THE LATEST: (11 p.m.) FOX Sports is now reporting that Jeff Capel has returned to the top of Georgia's wishlist. The story also says that Frank Haith is next on Damon Evans' radar. Again, I had been told that yesterday, but as time has passed, I'm more and more wary of the accuracy of that.
MORE: Missouri has put out a release saying that a deal is, in fact, done with Anderson. It is for seven years and various reports have it at 1.6 million with incentives that could take it to around 2.3 million per year. I'll have more shortly.
BIG UPDATE: (8:45 p.m.) Missouri's Rivals.com site is reporting that Mike Anderson has reached an agreement to remain at Missouri.
UPDATE (7:15 p.m.): OK, so this is old news since I spent the past hour doing football interviews, but Calipari has accepted the Kentucky job, according to CBS Sports.
How does that affect UGA? Well, it adds another potential bidder for Mike Anderson's services. The media around Missouri, however, seems to think Anderson isn't going anywhere, and for what it's worth, Georgia quarterback (and Missouri native) Logan Gray agrees. "I think Missouri's got a good basketball program rolling right now, and they've got some awesome basketball facilities," Gray said. "But I read Georgia was going to offer him something like $2.2 million, and it's about the money, I guess."
See... even during football practice I'm still working the hoops story!UPDATE (2:18 pm): A Memphis TV station (which we know can be a bit unreliable) is reporting that John Calipari has decided to head to Kentucky. This was the next domino to fall. Now we wait and see if Memphis gets involved in the Mike Anderson sweepstakes.
UPDATE (12:55): Sources close to the situation confirmed that preliminary discussions have occurred between Georgia and Anderson, but that no official offer has been made, which fits with the AJC's story quoting Jimmy Sexton, Anderson's agent.
UPDATE: ESPN's Andy Katz is also floating two more names out there for the job: Clemson's Oliver Purnell and Miami's Frank Haith. To unravel the mystery I started yesterday, I'll add that Haith was the name I had heard most often yesterday. There is definitely not an offer on the table for him, but I would be willing to bet that Katz's sources on that know what they are talking about.
The AJC reports that Anderson's agent said the reports that Georgia offered the job are false.---
ESPN is reporting that Missouri's Mike Anderson received an offer last night from Georgia somewhere near $2 million per season.
It isn't known whether Anderson will or has accepted. Regardless, Georgia appears to have its guy, and I'm told there are options should they swing and miss on this one. Either way, there should be a coach in place within the next couple of days.
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27 comments:
How long does he have to decide? Are we the leverage in his negotiations with Memphis? Lot of Drama left in this one
Memphis has matched UKs offer. Be surprised if Cal stays, but it sure would play nicely into Evans' hands.
If the "drama" ends sooner rather than later, I sure would be happy.
This is great news, but I too am interested in knowing how long he has to decide. I'm not sure that he would hold out for Memphis, as that would be a step down in conference prestige for Anderson, but it would be nice if Calipari stayed put.
per AJC sports editor tweet, no offer has been made to Anderson, per his agent.
If this is the case Parker is doing a poor job on the privacy part, it would appear.
DHale - I hope this backup plan is something other than Purnell. Both he and Haith would be the equivalent of sitting at the head table, only to have a waiter come escort you back to the table by the kitchen door.
Ouch!
Miami's coach - are freakin' kidding me?
DH,
Can you give us some insight on who Haith and Purnell are and what makes them good candidates? What, if anything, is Damon Evans saying about all of this? Will it be hush-hush until someone has officially agreed to terms?
Damon is saying absolutely nothing until a contract is signed. I wouldn't expect anything different.
I honestly haven't heard much about Purnell other than some minor rumblings a few weeks back. I'd be surprised by that one.
Haith I have heard a lot about recently. He's a strong recruiter, but he hasn't won big at Miami. I think fans will be initially disappointed by him if that's the way things shake out, but I also think he has been hamstrung by a lack of resources at Miami. I think he could do a pretty good job here.
