In a week full of the three I's - interest, intrigue and idiocy - this one took the cake.
On Friday, the website FlightAware was tracking a plane from Philadelphia that was headed to Columbia Regional Airport.
Wait, a plane from Philadelphia is coming to Columbia. Missouri is looking for a men's basketball coach. Villanova is located in Philadelphia. That means Jay Wright of Villanova is the new head coach of the Tigers.
A plus B equals Mike Alden found his man.
Amateur coaching-search sleuths, off to the airport!
Six gentlemen got off the plane and unloaded their luggage and golf clubs, none of whom was Jay Wright of Villanova. Who will not be the new men's head basketball coach at Missouri.
A plus B equals everyone should have just taken a deep breath and thought for just one second. Would Wright leave Villanova, a school with a rich tradition in basketball, for a job in the Midwest where he's never lived or coached? After he has had chances to move to schools such as Kentucky and UCLA?
Nope. But the hunger to be the first with the news can lead to wild rumors and speculation.
Go back to Monday, where people had it on "good authority" Kim Anderson was going to be the new head coach and it was going to be announced soon.
Well, soon has lasted until at least today. Although "someone" spotted Anderson on campus Saturday.
Then it was Wednesday. And if it's Wednesday, that must mean Tim Floyd is a "serious candidate" to leave UTEP and come to Missouri. Until Wednesday night, when the narrative turned into Missouri wasn't interested in Floyd.
And then there's Ben Howland, whose candidacy is either hot, cold or neutral, depending on who's doing the talking and what day it is. The same Ben Howland who has applied for every open job in the past month and missed out on them all.
Yeah, that Ben Howland.
The only pieces of real news during the week came from short statements from coaches who weren't going to take the job.
Why all the secrecy by Alden and Missouri? The better question is, why not?
Word gets out Missouri is interested in a coach, he turns them down. Tiger fans in favor of hiring that coach are then up in arms about how Alden couldn't hire the right guy to shovel the snow from his driveway. And then that coach hears it from his own school's fans about his wandering eye.
On Friday, Missouri announced the Board of Curators announced a 1 p.m. meeting Monday that will immediately go into executive session. That could very well mean discussions to approve a contract for a new basketball coach. So it looks like we may know who the coach is as early as Monday afternoon.
One thing is for sure. Those six guys from Philadelphia probably had some great laughs about all of this on the golf course this weekend.