This rumor surfaced today. I have no reason to believe it is true.
Here is Gene Chizik's resume as a defensive coordinator, via Wikipedia.
While at Central Florida in Orlando, Chizik frequently visited practice sessions of the NFL's Tampa Bay Buccaneers studying the Bucs' defensive scheme developed by then-Bucs head coach Tony Dungy, defensive coordinator Monte Kiffin and linebackers coach Lovie Smith.[5]
Chizik later employed a very similar scheme at Auburn, where he served again as the defensive coordinator and secondary coach from 2002-04. During this time, he had some of the greatest successes of his career to date. He coached in three bowl games, the 2003 Capital One Bowl, 2004 Music City Bowl, and 2005 Sugar Bowl. His 2004 defensive unit led the country in scoring defense, giving up 11.3 points per game,[6] and the total defense ranked 5th, which is the same ranking the 2003 team recorded.[7] He garnered the 2004 Broyles Award, which is given each year to the top assistant coach in the nation. The 2004 Auburn Tigers football team finished 13-0 that year, won the SEC title, and defeated Virginia Tech in the Sugar Bowl. It placed second in the final AP and Coaches polls.[8]
In 2005, Chizik was hired by Texas to serve as their co-defensive coordinator, assistant head coach, and linebackers coach.[9] During his time at Texas, the team won the 2005 NCAA Division I-A national football championship by defeating USC in the 2006 Rose Bowl.
He later coached Iowa State to a 5-19 record and was abysmal at Auburn without Cam Newton (19-19 record). He was recently fired and is receiving almost $200,000 per month for the next seven five years. [Editor's note: apologies, I did not source the original years calculation correctly.] He does not need to work a day again in his life.
I had not heard Chizik mentioned as a serious candidate, so today when this rumor exploded, I was surprised. It apparently came from the Tim Brando show, and their producer contacted me with the actual audio that was being misrepresented, to clear things up. Here it is:
All of the candidates I profile here are somehow relevant to the job, except Chizik. I'm discussing Chizik only to shoot down this rumor, as enough of you emailed about it and I have heard nothing to indicate it is at all likely.