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| Thursday, January 4 Buckeyes have long list, no leading candidates ESPN.com news services | |||
| As soon as possible after the FedEx Orange Bowl game Wednesday night, Ohio State was expected to ask Oklahoma for permission to talk with Bob Stoops about the Buckeyes' head coaching job, ESPN's Chris Mortensen reported.
Ohio State is interested in checking on Stoops' availability and/or interest before moving on to other candidates.
At almost the same time that reports first started circulating that John Cooper was out, everyone started talking about who would be in as the Buckeyes' next coach.
The list of candidates mentioned on call-in shows and suggested
by reporters Tuesday ranged from the ridiculous to the obvious.
Ohio State athletics director Andy Geiger, who fired Cooper
after he spent 13 years with the Buckeyes, said he did not have a
list of his own.
"There's no inside track. There's not a leading candidate,"
Geiger said at a news conference announcing that Ohio State had
bought out the final three years of Cooper's contract for $1.8
million. "I prefer to be open-minded on these things and to get
the lay of the land and to learn about what's possible."
Geiger has appointed an advisory committee to help with the
search. But he said he would be seeking "the best possible fit"
in a coach instead of meeting a deadline.
The man who preceded Cooper as Ohio State's coach said it is
presumptuous of Ohio State fans to immediately assume that the
brightest coaching minds in the land will come calling on Geiger.
"Sometimes people around the country feel the coaching job at
Ohio State is much less desirable than what the people in Columbus
think it is," said Earle Bruce, the Buckeyes' head coach from 1979
to 1987.
Here is a partial list of names that may be under consideration
for the job:
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