College Football: Top Targets for the 5 Best Vacant Coaching Positions

The college football coaching carousel continues to turn, and big schools continue to try and find the right guy to lead their programs.

This season, there have been many coaches fired and more bigger schools that usual are looking for replacements.

Every day, there is a new rumor about where a head coach will go next or which coach will leave his current gig for another.

It's really enough to drive you crazy.

Here are the top targets right now for the best coaching vacancies available.

UCLA Bruins

It appears nobody wants to be the head coach for UCLA. Well, at least not for now.

Offers have been extended to Chris Petersen, Kevin Sumlin and Al Golden and they have all been denied.

Now, it looks like Jim Mora Jr. is the leading candidate for the job, but he has little to no experience at the college level.

Whoever eventually becomes the head coach of the Bruins must be a solid recruiter to be able to turn this program around.

Texas A&M

Texas A&M must find a coach fast, as they are in jeopardy of losing some top recruits with the Mike Sherman firing. 

They need to find somebody who can be the future of this program as they prepare to move to the SEC. He also has to be a strong recruiter, so the Aggies can compete with college football's best.

Troy Calhoun seems to be the favorite for the coaching position right now. He could be a great fit, as he is a fantastic offensive coach and has really turned every program around that he's coached.

Illinois

Illinois went from one of the most impressive teams of the year to one of the most disappointing after losing the final six games of the season.

With Ron Zook out, Illinois is looking at Michigan State defensive coordinator Pat Narduzzi. He has ties to the Illinois athletic director and is a great defensive coach.

Other possible candidates include Greg Schiano and Tim Beckman.

Arizona State

The Sun Devils let Dennis Erickson go after five years as the head coach and a subpar 31-30 record. 

The top coach they could probably land would be Houston's Kevin Sumlin. 

If they're not able to get a big name coach like Sumlin, other candidates could include Justin Wilcox, Ron English, Gary Anderson and Dave Christensen. 

Update: June Jones was recently announced that he will be the new head coach of the Arizona Sun Devils.

Penn State

Under normal circumstances, nearly every coach in the country would be willing to coach the Nittany Lions. With the university going through a scandal, that isn't quite the case right now. 

Nearly every big name coach will turn this job offer down until things get cleared up.

Coaches like Kevin Sumlin, Greg Schiano or Tim Murphy may accept.

But I wouldn't be surprised if Tom Bradley remains the head coach for a year or two until they find a more permanent replacement.

Randy Chambers is a B/R Featured Columnist that covers College Football and the NFL. You can contact him @Randy_Chambers or [e-mail]