Source: Stoops to Auburn reports premature
Advertisement
A source close to the coaching staff at Florida State told Warchant.com that defensive coordinator Mark Stoops has not accepted the defensive coordinator position at Auburn as of Monday afternoon.
The source said that there has been contact between Stoops and Auburn but that no deal is in place. In fact, Stoops was out recruiting for Florida State on Monday afternoon.
Two Alabama radio stations reported earlier Monday that Stoops had accepted the position.
Another source close to the situation informed Warchant.com that Stoops and his family are happy at Florida State and have no intentions of leaving to take a similar position at another university.
The rumors of a possible move began last week after former Auburn defensive coordinator Ted Roof left his post to take the same position at UCF.
Asked last week if any other assistants had been contacted about other jobs, Fisher said there are "none that he is aware of" but acknowledged that preliminary discussions could be going on without his knowledge.
Stoops, who has directed a drastic improvement in his two seasons as FSU's defensive coordinator, has a contract that runs through the 2013 season. He is guaranteed $400,000 annually. He has a buyout of $75,000 if he leaves prior to the first year of the contract (by Jan. 4) and it drops to $50,000 after that.
Stoops, 44, came to Florida State after six years as the defensive coordinator at Arizona where he worked under his brother, former Arizona head coach Mike Stoops.
Stoops took a over a Florida State defense that one was of the nation's worst. The year previous to Stoops' arrival, the Seminoles ranked 110th in total defense (443.5 ypg) and 98th in scoring defense (30.8 ppg). While the talent level increased with stellar recruiting, so did the defense's production. FSU ranked 41st in total defense and 25th in scoring defense last year, and the improvement continued in 2011 as Stoops' unit ranks among the top 10 in every major defensive category.
It's that performance that has made Stoops a hot name in the coaching carousel and a name that Fisher thinks should be in demand.
"It's very hard," Fisher said last week when asked about staying patient and taking the right job. "I think that's one of the things that Mark is going through right now. People are interested, but just is he interested in the right job? You can take the wrong job and in four years you're right back … I mean people are interested in Mark being their head coach and have been. But there's been nothing that has really intrigued him, the right one."