re: Tennessee Interviews Mike Gundy

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Jamie Satterfield? @jamiescoop Follow Follow @jamiescoop More Pilot Flying J CEO Jimmy Haslam's voice is heard for the first time today in federal court via secret recordings of a training session for staffers at which fraud was taught. I have the latest on @knoxnews Facebook now, story tonight

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That already happened almost 11 years ago to the day when some Alabama people and Paul Finebaum in particular revolted against Rich Rod being hired. It wasn't necessarily a big revolt because a lot of Alabama people were fine with hiring him but the deal got nixed last minute. That ended up turning out pretty well in the end...lol

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There are numerous theories as to why Rodriguez backed out of a verbal agreement to coach Alabama.

The most popular theory, at least on the Internet, is Rodriguez's wife, Rita, put the kibosh on moving to Tuscaloosa. The theory goes that Rita Rodriguez heard Finebaum making fun of her on his show, and was turned off by the idea of having to deal with that on a consistent basis. Finebaum has long disputed the claim - he even addressed it in his book "My Conference Can Beat Your Conference" - and said it came from a rival radio host and message boards. Rapoport, who had a source inside the proceedings, said Rodriguez's wife was absolutely on board.

"She was coming," he said. "They were all coming. He just changed his mind and stayed."

Rodriguez, who wasn't made available for this story, has always denied it was ever a done deal. In a 2013 interview with Campus Insiders, Rodriguez said it was "close, " but he never agreed to a deal.

"We talked a little bit, and they offered the job," Rodriguez said. "I was obviously very flattered and doing my due diligence, but never once did I say I was going to take the job.

"If my agent at the time had said, 'He's very, very interested. I think he's going to do it,' he may have said that, but he was never told by my direction to say that. I don't think he did. But I think there was an assumption that 'He's going to go from West Virginia and take that Alabama job. Are you kidding me?' And I didn't. I never told them I was going to take it."

The actual truth is West Virginia mega boosters, including Arizona Diamondbacks managing partner Ken Kendrick, asked Rodriguez Dec. 7 what it'd take to get him to stay. By the next day, West Virginia and its boosters were offering him a big raise and facility improvements.

Rapoport believes he may have unwittingly played a part in Rodriguez's decision to the detriment of his report.

"I know that reporting it that night gave West Virginia boosters an opportunity to raise money and get Rich Rodriguez a new contract," he said. "If I stayed quiet and he just went to tell his team the next day, my guess is he'd probably still be Alabama's coach."

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Chris Low?Verified account @ClowESPN 2m

Tennessee AD John Currie has made his pitch to Mike Gundy today in Dallas. Oklahoma State is home for Gundy, but he talked last week by phone with Peyton Manning and was impressed. Vols are prepared to make Gundy one of the SEC’s highest paid coaches if he takes the job.

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