Anyway, reading this thread, it's interesting because we have this exact same 'theory' in regards to our coaching search of 07..
Before the SEC championship Herbstreit announced that we had hired Les Miles from LSU live on College Gameday.. Well that led to LSU announcing a press conference later that day and Les saying how he was planning on staying and coaching LSU in the NC game (and a week later a big extension and us hiring Rich Rod)..
The story goes that we had all but hired Miles (had a contract agreed upon in principle and it was basically a done deal for the next day) but Herbie who apparently found out through Desmond (fellow CollegeGamday'er and a member of the Search Committee) went public with before everyone wanted it to be public to sabotage us and ruin it or whatever.. Very similar to your situation, though I tend to think our story at least is exaggerated or just plain bullshit..
Speaking of which, you guys should totally hire Rich Rod, he doesn't suck nearly as bad as we made it seem, and I think he'd be perfect for a place like KSU..