Jimbo Fisher a candidate at other places too

NT80 · December 2, 2006

This doesn't even include the expected opening at West Virginia.

_____

The Cincinnati Post is reporting today that University of Cincinnati Director of Athletics Mike Thomas and Deputy Director of Athletics Bob Arkeilpane flew Thursday to Baton Rouge as their search for a new head football coach intensified.

LSU defensive coordinator Bo Pelini, an Ohio native, and LSU offensive coordinator Jimbo Fisher, a former Cincinnati assistant coach, are reportedly on the Bearcats’ shopping list. Both have said they would like to be head coaches in the right situation.

Neither could not be reached for comment late Thursday.

Thomas refused to comment on any specific candidates.

Thomas and Arkeilpane also flew Thursday to a North Carolina airport near East Carolina University, whose defensive coordinator Greg Hudson, is a Cincinnati native and potential candidate, the newspaper is reporting.

The paper said Cincinnati defensive coordinator Pat Narduzzi interviewed Wednesday.

Pelini, in his second season at LSU, has been mentioned as a possible candidate for jobs at Arizona State, Cincinnati and Tulane. Reports prominently mentioned Pelini as a candidate at Michigan State before that school hired Mark Dantonio from Cincinnati.

Fisher, in his seventh season at LSU, has been mentioned in connection with openings at North Carolina State, North Texas and as a possible offensive coordinator at Florida State. Fisher was a Cincinnati assistant coach in 1999 before coming to LSU in 2000.

ESPN analyst and former college coach Lou Holtz said Thursday night Pelini would be a good fit at Arizona State. ESPN.com columnist Ivan Maisel wrote the same day about how Fisher’s ties to Florida State coach Bobby Bowden give him a foot in the door there.

Tom Dienhart of The Sporting News wrote a similar note in a column for his Web site.

LSU coach Les Miles was also unavailable for comment. Earlier this week, Miles dismissed a hypothetical question about whether Fisher or Pelini would be welcome to coach for LSU in a bowl game if they’d already been hired by another school for 2007.

“You know what?” Miles said, “I don’t want to speculate on what would be the circumstances there in any way. I can tell you that both guys certainly have opportunities to be head coaches, and eventually at some point and time in their career will make that true, make that happen for themselves.

“The great news about it: This is a great school and a great opportunity. You want to come and pursue championships and to achieve. There would be a lot of really fine coaches looking for an opportunity here, so we’ll have to turn our attentions elsewhere, but we like those guys. We want them to stay.”

Thomas conceded Cincinnati must be aware of the many openings around the country for head coaches and can't drag its feet.

"We need to be cognizant of that, but we also need to be more concerned with the pace we want to move at for our own needs for recruiting and making sure we get a face on the program as soon as possible," Thomas

UNTFan23 · December 2, 2006

Thomas conceded Cincinnati must be aware of the many openings around the country for head coaches and can't drag its feet.
"We need to be cognizant of that, but we also need to be more concerned with the pace we want to move at for our own needs for recruiting and making sure we get a face on the program as soon as possible," Thomas
←

And this is why we pulled the trigger before the season ended.