 in conference games during the past two seasons.
Another coach with whom he's spoken is Philadelphia Eagles assistant Brian Johnson, who served as a Dan Mullen assistant at both Florida and Mississippi State. He also played for Dan Mullen when The Gang (led by Urban Meyer) was at University of Utah all those years ago. Johnson is a popular, young figure in NFL coaching circles and may be headed that way professionally.
With that said ...
I am steadfast (at least so far) in my belief that Lane Kiffin from Ole Miss is the primary target. That doesn't mean he'll remain the primary target, but he's been in that spot for a period of time now.
I have a number of people telling me that Liberty coach Hugh Freeze is right there, but my gut tells me that's only partially accurate. My belief is that a group of guys is in the second tier — with Freeze being one of them. I don't think Freeze is No. 2 per se.
In the interest of full disclosure, I have heard that Auburn is looking into Cincinnati coach Luke Fickell, Clemson coach Dabo Swinney, TCU coach Sonny Dykes and Ohio State coach Ryan Day during the past few days. They are alleged to be involved in this search to some degree. I remain very skeptical; I view this as the result of enterprising agents doing what enterprising agents do.
If I come across a reason to highlight one of those guys as a "legitimate candidate at Auburn," I surely will.
(It's at least plausible that Fickell — and Dykes/Swinney to a lesser degree — would see a strong SEC operation like Auburn's as a meaningful step up. The SEC and the Big 10 clearly are separating themselves from a long-term, financial perspective when compared to other conferences. As a result, I'm not fully discounting those names.)
Thank you for reading and subscribing to AuburnSports.com!
