Report: Gundy Offered UT Job

December 5th, 2012 10:14 AM║ Posted By: John Pennington ║ Permalink ║ Schools: Tennessee
Tags: Dave Hart, Louisville Charlie Strong, Mike Gundy, Oklahoma State, UT

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Earlier this morning we reported that sources close to Tennessee’s search and inside the college athletics industry have told us that Oklahoma State’s Mike Gundy is still very much in play for the Vols’ job. Moments ago, CBS’ Bruce Feldman tweeted the following:

Does that mean Gundy will accept the offer to coach in Knoxville and leave his alma mater? No. But it certainly lends more credence to the belief that Gundy is still option 1A while Louisville’s Charlie Strong is option 1B for UT athletic director Dave Hart.

And if Gundy does not take the UT job and instead stays in Stillwater with a raise and more power, expect Tennessee officials to say no offer was ever made.

UPDATE – While Feldman is reporting that Gundy has an offer from Tennessee and that friction between he and his boss are to blame (more on the “friction” here), a reporter for The Oklahoman newspaper is reporting that OSU’s sideline reporter — ya following all this? — has said on the radio that “Mike Gundy is staying at Oklahoma State… He has made a decision.”

Round and round she goes. Buckle in for another day of Twitter hype. At least now there’s just one SEC search for folks to discuss.

UPDATE II: Sources telling ESPN that Gundy is staying at Oklahoma State.

6 comments

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SevierVol

1 Like

Of the two coaches that still SEEM to be on UT's wish list,I could not agree more with VolTN.

VolTN

If this turns out to be true, I'm not happy. Gundy is a great coach, but he's great because of the offense that he runs in the Big 12 and not playing defense. Does that sound like it will work in the SEC against the LSUs, Bamas, and Floridas? I don't know. Strong was an SEC coach with great recruiting ties in Florida. I think Strong should have been 1 (no A or B), Fedora 2, and Gundy 3.

John at MrSEC moderator

@VolTN

The truth is, there's no telling what coach will be a hit or a miss at any SEC schools. Bobby Petrino certainly had success with an offense-first plan in the SEC. Texas A&M didn't seem to have many problems this year, either.

Malzahn, Bielema, Gundy, Strong, Stoops... all could be good. All could be bad. Heck, Gene Chizik turned out to be both good (in 2010) and bad (in 2012).

Thanks for reading the site,

John

VolTN

@John at MrSEC Depends on what we are talking about. Winning 10-11 games a year? Sure, Gundy could do that. Winning SEC Championships? I dunno when you go against the big defensive teams in the West or SC and Florida in the East.

And until Auburn wins a championship without a once in a lifetime player like Cam Newton, I'm not going to touch that 2010 Chizik win.

VolTN

@j_scott_o @John at MrSEC And 10-11 games might not win the SEC Championship either. Georgia didn't win it this year (11 wins) or last year (10 wins), Florida in 2009 (12), Arkansas in 2006 (10), and LSU in 2005 (10). So winning '10-11 games a year' doesn't automatically guarantee SEC Championships. It might work with a Gundy style offense in the SEC, but if he comes with that same defense that he has at OK State, I don't see a difference with what Dooley was putting out this year. Especially if you get to Atlanta and the Tide or Tigers are bringing a powerful defense.

And if the rest of college football has their way, the playoff won't matter if you don't win the SEC.

j_scott_o

@VolTN @John at MrSEC

Remember, "winning 10-11 games a year" has won the SEC Championship...most recently, this year. And, last year. And LSU even had two losses. And, keep in mind that in 2014, we have a 4 team playoff.