NEW ORLEANS -- News first leaked about 3:30 p.m. on Saturday, two hours before Arkansas State was set to leave its team hotel for the Superdome.
The report, which ASU officials did not confirm before the Red Wolves' 47-28 loss to Louisiana Tech in the New Orleans Bowl, was that offensive coordinator Walt Bell was coaching his last game at ASU.
But it was true.
The Red Wolves players were told in the locker room before the game, but Coach Blake Anderson waited until after afterward to make it official.
Bell, who at 31 had become one of the hottest names on the coaching market in the days after helping ASU set a school and Sun Belt Conference scoring record, was indeed heading to Big Ten school Maryland as offensive coordinator.