By: Tyler Ward
For most teams, the NCAA football regular season ended over the weekend and for some of those schools, new coaches will be at the helm at the start of the 2012 season.
There have been some big names that have been let go, but it is almost a certainty that most if not all will be head coaches next year, whether it be in the NCAA's top-tier or in one of the league's subdivisions. The only question that remains is, where are they going to coach?
Let's take a look at the coaches that have been let go thus far:
- Rick Neuheisel, UCLA
- Houston Nutt, Ole Miss
- Joe Paterno, Penn State
- Turner Gill, Kansas
- Dennis Erikson, Arizona State
- Larry Porter, Memphis
- Ron Zook, Illinois
- Rob Ianello, Akron
- Howard Schnellenberger, FAU
- Neil Callaway, UAB
- Paul Wulff, Washington State (Practically gone, but no decision yet)
There's also a few more rumors around the NCAA that more coaches will be let go, such as Randy Edsall (Maryland), Mike Sherman (Texas A&M), Dave Clawson (Bowling Green), Derek Dooley (Tennessee), Dan Mullen (Mississippi State), Steve Fairchild (Colorado State), Kevin Wilson (Indiana), and possibly a few more.
Earlier today, Ohio State named Urban Meyer as their new head coach, replacing Luke Fickell who took over for for Jim Tressel on an interim basis after he was let go before the season.
Former Arizona head coach Mike Stoops has been rumored to become Ohio State's defensive coordinator, but it is unclear at this point.
There have been rumors circulating that former Texas Tech coach Mike Leach is the lead candidate to replace Turner Gill at Kansas. Leach has been considered to be one of the best offensive coaches over the last decade, as he tutored former No. 1 NFL draft pick Tim Couch at Kentucky and turned Oklahoma quarterback Josh Heupel into an NFL draft pick, although it was short-lived.
He was particularly known for his high-powered offenses and aerial assaults at Texas Tech, led by quarterbacks such as Kliff Kingsbury, B.J. Symons, Sonny Cumbie, Cody Hodges, and Graham Harrell.
Leach led the Red Raiders to an 11-win campaign in 2008, and also led them to nine-win seasons in 2002, 2005, and 2007. If he were to be hired by Kansas, there is no doubt that he will try to turn them into one of the NCAA's high-powered offenses.
It is also suspected that Washington State will chase Leach if they do let go of Paul Wulff, who is thought to be fired within the next few days.
With Rick Neuheisel being relieved of his duties at UCLA, there will be another coaching change. At the school, many hirings have been former players, current assistant coaches, or people with ties to the program. They have released a short list that consists of current Boise State head coach Chris Peterson, Houston's Kevin Sumlin and Cincinnati's Butch Jones.
Over the last few seasons, Peterson has been highly-touted as the mastermind behind Boise State's BCS-busting reign in the NCAA. When the UCLA job opened up four years ago, the Bruins staff coveted Peterson but couldn't get a deal done. Now they have an opportunity to get him again and there are rumors going around that he will accept the offer, if given to him.
Kevin Sumlin, Houston's current leading man, has turned the program around drastically since arriving in 2008. The school is currently 12-0, one of the NCAA's two undefeated teams (LSU). In his four seasons, he has led the Cougars to records of 8-5, 10-4, 5-7 and 12-0, respectively.
They are currently undefeated with majority thanks going to quarterback and Heisman candidate Case Keenum. Keenum recently broke the NCAA's all-time passing yards mark during the season thanks to their scary offense.
Larry Porter, who was let go at Memphis, went 3-21 in two seasons, including a 1-15 record within the conference. It is not known if the former Tigers player and leading man will be a head coach elsewhere, but for now, he remains without a job.
It is exceedingly doubtful that Memphis will lure a big-time coach to the school, with the biggest name perhaps being Southern Mississippi's Larry Fedora.
It has also been released that Memphis has made a short list of head coaches, including former Clemson head coach Tommy Bowden, North Alabama's Terry Bowden, former Texas Tech head coach Mike Leach, Texas defensive coordinator Manny Diaz, Arkansas State's Hugh Freeze, Louisiana-Lafayette's Mark Hudspeth, Arkansas assistant coach John L. Smith and former Ole Miss and Arkansas head coach Houston Nutt.
Former Oregon head coach Mike Belotti has been rumored to become the next head coach at Arizona State. After 13 years of being the Ducks' head coach, Belotti stepped down in July 2009, thus paving the way for the hiring of Chip Kelly.
It has been a fact that Belotti loves the Pac-12 and any available coaching slot within the conference will make Belotti drool. There are also vacancies at UCLA and soon-to-be Washington State, but both schools have not shown interest in the former Ducks coach.
Personally, I believe that Belotti will be the perfect coach for Arizona State and he is the type of coach that could turn around a program that has struggled mightily as of late. If Belotti does get hired, it will almost certainly be by a Pac-12 school.
The coaching carousel has just begun and I'm sure there will be more surprises down the road.
