With so much activity at the moment, including high profile coaches probably listening and coveted programs looking, I thought it might be beneficial to try and move the discussion to one string. Personally I am fascinated by the Les Miles situation, not so much because I think he is a great coach but because of his outstanding record and his recruiting prowess. The powers at LSU appear to be taking a colossal gamble. Regardless of what happens at Texas, it looks like a very entertaining December for all college football fans...
Not that this is necessarily relevant, but as an assistant and head coach at Okie State he was 1-5 against Texas.
Wow. That IS a major gamble but also one the school needed to take. I lived in GA until recently and felt very, very, sorry for their fans. For years it was obvious that Richt was never going to get them past a certain level of success.
Gonna be a handful of reeling major programs getting an infusion of hope for a return to glory. Jealous.
Georgia is the best job available in my opinion. Yes you can make an argument for USC--the West Coast one--but the talent pool is deep for Georgia as evidenced by the last 10 years of NFL drafts. I think they want Kirby Smart. He is an alum and has turned away offers over the years. this one make a lot of sense. The rumors of Smart to South Carolina most likely caused this quick move. Perhaps Muschamp gets a shot at South Carolina.
USC is a sleeping giant that may not take much to wake up. The state of California is not exactly devoid of talent and USC can recruit on a national scale also. The PAC 12 is not exactly murder's row to wade through either. USC dominated this league for many years and can again.
I agree on USC and the talent available. I agree the PAC12 is winnable quickly, but their history with boosters would be enough to keep me away. that is just my opinion.
I wonder if Mack Brown is looking to get back into a HC role somewhere. I haven't heard anything stated publicly but I think he enjoys coaching and could still have some good years ahead of him.
1 job that makes sense--Virginia Tech. Mack has ties to the area and knows the ACC landscape well. He has a great track record of honoring the past at programs (DKR) and he could get them into contention fairly quickly with a couple of recruiting classes. The hiring committee would surely consider this and that would make his age irrelevant in the search process.
I'll bet there are more than a few folks at and associated with Texas that are nervously watching the landscape change very quickly.
Texas does not need the baggage that Kelly would bring. Other coaches can win just as many games without being a d-bag.
Watching his 'exit' press conference of sorts at Florida.... I didn't get any impression from him that being head coach again was something on his radar. I think he might be perfectly happy for a while to just be a coordinator and avoid all the BS. Yep.... just the coaching change story-lines alone have been more interesting than our season. :/
Smart's the first choice and his taking it could be a problem for Alabama in the playoff. The AJC link above has a couple of stories about Strong being a candidate due to his relationship with the GA AD while both were at Florida. I can't imagine Smart not jumping at the chance.
Nobody wants Charlie right now. If you can't fix a program with everything Texas has, you can't fix anything that needs fixing. Texas was 8-4 with Mack. Charlie was 6-7 and now 4-8 in a conference where it is perceived they don't play defense, and we had no offense ???? Add to it our defense sucked when Charlie is supposed to be Mr defense....Not a good sign for programs needing a boost.
Rumor on the Bama board, Tidefans.com, has it that strength coach Scott Cochran will be going to Georgia with Kirby Smart. Nick Saban is expected to target former Georgia DC, Jeremy Pruitt for the Tide's new DC.