Which College Football Coaches Are Most Likely to Bolt for the NFL?
Much like an actual carousel has both horses and benches for patrons to ride on, the coaching carousel that's already in motion for college football extends beyond just filling head and assistant positions at the collegiate level.
We can't forget about the pro route, not when seemingly every offseason features a college head coach jumping to the pros. Penn State's Bill O'Brien left after last season to coach the Houston Texans, and in 2013 we lost Syracuse's Doug Marrone to the Buffalo Bills and Oregon's Chip Kelly to the Philadelphia Eagles.
Who's next?
We won't see any upward movement for several weeks, since the NFL regular season doesn't end until Dec. 28. But that doesn't mean the speculation hasn't already started regarding who might bolt for the NFL, either after this season or sometime in the future.
Here's our look at the college coaches most likely to be in the pros next season, listed alphabetically.
Art Briles, Baylor
1 of 7
Art Briles has spent his entire 35-year coaching career in Texas, first at the high school level and then as an assistant at Texas Tech for three years before landing his first college head coaching job in 2003 with Houston. He's been at Baylor since 2008 and in that time has transformed the Bears program from one of the worst in a power conference to a perennial power.
Does that make the NFL the next step? And if so, does that mean he'd only do so if it involved taking a job in the Lone Star State?
Last season, when Baylor won the Big 12 Conference and played in the Fiesta Bowl, Briles had his name attached to the Washington Redskins job even before Mike Shanahan was fired by CBS Sports (h/t NFL.com). And back in June, Briles opened up to Bruce Feldman of Fox Sports about his curiosity toward the NFL:
"I think it would interesting, it's kind of intriguing to me," Briles said on Feldman's podcast, The Audible. "As opposed to 20 years ago when it was a trickle-down effect (from NFL to college), it's a trickle-up effect now. I think everything's trickling up from high school, to college to the NFL. That's why the game's getting more open, more exciting and more diverse. To me, as a guy who deals with things on the offensive side of the ball most of the time, I think it would be very exciting to get to the NFL level with this type of scheme and see what happens.
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Baylor has a brand-new stadium, has become a destination for recruits and should be an annual Big 12 contender. That would be a lot for Briles to leave behind, but other coaches have skipped out on more for a chance to coach in the pros.
Brian Kelly, Notre Dame
2 of 7
Brian Kelly was linked to the Philadelphia Eagles opening after the 2012 season, when he led Notre Dame to the BCS title game. His name was also mentioned last December as a potential replacement for Detroit Lions coach Jim Schwartz, who ended up not getting fired and has his team leading its division this season.
Finishing up his fifth season at Notre Dame, Kelly is in the midst of his longest tenure at any school since spending 13 years running Division II Grand Valley State from 1991-2003. He only spent three years apiece at Central Michigan and Cincinnati before landing the Fighting Irish job after the 2009 season.
Kelly is inevitably going to have his name brought up when the NFL starts firing coaches in another month or so, and NFL.com's Bryan Fischer already got that ball rolling on Wednesday:
"You know what would really throw the coaching carousel into a loop?" Fischer tweeted. "If the NY Giants hire Brian Kelly to replace Tom Coughlin."
Jim Mora, UCLA
3 of 7
Jim Mora's name was brought up so much during last season's coaching carousel you'd have thought he had a reserved seat on the ride. This wasn't just limited to college jobs like Texas and Washington—via ESPN (h/t NFL.com)—but also in NFL circles.
This makes sense, because prior to taking over the UCLA program in 2012, he spent more than two decades in various coaching jobs in the NFL. This included three seasons with the Atlanta Falcons and one with the Seattle Seahawks.
Mora could ultimately follow in the footsteps of Pete Carroll—the coach who replaced him in Seattle—who after faring poorly as an NFL coach succeeded in the college ranks well enough to earn another shot in charge of a pro team.
.jpg?w=256 "Ohio State Team Doctor")
Will Muschamp, Florida
4 of 7
Set to be unemployed in 10 days, outgoing Florida coach Will Muschamp hasn't gone into detail about what lies ahead for his coaching future. He has, however, indicated he would "like to obviously be working next year" even with a healthy contract buyout from the Gators making it so he could kick back for a while.
Most experts believe Muschamp's next job would be as a defensive coordinator, his background prior to running Florida. But while he's apt to be a hot commodity for college DC jobs, Michael David Smith of NBC Sports said the prospect of Muschamp working in the NFL next season shouldn't be discounted.
"He's a well-regarded assistant who has previously spent a year as the (Miami) Dolphins' defensive coordinator," Smith wrote. "He could end up back in the NFL."
David Shaw, Stanford
5 of 7
Having replaced a coach who left for the NFL, Stanford's David Shaw has been able to mostly keep going what Jim Harbaugh started before leaving to coach the San Francisco 49ers in 2011. Though the Cardinal are struggling offensively this season and sit at 5-5 heading into Saturday's rivalry game with California, Shaw is still considered a viable pro coaching candidate.
That being said, expect his name to be included on short lists for several NFL openings, especially if Harbaugh leaves the 49ers after this season.
"No matter what I say, the rumors aren't going to stop," Shaw told Antonio Gonzalez of the Associated Press in December 2013. "It doesn't bother me. Every good football program in the last 15 years, after two good years, the head coach is going to be rumored to go someplace else. I take it as a compliment."
Despite him past saying he's not interested in the NFL, that can always change. Especially for the right job and with the right offer.
Bob Stoops, Oklahoma
6 of 7
Currently tied with Iowa's Kirk Ferentz as the third-longest-tenured coach in FBS, Oklahoma's Bob Stoops has become a fixture in Norman. There have been opportunities to go elsewhere in the past, including the same Florida job that's again open and again will include his name on the rumored candidate list, but Stoops has stuck with the Sooners.
Oklahoma is having a disappointing year, sitting at 7-3 and out of the running for the Big 12 title despite being ranked No. 4 in the Associated Press preseason poll, prompting many in the media to speculate that Stoops might need a change in scenery and coach elsewhere.
That doesn't necessarily mean a different college locale, though.
NFL.com's Bryan Fischer wrote in September, even before Oklahoma started losing, that now more than ever Stoops could be inclined to try out the pros:
"The 54-year-old has flirted with the NFL before," Fischer wrote. "While he hasn't pulled the trigger on taking the step up to the pro game, the timing could be just right for him to do so and follow in the path of another Sooners coaching legend, Barry Switzer."
Kevin Sumlin, Texas A&M
7 of 7
Kevin Sumlin needed very little time to get Texas A&M back to a prominent level, doing so despite the school's move to the SEC in 2012. Being able to make such a quick turnaround no doubt contributed to his name getting included on candidate lists for nearly every major college opening last year, as well as some pro jobs.
Sumlin, though, declined the opportunity to interview for NFL jobs after the 2013 season, with ESPN's Chris Mortensen reporting Sumlin was "committed to coaching Texas A&M until the school finishes its $450 million renovation of Kyle Field." That massive job is expected to be done either before or during the 2015 season.
With all of those upgrades happening, at least partly because of him, as well as Sumlin's stellar recruiting acumen, it's very likely Texas A&M will do whatever it can to hold onto its hot coach. But NFL teams have much larger budgets than colleges, so anything is possible...even before the Kyle Field work is done.
Follow Brian J. Pedersen on Twitter at @realBJP.
.jpg?w=480 "Ohio State Team Doctor")
