The end of the full schedule of college football ended this weekend, and the opening salvos of the coaching carousel for 2018 have been full of strange activity and curve balls, and in some cases, some of the moves have proved to defy explanation. I will break this down into 3 categories this week, with category one being that the jobs are open, category two being that the coach is now announced to be coming back, and category three will represent jobs that were expected to come open, but have not yet, and nor has an explanation been offered whether or not a move is under consideration or not.
Category One-The Open Jobs
Central Michigan
As was expected, John Bonamego has been let go, and rumors are swirling that we will return to his old job as special teams coordinator with the Detroit Lions. There has been little in the way of buzz at CMU to this point, and we are working to figure out what the candidates are going to look like moving forward.
Louisville
Jeff Brohm appears to have no interest in coming back to the drama club that is Louisville, and it appears as if the administration and AD Vince Tyra have moved on to other candidates. It appears that option B fell through as well with Charlie Strong returning. Option C now seems to be settling in on Missouri's Barry Odom, and it appears that the interest here is mutual as of today. Stay tuned on this one, as it could move fairly quickly from here.
Texas State
All indications are that Kendall Briles, the OC at FAU, is very interested in coming back to Texas and taking over the Bobcats program. He appears to be the only candidate being focused on here, and this, again, could move quickly in the next 24 to 48 hours.
Bowling Green
While no official announcements have been made, expect former Nevada head coach Brian Polian to land this job in the coming hours. He was the only known candidate to receiver a second meeting with the school, and this, too, could be a done deal in short order.
North Carolina
As I reported a couple of weeks back, Larry Fedora is officially fired at UNC. Where we did not see this job going is in the insane arc of bringing back Mac Brown, which in our opinion, is a huge mistake. Brown has not been a strong coach in over a decade, and his age works against him. Most felt that this job would go to one of a trio of coaches in Seth Littrell, Neal Brown, or Scott Satterfield of Appalachian State Satterfield stated on the Sun Belt call today that North Carolina never reached out to him in any capacity. Strange.
Kansas
We all know that Les Miles has the job now and is working on a staff. As soon as we have word on who he is bringing in, we will announce it here.
Western Kentucky
As I had reported 2 weeks ago, Mike Sanford, Jr. is now out of a job at Western Kentucky after largely derailing the program. It is being reported today that the job has already been filled by Tyson Helton, the OC at Tennessee, as he has worked at WKU before. Helton will likely re-install the old offense that Sanford foolishly removed, and success should return in short order.
U Mass
Mark Whipple is officially out as head coach of the Minutemen. A search is underway, but believe me, top tier candidates will not be lining up for this job. More info on the audio blog tomorrow,
Colorado
The Buffs should soon be speaking with candidates to fill this job, as Jim Leavitt is considered to be a guy that the Buffs would love to speak with. They are also looking at some outside the box scenarios as well, including Dana Holgorsen, if he believes that he has done all he can at WVU after losing to Oklahoma this weekend. Stay tuned here.
Texas Tech
As I reported last week, Kliff Kingsbury failed to get to a bowl, and he is out as head coach of the Red Raiders. The administration immediately zeroed in on Brent Venables of Texas Tech, but he has little interest in the job, and would seem to prefer to stay at Clemson to coach his son, a freshman LB on the team.
I was messaged this morning about rumors regarding Mike Leach 2.0 in Lubbock, and to use Kirby Hocutt's words to address this, Leach will not be, under any circumstances, a candidate for this job. I think we can officially put that to rest.
Seth Littrell, with North Carolina closed off to him, and Neal Brown could bery well be targets worth watching here.
Category 2-Returning Next Season
Chris Ash, Rutgers...Coming back with high expectations for 2019.
Mike Bobo, Colorado State...Despite never having won more than 7 in a season, and tanking this season, he is still back for 2019.
Lovie Smith, Illinois...Say what you will, the talk of him developing the program is a joke, and everyone knows it. Illinois is taking the cheap route here for a lower buyout in 2019.
Mike Neu, Ball State...Neu is returning, despite losing 4 of his final 5 games this season. Again, another program looking for a cheaper buyout next year.
Tony Sanchez, UNLV...There has been no official word yet, but I don't expect one. There is a power struggle going on here, and the money folks won. He has not produced a winning season or bowl in 4 years, and usually, that would not buy the loyalty of the donors/boosters. It's a weird situation.
Bobby Wilder, Old Dominion...He is the only coach the program has ever had, and he is getting the benefit of the doubt for one more season.
Clay Helton, USC...This involved another power struggle, and Lynn Swann committed career suicide by going rogue to keep Helton. The boosters/donors/former players are infuriated over the decision, so Swann has now married his career to that of Helton. Never the smart play, but as crazy as this sounds, I applaud the move.
Category 3-Jobs Expected to Open, But Have Not
Bob Davie, New Mexico...According to his contract, the buyout portion of his contract either way has gone away. He is free to be fired at this point, so it makes no sense, with his own off-field drama, and player behavior issues off-field, plus a bad W/L record, to have not fired him as of yet.
Scottie Montgomery, East Carolina...Montgomery needs to go. He has lost all of his support base, and everyone who I talk to assumed he would have already been shown the door. Still, he remains, for now, with no official explanation as to what to expect. It makes no sense at this point to keep him, and doing so could damage the reputation of the program for years. There is some front office drama going on, as ECU has had some issues locking in a permanent AD, and an interim may not be allowed to pull the trigger themselves.
Bill Snyder, Kansas State...We expected his retirement announcement sometime around the Iowa State game, but K State won the game and will now go bowling. With Snyder's ego what it is, he will likely hold off on an announcement now until after the bowl game.
Matt Canada, Maryland...He is only the interim as of now, so it makes no sense that Maryland has not announced his status just yet. Again, we have yet another power struggle ongoing, as there are some who want to retain him, and others pushing for an external hire.
Gary Patterson, TCU...He refuted rumors of his retirement. I know him to be an open and honest guy so I do not see him going back on that. I expect him to return in 2019.
Derek Mason, Vanderbilt...There are stories circulating that even if he is offered an extension, he may not take one, and would be interested in moving on. One such targeted job for him did not open this week, and I will leave it at that. Vandy is going bowling after beating Tennessee last weekend.
Kilani Sitake, BYU...BYU will be going to a bowl, and it appears that he may be safe for now. We shall see what happens should the Cougars lose said bowl game.
Mike Gundy, Oklahoma State...The Cowboys will be in a bowl at 6-6, but if he loses, he could still be a target for a firing. I have heard that parties are highly split inside the walls.
Jeff Brohm, Purdue...A couple of weeks ago, a lot of people assumed that Brohm would be gone for Louisville. That is not happening. Look for a nice extension announcement shortly.
Matt Campbell, Iowa State...He is on the radar for several NFL jobs right now, so expect him to be getting a ton of buzz on that side of the coin, based on the fact that several higher profile college jobs have not materialized as of yet.
Barry Odom, Missouri
With his interest in the Louisville job, early indicators are that the Tigers could see themselves into the Neal Brown/Seth Littrell hunt. Matt Wells could be a candidate here as well, as could current UCF coach Josh Heupel, and Cincinnati coach Luke Fickell.
Late Development
Gus Malzahn, Auburn...Despite assurances from the AD that Malzahn would return in 2019, the power brokers are coming together with buyout cash anyway, and have spoken to a very high profile candidate that is at least listening. According to multiple sources, that potential candidate could actually be Bob Stoops...stay tuned on this one, as it is far from over.
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