Tennessees coaching search took a wild turn Sunday, as the Vols went from nearly hiring Greg Schiano to back on the market searching for Butch Jones replacement.
Heres the latest from VolQuest.com.
We reported late Sunday night that Tennessee reached out to David Cutcliffe about its opening, and on Monday evening, ESPN.coms Chris Low reported that the Duke head coach told UT officials that he wasnt interested in the job.
With Cutcliffe out of the picture, Tennessee has turned its sights on Mike Gundy. The Oklahoma State emerged as a potential candidate Tuesday morning, but according to multiple sources, Tennessee did not interview Gundy in Dallas on Monday. The two parties have spoken, but there has been no face-to-face meeting at this point. Gundy interviewed for the Vols job in 2012 with former Tennessee athletics director Dave Hart in his home in Stillwater, but opted to stay at Oklahoma State. Gundy recently signed a five-year extension with his alma mater, increasing his salary to $4.4 million annually.
According to sources, athletics director John Currie was not in Knoxville on Monday, but the first-year AD did not formally interview any candidates yesterday.
Meanwhile, two names with Tennessee ties who continue to be mentioned around the search do not appear to be on Curries radar at this time. Former players have gone to bat for Southern Cal offensive coordinator Tee Martin, but theres been no formal contact between Tennessee officials and the former Vol quarterback, per sources.
Similarly, Lane Kiffin does not appear to be a candidate right now despite many pinning for a return to Rocky Top.
(Brent Hubbs, Rob Lewis and Austin Price contributed to this report)
