Sunday evening, the Washington Post reported that Gus Malzahn had accepted Vanderbilt’s offer to become their new head coach.
The school later denied the report, but was hopeful that the report would be accurate very soon. Now, it appears, it was a false hope on the part of the Commodores.
According to AuburnSports.com, and citing an unnamed source, Malzahn, if he has not already, planned to turn down the lucrative offer by the Commodores. The contract believed to be on the table is reportedly worth in the neighborhood of $3 million annually, which would’ve made the Auburn offensive coordinator one of the ten highest paid coaches in college football. It appears that Malzahn didn’t feel that Vandy was the right fit at the right time.
The website also reports that Auburn is prepared to give Malzahn a raise that would put his annual compensation at more than $1.3 million. A source told the site that Malzahn is expected to accept the raise from the Tigers and stay on Gene Chizik‘s staff at Auburn.
If this latest report is accurate and Malzahn is indeed no longer in the mix, it would appear that Maryland offensive coordinator James Franklin would become the front-runner. Stanford assistant Greg Roman, one of two finalists for the job, reportedly pulled his name from consideration yesterday, although it’s unclear if he did that because it was believed Malzahn was taking the job.