I know there isn't an actual coaching vacancy in Syracuse, and we're apparently not supposed to talk about it until there is for some arbitrary reason even though we all know there will be one soon, but it's officially time to keep tabs on the situation and the viable candidates for the job. One such viable candidate just became slightly more viabler (word?). Lane Kiffin, long rumored as a DOCTOR Gross-approved choice for the job is officially without employment. (HT: Sportzbelle) And if you don't believe ESPN, you can probably trust this site. Whether or not that means anything for SU remains to be seen. Gross has gone on record to say that IF there was a coaching vacancy, Kiffin would be on his short list. Then again, ESPN's Bruce Feldman thinks Kiffin would be better off with a different orange squad:
There's a lot of speculation tying Lane Kiffin to the potential Syracuse opening. I have a hunch that if Kiffin is coaching a team in orange next year, it might be more likely to be the Tennessee Vols. UT could do a lot worse. Kiffin would bring some much-needed new energy and ideas to Knoxville.Meanwhile Football Rumor Mill seems pretty locked on to Mike Locksley so far. He's posted not but two different notes about how the Illinois OC is the leading candidate. I did a profile on Locksley last year when the possibly arose. In fact, I know they're slightly outdated but here's some links to all of the candidate profiles we did last year that are still viable:
George O'Leary
Randy Edsall
Larry Coker
Norm Chow
Dan Mullen
As for the rest of the possibilities, they're all doing terrible. Skip Holtz went from being out of our league to calling us on a daily basis in two weeks. Al Golden's Temple Owls are 1-4. Turner Gill is doing a good job on paper in Buffalo but his schedule is a monster and they're 2-3.
Long way to go on this. Not that we're supposed to be talking about this, mind you...