Bleacher Report CFB Roundtable: Who Should Be the Next Head Coach at Texas?

It's no secret that even after beating Oklahoma last season, Charlie Strong was going to be on a short leash as head coach of Texas this year.

An encouraging start to the season after beating Notre Dame has been flipped on its head, as the Longhorns have dropped four of their last five games with a defense that has given up 32.6 points per contest on the year (98th nationally).

In danger of missing a bowl for the second straight year, the rumors and speculation of Strong's ousting have begun again.

What better way to discuss this than with a good ol' Texas Roundtable, featuring our college football experts Greg Couch, Adam Kramer, Barrett Sallee and Chris Walsh?

The question is simple: Who should be the next coach at the University of Texas?

The staff tossed out some obvious names and others who are under the radar, but give us your thoughts in the comments section.

All right, fellas. The floor is yours.

Barrett Sallee: Texas has to go with Tom Herman out of Houston as its top choice. No wait, he's the only choice. In addition to his current gig, he has made stops coaching at Texas, Texas Lutheran, Sam Houston State, Texas State and Rice. Even though he's not Texas by birth, he has been built by the Lone Star State.

No, this year hasn't gone according to plan. But Herman is a second-year head coach who had been dealing with unusual Group of Five national title aspirations since the moment he left the Georgia Dome after whipping Florida State in the Peach Bowl last year. That, on top of the obvious tug-of-war between his current team and his own personal professional future, has created a lot of distractions.

What we know about Herman is that his offense works, he can and has successfully paired it with a ball-hawking and effective defense, and he knows the recruiting territory in Texas.

Greg Couch: Herman? The guy just lost to SMU. You're thinking football logic. Think Texas-billionaire logic. Those rich-boy boosters never liked Charlie Strong in the first place. Not splashy enough. This time, they're going to want to spend money. Lots of money. Nick Saban-plus money.

Remember what one of them said: They have more money than the Vatican. They want a loud, look-at-us statement. Think another run at Saban, Chucky [Jon Gruden], Pete Carroll, whoever wins this year's playoff, or Super Bowl.

Joe Robbins/Getty Images

Adam Kramer: Because this is inevitable and we can't help ourselves, let's talk about Jon Gruden. Let's talk about the internet's favorite coaching superhero who will undoubtedly get mentioned for this job again.

Despite the fact that he gets paid many millions of dollars to play with props and say goofy things on television, his name will be floated. Oh, we can't help ourselves. Hey, maybe this time it will be real! Or, maybe he will decide that he doesn't want to make a few more annual dollars and essentially wait to get fired. But don't let that stop you.

GRUDEN, GRUDEN, GRUDEN. GO, GO, GO.

Sallee: No...No. No. No.

I can't live with more #Grumors during the month of December.

I'll toss out P.J. Fleck as an option. Would Texas go in that direction? Probably not, because they hold themselves in a much higher regard and won't go after an up-and-coming head coach.

But one interview with Fleck on B/R Radio on SiriusXM had me wanting to not only run through a wall, but run through a whole building. The guy has made Western Michigan a MAC power, has done so with a dynamic offense with a paired defense and would be a perfect motivator for the program in the locker room, on the recruiting trail, in the media and at booster-club events.

Chris Walsh: Les Miles. Because college football needs Les Miles in a cowboy hat. Did you ever see the movie Big Trouble in Little China, in which Kurt Russell is doing John Wayne? Well, when Miles landed at LSU I thought he was doing Kurt Russell doing John Wayne.

I once saw LSU arrive at a game and he was in the front seat of the first bus, looking like he was bringing in the herd. The man needs a big high-crowned, wide-brimmed cowboy hat—especially when he's chewing grass.

Couch: I'm not seeing P.J. Fleck for this, no matter what an incredible job he's doing. Texas' boosters don't care about Western Michigan football and don't even know what state it's in. One of you guys mentioned John Harbaugh the other day. That sounds good.

If you want another name, how about Bill Cowher? Jimbo Fisher? And if Bobby Petrino wins the national championship this year, his phone will be ringing.

Sallee: Art Briles is a name some will mention, but there's no way that Texas can consider him. I know he's been on the campaign trail trying to clear his name, but based on what happened at Baylor, he's too much of a campus liability for Texas to take a risk on.

That's exactly the style of coach Texas should target. A guy who spreads defenses out, runs with power effectively, can identity and develop quarterbacks to fit the system and stretch the field deep. It just can't be Briles.

Walsh: Agreed that there's no way on Briles. As we all know, Texas likes to think big, so if it can't get someone such as Nick Saban or Urban Meyer, it'll probably go for the next best thing.

Obviously Herman is in the same coaching tree as Strong, so you have to wonder about that, but Saban's former assistants are in vogue with Kirby Smart to Georgia, Jim McElwain to Florida, etc. With Jimbo Fisher they'd get that and someone who has already won a national championship. I think he'd be high on the wish list.

Michael Hickey/Getty Images

Sallee: Why not Oklahoma State's Mike Gundy? There's clearly a rift between Gundy and booster T. Boone Pickens, and Gundy has proved that he can excel at an elite level for multiple seasons with different quarterbacks and skill players on offense.

He also has proved he can pair that tempo-based attack with a defense that gets pressure and forces turnovers at key times to a point where, starting with 2011, we've mentioned the Cowboys in the meaningful postseason in November on multiple occasions.

Now imagine that with Texas athletes. I'm not saying he should flat out get the job, but he should definitely get a serious look. If Texas thinks it's too good for Oklahoma State's head coach, it needs to look in the mirror. Because it isn't.

Kramer: If there's even the slightest chance to bring in Chris Petersen—and even if there's not—you have to kick the tires on this. You ask him to write down his number over a steak the size of a small automobile, and you make him tell you no. He'll probably tell you no, at which point you move on.

Gary Patterson would be the next logical selection, and I'd love to see what he could do with more resources. He knows the state, and he knows how to coach. This might take some convincing as well, although that would be an incredible land.

Sallee: The thing about all of the Power Five coaches who are in good spots that I always wonder is...why leave? The difference between a top-five job—which is what Texas is—and a top-50 job has become razor-thin over the last decade or two.

That has allowed coaches at TCU, Washington and others to live a great life, develop a championship-caliber program in the image they want, earn the trust of boosters and decision-makers and have something that used to be nonexistent in the coaching industry: job security.

Nothing against Texas. It's a great job, and there are many reasons why it would be attractive to just about anybody. But those factors also exist in a lot more places than they did 20 years ago.

Walsh: The other factor that you have to wonder about is the NFL, and coaches who may be on the hot seat or thinking about going back to the college level. And I don't mean Gruden, who has become the football coaching equivalent of a Bigfoot sighting (you always hear about them, but no one actually sees one or has proof).

Texas can look really, really good when your team is struggling through another season and you wouldn't have to take a pay cut. Just to throw a name out there, if I'm Texas I definitely check the temperature with John Harbaugh, especially after what his brother has done at Michigan.

Sallee: It will be fascinating to see where Texas goes once the rubber actually meets the road. The easy, obvious and right choice is Tom Herman, but Texas also has resources that could tempt it to swing for a grand slam rather than a simple home run.

Whatever happens, the cupboard won't be bare in Austin for the new guy.