That gets him close enough to drive up for a visit with Tom and Cindy! Put down the gun Tom... I'm just kidding!!!
I heard the same thing this morning on drive time sports. But it was only one guy who was reporting "sources" say... But of their finalist... I like Kiffin the most. I wouldn't have been excited about either Major Applewhite or Tom Orlando as HC's and while Les Miles had a lot of success in the past I have to wonder if he's got the fire in his belly to do what you have to do to be successful at Houston. He wouldn't be able to just take names of the top players in a state loaded with talent like he could at LSU, he'd have to actually get out and beat the bushes and look for kids who were overlooked by B12 and SEC teams recruiting the area. Kiffin has experience and I think he's young enough to have the fire to go out and prove that his past failures are behind him. Unfortunately for Houston, if he has success like Briles, Sumlin and Herman he also will quickly become a hot commodity for a bigger job.
I absolutely agree with that. If he has success at Houston.... he will be at a major power somewhere within just a few seasons.
He'll have to be there 2 years to validate that he's ready for the next job. BTW on XM Sports last night they were talking about Mike Leach and how he's rebuilt the Cougars and that he'd be a perfect fit in the ACC. That esp if NCState job opens after next year.
There are stories out there now that say that the next coach will have to agree to a big buyout if he is to leave for another job. I doubt if that is much of a deterrent to taking the job though. Most of the big time jobs all come with so much salary these days that if the buyout was say 5M dollars it wouldn't stand in the way of many guys moving on...I think Mich when they hired RR had a 4M buyout from WVA, I forget who eventually paid it though. I promise you that if Saban had a 10M buyout when Texas thought he was coming, Alumni would have paid that for Nick.
Hopefully he has matured enough to handle the job this time. I heard that Houston wanted to put a big buyout in his contract so they don't lose him in a year or two. I do have mixed emotions, I thought he was an absolute disaster at Tennessee and he became a pariah after getting fired at USC. However people can grow up, let's hope for Houston's sake he has.
Major Applewhite announced as the Houston head coach, effective immediately, including coaching in the Las Vegas Bowl. I guess Kiffin didn't like the idea of the huge buyout?
I'm really shocked at this, not that Major is a bad hire but Kiffen would have been a home run type of hire. It has to be the buyout.
Chris Simms on Major Applewhite. ... ouch. http://tikiandtierney.radio.cbssports.com/2016/12/15/chris-simms-applewhite-treated-me-like-crap-at-texas/