Colorado coaching search continues

Colorado didn’t have the smoothest coaching search. Firing Jon Embree was not well-received by players or most fans, and his exit press conference was a debacle. Butch Jones turned the Buffs down for Tennessee at the last minute, and there was even a Mark Mangino rumor. You don’t want Mark Mangino rumors.

But all’s well that ends well, and this one appears to have ended well: San Jose State’s Mike MacIntyre will take the job, according to Sports Illustrated’s Pete Thamel. It’ll reportedly be announced within 24 hours.

Though both Jones and the Buffaloes are “wishing each other the best,” according to FootballScoop.com, this news means Colorado will not be landing the guy some fans wanted to come and turn the football program around.

The announcement comes after reports on Wednesday that stated Jones was all but a certainty to become the Buffaloes’ next head coach. These were reports that Jones also denied on Wednesday as he became aware of them.

More than a week after Colorado dismissed Jon Embree, Colorado has hired Cincinnati’s Butch Jones to be its next head football coach, according to the Denver Post -- though Jones has denied the report, as has Cincinnati. Wednesday, Jones attended the Belk Bowl press conference in Charlotte, which his Cincinnati team will play in.

For what it’s worth:

According to reports far and near (here’s one from Cincinnati.com), Jones will make a decision Tuesday whether he’ll stay at Cincinnati or leave for Colorado or Purdue (though there’s one report that Purdue’s out). He’s visited the latter two over the past two days, with both trips chronicled by the West Lafayette side and the Boulder side.

Without further ado, here’s what each open FBS coaching job looks like, according to the first page of Google Images (click the arrows, you see):

Colorado isn’t the only school looking at Jones right now, with Purdue looking like a possible landing spot as well. Cincinnati has also reportedly spoken with Jones about re-doing his contract. His current contract with the Bearcats would keep him at Cincinnati until 2017.

Jones is scheduled to meet with Colorado officials, who will offer him a five-year deal that will include upgrades to Folsom Field, the Dal Ward Athletic Center and the team’s practice facilites. Jones has had problems with Cincinnati regarding improvements to the facilities at the school and Nippert Stadium.

In addition to interviewing Jones next week, Ringo is also reporting that Colorado has interest in Mississippi State head coach Dan Mullen and Wake Forest’s Jim Grobe.

Jones has had a successful coaching career which started in 2007 at Central Michigan, where he won a pair of MAC conference titles to go along with a 27-13 record over three years. He then improved his job status by taking over at Cincinnati. Jones’ success continued there as he won a conference title, could win another this year and has won 22 games in three years.

Colorado’s search for a football coach continues following the school’s dismissal of former player Jon Embree after two seasons. Embree led the Buffaloes to a 4-21 record in his two seasons at the helm.

Mangino has been out of the coaching circle since 2009, when he and Kansas agreed to a buyout after an investigation over verbal abuse of his players. Mangino coached Kansas for eight seasons, tallying a 50-48 record. He led the Jayhawks to four bowl games, including an Orange Bowl win that capped a 12-1 season in 2007.

Even a Colorado football program reportedly interested in hiring Mark Mangino has lines it won’t cross. That’s not a fair appraisal of the situation here, but it sure felt neat to say. First, the report:

That was immediately denied by the man doing the hiring, and denied in about the most declarative fashion possible:

Update: Purdue, too.

In seven years with the Jayhawks, Mangino was able to take a program that went 2-10 in his first season and lead them to heights rarely seen in Lawrence. Mangino led Kansas to a 50-48 record while at Kansas and led the Jayhawks to four bowls, winning three of them.

The Colorado Buffaloes have fired second-year head coach Jon Embree, Bruce Feldman reports. Embree went just 4-21 during his two years at his alma mater, with his 2012 team ranking among the worst five schools in the country and ranking quite comfortably as the worst BCS-conference team.

Colorado fans are not happy: