As the carousel spins the FBS coaching openings keep coming, thanks now to Bobby Petrino.
Petrino lasted just one year at Western Kentucky. His first college head coach job, Louisville, hired him back on Wednesday. Petrino is calling it his “destination hire.” That’s tall language from a guy that hasn’t lasted more than four years at any head-coaching stop. In fact, Petrino has never spent more than four years at ANY of his assistant coaching stops, either. I’ll spare you my 500 words on why I wouldn’t hire Petrino and just say that Louisville athletic director Tom Jurich is taking a big risk.
Petrino’s departure means the Hilltoppers now have to get cracking on finding a new head coach. It also brings the number of FBS coaching changes this offseason to 18. We’re creeping up on that magic number – 20. There have been at least 20 head-coaching changes each of the past four offseasons.
As a public service, here’s the chatter surrounding the other openings:
Penn State: It sounds like James Franklin of Vanderbilt is the guy. But I didn’t include him above because it doesn’t look like a done deal yet. There are conflicting reports as to whether Franklin actually has a formal offer or not. But it sounds like we’ll have a James Franklin-to-Penn State post soon enough.
Georgia Southern: The Statesboro Herald has reported that two external candidates have interviewed for the job: Vanderbilt’s Brent Pry and Navy’s Ivin Jasper. A third, Wofford’s Mike Ayers, has reportedly interviewed. There were published reports on Thursday that Sam Houston State head coach Willie Fritz would be the next coach, but nothing out of Statesboro as of yet. Note: I’m including GSU as a FBS opening because they’re transitioning to FBS in 2014, though they likely won’t be eligible for postseason play until 2015.
UMass: The two most persistent rumors surrounding this job center on former NFL quarterback and Cleveland Browns coach Mark Whipple and New Hampshire head coach Sean McDonnell.
2014 FBS COACHING CAROUSEL
SCHOOL | OUT | IN |
Arkansas State | Bryan Harsin | Bruce Anderson |
Army | Rich Ellerson | Jeff Monken |
Boise State | Chris Petersen | Bryan Harsin |
Bowling Green | Dave Clawson | Dino Babers |
Connecticut | Paul Pasqualoni | Bob Diaco |
Eastern Michigan | Ron English | Chris Creighton |
Florida Atlantic | Carl Pelini | Charlie Partridge |
Georgia Southern | Jeff Monken | TBA |
Louisville | Charlie Strong | Bobby Petrino |
Massachusetts | Charley Molnar | TBA |
Miami (OH) | Don Treadwell | Chuck Martin |
Penn State | Bill O’Brien | TBA |
Texas | Mack Brown | Charlie Strong |
USC | Lane Kiffin | Steve Sarkisian |
Wake Forest | Jim Grobe | Dave Clawson |
Washington | Steve Sarkisian | Chris Petersen |
Western Kentucky | Bobby Petrino | TBA |
Wyoming | Dave Christensen | Craig Bohl |