re: Brian Oconnor not coming to lsu per Mainieri

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Vitello hired Sexton this year. Even if he doesn't want/take the LSU job, it's smart to wait to hear them out and to not sign what's on the table from Tennessee.

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One of my best friend's parents are nighbors of Sexton in Memphis. His brother is also married to Jimmy's brother's daughter, (Jimmy's brother works with/for Jimmy). My buddy's family is also very connected at Tennessee, several high ranking donors. He's very concerned about Vitello leaving. He said he's been told Danny White has dropped the ball and drug his feet with locking up Vitello's new deal and facikity upgrades, and LSU is definitely in play right now. He's also voiced his concern about Sexton being involved as it pertains to Tennessee. Sexton is a UT alum but he's never helped Tennessee land big name guys and has fricked them with some of their contracts (Pruitt, Butch). TIFWIW

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Even if he doesn't want/take the LSU job, it's smart to wait to hear them out and to not sign what's on the table from Tennessee.

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Of course. This might be the best leverage opportunity Vitello EVER has in his career:

(1) LSU is one of the very few schools in the nation that will commit significant resources, including a big HC salary, to the program. Even if the goal is to stay at Tennessee you want to use LSU to set the bar to reach as high as possible. And very few, if any, will set as high a bar as LSU.

(2) Vitello's "stock" may never be higher. Worst case scenario for him is this is just a tremendous season where everything came together that will never happen again. Best case is this raises the level of expectations at UT and the enthusiasm generated this season can never be matched.

These opportunities for career advancement don't come around often. So when they do you leverage them for all they are worth.