Coaching Carousel Rumblings: Deion Sanders open to 'entertain' Power 5 opportunities, how Georgia Tech's new AD impacts its search, reasons for no news out of Auburn, G5 hot seats
Deion Sanders is on a mission.
“God called me to collect,” the Jackson State head coach said in an interview with CBS’ 60 Minutes on Sunday night.
“I’m going to do it. I’m going to change lives. I’m going to change the perspective of HBCU football. (I’m going) do what’s right by these kids.”
In just three seasons with the Tigers, Sanders’ impact on the program, the SWAC conference and HBCU football writ large has been felt. On the field, he’s taken a depressed Tigers team and won the conference in Year 2 with an 11-1 season. This fall, they’re 6-0 and ranked in the FCS Top 10. Off the gridiron, Deion Sanders has loudly advocated for ways to change and better HBCU institutions that lack resources, facilities and general exposure. In short order, he got Walmart to pay for JSU’s new practiced field and then raised money for a new locker room.
But while Sanders’ mission won’t stop, but his days in Mississippi could be coming to a close.
Deion Sanders is the most interesting candidate in the 2022 coaching cycle.
Primetime, now 55, has never downplayed his interest in taking over a major college football program. He has real ambition. He interviewed for openings at TCU and Arkansas in recent years, with Sanders feeling like he “should’ve gotten them.”
In the sit-down with 60 Minutes, Deion Sanders candidly admitted that if a Power 5 school comes calling again, Jackson State’s head coach is going to take the call.
“I’m gonna have to entertain it. Straight up. I’d be a fool not to,” he said.
Sanders makes just $500,000 as Jackson State’s head coach. But it’s not his future salary that concerns him — but an ability to pay his assistants who are widely underpaid. At a Power 5 school, he wouldn’t have to beg for basic needs and facility upgrades. He would have a recruiting budget that would truly allow him to go head-to-head with his peers.
All this isn’t to say Sanders will definitely bolt Jackson State this offseason, but if the right opportunity with resources comes calling, Coach Prime will have a new address in 2023.
There are currently five Power 5 openings: Nebraska, Arizona State, Georgia Tech, Colorado and Wisconsin.
Sanders is an unlikely candidate at Nebraska and Wisconsin, but his name has surfaced some around ASU and Georgia Tech (still a longshot).
Other jobs will open later this fall. There should be opportunities for Sanders to entertain.
What about Auburn? Louisville would be a fascinating fit. Although not a Power 5 school, Sanders could kill it at a program like Memphis.
Deion Sanders made it clear with Sunday’s comments that he’s open to offers. In due time, we’ll see who might come calling.
GEORGIA TECH HIRES ITS AD, SO WHAT DOES THE NEWS MEAN FOR ITS COACHING SEARCH?
When Georgia Tech fired Geoff Collins in September, it also canned the man who hired the former Temple head coach: Athletics director Todd Stansbury.
Following a hasty search, the Yellow Jackets landed on Alabama associate AD J Batt, who was an integral figure in Greg Byrne’s executive team. Batt held multiple titles at Alabama, including executive deputy director of athletics, chief operating officer and chief revenue officer. He became Byrne’s No. 2 in May.
So what does this mean for the Bees’ head coach opening?
Well, the search will truly start now. Batt will officially take over on Oct. 24 but is already in Atlanta.
Plenty of candidates will be in play, including Brent Key, an alum who is 2-0 so far as interim head coach. But one potential candidate’s odds certainly look boosted by Batt’s hiring is Alabama offensive coordinator Bill O’Brien.
As previously noted, O’Brien already had the backing from other influential figures at Georgia Tech, including former head coach George O’Leary. O’Brien served on O’Leary’s staff for eight seasons at Tech, working his way from grad assistant to offensive coordinator from 1995-2002. Former Georgia Tech quarterback Joe Hamilton was a Heisman Trophy finalist working with O’Brien.
O’Brien’s previous ties to the Flats coupled with Batt’s familiarity with the current Alabama offensive coordinator are two connections that should not be undersold early in the Bees’ search.
GROUP OF 5 HOT SEATS
The coaching turnover in the 2022 cycle hasn’t trickled down to Group of 5 schools just yet, but several jobs — some potentially very attractive — are worth monitoring.
Bowling Green’s Scot Loeffler sits 3-4 with a loss to FCS Eastern Kentucky. The Falcons are 2-1 in the MAC so far this season, but Loeffler has won just 10 games in four years as a place Dino Babers and Dave Clawson had 10-win seasons. Unless they go on a late run, it’s hard to see the former Michigan quarterback back as head coach in 2023.
In the Longhorn State, Texas State and North Texas are two jobs that would garner lots of interest if they were to come open. Jake Spavital is just 12-31 with the Bobcats, with zero in-state recruiting juice. He did pick up a major win over Appalachian State earlier this season, but Texas State has never won back-to-back games in his entire tenure. If he gets them to bowl eligibility, he may get a fifth season. As for the Mean Green, Seth Littrell, in his seventh season in Denton, has been on a simmering seat for seemingly four years now, but he does have North Texas at 3-0 in the C-USA so far in 2022.
Another longtime coach who is wearing out his welcome is Philip Montgomery at Tulsa. The Golden Hurricanes are just 2-4, with only one win over an FBS school. Montgomery received a contract extension in 2021, but the word is Tulsa could be motivated to make a change if the right candidates are available.
Finally, perhaps the most attractive G5 job that could potentially open is Memphis. Ryan Silverfield, who has been with the program since 2016, went 8-3 in his first season after taking over for Mike Norvell in 2020. But the Tigers were just 6-6 last season and their backslide has continued this fall, starting the year 4-3 with a couple agonizingly close losses to Houston and East Carolina. Their schedule is about to really toughen, too, with upcoming games against Tulane and UCF — the best two teams in the AAC this year — and a finale against SMU.
THE LATEST AT AUBURN
The Tigers fell 48-34 to Ole Miss last weekend, their eighth loss in nine games against Power 5 opponents.
Still, Auburn played hard, as the locker room clearly has not turned its back on embattled head coach Bryan Harsin.
There will be a coaching change on the Plains in 2022. That much remains certain. But the timetable is still in question.
The Tigers are on their open date this week, which many thought would be an ideal time to make a change.
They didn’t.
Why?
For one, Auburn seems focused on finding a new athletics director first.
There’s also the dynamics of the new transfer portal window. If a school fires its head coach, players have 30 days to enter the transfer portal. The Tigers do not want a repeat situation of 2021 LSU where those Tigers played a bowl game with fewer than 40 available scholarship players.
Barring multiple upsets, Auburn won’t make the postseason, but it doesn’t want to be in a similar situation come end of November in the Iron Bowl.