As the Coaching Carousel Turns: 11/21/16

Here are all the updates from around college football...

FBS News

Florida State
The administration seems to have no concern over Jimbo Fisher leaving right now, meaning that they feel the chances of him doing so are low. A list of candidates for FSU, should the job open could be as follows: Willie Taggert, Scott Frost, Matt Ruhle, Tom Herman, Phillip Montgomery, Justin Fuente, Larry Fedora, Mike Gundy, Jeff Brohm, PJ Fleck, Bryan Harsin, and Mike McIntyre.
My gut says that Jimbo stays at FSU.

Texas
Charlie Strong has been fired, even if he does not know. There is a full court press on for Tom Herman, but that is no guarantee at this point, which completely refutes earlier rumors that a deal had already been reached weeks ago. That report was not from a credible source, and that remains true. If Herman jilts the Horns, things get sticky. They could turn their attention to any of the following: Phillip Montgomery, Chad Morris, Dabo Swinney, Bobby Petrino, Justin Fuente, Larry Fedora, Mike Gundy, and to a lessor extent, Jeff Brohm.

LSU
At 6-4, Ed Orgeron appears by all measures to be out at LSU as interim coach, and will not get the nod full time. All attention turned to Jimbo Fisher as the to candidate. This is a dark horse landing spot for Tom Herman if he does leave Houston. The administration is insisting the new coach retain Dave Aranda as DC, and Herman has connection to Aranda. Right now, I see Fisher remaining at FSU, while Herman could land in Baton Rouge very easily.

FIU
Butch Davis has been a busy guy since being hired by the Panthers. He has reeled in some top flight coordinators over the last few days. Dan Hawkins, the former Boise State and Colorado head coach will be the new OC, while former Utah State head coach and well traveled DC Brent Guy will run the defense. Those are some very nice hires for a struggling program like FIU.

Purdue
A report out of Purdue states that the Boilermakers were poised to make a hire this coming weekend, but if it is PJ Fleck that they wanted, that will not be possible, as Fleck has stated that he would not be interested in making a change until after the MAC title game, if the Broncos beat Toledo this week. If Purdue makes a hire this week, it may come down between Greg Olson and Les Miles. Both have met with school officials in the last week to ten days. A 3rd candidate could be Troy Calhoun at Air Force, but he seems to be a wild card in this race.

Baylor
Baylor is interested in making overtures to Tom Herman, but the Bears may be 3rd on his long list of schools he would prefer to go to, and there could be many more openings this time next week. They are also interested in Chad Morris of SMU. Mike McIntyre, Sonny Dykes, and Dino Babers have also appeared on their list.

FCS

Delaware
The News Journal has reported that Delaware is down to 6 candidates at this point, and the list is loaded with possibilities. Coastal Carolina's Joe Moglia is on the list, but may not be interested in the job with CCU moving into FBS football full time in 2017. Danny Rocco of Richmond is also on the list, but this would be a lateral move, at best, and Richmond is in a better position to win right now. Chattanooga coach Russ Heusman is in the same boat as Rocco. The realistic names are the next ones on the list. Tennessee D Bob Schoop, Sam Houston State OC Phil Longo, and Maryland assistants Pete Lembo and Mike London. I would bet all in for this job to come down to Lembo, a former successful coach at Liberty, and London, who had solid success at Richmond. Both left for FBS head jobs, and both fell short there.

Lamar
Ray Woodward is out with the Cardinals, and it would be my bet that they would go all in on Phil Longo of Sam Houston State, who is also a candidate at Delaware. Delaware is a better gig, but he knows Texas, and that would be a perfect fit.

UC Davis
Ron Gould is out after four seasons with the Aggies. Look for several PAC-12, Mountain West, and Big Sky coaches to be involved here. A dark horse could be Victor Santa Cruz out of Azusa Pacific.

Presbyterian
Harold Nichols is out at Presbyterian. There have been no named candidates as of yet for the Big South school. I would expect a strong candidate pool out of the D2 ranks.

More news as it develops!