Report: Butch Jones a top candidate at Marshall, Cincinnati
One Mid-American Conference football coach has left for a bigger conference — and CMU coach Butch Jones could follow suit in the near future.
The Detroit News reported that Jones is the top candidate for Marshall’s coaching vacancy, as well as a frontrunner for Cincinnati’s coaching vacancy after former UC coach Brian Kelly, who coached CMU from 2004 to 2006, left for Notre Dame last Thursday.
KMBC-TV in Kansas City reported last week that Kansas had shown interest to interview Jones, but the Jayhawks looked elsewhere in the MAC before any interview with Jones came to fruition.
On Saturday, Kansas hired former Buffalo coach Turner Gill, who played and worked as an assistant at Big 12 rival Nebraska.
The Herald-Dispatch of Huntington, W.V., among other media outlets, reported that Jones interviewed and took a campus tour at Marshall on Friday with Marshall Athletics Director Mike Hamrick.
Marshall fired former coach Mark Snyder after a 6-6 season this year. Snyder finished his tenure with a 22-37 record. The Thundering Herd will play Ohio in the Little Caesars Pizza Bowl on Dec. 26 at Ford Field in Detroit.
Houston coach Kevin Sumlin and Temple coach Al Golden have declined interviews with Cincinnati, the Detroit News reported.
But according to the Philadelphia Daily News, Golden has yet to be notified of any interest from Cincinnati.
Getting compensated
Central Michigan Life reported last week that CMU Athletics Director Dave Heeke said the university has offered a contract extension to Jones that would make him the second-highest paid coach in the MAC, behind only Temple’s Al Golden.
Jones would earn a base salary of $400,000, including a chance to earn $200,000 more in incentives, according to a prior Detroit News report.
If Jones decided to leave the school, he would have to be bought out for $475,000. That number increases to $700,000 if he leaves before the GMAC Bowl on Jan 6, the report said.
Today, Jones and Heeke are in Mobile, Ala., for GMAC Bowl media events, per the Herald-Dispatch.
Continue to check cm-life.com for updates on the CMU football team and Butch Jones, along with other CMU athletics updates throughout the winter break.
