Morning links: what I’m hearing
I know people are getting antsy about WSU's search for a defensive coordinator – my Twitter followers certainly are – and it's been a pretty tight-lipped search, so I thought I would update everybody on what I think I know.
Admittedly, it's not as much as you'd like.
First off, the consensus seems to be that this is a bad time to be in the market for a defensive coordinator. There is a lot of competition for the top candidates and we've seen the result of that in recent days as some coaches that were linked to or thought to be good fits at WSU have taken jobs elsewhere.
I mentioned early in the search that I believed the Cougars would reach out to Manny Diaz, for example, and FootballScoop.com seemed to back that up last weekend. Then Diaz signed a three-year contract at Mississippi State with an average annual salary $600,000. Monetarily, that's a better deal than I think the next WSU defensive coordinator is going to get.
Here is the good news: It sounds like the Cougars do have a preferred candidate and he's coming in this week to interview, probably on Thursday. From what I've been told, the hope is to hire someone young and hungry, preferably one that will bring a lot of pressure with the front seven.
If that candidate isn't a match, perhaps the Cougars will meet with coaches at the annual AFCA Convention in Louisville, Kentucky, which begins next Monday. However, at that point time will be getting tight. I'm sure WSU would prefer to have someone in place by next Wednesday, the last day of the recruiting dead period.
Now on to those links.
*At 11 a.m. we'll be holding our weekly live chat.
-- Ernie Kent met with the media yesterday to talk about the upcoming game at Washington. Here is our transcript of his remarks.
-- Percy Allen's got a transcript, too.
-- The Pac-12 Blog has been looking at some of the top individual performances in 2014. Yesterday they chose Connor Halliday's record-setting day against California.
-- Ernie Kent is trying to raise $100,000 to help Team Gleason.
-- The NCAA is going to allow the College Football Playoff to foot the travel expenses for players' parents.
