College Football Coaches Most Likely to Be with a New Team Next Season
The music has started up, and the gears are turning. The annual college football coaching carousel is under way, basically turning the next few months into a near-constant stream of potential changes in leadership at the top of various programs.
It's an exciting time for schools landing a new coach, while for those in jeopardy of losing theirs it's a time of trepidation. Seemingly every coach is in play when the carousel gets going, as last year 15 of the 20 openings in FBS were filled by existing head coaches at other college programs.
Two major such moves happened on Thursday, with Florida hiring Colorado State's Jim McElwain and Oregon State's Mike Riley moving to Nebraska.
Who are the other coaches most likely to make a move to another school this winter? Here's our list of the ones with the best chance to be wearing a new color palette when the 2015 season starts.
Already on the Move (Or Close to It)
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The first two major passengers to hop about the carousel took their seats on Thursday, when Colorado State coach Jim McElwain was hired by Florida to replace Will Muschamp, and Nebraska then announced it had hired Oregon State's Mike Riley. Other coaches have already made moves or have been speculated to be in the process of doing so.
Here's a rundown of some of the changes that have already happened or could very soon:
Neal Brown
With Troy's Larry Blakeney retiring after 24 seasons, on Monday the Sun Belt school hired Brown, a former assistant coach. The 34-year-old Brown was with the Trojans from 2006-09 and most recently spent the past two seasons as Kentucky's offensive coordinator.
June Jones
Jones resigned from SMU in September just two games into his seventh season, but he apparently still wants to coach. According to Mark Anderson of the Las Vegas Review-Journal, Jones is one of several former head coaches who have inquired with UNLV about its vacancy.
UNLV is looking for a coach after Bobby Hauck resigned Monday after five seasons.
Chad Morris
A highly regarded offensive coordinator during his four seasons there, Morris landed his first head coaching gig on Monday with his introduction as SMU's next coach. Morris inherits a program that's 0-11 this season heading into Saturday's finale at Connecticut and is riding a 13-game losing streak.
Will Muschamp
Muschamp announced his resignation from Florida in November, effective after the Gators' 24-19 loss Nov. 29 at Florida State. But before stepping down, Muschamp said he would "like to be obviously working next year."
He's apparently a hot commodity because of his defensive acumen, as Jay Tate of AuburnUndercover.com (h/t Orlando Sentinel) is reporting Muschamp has offers from both Auburn and Texas A&M to be their defensive coordinator.
Steve Addazio, Boston College
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Steve Addazio has won seven games in each of his two seasons at Boston College following a two-year stint at Temple. He could be in line for an even bigger job, as his name has been mentioned as a possible replacement for Brady Hoke at Michigan.
"Addazio's style of play and emphasis on toughness would fit well in the Big Ten," wrote Steven Lassan of Athlon Sports.
Addazio also has the offensive background that Michigan might be looking for. Prior to his head coaching jobs, he spent six seasons on Urban Meyer's staff at Florida coaching offensive linemen and tight ends and also spent time as offensive coordinator. At Boston College this season, Addazio's quarterback was a Florida transfer (Tyler Murphy) who set an ACC record for rushing yards by a quarterback with 1,074 to go along with 10 touchdowns.
Michigan's quarterbacks in 2014 ran for 286 yards and four TDs.
Rod Carey, Northern Illinois
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The Mid-American Conference has developed a reputation as sort of a farmer's market for power-conference programs looking for their next coach. Wake Forest hired Dave Clawson away from Bowling Green after last season, marking the sixth straight year at least one MAC coach landed a job elsewhere.
The current coaches at Illinois (Tim Beckman), Minnesota (Jerry Kill), North Carolina State (Dave Doeren), Notre Dame (Brian Kelly), Purdue (Darrell Hazell) and Tennessee (Butch Jones) were all MAC head coaches at some point between 2006-2012, as was Hoke.
Northern Illinois has been through this scenario twice in the past five years, losing Kill after the 2010 season and Doeren in 2012. Rod Carey has carried on his predecessors' legacy, reaching the MAC title game in both of his seasons, including Friday's rematch of last year's final against Bowling Green.
If a power program is looking to hire an up-and-coming coach, the 43-year-old Carey might be on its radar.
.jpg?w=256 "Ohio State Team Doctor")
Bill Clark, UAB
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Bill Clark's tenure at UAB was a short but successful one, though also one mired in despair. After leading the Blazers to only their second bowl-eligible season since joining FBS in 1996, the school announced Monday that it was shutting down the program.
