CFB Roundup: Purdue hires Hazell, Gundy nixes Tennessee offer

The Purdue Boilermakers named Darrell Hazell their new coach on Wednesday. Hazell leaves Kent State after two seasons at the Mid-American Conference school. He led the Golden Flashes to an 11-2 record this season, losing last Friday to Orange Bowl-bound Northern Illinois in double overtime in the Mid-American Conference championship game. The 2012 MAC coach of the year's overall record was 16-9 at Kent State.

Hazell takes over at Purdue for Danny Hope, who was fired after the season. Hope posted a 23-27 record in four years on the job. The Boilermakers rallied at the end of the season to finish 6-6 and land a berth in the Heart of Texas Bowl on New Year's Day against Oklahoma State.

"I'm extremely excited to work with the players at Purdue and I look forward to experiencing a lot of success in the future," Hazell said. "It's a wonderful opportunity. Purdue University has a great football tradition and I can't wait to get started."

Hazell knows what he's getting into at Purdue. He served as Ohio State's wide receivers coach from 2005 to 2010 under Jim Tressel before leaving for Kent State.

"Darrell is a great fit to build on our existing foundation," Purdue athletic director Morgan Burke said. "His leadership at Kent State, combined with his prior experience at Ohio State and other stops along the way, has prepared him to help us continue to move toward developing a championship-caliber program."

---Mike Gundy has turned down an offer to take the Tennessee coaching job and will remain at Oklahoma State, according to reports.

The Cowboys coach had received interest from Tennessee, CBSSports.com and ESPN.com reported Wednesday.

Meanwhile, Yahoo Sports reported that Louisville's Charlie Strong is the Volunteers' top target, but that the Cardinals are doing their best to keep him with an upgrade to his current contract that could make him one of the highest-paid coaches in the country.

Tennessee wants to hire a new coach by the end of the week, sources told CBSSports.com. The Vols are trying to find a replacement for Derek Dooley, who was fired in November before the Vols' final game after three years on the job. He was 4-7 in his final season.

---Florida International fired Mario Cristobal on Wednesday after six seasons as its coach.

"Today we informed coach Cristobal a change was being made in the direction of our football program," athletic director Pete Garcia said.

Florida International finished the 2012 season with a 3-9 record. Cristobal's overall record was 27-47.

The news was somewhat surprising because the program had its first winning seasons in 2010 and 2011. The job that Cristobal had done at FIU was highly regarded. So much so that he reportedly was pursued by bigger-name FBS programs last year, but the former University of Miami player ultimately remained in south Florida.

There was no word from the school on the search for a replacement or possible successors.

---Big Ten-bound Rutgers has sued the Big East over its $10 million exit fee and the 27-month waiting period to leave the conference.

Maryland, which also agreed last month to join the Big Ten, is being sued by the Atlantic Coast Conference to require the school to pay an exit fee of more than $50 million.

Rutgers filled the lawsuit in Middlesex County (N.J.) Court, claiming that the Big East didn't enforce the waiting period when Syracuse, Pittsburgh, TCU and West Virginia departed recently for other conferences. The suit also contends that the Big East failed to collect $39.5 million in withdrawal fees from those schools that should have been distributed to existing conference members.

"Upon information and belief, the new withdrawal fee of $10 million arbitrarily applies to some, but not all, of the Big East football schools, and the effect is to penalize certain members if they seek to withdraw," according to the lawsuit reported by Courthousenews.com. "Moreover, the Big East's excusal of noncompliance by Syracuse, Pittsburgh, TCU, and WVU with the 27-month notice provision of the Bylaws constitutes a waiver of this same provision with respect to Rutgers."

Rutgers has targeted the 2014-15 season as its first in the Big Ten. If the Big East waiting period is enforced, the Scarlet Knights would not be able to join its new conference until the summer of 2015.

---Tulsa athletic director Ross Parmley was fired late Tuesday by the university because of his ties to gambling.

His ouster, announced by Tulsa president Steadman Upham, came one week after he was placed on administrative leave. Parmley was suspended when the FBI identified him as an admitted gambler in a case the organization was working on involving Oklahoma City gambling figure Teddy Mitchell, The Daily Oklahoman reported.

Parmley acknowledged being associated with Mitchell.

"In October of 2011, Ross shared with me that he was cooperating in an FBI investigation pertaining to a gambling case in Oklahoma City," Upham wrote. "At that time, Ross told me that his involvement was solely due to a family connection to the person being investigated.

"For obvious reasons, I specifically asked Ross if he had ever gambled on college or professional sports. He told me that friendly wagers during personal golf games constituted the extent of his betting activities. I took Ross at his word, as I had no reason to believe there had been any acts of impropriety or non-compliance."

Parmley, who has been employed by Tulsa since 2005, reportedly said he gambled for years before giving it up in 2010. NCAA rules prohibit athletic department employees from wagering on intercollegiate sports in which it conducts championships, as well as other amateur and professional sports.