Florida State coach-in-waiting Jimbo Fisher may not have to do much more waiting, because he could become West Virginia's coach as early as tomorrow.

Fisher, a native of Clarksburg, W.Va., has emerged as the Mountaineers' consensus candidate to succeed new Michigan coach Rich Rodriguez. West Virginia administrators, fans and, perhaps most important, boosters -- divided at midweek over the Doc Holliday-Terry Bowden leading candidates -- roundly threw their support behind Florida State's offensive coordinator and anointed heir to Bobby Bowden.

Under his Seminoles coach-in-waiting contract, an extension through 2011 that boosts his salary to $625,000, Fisher "shall not seek, solicit, discuss, entertain, interview for or accept any offer of an opportunity for any coaching position" in college or the NFL. So a $2.5 million buyout due Florida State -- for a 39-year-old who is still an assistant coach, remember -- seemingly would be triggered at some point, though back-channel negotiations were cautiously executed the past few days to avoid contract trouble.

With a prod from Gov. Joe Manchin, West Virginia officials made a push for Fisher and garnered the donor support necessary for a long-term deal and Fisher's personal buyout cost, sources said. If their discussions reach an agreeable end today, he is expected to be introduced as their new coach as soon as tomorrow.

Failing that, however, West Virginia could revert to a fallback position and use the Christmas Eve window tomorrow to name ESPN's Terry Bowden, son of Bobby, as its new coach. He apparently edged out Holliday, a Florida assistant head coach, in the candidates' race before Fisher quickly entered the picture.

Meanwhile, one other potential candidate received glowing recommendations.

Wake Forest coach Jim Grobe, a native of Huntington, W.Va., and a candidate mentioned for almost every Top 25 program opening, said West Virginia has a good man in place: Interim head coach Bill Stewart, who has neither campaigned nor been interviewed.

"I don't know if you'll find anybody who loves West Virginia University and the state more than Bill Stewart," Grobe said in an unsolicited recommendation. "They'd hit a home run with that guy. You think of a guy who can galvanize kids and keep things moving forward. ... I know there are a lot of political things that influence those decisions. But as far as football things and leading the program, you can't find a better guy."

Stewart, West Virginia's associate head coach the past year, was handed a fragile football team a week ago after Rodriguez's exit meeting. He wasn't officially named interim head coach until Wednesday, due to Rodriguez's contract. Yet he seemed to steady, if not buoy, the Mountaineers before they left for Christmas break Friday to reconvene Wednesday in Phoenix.

"That should tell you something," Grobe said. "If he's the best guy to do that now, he's probably the best guy for the job. Sometimes that's lost [on administrators] when it's right in front of you."

Perhaps Stewart's most famous ex-Virginia Military Institute assistant also openly backs him for the job.

"I just think the world of him," said Steelers coach Mike Tomlin, whose first coaching job after William & Mary College was as a graduate assistant for Stewart. "They're not going to do any better as a coach or a man."