ESPN's Joe Schad is reporting that the Texas A&M Aggies have reached a deal with now former Houston Cougars head Coach Kevin Sumlin. Sumlin will replace Mike Sherman who was fired after a disappointing 2011 season in College Station. Sumlin had served as an assistant for UTEP's Mike Price at Washington State. He was also an assistant at A&M in the 2001-2002 season. The report doesn't say who will coach the Cougars in their January 2nd game against the Penn State Nittany Lions in the Ticket City Bowl.

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What a weekend former UTEP safety Da'Mon Cromartie-Smith is going to have. Earlier today, it was announced that he was activated to the active roster for the Pittsburgh Steelers. Da'Mon will play in tonight's Thursday NFL matchup between Pittsburgh and the Cleveland Browns.

On Saturday, Da'mon will earn his college degree from UTEP. During the NFL lockout, Da'Mon returned to El Paso to work towards his degree in Communications. Yesterday, he was among the list of twenty five past and present UTEP athletes who made the school's official athlete graduation list.

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Another C-USA open head coaching job appears to be closed as the Memphis Tigers are expected to announce that Justin Fuente will replace Larry Porter. Fuente will go to Memphis from TCU, where he served as co-offensive coordinator under Gary Patterson.

From Dr. Saturday:

In three years under Fuente, TCU's offense set school records for yards and points in 2009, surpassed both marks en route to a 13-0 finish in 2010 and is on pace to break the scoring record again in 2011 — and that's despite breaking in a new quarterback this year, sophomore Casey Pachall, for NFL-bound Andy Dalton. Meanwhile, the rock-bottom outfit Fuente inherits at Memphis finished dead last in Conference USA in total and scoring offense for the second year in a row.

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This one definitely deserves its own post. Earlier in the day, sources had said that Arizona State University and SMU coach June Jones had reached an agreement for Jones to become the next head coach of the Sun Devils. Sources claimed that the two parties were merely ironing out the details, and an official announcement was expected.

Just about an hour ago, news broke that the two sides had still not reached an agreement, and that the agreement might not be reached. Now, ESPN is reporting that Arizona St. has pulled its offer, and that June Jones WILL NOT be the next head coach at Arizona St.

Per ESPN:

"The source said Arizona State's explanation was that "it took too long" and the school president was moving on. "...."We had accepted the deal," the source said. "I've never seen anything like this."...."One source said negative reaction from fans and boosters to the selection of Jones prompted the reversal. Arizona State has now negotiated with and ended negotiations with two candidates, including Houston's Kevin Sumlin."

I missed this one while writing the Mind Dig so we'll give it a full post. Southern Miss coach Larry Fedora is rumored to have reached an agreement to be the next head football coach at the University of North Carolina. North Carolina coach Butch Davis was fired before the start of the year amid an investigation into his program. The Tar Heels finished at 7-5, and will play in the Advocare V100 Independence Bowl.

Larry Fedora, as most of us know, coached Southern Miss to an 11-2 season and a Conference USA championship. His team will play Nevada in the Sheraton Hawaii Bowl. USM was Fedora's first head coaching stop. He was an assistant at Florida and Oklahoma St. before that. At Southern Miss, Fedora turned in a 33-19 overall record. Fedora's hiring will still need to be approved by UNC chancellor Holden Thorp, and the university's board of trustees.

Per ESPN:

"Larry Fedora has reached agreement to become the new coach at North Carolina, a source confirmed to ESPN's Joe Schad...Fedora's deal is subject to approval by North Carolina chancellor Holden Thorp, as well as the university's board of trustees."

The head coaching carousel around the C-USA continued at warp speed as the Tulane Green Wave announced yesterday that they have hired Curtis Johnson to be their next head coach. Johnson replaces Bob Toledo who resigned after compiling a 15-40 record in New Orleans. Tulane quarterback Ryan Griffin sounded excited with the hire:

"We now have a face and a name Ñ it's not just that limbo period, which was kind of weird," Griffin said. "Just how he addressed the team and his attitude, it's really exciting. Really exciting."

Johnson was on the Miami Hurricanes staff in 2002 when they won the National Championship. There, he coached Andre Johnson and Reggie Wayne among others. For the last 5 years, he has been on Sean Payton's staff with the New Orleans Saints as the wide receivers coach.

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Perhaps the biggest bowl news today in the C-USA was the fact that the Liberty Bowl decided not to invite C-USA champion Southern Miss. The Golden Eagles would have been the 17th straight C-USA Champ to participate in the bowl. Despite the fact that USM is now ranked 21st in the AP Poll, the Liberty Bowl opted for a Big East vs. SEC matchup (Vanderbilt vs. Cincinnati). Iliana Limon of the Orlando Sentinel has a very informative blog post up on how the SEC muscled the C-USA Champ out of the game.

In the Liberty Bowl’s defense, it has remained loyal to Conference USA for years. It’s refusal to drop C-USA and match an SEC team with a Big East team on a regular basis cost it valuable position within the SEC pecking order. The negotiations seemed to finally reach a breaking point two years ago, with the Liberty Bowl forced to agree to a complex contract that effectively gave the SEC veto power every two years.

Southern Miss. players might not care too much. Instead of spending New Years in Memphis, they'll spend Christmas in Hawaii. The Eagles will take on the Nevada Wolfpack in the Sheraton Hawaii Bowl.

While two days ago Houston seemed like a lock to head to New Orleans for the Sugar Bowl, their stunning loss to Southern Miss in the C-USA Championship game leaves the Coogs headed to Dallas for the Ticket City Bowl. The Coogs will take on the Joe Paterno-less Penn State Nittany Lions. The complete C-USA bowl slate is after the jump.

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The coaching carousel insanity in the C-USA is hitting fever pitch. Reports are changing by the minute. Here is the very latest:

1. Kevin Sumlin

Despite Houston's 49-28 implosion, at home, in the C-USA Championship game, all signs still point to Kevin Sumlin becoming the newest coach at Texas A&M University. First, reports broke yesterday out of Arizona that the Sun Devils have broken off talks with Sumlin. Then, reports surfaced that a deal between Sumlin and Texas A&M was in place for him to be named head coach of the Aggies within 24 hours of the Conference USA Championship Game. Aftter the game, Sumlin denied that a deal was in place with the Aggies. Now, the LA Times is reporting that UCLA's athletic director, Dan Guerrero, flew to Houston to meet with Sumlin this weekend.

The Verdict: You'd have to guess that the former Aggie assistant Sumlin wants to stay in the Houston area and take the A&M job. However, the fan base in College Station already seems to be turning on Sumlin in the wake of the USM beatdown. The fans, it appears, are moving towards a preference for Larry Fedora. Despite that, all signs point to Sumlin going to A&M.

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