For this edition, let's start with the jobs that are still open in college football, and see what is happening there before switching gears to those jobs that have been filled...
Arizona State
There have been some strange happenings in college football's coaching carousel, but none that have been as strange as Ray Anderson's approach to the Sun Devil coaching search this week. First, Anderson spent upwards of $12 million in firing Todd Graham, who had just completed a 7-5 season with a second place finish in the PAC-12 South. Both of those happenings exceeded most sane expectations this season. Secondly, after it seemed that he had the attention of Kevin Sumlin, and shortly, Chip Kelly, Anderson got crazy and decided that the new coach would have to retain the coordinators. That is something that a sane AD in this process just does not do. Chip Kelly was only passively interested in the job, and ended up with PAC-12 South rival UCLA, while Sumlin has just faded into the carousel itself, not to be heard from for days.
Every realistic shot that Anderson had at hiring a top tier coach went out the window with his nutty demands, and it appears now, that we are within hours of Herman Edwards being named as head coach, the same Herm Edwards who has not coached in upwards of a decade, and last coached college football when I was in high school in the 80s.
It's probably one of the worst developments for Arizona State that could have happened, and when it all falls down, Anderson should be shown the door along with his coaching choice. By the way...Anderson used to be Edwards' agent.
Arkansas
Arkansas is all in on the Gus Malzahn train right now, and they are waiting to see if Auburn loses to Georgia this Saturday in the SEC title game, because they believe that would be the event that would lead him to leave Auburn for the Hogs. If Auburn wins, and the Tigers are a playoff team, Malzahn likely stays, or so goes the theory. If he stays at Auburn, all attention turns to Mike Norvell of Memphis as plan B. Nothing has changed in this situation, and nothing likely will until Sunday.
Kent State
There is still virtually zero buzz about this job, and nothing is likely to happen this weekend. There has been zero national talk about this job, largely thought to be one of the worst available.
Nebraska
The Huskers will likely have an answer on the Scott Frost front this weekend, as UCF will play Memphis for the AAC title Saturday. Frost is not making any decisions until that game has been played. If Frost turns them down, the field gets murky, at best. Mike Leach may be the fall back plan here, but he would likely not be a decent cultural fit for the Huskers, nor would they be for him.
Rice
With David Bailiff out at Rice, look for two small school candidates to get major play here. Colby Carthel of Texas A&M Commerce is still a young offensive mind that is on the rise, and Willie Simmons is a riser at Prairie View as well. Look for both to be involved sooner than later.
South Alabama
With no information free flowing out of Mobile, at this point it makes sense that Jacksonville State coach John Grass will be a candidate for USA. Grass is still in the FCS playoffs now, and will not be discussing anything of this nature until that run ends for the Gamecocks.
Tennessee
In the worst coaching search dumpster fire in coaching search history, the only consistency is that once a mob mentality negated the hire of Greg Schiano (Peyton Manning supported the hire), and set the Vols up for defamation lawsuits and breach of contract suits to boot, nobody wants this job. Mike Gundy has said no. Jeff Brohm has said no. David Cucliffe has said no. Jason Witten has said hell no. Dave Doeren has said no. Now, Kevin Sumlin has told people that he has zero interest in the job. It sounds as if people have gone public about having no interest, even if they have not been contacted or named as candidates. The Vols are almost out of major options at this point. Just think, just a couple of weeks ago, the myopic morons that have ruined this job thought that they would have John Gruden in the job. Here's another statement on that matter...Gruden isn't coming, and never was.
Texas A&M
We could have an answer tomorrow when it comes to the Aggies, and it looks as if Jimbo Fisher is currently on a private plane from Tallahassee to College Station tonight. If this were to get wrapped up tomorrow, and all indications point to it getting done, A&M will have their only candidate locked up in short order.
UTEP
UTEP seems to be swimming in a very similar candidate pool as Rice is at this point, but as I reported last week, Sam Houston State KC keeler was identified as a front runner today. The Bearkats are in the middle of an FCS playoff run, and nothing will get done until that run is complete.
Florida State
I am getting questions from Twitter followers on this job tonight, with Jimbo Fisher likely to take the Texas A&M job after cornering himself into having to accept that job by virtue of overplaying his hand with Florida State. At this point, their top candidate would be Willie Taggart, which I believe would likely not be a perfect fit. Taggart has never been a one year guy on a job, and usually stays at least five years on average to get the job done that he starts before moving on. It's so early in that process of FSU protecting themselves that Taggart has been the only name mentioned, and anything else would simply be conjecture by me. Now if you would like to hear that...tune in to my coaching search podcast, which will be out in the next few days.
FCS Jobs
I receive occasional tweets from people on openings in FCS jobs, and I try to get as much information about those jobs as I can. One such job that I have received questions about is Tennessee Tech, where Marcus Satterfield was recently fired. One thing to note is that the job is posted on the NCAA website, and applications are not being accepted until tomorrow. Stay tuned there.
In the meantime, Montana will be announcing Bobby Hauck, Part 2 tomorrow. His contract was agreed upon yesterday, was being approved by the university board today, and will be finalized with an official announcement tomorrow. Hauck was 80-17 the first time around, but his teams were plagued by off-field issues.
Brad Laird was hired as head coach at Northwestern State this week, and he has already began assembling his staff, which is quick for any job on any level.
Jobs Already Filled
Florida, Dan Mullen: The prodigal son under Urban Meyer returns to Gainesville.
Georgia Southern, Chad Lunsford: The interim guy got the job after big wins over USA, ULL.
Mississippi State, Joe Moorhead: Penn State OC and former Fordham coach goes south.
Ole Miss, Matt Luke: Spent $137,000 on a search firm to hire the guy they already had.
Oregon State, Jonathon Smith: Former Beaver comes home after botched search.
UCLA, Chip Kelly: One of the home runs of the coaching search season, Bruins go all in on football.
No comments:
Post a Comment