SMU wants a new football head coach named by next Thursday. The comments from SMU President R. Gerald Turner were the first timeline given by anyone directly involved in the search.

Turner said there would be a lot of movement in the next week toward hiring the new coach. The school would like whoever is hired to meet with the Board of Trustees, who hold their December meetings next Thursday and Friday. The board does not have to sign off on the hire – President Turner can do so by himself.

Turner said a hire has yet to be finalized because the candidates SMU is looking at are still working at their current jobs and their seasons have not finished yet. He said the school has been talking primarily with representatives of the candidates rather than directly contacting them. He emphasized no deal has been completed yet with any coach and did not name any candidate that the school has talked to.

Turner confirmed that donors have put together a significant sum of money toward the salary of a new coach, but did not say how much had been raised. Sources have told The Daily Campus the sum is estimated between $10 and $12 million.

He also praised the work of Athletic Director Steve Orsini in the search, saying he has done a good job in talking to people in the coaching community and finding the coach who will succeed at SMU.

SMU fired Phil Bennett more than a month ago with four games left in the season to get a head start in the search for a new head coach. Orsini and his staff have played the search close to the vest, with little information leaking out of the department about whom SMU is targeting. Internet and media chatter forced Louisville coach Steve Kragthorpe to hold a press conference Nov. 20 to deny reports he was leaving the school for the opening at SMU.