Miami Herald: Arizona’s Stoops on Hurricanes’ list of candidates
by Anthony Gimino on Nov. 30, 2010, under Sports
Mike Stoops is 40-43 in his seventh season at Arizona. Photo by Chris Morrison, US-PRESSWIRE
The University of Miami is still in pursuit of former NFL coach Jon Gruden to replace the fired Randy Shannon as its football coach, but Arizona’s Mike Stoops is among the reported fallback candidates.
The Miami Herald reported that Gruden is the Hurricanes’ top priority. According to the story:
Meanwhile, UM has put together a list of other candidates that it has interest in if Gruden says no. That list includes Mississippi State’s Dan Mullen, Stanford’s Jim Harbaugh, Connecticut’s Randy Edsall, Utah’s Kyle Whittingham and Arizona’s Mike Stoops, plus at least two others names, sources said.
My reaction: I can’t believe Stoops is quite the splash Miami would be looking for, especially given the Cats’ 0-3 swoon in November, but “Stoops” is definitely brand-name material in the state of Florida.
Mike’s older brother Bob was a defensive coordinator for Steve Spurrier at Florida, and younger brother Mark had a successful stint as Miami’s secondary coach and is having success as the first-year defensive coordinator at Florida State.
Mike Stoops (40-43 in nearly seven seasons) has done an excellent job of taking the wreckage of the John Mackovic era and fashioning the Arizona program into a winner, three years in a row. But the question with Stoops remains: Has he found his level with seven- and eight-win regular seasons … or does he have the stuff for elite status?
If Miami has to work its way down the list, maybe the Hurricanes would think that answer is yes.
But, for now, I’m putting this in the long shot category.
