Haywood staying at ND … for now.
Per ESPN, Notre Dame offensive coordinator and running backs coach Mike Haywood will NOT be the next head coach at the University of Houston:
Houston has hired Oklahoma Sooners co-offensive coordinator Kevin Sumlin as its head coach, a person told of the decision said Thursday morning.
Sumlin would replace Art Briles, who resigned Nov. 28 to take the top job at Baylor.
Sumlin has been Oklahoma’s co-offensive coordinator and wide receivers coach for the past two seasons, after three seasons as specials teams and tight ends coach.
Sumlin was assistant head coach and offensive coordinator for two years at Texas A&M; he also has coached at Purdue, Minnesota, Wyoming and Washington State.
Sumlin will be the eighth minority college football coach in the former Division I-A. Sumlin, 43, was a linebacker at Purdue from 1983 to 1986.
Other candidates considered by Houston included Notre Dame offensive coordinator Mike Haywood and former Houston coach Jack Pardee.
Condolences to Haywood, who grew up in Houston, for missing out on a job he was apparently very high on - I’m sure his time will come. For now, this is definitely good news for Irish fans, as Haywood is generally regarded as an excellent recruiter and has apparently been spoken of very highly by WR recruit Gerrell Robinson.
[UPDATE: The head coaching vacancy at Northern Illinois, where Haywood was also spoken of as a possible candidate, has apparently been filled as well, by Grand Valley State's Chuck Martin. The article notes, though, that Haywood "was contacted by NIU but took himself out of consideration" - so this isn't a case of his having been passed over.]
[ANOTHER UPDATE: Scratch that. SIU's Jerry Kill will be the new head man at Northern Illinois. Still not Haywood, though.]
Tags: Gerrell Robinson, Mike Haywood