Paul Zeise is in transit from Birmingham, but he offers a rather vague update.
There was quite a stir about an 8 p.m. (9 p.m. our time) team meeting tonight with Todd Graham and his players at Tulsa but I wouldn’t read too much into it as it is a meeting that has been scheduled for weeks and Graham has this meeting every year on the eve of the first day of classes.
But I think the good news about the meeting is we’ll know something more about his future plans by that point in the night or shortly thereafter as I would assume he would not meet with his players without being able to answer questions about whether he is going or staying.
That assumes a coach tells his players the truth. Something I refuse to believe anymore. But yeah, after the meeting there will be leaks. There will be information. Unreliable and untrustworthy as it may be.
Zeise may be just hoping so this all comes to an end, but he adds an important kernel of truth.
I don’t know if Pitt will or will not get this deal done (and my gut is his asking price is going to be just too high, especially considering the school’s usual way of doing business is to reward people who get the job done AT PITT as opposed to going out and paying big dollars for hired guns but I could be wrong and maybe Pitt is indeed ready to step up to the plate here) but it does certainly feel like we are going to have some clarity, at least in his candidacy, by days end and that is a good thing because this game of cat and mouse is officially getting old!!!
[Emphasis added.]
Mostly. The exception is if Chancellor Nordenberg is sold on the guy. Think Wannstedt in 2004, or Prosser in 2003. In both cases, Pitt was willing to make the financial commitment to meet the coaches desires when Nordenberg finally made that call.
That will be what we wait to find out. Has Chancellor Nordenberg been sold on Graham?
His comments to his players are very telling. Let the bidding war commence. If this would have been a done deal…tonight would’ve been goodbye to his troops.
Clever guy this Graham…I wonder if it’s haggling or if he is giving Tulsa a chance to up their number?
Time will tell…
DaveD
The minute the guy says I have to do what’s best for my family, I figure he’s gone if an offer comes along.
Agree, the whole thing that makes this interesting aspect to this is that Graham is known to do this type of thing to get more money from his existing school (see PZ’s blog).
Since he didn’t tell his guys he was leaving, does Pitt really want to play this game?
I am obviously speculating, but this really doesn’t sound like Pitt has a deal in place with him and not sure they want to be the second player in a bidding war.
DaveD
No, it doesn’t make him a loser. It is an example of an administration and football program relationship that is working… I am envious. He won with Flacco, after all.
My only issue with Bradley all along is that if he really wanted to make his mark he should left PSU a number of year ago to be the head coach at a lesser school and prove himself there first. I think he was comfortable at PSU in his current role until recently. (I know he threw his hat in the ring when Wanny was hired.)
Maybe the only other school he ever considered leaving PSU for is Pitt but since he is now talking to U Conn I gotta think that’s not the case.
I think more likely that he understands now that once Joe Pa kicks it (any-day now) he will be on shaky ground at PSU. They won’t turn it over to him (he may have been led to believe that would happen which would be a shame and none of this would apply) and whoever they hire may show him the door immediately to bring in their own people so he has to act now or deal with the consequences in the not to distant future.
None of this means he will be a bad coach but it does mean that he is the type of guy that won’t roll the dice unless he sees no other choices.
I always compare good coaches to good business men and there are very few good business men that won’t take a chance on their own ability to succeed.
If I were the Chancellor, I’d call the AD into my office and say, “This has gone on long enough. If Coach Bradley is good enough for the Rooneys, he’s good enough for me.”
Why listen to the Rooneys? Well, for one thing, they have a little thing called a track record. So does Steve Pederson.
It takes a wise man to know when he has a good thing, and to not move on just to prove he can.