I have been updating all of the prospective college football coaching searches on my Twitter wall, which can be found at @BiloFootball the last few days. Now, I will update you in an end of weekend report on all of the ongoing searches that have been happening the last few days...
Florida Atlantic
We start at FAU, where once again, Lane Kiffin entered in name at least into a search, and then found himself out of it, this time as talks imploded over what FAU would be willing to pay him. Kiffin makes $1.4 million per season as OC at Alabama, and he was not into giving a friendly discount. Now the search is back to wide open, and the search itself seems completely adrift. The latest of many names attached to this job is now Michigan OC Tim Drevno. There have been as many as 8 to 10 different names involved in this search, yet the Owls are no closer to seemingly making a hire, and Luke Fickell, someone who Pat Chun was interested in, has taken the job at Cincinnati.
Temple
With Matt Rhule gone to Baylor in a more than shocking move, this job search is seemingly off to a slow start. Joe Moorhead, Penn State's OC, has declined an opportunity to speak with the people at Temple, and is out of the running before he was in. Old Dominion's Bobby Wilder has been connected here, and was expected to interview, but is also working ODU for a large contract extension with the Monarchs. The latest name this weekend that became attached here was Eagles QB coach John DeFillipo, but it was Temple reaching out, and not the other way around, so there is no telling the level of interest here. The smart money at Temple remains on current DC Phil Snow, who will interview, and may have already, as Snow has the support of players currently on the team, and has not joined Rhule yet at Baylor.
Cincinnati
The Bearcats moved yesterday (Saturday) on Ohio State Co-DC Luke Fickell, who was once the interim head coach before Urban Meyer was hired. Fickell was 6-6 in his one regular season of coaching Ohio State, but he fits the mold of what Cincinnati was looking for, as they sought out a riser, even if this job was to be used as a stepping stone. With that kind of mindset, it is clear that UC does not view themselves as a current, or future power program. That said, fickell was a solid, but not completely splashy hire.
USF
It was early Sunday morning when USF and Charlie Strong came to final terms and a deal was done naming Strong the new coach of the Bulls, just weeks after being terminated at Texas. It was stated early Sunday that Strong would like to bring as many of his Texas staff members along with him as would be manageable. This was a slam dunk hire for USF, who really never targeted anyone else in a serious way.
Houston
Heading into the weekend, Houston named Major Applewhite as head coach of the Cougars, promoting him from Tom Herman's staff. Just hours earlier, a false report was released stating that Lane Kiffin, again, would be the choice here, which the Houston administration flatly called out as a false report. Applewhite was the 11th hour choice, as he received the full support of area high school coaches who would potentially be sending their players to Houston. Kiffin had no such support in the Texas high school ranks. That was the deciding factor into giving the job to Applewhite, who is a lifer in the State of Texas.
Eastern Washington
After not landing the jobs at San Jose State and Nevada (the latter shocking almost everyone monitoring the situation), EWU will give coach Beau Baldwin a 5 year contract extension at the school. Baldwin seemed to be the only FCS coach getting a real shot this season to move up into FBS football, and was somehow bypassed twice, which is beyond ridiculous.
Nevada
Speaking of Nevada, the overall of this profile took a serious downturn in my opinion, hiring Arizona State WR coach Jay Norvell as head coach to replace Brian Polian, who resigned. It is obvious that Polian did not believe that the program is a sustainable winner moving forward due to a lack of facilities and fund raising, saying that Nevada would never be more than an 8 game winner at their peak if they did not find a way to change things, 8 wins being peak, mind you, not saying that they could sustain 8 wins per year at all, which would not be enough to challenge for MWC West Division titles in the current environment even at that said peak. Let me be clear here...Norvell is not the kind of guy that takes this to the next level. This was an uninspired, lazy hire, with Nevada not being likely to spring for a coach that would take this program back to the winning days of earlier this decade and last. Bypassing Beau Baldwin for Norvell is simply ludicrous on every single level imaginable.
San Jose State
Speaking of lazy, uninspiring hires, Brent Brennan, Oregon State Inside Receivers Coach as of late, is the new head coach at San Jose State. This hire, was again, a reach and a disaster of a move for a program that is clearly not thinking too clearly at this time. They went into the former assistant well, someone who they were conveniently familiar with, instead of seeking someone like who they had in Mike MacIntyre, a coach coach who is revolutionary, ad successful. This was a convenient, lazy hire as well, and San Jose State will likely be right back here in 3 to 4 years. Here's hoping I am wrong.
Delaware
The best FCS job on the market, Delaware is getting closer to making a hire this week. They have been long targeting Richmond head coach Danny Rocco, and have been waiting out Richmond's FCS playoff run before making a move. Rocco will meet with Delaware officials this week, as will Chattanooga coach Russ Huesman, who already lost in the FCS playoffs. Look for an announcement sometime this week, per reports.
Morgan State
Fred Farrier has had the interim tag removed at Morgan State, and is now the official Head Coach of the program this weekend. Farriar finished 3-8 this season as the interim.
More news as it becomes available, with my next update coming tomorrow night!
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