Clemson coaching search update

by David Hood - Senior Writer - Fri Jan 07 22:18:53 GMT-04:00 2011

CLEMSON – It’s been a crazy week – filled with rumor and fact – as Clemson head coach Dabo Swinney chases down replacements for the three coaches who have left the program.

Offensive coordinator Billy Napier and running backs coach Andre Powell were fired, while defensive ends coach Chris Rumph left to take a job at the University of Alabama.

In order to filter out a lot of the guesses and rumors, we’ve worked the phones all day – from Clemson to Tulsa to Fort Worth to Durham – to try and figure out what is really happening.

Here is what we know, and we’ll start with Marion Hobby. The Duke and former Clemson coach is in line to re-join the Clemson staff. We spoke with a source close to the situation, who said that as late as 8 p.m. Friday night that Dabo still expected to hire Hobby.

TCU Co-Offensive Coordinator Justin Fuente is in town today to interview for the offensive coordinator position. It’s interesting to note that sources close to the program at TCU seem to think that Fuente really doesn’t have a driving desire to join the Clemson staff. I was told that he has designs on being a head coach one day, and the 32-year old looks at this as an opportunity to sharpen his interviewing skills and possibly get a raise out of TCU.

Add in the fact that TCU head man Gary Patterson has signed a contract through 2018 and the Horned Frogs are moving into an AQ conference next season - the Big East - and Fuente looking to leave TCU is a longshot.

If that’s the case, then it looks like Swinney’s only real candidate to this point is Chad Morris, the offensive coordinator at Tulsa.

However, as we stated earlier this week, Morris is also a target of Oklahoma St. coach Mike Gundy. And the past 24 hours seemingly have also opened two more doors for him.

The University of Pittsburgh is looking for a new head coach, and while it looks like Penn St. defensive coordinator Tom Bradley looks like he has a good shot at getting the job, Tulsa head coach Todd Graham has also jumped into the competition.

Tulsa went 10-3 this season under Graham and defeated No. 24 Hawaii in the Sheraton Hawaii Bowl on Dec. 24th. Tulsa's explosive offense – led by Morris - went for more than 40 points seven times in 2010 and went for over 50 points on four occasions, and we were told by our Tulsa source that if Graham gets the job at Pitt, he would love to obviously take Morris with him.

Graham was also a candidate for the Pitt job following the firing of Dave Wannstedt and was interviewed but was believed to have been passed over due to a compensation dispute.

And finally, if Graham does get the Pitt job, our Tulsa guy said it wouldn’t be out of the realm of possibility that Morris could be considered a candidate for the head coaching job at Tulsa.

With all that said – it doesn’t look like Swinney is going to make a decision until he returns from the AFCA (American Football Coaches Association) Convention in Dallas, Texas. The convention starts Sunday and runs through Tuesday of next week.

Also, Jim Harbaugh has left Stanford to coach the NFL's San Francisco 49ers, and possible candidates could include Tulsa's Todd Graham, former Oregon coach Mike Bellotti, Eagles offensive coordinator Marty Morningweg, San Diego State coach Brady Hoke and former Seahawks coach Jim Mora, according to sources.

And yes, former Maryland head coach Ralph Friedgen contacted Swinney about the job, but as of yet, there hasn’t been any indication that Swinney is interested in pursuing Friedgen.