Following up on our post earlier this week, where ESPN suggests that Virginia's Mike London might be a possible candidate to replace the legendary (and disgraced?) Joe Paterno at Penn State, we came across Bodog odds today on who's the most likely replacement. London doesn't stand the greatest chance, but he's right up there (apparently):
Who will be the Head Coach of the Penn State Nittany Lions for 2012-2013 season?
Urban Meyer: 2/1
Al Golden: 9/2
Mike London: 5/1
Kevin Sumlin: 11/2
Pat Fitzgerald: 6/1
Dan Mullen: 8/1
Kirk Ferentz: 8/1
Tom Bradley: 10/1
Chris Peterson: 10/1
Greg Schiano: 25/1
Jon Gruden: 50/1
When I first heard of this Wednesday night, I thought that ESPN had gone off their rocker. Then, when I saw these odds come out this morning, showing that London had the third best odds of ending up at Penn State (Note that current interim head coach Tom Bradley also had 2/1 odds of being head coach next year), I thought maybe it was I who had gone off the rocker, and perhaps I was just blinded by homerism.
Luckily, Steve Yanda of the Washington Post came to my rescue today, reporting that according to his source "with direct knowledge of the situation," Penn State's Board of Trustees had made a pass at London to gauge his interest. He reports:
The person, who requested anonymity because he was not authorized to speak publicly on the matter, said London has no interest in leaving Virginia and declined the overture. In fact, the person said, London would prefer to sign an extension to remain with the Cavaliers beyond the terms of his current five-year contract, which expires Dec. 7, 2014.
Phew. Assuming this is true -- and it certainly makes a lot more sense, to me, at least -- this is certainly a relief for Cavaliers fans, who, for the first time since any of the current true seniors took the field, are setting their sights for postseason travels.
London's currently guaranteed $1.7 million a year, and I don't really doubt that Penn State can top that, but as I suggested yesterday, quite frankly, London just isn't interested. I'm still honestly somewhat surprised that Penn State would be interested in London, who I would think still remains relatively unproven.