Kansas
We will start with the Jayhawks, who will be rectifying possibly one of the worst hires in FBS history in David Beaty. Beaty was informed, officially, that he would not return to Kansas last Sunday for the 2019 season, but would be finishing out the year as head coach, which makes little sense to me, but there you go.
Beaty, who I graded as an F hire when he started at Kansas, was a miserable failure at Kansas. New money has been pumped into the program for upgrades to the athletic facilities, which include football facilities and offices. That is going to be a huge help moving forward in hiring a new coach, and they should be able to upgrade their target list in a big way because of this development. Kansas also has the benefit of Big 12 TV money, which has also helped matters. Remember that this was a school that gave Charlie Weis one of the worst deals in history, and it cost them dearly. They cannot afford another swing and a miss, as all three hires since Mark Mangino was removed have been utter disasters.
Jeff Long has a long standing knowledge of Les Miles, and that would seem like a solid fit at Kansas, as it would immediately raise the viability of the program. That said, as much as many in Lawrence (and in Rock Chalk Nation) seem to like this idea, I now have to come to believe that this may be a smoke screen tactic used by Long, as his attention may be elsewhere.
To explain this further, I look over to Norman, Oklahoma, where one of the youngest and most energetic coaches in the nation is rocketing with Oklahoma in Lincoln Riley. Miles, while a championship winning coach, is 65 years old, and it is unknown how much he would have left in the tanks, despite his obvious ties to Big 12 football back in the day at Oklahoma State as head coach.
Because of Riley, we now have the "Riley Effect", where schools that have openings are now looking at the trend of hiring young, successful coaches to fill their jobs. That leaves Miles as a bit of an outcast now, as he does not fit the trend any longer.
Because of the "Riley Effect", I would expect Miles to be a cover for a move of a different sort, specifically to Seth Littrell, Neal Brown, Jason Candle, and quite possible Chris Kleiman of North Dakota State.
Littrell started his coaching career as a grad assistant at Kansas in 2002, and worked there from 2002 to 2004. He also coached at Texas Tech (Big 12, and all important Texas connection) from 2005-08. He coached at Arizona in 2009-11, which has some interesting Southern California recruiting connections, something Big 12 schools have implemented in recent years. He then went on to coach under Larry Fedora (former Oklahoma State OC) at North Carolina before taking the head job at North Texas, where he has built an impressive turnaround, while building up further connections in the state of Texas, which is important to Kansas football. He is 40 years old.
Neal Brown is just 38 years old, and has been highly successful during his run at Troy. He has been mentioned should anything open at an SEC or ACC school, but he, too, has Big 12 experience in the state of Texas. His salary could be manageable, as he makes $800,000 at Troy currently, and he worked at Texas Tech as OC, where he perfected his NASCAR Spread Offense, something that could go well in perfecting an offensive upgrade at Kansas. He was twice considered for the head job at U Mass in 2008 and in 2011. He was the youngest OC in the nation at Texas Tech. Again, his style of play fits what works in Big 12 football, and his age and experience fits what Jeff Long is seeking.
Jason Candle is also 38 years old, and took the Toledo job on the heels of another successful and youthful coach leaving for Iowa State in Matt Campbell. Campbell, who also fits many of the notables that Long is seeking, is not walking through that door, but his former OC just may. Candle won two national titles as a player at Mount Union in Ohio (D3 powerhouse), and coached receivers there from 2003-06. He replaced Campbell as OC at Mount Union, when Campbell moved on to Bowling Green as an assistant. He has been at Toledo since 2009, coaching the offensive side of the football, and eventually replaced Campbell as head coach. The issue with Candle here is that he has no experience in Texas, or really West of there, as a recruiter, and that may be an issue.
Kleiman is the oldest of the bunch, but is still much younger than Miles at the age of 51. He has a 61-6 record as head coach at North Dakota State. He is 2-1 in national title games, and was on the staff at NDSU during all 5 of their national championship runs. His connection to Kansas? He worked on the staff of Terry Allen at Northern Iowa. Allen was not a successful coach at Kansas for the most part, as he never recorded a winning record, but that is the connection. Kleiman is not Allen. He is a winner who knows how to win with less. The only matter here to consider is whether or not he wants to make a move to the next level and revive a broken program, or whether he wants to remain on the FCS level as a living God. The choice, as it is, is his.
One more name to think on is Oregon DC Jim Leavitt, who is a Bill Snyder guy, having served under Snyder from 1990-95. He is the oldest of the lot outside of Miles, and if you are going to make a move for Leavitt, you may as well play for Miles.
Then there is Miles himself. He likely wants the job, but this may not be his only play, especially if a move gets made at Oklahoma State, and he may also be a name at Kansas State and Maryland as well.
In the end, while Miles is certainly in contention, the true targets are likely Littrell and Brown at this point, with Littrell being the more likely target based on his ability to revive North Texas from the dead in a relatively short period of time.
Kansas State
Snyder will be retiring at the end of the season, as we found out this afternoon. An official statement has not emerged yet, but it is coming in the next days or weeks.
Once this is established officially, you will see some interesting names, including, likely, all of the above mentioned names for the Kansas job. It was expected tat Snyder leaving may have been spurred on when Kansas announced a change officially, and rumors started swirling at Oklahoma State as well. If K State wants their guy, they have to be proactive, or risk having their true top target getting poached. Kleiman has been rumored here for over a year, while Miles would likely be a perfect fit, but does he want to follow a legend at the school? That may be a bad fit for Miles, as he would be compared, almost constantly, to Snyder, which is completely unfair, if it were to occur.
Jim Leavitt is a very real possibility here, and has been for some time. Candle would be a better fit here than at Kansas, in most cases. Neal Brown and Seth Littrell are also on the board for Kansas State. Expect the Wildcats to make a solid hire this time around, as they abhor the though of repeating the Ron Prince disaster that pulled Snyder out of retirement in the first place.
One more name to consider here, which is out of the box thinking, would be Bill Clark of UAB, who would be a pick that would shock some folks, but he has a long standing winning record, and he could get the program back on the rails after the debacle that has occurred this season.
Another name is Brent Venables, the current DC at Clemson. He will be 48 in December, and spent from 1993-2011 in the conference on the staff if Snyder at Kansas State and at Oklahoma. He will be a hot name on the market, and will likely garner a Power 5 job if he leaves Clemson, and Power 5 jobs may not be plentiful in the market for 2018.
Bowling Green
This one is harder to peg down at this point. It's not a particularly hot job in the open market. The program has stumbled hard under Jinks, who was not exactly s stellar hire to begin with after Dino Babers departed.
One of the more interesting names here is Elon coach Curt Signetti. He has turn aroud success on his resume at two programs, and on two levels already, at Indiana (PA) and Elon, where he has the Phoenix primed for 2 consecutive FCS playoff bids.
Mike Houston of James Madison is likely to get a call here as well, but is Bowling Green a better job than the one he has at James Madison? That is a solid question, and the answer is likely a no.
Darrell Hazell has been mentioned here as well. While he fell on his face at Purdue, he made Kent State relevant, which nobody has done since Don James. He is currently the WR coach with the Minnesota Vikings.
Carl Pelini is the interim, and will be given a shot to win the job, but the audition has not been awesome thus far, and he has issues at FAU prior.
Brian Ward was the interim when Babers left for Syracuse, and has been successful as the OC for Babers with the Orange. He would be a popular choice if they could lure him to return.
Ohio State OL coach Greg Studwara is an alum, and understands the recruiting territory, and spent 5 years on the staff here.
I can see the final three on the list as being Signetti, Studwara, and Ward, with Hazell being the fourth option if needed.
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