Who is Derek Dooley?

The search for a football coach to replace Lane Kiffin at Tennessee has resulted in roughly 1,437 various rumors upon last count.

Allegedly, Texas defensive coordinator Will Muschamp, Air Force coach Troy Calhoun, TCU's Gary Patterson and Connecticut's Randy Edsall have all pulled their names out of the hat.

Is there any truth to that? Who knows?

Personally, I thought Muschamp was a cinch for the job as of Wednesday as clearly the top choice among feasible candidates.

Tennessee athletic director Mike Hamilton is protecting the university by apparently working with a search firm to talk to prospective coaches' agents. They must work quickly in order to get someone in place hopefully no later than Friday night as official visitors like Markeith Ambles, J.C. Copeland and Ralph Williams are scheduled to be in town.

So, who's names are still on the board to take over the reigns in Knoxville?

Word on the street is that former UT assistant and Duke coach David Cutcliffe is open to returning to Knoxville but wants to bring his staff with him from Durham, N.C. I don't think that's going to be allowed and Cutcliffe has always been extremely loyal to assistants, which mostly led to his demise at Ole Miss.

I believe that leaves, barring a chance of heart somewhere, Louisiana Tech coach Derek Dooley or Utah coach Kyle Whittingham at the front of the line.

Dooley is the son of Georgia legend Vince Dooley. So, if Mark Richt steps down or is removed from his position as head coach in Athens, would Dooley want to pull a Kiffin and jump ship to return home to his "dream job?" It's worth worrying about.

That may be the reason why no deal was able to be struck with Muschamp. Some say he and UT reached an agreement in principle, only Muschamp wanted to be able to opt out of his contract to return to Texas, where he is the coach-in-waiting, or to Georgia, where he once played.

However, being able to keep a highly-successful coach at one institution for barely a half dozen years may very well be the nature of the beast in this day and age. If you ask fans whose baby formula carried an orange tint, they are perfectly OK with simply having a coach in place that keeps the seat warm for Peyton Manning to take over down the road.

Hamilton's future at Rocky Top is without a doubt on the line with this hire. He better get it right. So, he simply can't afford to lose another football coach to another school in a short amount of time, which would make UT look like a second-tier program. He'll have to put a stricter clause in any contract that's struck that makes it extremely tough on a coach to bolt the way Kifin did (for a low cost of $800,000).

Dooley is starting to make a name for himself in the coaching circles. Tech has improved from 3-10 to 5-7 to 8-5 in his first three seasons at the helm and also doubles as the school's athletic director.

Not only does he have the pedigree, but he has experience with one of the best in the business, Nick Saban. The two coached together at LSU, where they won the BCS national title in 2003.

Oh, and don't think some small-town reporter will be able to stump a sharp guy like Dooley. All he did before getting into coaching was practice law at a private firm in Atlanta for two years. Plus, conversations around the house likely don't center on how much foil to put on the TV's rabbit ears since his wife is Dr. Allison Jeffers Dooley, a practicing OBGYN.

It might be tougher to convince Whittingham to make a move to Knoxville. Like Calhoun, he's used to his particular region of the country and neither claims the deep south as home. Whittingham has spent his entire coaching career since 1985 in either Utah or Idaho.

I'd rather not contribute to the rumor mill, but time is of the essence and I wouldn't be just totally shocked if the keys to the Big Orange fell at the feet of Dooley by day's end.