Coaching Rumors: The Rumor Mill

This week we've been reviewing potential coaching candidates to replace Al Groh, who was fired on Sunday. Today we take a break from that process to see what names were kicked around the rumor mill this week. 

Coaching searches always engender rumors, quick blubs from a variety of places, somtimes citing unnamed sources, often based on nothing more than pure speculation.  When Virginia was searching for a replacement for Dave Leitao, the media cited a whole host of names, including Tubby Smith, Anthony Grant, and Jeff Capel.  Nobody mentioned Tony Bennett.
 
So take this for what its worth:

• Last week, Hootie was ready to name Boise State's Chris Petersen as the next head coach.  Jeff White, citing Jon Oliver, was amused by the story.  A local Idaho paper didn't buy it either.  But Hootie didn't back down.  Must be overcompensating for his Tubby Smith fixation during the last coaching search.
• ESPN was pushing a group of former Cav assistants: Temple's Al Golden, Richmond's Mike London, and Liberty's Danny Rocco.  SI also liked Golden and London, and also threw in a pair of coaches from the West: Petersen and Air Force Head Coach Troy Calhoun.   
• On Monday, the Washington Post proclaimed London as the front-runner.  I put a little more stock in this story since I know what it takes for the Post to run something like this.  Having said that, Larry, they've never exactly been plugged into the 'ville.
• Also on Monday, the Virginia Pilot plugged Al Golden while trying to temper expectations.
• On Tuesday, Doug Doughty threw Wake's Jim Grobe into the mix, along with Mike London.  Doug's always been good at throwing in names from the way-back machine.
• On Wednesday, the Daily Press noted Derek Dooley's comment that there isn't "much of a market out there for a three-win coach."  He's probably right.
• Also on Wednesday, a Charleston, SC paper connected the dots between UVA and Skip Holtz.  But later that day, Holtz was quick to quell that speculation.  On Thursday, Doug Doughty tracked down Terry Holland (ECU's AD), who said that he was not aware of any interest in Holtz from UVA. But Holland didn't say anything about interest from Notre Dame, who reportedly contacted ECU to talk to Holtz about their job opening.  Not really a fight UVA can win. 
• Also word on Wednesday that prize OL recruit Morgan Moses met with Craig Littlepage about his commitment in light of the coaching search.  His Fork Union Coach suggested that his commitment is secure "if Mike London is in the loop."  He mentions a few other names that Moses would be comfortable with.  Think the AD was listening?
• By Thursday, Hootie had backed away from his Peterson story.  He suggests he was the victim of misinformation (No, Jerry, that was your readers).  He also shoots down Jim Grobe as a possibility.  On top of the usual suspects, he does introduce a new name into the search -- Miami OC Mark Whipple.  But like too many of Hootie's stories lately, it isn't based on any solid information, so I don't know how much stock you put in his ruminations at this point.

That's all for the week.  While the initial vibe was towards an out-of-the-box candidate (based on little more than the out-of-left-field hire of Tony Bennett last time around), the longer this goes on, the more likely the more logical candidates - Mike London and Al Golden - seem to emerge from the wash.  I personally don't know who was more or less responsible for the recruiting success in Groh's early years (whether it was London, Golden, or even Rocco), but I hope Craig Littlepage does.

Hope you've enjoyed the more in-depth look at the candidates we've been running this week.  We'll continue those posts next week.