The CheckerBoard

Brian Kelly was an excellent choice at the time. Do u think he would have accepted an offer from Hamilton?

1. Make a better hire than Lane Kiffin, and

2. Do a better job of negotiating the contract of whatever coach you hire, such that making a jump after year one to another program is a practical impossibility, as opposed to the cheap buyout Kiffin had.

After both of the above, Hamilton was in an impossible position. Bad timing. Program in shambles. And big money donors wanting Hammy fired and telling him no on a big bucks hire. Pearl's NCAA troubles may have sealed the deal, but he was practically a dead man walking the second Kiffin left.

Nice man, and good basketball hires, but a disaster for the FB program.

I had the same memory. I thought he removed himself from consideration before Kiffy became Hamilton's declared love interest. But at that point, IMO, Hammy pretty much had to say he got the only man he ever wanted, in his mind, because to admit he swung and missed at as many as 5 names would be embarrassing.