Dan Wolken

USA TODAY Sports

When Jeremy Foley announced his retirement on June 13, it seemed Florida would have plenty of time and numerous options to replace its legendary athletics director before his expected Oct. 1 departure.

But with that date looming and no hire in place, speculation around college sports has begun to bubble about Florida’s process and whether Foley may end up staying slightly longer to facilitate the transition. Even if the school announced a hire in the next few days, it would be difficult to have someone in place by the original target date.

The question is why the process has dragged out, especially since Florida had significant dialogue with candidates as early as mid-July, multiple people with knowledge of the process told USA TODAY Sports.

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Also according to those people, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because the search process was supposed to be private, the school nearly hired North Carolina’s Bubba Cunningham last month. Cunningham, however, pulled his name from consideration the night before he was supposed to arrive in Gainesville to finalize the deal and stayed at North Carolina to the bewilderment of several of his colleagues in the industry.

Another candidate who talked extensively with Florida was Arizona’s Greg Byrne, according to those people, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because the search process was supposed to be private.

In conversations with people familiar with the matter, one potential issue has come up several times: Foley’s continued presence at Florida in an emeritus position. Essentially, some higher-profile athletics directors who might have been interested in the job aren’t sure about the dynamics of having Foley, who was credited for much of Florida’s athletics success during his 25-year run, right down the hall.

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One Power Five athletics director who knows Foley well and asked to remain anonymous said Foley’s continued presence in Gainesville should be viewed as a positive and that he won’t be the type to look over someone’s shoulder.

It’s the best AD job in the country, the person said.

Florida remains focused on hiring a sitting athletics director, likely one within the Power Five.

Coaching carousel clips

The Art Briles rehabilitation tour has begun, with a stop Saturday on ESPN Gameday in which he will admit that he “made mistakes” at Baylor and promised to do better in the future.

Briles was fired May 26 in the wake of an investigation by the Pepper Hamilton law firm into how Baylor handled sexual assault complaints, and particularly those made against football players.

Fired Baylor coach Art Briles apologizes to sexual assault victims

The precise contents of the Pepper Hamilton report have never been made public (the school claims the details were only delivered orally to trustees), and Briles has entered a multimillion-dollar settlement with Baylor over the remainder of his contact. In other words, it’s unlikely specific details about what prompted the school to clean house will ever be available for public consumption.

In a way, however, the lack of detail helps Briles in his desire to get a coaching job in 2017. Briles can make public apologies without having to address the exact nature of his mistakes, and when a school hires him in December or January, he can claim that he’s said all he can say.

Meanwhile, the athletics director and president will say they did their due diligence and that they’re comfortable Briles has learned from his mistakes.

It won’t stop bad publicity, especially the first 72 hours or so, but there’s almost certainly a school out there willing to deal with it in the short term and eventually reap the rewards of winning football.

The consensus among agents and people who work for search firms is that Briles will coach again next year, and perhaps even at the Power Five level. Though it may be too politically toxic for him to land a job in the state of Texas, some speculate a school such as Auburn could be tempted to give him a chance if Gus Malzahn has a bad enough year to be fired.

Faux pas of the week

It’s bad enough that LSU coach Les Miles did nothing substantive to fix the program’s offensive woes this offseason, but even worse than the 16-14 loss to Wisconsin was his weak response to the cheap shot offensive lineman Josh Boutte delivered on the final play of the game.

While 21 other players on the field clearly had stopped playing after D’Cota Dixon’s interception to seal the game for Wisconsin, Boutte quite obviously clotheslined him and deserved the one-game suspension he was given.

Miles, however, went out of his way to make excuses, essentially saying that Boutte didn’t realize the play was dead and that because he’s 6-6 he couldn’t tell whether the 5-10 Dixon was celebrating or trying to run back the interception.

LSU suspends Josh Boutte for late hit in Wisconsin loss

Sorry, but what’s the point of a suspension if the head coach isn’t willing to unequivocally condemn a play that was blatantly dirty and dangerous? Why is it so hard for Miles to say that Boutte lost his cool and hold him accountable?

Of course, this is nothing new for Miles. Remember when Jeremy Hill violently sucker-punched a student outside a bar and Miles reinstated him for the 2013 season, hiding behind a team vote to bring him back?

Your weekly Harbaugh

This space every week will be devoted to some sort of Jim Harbaugh weirdness, as there seems to be an endless supply. This week, Harbaugh got into a tiff with ESPN analyst Ed Cunningham, who speculated during last Saturday’s broadcast of the Michigan-Hawaii game that cornerback Jourdan Lewis might have sat out due to a disciplinary issue.

Lewis actually had a minor injury and sat out as a precautionary measure, and Cunningham later called a Michigan official to apologize.

Jim Harbaugh says he's 'good' with Ed Cunningham; no one is suspended

But boy oh boy, Harbaugh was not happy.

“Ed Cunningham got out way over his skis,” Harbaugh said last Monday at his weekly news conference. “Jourdan Lewis is one of the finest guys we have on the team. Football character and off-the-field character. Just total character.”

In the end, this is a minor deal at most. Cunningham was wrong and acknowledged it. Harbaugh has apparently accepted the apology.

Still, the drama never ends at Michigan with Harbaugh in charge.

Dud of the week

Since the beginning of the 2010 season, Nicholls State has won a grand total of 13 football games. By any measure, that’s … not good. Last season the Colonels played two FBS teams — two bad FBS teams — and lost 47-0 to Louisiana-Monroe and 48-0 to Colorado.

Point being, Nicholls State has no business being on the same field as Georgia. Yet the Colonels will somehow be the designated tomato can for Kirby Smart’s home debut at Sanford Stadium. Frankly, Georgia should be embarrassed it is playing this game.

It’s one thing to schedule an FCS team; it’s another when a top-15 program like Georgia brings in program that has struggled this badly and provides no intrigue or challenge whatsoever.

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