-He is a middle child (take from that what you will)
-He surprised numerous people when he did not choose his father’s Alma Mater Ole Miss (so he makes decisions on his own terms)
-He has donated a small amount of money to politics, but all to Republicans (Kansas is about as conservative a state as it gets)
-He is a hard worker (showed up for camp at Tenn 6 weeks early to train and try to win the starting job as a freshman)
-He is smart (he graduated in 3 years at Tenn with honors & majored in Speech Communications)
-He was married in Memphis (they have good bbq there too!)
-Trent Reznor and Anne Rice were neighbors growing up (take it for what’s it worth)
He has a son named Marshall (after Marshall Faulk-who played in Indy but also in St. Louis)
HIs children have been baptized (so he is obviously a church guy)

From what I can gather from all of this (and what others have said), I see him picking a place where he feels comfortable (as a community) and as far as the coaches go.

Quote:
“Peyton’s only bad memories came when professional athletics intruded on the family’s homelife. The Saints were the laughingstock of the NFL, and despite some great individual seasons, Archie often bore the brunt of the fans’ ire. In 1982, after he was traded to the Oilers, Archie talked it over with Olivia and they decided the family would stay in New Orleans. Peyton and brothers missed their dad terribly.”

So he’s not going to go to a place where the fans or media will turn against him (why the Jets never made any sense or why I see Miami not making any sense).

Quote:
“Peyton sought advice from the likes of Tim Duncan, Michael Jordan, Fran Tarkenton, Roger Staubach, Phil Simms, Troy Aikman and Drew Bledsoe. Though most told him to skip his final college season, he chose to return to the Vols. The lure of competing for the national championship—and making a run at the Heisman Trophy—was too strong.”

He again did not listen to what a lot of other athletes told him to do and followed his own path.

Turner Gill made $265,000...Good for #110 out of all college coaches.

Man-gee-I-can't-eat-just-one-o made 2.3 million...Good for #16.

Gary Pinkel makes 2.5 million
Bo Pelini at Nebraska only made 1.8 million

Candidates on the radar with KU:
Houston Nutt - 2.5 million
Randy Edsall - 1.5
Skip Holtz - 1.1
Jim Harbaugh - 1.0 (but their AD claims they inked an extension a few weeks ago)
Tim Brewster - 1.0
Larry Fedora - 800K
Kevin Sumlin - 700K
Butch Jones - 275K

For Reference:
http://www.orlandosentinel.com/sports/orl-spt-coach-salary-chart-2009,0,3767955.htmlstory

via www3.pictures.zimbio.com

Considering the line in front of him, the caliber of WR/TE he has to throw at, along with having 2.7 running behind him with no enthusiasm for 8 games, this year hasn't been easy for Cassel. Outside of holding on to the ball too long and a dropping completion percentage, which are issues, Cassel has actually done fairly well...if not simply "average" so far. Here are the stats:

2:1 TD/INT ratio (12/6)

            -T16th TDs

            -T7th INTs

55% completion percentage (26th in NFL among those who’ve played at least 7 games)

Sacked 34 times (2nd most in NFL next to Aaron Rodgers)

77.9 QB Rating (22nd in NFL)

--To compare with other young QBs--

Those in their second year of starting:

Joe Flacco has a QB Rating - 89.1 (12 TD/8 INT)

Matt Ryan has a QB Rating - 80.0 (16/12)

Those in their first years of starting:

Chad Henne – 77.7 (6/4)

Matthew Stafford - 66.9 (11/14)

Mark Sanchez has a QB Rating - 61.1 (10/16)

He compares quite favorably to all QBs above besides Flacco. Personally, things could be much worse...we could have drafted JaSuckus Russell (47.7 QB Rating) or Derek Anderson (36.2 QB Rating)