Clark went 6-6 in his one year with UAB, which was 2-10 the season before he was hired away from FCS Jacksonville State. He went 11-4 in his only season there, reaching the quarterfinals, and spent the previous five years as South Alabama's defensive coordinator.
"It goes without saying someone should hire Bill Clark," tweeted Dan Wolken of USA Today on Monday. "We will see how the carousel spins and what jobs filter down. Tremendous coach."
Considering what he was able to do at UAB, Clark figures to land another head coaching job quite soon, either at the FBS or FCS level.
Justin Fuente, Memphis
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In 2012, Justin Fuente inherited a Memphis program that hadn't had a winning season since 2007. He won three games last year, his second with the school, but this fall the Tigers went 9-3 and have clinched at least a share of the American Athletic Conference title, the program's first since the 1970s.
That kind of quick turnaround usually puts a coach smack dab in the middle of the radar of bigger programs looking for someone to orchestrate a similar sea change.
Fuente appears close to signing an extension with Memphis, according to Phil Stukenborg of The Memphis Commercial Appeal, but that doesn't guarantee he wouldn't be tempted to still go somewhere.
Mike Gundy, Oklahoma State
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At several times this season, a coach at a major program in the state of Oklahoma has been mentioned as someone who could be looking for a change of scenery after a long, successful run at his school. But we're not talking about Oklahoma's Bob Stoops this time but rather his contemporary at rival Oklahoma State.
Mike Gundy has won 82 games since getting hired at his alma mater in 2005, including 23 wins in 2011-12 when the Cowboys shared one Big 12 title and won the other. Yet OSU heads into Saturday's Bedlam game at Oklahoma with a 5-6 record and at risk of missing a bowl for the first time since Gundy's first season in 2005.
OSU is riding a five-game losing streak, and on Tuesday Gundy "seemed as though he wanted to be anywhere else" but the press conference previewing Saturday's game, according to Bill Haisten of the Tulsa World.
Gundy played quarterback at OSU from 1986-89, and all but five of his 25 seasons in coaching have been spent in Stillwater. Stoops has been at Oklahoma for 16 years, so if he's someone who could be looking for a change it would stand to reason Gundy might benefit from something similar.
Mark Hudspeth, Louisiana-Lafayette
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Over the past four years, there have been two teams that are considered the gold standard in the Sun Belt Conference: Arkansas State and Louisiana-Lafayette.
But while one has done it despite a coaching change between each season, the other has managed to hold onto its hot coach throughout.
Will this be the offseason that Louisiana-Lafayette's Mark Hudspeth finally makes the jump to a bigger program, like Hugh Freeze (Ole Miss), Gus Malzahn (Auburn) and Bryan Harsin (Boise State) did after each of the previous three years?
Hudspeth is 35-16 with the Ragin' Cajuns, going 9-4 in each of his first three seasons and 8-4 this year, pending the results of what will be a fourth-straight New Orleans Bowl appearance. That came after winning 66 games in seven years at Division II North Alabama.
The 46-year-old Hudspeth figures to be in the mix for openings this winter as the carousel keeps moving. Will he jump on this year?
Jake Spavital, Texas A&M
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Four of the 20 new hires in FBS last season involved coordinators getting their first shot at a head-coaching job, and already this year SMU and Troy have gone the coordinator route to fill their vacancies.
Texas A&M offensive coordinator Jake Spavital could be next up on that list, as the work he's done in two seasons with the Aggies has raised his profile in the coaching community. According to Mark Berman of Fox 26 in Houston, Spavital has interviewed for the Tulsa job that came open when the school fired Bill Blankenship on Monday.
The 29-year-old Spavital spent the 2008 season as a quality control assistant at Tulsa, working under current Auburn coach Gus Malzahn during his stint with the Golden Hurricane as its co-offensive coordinator.
Matt Wells, Utah State
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Utah State was perennially one of the worst FBS programs in the country until Gary Andersen went 7-6 in 2011 and 11-2 in 2012, a turnaround that helped him land the Wisconsin job. His successor, Matt Wells, has continued that prominence by going 18-9 the past two seasons and reaching the Mountain West title game in 2013.
Wells is a Utah State alum, having played quarterback there from 1993-96. That could make him loyal to the school, but loyalty only goes so far in the high stakes world of college sports.
Follow Brian J. Pedersen on Twitter at @realBJP.
.jpg?w=480 "Ohio State Team Doctor")
