Agree with all this. I cannot imagine having any actual stress over it, but it’s still quite strange we don’t have an OC by now.
I was thinking about the timeline.
- After job posted, resumes from coaches received
- Kirk made several phone calls prior to bowl prep, probably to coaches he felt fit the Hawks pro-style offense
- Chryst was probably the #1 target and after talks post bowl game an offer was made.
- Chryst said he wanted some time to mull over the offer (I've read a week, doubt it was that long). He discussed with wife, probably leveraged the offer to get more money at Texas, and decided he could ride the pine with $11M in the bank waiting for head job to come along.
- Now Kirk is looking at options #2, #3' and so on. I'm sure there had been conversations with them prior to Chryst saying no.
- A new offer has probably been put on the table, I'm sure. Probably closer to being a done deal, than we think.
Through this entire search, Kirk is looking for a coach that will stay until he retires (doesn't move around), fits the chemistry of the coaches at Iowa and runs a pro-style offense.
Thinking back, Kirk said that his focus all along was on the players and finishing the season. Every week was a huge challenge knowing the offense was a liability. Looking at the bags under Kirk's eyes late in the season, he spent a lot of long nights at the football complex.