I still believe, however, that Anderson is the guy they want, and money won't be much of an object. The question then becomes -- is money all that matters to Anderson?
Well, but if Calipari goes to UK and Memphis offers more to Anderson...does this mean we are out of it, or would Anderson take less because we are SEC and we have such huge potential with recruiting?
What the hell are we waiting on? Why hasn't an offer been made. And if that's true then why did Sexton say that Mike is sorting his offers out?
My guess is that there is a slight but crucial difference between a "preliminary discussion" and an "official offer" in which the conversation is essentially the same but no one's feelings get hurt if it doesn't work out.
Simmer down. Evans is doing his job and Sexton is doing his. There's an understanding of where the negotiating will begin.
We're waiting on Calipari to wake up after sleeping on his offer.
I believe Calipari to lexington is official now.
Sexton, pronounced say-tin, is doing his thing with the prybar
An offer probably has been made. There may even have been an agreement not to let on that one was made until Anderson accepts, because then if he chooses Memphis instead, we do not look jilted--we never officially offered.
Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa... let's all remain gentlemen (and ladies) here. No need to turn into a name-calling affair. I don't think anyone meant any offense.
But, Dave, temperatures are runnin' hot, man! We want our coach that no one thought we'd be able to get!!! :)
Correction: no one thinks we can get.
Sure thing Dave.
Anon 3:12, apologize if you were offended. If you find a way to identify yourself, I'll be sure not to respond to any more of your comments/questions.
You know what I'm encourage by? It's obvious now that UGA in not "just" a football school. If we were there wouldn't be this many fans interested like they are. I like the passion for our bball coach. Maybe this will spark us to actually recruit ATL and the state of GA successfully! Is it true that our new basketball facilities are top-notch? How do they compare to our rivals?
I hope we aren't hell bent on hiring a coach by Friday.
If we don't get Anderson, Damon needs to hit the reset button on the coaching search by looking around some more and rethinking who our candidates should be. I sure don't want either Purnell or Haith. I'd rather have an "unproven" mid-major coach with potential than either of those two.
I seriously doubt Haith is even on the radar. His people seem to be pushing him very hard, but based on the silence (prior to today) with everyone but Haith I am sure he is not in the game. His people sure aren't playing by Damon's silence rule.
Hamilton or Purnell would be an upgrade over Felton in recruiting only. They play the same styles, just with better players,. Which would be an improvement, especially if their recruits' shelf lives in Athens break the 18 month mark.
I do not believe for a minute we are out of it with Anderson. FIrst Memphis over UGA, now AZ over UGA, sounds like they have a real problem with UGA in MO. Anderson understands you have to have players and we have a better backyard for recruiting than AZ or MO, or Memphis for that matter.
I, for one, will not get down on Evans before a hire has been made. Shot, I won't get down on anything until the new coach has had a chance to make an impact. But I am just a dyed in the wool homer that thought we may repeat in the tourney:-)
Good story on carousel out of Arkansas
http://www.arkansasbusiness.com/sports_blog_post.asp?pID=4342
Heard Schlabach say this afternoon that he thought between Mizzou, Memphis and UGA - MA would pick UGA.
food for thought. Now that JC has accepted UKs position, we'll see what develops.
dang...we may not get a coach *sigh*
maybe damon will call me up and i can coach. i will only charge 1/10 of what felton did, and i bet i can win at least as many SEC games as he did...
I'm floating the Andy from Athens as the next coach rumor now!
Andy, lol.
So with incentives a possible 2.3m for 7 years. That, his track ercord, facilities and fan base made it pretty much a no brainer.
I have no problem at all with how this played out. I wish we would have got him, and I hate that we were rejected publicly, but 2.1m was a very strong offer. Damon's phone should start ringing.
I do not remember if it was you, DH, or PWD, but the Sexton factor played out, he got his guy a roughly 275% increase for SEVEN years.
Can't believe all these people are saying Damon dropped the ball.
Did Dooley drop the ball when Glen freaking Mason turned us down for FOOTBALL?
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