Alabama Coaching Forecast for Thursday, 11/30

News coming out of a late afternoon player's meeting in Columbia should deflate the Spurrier-to-Bama rumors somewhat, but the Nick Saban and Rich Rodriguez rumors are in full swing... and a conversation between Jim Rome and Jim Grobe puts him back in the hunt as well.

There are also some rumors that Alabama has hired a consultant (rumored to be Chuck Neinas) to manage the search for the new head coach.

Check out all of the day's new developments in the Alabama coaching search.

For comments on the "no change" candidates, have a look at the forecasts for Tuesday or Wednesday.

Candidates claiming no interest...

No change: Nick Saban, Jim Leavitt, Frank Beamer, Greg Schiano.

Jim Grobe (Wake Forest) -- Reneged a bit on his previous staunch denial, telling ESPN that, to paraphrase, you know when to move on from a school because you've done everything you can do there. As the ESPN analyst put it: can you do much more than winning the ACC at Wake?

Jack Del Rio (Jacksonville Jaguars) -- He "put it to bed" yesterday... he's not interested.

Mike Sherman (Houston Texans Asst.) -- Despite reports out of the Tuscaloosa News, Sherman today said that he was not interested. Link forthcoming.

Candidates being vaguely negative...

No change: Bobby Petrino, Rich Rodriguez, Barry Alvarez, Mike Leach.

Steve Spurrier (South Carolina) -- Though it seems to have slowed the rumor mill only slightly, in Spurrier's late afternoon meeting with his players, he told them that he wouldn't be going anywhere and that they were "stuck" with him. Likely. Until he tells that to the media, explicitly, he remains here in the "vague" category.

Rich Rodriguez (West Virginia) -- Rumors from bizarre sources are starting to pick up on Coach Rod, and while WVU Fanhouse Blogger John Radcliff points out that Coach Rod he says he's not a candidate, he still hasn't denied interest... as a result, Rodriguez has been upgraded from "Keeping Mum" to "Vague but Negative".

Candidates keeping mum despite discussion...

No change: David Cutcliffe, Paul Johnson.

Candidates keeping mum because they're not being discussed seriously yet...

No change: Mike Riley, Jeff Tedford, Houston Nutt, Steve Kragthorpe, Jimbo Fisher, Bo Pelini, Jon Gruden.

Candidates whose names you might hear but should immediately disregard...

No change: Bob Stoops, Bill Cowher, Norm Chow, Danny White, Pat Hill, Chuck Amato, Chan Gailey, Ron English, Sly Croom, Jeff Bower.

More names, comments, and tips welcome.