Arkansas Business

This story is from the archives of ArkansasSports360.com.

Don't look for Gus Malzahn's name atop the list of hot assistant coaches much longer. And it has nothing to do with 2011 being the worst year of any of the six offenses he’s overseen.

Malzahn has emerged as a hot name to fill the vacancy at North Carolina. He has been described by reports as the frontrunner for the Tar Heels’ job. Granted, Malzahn was linked to Vanderbilt and Maryland last year.

Twitter is responsible for fueling the speculation. But not in the way you might think.

Here’s more from the Birmingham News:

Then there's Twitter, which helped send Gus-to-UNC rumors to a new level this week. An alert Twitter follower of Malzahn's wife, Kristie, noticed that she had started following the mayor of Chapel Hill, N.C., the police department, the UNC student newspaper and other UNC-related feeds on her publicly viewable account. 

Hardly overwhelming evidence, but enough to raise eyebrows.

North Carolina would be a good destination for Malzahn if the reports are true. It's a winnable league, a school that can recruit areas he's got ties to and the facilities are hardly lacking.

Suppose Malzahn ends up with a head coaching job and has a staff to fill. It stands to reason one of his hires might be Samford offensive coordinator Rhett Lashlee, a former Shiloh Christian quarterback under Malzahn and a grad asssistant at Arkansas and Auburn.

The Lashlee-Malzahn relationship is chronicled here. It's a hot topic with Auburn hosting Samford this weekend.