Happy Holidays and Merry Christmas everyone. Here are some nuggets.
-- Before Mike Riley's hire was official, I was told that Jonathan Smith was the one who really pursued Riley coming back on staff, but I guess there's a narrative out there that it was the other way around -- Riley really pursued the job. I was told this week that it was very mutual. They both wanted to make Riley's second return to Corvallis work, and I think they hit a home run by having Riley as an assistant head coach.
-- Riley had some big schools out there want him to join their staffs. I know for certain that UCLA offered him a job, but Riley turned down the offer from Chip Kelly.
-- I've talked to some people that had knowledge of the coaching search (donor-esque sources), and the names I've basically confirmed that interviewed for the job are Jonathan Smith, Beau Baldwin, Lance Anderson, Cory Hall, and Brady Hoke. I reported that Anderson interviewed for the job after it happened, but another OSU website said that the interview did not happened. They were wrong. Also, Bronco Mendenhall never had a deal close to becoming OSU's head coach. That report was also very wrong. From what I've been told, Mendenhall never even interviewed for the job.
-- Remember the footballscoop report that Beau Baldwin would be OSU's head coach? Well that was bogus. The footballscoop guys are good, but they were wrongly sourced on that one. When they put out that news, I heard that night Baldwin was seen with large bags leaving their game that weekend, so it seemed like Baldwin was packing up his things. I thought the news was legit. But it wasn't obviously.
-- I learned that the "high-ups" whether it be donors or former players or what have you, favored Smith over Baldwin during the search. I'm told by a source with knowledge of the search that Baldwin was a "viable" candidate but Smith was the primary target.
-- January will be big for Oregon State recruiting. They will have some big recruiting weekends. After Christmas, I will post content breaking down the remaining targets that we currently know about. I'm sure there will continue to be new names that pop up.
-- Before Mike Riley's hire was official, I was told that Jonathan Smith was the one who really pursued Riley coming back on staff, but I guess there's a narrative out there that it was the other way around -- Riley really pursued the job. I was told this week that it was very mutual. They both wanted to make Riley's second return to Corvallis work, and I think they hit a home run by having Riley as an assistant head coach.
-- Riley had some big schools out there want him to join their staffs. I know for certain that UCLA offered him a job, but Riley turned down the offer from Chip Kelly.
-- I've talked to some people that had knowledge of the coaching search (donor-esque sources), and the names I've basically confirmed that interviewed for the job are Jonathan Smith, Beau Baldwin, Lance Anderson, Cory Hall, and Brady Hoke. I reported that Anderson interviewed for the job after it happened, but another OSU website said that the interview did not happened. They were wrong. Also, Bronco Mendenhall never had a deal close to becoming OSU's head coach. That report was also very wrong. From what I've been told, Mendenhall never even interviewed for the job.
-- Remember the footballscoop report that Beau Baldwin would be OSU's head coach? Well that was bogus. The footballscoop guys are good, but they were wrongly sourced on that one. When they put out that news, I heard that night Baldwin was seen with large bags leaving their game that weekend, so it seemed like Baldwin was packing up his things. I thought the news was legit. But it wasn't obviously.
-- I learned that the "high-ups" whether it be donors or former players or what have you, favored Smith over Baldwin during the search. I'm told by a source with knowledge of the search that Baldwin was a "viable" candidate but Smith was the primary target.
-- January will be big for Oregon State recruiting. They will have some big recruiting weekends. After Christmas, I will post content breaking down the remaining targets that we currently know about. I'm sure there will continue to be new names that pop up.
