Tennessee's early list
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UPDATE: ESPN The Magazine's Bruce Feldman thinks Tennessee has to make a run at Duke coach David Cutcliffe.
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It's all really speculative at this point, but our job is to report what we're hearing and being tipped on, so here we go.
Potential Vols' candidates
Troy Calhoun, Air Force: The Vols were high on him last year before they hired Kiffin.
David Cutcliffe, Duke: Tutored Peyton Manning, had two stints with Vols, most recently as offensive coordinator in 2007 and turned around the program in Durham.
Will Muschamp, Texas: If this defensive ace is tired of waiting for Mack Brown to retire, this is his chance. Also, has SEC experience with Auburn.
Steve Spurrier, South Carolina: His super competitive side might be looking for a change since he hasn't been able to make the Gamecocks into an SEC contender -- yet.
Gary Patterson, TCU: He just signed an extension, but this could be his first chance at major conference job.
Chris Petersen, Boise State: Was contacted by USC, but some questions about whether he's a good fit at these big schools.
Butch Davis, North Carolina: The former Miami coach won't miss a beat on the recruiting trail, and was linked to the job last year before Kiffin was hired.
Randy Edsall, Connecticut: Was mentioned for the Notre Dame and Kansas jobs, too.
Kirby Smart, Alabama DC: We said he was a hot coaching candidate in 2011. Why not now?
Jim Leavitt and Mike Leach: We don't buy these names quite yet.
As ESPN.com's Pat Forde said tonight, Tennessee is obviously at "square one" right now. It's rare that a superpower like the Vols would be blindsided like this, but then again, it happened to USC -- and they paid it forward. And to the chagrin of many in Knoxville, the Trojans have a new coach.
So as the Vols search for a new coach, one hot name out there is Troy Calhoun of Air Force. Both Sports Illustrated's Stewart Mandel and Rivals.com's Tom Dienhart threw out his name, because before Tennessee hired Lane Kiffin last year, they were thinking about hiring Calhoun, who was the Houston Texans' offensive coordinator before he took over at Air Force.