College football coaching carousel: Fact from fiction with how coaches answers questions about other jobs

Examining what's been said by sitting head coaches attached to various Power Five vacancies.

When college football coaches are committed to their program, they say as much on the record during the sport's wacky carousel season. And sometimes, they say it to keep the recruiting class intact and not interfere with the season's progress, too.

Playing coy is nothing new within the industry, nor is it something that's necessarily frowned upon. In a way, it's expected. Agents often speak for these program leaders and handle all contractual conversations. And for the most part, seeing your name attached to another college football job results in an immediate raise on your current contract, or at least a discussion of things to come.

As it stands, four Power Five jobs are open with as many as a half-dozen more potentially happening this month. Last year's carousel wasn't nearly as active as what we saw in 2021 when several elite-level coaches who were under long-term deals left their programs for what they deemed bigger opportunities, including Lincoln Riley to USC and Brian Kelly to LSU. Could that happen again? It depends on which jobs are open, who retires and how fast things move.

Power Five coordinators destined for head-coaching jobs

With Texas A&M and Michigan State in mind, here is a look at five varying denials from sitting head coaches and what it means:

Mike Elko, Duke

(Photo: Wayne Bumpass, USA TODAY Sports)

My family loves it here. That line has been uttered once or twice during speculative coaching searches and Duke's Mike Elko made sure he respected his former employer this week when asked about the vacancy at Texas A&M. Obviously, the SEC job would be a premiere landing spot for the Blue Devils coach compared to where he's at, where basketball is king, and he's already familiar with College Station having coached there previously as a coordinator. Elko signed a multi-year extension over the summer that keeps him in Durham through the end of the decade, unless he chooses to leave.

"It’s a profession where people just like to put stuff out there,” Elko said Monday. ”I’m very committed to this place. Everybody knows I’m very happy at this place. We’re doing a lot of really special things at this place. My family’s very happy here. We love Duke. We love everything this place if for. When you’re doing the job well, everybody thinks you’re leaving. When you’re doing your job bad, everybody thinks you’re leaving. That’s the picture of college coaches.

"You try not to pay any attention to that stuff, but I’m obviously not oblivious to it. We’ll certainly address it because it needs to be addressed. I don’t know where that stuff comes from.”

Dan Lanning, Oregon

This, my friends, is how you slam the door on coaching noise and eliminate all distraction during the College Football Playoff hunt. Dan Lanning went long-winded this week on why he's not throwing his hat in Texas A&M's ring, mentioning various factors on why his current position at Oregon is the one he wants for the long haul. He even brought up financials, too. The belief around the industry is Texas A&M will try and pull a sitting head coach with the lure of an enhanced salary and

"We talk about outside noise a lot in our program," Lanning said, via Ducks Territory. “I guess the reality her is my name and our program would never be the topic of conversation for another school if we didn’t have something here everybody else wanted. The reason we have something here that everybody wants, that’s because our players, the coaches and the support that exists here at Oregon. I think I’ve been really, really clear here since Day 1. Everything I want exists right here.

"I’m not going anywhere. There’s zero chance I would be coaching somewhere else. I’ve got unfinished business here. My No. 1 priority is being elite here at Oregon.”

Mike Norvell, FSU

Like most major coaches up for other jobs, Mike Norvell made sure to get out front of his name being tossed around on Texas A&M hot boards this week and put the focus on recruiting. Now, he wasn't as forthcoming as Lanning in his response to the media's questioning and wasn't dismissive of the notion, but did lay out his plan for the future in Tallahassee. If you're following along from the FSU side of things as a fan, you're probably not satisfied with his answer amid an unbeaten season and likely berth in the College Football Playoff in a few weeks.

“There’s not really any point to talk about it, in a sense,” Norvell said, via Noles247. “It’s funny how sometimes those things get out there and people want to try to use that, especially in recruiting and things like that. I tell recruits, I told recruits two years ago, a lot of these guys were are recruiting now, it’s funny, two years ago every coach was talking about ‘well how long is he going to be there? Better win some games or he’s not.’ I told them then, I said ‘watch, in two years everyone is going to be trying to use the other thing.’”

Lance Leipold, Kansas

At some point, Lance Leipold will likely leave Kansas for greener pastures given the massive turnaround he accomplished with the Jayhawks and a chance to do the same on a much larger scale. This was one of college football's most difficult Power Five jobs when he arrived and in his third season, he'll be heading to his second bowl game and has already ensured the program will finish with a winning record for the first time since 2008. Recently when asked about his name being mentioned in the Michigan State mix, Leipold squashed the notion he would leave and said the "expectation" was Kansas is his home for a long.

"The one thing that happens during this time of year, is there’s a lot of speculation on things that are happening that are not accurate, as I’ve said for a long time, Travis Goff and Chancellor Girod have treated Kelly and I extremely well and our family," Leipold said last week, via Football Scoop. "It is our plan and expectation that we want to be here and this is going to be the last job we have.”

Chris Klieman, Kansas State

Chris Klieman delivered the second-strongest stiff-arm to carousel noise recently when he was quick and to the point about Michigan State's opening. He's coming off a Big 12 Championship at Kansas State and will be heading to another bowl game this fall with the Wildcats, a team he expected to lead for the foreseeable future. Klieman's name instantly popped up on hot boards for the Spartans soon after Mel Tucker's firing earlier this season.

Per CBS Sports, when asked about the opening on XM Radio's Big 12 Today, Klieman didn't mince words.

"I'll be sticking in Manhattan and will not be a candidate for that job," Klieman said.

That's how you shut down the murmurs before they begin snowballing and lead to meetings with your university's athletic administration staff.