Paul Zeise of the Post-Gazette reports that Todd Graham and the university are apparently at least discussing finances:
I thought it was going to be a very quiet night on the coaching search and it is for the most part except for this little nugget that I picked up from a good source — Pitt and Tulsa’s Todd Graham are now talking money, as in, how much it would take to bring Graham to Pitt.That isn’t much of a surprise considering Graham is the only known candidate who has had two talks with Pitt but here is what is different: Pitt is now inching closer to the territory where the source told me the school might have a real shot to get a deal done with Graham.
As Zeise mentions later, this could all just be a ploy for Graham to get more money from Tulsa … something he mentions that Graham may have done in the past.
Even if Pitt is able to reach a deal with Graham, the school needs to think longer term. Graham doesn’t have any strong ties to the school and if he has even a modicum of success at Pitt, he’d likely want significantly more money to stay after a few years. And without local ties, chances of Graham sticking around are minimal.