CFB Notebook: FAU, Kiffin finalize 10-year contract

Florida Atlantic and head coach Lane Kiffin finally finalized a new 10-year contract. The deal, which will keep Kiffin with the university through 2027, was initially agreed upon in December but was made official this week, a school spokesman confirmed to the Sun-Sentinel of Fort Lauderdale. Kiffin resurrected the school's football program in one season, guiding the Owls to an 11-3 record and 10 consecutive victories. Florida Atlantic won the Conference USA championship and capped the season with a victory over Akron in the Cheribundi Tart Cherry Boca Raton Bowl. The 11 wins represent the most in program history for the Owls in their 13 years as an FBS school. Florida Atlantic posted three consecutive 3-9 marks before Kiffin's arrival. Kiffin's initial deal was for five years and paid him $950,000 annually. While his yearly salary will remain the same, Kiffin will receive a $50,000 bonus for each year he remains with the program. Numerous incentives also are included in the contract. "I'm not driven by money anymore," Kiffin told ESPN.com in May. "I'm not driven by ego, of the attention being a head coach at one of those places. I'm very happy here on all fronts." Kiffin enjoyed success in his first season in Boca Raton after a bumpy ride as Alabama's offensive coordinator during which the Crimson Tide won a national title following the 2015 season. The 43-year-old Kiffin owns a 46-24 record all-time as a head coach that includes stops at USC and Tennessee. Kiffin also went 5-15 in parts of two seasons as coach of the NFL's Oakland Raiders before being dismissed as coach four games into the 2008 season. --Wyoming running back Trey Woods might be able to play this season after all. Three weeks after the school announced that Woods would sit out the 2018 season because of a shoulder injury, Cowboys coach Craig Bohl told the Casper Star-Tribune that he is not ruling out a return by the sophomore running back. "There's an opportunity he may be back," Bohl told the newspaper. "Initially, we thought that he for sure would be out for the year, and he may be back. What's also interesting is this year will be the first year a player can play four games and still preserve that redshirt year. So we'll see where he's at on that calendar." The NCAA passed a rule earlier this month that will allow a player to appear in up to four games without losing a year of eligibility. So, even if Woods returns four games at the end of the year, he could still qualify for a medical redshirt season. Woods led the Cowboys in rushing as a freshman in 2017 with 493 yards and two touchdowns on 124 carries. He also had four receptions for 74 yards. Even with Woods, Wyoming had one of the nation's least efficient running games in the nation, averaging only 3.17 yards per rush. That was sixth worst in the country, according to the newspaper. Kellen Overstreet, Nico Evans and Woods, who was recruited by the school as a linebacker, were listed as co-starters at running back atop the team's depth chart following spring practice. "He has had surgery, and so we're just waiting on his recovery," Bohl said of Woods. "He's a little bit ahead of where we thought he'd be. He certainly won't be ready the first game, but as the season goes along, we feel like he'll be ready to go." --Fresno State has hired Terry Tumey, who formerly worked with the Denver Broncos and San Francisco 49ers in the NFL, as athletic director, university president Joseph I. Castro announced on Twitter. The 52-year-old Tumey replaces Jim Bartko, who resigned in November. Tumey was a three-time All-Pacific-10 Conference selection as defensive lineman at UCLA, and helped the Bruins win four bowl games, including the 1985 Rose Bowl. After earning a bachelor's degree in political science at UCLA, he went back to school and received an MBA from UCLA's UCLA Andersen School of Business in 1993. During that time, Tumey was a graduate assistant in the UCLA football program and eventually became a full-time assistant coach, later holding a similar position with the Broncos. Tumey was the 49ers' director of football administration from 2004 to 2009 and left to become athletic director at Dominican University in San Rafael, Calif. Later, he was athletic director at UC Davis and Claremont-Mudd-Scripps, where he spent the last 2 1/2 years. --John Ward, known as the "Voice of the Vols" at the University of Tennessee, has died after a lengthy illness at the age of 88. Ward did radio play-by-play for 34 basketball seasons and for 31 in football, never missing a game in more than 350 broadcasts before his retirement in 1999. "It is with a heavy heart that we announce a great voice has gone silent," Vol Network said in a statement announcing his death. During his last football season in 1998, the Volunteers won the national championship, and he continued for one more basketball season. When the Volunteers beat Florida State in the Fiesta Bowl to clinch the national title, Ward punctuated the moment with the call: "The national champion is clad in Big Orange!" Ward's broadcasts were sprinkled with his signature calls, which included, "Give him six," after a Tennessee touchdown, and, "Bottom," when the Volunteers made a big shot in basketball. After Ward retired, country music superstar Kenny Chesney, who grew up in Tennessee, recorded a tribute to Ward called "Touchdown Tennessee." When he announced his retirement in 1998, Ward said: "I'll miss the game, but I'll miss the fans more." Ward chronicled the exploits of such Tennessee greats as Peyton Manning, Bernard King, Reggie White, Dale Ellis and Condredge Holloway. In 1994, Ward and his late wife, Barbara, made a $2 million gift to Tennessee, at the time the largest ever made to the school's athletic department. Ward was honored on the field during a game last season at Neyland Stadium.