SEC Coaching Scuttlebutt

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As the coaching merry-go-round speeds up, I wanted to bring you the latest on several coaches with SEC ties.  Some we’ve already posted, some we haven’t.

Just wanted to put it all together in one post.  Here they are in alphabetical order:

Rodney Garner

2009 team — Georgia
2009 position — Defensive line coach and recruiting coordinator

Scuttlebutt — There are several rumors out of Athens that the long-time Mark Richt aide wanted to be named the new defensive coordinator when Richt jettisoned Willie Martinez and two other coaches last week.  Lane Kiffin made a push for Garner last year, but the UGA assistant elected to stay in Athens and made it clear that some relationships are worth more than money.  But with apparently no promotion in the cards for him, many wonder if “Garner’s gone” as former Dawg David Pollack tweeted last week.”  With two holes on the Vols’ staff currently, Garner might be interested in returning to Knoxville, where he once recruiting Jamal Lewis and Deon Grant.  Question is: What position would he coach and could Tennessee afford him?

Eddie Gran
2009 team — Tennessee
2009 position — Running backs coach and special teams coach

Scuttlebutt — While there’s been no official announcement from Florida State, multiple reports say that Gran is leaving his $190,000 job in Knoxville for what might be a $300,000 gig in Tallahassee.  It was believed Gran would join Tommy Tuberville’s staff if the former Auburn coach landed a job this offseason, but that hasn’t happened yet.  Gran has a tremendous track record of recruiting in Florida.  Kiffin has said that he will take his own sweet time to replace any departing assistants.  (Which means — like Georgia — UT will go into their bowl game with graduate assistants holding some duties.)

Ellis Johnson
2009 team — South Carolina
2009 position — Assistant head coach in charge of defense and linebackers coach

Scuttlebutt — It seems there’s more smoke than fire with early rumors of Georgia making a run at Johnson.  More likely, UGA will chase Smart from Alabama, rather than Johnson, who is a South Carolina native married to a Columbia native.  Money might be a factor, but it would be hard to give Johnson a higher rank than the one he currently holds with Carolina.

DJ McCarthy
2009 team — LSU
2009 position — Receivers coach

Scuttlebutt — Rumors continue to swirl that McCarthy will depart Baton Rouge one way or the other.  Initially, it was believed that McCarthy might join Larry Porter’s new staff at Memphis.  Then came word that LSU was looking into possible NCAA violations involving one assistant coach and one player who did not suit up for the Tigers this year.  On Friday, the LSU student newspaper reported that a source had told them that McCarthy had given financial assistance to juco transfer Akiem Hicks.  There are rumors that Les Miles is already speaking to former LSU and current Buffalo Bills assistant Tyke Tolbert about his receivers coach position.

Ed Orgeron
2009 team — Tennessee
2009 position — Associate head coach, defensive line coach and recruiting coordinator

Scuttlebutt — There is speculation that Pete Carroll might want to come after his old assistant, name him Southern Cal’s defensive coordinator, and allow him to rebuild the Trojans once proud D.  But that’s not even a rumor at this point… just speculation.

Larry Porter
2009 team — LSU
2009 position — Running backs coach

Scuttlebutt — There’s no scuttle and no butt to this one, it’s a done deal.  Porter has been named the head coach at Memphis, his alma mater.

Willy Robinson
2009 team — Arkansas
2009 position — Defensive coordinator and secondary coach

Scuttlebutt — There are no rumors to report, only the speculation that Bobby Petrino might make a move on the defensive side of the ball considering just how poorly the Razorbacks’ defense has been in two years under Robinson.  If he was going to make a switch, however, it would seem that the time to announce such a move would have been this past week.  It looks like Petrino’s concern is getting better players for his defensive coaches to work with.

Kirby Smart
2009 team — Alabama
2009 position — Defensive coordinator and secondary coach

Scuttlebutt — Florida State was believed to be interested in talking to Smart about their defensive coordinator position, but it now appears that Georgia’s Richt will make a strong push for him.  Landing Smart would in theory strengthen the Bulldogs and weaken conference rival Alabama.  (Of course, most folks believe Nick Saban is the man that makes the Bama defense go.)  Two other notes to remember: Smart graduated from Georgia in 1999 and he also coached the Bulldogs’ running backs in 2005.

Charlie Strong
2009 team — Florida
2009 position — Defensive coordinator

Scuttlebutt — Strong has already had an interview with Louisville AD Tom Jurich.  He was also expected to speak with him again today by phone.  Jurich said of Strong “We’ve got a little more work to do.  I know Florida wants to keep him.”  According to sources close to the U of L program, we believe this race can be called.  If Strong wants the job, it’s his.

Sal Sunseri
2009 team — Alabama
2009 position — Linebackers coach

Scuttlebutt — It is believed that Sunseri has passed Smart on Florida State’s list of possible replacements for retiring defensive coordinator Mickey Andrews.  If Sunseri leaves for Florida State and Smart leaves for Georgia, Saban would have to do some serious reshuffling on his defensive coaching staff.  Sunseri joined Saban’s staff last year as a replacement for Lance Thompson, who departed for Tennessee.

Frank Wilson
2009 team – Tennessee
2009 position — Receivers coach

Scuttlebutt — A native of New Orleans, Wilson is on the move again.  He joined Tennessee’s staff just weeks after accepting the recruiting coordinator position at Mississippi State last year.  He will apparently handle those recruiting coordinator duties in Baton Rouge as well, marking his third SEC job in just over one year.  He is expected to handle the duties of running backs coach, too, filling the void left by Porter.

Phillip Fulmer and Tommy Tuberville
2009 team — none
2009 position — on the couch

Scuttlebutt — There’s been surprisingly little word about either coach.  Tuberville has been named a candidate at Virginia and is viewed as a potential fallback candidate at Louisville if Strong says no.  His name was also thrown out in connection with the defensive coordinator position at Georgia, but it’s awfully hard to imagine a former head coach at Ole Miss and Auburn would step down the ladder like that.  As for Fulmer, it is believed he put in a phone call (that lasted just 30 minutes) to Louisville’s AD last week.  Also, a columnist for The Chicago Sun Times poked fun at reports that the former Tennessee coach has been pushing for the Notre Dame job.  His name — like Tuberville’s — has been thrown out just barely in connection with the opening at Kansas.

Keep this in mind: if Brian Kelly leaves Cincinnati for Notre Dame, would Fulmer or Tuberville be interested in taking over a program that does have some talent, plays in the soft Big East and resides in the fertile recruiting grounds of Ohio?  Would Cincinnati want to go in either of their directions?