While everyone will point east to Randy Edsall as the likely candidate to fill the KU head coaching job, in large part due to his connection with KU AD Lew Perkins, there are a lot of ways this could go.
Turner Gill, who has performed miracles in Buffalo of all places, could bring his Big 8 roots to Lawrence. In 2008 he led the Bulls to their first ever MAC conference title. This season his team struggled early and finished 5-7. He’s got a big name in the Big 12 and would be a terrific hire.
Jim Harbaugh has just finished his third year at Stanford and went 8-4. He has one of the top players in the country in Toby Gerhart and engineered back to back wins over Oregon and USC this season. His wife’s from Kansas City, if that helps at all. He’s intense like Mangino, but he’s a big name who would present a different image than Mangino. But the Michigan job could open next year and they’ll come after him hard.
Kevin Sumlin has made a big name for himself at Houston in just two seasons. His team is set to play East Carolina in the Conference USA Championship Saturday with a 10-2 record. The Cougars feature a high powered offense led by the nation’s passing leader, Case Keenum. He fills the Jayhawks need for recruiting connections in Texas. Previously, Sumlin was an assistant at Oklahoma and Texas A&M.
Former Kansas great Nolan Cromwell is the offensive coordinator at Texas A&M and has turned that team’s offense around, but he has no head coaching experience and most of his coaching career has been spent in the NFL.
In four seasons at Boise State, Chris Petersen, is 46-4 and his team can go unbeaten for the second time with a win over New Mexico State Saturday. He’s had six NFL draft picks in the last two years and a memorable upset of Oklahoma in the Fiesta Bowl in 2006. He’s the real deal, but the fact his predecessor Dan Hawkins has struggled at Colorado could hurt him.
Then there’s Edsall. The head coach at UConn was hired by Lew Perkins 11 years ago to lead the Huskies into NCAA Division 1-A play. They’ve joined the Big East and been to three bowl games. His team is 6-5 with one game to go this season despite the tragic murder of Jasper Howard a little more than a month ago. The Huskies also won a huge game at Notre Dame two weeks ago that sealed Charlie Weis’ fate. He’s also a class act.
Other names are being tossed around as well. Philip Fulmer, former Tennessee coach, sports the best record at 150-51. Skip Holtz at East Carolina and Larry Fedora at Southern Miss are other possibles.
Whoever KU hires, I expect it to be fairly quick. They’ve got the money and the facilities to lure any of the coaches mentioned. Something that couldn’t be said when Mangino was hired.
No comments:
Post a Comment