Which College Coaches Should Be Topping NFL Teams' Wish Lists This Offseason?

Some people avoid Black Friday shopping. NFL coaches prefer to avoid Black Monday. 

Black Monday falls after the final Sunday of the NFL's regular season. This is when many coaches are fired as change sweeps through multiple organizations. 

Nearly half of the league (15 teams) changed head coaches within the past two years. Two of those changes occurred in the middle of the current season with the Miami Dolphins and Tennessee Titans already pulling the plug on their previous head coaches. 

Coaching turnover is a fact of life in the NFL. However, hiring coaches from the collegiate ranks isn't a regular occurrence. 

Organizations are usually more interested in previous NFL head coaches or up-and-coming coordinators instead of thinking outside of the box a little bit and giving a talented college coach a chance. 

Six former college head coaches—Bill O'Brien, Bruce Arians, Chip Kelly, Jim Caldwell, Pete Carroll and Tom Coughlin—currently roam NFL sidelines. Three of those—Arians, Caldwell and Coughlin—haven't been involved in the college game for 15 years or more.  

When the amount of turnover seen every year is taken into account, it's difficult to believe NFL teams don't look toward the league's feeder system more often as a place where reputable and talented coaches can be found. 

As the game continues to evolve and questions arise about the incoming talent's actual preparedness for the professional level, it only makes sense to hire those coaches who are currently developing the next generation of players. 

A few stand above the rest as legitimate candidates, and Bleacher Report identified five coaches who could be ready to make the leap. 

Honorable Mention

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Not everyone is made for the NFL despite interest from those around the league. Others have already found their dream jobs, and the NFL isn't their ultimate destination. 

There are numerous names at the collegiate level who have been highly successful, yet they shouldn't warrant legitimate consideration fro NFL teams. 

Urban Meyer, for example, already owns three national championships, but being the head coach of Ohio State is arguably as good or better than any job in football. 

Of course, a coach the caliber of Nick Saban is a valued by NFL teams based on the talent he develops and how he runs his program. But, the 64-year-old coach would likely be looking for the absolutely perfect situation to leave a great program like Alabama in an attempt to correct the one blemish on his resume—a 15-17 record as the head coach of the Miami Dolphins. 

"Alabama head coach Nick Saban, who has been prone to wanderlust in the past, will certainly be pursued by NFL teams this offseason, but several sources close to him believe the odds of his returning to the NFL are remote," CBSSports.com's Jason La Canfora reported. 

Michigan's Jim Harbaugh is another special case. He already proved he can lead an NFL team to a Super Bowl. However, Harbaugh is still in his first year at his alma mater, and he hasn't worn out his welcome in Ann Arbor, Michigan. The former NFL quarterback isn't even considering any potential openings. 

"I won’t comment on it," Harbaugh said in October, per the Detroit News' Angelique Chengelis. "It’s disrespectful to the game."

Others such as Stanford's David Shaw, Northwestern's Pat Fitzgerald and Oregon's Mark Helfrich are either coaching at their alma mater or within their home state. It'll be difficult to pry any of them out of their particular situations. 

Another candidate who drew interest in recent years is Auburn's Gus Malzahn, but the Tigers are currently 6-5 overall. Due to a decline in play for three straight seasons, Malzahn won't be viewed in the same light as he was a year or two ago. 

Even if these particular candidates aren't necessarily interested in coaching at the NFL level, most of their names will come up again a year from now if teams don't make a strong run at them this season. It's just the nature of the beast. 

Brian Kelly, Notre Dame Fighting Irish

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Coaching Style: Offensive Minded (Spread)

Age: 54

Record: 226-78-2

Previous NFL Experience: None

Best (or Most Logical) NFL Fits if Job Opens: Tennessee Titans

Success has followed Brian Kelly everywhere he's gone. 

Everything started at Grand Valley State. Kelly coached the Lakers for 11 seasons before he finally led the team to a national championship game. The team lost that year but won the following two Division II titles. The coach earned a stint with the Central Michigan Chippewas as a result. 

Kelly continually climbed the ladder from Central Michigan to Cincinnati to Notre Dame. His 19-16 record with the MAC program became his worst record at any of these stops. In 25 years of being a head coach, though, Kelly only lost 78 games and posted one losing season, which came in his first year at Central Michigan. 

