Coaching Carousel Rumblings: Sorting through the potential candidates at Auburn, low-simmering hot seats and more coaching chatter
There are now six Power 5 vacancies, with the best head coaching job on the market coming open over the weekend.
With all the smoke behind the scenes, there’s a lot we don’t know about Auburn right now, but this much is clear:
In a move of mercy, the Bryan Harsin era is over.
The Tigers have a new athletics director in John Cohen, who left his alma mater at Mississippi State for greener ($$$) pastures on the Plains.
Auburn has money to spend — both in the NIL space, in buyouts (a combined $36.5 million for Harsin and Gus Malzahn) and a new coaching staff.
The Tigers are a program ripe with potential — multiple undefeated seasons, SEC titles and a 2010 national championship — but also just as many pitfalls — constant meddling and a jarring lack of consistency, as Auburn has won double-digit games in consecutive seasons just once in my life lifetime.
I’m 35.
So with all that, who wants the job?
I’ve made the case that Lane Kiffin should be Auburn’s top target, and he certainly is on the Tigers’ early shortlist. Kiffin has already addressed the Auburn opening, skirting any potential interest with some anti-Kiffin lack of candor while stumping for Deion Sanders as a top candidate.
“We’re extremely happy here, got something special going,” Kiffin said.
“They should hire (Deion Sanders). Great recruiter, great name. This is a different world we’re in now, because recruiting has always been important but now you have the portal. … You can change a roster faster than you ever could before. And you can lose a roster faster than you ever could before. So the ability to hire Deion and have that name right away and portal people wanting to play for him right away can flip a roster where before – realistically – it would take two to three years to truly turn a roster around, you can do it immediately.”
Kiffin’s own Ole Miss Rebels are a prime example of the very theory he is pushing — i.e., rebuilds can happen quickly these days thanks to the transfer portal — which is exactly why Lane Kiffin will be such a sought-after candidate for Auburn.
Sanders is expected to get a real look, too. He joked with reporters that he’d already heard from the Tigers before making his candidacy more about his SWAC program and HBCUs.
“I’ve heard from the Tigers, (the) Jackson State Tigers … I thought you was talking about Jackson State, my bad,” he quipped.
“Freudian slip.”
“(Sanders’ name being connected to Auburn) is a blessing — that’s truly a blessing. Sorry to interrupt, but I’ve got to get these points out. I don’t think too many African-American coaches from the HBCU has ever been attached to anything concerning the Power Five, so that’s truly a blessing.”
Auburn is an Under Armour school, so Sanders’ strong relationship with the brand gives him an added in. But more importantly, Deion’s ability to recruit and maximize Auburn’s budding NIL war chest is the reason why he will get consideration for the opening.
Other names in the mix, per insiders, are former Carolina Panthers head coach Matt Rhule, who we’ve heard has some interest in the opening, former Auburn offensive line coach and current Baylor offensive coordinator Jeff Grimes, Kentucky head coach Mark Stoops and Liberty head coach Hugh Freeze.
Freeze is perhaps the most interesting candidate linked in the opening, and could shed some real light on who actually is running Auburn’s search.
On the one hand, the former Ole Miss head coach makes some sense.
He’s very familiar with the SEC. He’s produced explosive offenses at multiple stops, won’t be afraid to chase blue-chip talent and has a history as a thorn to Nick Saban.
Some southern boosters love Hugh Freeze, too. His recent contract extension at Liberty isn’t seen as prohibitive for any potential Power 5 offer, either.
Conversely, it’s unclear if Freeze, who has been considered untouchable in the SEC for the last several years, can actually coach in the conference after resigning from Ole Miss in disgrace five years ago.
Notably, Freeze wasn’t ousted because of NCAA violations. His failure to buy a cheap burner phone so he could dial up some illicit numbers is what did him in. But — and this seems important — the violations did occur, and one of the parties who had a front-row seat seeing the Rebels getting hit by the NCAA is now in charge of Auburn’s search for a new head coach.
