Junction

Alright, sorry that I’ve been posting things in short form but I don’t really see the need to fluff things up about this so I just try to give it to you guys as I hear it. I don’t have a lot of new stuff that I haven’t already posted so I’m going to mostly be summing up what’s happened today.

Not a One Man Show

Despite a number of reports earlier today, from every indication I’ve gotten the Aggies don’t plan on just sitting down with Sumlin and offering the job tonight and then shutting down the search. As I said yesterday, it sounds like A&M is going to meet with a number of candidates including Sumlin, Strong, and perhaps more and those meetings could be starting as early as tonight.

So who’s leading?

Well this really depends on who you talk to, but as of right now I think that Charlie Strong is the likeliest candidate. People around the situation like him for the same reason a lot of the fans do. He has SEC experience like Smart, with head coaching experience like Sumlin and he’s been around successful programs like both of them. As I said yesterday, he seems like a “best of both worlds” candidate.

Not only that, but beyond just being a good candidate, Strong believes the A&M job is a “destination job” and is making a big behind the scenes push for the job.

That’s not to say he’s a shoe in, from what I hear the Aggies plan on sitting down with Sumlin of course, and the UH coach certainly brings a lot to the table despite today’s outcome.

I wouldn’t completely count out Kirby Smart at the moment, there’s a good chance the search could go beyond just the two coaches mentioned and could also possibly still include Southern Mississippi’s Larry Fedora. Fedora certainly has friends arond Texas A&M, and would also like the be the head coach at Texas A&M.

With all of the names popping up around the search you can see that it’s nost just “homerism” when reporters say that A&M’s is one of the most desirable coaching jobs in the country.

Timeline

I’ve heard a lot of different timelines out there, but here’s what I can gather. I think the Aggies are going to work hard to meet with guys this weekend, and I think we’ll have a pretty good idea “unofficially” by the middle of next week. Frankly I’ll be really surprised if it goes further than that. However, an A&M spokesperson told me tonight at the basketball game that the timeline "isn't that compact" as people have been saying.

Byrne’s Involvement

As Brent Zwerneman reported earlier, I’m also hearing that Bill Byrne is part of the interview process, however, it’s unclear how much of a factor in the decision he’s really going to be. However, it’s worth noting that he’s not completely out of the picture as some have said.