We used FlightAware to make up college football coaching rumors before everyone else could

The college football coaching carousel is in full swing, and that can only mean one thing: it’s FlightAware season.

Athletic directors and coaching prospects are jetting around the nation, meeting with each other to set up the next big deal that will set the football world on fire. They used to be able to do this surreptitiously, but thanks to FlightAware, it’s not so secret anymore.

Over the years, the flight-tracking website has allowed college football fans to catch Auburn interviewing head coaches at Arkansas State, Boise State and TCU, but it’s also caused reporters to hang out at airports in entirely wrong cities.

Internet sleuths can find out what’s really happening with just a few clicks. Scanning Twitter, we can find Georgia fans speculating Urban Meyer is UGA’s next coach, Virginia fans tracking a UVA plane coming from New Jersey -- with Tom Coughlin on it? -- and a Miami radio host wondering if Charlie Strong is en route to the U.

So I’ve done some digging of my own.

It’s no secret that Charlie Strong hasn’t been welcomed with open arms by many Texas boosters. This executive jet flying from Austin to Toledo shows Strong is looking at starting over. Matt Campbell left the program in great shape, allowing Strong to wipe the stain of two sub-par seasons with the Longhorns from his record.

New York’s Big Ten team has a coach, and he just landed at New York’s Big Ten airport. There is simply no other way to explain a plane flying from LAX to JFK. Welcome to America’s largest media market, Jim.

Most of the stuff people find on FlightAware comes by going to specific airports and looking for inbound or outbound flights. But sometimes it’s smart to just hit “random flight.” That’s when you find the true gems.

I didn’t think Notre Dame OR Louisville would be up to much this offseason, but Bobby Petrino is a wild card. This private jet flying from Louisville straight to South Bend can only have one meaning. He’s getting serious consideration for the offensive coordinator gig.

BUT THE INTRIGUE DOESN’T STOP THERE. Looking deeper into flights in and out of Louisville, we found this. First, this plane carried Petrino to Denver -- just a short trip to Boulder, home of the University of Colorado, where they’re surely disappointed about a last-place Pac-12 finish.

Then, THAT SAME PLANE headed to Lincoln, where Cornhusker fans have apparently turned on Mike Riley after Nebraska’s first losing season since Bill Callahan:

Petrino is on the move. The only question is where.

Two separate flights from two FBS locales in the same day? Syracuse is going big with their next hire ... or should we say, hires?

Memphis is looking to redefine its program, and what better way than hiring one of the Premier League’s greatest managers? Nobody at either side would dare let news of this meeting go public until it’s official, which explains why Memphis and Mourinho arranged to have the coach stowed on a FedEx plane.

It’s been several years since Cuba’s communist dictator handed over the day-to-day responsibilities of running the country to his brother Raul, and he’s essentially stopped making public appearances. But there’s one thing that could draw him out of his shell: the allure of the Miami job. Fidel was a law student at the University of Havana when U of H lost to Southern Miss, 55-0, in the final rendition of the Bacardi Bowl, and the loss has eaten at him for decades.