Here we go with this laser focusing on ONE candidate. Go out and interview multiple candidates and pick the one that works best for the program. Mario and Lane both have positives and negatives, it comes down to what will work best. Honestly, I think that you can get Lane at a far better price point than Mario and Lane has a lower failure probability due to him being a better gameday coach. Mario is a guy that can recruit(With Oregon/Bama money), but he will be a splash hire. The issue is that Mario is mediocre at best on gameday and honestly has enough political cover to where firing him would be a nightmare. That's something that worries me about hiring a former letterwinner. You see how long Manny Diaz was able to ride the "Miami Guy Bro" crap, despite it being obvious by the midpoint of year one that he was incompetent.
Interview at least 5 guys. Have a second round if no one dominates the interview, while also maintaining back channel communications with other candidates, to where you have quality options even if guys drop out or stay where they are at. Let's not overcomplicate this.