What makes Kelly successful is his ability to adapt to the talent on the roster. This was especially apparent at Cincinnati when he went from one of the best dual-threat quarterbacks of all time in Dan LeFevour at Central Michigan and then used a 6'6" gunslinger in Tony Pike with the Bearcats. 

His ability to adapt has also been on display this season when the Fighting Irish suffered an injury to starting quarterback Malik Zaire, and sophomore Deshone Kizer entered the lineup. They're not the same type of quarterback, but Kelly tailored his schemes to each of their strengths. 

Kelly's system has never been the most complicated. At its core, it's based on a four-verticals concept, but it stresses a defense both vertically and horizontally. 

NFL Network's Ian Rapoport identified Kelly as one of three college coaches interested in NFL jobs. The Notre Dame coach publicly discussed his displeasure with the school's standards at times, and a chance to prove he can win at the highest level might be too tempting. 

Jim Mora, UCLA Bruins

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Coaching Style: Defensive Minded (Multiple)

Age: 54

Record: 37-14 (at UCLA)

Previous NFL Experience: San Diego Chargers assistant (1985-91); New Orleans Saints assistant (1992-96); San Francisco 49ers assistant/defensive coordinator (1997-2003); Atlanta Falcons head coach (2004-2006); Seattle Seahawks assistant/head coach (2007-09)

Best (or Most Logical) NFL Fits if Job Opens: San Diego Chargers

What goes around, comes around. 

Like Brian Kelly, NFL Network's Ian Rapoport also named UCLA's Jim Mora as one of the collegiate coaches interested in potential NFL openings. 

This makes sense since he didn't necessarily want to leave the professional ranks in the first place. 

Of course, Mora denied the report at the time, but his name has come up as a potential candidate since he took over the UCLA Bruins. 

Mora is an interesting prospect for two reasons.

First, he already has NFL head coaching experience, which is rare among college candidates. In fact, he led the Atlanta Falcons to the NFC Championship Game in his first season as an NFL head coach.

Second, he reinvented himself and proved to be successful at the collegiate ranks.

The Bruins are 37-14 under his watch. The last UCLA head coach with four straight winning seasons was Terry Donahue and those came from 1985-88. Plus, the Bruins are winning games with a talented offense. The team is currently ranked 22nd overall in total offense for the former NFL defensive coordinator. 

Mora proved to be a mediocre NFL head coach earlier in his career. But, like the Seattle Seahawks' Pete Carroll, he was able to turn around a program at the collegiate ranks, which helped change his approach to coaching. 

NFL teams could now benefit from Mora's new perspective. 

Art Briles, Baylor Bears

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Coaching Style: Offensive Minded (Spread)

Age: 59

Record: 64-35

Previous NFL Experience: None

Best (or Most Logical) NFL Fits if Job Opens: Washington Redskins

Art Briles doesn't coach football like any other coach. 

The Rule, Texas, native doesn't use a playbook, believe in pregame stretching or even correct players when they make a mistake during practice. He also asks his wide receivers to loaf during the game when a play isn't called for them so they can rest until their number is called. 

"Those football purists, I hope they stay pure," Briles said, per the Wall Street Journal's Jonathan Clegg. "We’ll just keep on doing whatever works for us."

Some will likely scoff at the notion of hiring him at the NFL level. 

Instead, teams should look at a coaching change as an opportunity to think outside of the box. When a coach is fired, that team is already behind the curve. Why not consider a candidate who could potentially place the team ahead of the curve because he does things differently?

No one can deny Briles' ability to coach an offense.

Since taking over the Baylor Bears program in 2008, the team finished among the top-two teams in total offense five times including this season since the Bears currently average 644.1 yards per game. In fact, Baylor owned the No. 1 offense in the nation for three straight years. 

Obviously, Briles is doing something right, albeit in a non-traditional manner. 

Many will argue Baylor's system won't work in the NFL, because it's a pass-happy scheme. Actually, the Bears rank fourth nationally in rushing yards, and they're No. 1 in rushing yards among non-triple option offenses. 

Baylor's offense isn't built around smoke-and-mirror concepts. The Bears are very talented and tough in the trenches. They run the football. And they take advantage of their speed at the skill positions by spreading them out wide and going uptempo. These core concepts apply to any level of football. 

