Report: After Schiano Disaster, Tennessee Wants Mike Gundy, Sides Meeting on Tuesday

After Pat Jones said on Monday that Mike Gundy was offered the Florida Gators job last week, we have a new SEC East pursuer in the mix. According to multiple reports, Tennessee has contacted and is interested in Gundy.

Tennessee botched its hiring of Greg Schiano over the weekend in unprecedented fashion, but radio host Jimmy Hyams noted that Tennessee has locked in on an even better candidate (who also happens to wear orange).

With Duke's David Cutcliffe and Iowa State's Matt Campbell out of the picture, Tennessee has turned its coaching search focus to Oklahoma State coach Mike Gundy. Three sources told me UT has interviewed Gundy, perhaps in Dallas. UT offered Gundy in 2012 but he said declined.

— Jimmy Hyams (@JimmyHyams) November 28, 2017

What’s next in Tennessee’s American Idol-style coaching search? Look for Brohm and Gundy to be prime targets. https://t.co/49R1GDi32m

— Pete Thamel (@PeteThamel) November 28, 2017

Additionally, Robert Allen is reporting that Gundy will meet with Tennessee in Dallas on Tuesday morning.

Go Pokes knows that Gundy will meet with Tennessee athletic director John Currie at 11 am this morning (Tuesday) in Dallas. Gundy was in Oklahoma City recruiting on Monday and was asked by Tennessee to meet on that day but, Gundy told them he was busy. The two parties agreed to meet Tuesday in Dallas. Tennessee, after the debacle after trying to hire Greg Schiacno, is in a desperate mode to come up with a suitable football coach for their program and fan base. [Go Pokes]

We’ve been here before. Heck, it feels like we’re here every year. But we’ve been here before with Gundy and Tennessee. Back in 2012, before Butch Jones was hired in Knoxville, Gundy apparently almost took the job. Here’s Jeremy Fowler of CBS Sports on that saga.

Anyway, there were the Gundys on an early December night. Tennessee had approached him — more like applied a full-court press, actually. According to sources, Governor Bill Haslam and Browns owner Jimmy Haslam, a UT alum and Bill’s brother, were involved in the three-day courtship.

The Vols pursued Gundy and Louisville’s Charlie Strong, who both declined, before hiring Cincinnati’s Butch Jones. One of Gundy’s three sons was Googling Knoxville schools. Another asked him what a Volunteer was. He didn’t know, but for a moment, he thought he wanted to find out full-time.

“At some point, that’s where we thought we were going to go,” Gundy said.

He and wife, Kristen, weighed their options, then slept on it. He drove to work the next morning and realized he just couldn’t do it. He cared deeply about OSU, and he wanted to find common ground with athletic director Mike Holder. He called Tennessee and told them he was flattered but couldn’t take the job. [CBS Sports]

Things are more settled for Gundy now, though. He has a lifetime contract in Stillwater, and he recently told Guerin Emig of the Tulsa World that only silly money would compel him to leave.

“I’m rooted here,” he told the Tulsa World over the weekend. “Knock on wood, if you’re doing good, you get calls. I get calls every year. But my stability here is more than it ever has been.

“I’m very happy in the situation I’m in. But one guy said, ‘Well what if they call and give you a six-year deal at nine million dollars a year?’ I don’t know. I’d probably have to listen. You know? Something crazy.”

The problem now is that after the Schiano disaster, Tennessee might be desperate enough to give him $9 million. According to Robert Allen, anyway.

Robert Allen says on @TriplePlayRadio that Tenn is willing to double Gundy's salary ($4.2 mil)

— Kieran Steckley (@Kieran_Steckley) November 28, 2017

The concerning part, if there is one, is that you could always say before that Gundy was leveraging talk like that for a bigger, better contract in Stillwater (even last year with Baylor). Now he has that … so what exactly is he doing?

Allen noted that Gundy made Mike Holder aware of the meeting.