Gophers Insider: Maturi keeps vow of silence as rumors fly

If Gophers athletic director Joel Maturi had a flair for the dramatic -- instead of an obsession with secrecy -- he would have set up a Gophers coaching tournament.

Imagine the publicity: The first semifinal was Friday, when Miami (Ohio)'s Mike Haywood defeated Northern Illinois' Jerry Kill. The Poinsettia Bowl pitting San Diego State's Brady Hoke against Navy's Ken Niumatalolo could serve as the other semi, with the winners facing off in TCF Bank Stadium next month. Maturi could even present the winner with an oversized cardboard contract.

Instead, the rumor-laden mystery persisted on Saturday, amid hints Maturi has made up his mind. Several sources close to the athletic department said an announcement will be forthcoming by early this week, though Maturi was not available for comment. The website GopherIllustrated.com reported that "the new coach will be touching down in the Twin Cities [Sunday] night with a press conference on Monday."

In the meantime, another series of rumored candidates drew overheated speculation, then were discredited. Just as Niumatalolo and Mississippi State's Dan Mullen have been ruled out already this week, there were strong indications that Connecticut's Randy Edsall and Temple's Al Golden have not been hired, either.

Who does that leave? Several dozen viable candidates, actually, but only a few fit Maturi's stated intention of hiring an experienced, successful head coach, preferably one who is currently working. But perhaps the Gophers athletic director has decided to go outside those parameters.

Sources have confirmed that Maturi conducted an interview with Wisconsin offensive coordinator Paul Chryst on Thursday in Wisconsin Dells, about three hours east of Minneapolis.

Chryst is not a sitting head coach, but he directed an offense that ranked fourth in the nation in scoring this season. Chryst is also a personal friend of Maturi, who was associate athletic director in Madison in 1988, when Chryst was the Badgers quarterback.

Should Maturi stick to his stated preference for a current head coach, Kill fits the mold.

Kill, whose 10-3 Huskies defeated Minnesota in TCF Bank Stadium last September and reached the AP Top 25 before losing the MAC championship game on Friday, fits that mold, as does Haywood, although he is only in his second season at Miami.

Kill, 49, downplayed any rumors of his departure from NIU this week, telling the Detroit News: "I love it here. I liked it at Southern Illinois, and was shocked when Northern Illinois called me."

Haywood, 46, went 1-11 with the RedHawks last season, his first as a head coach, then turned them into conference champions with a 9-4 record this season. "Any calls [about jobs] would go to my agent, and I told him I didn't want to know until after the season," he told the News. "I have a great job here."

Minnesota might be a great job, too, for the right candidate. But that job remains vacant, for the moment.