Fisher to LaTech is now the hot rumor. Don't know where he'll end up, but it won't be at LSU next year.
A sideways move doesn't help Jimbo. He's got top money and a multi-year contract here. LSU has the talent that Jimbo trained and the schedule for a championship run next year. LSU remains the best springboard to the head coaching job that Jimbo wants.
I'm a big fan of Dandy Don...........Just to give him a plug, he's having his annual fundraiser if anyone is interested in donating to help enable him to continue in his great coverage of LSU athletics. :thumb: http://www.dandydon.com/important2006.html I've never met him personally but he's given me a lot of guidance and help with a Jr. quarterback at the school at which I work. At the risk of being tacky, I owe him that much.
The BOT runs both Alabama and UAB, why would they not approve a deal for Fisher for $600,000, but they will approve a deal with Coach Rod for 2 million? Sounds like our friends in Tuscaloosa don't want the UAB boys to compete with them.
Here's a bit more background on how the Bama trustees killed the deal: http://www.al.com/sports/birminghamnews/ks....xml&coll=2 UAB had Fisher until trustees sacked deal Friday, December 15, 2006 Why is Jimbo Fisher not going to be the new head football coach at UAB? Sounds like the same reason Pat Sullivan is going to be the new coach at Samford instead of UAB. The Alabama trustees said no. Those guys shoot down UAB coaching candidates faster than coaching candidates knee-cap Alabama. Multiple sources close to the deal said the trustees said no to hiring Fisher and paying him a base salary of about $600,000 a year. Never mind that this was a done deal in the minds of both Fisher and the UAB administration. A UAB official told Fisher and an intermediary several times that he was the only coach on the school's radar. Both sides believed members of UAB's search team were going to fly Thursday to Baton Rouge to finalize a deal with the LSU offensive coordinator and bring him back to Birmingham. Both sides believed Fisher would be introduced as UAB's new coach at a press conference today. The search team never made the scheduled trip. The trustees said no to Fisher and a $600,000 base salary, similar to what UAB pays basketball coach Mike Davis, and one trustee said they based their position on fiscal responsibility. Never mind that two prominent local business leaders pledged up to $300,000 to help pay Fisher. That money, plus what UAB had been paying Watson Brown, would cover Fisher's salary. That's not unusual in Conference USA. One insider familiar with the contracts of two C-USA football coaches said both of their salaries are covered, in part, with money from sources outside of the program itself. Schools at that level can't pay the going rate for coaches without financial help from friends of the program. UAB was going to get that help, but UAB wasn't allowed to accept that help. Why not? And why are trustees as involved as they are in the coaching searches at both UAB and Alabama? Trustees are not supposed to hire and fire football coaches. Not long ago, Auburn got in hot water with its accrediting agency, in large part, because of trustee micromanagement of athletics. Where is SACS when the board's heavy hand appears to rear its ugly head at Alabama? It is the board's job to help its schools maintain fiscal sanity, and it is true that UAB football has to cut corners where it can. And it does. It's also financially sound to hire a coach who will win games, which will grow the fan base, which will increase revenue. Paying a fair salary to the right coach is an investment as much as an expense. Fisher would not have been the highest-paid coach in Conference USA, but he could've been the right coach for UAB. He already was generating a positive buzz for the Blazers, and some of the school's supporters and administrators alike suspect that buzz didn't please some trustees. Some UAB supporters and administrators suspect some trustees still don't want UAB football to exist, let alone succeed. Every time you want to dismiss their conspiracy theory, something happens to support it. Now Fisher may wind up as the new offensive coordinator at Florida State. UAB will end up with a coach who comes cheaper than Fisher. Cheaper usually isn't better.
Bama politics, you gotta love it!!! I'm pretty sure (beyond the Trustee thingy) that the President of UAB also reports directly to the Chancellor of the University of Alabama. "Keep that damn barndoor closed"
It was just a wild guess on my part, I didn't know it was true. Wow, what a very sad state of affairs.