Steve Kauffman, Hornacek's agent, refutes report Jeff isn't interested in Iowa St. coaching job

Today's update on the "Jeff Hornacek Watch" comes courtesy of a website dubbed "Cyclone Fanatic."

Chris Williams wrote a story on the site that claimed Iowa St. reached out to Jeff Hornacek about their coaching job, but... "Hornacek's camp declined... and (he) has no interest in the job."

Apparently Hornacek's agent, Steve Kauffman, took exception to this characterization and decided that posting a comment on the story was the best way to attack this misinformation.

Because of course he did.

This also makes me wonder why Lon Babby doesn't frequently comment on our website. If I get something wrong here just jump on in, Lon.

Perhaps you're thinking this was an impostor pretending to be Hornacek's agent. That would be a reasonable thing to verify.

So CBSports.com did exactly that. Their source confirmed that Kauffman is the actual poster.

Here was Mr. Kauffman's retort.

"We represent Jeff Hornacek. Rarely do I post but I will simply say this story is inaccurate. Jeff loves his alma mater and the facts are simply wrong here," Kauffman wrote. "School knew they (Iowa State) had to request permission in a certain manner from the Phoenix Suns. I do not wish to allocate blame as to the parties at fault here. But it's a shame."

Hmm...

Without knowing any of the actual details I'm going to draw a couple of completely unfounded conclusions. I'm not suggesting this is actually what is happening/has happened, but merely what some people may be inferring based on the available information.

I think one could construe that A) the Suns denied a request from Iowa St. to meet with Hornacek and B) the Suns haven't approached Hornacek about renegotiating or extending his contract.

Let the rumors swirl.

I think my favorite part of this saga is probably the national perspective that a college job in Iowa is on the same playing field as an NBA job in Phoenix.

I also like that Robert Sarver is back in the limelight for being notoriously parsimonious when dealing with front office and coaching contracts. At the same time as these bad Hornacek vibes the discussion of Sarver's treatment of former employees, especially Warriors head coach Steve Kerr, has been back in the news. Hooray.

Fair or not, it is pretty easy to traduce Sarver. Some people are just easy targets.

The Suns could always come out and clarify or debunk these new reports/rumors. Not that they need to. Hornacek is still under contract for one more year and the Suns have every right to tell him to pound sand... he signed his contract. Plus, that seems like it's worked for the team in the past.

Of course, Sarver (and the Suns front office) could also quash these rumors by reaching agreement on some kind of deal with Hornacek that guarantees he will be in Phoenix for at least the next two seasons... but that hasn't happened, either.

Maybe it still will.

Until then, speculation will abound.

UPDATE

John Gambadoro from Arizona Sports 98.7 FM has offered his clarifications to the subject on twitter.

It is very possible that someone close to the Iowa State program (Booster, Alumni, former player) called Jeff to gauge interest.

— John Gambadoro (@Gambo987) June 3, 2015

The Phoenix Suns have not been contacted by anyone at Iowa State asking for permission to speak with coach Jeff Hornacek

— John Gambadoro (@Gambo987) June 3, 2015