UT Vols: Tennessee backs off Matt Campbell, expected to pursue Dan Mullen, per report

Tennessee has backed off its pursuit of Iowa State coach Matt Campbell and is expected to seek dialogue soon with Mississippi State coach Dan Mullen, according to a report by ESPN.com’s Mark Schlabach during Saturday morning’s “College GameDay” broadcast.

The 37-year-old Campbell, the former Toledo coach in his second year with Iowa State, became a hot name this fall after leading the Cyclones to upsets over Oklahoma and TCU. Iowa State is 7-4 entering Saturday’s game against Kansas State.

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The hurdle for teams trying to pry Campbell away from Iowa State is his buyout, which exceeds $9 million. That buyout caused UT officials to back away from Campbell, Schlabach reported.

“They just could not figure out a way to get around his $9.4 million buyout,” Schlabach reported.

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He also reported that UT officials have not yet talked with Mullen, in his ninth season at MSU, but hope to do so. But MSU officials are expected to make a strong push to keep Mullen, who makes $4.5 million.

Mullen has said publicly that he plans to stay in Starkville.

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Other trendy names have come off the board in the past 24 hours.

Gary Patterson signed an extension, announced Saturday, to keep him at TCU long term. UCLA hired Chip Kelly on Saturday.

With Kelly off the board, Central Florida’s Scott Frost becomes arguably the hottest name on the market. Frost has UCF undefeated in his second season there. Florida and Nebraska, which fired Mike Riley on Saturday, are viewed as the leaders in the Frost sweepstakes.

Tennessee’s opening has officially been on the market since athletic director John Currie fired Butch Jones on Nov. 12. Currie said then that he would spearhead an “exhaustive search” for Jones’ replacement and would not use a search firm.