I know that CNS said early on after the season that he would hire who he thought should be hired and not who others wanted. That seemed to indicate that it would not be Pruitt, Schumann, Leonard or Lake on the D side. CNS often makes what he's going to do fairly plain, but many fans think he's obfuscating and "playing 3 D chess".
He's usually reasonably straight-forward. One thing he does do is consider the feelings of others, especially players, coaches, administrators and their families and crafts his answers accordingly. It's well known that he does not care for many in the media, but there are not a few that he does respect - Cecil being the prime example..