Are The Miami Hurricanes Looking At Mullen?

Last night the Miami Hurricanes released head coach Randy Shannon just hours after losing to South Florida. 

Almost immediately after Mississippi State defeated Ole Miss in last night's Egg Bowl, Dan Mullen's name started popping up across twitter and numerous message boards as a possible replacement for the now vacant job in Miami. 

If you're a worried State fan, don't be. 

Other names are popping up too.  Mike Leach, Tommy Turberville, and John Gruden are some of the big ones. 

Although most of the speculation last night centered around Dan Mullen, it seems that trend has changed throughout the day Sunday.  It seems now that John Gruden is the favorite and some insiders are saying all that is left to do is work out the salaries for assitants. 

We knew with success at Mississippi State other schools would start looking at Mullen pretty hard as evidenced here with Miami and even Minnesota has popped up as a school looking at him. 

As far as Miami goes, Mullen's current salary is very close to what Shannon was making this year and he is due to get a raise now.  Furthermore, Mullen has stated repeatedly that one of the things that drew him to Mississippi State was the recruiting possibilities.  In Miami, he will be going against Florida State and Florida.  I personally just don't see the Miami job being as attractive as it once was. 

Of course I could be totally wrong. 

Mississippi State AD Scott Stricklin knew other schools would start eyeing Mullen, and said he'd be aggressive in keeping everyone at MSU.  Let's hope he's getting very aggressive now. 

Update:  Miami AD Kirby Hocutt addressed the media today and said he has a list of candidates that he's compiled over the past few days.  There is no timetable set in their coaching search and they will take as much time as necessary to find the right man for the job.

No mention of exactly what names are on the list he compiled.