So why would Briles finally leave the state of Texas after being so successful in recent years? He'll turn 60 years old next week, and he may only get one chance to prove his system can work in the professional ranks. 

Matt Rhule, Temple Owls

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Coaching Style: Offensive Minded (Balanced)

Age: 40

Record: 17-18

Previous NFL Experience: New York Giants assistant (2012)

Best (or Most Logical) NFL Fits if Job Opens: Detroit Lions

Matt Rhule isn't an obvious candidate for the NFL. As Temple's head coach, he's not even leading a Power Five program. 

In fact, it took the Arizona Cardinals' Bruce Arians years after he served as the Owls' head coach before he would be considered a legitimate NFL head coach candidate. Granted, Arians never experienced as much success in Philadelphia as Rhule already has. 

Unlike Arians, Rhule already has some NFL experience before his first tenure as a college head coach, which is appealing to NFL teams. 

"He has (one season) under (New York Giants coach Tom) Coughlin at the NFL level," an anonymous NFL executive mentioned to NFL Network's Daniel Jeremiah. "He's very bright. It's not easy to win at Temple. It might be a little early for him to make that jump, but I really like him." 

True. Rhule doesn't have the same track record of any of the previously mentioned head coaches, but he's also an up-and-comer doing more with less. This season, Temple already beat Cincinnati and the Paxton Lynch-led Memphis Tigers. The Owls also defeated the Penn State Nittany Lions for the first time in 74 years. They were even one score away from upsetting the Notre Dame Fighting Irish. 

Rhule continued to build on a program revitalized by Al Golden and maintained by Steve Addazio. The current coach instilled a no-nonsense attitude and adjusted a run-first offense that now operates out of the spread to accommodate the talent on the roster. 

A potential Rhule hire would be very similar to the time the Pittsburgh Steelers chose Mike Tomlin in 2007. Yes, Tomlin coached at the NFL level with the Minnesota Vikings and Tampa Bay Buccaneers before the hire, but he wasn't considered a top candidate. The Steelers saw certain traits they believed could make him a top coach. 

Rhule is another young coach who may not have walked a traditional path, but an NFL organization might see him as the right choice for its team. 

Kevin Sumlin, Texas A&M Aggies

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Coaching Style: Offensive Minded (Spread)

Age: 51

Record: 71-31

Previous NFL Experience: None

Best (or Most Logical) NFL Fits if Job Opens: Cleveland Browns

One of the hottest names among NFL circles over the last few seasons has been Texas A&M Aggies head coach Kevin Sumlin. 

However, Sumlin continually rebuffed overtures over the last two years. This doesn't mean he lacks interest in eventually coaching at the professional level, though. 

In a 2014 interview with the Dallas Morning News' Rich Gosselin, Sumlin said, "I’d consider it, maybe sometime, but not any time soon. I just got here. I’ve still got a lot of things to try to accomplish in college football."

Before he would seriously consider a move to the NFL, Sumlin wanted to oversee Texas A&M's $450 million renovation of Kyle Field, according to ESPN.com's Chris Mortensen. The school finished the project this summer, which leads everyone back to his earlier words. 

"Most people, whatever you do, eventually want to be at the top of that field," Sumlin said. "That’s just natural. You want to compete—whether it’s your job or livelihood. You want to be the best at whatever you’re doing, to be at a level where you can say you competed at the top."

The interest is clearly there, but the timing wasn't previously. Those two points could meet this offseason. 

"As for the NFL, sources say professional football will have to wait until January 2016 before Sumlin will be open for business, if he so chooses," Mortensen reported. 

NFL Network's Ian Rapoport's earlier report included Sumlin as one of the three college coaches interested in making the jump. 

Teams are interested in the Texas A&M coach due to how he relates to players and his ability to coach offense. 

One potential suitor has already been identified: the Cleveland Browns. 

"(Browns general manager Ray) Farmer likes Manziel so much, I’ve been told by a source that knows Farmer well, that he would hire Kevin Sumlin as coach of the Browns if he had his druthers, which he does not," ESPN Cleveland's Tony Grossi reported. 

Granted, Grossi's report came before the Browns benched Manziel, but if the team still feels there is a future with the former first-round pick, Sumlin could be the one coach to finally get the Heisman Trophy winner on track.