Boise State coach Chris Petersen is poised to become the new coach at Arkansas and athletics director Jeff Long is supposed to have a final answer Tuesday, but all indications are good, according to multiple sources.
Terms of the deal were not known Monday night, but Petersen's contract with the Broncos pays him $1.7 million a year with a $750,000 buyout.
One potentially positive benefit was a presentation from UAMS to the Petersen family about their cancer wing because of their son's history, as
George Schroeder wrote on SI.com about Petersen's son back in 2009:
Petersen's son Sam had just turned 1, an apparently healthy toddler playing with his older brother in the stands during a preseason scrimmage. But when he fell and hit his head, a routine examination revealed a nightmare. Sam had a brain tumor. And though it was successfully removed during an eight-hour surgery, doctors soon discovered the cancer had spread to Sam's spine.
As football season unfolded, Chris Petersen somehow balanced the 80-hour work weeks and family life. His wife, Barbara Petersen, spent a full month living at the hospital with young Sam. Chris divided his time between Eugene and Portland, 100 miles away, where his young son was undergoing treatment.
But you're wondering about young Sam Petersen. The family celebrated his 11th birthday earlier this summer. He's healthy, a frequent presence around Bronco Stadium ? "Really into football, and the Broncos," Chris said ? and a constant reminder of why his father doesn't seem very interested in uprooting for the next big thing.[/QUOTE]
Multiple sources indicated that Long and the university feel good about Petersen saying yes to taking over the Arkansas program that just completed a rudderless 4-8 season after head coach Bobby Petrino was fired back in April.
On Monday, Petersen himself sort of sidestepped the entire issue by calling all of the talk rumor and that 99.9 percent of the time it never happens.
He did leave that .1 still in play, however.
In the coaching search, the names of ESPN analyst Jon Gruden, TCU coach Gary Patterson and Oklahoma State coach Mike Gundy have been the most prominent.
Among those not with a head coaching position currently is Butch Davis, the former coach at Miami and North Carolina, who has been available since all of this started back in April. It would be an interesting question for Long ? if Davis were the final choice ? why there was a delay in getting him on board.
Of all the names mentioned, Petersen may be the most intriguing.
In eight seasons at Boise State, he has guided the Broncos to an 82-8 record one game shy of eight complete seasons.
The first year he was the head coach after replacing Dan Hawkins in 2006, he guided Boise State to an undefeated season and a Fiesta Bowl win over Oklahoma.
Since then, he's been linked to just about every high-profile opening in college football. Last year, UCLA made a $4 million a year run at him, but he turned it down.
If the deal with Petersen falls through, Vanderbilt coach James Franklin is ready to accept the university's offer. It was confirmed Monday night the university has a plane out of state in North Carolina ready to fly to Nashville to pick Franklin up if Petersen says no on Tuesday, but it is clear that the Boise State coach is the No. 1 candidate right now. Franklin has tried to pressure Arkansas into choosing him immediately, but it has become clear Petersen is the choice.
Boise State still has one game left on their schedule against Nevada on Saturday afternoon with a meeting of the UA Foundation scheduled for Saturday and an announcement tentatively planned for Sunday with Petersen.
