Only his hairdresser knows for sure, or so went the old Clairol ad. ????? ???? ??????
Tom Bradley, de facto defensive coordinator at Penn State has been the subject of on-again, off-again rumors tonight regarding being hired for the head coaching position at the University of Pittsburgh.
Earlier this evening, WTAE in Pittsburgh reported that he had been offered the job and accepted it. However, at 8:40 pm, Pitt released the following statement:
“The University of Pittsburgh has not offered its head coaching position to anyone, and no decisions about an offer have been made.”
As usual, the WikiPedia pseudo-wonks are Johnny on the Spot. Bradley’s WikiPedia page says he is Head Coach of the Pittsburgh Panthers. Of course, when I looked at Joe Paterno’s page the night Dave Wannstedt was fired at Pitt, Joe was said to have accepted the coaching job at Pitt. Anyone can change WikiPedia pages.
The latest bit of non-information has come from the tweeting fingers of Nate Stupar, one of the more outspoken Nittany Lions on Twitter. Buried somewhere amidst the trash-talking between former quarterback Daryll Clark and former wide receiver Derek Moye about a mythical one-on-one basketball competition between them was this gem:
“Tom Bradley got Pitt job. Congrats!”
Around the same time, David Jones of the Patriot-News retracted his story about Bradley texting all the Penn State players telling them goodbye.
Mike Fink, a sportswriter in Green Bay, tweeted in response:
“@NastyNate34 Do you know something the rest of us do not? The stories have been retracted regarding Bradley being hired by Pitt.”
Stupar took a lot of tweetheat, and responded:
“@mikefinksports I just heard from @JasonAversano that he got it. Just relaying info.”
Mike Fink is in Green Bay, Wisconsin, and Jason Aversano is a communication major at Penn State. He said, she said? We’re on the merry-go-round of misinformation. Finally, Stupar writes:
“To all followers…I hear what you hear.#don’t-hate haha”
So we’re back to Square One! Only his hairdresser and a few select others know for sure.
Stupar later tweeted the first period score of tonight’s Penguins game about three hours after the fact. ???????? ??? ????????? Turns out that he was watching a replay. So much for our intrepid reporter. ???? ?????
Later during the overnight hours the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette weighed in on the subject with a strong suggestion that Bradley would get the job.
Meanwhile, Scout.com’s Fight On State says its sources proclaim that there’s not a shred of truth in any of the rumors.
Reports that Penn State defensive coordinator Tom Bradley has been offered and accepted the head coaching position at Pitt are untrue, according a source close to Bradley.
“Those reports are erroneous, false and absolutely deplorable,” said the source, who spoke on the condition of anonymity. “They are entirely false. This is what happens when people don’t do their homework.”
Sure is interesting watching rumors and innuendo evolve! The process is unfolding before our very eyes in real time as I write this.
