Hoosiers clueless about updates, new coach may be named today

For all the hype surrounding the first IU football team meeting of the new year, the gathering lasted for all of 10 minutes yesterday. \nAnd no, the players don't know who is going to be named head coach.\n"Nothing," quarterback Gibran Hamdan said when asked what he's heard about a new coach. "All we know is that it could come in the near future."\nToday, in fact, is highly rumored by sources surrounding the team as being a good time to release the highly anticipated decision. \nESPN is in town for the IU-Michigan State men's basketball game tonight, and if the final contract negotiations work themselves out, a press conference could be held to name the new coach.\nThe list of possible candidates has swirled to preposterous levels as speculation has erupted in the month since Cam Cameron's firing.\n"We don't know anything," freshman linebacker Herana-Daze Jones said. "All we were told was to stay together as a team and to start lifting and conditioning."\nThe list seemed endless for the first couple weeks since the vacancy, but it appears the screening committee, led by Athletics Director Michael McNeely, has narrowed the choice to four possible candidates.\nOver the weekend, two of the possible candidates were in town. University of South Florida's Jim Leavitt and former LSU head coach Gary DiNardo both were in Bloomington over the weekend. DiNardo's last job was with the XFL's Birmingham Thunderbolts.\nAnother suspected candidate is recent addition, Gary Gibbs, Oklahoma's defensive coordinator. \n"(The players) did ask about the new coach," football Administrative Assistant Buck Suhr said. "They are anxious to find out."\nDespite rumors that both Leavitt and DiNardo attended the men's basketball game Saturday, Leavitt told the St. Petersburg Times that he was not at the game, and did not inquire about DiNardo's candidacy.\nOther candidates mentioned were recently-fired San Diego Charger's coach, Mike Riley, who is also being heavily courted by Stanford.