On the first, Spurrier himself has stated that Tanner didn't try to convince him to stay until the year he quit and that was to finish out the season. Jerri, on the other hand, did convince him to stay.
On the second point, Tanner never turned down Riley, never even had an opportunity to officially make an offer. Stoops had his discussion with Riley about the OU job immediately upon Riley's return from our interview. Riley took his name out of consideration after his meeting with Stoops. Those are the facts from a person involved in the process....and the timeline of the reports completely coincides with that scenario.
1. It was stated on numerous message boards by insiders that Spurrier wanted to retire but Ray was in the middle of a big fund raising push and needed him to stay. Not saying that is the gospel but behind the scenes info is often revealed in those places.
2. Lincoln Riley interviewed on Thursday 12/3, Champ the next day on the 4th. Numerous articles stated that Will was the odds on favorite because he was older and had been a head coach where as Lincoln had not, before Lincoln interviewed. That info is coming from insiders. I can’t find any article that says Lincoln pulled his name. There was an article on the 4th (the day Will interviewed) stating that the deal was all but done with Will. Post and courier announced on the 5th that Will was the new coach.
I don’t think he had any interest in Lincoln and i don’t think he pursued him after the interview. Stoops did’t leave until the following year and there was not any indication that he was going to. It would have to have been a huge step of faith for Lincoln to stay there and wait and believe Stoops was going to actually quit any time soon.
Had Ray wanted to pursue him heavily i think he would have been open to listening and taking the process further. But Ray was under the gun because he waited on Herman for two months. He wanted some one in place quickly. Other coaches were leaving the market at a fast pace and he was taking heat given he had a two month head start.
I don’t think Ray was intrested in someone who had no experience as a Head Coach.