Even before ESPN’s Adam Schefter broke Tuesday’s news that NFL Network analyst Steve Mariucci had emerged as a candidate to be Southern Cal’s next head coach, there was talk on Twitter that Mooch visited USC headquarters on Monday.
Michael C. Wright, of the Florida Times Union, has been a hot reporter of late. A Jaguars beat writer, Wright was all over the Jack Del Rio situation in Jacksonville and beat the “national media” to the punch by predicting for nearly two weeks that Del Rio wouldn’t leave.
On Monday evening, Wright tweeted the following:
“I’m hearing a report about a Steve Mariucci sighting on USC’s campus. Interesting.”
Interesting it is, especially after ESPN’s John Clayton joined Schefter in reporting/asserting on Tuesday’s edition of SportsCenter that Mariucci has a real chance at the job.
Mariucci has been connected to several head-coaching openings over the last few years, including Michigan State after John L. Smith’s firing, UCLA post-Karl Dorrell, and the Washington Redskins pre-Jim Zorn.
With Southern Cal running dangerously low on worthwhile candidates, the Trojans may have to “settle” for a fall-back option that’s been out of the coaching ranks since 2005.