On Nov. 12, Mike Bellotti acknowledged that he’d had contact with Colorado regarding their head-coaching vacancy and was at least mildly interested in the opening.
Nine days later, the former Oregon coach is not.
Speaking to the Denver Post Sunday, Bellotti said he’s no longer a candidate for the position made available by the firing of Dan Hawkins.
“At this point, the timing wasn’t right for me,” Bellotti told the paper. “And I’m not sure it’s the best fit. It’s a combination of all that. Colorado is a great job for anybody, and I didn’t want to stand in the way of focusing on somebody else.”
Bellotti said that his son being a junior in high school played a role in his decision to eschew the CU opportunity, but we’ll go out on a limb and say he caught official wind of the financial limitations of the CU athletic department and pulled his name from consideration.
It’s not much of a limb to go out on though, actually; Bellotti’s son was a junior in high school nine days ago when he initially said he was interested.
With Bellotti’s departure from the race, the Post reports that the top of athletic director Mike Bohn‘s to-do list includes Air Force’s Troy Calhoun, LSU’s Les Miles and former Colorado coach Bill McCartney.
We’ll also report -- again -- that multiple sources connected to the university continue to claim that Houston’s Kevin Sumlin is being pushed for the job by some around the program.