At 41, Fleck is still a very young head coach, and although his full potential is still somewhat unproven, all the signs are there that this is a guy who could be next-level great. The current head coach of the Kansas Jayhawks, Leipold had a stellar record at Wisconsin-Whitewater and built the Buffalo Bulls into a contender in the MAC. Lindsay Whalen, Ben Johnson and the emotional toll of coaching A week ago, Whalen was sounding optimistic about the future while Johnson was about as low as he could get. Look at the teams against which they have lost. Stoops may be even better than that without the baggage. Does Nebraska really want to take a chance on someone with that kind of baggage? Florida Atlantics head coach has seen an up-and-down career where he was once considered one of the hottest commodities in college football. Nebraska after Scott Frost: Huskers coaching job pluses, minuses and candidates. Why It Might Work: It would be something of a coup to nab one of the hottest commodities in coaching right now. If youre going for the veteran guy that no one else is looking at, this is a low-key option that has the potential of working out big time. Kansas was willing to take a chance, and it very much felt like throwing anything at a wall to see what sticks. He flamed out of the NFLtwice. A steady decline in play resulted in losses piling up and he got the boot. For this list Im mostly focusing on guys with at least some head coaching experiencemany current, some former. Hes currently "coaching" the Dallas/Arlington Renegades in the XFL, a relatively low-profile job. Kentucky had no expectations when they hired him. He retired from both Florida and Ohio State for nebulous reasons. Auburn is not an easy place to win but Malzahn might be itching to get back into the SEC like Lane Kiffin before him. Nebraska Book Co. in Lincoln shutting down; 114 to lose jobs; In a van outside OUs Lloyd Noble Center, Doc Sadler lives out another season in 45 years of coaching His heyday at North Dakota State is tough to overlook, and his ties to Nebraska are very appealing. Yes, the SEC is cutthroat, but youd think a guy with Moorheads acumen would be able to weather it. Creightons a lot younger but it might be tough to shake off the similarities. FCS coaches, even the ones with championships, are always a gamble. Hes got a history in the Big Ten, which he matches in terms of style. Why It Might Not: Setting aside the baggage that Malzahn allegedly would bring with a reportedly outspoken wife who creates drama, this guy seems entrenched in the deep South. Why It Might Not: Hokes failure at Michigan was widely publicized, and though he generally seemed to run a tight ship, theres been a fair amount of off-the-field controversy, which he is also dealing with now at San Diego State. Thats insanely good. But Campbell has to get to a certain level this season to be in the mix. Its not for everybody. Iowa State head coach Matt Campbell Campbell has built Iowa State into a consistent winner. Meyer can coach college, but can he keep from becoming the focus for all the wrong reasons? North Carolina or South Carolina (or even Clemson?) If nothing else, Kliemans teams have been solid and that would be a huge upgrade to the shoddy job Scott Frost has done. Maybe he could be worth considering, but rest assured there would be a lot of skeptics. Closing Comment: As far as fall-back options go, this isnt bad. After going 32-18, way below the Longhorns standards, he got the boot. Frost is a Husker legend who would surely be a popular hire with Nebraskas loyal fan base. Why It Might Not: Nebraska would be a bigger job than anywhere hes been. Closing Comment: He looks like a great choice for a bridge coach, which, considering where Nerbaska is right now, might be a strong strategy for the future. Quite the opposite, actually. He could be one of college football's most unsung program builders. He appears more ready for a jump to a mid-major. The 11 games that explain the downfall of Nebraska football. Poaching him from the NFL would be a similar coup that would grab headlines across the country. At 63 with not much upside he is unlikely to be in high demand. Closing Comment: Theres a lot to like with Matt Canada when you look under the surface. He might be the defensive version of Scott Frost. We know who he is. The guy who led his offense, Barry Lunney, left to be the OC at Illinois. Bringing that energy to Lincoln could make the Huskers a very dangerous program. The Cleveland Browns hired former Indianapolis Colts special teams coordinator Bubba Ventrone last week. If you wanted to replicate Wisconsin at Nebraska, you couldnt do much better than this guy. He has a respectable head coaching record overall at 87-53. He might be all flash. While his teams arent on Clemsons level in terms of talent, they are always competitive. She secured an endorsement from University of Nebraska athletic director Bob Devaney, revered in Nebraska for his success as the coach of the university football team. Strong was quickly given a chance to redeem himself after Texas, and it could not have gone worse. He also greatly benefited from Texas falling off and a Big 12 in flux with Missouri, Nebraska, and Texas A&M all leaving for other conferences. Chadwell followed it up by posting another 11-win season in 2021. Absolutely. Like Venables at Clemson, Leonhard has to be figuring he has a better job right now. Some might find this hire head-scratching since these days the option is only run by service academies. How they do in replacing him will Could he follow NCAA rules? Closing Comment: All the places hes led seem to have unbreakable, hard ceilings and are traditionally basement dwellers. Moving within the division to suddenly chase his old boss, Paul Chryst, and alma mater doesn't seem like an ideal move. 2 Related. And even though hes now saddled with one of college footballs toughest projects at Kansas, many believe he has the Jayhawks headed in the right direction. And hes bred for the South. His record at Washington is a somewhat less stellar 55-26, but he finished (or tied) first in the Pac-12 north division for three straight years, and won the conference championship twice. With the timing of the firing being almost all about recruiting -- Nebraska is swallowing $15 million to fire Frost before Oct. 1, when the buyout dropped to $7.5 million -- Joseph would be able to pick up where Frost left off on the trail. Theres a reason it isnt in vogue anymore. Creighton has taken his programs as far as they realistically could go, so he could be worth a look. And to be fair, though there is potential, his head coaching tenures with both the Nittany Lions and the Texans were not exactly spectacular. At this point his work at Louisville may be seen as the outlier. Mark Stoops, Kentucky coach: Stoops has spent a decade methodically developing the Wildcats into an above-average, competent SEC program. The Redhawks were a complete tire fire when he took over, and hes made them relatively competitive in the MAC, which always seems like auditioning grounds for Big Ten jobs. Why It Might Work: Like Jeff Monken, Calhoun is 55 and is an established head coach well-versed in the triple-optionwhich, again, is the most difficult scheme to prepare for. Other FBS programs have gone after FCS champion coaches and the hit rate is usually low. Plus does he really want to leave the comfort of San Diego for a Big Ten job, again? Well, it may surprise you to learn that Matt Entz has a Masters Degree in Education from Wayne State College in Nebraska. Why It Might Work: I think people are more excited by the work hes done at Kansas State, which is to essentially make the program feel like moving on from Bill Snyder is possible. Obviously he wasnt ready for the big job in Austin, but maybe Nebraska might be a better fit. Why It Might Work: Arandas Bears came out of nowhere to win the Big 12 in 2021 and beat Ole Miss in the Sugar Bowl. Dont sleep on his football knowledge, either. Georgias current defensive coordinator has been a head coach at two different SEC teams, Florida and South Carolina. He was BYU's head coach from 2005 to 2015, going 99-43, and so it was a surprise when he left that job for a flailing Virginia program, which he promptly turned around and had them going to bowl games. Nothing against Stoops, but no one is beating Georgia anytime soon. The guy everyone wanted once upon a time? He also lacks significant regional ties and seems more geared for the Pacific Northwest and Utah-Colorado areas. Is this a championship-caliber coach? +, (Introductory note: So, I initially had this written and ready to post last week, but there was a technical glitch with the New Fanpost button which I had to contact SB Nation support about. He took a lowly Arizona program to the Pac-12 championship before losing to Oregon, proving hes capable of making a run in the right circumstance. Hes now in his fourth year, and the Wildcats are firmly looking like a bowl team, which theyve been in at least two of Kliemans seasons thus far. Arandas second season as a head coach was a surprise breakout, where the Bears won 12 games and upset Oklahoma State in the conference championship. Here are some candidates to watch: Nebraska Football: Coaching Candidates to Replace Scott Frost. His best season was 2016 when he went 12-2 and lost to Georgia in the CFP. NC States current head coach was formerly Wisconsins DC and crashed the BCS party in his second year as a head coach at Northern Illinois in 2012, when they went 12-2. Gruden hasnt even sniffed, let alone showed interest, in a college head coaching job in his entire career, but that wont stop people from pounding the table for him. Mostly known in Big Ten country for his three years at Michigan, Rich Rodriguez has actually been a head coach for a really long time and has a, shall we say, eclectic list of stops. Instead he kept the team competitive when it could have easily imploded. In moving from the Big 12 to the Big Ten, the program lost its identity. Hes nuts. That would give him a serious advantage in recruits living rooms, if he can also win games. Hes probably not going to win immediately, and how many more struggling seasons can Husker fans take? Any questions please reach out to Jeff Schwartz or Ethan Larsen @ 402-395-2134 or email at Applications will be accepted via email (jschwartz@boonecentral.esu7.org) or mail. Why It Might Not: The pressure he felt at Boise was nothing compared to Washingtonwhich is not even one of college footballs biggest blue bloodsand it clearly weighed on him. Barring a stunning breakthrough this season, hes just about reached the end of his rope and is likely to return to the field of college coaching. And it begs the question, why has no one given him a serious look before now? One need look no further than his performance at WI-Whitewater, where he went an astounding 109-6 in FCS Division III, including six national championships. Bring him in, allow him to restore some semblance of competitiveness, and then when he retires (in 5 to 7 years), go after the elite guy. Why It Might Not: Obligatory NDSU caveats. The state of Colorado isnt that far from Nebraska. Four candidates are vying for each of the other two district seats. Trev Alberts now has to embark on the long process of finding his replacement. Monken is the current head coach at Army, a notoriously difficult place to recruit D-1 competitive athletes. Hell soon be looking for another chance to lead a program. He wasnt exactly a total fraud, but he was given every opportunity to succeed at Texas, a place with numerous built-in advantages and benefits, and really underachieved. Hes a Penn State grad with strong Midwest recruiting ties, and was considered for the job in State College. Closing Comment: Its a risk. There would be cultural nuances that would take some adjusting to from both sides, but that would quickly fall by the wayside if he started winning. Its hard to say if hed consider Nebraska a destination. Closing Comment: The appeal of hiring a coach with the achievement of his second season aside, this doesnt seem like a great fit on the surface. At both places he was ultimately a disappointment. Since Nebraska is going into the bye week, I figured I might as well wait until after all the post-game articles before posting this. Why It Might Work: Mullen was the toast of college football after what he did in Starkville, Mississippi. The bottom is "Could Be Interesting." Hes considerably more experienced than Monken and has a longer record. A former Husker quarterback (sound familiar? He knows the Midwest and the Big Ten well. Hes now being talked about for bigger jobs, but was he a one-hit wonder?