Should Will Muschamp Try to Find Another Head Coaching Job?

From the moment news broke Sunday morning that Florida head coach Will Muschamp would be out after the end of the regular season, fanbases around the SEC began chomping at the bit.

Texas A&M, South Carolina and Auburn—three teams that might benefit from a change at defensive coordinator—all took to Twitter to lobby for "Coach Boom" to come to their programs.

Muschamp isn't ready to commit to coaching next season.

"I'd like to, obviously, be working next year," Muschamp said on Wednesday's teleconference. "Certainly after the FSU game, Carol and I are going to take a little time and see what our next step is. I'm looking forward to that next step. What that will be, I have no idea. I haven't put any thought into that."

Mark Humphrey/Associated Press/Associated Press/Associated Press

We even touched on those three programs as possible landing spots for Muschamp on Sunday morning.

Should he become a coordinator, though?

Sure, he could probably cause a bidding war among high-profile programs in search of defensive help and join the small group of assistant coaches who make more than $1 million per year.

Long term, though, that wouldn't be the best option.

Four years from now, if he's successful, his name will be bandied about in big-time coaching searches. When that happens, if he spends his post-Gainsville career as an assistant, he'd have to answer the question of whether he's capable of running a major program as a head coach again.

He should answer that question now.

I tossed out Troy in the slideshow from Sunday simply because the job is open thanks to Larry Blakeney's impending retirement. Whether it's Troy or another small school, finding a home as a head coach would be a much better option for Muschamp if he wants to become a big-time head coach again down the road.

The pay might be the holdup.

Blakeney, for example, makes $518,788 per year, according to the recently released USA Today college coaches salary database. That's less than 16 SEC assistants made in 2013, according to the same database. 

Does money talk?

It might, but Muschamp also has $6 million coming his way from Florida, according to David Jones of Florida Today. That certainly makes the financial aspect of the decision quite different than it would be if that payout wasn't coming.

Butch Dill/Associated Press/Associated Press/Associated Press/Associated Press

Muschamp shouldn't go the coordinator route and should find a home as a head coach next season.

If he goes to a smaller school as a head coach, produces a defense at a similar level as those in his Florida days and combines it with an offense that's much more dynamic and spread out, those same big-time opportunities would likely still be attainable three or four years down the road.

Muschamp would be better served to take that risk now rather than leave it hanging for his potential future employer to ponder several years from now.

It was a risk for Florida to hire Muschamp—who came in with no head coaching experience—in the first place. Whoever considers him for head coaching vacancies in the future will have the sour taste of his failed four-year stint in Gainesville to deal with unless he changes the perception of "head coach Will Muschamp."

Doing that at a small school now is the better choice if he wants to get back into the big-time head coaching ranks quickly.

Barrett Sallee is the lead SEC college football writer and video analyst for Bleacher Report as well as a co-host of the CFB Hangover on Bleacher Report Radio (Sundays, 9-11 a.m. ET) on Sirius 93, XM 208.

Quotes were obtained firsthand unless otherwise noted. All stats are courtesy of CFBStats.com, and all recruiting information is courtesy of 247Sports. Follow Barrett on Twitter @BarrettSallee.