re: Was the BK hire a desperation hire after LR went to USC?

The timeline with SC really doesn’t matter much. It’s the firing of Ed that matters. I’m sure that SW had a good feeling for getting BK before he fired Ed. Then he just had to dot the I’s and cross the T’s. The rest was the waiting game.

SW said he was going after a whale and that is BK, not Riley. Riley may be a shark, or better yet a snake, but not a whale.

And the smoke with Riley was his agent getting his price up with USC.

I’m sure SW talked with several agents and had a #2 man on backup, but it wasn’t needed. He’s didn’t close any doors until he had BK fully committed. And he couldn’t announce anything due to ND having a shot at the playoffs.

The beautiful thing about all the smoke and everyone buying into it is pointed out in a quote attributed to Twain. “It’s Easier To Fool People Than To Convince Them That They’ve Been Fooled”.