Now it's picking up

It looks like this week will set the tone for the future of the Colorado Buffalo football program, as the entire regular season has ended (except Army-Navy) and CU should hire a new coach soon, and actually needs one in place ASAP for recruiting purposes.  This is also true of many of the other programs, so some candidates will come off the list.  Of course, new openings will occur as coaches start to move up the domino chain.  NCAA “headhunter” Chuck Neinas has not been hired, but has done some informal consulting with Mike Bohn and without giving any specifics, said that there are some very good coaches interested in Colorado. Will Mike Bohn be able to pay enough and bullshit enough to lure a decent name and coaching talent here, or will he settle for a lesser name with less pizzazz and experience, and salary (again)?  The list isn’t necessarily narrowing yet, with new names even being added, but here is what people are discussing in newspapers, websites and blogs:

Take Gary Anderson off the list as Utah State has rewarded him with a new contract extension, security, money for assistants.  He is a lifetime Utahn and many thought it would be hard to lure him away, especially with two of his sons on the team, which is on the verge of a possible BCS berth next year.

It looks like Butch Jones is definitely leaving Cincinnati; we are just not sure who will win his sweepstakes.  He is set to visit Boulder as early as Monday, but is also scheduled to visit Purdue first on Sunday; a few sources are reporting they have already hired him and will announce him as coach on Sunday.  Boilermaker fans can’t believe he would ever pick CU’s pathetic situation to their just bad situation.  Bohn may never get his chance to make his pitch-it is always best to be the first stop on a free agent’s tour to try to keep him from leaving without signing.

Ralphie Report’s Jon Woods thinks that, without Anderson, Fresno State’s Tim DeRuyter (who has indeed expressed interest) and San Jose State’s Mike MacIntyre (as more of the “plan B” guy) are the top candidates to eventually land in Boulder.  These are two of the “lesser” names out there, but all the more likely to actually take a chance with Colorado; this is probably more true for MacIntyre, who has at least garnered a raise out of the attention, but who would definitely being making a big move up.  DeRuyter could probably afford to be a little more patient.

Charlie Strong is still being talked about in connection with Colorado, but even with their top offer (they reported have actually discussed up to $3.2M with him), it would barely be more than what he is already making at Louisville.  I find it hard to believe that someone, specifically one of the SEC schools, won’t offer him much bigger dollars and a much more attractive program to lead.

Louisiana Tech’s Sonny Dykes is reportedly interviewing at Cal this weekend, is still being mentioned across the country, and I have not heard anything specific connecting him to Colorado, so I would consider this doubtful as well.

Mississippi’s Dan Mullen is now being mentioned as a candidate, which doesn’t even seem like a lateral move, let alone an upward trajectory for him, unless he is just sick of competing against so many powerful SEC schools.  A MSU site scoffed at the idea of him leaving for Colorado, or anywhere, even “higher” up in the SEC at somewhere like Tennessee, in the near future.  I would be surprised if he isn’t already making well over $2M there anyway and even more surprised if he moves to Boulder.

Wake Forest’s Dan Grobe is also being talked about.  Although he has had excellent success and has led Wake’s best four-season stretch ever, and this might even be seen as an improvement career wise, I do not know what ties he has out west for recruiting.

BYU’s Bronco Mendenhall’s name is still also out there and Miami’s Al Golden (that would be huge so I won’t get my hopes up) is suddenly surfacing in rumors around Colorado.  Besides a substantial pay raise, one reason he might be interested in CU is that BYU’s “Honor Code” is a bigger recruiting limitation than any of Colorado’s issues or restrictions.

Mines coach Bob Stitt has said he is interested in the OC position.

I have not really mentioned any coordinators for the head coaching position, since Bohn has stated that he wants a recent, if not current head coach, nor is anyone locally or connected to the university talking about any coordinators.  Since I don’t trust Bohn any farther than I can throw him (and he’s not a small guy), that is probably what ends up happening.

CU Assistant coaches are still recruiting, preaching the positives of Boulder and the University of Colorado.  Kanavis McGhee supposedly has visited highly rated greyshirt Kisima Jagne. [I am pretty sure that greyshirts are still technically unsigned, and their scholarships do not necessarily need to be honored.]  I have not heard of anyone de-committing (although a few verbals have said they are planning to take visits elsewhere as well), nor anyone else saying they are taking CU off their list.