Obviously he blew it with the handshake offer. Plus it took to long to get to Sitake. Didn’t have the guts or instincts to go with a lower level coach or a Power 4 coordinator.247's Pod from last night is worth the listen - Tyler Donahue has kind of led the charge from the PSU insider perspective. It seems the 247 guys have had a closer set of sources vs everywhere else.
Kraft kicked the tires of all the big names - Elko had the most genuine interest but ultimately said "no." Deboer's agent kept him in play, but they've heard more recently that it was probably more for getting the most out of his bama contract.
Kraft always liked Sitake and they had been in discussions for "weeks."
As of Sunday, Kraft and Sitake had a handshake agreement and Sitake just needed to sign. Sounds like Sitake was ready verbally committed. It was kept completely quiet. Story got leaked and BYU went hard to keep him. Biggest mistake being that Kraft didn't have him sign the contract before the leak.
Chesney was plan B. Chesney wanted it and was even holding out for the PSU offer. Even to the point that insiders believe he had UCLA on hold "for weeks". He eventually got wind of being plan B, became annoyed with being dragged along by Kraft. Took the UCLA job and has since said good riddance to Kraft. Absolutely no chance of turning this one back in our favor.
Nobody knows where to go from here. Brohm wasn't really in consideration anymore, even though he got an extension yesterday. Daboll is the only option anyone even knows about at this point. Kraft doesn't like the idea because he doesn't bring a college roster and/or recruits with him.
Insiders believe this will drag into the next two weeks - now that we're at this point, might as well see who's interested after championship games and playoffs. There are no known candidates of interest at this point. The 247 crew thinks Kraft is going to try like hell to pull a rabbit out his hat, because his job is on the line. We're completely resetting the board.
Terry Smith is still not getting much consideration. And at this point, if Kraft hired him, Kraft would probably be expecting to get fired. A new AD would then evaluate and address the situation after next Fall. Kraft has always looked at Smith as "Chief of Staff" for the next guy. There is some worry that Smith feels disrespected and could walk.
Just my opinion, throw everything and the kitchen sink at Matt Campbell. An offer he can't decline. An offer ISU can't even imagine countering. Give him everything and more from a resource perspective and let him do his thing with evaluations and Xs & Os. This is our last resort at this point. The Terry Smith/new AD idea just resets this process to next season with a new AD.