More coaching drop-outs

After sidestepping direct questions Monday night at the Montgomery Quarterback Club meeting, Florida State head coach designate Jimbo Fisher finally ended all speculation on Friday: He is not a candidate for the Auburn job.
Fisher told The Orlando Sentinel that he is "staying here at Florida State."
Fisher was asked directly about whether or not he would listen to offers from Auburn. Instead of saying he would not listen, he insisted that he was happy at Florida State.
Fisher's comments on Friday were far more conclusive.
“You offend people when you say never,” Fisher said. “I mean, whether it’s 20 years down the road. Those things always come back to bite you.”
Reporters were asking Fisher about the current coaching vacancy on Monday night, not asking about hypothetical situations that might occur 20 years from now.
Fisher became the second coach to officially pull himself out of the running, with TCU's Gary Patterson being the other.
Auburn's list of interviews is still rather long, but candidates are starting to abandon ship. It's getting to a point where Auburn needs to identify its primary target and make a move before more coaches go on record as saying they're not interested.
Even if those coaches didn't have a chance at the job, it still looks bad that they are the ones apparently spurning Auburn instead of the other way around.
And, as the cliche goes, at some point, perception is reality.
Auburn's reality is that this search has already gone on for nine days and if it gets through the weekend there's no telling how many more coaches might drop out.