Glen Mason, who turned around the moribund football program at Kansas, will try to duplicate that feat at Minnesota, according to a report Friday night.
Midwest Sports Channel quoted an unidentified source as saying the school and Mason had reached an agreement. University officials would not comment on that, but confirmed to The Associated Press late Friday that a new coach would be introduced Saturday morning.Mason met with Minnesota athletic officials about the job Friday, but neither he nor the university issued statements.
Last year, Mason had decided to leave Kansas for Georgia but abruptly changed his mind and stayed on. There are still some hard feelings in Kansas athletic circles about that reversal.
Mason is credited with turning around the Jayhawks' program, although they finished a 4-7 this year by losing six of their last seven games. They won just two Big 12 Conference games this season.
But Mason's credentials are firmly established. Prior to his arrival at Kansas in 1988, the Jayhawks had lost 15 straight conference games and had a winning record just once in 11 seasons.
The 46-year-old Mason has a 47-54 record at Kansas, after a 12-10 mark in two seasons at Kent State.
Other candidates for the Minnesota job are Frank Solich, a top assistant coach at Nebraska; Northern Iowa's Terry Allen and Colorado State's Sonny Lubick.
Florida defensive coordinator Bob Stoops turned down the job earlier, and San Francisco 49ers offensive coordinator Marc Trestman withdrew from consideration Thursday. Washington State's Mike Price had done likewise earlier in the search for for a successor to Jim Wacker. He resigned after compiling a 16-39 record in five seasons.
B.C. tabs Virginia assistant
BOSTON - Tom O'Brien, Virginia's offensive coordinator, was hired Friday as football coach at scandal-plagued Boston College.
O'Brien replaces Dan Henning, who resigned last month after the Eagles ended a 5-7 season that was marred by a betting scandal.
Thirteen Boston College players were suspended for the last two games of the season following a gambling probe. Although the investigation found no evidence of point-shaving, it concluded that two of the players bet against Boston College in a loss to Syracuse on Oct. 26.
Athletic director Chet Gladchuk said the gambling scandal wasn't the cause of Henning's resignation. Gladchuk said the coach stepped down because of his 16-19-1 record over three years.
Riley returns to Oregon State
CORVALLIS, Ore. (AP) - In a room filled with some of his old coaches, old classmates and old friends, Mike Riley couldn't hide his excitement Friday as he was introduced as the new football coach at Oregon State.
"This is obviously a humbling experience," he said. "I see so many people out there, it's exciting, friends and people who have shaped my life."
The Beavers haven't had a winning season since 1970, the same year Riley was the star quarterback on the Corvallis High School team that won the state championship.
Oregon State's 26-year streak of losing seasons is the longest ever in NCAA Division I-A.
To Riley, though, this isn't an impossible rebuilding challenge, it's a chance to come home and coach at a school where his dad was a longtime assistant in the days when Oregon State was a winner.
"Do I think this is a graveyard? Obviously not," Riley said. "Do I think we can win? Obviously I do."
Riley has been a winner throughout his career, as a defensive back on Alabama's 1973 national championship team, as an assistant coach at Linfield College, as head coach in the Canadian Football League and, for the past four years, as offensive coordinator at Southern California.
The 43-year-old Riley replaces Jerry Pettibone, who resigned after a 13-52-1 record in six seasons. Riley said his first priority would be to hire a staff, and he expected to bring coaches he knew in the Canadian and World football leagues to serve as offensive and defensive coordinators.