That would be John Cohen.
It’s been long alleged that former Mississippi State head coach Dan Mullen, and by proxy, the Bulldogs’ administration turned the light on Ole Miss and Hugh Freeze. Mullen was named in a lawsuit in 2017, while Cohen was his boss at MSU.
So even five years later, Cohen and Freeze seem like strange bedfellows considering their history.
Perhaps I’m wrong.
But if Freeze ends up getting the job at Auburn — which again, I could see happening — then the notion that Cohen has full autonomy in Auburn’s search would appear faulty.
FROM HOT SEAT TO A LOW SIMMER?
In recent weeks, two coaches have ingratiated themselves better within their respective administrations — Missouri’s Eli Drinkwitz and Louisville’s Scott Satterfield.
Among industry insiders, Drinkwitz has been viewed as a darkhorse hot seat candidate in 2022, and while well-liked in Columbia, the third-year head coach did himself little favors losing four of five games through mid-October — all to Power 5 teams.
But the Tigers have responded with victories over Vanderbilt and a then-Top 25 South Carolina team on the road in consecutive weeks, allowing Drinkwitz to rebuild some goodwill. They’re doing it with defense, which is a bit counter to Drinkwitz’s offensive guru repudiation, but win a home game against a beat-up Kentucky team this weekend and he could eliminate any bubbling hot seat talk this fall and look toward continuing to restock the roster with talent for 2023.
As for Satterfield, Louisville has won three straight after the Cardinals blitzkrieg’d Wake Forest for eight turnovers in the second half last weekend to secure his first Top 10 upset win. Satterfield also has some administration support and has a Top 20 recruiting class.
But he can’t afford a letdown loss this weekend against James Madison — where Louisville is just a 7.5-point favorite.
With Clemson, NC State and Kentucky upcoming to finish the 2022 regular season, it would behoove Satterfield for the Cards to take their winning streak to four games, get bowl eligible and continue their late-fall momentum.
MORE COACHING CAROUSEL CHATTER
Another week, another loss for Neal Brown at West Virginia. The Mountaineers played tough against TCU, but their defense remains one of the worst in the nation (6.35 yards per play allowed ranks No. 118th nationally, 34.6 points allowed, No. 122nd in the country) and they still have Oklahoma, Kansas State and Oklahoma State on the schedule the rest of this month. Even with a buyout, some see as prohibitive (nearly $20 million before New Year’s Day), the pressure is mounting in Morgantown. … Outside of Jim Leonhard at Wisconsin, Brent Key, a beloved alum at Georgia Tech, is the most likely current interim head coach to lose the tag and get the full-time role. Key is 2-1 after taking over for Geoff Collins. Still, Key faces an uphill battle after losing to lowly Virginia last weekend, albeit while his starting quarterback went down with an injury. If the Yellow Jackets can beat Virginia Tech this weekend, then Key should at least remain in the mix of candidates for the Georgia Tech job. … Memphis has now lost three consecutive games, further upping the ante on Ryan Silverfield needing to finish strong down the strength. The Tigers have upcoming winnable games against Tulsa, South Alabama and SMU, but it hosts No. 25 UCF this weekend, and that’s a prime opportunity for Silverfield to build up some goodwill with an upset win. … Speaking of Tulsa, the Golden Hurricanes have lost four of five, allowing over 31 points in every game. Barring a total turnaround the rest of November, eighth-year head coach Philip Montgomery looks like a long shot to be back in 2023. … Finally, keep an eye on the situation down at Miami. We’re keeping an eye on the situation down in Coral Gables, as offensive coordinator Josh Gattis, the reigning Broyles Award winner at Michigan last season, could be one-and-done at Miami. Nothing is for certain for now, but the Canes’ offense — particularly quarterback Tyler Van Dyke, who was voted as a preseason All-ACC first-teamer, has regressed significantly in 2022.