It seemed like only a matter of time. After Bob Bostad dropped out of the race to become the next Texas OL coach after the hiring of Bryan Harsin last Saturday, Auburn OL coach Jeff Grimes has been the leader in the clubhouse, with Oklahoma State OL coach Joe Wickline another possibility.
First, Mack Brown had to wait until after the national championship game to target Grimes and then, as has happened throughout the Texas coaching search, everything went quiet. Frustratingly quiet. Time to get this over with, right?
Well, it looks like the end may finally be in sight more than a month after the retirement of Mac McWhorter. The 247 Auburn site, Auburn Undercover, first reported that Grimes flew into Austin late Wednesday night.
Recruitocosm has been reporting for some time that they believe Grimes will become the next Texas OL coach and the highest-paid coach at his position in college football. No surprise, there, as money has not been an issue for the Longhorns throughout this process.
Of course, there have been false starts before in the search. Former Florida DC Teryl Austin was widely reported to have accepted the Texas DC job before he got cold feet and backed out. When Paul Chryst was in town several weeks ago, he looked close to replacing Greg Davis until his name came up for the vacant Pittsburgh head coaching position.
So which is it this time? The thought here is that Grimes may be ready to leave Auburn because of the possibility of heavy sanctions coming down as a result of the Cam Newton situation. The six talented offensive linemen coming to Texas in the 2011 class probably doesn't hurt the Texas cause either and working with Bryan Harsin and Major Applewhite may actually be nearly as appealing as working with someone as well-respected philosophically as Gus Malzahn.
Given that Christian Westerman has a "very special" relationship with Grimes, if Grimes takes the Texas job, there's little doubt that the talented tackle will indeed honor his commitment to become a Texas Longhorns. And that would be very special news.